The U.S. Navy is is planning a buildup of its presence in the Persian Gulf "as a warning to Iran" according to both NBC News
The U.S. Central Command is aggressively planning a naval buildup in the Persian Gulf, including the addition of a second aircraft carrier, in response to a series of aggressive actions by Iran, U.S. military officials told NBC News on Tuesday
and CBS News
CBS News national security correspondent David Martin says the U.S. military build-up, which would include adding a second aircraft carrier to the one already in the Gulf, is being proposed as a response to what U.S. officials view as an increasingly provocative Iranian leadership.
In the wake of a week-long conference hosted by Iran to question whether the Holocaust really happened, the government of Iran found itself the brunt of worldwide condemnation. So what do we do? Instead of capitalizing on the world's outrage at Iran, using it as a tool to pressure Iran back to the nuclear negotiating table, we order another aircraft carrier into the Persian Gulf.
Forgotten in a flash is the indignation of Koffi Anan and the Vatican...replaced by fury that the United States is beginning another military buildup in the Mideast. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who one week ago found himself heckled by students attending a speech at a Tehran university can now damn with righteous indignation the warmongers in the United States, bellow to his fellow Muslims that Iran will be next, and point to the disaster that is Iraq and the carrier on his doorstep as proof positive that we are, indeed, the Great Satan.
He may be right.