(CNN)President Donald Trump directed acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller to reverse course and order a US aircraft carrier to return to the Middle East following a White House meeting Sunday, according to a senior defense official.
This decision overturned Miller’s order last week to send the USS Nimitz out of the region and home, in part, to send a de-escalation signal to Iran amid rising tensions between Washington and Tehran.
One defense official says Miller’s idea of de-escalation had not been adopted as a formal, approved policy. It took top commanders by surprise, several defense sources said. US Central Command wanted the carrier to stay in the region to deter Iran at a time of rising tension and less than three weeks before President-elect Joe Biden takes office.
The White House and NSC did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment.
On Sunday, Miller announced that the USS Nimitz would remain in place due to purported Iranian threats “against President Trump and other US government officials.” Miller said in a statement that he had “ordered the USS Nimitz to halt its routine redeployment.” The carrier will now “remain on station in the US Central Command area of operations,” Miller added.
“No one should doubt the resolve of the United States of America,” he said.
January 3rd marked one year since the US assassinated Iran’s second most powerful leader, Gen. Qasem Soleimani, and Iraqi Shia militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a drone strike. US officials have been concerned that Iran or its proxies would mark the date by retaliating.
Instead, the day passed quietly, with Iran-affiliated leaders sending their own de-escalation signals. On Sunday, the leader of the Iran-backed Iraqi Shiite militia group Kataib Hezbollah issued a statement saying the group would not try to “enter” the US Embassy in Baghdad or seek to overthrow the current Iraqi government, even as crowds gathered in Baghdad’s Tahrir square Sunday to demand that US forces leave the country.
Source: Trump directed Pentagon to reverse decision and keep aircraft carrier in Middle East
