The United States is deploying a carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Middle East, in what U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton described as a clear message to Iran that any attack on U.S. interests or its allies will be met with “unrelenting force.” Ambassador Bolton stressed in a written statement that while “the United States is not seeking war with the Iranian regime,” it is “fully prepared to respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or regular Iranian forces.” A U.S. official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the forces “have been ordered to the region as a deterrence to what has been seen as potential preparations by Iranian forces and its proxies that may indicate possible attacks on U.S. forces in the region” – but that no imminent attacks on American forces are expected.