Intel that prompted US to deploy aircraft carrier to Middle East ‘came from Israel’

USS Abraham LincolnThe sudden decision by the United States to deploy significant firepower to the Middle East was partly in response to intelligence that was given to Washington by Israeli officials, according to a report. On Wednesday, the US announced that the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group had received instructions to sail to the Middle East. The aircraft carrier is reportedly sailing alongside a cruiser and four destroyers, while an unspecified number of B-52 heavy long-range bombers have been ordered to fly to a US military base in Qatar.

Commenting on this last-minute development, US National Security Adviser John Bolton warned Iran that it would face “unrelenting force” if it threatened American interests in the Middle East and beyond. The Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, said that the move aimed to “deter Iran […] so that there would be no ambiguity about our preparedness to respond to any threat against our people or partners in the region”. Speaking in Congress, the US Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan said that the decision to move a significant amount of firepower to the Middle East came in response to intelligence showing that Iran had “made plans to target US forces in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East”. According to ABC News, the intelligence suggested that “Iran or its proxies were planning attacks against US forces in Iraq, Syria and at sea”. But there was no further information reported about the precise nature of the alleged warnings.

Meanwhile, the American news and information website Axios said on Monday that the intelligence that caused Washington’s response was given to the US by Israeli officials. Citing “senior Israeli officials”, the website said that the intelligence given to the US had been gathered “primarily by the Mossad”, Israel’s main external intelligence agency. It added that the information about possible Iranian attacks against the US or its allies in the Middle East was “raised two weeks ago” during closed-door talks at the White House between a US team led by Bolton and an Israeli delegation headed by his Israeli counterpart, Meir Ben Shabbat. The intelligence, said Axios, showed that the US or its allies, including the United Arab Emirates or Saudi Arabia, would be targeted by Iran. The information is “understood to be part of the reason for Bolton’s announcement” this week, said Axios.

Author: Joseph Fitsanakis | Date: 09 May 2019 | Permalink

4 Responses to Intel that prompted US to deploy aircraft carrier to Middle East ‘came from Israel’

  1. captnmike says:

    Trump wants a war – that is all you really need to know – – he accused Obama several times of wanting to start a war to get reelected – and a war would push the Trump business failures and other problems off the front page

  2. Pete says:

    The gesture of deploying this aircraft carrier seems to neatly tie together two disturbing influences in the Trump Administration:

    1. Bolton’s lifelong mission to trigger regime change in Iran by US/Israeli aerial bombing, and

    2. Trump son-in-law Kushner’s (as designated supremo on Israeli affairs’) unexperience in
    intelligence matters. Hence Kushner may over-react to Israeli government lines, particularly
    as enunciated by the famous Mossad.

  3. Chukchi says:

    It is time for theocracy to go away…

  4. smoshter says:

    You do not send a single aircraft carrier and a handful of heavy bombers if you want to start a war. This is about the Israel lobby in the US (not Israel) trying to convince the Americans that Iran is a threat

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