Special report: Iran Nuclear Crisis

    WASHINGTON, March 30 (Xinhua) -- U.S. aircraft carrier Nimitz and its support ships will depart United States next Monday for the Persian Gulf to join another aircraft carrier strike group already in that region, the Pentagon said Friday.

    The nuclear-powered carrier will join the John C. Stennis Strike Group and relieve carrier Dwight D. Eisenhower, according to a news release from the Pentagon.

    The Pentagon said that the two-carrier presence in the Persian Gulf is intended to demonstrate the country's "resolve to build regional security and bring long-term stability to the region."

    The Nimitz's departure comes amid heightened tensions in the region following the detention of 15 British sailors and marines by Iran last week.

    Iran maintains the detainees were operating in its territorial waters, a charge the British government strongly denies.

    Once deployed, the Nimitz Strike Group will also patrol the Horn of Africa and conduct marine security operations as part of the larger effort to "deter and dissuade others from acting counter to U.S. national interests," the Pentagon said.

    The group also includes guided-missile cruiser Princeton, guided-missile destroyers Higgins, Chafee, John Paul Jones and Pinckney, two helicopter squadrons and an explosive ordnance disposal unit.

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)

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