Washington, 3 August 2024 (TDI): The United States is sending a carrier strike group, a fighter squadron and additional warships to the Middle East as the region braces for an Iranian retaliation to the assassination of a senior Hamas leader in Tehran earlier this week.
It is perhaps the largest movement of US troops to the region since the early days of the Gaza war, when the Pentagon sent two carrier strike groups toward the Middle East.
John Kirby, the strategic communications coordinator for the National Security Council, said that they have heard the Supreme Leader loud and clear that he intends to avenge the killing of Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, and that he wanted to conduct another attack on Israel. The US could not just assume that it is also potentially going to be the victim of that kind of an attack.
Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said in a statement that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered on Friday the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt strike group, which is currently operating in the Gulf of Oman.
In addition, destroyers and cruisers capable of ballistic missile defense will also be dispatched to the Middle East and the Mediterranean Sea. The statement did not indicate which warships have been sent, but two US destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean Sea participated in intercepting the barrage of strikes Iran launched against Israel in April.
Austin also ordered the deployment of a fighter squadron to the region, according to Singh.
The United States already has the USS Wasp amphibious assault ship in the region, which operates with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, capable of carrying out an evacuation of American citizens in Lebanon should it be ordered.
Singh said that the United States’ global defense is dynamic and the Department of Defense retains the capability to deploy on short notice to meet evolving national security threats.
