US sends assault ship, missiles to Mideast amid Iran 'threat'

The USS Abraham Lincoln deploys from Naval Station Norfolk, in the vicinity of Norfolk, Va.- AP file photo

The United States is deploying an amphibious assault ship and a Patriot missile battery to bolster an aircraft carrier and B-52 bombers already sent to the Gulf, ratcheting up pressure on Saturday on Iran.
In response to threats from Iran, the USS Arlington, which transports marines, amphibious vehicles, conventional landing craft and rotary aircraft, and the Patriot air defence system will join the Abraham Lincoln carrier group, the Pentagon announced.
The carrier and a B-52 bomber task force were ordered towards the Gulf, as Washington reiterated that intelligence reports suggested Iran was planning some sort of attack in the region.
Centcom, the US forces for the Middle East and Afghanistan, said on Twitter that the B-52 bombers arrived at the area of operations on May 8, without saying where they had landed.
US President Donald Trump's national security adviser John Bolton has said the deployment aimed to send a 'clear and unmistakable' message to Iran about any attack against the US or its partners in the region.
There was no immediate reaction from Tehran on the latest US moves, but earlier in the week it shrugged off the carrier deployment.
"Bolton's statement is a clumsy use of an out-of-date event for psychological warfare," Iran's Supreme National Security Council spokesman Keyvan Khosravi said.
The increasing tensions come as Tehran said on Wednesday it had stopped respecting limits on its nuclear activities agreed under a 2015 deal with major powers.
Iran said it was responding to the sweeping unilateral sanctions that Washington has re-imposed since it quit the agreement one year ago, which have dealt a severe blow to the Iranian economy.
The Pentagon, for its part, said the deployments were "in response to indications of heightened Iranian readiness to conduct offensive operations against US forces and our interests".