Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Pentagon officials are reviewing a request by the top U.S. commander for the Middle East for an additional aircraft carrier and escort vessels in the Persian Gulf area, three defense officials said.

The request by U.S. Central Command commander General John Abizaid is in the early review stages by the Joint Staff and Joint Forces Command that oversees the deployment and readiness of U.S. forces, the officials said. The request would then be forwarded to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, the officials said.

Abizaid's request wasn't aimed at any one country, said the three officials familiar with the request, who asked not to be identified. Instead, they said, Abizaid wants to boost U.S. presence in a region that's seen increased rhetoric and war exercises by Iran, heightened tensions between Somalia and Ethiopia and increased violence in Afghanistan.

Abizaid said in an interview last month that Iran had just completed a 10-day war game ``designed to intimidate the smaller nations in the region in a way that I haven't quite seen before.''

Oil Producer

Iran, while maintaining its position as the second- largest oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, has defied United Nations demands to suspend its nuclear program, saying it's needed to generate electricity. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has promoted the nuclear project as an important national goal.

Iran's rhetoric and ambitions ``are clearly causing a lot of anxiety among our friends in the Gulf, and they want help,'' John Hillen, State Department assistant secretary for political military affairs, said in an Dec. 13 interview.

The UN Security Council will vote on whether to impose sanctions over Iran's nuclear program ``in the next several days'' Nicholas Burns, the undersecretary of state for political affairs, told Cable News Network on Dec. 18.

If Gates approves Abizaid's request, the USS John C. Stennis carrier strike group based in Bremerton, Washington, would probably be sent because it's scheduled to deploy in January as part of the Navy's normal rotation of carriers to an as yet undisclosed location, said one of the officials.

Stennis

The Stennis in November completed an exercise for joint air, surface and anti-submarine operations, vehicle boarding and oil platform defense, according to the Navy's Web site. It was the final exercise needed to declare the Stennis ready for its January deployment.

If assigned to the Persian Gulf region, the Stennis may arrive as early as February, the official said. It would join the USS Eisenhower carrier strike group, which entered the Persian Gulf this month.

Incoming House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, a Missouri Democrat, said that sending a carrier to a region is ``always a signal that we're here and we're watching.''

Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman declined during a session with reporters to discuss carrier moves.

Contingencies

``We move ships where we believe we need to have ships,'' he said. ``We don't talk about those movements, we don't talk about those plans and we don't talk about those contingencies.''

Although the officials said the carrier request isn't directly aimed at Iran, the U.S. accuses Iran of trying to interfere in the politics of neighboring Iraq by supporting Shiite Muslim militias, of financing and arming Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon, and seeking to develop nuclear weapons.

The Pentagon in its latest quarterly report to Congress on Iraq wrote that ``Iran and Syria are undermining the government of Iraq's political process by providing both active and passive support'' to anti-government forces.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tony Capaccio in Washington at acapaccio@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: December 19, 2006 21:55 EST