The President of the United States, Donald Trump, confirmed this Friday (13) information that had been published by the American press and said that the strike group on the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, the largest in the world, will be sent to the Middle East to put pressure on the Iranian regime.
Questioned by journalists at the White House, the president stated that, if there is no nuclear agreement with Tehran, the Ford aircraft carrier will be “necessary”.
“If we don’t have an agreement, we will need it. If we have an agreement, it will go away. It will go away very soon. We have one in the region that has just arrived. If we need it, we will use it. It is ready, it is a very large force,” he said, according to information from the EFE Agency.
The group from the USS Abraham Lincoln had already been in the Indian Ocean since the end of January. Furthermore, the Reuters agency reported this week that United States forces installed Patriot missiles in launchers on trucks at the Al-Udeid military base in Qatar, the largest American base in the Middle East, a measure that would speed up mobility in the event of offensive or defensive attacks in the region.
Trump had already said earlier this week that he was considering sending another aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East.
“Either we will reach an agreement or we will have to do something very tough like last time,” said the American president in an interview on Tuesday (10), in reference to the attack that the United States carried out in June last year against Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The USS Gerald R. Ford strike group is currently in the Caribbean, where it was used in the recent anti-drug trafficking operation that culminated in the capture of the then Venezuelan dictator, Nicolás Maduro, on January 3.
In 2018, Trump withdrew the United States from the nuclear agreement that had been signed in 2015 between Iran and six powers, so that the Iranian nuclear program would be restricted to peaceful purposes, and resumed sanctions on Tehran.
However, since returning to the White House in January last year, the Republican has been pressuring Iran to make another agreement.
Last Friday (6), representatives from the USA and Iran held negotiations in Oman and the second round of talks is expected to take place next week.
