© MC3 Elliot Schaudt/U.S. NavyARABIAN SEA (Nov. 17, 2020) The aircraft carrier USS Nimitz (CVN 68) steams ahead of the guided-missile cruiser USS Princeton (CG 59) while participating in Malabar 2020 in the north Arabian Sea. Malabar 2020 is the latest in a continuing series of exercises that has grown in scope and complexity over the years to address the variety of shared threats to maritime security in the Indo-Asia Pacific where the U.S. Navy has patrolled for more than 70 years promoting regional peace and security. Nimitz Carrier Strike Group is currently deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Elliot Schaudt) 201117-N-NH257-1123
President Donald Trump directed acting Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller to reverse course and order a US aircraft carrier to return to the Middle East following a White House meeting Sunday, according to a senior defense official.
This decision overturned Miller's order last week to send the USS Nimitz out of the region and home, in part, to send a de-escalation signal to Iran amid rising tensions between Washington and Tehran.
One defense official says Miller's idea of de-escalation had not been adopted as a formal, approved policy. It took top commanders by surprise, several defense sources said. US Central Command wanted the carrier to stay in the region to deter Iran at a time of rising tension and less than three weeks before President-elect Joe Biden takes office.
The White House and NSC did not immediately respond to CNN's request for comment.
On Sunday, Miller announced that the USS Nimitz would remain in place due to purported Iranian threats "against President Trump and other US government officials." Miller said in a statement that he had "ordered the USS Nimitz to halt its routine redeployment." The carrier will now "remain on station in the US Central Command area of operations," Miller added.
"No one should doubt the resolve of the United States of America," he said.
January 3rd marked one year since the US assassinated Iran's second most powerful leader, Gen. Qasem Soleimani, and Iraqi Shia militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis in a drone strike. US officials have been concerned that Iran or its proxies would mark the date by retaliating.
Instead, the day passed quietly, with Iran-affiliated leaders sending their own de-escalation signals. On Sunday, the leader of the Iran-backed Iraqi Shiite militia group Kataib Hezbollah issued a statement saying the group would not try to "enter" the US Embassy in Baghdad or seek to overthrow the current Iraqi government, even as crowds gathered in Baghdad's Tahrir square Sunday to demand that US forces leave the country.
"We will not enter the embassy of evil today, and we will not overthrow this government, as there is still time," Abu Hussein Al-Hamidawi said in the statement. The US has previously accused Kataib Hezbollah of being behind attacks on US facilities.
Last week CNN reported there have been conflicting messages that reflect divisions within the Pentagon on the current threat level from Iran.
This story is breaking and will be updated.