CAIRO, May 9 (Xinhua) -- U.S. aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln passed through Egypt's Suez Canal on Thursday, the Suez Canal Authority said.
Mohab Mamish, chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, received the carrier along with the U.S. defense attache in Cairo who praised the security measures along the canal.
"The deployment of the carrier strike group is meant to show the U.S. will retaliate with unrelenting force to any attack," U.S. National Security adviser John Bolton said Sunday.
Bolton said Washington is sending an aircraft carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the Middle East in a "clear and unmistakable" message to Iran.
On Wednesday, Iran announced withdrawal from some of its commitments pertaining to the 2015 nuclear deal and threatened to do further if its economic interests under the pact cannot be honored.
In 2018, the United States unilaterally withdrew from a 2015 deal between major powers and Iran, under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear activities in exchange for relief from international sanctions.
In August last year, Washington re-imposed the first set of sanctions that target Iran's access to U.S. banknotes and key industries including cars and carpets.
In November 2018, the United States re-imposed a second package of sanctions aimed at significantly reducing Iran's oil exports and cutting it off from international finance.
