US aircraft carrier heading away from Yemen: officials

A US aircraft carrier and a guided-missile cruiser are leaving the waters off Yemen and heading back to the Gulf after an Iranian naval convoy also turned back from the area, officials said Friday.

The carrier and the cruiser, the USS Theodore Roosevelt and the USS Normandy, had deployed to the region this week amid signs of a possible showdown with the Iranian flotilla. Washington suspected the convoy of carrying weapons destined for Shia Huthi rebels in Yemen.

The Roosevelt and the Normandy are expected to re-enter the Gulf “very soon,” said a defense official.

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