MEXICO CITY, April 30, 2008 – The movement of a second aircraft carrier into the Persian Gulf this week doesn’t signal an escalation of the U.S. naval presence -- but could serve as a “reminder†of it to countries in the region, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said here last night.
Gates did not specifically name Iran when responding to a reporter’s question about the arrival this week of USS Abraham Lincoln in the Gulf.
“The size of our naval presence in the Gulf rises and falls constantly,†he said. “This deployment has been planned for a long time. I don’t think we will have two carriers there for a protracted period of time. So I don't see it as an escalation. I think it could be seen, though, as a reminder.â€
Pressed by another reporter, Gates denied that heightened Defense Department criticism of Iran means it’s laying the foundation for a military strike.
Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters last week that recently manufactured Iranian weapons found in and around Basra, Iraq, prove that Iran continues meddling in Iraq in ways that hamper progress and put U.S. and Iraqi lives at risk.
Mullen said at an April 25 Pentagon news conference that he’s “increasingly concerned about Iran’s activity, not just in Iraq, but throughout the region.
“I believe recent events, especially the Basra operation, have revealed just how much and just how far Iran is reaching into Iraq to foment instability,†he said.
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=49725
