Iran’s stepped-up bellicosity, including a warning Tuesday that a U.S. aircraft carrier should not return to the Persian Gulf, is a reaction to increased talk in the United States and Israel of a strike on its nuclear sites, and of the West adding economic sanctions on its already struggling economy, analysts say.
The Pentagon responded to Iran’s tough talk by vowing that its warships are in the Gulf to stay and will take steps to ensure the commercial oil shipping continues to sail through the Strait of Hormuz. More than one-sixth of the world’s crude oil moves through the strategic sea lane at the mouth of the Gulf.
