The US will send a strike force of the Navy led by the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln and a tactical bomber group to the operational zone of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), which includes primarily the Middle East and North Africa, as a signal to the Iranian authorities, US National Security Advisor John Bolton said in a statement.

“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.  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,” the statement said.

On April 8, US President Donald Trump decided to include the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on the list of foreign terrorist organizations. The United States motivated this states by stating that the IRGC actively participates in terrorist activities, finances and promotes terrorism as an instrument of state policy.

The Iranian Supreme National Security Council counted the US Central Command among the terrorist organizations. On April 23, the Iranian parliament ratified all 14 provisions of the bill by a majority of votes, and on April 30, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani signed the relevant law.