In a further indication of continued US military pressure on Iran, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth affirmed that his country will maintain the embargo on Tehran "as long as necessary."
Hegseth's remarks on Thursday coincided with a US move to rotate one of its most prominent warships deployed in the Middle East. Washington is preparing to send the aircraft carrier USS George Washington to the region to replace the USS Abraham Lincoln.
According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, citing informed US officials, the George Washington will move from Japan to the Middle East as part of a pre-planned rotation.
This means that Washington is not simply withdrawing the aircraft carrier currently in the region without a replacement, but rather replacing it with another carrier, while the US embargo on Iran continues.
"George Washington" heads to the Middle East... and Hegseth threatens Iran
