US withdraws aircraft carrier deployed in Middle East that was meant to defend Israel from Iranian attack

The U.S. government decided to withdraw one aircraft carrier of the two it had recently deployed to the Middle East to defend Israel against a possible attack by Iran and the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah in retaliation for the killing of Ismail Haniyeh, leader of Hamas' political bureau, in Tehran in an operation attributed to the Jewish state on July 31 of this year, the Associated Press reported.

Lloyd Austin, U.S. secretary of defense, ordered the return to the United States of the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, so that now only the USS Abraham Lincoln remains deployed in the region.

U.S. military commanders in the Middle East have long maintained that the presence of U.S. aircraft carriers and warships has been an effective deterrent in the region, especially to Iran.

Since the war in the Gaza Strip began, following the Oct. 7 massacre perpetrated by Hamas in Israel, there has been a continuous presence of U.S. aircraft carriers in and around the region.

It is unknown whether Washington's decision is because Iran has desisted from carrying out an attack against Israel in the short term.