US commander vows to keep two aircraft carriers in Persian Gulf

The US military plans to keep two aircraft carriers in the Persian Gulf region, the commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM) has announced, claiming the move is aimed at deterring Iran from taking retaliatory action for what he claimed as “defensive” air strikes against Iraqi installations days ago.

"We're going to keep [the carriers] for a while" to signal to Iran that retaliation would bring a massive response, said Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie at a Friday news conference in the US defense department, referring to USS Eisenhower and USS Truman warships and alleging – without providing any evidence – that a recent attack on US-occupied Taji military base near Baghdad was conducted by what Washington commonly propagates as “Iran-backed militia” in Iraq.

According to the US-based military news outlet Task & Purpose, when McKenzie was challenged by its reporter on the “defensive” nature of the American air strikes on installations of Iraqi military’s Popular Mobilization Units across the country, he insisted on his claim arguing that they strikes would effectively “prevent future attacks” on US terrorist forces.

 “Actually… I think these attacks are designed to prevent future attacks on us, which would be the definition of a defensive action. Clearly, dropping a bomb is in of itself an offensive tactical action – but in the broader context these are designed to be defensive strikes,” said the hawkish CENTCOM commander.

According to Iraqi officials, three Iraqi soldiers, two policemen, one civilian and no “militiamen” were killed during the US air strikes, which Baghdad censured as a violation of its sovereignty and targeted aggression against its regular armed forces.

The report further underlined that while the US military has attributed “a total of 12 rocket attacks” on US-led terrorist forces in Iraq over the past six months to the nation’s PMU forces, McKenzie “did not elaborate on what evidence he based that conclusion on.

Meanwhile, the Pentagon identified the two US terrorist troops killed as Army Spc. Juan Miguel Mendez Covarrubias, 27, of Hanford, California, and Air Force Staff Sgt. Marshal D. Roberts, 28, of Owasso, Oklahoma.

The report then quoted McKenzie as saying that US military officials also believe that the recent airstrikes on PMU’s installation will “have an effect on deterring future strikes of this nature.”

ME