The US dispatched another aircraft carrier and thousands more troops to the Middle East, signaling a potential escalation in the Iran war. US President Donald Trump said in a recent interview that a resumption of military strikes was āpossible,ā after last month rejecting an Iranian proposal to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
Tehran, meanwhile, is preparing its own response to any American attacks, Reuters reported. Iran seems ādetermined not to respond symbolically to a symbolic move and instead to escalate in the ā hope of reestablishing deterrence,ā one expert said. Oil surged 4% on the news: Crude flows out of the Gulf last month were almost back to prewar levels, but analysts cautioned that any recovery in overall supply was fragile.