Pentagon Pushes Back On Iranian Warnings On U.S. Aircraft Carrier.The Pentagon on Tuesday rejected Iran's warnings against the return of a U.S. carrier aircraft in the Navy in the Persian Gulf.
"The deployment of U.S. military assets in the Persian Gulf region will continue as it has in decades," Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said in a statement sent to Yahoo News Tuesday. "These are regular movements, consistent with our long-standing commitments to security and stability in the region and the support of ongoing operations."
"The U.S. Navy operates under international maritime conventions to maintain a constant state of vigilance to maintain the safe flow of maritime traffic in the waters critical to global trade," added little statement. "We are committed to protecting the freedoms that underpin maritime global prosperity, which is one of the main reasons for our military forces operating in the region."
The Pentagon statement came in response to a comment from Iran's army chief Tuesday Ataolla Salehi, who said that the Iranian military exercises had invited a U.S. carrier aircraft of the Navy to leave the Persian Gulf. Salehi also issued a warning to the United States on all fronts for the return of the carrier.
"Iran will not repeat his warning of the enemy carrier ... has been moved to the Gulf of Oman as a result of our drilling," Iran's army chief Ataollah Salehi said Tuesday, reported Reuters. "I advise, recommend and advise on the return of the carrier in the Persian Gulf because we are not in the habit of warning more than once."
Salehi did not name the U.S. Navy ship in question ", but the USS John C. Stennis leads a working group in the region, and the website of the U.S. Navy 5th Fleet is illustrated in the Arabian Sea last week, "Reuters reported.
Tensions rose between the United States and Iran in recent weeks, Iranian officials have issued a series of praises their military capabilities to control the Persian Gulf, a key global hub for energy transport. The United States, in turn announced last week that billions of dollars in arms sales to American Persian Gulf allies of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait.
Analysts say threats Iranian erratic - sometimes followed by conciliatory statements - are a sign of growing panic, the government in Tehran about tightening economic sanctions, including the newly adopted U.S. sanctions Central Bank of Iran. President Obama signed a law authorizing defense over the weekend that includes a measure that would penalize foreign companies and countries working with Iranian financial institution. The ban would potentially stifle a major source of revenue for its Iranian oil exports. However, the legislation includes an exemption allowing the President to waive the penalty if it determines that it would cause a spike in energy prices or a threat to national security.
Meanwhile, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday it planned to attend a meeting with the international nuclear negotiators.
Iran is "waiting for the unveiling date and place of negotiations with the five permanent members of UN Security plus Germany," the word of Iran Foreign Ministry Ramin Mehmanparast told the student Iran News Agency Tuesday.
However, a spokesman for the European Union said Tuesday that Yahoo News agency had not yet received a formal response in writing from Iran against the proposal of the EU High Representative Catherine Ashton for a meeting.
Iran last met with members of the so-called P5 +1 group - the United States, France, Germany, UK, Russia, China and Germany - Turkey last January, but the meeting has made no progress to a proposal to resolve international concerns over Iran's nuclear program.
The agency Iranian Atomic Energy Agency on the weekend also announced that its scientists had produced the first fuel rods for use by the research reactor in Tehran, which makes nuclear isotopes to treat Iranian cancer patients. The statement - so far untested by Western officials - perhaps diplomatically significant, since Iran had already negotiated with the United States, Russia and France to fend possibly a substantial portion of its stocks of fissile material in exchange for fuel rods for use in the reactor. The negotiations collapsed amid a round of bitter recriminations at the end of 2009. But Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly stated his interest in reviving, even in discussions with journalists and policy experts in New York during a recent visit to the UN in September.
"The deployment of U.S. military assets in the Persian Gulf region will continue as it has in decades," Pentagon Press Secretary George Little said in a statement sent to Yahoo News Tuesday. "These are regular movements, consistent with our long-standing commitments to security and stability in the region and the support of ongoing operations."
"The U.S. Navy operates under international maritime conventions to maintain a constant state of vigilance to maintain the safe flow of maritime traffic in the waters critical to global trade," added little statement. "We are committed to protecting the freedoms that underpin maritime global prosperity, which is one of the main reasons for our military forces operating in the region."
The Pentagon statement came in response to a comment from Iran's army chief Tuesday Ataolla Salehi, who said that the Iranian military exercises had invited a U.S. carrier aircraft of the Navy to leave the Persian Gulf. Salehi also issued a warning to the United States on all fronts for the return of the carrier.
"Iran will not repeat his warning of the enemy carrier ... has been moved to the Gulf of Oman as a result of our drilling," Iran's army chief Ataollah Salehi said Tuesday, reported Reuters. "I advise, recommend and advise on the return of the carrier in the Persian Gulf because we are not in the habit of warning more than once."
Salehi did not name the U.S. Navy ship in question ", but the USS John C. Stennis leads a working group in the region, and the website of the U.S. Navy 5th Fleet is illustrated in the Arabian Sea last week, "Reuters reported.
Tensions rose between the United States and Iran in recent weeks, Iranian officials have issued a series of praises their military capabilities to control the Persian Gulf, a key global hub for energy transport. The United States, in turn announced last week that billions of dollars in arms sales to American Persian Gulf allies of Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Kuwait.
Analysts say threats Iranian erratic - sometimes followed by conciliatory statements - are a sign of growing panic, the government in Tehran about tightening economic sanctions, including the newly adopted U.S. sanctions Central Bank of Iran. President Obama signed a law authorizing defense over the weekend that includes a measure that would penalize foreign companies and countries working with Iranian financial institution. The ban would potentially stifle a major source of revenue for its Iranian oil exports. However, the legislation includes an exemption allowing the President to waive the penalty if it determines that it would cause a spike in energy prices or a threat to national security.
Meanwhile, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday it planned to attend a meeting with the international nuclear negotiators.
Iran is "waiting for the unveiling date and place of negotiations with the five permanent members of UN Security plus Germany," the word of Iran Foreign Ministry Ramin Mehmanparast told the student Iran News Agency Tuesday.
However, a spokesman for the European Union said Tuesday that Yahoo News agency had not yet received a formal response in writing from Iran against the proposal of the EU High Representative Catherine Ashton for a meeting.
Iran last met with members of the so-called P5 +1 group - the United States, France, Germany, UK, Russia, China and Germany - Turkey last January, but the meeting has made no progress to a proposal to resolve international concerns over Iran's nuclear program.
The agency Iranian Atomic Energy Agency on the weekend also announced that its scientists had produced the first fuel rods for use by the research reactor in Tehran, which makes nuclear isotopes to treat Iranian cancer patients. The statement - so far untested by Western officials - perhaps diplomatically significant, since Iran had already negotiated with the United States, Russia and France to fend possibly a substantial portion of its stocks of fissile material in exchange for fuel rods for use in the reactor. The negotiations collapsed amid a round of bitter recriminations at the end of 2009. But Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has repeatedly stated his interest in reviving, even in discussions with journalists and policy experts in New York during a recent visit to the UN in September.
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