Handout photo dated April 12, 2022 of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72), center, the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay (CG 53), left, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) guided-missile destroyer JS Kong (DDG 173), right, JMSDF Murasame-class destroyer JS Inazuma (DD 105), back left, and the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance (DDG 111) are underway in formation during a U.S.-Japan bilateral exercise in the Sea of Japan. The US is sending a carrier strike group, a fighter squadron and additional warships to the Middle East as the region braces for an Iranian retaliation to the killing of a senior Hamas leader in Tehran earlier this week. On Friday August 2, 2024, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt strike group, which is currently operating in the Gulf of Oman, according to a statement from Pentagon deputy press secretary Sabrina Singh. U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist Seaman Aleksandr Freutel via ABACAPRESS.COM