The U.S. Navy is moving the aircraft carrier Nimitz from the Indo-Pacific to the Middle East as regional tensions continue to boil between Israel and Iran, a defense official confirmed to Navy Times.
The carrier, previously conducting flight operations in the South China Sea, made its way through the Strait of Malacca to begin its deployment in the Middle East over the weekend.
The official said the move is not a direct response to escalating tensions in the area — with Israel and Iran exchanging missile fire since the Israeli airstrike on June 13 — and comes amid a scheduled deployment to replace the Carl Vinson Strike Group, which is currently seven months into its deployment and ready to rotate out.
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However, the official did acknowledge that the attacks between the two nations ushered in a degree of immediacy for the deployment.
The Nimitz was initially scheduled to do a port call in Vietnam, but circumstances annexed that stop from the schedule, the official noted.
Other reinforcements and ballistic missile defense capable ships might soon be on their way to the Middle East as well. The missile destroyer Thomas Hudner left its previous station in the western Mediterranean and recently arrived in the eastern Mediterranean, according to the official.
Israel’s June 13 air strike against Iran targeted the country’s nuclear facilities and killed senior military leaders and nuclear scientists in an ongoing attempt to derail Iran’s pursuit to develop a nuclear weapon.
The attack followed intelligence from Israel’s Mossad spy agency which suggested that Iran was closer than ever to developing a nuclear weapon.
A day before Israel’s attack, Iran announced its intention to activate a third enrichment facility.
The news came a little over a week after the U.N. nuclear watchdog Atomic Energy Agency reported that Iran had enriched the uranium in its nuclear stockpile by 50% since its last report in February, an uptick that brought it closer to weapons-grade levels.
Riley Ceder is a reporter at Military Times, where he covers breaking news, criminal justice, investigations, and cyber. He previously worked as an investigative practicum student at The Washington Post, where he contributed to the Abused by the Badge investigation.
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