USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, arrived at the U.S. naval facility in Souda Bay on the Greek island of Crete on February 23.
The gigantic warship docked at the strategic NATO-linked base for a scheduled port visit expected to last nearly four days, primarily for resupply and logistics, according to U.S. Navy officials and local reporting.
Souda Bay serves as a key forward-operating site for US and allied forces in the eastern Mediterranean. The deployment of the USS Ford aims to reinforce the U.S. naval presence in the Middle East amid tensions with Iran.
The USS Gerald R. Ford is set to join the USS Abraham Lincoln CSG, which arrived in the Middle East late last month after being rerouted from the South China Sea.
Together, the two carrier groups—accompanied by multiple guided-missile destroyers, cruisers, and support vessels—represent one of the largest concentrations of U.S. naval power in the Middle East since the 2003 Iraq War,
US President Donald Trump, who ordered strikes on Iran last year, has repeatedly threatened Tehran with military strikes if it does not cut a new deal on its nuclear program.
US Naval Support Activity Souda Bay is home to approximately 1,000 people, including active duty military, U.S. civilian employees, local national employees, contractors, and family members.
It is quite rare for there to be two US aircraft carriers — which carry dozens of combat jets and are crewed by thousands of sailors — in the Middle East.
In his first term in office, Trump abandoned a landmark 2015 nuclear deal with Iran that placed curbs on its atomic activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
Following the United States’ withdrawal, Iran began enriching uranium at higher levels — up to 60 percent, near the 90 percent needed for a bomb — though it has always maintained its programme is strictly peaceful.
Protests in Iran
Students have a right to protest but must “understand the red lines”, Iran’s government spokeswoman said Tuesday, in the first official reaction to renewed anti-government rallies on campuses.
University students kicked off a new semester with gatherings over the weekend in which they revived slogans from nationwide protests against the country’s clerical leadership that peaked in January and were met by a deadly crackdown.
On Monday, the third consecutive day of the campus protests, videos geolocated by AFP showed students at a university in Tehran burning the Iranian flag adopted by the Islamic Republic after the 1979 revolution that toppled the monarchy.
“Sacred things and the flag are two examples of these red lines that we must protect and not cross or deviate from, even at the height of anger,” government spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani said Tuesday.
She added that Iran’s students “have wounds in their hearts and have seen scenes that may upset and anger them; this anger is understandable”.
The initial wave of protests began in December, sparked by economic woes in the sanctions-hit country, but soon grew into nationwide demonstrations that crested on January 8 and 9, posing one of the largest challenges to Iran’s leaders in years.
The unrest prompted a violent government crackdown that killed thousands of people.
The US-based Human Rights Activists News Agency (HRANA) has recorded more than 7,000 deaths, while warning that the full toll is likely far higher.
Iranian officials acknowledge more than 3,000 deaths, but say the violence was caused by “terrorist acts” fuelled by the United States and Israel.
During the protests, the government had sought to walk a line between acknowledging protesters’ legitimate economic grievances while condemning so-called “rioters”.
Mohajerani on Tuesday said a fact-finding mission is investigating “the causes and factors” of the protests and will provide reports.
The crackdown in January prompted US President Donald Trump to threaten to intervene militarily on the protesters’ behalf, though the focus of his threats soon shifted to Iran’s contentious nuclear programme.
Since then, the US has carried out a massive military build-up in the Middle East aimed at pressuring Tehran into cutting a deal, even as the two sides pursue indirect negotiations, set to resume on Thursday in Geneva.
Iran insists its nuclear programme is for civilian use, but the West believes it is aimed at building an atomic bomb.
Iran has vowed to retaliate “ferociously” against any attack from the United States, even a limited one, which Trump has publicly acknowledged he is considering.
Trump on Monday denied US media reports that the country’s top military officer, General Dan Caine, had flagged the risks of a major operation against Iran — pointing to munitions shortages and the potential for lengthy entanglement, among others.
“General Caine, like all of us, would like not to see war, but if a decision is made on going against Iran at a Military level, it is his opinion that it will be something easily won,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network.
© Agence France-Presse
