The US forces have also reportedly sent an additional dozen warplanes to boost their strike group in the region.
Earlier in the day, Fox News reported, citing a US official, that the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group had entered CENTCOM's area of responsibility in the Indian Ocean.
On January 22, US President Donald Trump said that US Navy ships were moving toward Iran "just in case." Prior to that, he refused to give a definitive answer to the question about whether the option of military intervention in Iran had been removed, saying only that he could not say what would happen in the future.