Steady Ricci solitons with horizontally $\epsilon$-pinched Ricci curvature

In this paper, we prove that any $\kappa$-noncollapsed gradient steady Ricci soliton with nonnegative curvature operator and horizontally $\epsilon$-pinched Ricci curvature must be rotationally symmetric. As an application, we show that any $\kappa$-noncollapsed gradient steady Ricci soliton $(M^n, g,f)$ with nonnegative curvature operator must be rotationally symmetric if it admits a unique equilibrium point and its scalar curvature $R(x)$ satisfies $\lim_{r(x)\rightarrow\infty}R(x)f(x)=C_0\sup_{x\in M}R(x)$ with $C_0>\frac{n-2}{2}$.