WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Defense will deploy a squadron of fighter jets to the Middle East and maintain an aircraft carrier in the region, the Pentagon said Friday, fulfilling President Joe Biden’s pledge to bolster the U.S. military presence to help defend Israel from potential attacks by Iran and its allies and to protect American troops.
In a statement, the department said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has also ordered additional cruisers and destroyers with ballistic missile defenses to Europe and the Middle East and is taking steps to send more land-based ballistic missile defenses there.
These changes come as US leaders worry about escalating violence in the Middle East in response to recent Israeli attacks on leaders of Hamas and Hezbollah, prompting threats of retaliation.
Biden discussed new U.S. military deployments to protect against potential ballistic missile and drone attacks in a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday afternoon, the White House said. In April, U.S. forces intercepted dozens of missiles and drones fired by Iran into Israel and helped shoot down nearly all of them.
The murders on Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday and senior Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur in Beirut on Tuesday risk the fighting escalating into an all-out regional warwith Iran also threatening to respond after the attack on its territory. Israel has vowed to kill Hamas leaders over the Attack on October 7which provoked the war.
Austin is sending the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to the Middle East to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group, which is in the Gulf of Oman but is due home later this summer. The move suggests the Pentagon has decided to keep an aircraft carrier in the region consistently as a deterrent against Iran, at least until next year.
The Pentagon did not say where the fighter squadron came from or where in the Middle East it would be based. A number of allies in the region are often willing to station U.S. troops but do not want this to be made public.
The White House said in a statement that Biden “reaffirmed his commitment to Israel’s security against all threats posed by Iran, including the Iranian-backed terrorist groups Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.”
Earlier Friday, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters the moves were in the works, saying Austin would lead “multiple” troop movements to provide additional support to Israel and increase protection for U.S. troops in the region.
Military and defense officials have considered a wide range of options, from additional ships and fighter squadrons to additional air defense systems or unmanned assets. In many cases, the U.S. is not providing details because host nations are highly sensitive to the presence of additional U.S. troops and do not want such movements made public.
It is unclear which new ships will sail to the Middle East.
The US has maintained a consistent warship presence there and in the eastern Mediterranean, including two Navy destroyers, the USS Roosevelt and the USS Bulkeley, as well as the USS Wasp and the USS New York. The Wasp and the New York are part of the amphibious ready group and have a naval expeditionary force that can be deployed if evacuation of US personnel is required.
In addition, a U.S. official said that two U.S. Navy destroyers currently in the Middle East are moving north into the Red Sea toward the Mediterranean. At least one of them could remain in the Mediterranean if necessary. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss troop movements.