US military sends reinforcements to Middle East

Washington —

U.S. warships and fighter jets are heading to the Middle East and neighboring regions to bolster U.S. defenses in support of Israel, as both countries prepare for a possible military strike by Iran.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin signed the order Friday to move additional assets and capabilities to the Middle East and parts of Europe, following promises by Tehran and its proxies to seek revenge for the assassination last week of a top Hezbollah commander in Lebanon and the political leader of the Hamas terrorist group on Iranian soil.

The measures taken by the United States include sending USS Abraham Lincoln a strike group of aircraft carriers in the Middle East, as well as cruisers and destroyers capable of shooting down ballistic missiles.

In addition, the United States is sending an additional fighter squadron to the region and taking steps to enable the deployment of land-based missile defense capabilities.

The Pentagon did not say when the various ships and aircraft would be in place, but in a statement released Friday it described the measures as necessary to “mitigate the potential for regional escalation by Iran or its partners and proxies.”

The statement also said that moving more military capabilities to the region is aimed at “enhancing the protection of U.S. forces, increasing support for Israel’s defense, and ensuring that the United States is prepared to respond to a variety of contingencies.”

The new orders came just hours after Austin pledged additional support for Israel in a call with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.

“The Secretary reiterated his unwavering support for Israel’s security and briefed the Minister on additional steps, including current and future changes in defensive force posture, that the Department will take to support Israel’s defense,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said in a briefing.

The Pentagon’s support for Israel since the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attack “should leave Iran, Lebanese Hezbollah and other Iranian-backed terrorist groups in no doubt about the resolve of the United States,” she said.

Tensions in the region have escalated significantly in the past week, following an Israeli strike in Lebanon that killed Hezbollah’s top military commander, Fuad Shukur, and the subsequent assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was in Tehran to celebrate the inauguration of Iran’s new president.

Israel has not publicly claimed responsibility for Haniyeh’s death, but Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has blamed Israel and called for retaliation.

“The criminal and terrorist Zionist regime martyred our dear guest on our land and caused our grief, but it also prepared the ground for severe punishment,” Khamenei posted on the X social media platform.

“It is our duty to take revenge,” he added in another message.

Iranian officials said Thursday they planned to meet with representatives of Iran’s main proxies – including Hamas, Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis and militias in Iraq and Syria – to plan their next steps.

“How Iran and the resistance front will respond is currently under review,” Major General Mohammad Bagheri, head of Iran’s armed forces, said on Iranian state television.

“This will certainly happen, and the Zionist regime (Israel) will undoubtedly regret it,” he added.

But U.S. officials, seeking to prevent tensions from exploding into a regional war, have repeatedly signaled that Washington will not leave Israel defenseless.

In a call Thursday between U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Biden “discussed efforts to support Israel’s defense against threats, including ballistic missiles and drones, to include new U.S. defensive military deployments,” the U.S. statement said.

U.S. defense officials also stressed Friday that Israel would not stand alone in the face of Iranian aggression.

“We will support Israel in its self-defense,” Singh said.

“These are defensive capabilities,” Singh added. “All the capabilities we have in the region are defensive and are intended to send a message of deterrence.”

In addition to the additional warships and jets being sent to the Middle East, the Pentagon has a U.S. Marine Corps Amphibious Ready Group of some 4,000 troops in the region.

THE USS Theodore Roosevelt The carrier group is also in the Middle East, but is expected to leave once the USS Abraham Lincoln arrival of the carrier battle group.

This would not be the first time that the United States has strengthened its defensive capabilities to protect Israel from an Iranian attack.

Last April, the United States deployed naval destroyers and other military assets to the region, in coordination with Britain, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and other Middle East allies, to thwart a massive barrage of drones and missiles from Iran.

At the time, a U.S. official called the effort an “incredible military feat.”

It is not certain, however, that the United States can count on a similar coalition to deter a second Iranian attack on Israel.

It is also unclear whether Iran and its proxies will attempt another airstrike against Israel, after about 99 percent of the missiles and drones they launched in April failed to hit their targets.

“Iran is currently making a difficult decision about how to respond to the targeted assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran,” said Robert Murrett, a retired U.S. vice admiral and deputy director of the Institute for Security Policy and Law at Syracuse University.

“Iran will likely carefully calibrate its response to the Israelis,” Murrett told VOA by email. “They (the Iranians) are fully aware of the regional implications of any direct or indirect attack on Israel, with or without proxies.”

At the same time, the Pentagon insisted Friday that further escalation between Iran and Israel “is not inevitable.”

“We believe there is a way out here, and that is this ceasefire agreement (in Gaza)” between Israel and Hamas, Singh said.

Some information from Reuters was used in this report.