USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier leaves ME: Official
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A US official announced that the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group has concluded its extended deployment to the Middle East.
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The Navy experimental unmanned aircraft, the X-47B, taxies to it's launch position on the flight deck aboard the nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, off the Virginia coast, on November 10, 2013. (AP)
A US official informed Sputnik on Thursday that the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group has concluded its extended deployment to the Middle East. The USS Theodore Roosevelt, alongside the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, was sent to the region as a display of strength in response to a potential large-scale Iranian response to "Israel".
"The Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike group is currently in the US Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility," the official said.
In subsequent comments, Defense Department spokesperson Patrick Ryder clarified that the departure of the carrier strike group from the Middle East does not suggest that the United States is easing its concerns about a possible Iranian response.
"We're going to continue to take that threat very seriously and we're going to continue to maintain a robust presence in the Central Command and European Command," Ryder told reporters.
This comes after US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin earlier ordered the USS Roosevelt to extend its deployment and remain in the region for a short period after it had arrived in the Red Sea about two months ago. His order coincided with another order to speed up the arrival of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to the area.
The USS Abraham Lincoln, currently stationed in the Gulf of Oman, arrived in the Middle East about three weeks ago, allowing its missions to overlap with those of the USS Roosevelt, with both carriers being in the region simultaneously.
Last month, the United States deployed around 18 warships, including two aircraft carriers, in and around the Middle East attempting to reportedly deter Iran and stop an inevitable retaliation for "Israel's" assassination of Hamas’ political bureau chief, martyr Ismail Haniyeh, Axios reported on August 29.
Some of the ships operating in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden have been attempting to curb the operations of the Yemeni Armed Forces in support of Gaza for months, while more Navy and Air Force assets are being sent.
In addition to the two carrier strike groups currently operating in the Middle East, an Air Force F-22 Raptor squadron has already arrived, and the guided-missile submarine USS Georgia is close by.
Disclosing the position or destination of a submarine, such as the nuclear-powered USS Georgia, is an unusual and deliberate act, the news website pointed out.
In total, "there are easily more than 500 Tomahawk missiles ready to attack Iran and more than 100 aircraft ready to defend allies to respond," Bryan Clark, director of the Hudson Institute's Center for Defense Concepts and Technology told Axios.
