Pentagon Deploying Ships, Fighters To Boost Mideast Presence

The Pentagon is bolstering its presence in the Middle East with ships, fighter planes and ballistic missile defense vessels as Israel faces threats from Iran to avenge assassinations of Hamas and Hezbollah leaders.

The moves announced Friday by the Defense Department came a day after the White House said President Joe Biden promised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the US would provide new “defensive US military deployments.”

The deployments include sending additional ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers and destroyers to the US European and Central Command regions, Sabrina Singh, a Pentagon spokesperson, said in a statement Friday. The US is also taking steps “to increase our readiness to deploy additional land-based ballistic missile defense,” Singh said, without explaining those moves.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also ordered steps including moving an additional squadron of fighter jets to the region and dispatching the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which is now in the Gulf of Oman, according to the statement.

But many of the moves announced, including sending the Lincoln carrier group, which is now in the Pacific, will take weeks to achieve even though Iran may be poised to strike Israel imminently.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said in a statement Friday that he spoke with his American and British counterparts, Austin and John Healey, and provided “a situational assessment in light of recent security developments.”

Fear has risen of a spillover from the nearly 10-month Israel-Hamas war in Gaza as Iran threatened retaliation for the assassination in Tehran this week of Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of the Iran-backed group. 

A similar spike in tensions about four months ago saw Iran and Israel trade direct fire for the first time. Almost 300 Iranian drones and missiles were fired but most were destroyed by air defenses from Israel, the US and several allies. Israel’s drone strike in response was contained and appeared symbolic to avoid escalation. 

While Biden pledged to provide defense support for Israel in his conversation with Netanyahu, he also told reporters that he was “very direct” in telling the prime minister that he needed to support a cease-fire in the war with Hamas. ““We have the basis for a cease-fire,” Biden said. “He should move on it and they should move on it now.”

--With assistance from Dan Williams.

(Updates with time needed for some moves in fifth paragraph)

More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com

©2024 Bloomberg L.P.