Press TV - Spain has withdrawn its frigate with 215 sailors on board from the Middle�East-bound strike group, led by an American aircraft carrier, as tensions heighten between the United States and Iran.
Spanish Defense Ministry sources told El Pais that Acting Minister Margarita Robles�had ordered the �temporary measure of�withdrawal of�the frigate Mendez Nunez (F-104) from�the combat group of�the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln while it is in�the Middle East.�
They also noted that the Spanish warship �is on�a mission of�circumnavigation and will not enter into�any other type of�mission.�

Robles issued the order during�a meeting of�European Union defense ministers in Brussels on�Monday.

�The move may trigger a diplomatic crisis between�the US and Spain,� ABC journalists warned.

Mendez Nunez is now expected to�return to�Spain after�visiting California and passing through�the Panama Canal.

On May 5, US National Security Adviser John Bolton announced the deployment of USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier, carrying up to 40 strike aircraft, and a bomber task force to the US Central Command region.

He said that the move is aimed at sending a �clear and unmistakable message� to Iran that �any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force.�

He further claimed that the US administration was acting �in response to a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings.�

In response, Brigadier General Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the commander of the Aerospace Division of Iran�s Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC), warned that Americans will be �hit on the head� in case of any mistaken move.

According to media reports, USS Abraham Lincoln and the accompanying ships have passed through the Suez Canal and are now in the Red Sea.