US deploying carrier and bomber task force in response to 'troubling' Iran actions
By Kate Sullivan, Barbara Starr and Brad Lendon, CNN
Mon May 6, 2019
Washington (CNN)The United States is deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force to the Middle East in response to a "number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings" from Iran, US national security adviser John Bolton said Sunday.
A US official with direct knowledge of the situation told CNN the threats were against both US maritime and land-based forces in the region. The deployments are aimed specifically at deterring any Iranian military actions, the official added.
In a written statement released by the White House, Bolton said the US was deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force to the US Central Command region in the Middle East "to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force." ...
In comments made Sunday night, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the deployments have been in the works for "a little while."
https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/05/politics/iran-carrier-bomber-task-force/index.html