The US is dispatching an aircraft carrier, ships and a bomber task force to the Middle East to "send a message to Iran" that any attack on American interests will be met with "unrelenting force."
White House National Security adviser John Bolton said the decision was "in response to a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings."
"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," Bolton said.
The US is deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force to the US Central Command.
A carrier strike group can involve thousands of military personnel and include an aircraft carrier, cruisers, destroyer squadrons and frigate.
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