TEHRAN - Brian Hook, the U.S. special representative for Iran, has said that the U.S. is not looking for war with Iran

“We have repositioned our military assets accordingly just to be ready and to be in defensive position. President [U.S. President Donald Trump] has said it clear so has the secretary of state Mike Pompeo] that we are not looking to get into war with Iran,” he told BBC on Tuesday.

According to Al Jazeera, the U.S. has approved the deployment of a Patriot missile defense battery and another warship to the Middle East amid increasing tensions with Iran.

The USS Arlington, which transports marines, amphibious vehicles, and rotary aircraft, as well as the Patriot missiles, will join the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, which already passed through Egypt's Suez Canal on Thursday, and is currently sailing in the Red Sea, according to CNN.

The U.S. says the deployments of military hardware to the region comes in response to what it claimed “heightened Iranian readiness to conduct offensive operations”.

The Patriot missile system is currently deployed in Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

“The Acting Secretary of Defense has approved the movement of USS Arlington (LPD-24) and a Patriot battery to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) as part of the command’s original request for forces from earlier this week,” a Pentagon statement said.

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