De-escalating tensions with Iran

Biden’s administration has pulled an aircraft carrier out of the Gulf in a move to potentially ease tensions with Iran, which had soared under former President Donald Trump.

Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Tuesday the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group had sailed from the US military’s Central Command in the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific Command region.

Kirby did not confirm reports the Nimitz was headed back to the United States after some nine months at sea.

But he indicated that, after the Trump administration ramped up the US military presence in the Gulf, the Biden administration did not see keeping the carrier there as necessary for US security needs.

[...]

Iran has conducted military exercises and war games in the past several weeks amid the heightened tension between Tehran and Washington and its regional allies, particularly Israel. Last month, Tehran carried out the fifth military drill in two weeks as the US flew nuclear-capable B-52 bombers over the Middle East.

Iran has also boosted its nuclear activity in the past few months, drawing concerns from the new US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who told NBC News on Monday Tehran could be months away from developing enough “fissile material” for a nuclear bomb.

But Iranian Foreign Affairs Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif rejected the allegations, saying Tehran was not seeking a nuclear weapon.

The Biden administration has expressed interest in reviving the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, from which Trump withdrew and slapped back punishing sanctions.

Iran has demanded Washington first lift the sanctions before talks could be resumed.

  alJazeera

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.