The Trump administration is sending a carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Middle East to send a “clear and unmistakable message” in response to “a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings.”
“The deployment comes less than a month after the Trump administration designated Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) a terrorist organization,” Fox News reported. “The deployment also comes amid the bloodiest fighting in five years between Israel and Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip.”
“In response to a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings, the United States is deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force to the U.S. Central Command region 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,” Bolton said. “The United States is not seeking war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or regular Iranian forces.”
Former Israeli national security adviser Yaakov Amidror said on Sunday that Iran was behind the increasing escalation in Gaza.
“What made Friday’s shooting on the IDF patrol interesting, Amidror said, was that it took place precisely when Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders were in Cairo putting the finishing touches on an agreement drawn up by Egypt that was designed to ease the tension in the South,” The Jerusalem Post reported. “But while its leaders were in Cairo, Islamic Jihad fired on the soldiers. At first, the organization tried to deny responsibility for the attack.”
“Why did the Islamic Jihad do this?” Amidror asked. “The answer is again and again and again – Iran.”
“[Islamic Jihad] was established by Iran, financed by Iran, and does what Iran wants it to do,’ Amidror said, adding that the Iranian idea is that “Israel will be busy focusing on Gaza and not have enough energy to deal with the building up of an independent war machine in Syria.”
Iran has continued to spew hatred towards Israel in recent days while clearly indicating it wants to destroy Israel.
In a recent Iranian sermon translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute, “Mohammad Baqer Ebadi congratulated IRGC Major-General Hossein Salami on his recent appointment as commander of the IRGC,” MEMRI reported. MEMRI provides the following translation of part of the sermon:
There is a new commander for the IRGC – Gen. [Hossein] Salami. We wish him success. General Salami said something once – he made a brief remark that still bothers the Zionists. In one speech, he said: “The Israelis have nowhere to run. In the north, they have Hizbullah. In another part, they have the Hamas. On this side, they have Syria, and all around there are Muslim peoples, even though some of the governments have sold themselves out.” He said: “Netanyahu should start learning how to swim in the Mediterranean Sea.” He meant that when Netanyahu wants to flee, this will be his only way to escape. This is why he should learn how to swim. I hope Mr. Netanyahu learns quickly how to swim, because Salami has finally arrived. He is the commander of the army of Islam. If Netanyahu has not yet learned how to swim, he should do it before it’s too late because, Allah willing, the day is drawing near. According to some traditions, the wounded Zionists will step over their dead while trying to escape, but they will be killed.
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