U.S. aircraft carrier passes Strait of Hormuz

PanARMENIAN.Net - The U.S. aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln has passed through the Strait of Hormuz and is now in the Gulf, the Pentagon said, after Tehran threatened to close the strategic shipping route.

"USS Abraham Lincoln ... completed a regular and routine transit of the Strait of Hormuz ... to conduct maritime security operations as scheduled," AFP quoted Pentagon spokesman Navy Captain John Kirby as saying. "The transit was completed as previously scheduled and without incident."

The carrier, which can have up to 80 planes and helicopters on board, was escorted by the guided-missile cruiser USS Cape St George and two destroyers.

Earlier, Britain's Ministry of Defence said a British Royal Navy frigate and a French vessel had joined the carrier group to sail through the strategic waterway.

While allied ships often participate in U.S. naval exercises and sometimes are part of joint naval flotillas, the presence of British and French ships seemed to be a message to Tehran about the West's resolve to keep the route open.

Iran's military and political leaders had warned they could close the strait - a key transit route for global oil supplies - if increased Western sanctions over Tehran's suspect nuclear program halt Iranian oil exports. The Islamic republic's navy had also warned it will react if the United States tried to redeploy one of its aircraft carriers to the waterway.

Two of the 11 U.S. aircraft carriers are currently in the region. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has repeatedly said that closing the strait would cross a "red line."

Since then, Iran has tried to ease tensions, with Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi saying last week that Tehran had never tried to close the strait. We want peace and stability in the region," Salehi said.