National security adviser John Bolton didn't say what Iran had specifically done to trigger the action, which comes as violence is worsening in Gaza.
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The United States is sending a carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Middle East to send a "clear and unmistakable message" to Iran, President Donald Trump's national security adviser, John Bolton, announced Sunday night.
While he said the United States wasn't seeking to go to war with Iran, "any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force."
Bolton said the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, based at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, and an unspecified bomber task force were being sent to U.S. Central Command's region of responsibility, which covers the Middle East. According to the Navy, the strike group left Norfolk on April 1 on a regularly scheduled deployment.
In a brief statement, Bolton didn't say what specific actions or provocations the United States was responding to, but the announcement comes two days after the Trump administration imposed new limits on Iran's nuclear activities and as violence is worsening in the Gaza Strip.
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Iran is widely reported to fund Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which the Israeli government has blamed for instigating the latest round of violence by shooting and wounding two Israeli soldiers Friday.
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