Thu Jan 12, 2012 7:58AM GMT
The United States has sent the USS Carl Vinson aircraft carrier to the Persian Gulf amid mounting tensions in the strategic region.
The Pentagon claimed on Wednesday that the arrival of the vessel, carrying 80 planes and helicopters on board, is “routine” and aimed at relieving aircraft carrier USS John Stennis.
The Pentagon added that the USS Carl Vinson has "arrived in the US 5th Fleet area of responsibility (AOR)" which, as the US says, covers the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea, the Gulf of Oman and parts of the Indian Ocean.
The US Navy said, however, that the aircraft carrier is not in the Persian Gulf yet and has not gone through the Strait of Hormuz.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the USS Abraham Lincoln is also in the Indian Ocean, en route to join the USS Carl Vinson.
“Her deployment in that area is routine, long-planned -- there's nothing unusual about that," Kirby explained.
"The fact that there are two carriers in that AOR is not an indication of anything specific in respect to Iran," the spokesman stressed, insisting: "There is no change to force posture in the region.”
This comes in the wake of Iran's threat of shutting down the Strait of Hormuz in case of more sanctions against the country's oil sector.
One third of the world's oil supply passes through the strategic strait.
USS John Stennis left the region immediately after Iran began a 10-day naval maneuver last month.
DB/AZ/MA