{"id":188393,"date":"2019-05-15T07:22:07","date_gmt":"2019-05-15T07:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=188393"},"modified":"2019-05-18T05:59:56","modified_gmt":"2019-05-18T05:59:56","slug":"spain-recalls-frigate-from-us-navy-strike-group-over-gulf-tensions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=188393","title":{"rendered":"Spain recalls frigate from US Navy strike group over Gulf tensions"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Defence Post \u2013 May 14, 2019<\/h1>\n

Spain has recalled a frigate accompanying a U.S. aircraft carrier to the Middle East because of rising tensions between Washington and Tehran, the defense ministry said Tuesday, May 14.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

A Nimitz class carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in 2012. Click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cFor the moment the frigate Mendez Nunez has left the combat group of the USS Abraham Lincoln,\u201d a ministry spokesperson told AFP, confirming a report in the Spanish daily El Pais.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a temporary withdrawal, decided by Defense Minister Margarita Robles, as long as the American aircraft carrier is in this zone,\u201d the spokesman added.<\/span><\/p>\n

He said the Spanish frigate had joined the aircraft carrier\u2019s strike group for a military exercise.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cNo possible confrontation or warlike action is envisaged [by Spain] and it is for this reason that the participation is suspended for the moment,\u201d he added.<\/span><\/p>\n

On May 5, the White House announced it was deploying the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group and a bomber task force to the Middle East, claiming a \u201ccredible threat\u201d from Iran.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last Friday, the Pentagon announced the deployment of the amphibious assault ship the USS Arlington and a Patriot missile battery to the region.<\/span><\/p>\n

Washington reiterated that intelligence reports suggested Iran was planning some sort of attack in the region.<\/span><\/p>\n

Robles later told reporters in Brussels that the U.S. decision to deploy the aircraft carrier to the Gulf \u201cwent beyond what was scheduled in the terms of a cooperation agreement that placed the Mendez Nunez frigate with the U.S. fleet for training.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a problem of discrepancies with Iran or \u2026 It\u2019s a question of interpretation of a techno-military agreement,\u201d she added.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Spanish frigate is currently in Mumbai, the minister said.<\/span><\/p>\n

On Sunday and Monday, U.S. allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates said oil tankers belonging to them were damaged in \u201csabotage attacks\u201d in the Gulf. Neither country released details.<\/span><\/p>\n

No link has officially been drawn between the incidents and U.S. accusations concerning \u201cimminent\u201d attacks by Tehran against American interests in the region.<\/span><\/p>\n

France, Germany and the United Kingdom on Monday urged the U.S. not to further escalate tensions over the Iran nuclear deal.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why has Spain withdrawn a frigate from the task group accompanying the USS Abraham Lincoln? Could it be that the vessels are sailing toward the Persian Gulf for more than a routine naval exercise? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[58,51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-188393","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-Current_Affairs","category-Iran"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188393","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=188393"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188393\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":188397,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188393\/revisions\/188397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=188393"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=188393"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=188393"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}