Reversing course, Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Christopher Miller has ordered a U.S. aircraft carrier to remain in the Middle East due to Iranian threats against U.S. President Donald Trump and other U.S. government officials.
In a statement on Sunday, Miller said he had “ordered the USS Nimitz to halt its routine redeployment,” and that the aircraft carrier will now “remain on station in the U.S. Central Command area of operations.”
“No one should doubt the resolve of the United States of America,” he added.
The move represents a reversal from Miller’s decision last week against keeping the USS Nimitz in the region, despite rising tensions between America and Iran. It comes at the one-year anniversary of the Jan. 3 strike by the United States that killed Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.