US moving forces to counter Iran

A White House decision to dispatch an aircraft carrier and other military resources to send a message to Iran followed ‘‘clear indications’’ that Iranian and Iranian proxy forces were preparing to possibly attack US forces in the region, a defence official said.

The official said the Pentagon approved the deployments and that US forces at sea and on land were thought to be the potential targets. The official declined to be more specific.

White House national security adviser John Bolton said in a statement that the US is deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force to the US Central Command region, an area that includes the Middle East.

Bolton said the move was in response to ‘‘a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings.’’ He didn’t provide details, but said the US wants to send a message that ‘‘unrelenting force’’ will meet any attack on US interests or those of its allies.

‘‘The United States is not seeking war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or regular Iranian forces,’’ he said.

The Pentagon had no immediate comment on the Bolton statement.

Bolton’s reference to the Central Command area would mean the Lincoln is headed east to the Red Sea and perhaps then to the Arabian Sea or the Persian Gulf. The US Navy currently has no aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf.

Bolton’s mention of deploying a bomber task force suggests the Pentagon is deploying land-based bomber aircraft somewhere in the region, perhaps on the Arabian Peninsula.

Speaking to reporters while flying to Europe, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the actions undertaken by the US had been in the works for a little while.

‘‘It is absolutely the case that we have seen escalatory actions from the Iranians and it is equally the case that we will hold the Iranians accountable for attacks on American interests,’’ Pompeo said. –AP