The Arleigh Burke-class, guided-missile destroyer USS Daniel Inouye on July 16, 2024. (U.S. Navy)
WASHINGTON — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday ordered additional warships, including destroyers and cruisers, and an additional fighter squadron to the Middle East to bolster defenses as the region braces for a potential attack from Iran in retaliation for the killing of a Hamas leader.
“To maintain a carrier strike group presence in the Middle East, the secretary has ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group currently on deployment in the [U.S.] Central Command area of responsibility,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh said in a statement announcing the additional forces.
In addition to destroyers and cruisers, the Pentagon is also taking steps to increase its readiness to deploy additional land-based ballistic missile defenses. Austin also ordered the deployment of an additional fighter squadron to the region, Singh said.
The decision to move U.S. forces comes ahead of an anticipated Iranian attack in response to the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday.
President Joe Biden on Thursday discussed U.S. efforts to support Israel’s defense against threats, including against ballistic missiles and drones, with Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu, the White House reported. The discussion included the possibility of “new defensive U.S. military deployments.”
Austin also spoke with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Friday morning about possible changes to U.S. forces in the region.
“We’ve got to make sure we’ve got the right resources and capabilities in the region,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said earlier Friday during an interview with CNN.
Israel had pledged to kill Haniyeh and other Hamas leaders over the militant group’s Oct. 7 surprise attack on southern Israel that sparked the war in Gaza. The strike came just after Haniyeh had attended the inauguration of Iran’s new president in Tehran and hours after Israel targeted a top commander in Iran’s ally Hezbollah in the Lebanese capital of Beirut.
“We’ve heard the supreme leader loud and clear that he intends to avenge this killing of a Hamas leader in Tehran and that they want to conduct another attack on Israel,” Kirby said.
Iran launched a barrage of ballistic missiles and drones against Israel on April 13 in retaliation for an airstrike in Syria that killed a top Iranian general. U.S. officials are reporting the anticipated Iranian attack could be similar or larger than the one on April 13, including coordination with Iranian proxy forces.
The Pentagon announced in June that the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group would deploy for a scheduled training exercise in the Indo-Pacific region before arriving in the Middle East. The Washington Post reported the Roosevelt was in the Persian Gulf on Wednesday with six U.S. destroyers — the USS Cole, the USS John S. McCain, the USS Daniel Inouye, the USS Russell, the USS Michael Murphy and the USS Laboon.
The USS Wasp Amphibious Ready Group is in the Eastern Mediterranean on a regularly scheduled deployment.
