World News
May 9, 2019 / 6:15 PM / a day ago
Exclusive: U.S. commander says he could send carrier into Strait of Hormuz despite Iran tensions
Phil Stewart
5 Min Read
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The commander overseeing U.S. naval forces in the Middle East told Reuters on Thursday that American intelligence showing a threat from Iran will not prevent him from sending an aircraft carrier through the vital Strait of Hormuz, if needed.
Vice Admiral Jim Malloy, commander of the U.S. Navy’s Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet, did not say whether he would send the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group into the strategic waterway off Iran, through which passes a fifth of oil consumed globally.
The group, whose deployment to the Middle East was fast-tracked by President Donald Trump’s administration as a warning to Iran, transited through the Suez Canal into the Red Sea on Thursday and was now under Malloy’s command.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-iran-military-exclusive/exclusive-us-commander-says-he-could-send-carrier-into-strait-of-hormuz-despite-iran-tensions-idUSKCN1SF2NK
