Pentagon considers Navy buildup in Gulf

USS Eisenhower

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Defense Department is thinking about a major buildup of U.S. Navy forces in the Gulf as a show of force against Iran, a senior defense official said Tuesday.

Speaking on condition of anonymity because the idea has not been approved, the official said one proposal is to send a second aircraft carrier to the region amid increasing tensions with Iran, blamed for encouraging sectarian violence in neighboring Iraq as well as allegedly pursuing a nuclear weapons program.

The United States and its European allies are seeking sanctions against Iran because of its refusal to stop uranium enrichment, a technology that can be used to produce nuclear fuel for civilian purposes or fuel for a nuclear bomb.

In Tehran, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Tuesday that U.N. sanctions would not stop Iran from pursuing its uranium enrichment program, which he has said is for peaceful development of energy.

The idea of building up U.S. Navy forces has been discussed over some time, and it is unclear when a decision will be made, the official said.

The aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower is already in the region. It left the United States in late September with four other ships and submarines carrying 6,500 sailors.

The flotilla headed to the Mediterranean Sea and eventually went to relieve the aircraft carrier USS Enterprise strike group, which was in the region supporting operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

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