A U.S. aircraft carrier the White House ordered to the Mideast over a perceived threat from Iran remains outside of the Persian Gulf amid efforts to de-escalate tensions between Tehran and Washington. The USS Abraham Lincoln on Monday was in the Arabian Sea some 200 miles (320 kilometers) off the coast of Oman. While U.S. Navy officials repeatedly declined to discuss why they hadn’t gone through the Strait of Hormuz into the Persian Gulf, they insisted they remain ready to launch any mission in the region. Accompanying the Lincoln to the Mideast are three destroyers — the USS Bainbridge, the USS Mason and the USS Nitze — as well as the guided-missile cruiser the USS Leyte Gulf. Chris Follin, the commodore of the destroyer strike group traveling with the Lincoln, shrugged off any concern.

Source: Pakistan Today June 03, 2019 17:48 UTC