A US navy ship due for decommissioning has been sent to the Arabian Gulf to help mine-clearing operations.
The deployment is the latest move in a gradual US build-up as tensions with Iran smoulder.
A spokesman for the US Fifth Fleet, based in Bahrain, said the USS Ponce, described as an "afloat forward staging base [AFSB]", had arrived on Thursday after undergoing refitting.
The move comes as the chairman of the Iranian military's Joint Chiefs of Staff said Tehran would block the Strait of Hormuz, through which 40 per cent of the world's seaborne oil exports flow, if it determined that the Islamic republic's interests were seriously threatened.
Gen Hasan Firouzabadi's comments yesterday to Iranian media came less than a week after the European Union imposed an embargo on Iran's vital oil sector to pressure Tehran over its disputed nuclear programme.
The US and its allies accuse Iran of seeking nuclear weapons - a charge Tehran denies.
Gen Firouzabadi did not specify what would constitute a threat to Iran's interests, and did not mention the new EU sanctions.
But Iran's Revolutionary Guard has warned in the past that it would close the strait if Tehran's oil exports are blocked.
Four US minesweepers arrived in the Arabian Gulf last month to bolster the Fifth Fleet and ensure the safety of shipping routes.
* Reuters and the Associated Press
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cyl turbo
Power: 201hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 320Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 6-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 8.7L/100km
Price: Dh133,900
On sale: now
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
The past Palme d'Or winners
2018 Shoplifters, Hirokazu Kore-eda
2017 The Square, Ruben Ostlund
2016 I, Daniel Blake, Ken Loach
2015 Dheepan, Jacques Audiard
2014 Winter Sleep (Kış Uykusu), Nuri Bilge Ceylan
2013 Blue is the Warmest Colour (La Vie d'Adèle: Chapitres 1 et 2), Abdellatif Kechiche, Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux
2012 Amour, Michael Haneke
2011 The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick
2010 Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives (Lung Bunmi Raluek Chat), Apichatpong Weerasethakul
2009 The White Ribbon (Eine deutsche Kindergeschichte), Michael Haneke
2008 The Class (Entre les murs), Laurent Cantet