Looks like the Commander in Chief isn't going to be told by Iran where the U.S. Navy can and cannot go in international waters:
HuffPost:
Britain has joined the United States and France in sending a flotilla of warships through the sensitive Strait of Hormuz in a pointed message to the Iranian regime.
The Ministry of Defence confirmed that a Royal Navy Type 23 frigate, HMS Argyll, was part of the US-led carrier group to pass through the waterway, as tensions continued to escalate over Tehran's nuclear programme.
The strait, a 34-mile-wide sea passage, connects the petroleum-producing Persian Gulf states to the ocean, making it a strategic choke point on the world's economy.
On Monday, a MoD spokesman confirmed that "HMS Argyll and a French vessel joined a U.S. carrier group transiting through the Strait of Hormuz, to underline the unwavering international commitment to maintaining rights of passage under international law."
The six-strong flotilla was led by the USS Abraham Lincoln, a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier with up to 90 warplanes on board.
It reportedly passed through the Strait of Hormuz without incident.
The Abraham Lincoln is the first American carrier to enter the Gulf since the end of last year.
It replaced another carrier, the USS John C Stennis, in a routine ship rotation.
The departure of the USS John C Stennis had prompted the head of the Iranian armed forces, General Ataollah Salehi, to warn the Americans not to send any more carriers to the region.
"We don't have any intention of repeating our warning and we warn only once," he said.
To underline the deployment of the big stick, the EU approved tough sanctions on Iran:
The European Union formally adopted an oil embargo Monday against Iran and a freeze of the assets of the country's central bank as part of sanctions meant to pressure the country to resume talks on its nuclear program.
Diplomats said the measures, which were adopted in Brussels by the EU's 27 foreign ministers, include an immediate embargo on new contracts for crude oil and petroleum products, while existing contracts will be allowed to run until July
So far, Iran isn't making good on its threat that any new carrier sent into the gulf would bring a military response:
The deputy commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps, Brigadier General Hossein Salami, has said that the deployment of new U.S. warships to the Persian Gulf is not a new issue.
The U.S. military said on January 11 that a new aircraft carrier strike group had arrived in the Arabian Sea but denied any link to recent tensions with Iran over the Strait of Hormuz and portrayed the movements as routine.
In an interview with IRNA published on Sunday, Salami said, "U.S. warships and military forces have been present in the Persian Gulf and the Middle East region for years, and therefore, their decision to dispatch new warships is not a new issue, and this move should be interpreted as part of their permanent presence."