US vows to defy Iran warship warning

"The deployment of US military assets in the Persian Gulf region will continue as it has for decades," Pentagon press secretary George Little said in a statement. The movement of aircraft carriers and accompanying ships in the Gulf and through the strategic Strait of Hormuz was part of longstanding US security commitments, supported US military operations in the region and was in compliance with the laws of the sea, he said. "Our transits of the Strait of Hormuz continue to be in compliance with international law, which guarantees our vessels the right of transit passage. "We are committed to protecting maritime freedoms that are the basis for global prosperity; this is one of the main reasons our military forces operate in the region," Little said, without referring directly to Iran. The Pentagon statement came hours after Tehran s military warned that one of the US Navy s biggest aircraft carriers -- the USS John C. Stennis -- not to return to the Gulf, in an escalating showdown over Tehran s nuclear drive.