The US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln crossed the Strait of Hormuz and entered the Gulf, RIA Novosti cites Rebecca Rebarich, spokeswoman of the fifth fleet, as saying.
The fifth fleet monitors the western side of the Indian Ocean and the Gulf.
The carrier entered the Arabian Sea and will patrol together with the Carl Vinson aircraft carrier. Hussein Salami, Commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, said that the US are permanently present in the area.
General-Major Ayatollah Salehi said in early January that Iran had demanded the US not to send the John C. Stennis aircraft carrier to the Gulf again. The vessel left the area in late December 2011.
Tensions in the Gulf were provoked by Iran’s threats to block the Strait of Hormuz, a key naval route for oil transport from the Gulf to Western states as a counter-measure for embargo on Iranian oil exports. Iran held naval drills Velayat-90 with long-range missile tests in late December.
The Strait of Hormuz connects the Gulf of Oman in south-east and the Gulf in south-west. The northern coast is controlled by Iran, the southern – by the United Arab Emirates and Oman, US allies in the region. Tensions around the Strait of Hormuz caused a rise of oil prices.
EU foreign ministers will meet on January 23 to discuss the embargo on Iranian oil exports. New sanctions may be passed for refusal of Iran to cooperate with the world society to settle the nuclear program.
The US and a set of other Western states accuse Iran of developing nuclear arms on the background of peaceful atom. Tehran denies all accusations and insists that the nuclear program is to fulfill demands for electricity.
