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The US is sending an aircraft carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Middle East to send a message to Tehran following "clear indications" that Iranian and proxy forces have been preparing to possibly attack American troops in the region, said a defence official.

The official, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information, said the Pentagon approved the deployments and that US sea and land forces were thought to be the potential targets. The official declined to be more specific.

White House national security adviser John Bolton said in a statement Sunday night that the Washington is deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force to the US Central Command region, an area that includes the Middle East.

Bolton said the move was in response to "a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings". He didn't provide details, but said the White House wants to send a message that "any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force".

"The United States is not seeking war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or regular Iranian forces," he said.

The Pentagon had no immediate comment on the Bolton statement. It is unclear why the deployment is taking place now, but it comes during a deadly escalation between Hamas and Israel in Gaza in which the two sides have traded a barrage of rocket fire and air strikes in recent days.

The deployment also comes amid heightened tensions between Washington and Tehran, with the US stepping up its crippling sanctions in recent weeks.

'Escalatory actions'

The Abraham Lincoln and its strike group of ships and combat aircraft have been operating in the Mediterranean Sea recently. Last Wednesday a group of senior Albanian government officials visited aboard the Lincoln as it sailed in the Adriatic.

Bolton's reference to the Central Command area would mean the Lincoln is headed east to the Red Sea and perhaps then to the Arabian Sea or the Persian Gulf. The US Navy currently has no aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf.

Bolton's mention of deploying a bomber task force suggests the Pentagon is deploying land-based bomber aircraft somewhere in the region, perhaps on the Arabian Peninsula.

Speaking to reporters while flying to Europe, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the actions undertaken by the US had been considered for a little while.

"It is absolutely the case that we have seen escalatory actions from the Iranians and it is equally the case that we will hold the Iranians accountable for attacks on American interests," Pompeo said.

"If these actions take place, if they do by some third-party proxy, a militia group, Hizballah, we will hold the Iranian leadership directly accountable for that."

Comment: Trump ends waivers and inches closer to war with Iran

Asked about "escalatory actions", Pompeo replied: "I don't want to talk about what underlays it, but make no mistake, we have good reason to want to communicate clearly about how the Iranians should understand how we will respond to actions they may take."

Asked if the Iranian action were related to the deadly events in Gaza and Israel - militants fired rockets into Israel on Sunday and Israel responded with airstrikes - Pompeo said, "It is separate from that."

The Trump administration has been intensifying a pressure campaign against Iran.

Last month, President Donald Trump announced that Washington will no longer exempt any countries from US sanctions if they continue to buy Iranian oil, a decision that primarily affects the five remaining major importers: China and India and US treaty allies Japan, South Korea and Turkey.

The US also recently designated Iran's Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist group, the first ever for an entire division of another government. Iran's parliament has now also approved a bill that labels all US military forces as "terrorist", a step up from its original designation of US troops stationed in the Middle East as "terrorist". 

Trump withdrew from the Obama administration's landmark nuclear deal with Iran in May 2018 and, in the months that followed, reimposed punishing sanctions including those targeting Iran's oil, shipping and banking sectors.

Nuclear inspectors have certified that Iran has stuck by the terms of the deal. But Trump, surrounded by hawkish aides, has been progressively ratcheting up sanctions pressure on Iran, demanding it also rein in its conventional military missile programme and pull its forces and proxy fighters out of other Middle East countries.

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