OMG... Second US aircraft carrier arrives in the Gulf as Iran tensions rise ...deadly
Backed by a cruiser, the USS Carl Vinson carrier strike group "arrived in the US 5th Fleet area of responsibility (AOR)" on January 9," a Fifth Fleet statement said, destroyer and with almost 80 planes and helicopters on board
The Gulf of Oman and parts of the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea, That area covers the Gulf
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told reporters that the Carl Vinson was "not in the Gulf" and had not gone through the Strait of Hormuz – a key oil route which Iran has threatened to close as tensions with the West flare
Which is in the region, Kirby said, the USS John Stennis, The Carl Vinson was due to relieve another aircraft carrier
"Her deployment in that area is routine, long-planned – there's nothing unusual about that," Kirby explained
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11 Jan 2012"The numbers of carrier strike groups attached to the Centcom AOR change all the time and it's been consistently that way," he said
"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."
Despite the Pentagon's denials of a build-up in the region, according to the US Navy, the USS Abraham Lincoln was in the Indian Ocean and en route to join the Carl Vinson
International confrontation over Iran's nuclear programme has grown more tense as threats and counter-threats are being increasingly backed with displays of military muscle
Are steadily ratcheting up sanctions on Iran with the aim of fracturing its oil-dependent economy, Western nations, with the United States at the fore
Iran has responded by saying it could easily close the Strait of Hormuz – a chokepoint for 20 per cent of the world's tanker-carried oil at the entrance to the Gulf – if it is attacked or if sanctions halt its petroleum exports
Where the US Fifth Fleet is based, It has also threatened to unleash the "full force" of its navy should the United States redeploy an aircraft carrier to the Gulf
Washington said closing the strait is a "red line" that should not be crossed and said it would keep sending warships to the region
