WASHINGTON, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Aircraft carrier USS
John C. Stennis entered the Persian Gulf Tuesday to join another U.S. carrier
already there in a show of force seldom seen since World War II.
Stennis was escorted by the guided-missile cruiser
USS Antietamas it entered the Persian Gulf, CNN reported Tuesday. In
addition,the U.S. military has deployed about a dozen warships in the area.
An F/A-18C Hornet launches from Nimitz-class
aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis in the Arabian Sea, March 16,
2007.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery
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Stennis
will take part in a carrier exercise featuring simulated aerial attacks with the
carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, a U.S. Navy news release said.
The exercise will demonstrate "the importance of both
strike groups' ability to plan and conduct dual task force operations as part of
the U.S. long-standing commitment to maintaining maritime security and stability
in this region," the U.S. Navy said.
The exercise was certain to increase tension with
Iran, which has frequently condemned the U.S. military presence off its
coastline, analysts said in the Western media.
The move came amid heightened tension between the
West and Iranfollowing the capture of 15 British servicemen in the north of
theGulf last week. Iran accused the sailors of straying into its waters near the
Gulf, but Britain and the U.S. Navy have insisted they were operating in Iraqi
waters.
The UN Security Council voted Saturday for new
sanctions against Iran. While rejecting the sanctions, Iran said Sunday it would
partially suspend cooperation with the IAEA, the UN's nuclear watchdog.
TEHRAN, March 24 (Xinhua) -- Iranian military officer
General Alireza Afshar said on Saturday that the 15 British sailors who were
detained by Iranian forces when they were patrolling off the Iraqi border
Friday, have "confessed their mistakes of illegally entering Iranian waters",
local Fars news agency reported.
"Right now they are being interrogated, and they have
confessed the illegal entry of territorial waters of the Islamic republic,"
Afshar was quoted as saying. Full story
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