BEIJING, Aug. 3 (Xinhuanet) -- The USS Enterprise aircraft carrier group arrived in the Middle East on Wednesday, replacing two carriers that had left the Gulf after a monthslong deployment aimed at sending a signal of strength to Iran.

    The U.S. 5th Fleet's headquarters in Bahrain acknowledged the USS John C. Stennis and the USS Nimitz carriers were returning to their home ports of Bremerton, Washington, and San Diego, California.

    After a much publicized U.S. military buildup in the Persian Gulf, where the Navy kept a two-carrier presence since February, there was at least a week with no U.S. carrier patrolling the area, although there were other Navy vessels in the theater during that week.

    "We still had enough ships and air forces available during a weeklong absence of the carrier, so our response capabilities were not diminished," Navy spokeswoman Lt. Denise Garcia said in Manama, Bahrain.

    Rear Adm. Daniel Holloway, Enterprise's commander, said Wednesday the Navy remains "committed to demonstrate our nation's resolve to maintain security and stability to the region."

    But the arrival of the Enterprise, with its fleet of 5,500 sailors and Marines, 70 attack, fighter and detection planes, as well as four helicopters, reflects that the Navy is toning down its Gulf presence. The Enterprise will be the lone carrier for at least three months, until the USS Harry S. Truman is deployed in the fall.

    The Nimitz and John C. Stennis with 15,000 sailors and Marines between them have since February conducted two major exercises off Iran's coast.

    The war games were clear U.S. muscle flexing at a time when Tehran increasingly came at loggerheads with the international community over its disputed nuclear program and threatened to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz for oil transporters in case of a U.S. military strike on Iran.