US sending more fighter jets and warships to Mideast amid threats from Iran-led axis
Pentagon announces it will also keep an aircraft carrier in the region; TV report says Israel is close to reprising the coalition that helped defend against Iranian attack in April
The US will move a fighter jet squadron to the Middle East and maintain an aircraft carrier in the region, the Pentagon said Friday, beefing up the American military presence to help defend Israel from possible attacks by Iran and its proxies and safeguard US troops.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has also ordered additional ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers and destroyers to the European and Middle East regions and is taking steps to send more land-based ballistic missile defense weapons there, the Pentagon said in a statement Friday evening.
The shifts make good on a promise President Joe Biden made to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In a call Thursday, Biden discussed new US military deployments to protect against possible attacks from ballistic missiles and drones, according to the White House. In April, US forces intercepted dozens of missiles and drones fired by Iran against Israel and helped down nearly all of them.
US leaders worry about escalating violence in the Middle East in response to recent attacks on Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, which triggered threats of retaliation. Iran also has threatened to respond after Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran on Wednesday, a day after senior Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr was killed in Beirut.
Israel has claimed responsibility for killing Shukr, but has not officially commented on Haniyeh, whose death Hamas, Iran and their allies have blamed on the Jewish state. Israeli leaders have pledged to kill the leaders over the terror group’s devastating October 7 attack, which sparked the war in Gaza.
Austin is ordering the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to the Middle East to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group, which is in the Gulf of Oman but scheduled to come home later this summer. That decision suggests the Pentagon has decided to keep a carrier consistently in the region as a deterrent against Iran at least until next year.
The Pentagon did not say where the fighter jet squadron was coming from or where it would be based in the Middle East. A number of allies in the region are often willing to base US military forces but don’t want it made public.
The Pentagon has options to provide additional land-based ballistic missile defense, such as the Patriot or the terminal high altitude area defense, known as THAAD, both of which launch interceptor missiles from specialized trailer-based mobile launching systems. The Pentagon did not identify what system it would be deploying to augment defenses in the region.
The White House in a statement said Biden “reaffirmed his commitment to Israel’s security against all threats from Iran, including its proxy terrorist groups Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.”
Earlier Friday, Sabrina Singh, Pentagon spokeswoman, told reporters that moves were in the works. She said Austin “will be directing multiple” force movements to provide additional support to Israel and increase protection for US troops in the region.
Military and defense officials have been considering a wide array of options, from additional ships and fighter aircraft squadrons to added air defense systems or unmanned weapons. In many cases the US does not provide details because host nations are very sensitive about the presence of additional US forces and don’t want those movements made public.
It’s unclear what new ships would move to the Middle East.
The US has had a consistent warship presence there and in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, 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 carry a Marine expeditionary unit that could be used if any evacuation of US personnel is required.
In addition, a US official said that two US Navy destroyers that are currently in the Middle East will be heading north up the Red Sea toward the Mediterranean Sea. At least one of those could linger in the Mediterranean if needed. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss troop movements.
The announcement of the new deployments came as Israeli television reported that Jerusalem is finalizing arrangements with allies for a regional coalition to thwart such attacks, as it braces for Iran and proxies to retaliate for killing the terror chiefs this week.
The Channel 12 report named the US, United Kingdom, Gulf states, Egypt and Jordan as ready to help intercept missiles and drones should they be fired — in what the network said was essentially the same coalition that almost completely thwarted the April attack.
On Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces said it was on “high alert” as the country braces for a response and pledged the military knows how to handle any threat.
Biden reportedly ‘raised his voice’ at PM during DC sit-down
Meanwhile, the Axios news site reported Friday on US officials who said the phone call between Biden and Netanyahu was “tough.” Biden himself described the conversation with Netanyahu as “very direct.”
According to the report, the Biden administration was frustrated that it was kept in the dark by Israel about the assassination plans after Netanyahu gave the impression in Washington last week that he was taking on board the president’s ardor to close a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas in Gaza.
The US officials were quoted as saying that although Washington is committed to helping Israel repel an Iranian attack, Biden warned Netanyahu that after this he doesn’t want to see further escalation.
“Biden also warned Netanyahu that if he escalates again, he shouldn’t count on the US to bail him out,” Axios cited a US official saying.
The report also said that at the end of the two leaders’ meeting in Washington last week, Biden had “raised his voice and said he wants a deal reached within a week to two weeks.”
Following the report, which came as Channel 12 claimed Netanyahu rejected calls from his security chiefs to seize the current opportunity for a deal, the Prime Minister’s Office said the premier authorized Israeli negotiators to travel to Cairo on Saturday night.
Netanyahu’s office said the Channel 12 report was false, specifically dismissing the claim that Mossad chief Barnea said there was a deal ready and that Israel must take it.
The TV report said the meeting was attended by Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Mossad chief David Barnea, Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi and IDF point man for the hostage talks Nitzan Alon.
According to Channel 12, which did not cite sources, the discussion of opportunities for a hostage deal descended into a bitter argument, as follows:
Shin Bet head Bar: “I feel that the prime minister does not want the proposal that is on the table. If that is the case, tell us.”
IDF Gen. Alon: “You know that all the parameters (that you recently added to Israel’s proposal from late May) will not be accepted, and there won’t be a deal. With what you’re saying, we’ve got nothing to go with [in the negotiations]. We’re at zero. ”
IDF chief Halevi reportedly made similar comments to Alon’s.
Mossad head Barnea: “There’s a deal. If we procrastinate, we could miss the opportunity. We must take it.”
Netanyahu, banging on the table: “You are weaklings. You don’t know how to run a tough negotiation. You are putting words in my mouth. Instead of pressuring the prime minister, put pressure on [Hamas Gaza chief] Sinwar.
The security chiefs left the meeting concluding that Netanyahu does not want a deal at this point, the TV report said. It quoted unnamed security sources saying he remains stubborn “even though we have made clear to him that the security establishment can deal with the consequences of a deal.” The unnamed sources were also quoted asserting, “He has given up on the hostages.”
The report suggested that the consequences could play out in two ways: Israel could yet go for a deal, and see if it can also reach an arrangement in the north that averts all-out war. Or it could procrastinate, have no deal and enter a war without legitimization from the US.
In its response to the report, the Prime Minister’s Office also said it was false to suggest that Hamas has accepted terms for a deal. “It is not even clear that Hamas has withdrawn from its demand that Israel commit [up front] to ending the war and completely withdrawing from the Strip, and [that Israel] not be able to return to fighting,” the statement said.
“Moreover, agreement has not yet been reached on the number of living hostages that would be freed, on Israel remaining deployed on the Philadelphi Route [between Gaza and Egypt], on a mechanism to prevent the entry of terrorists and arms via the Netzarim Route [and into northern Gaza], and other important additional details.”
The statement insisted that all the demands Israel is making are “in accordance with the May 27 Israeli proposal.” Contrary to what is claimed, it said, Netanyahu “has not added a thing” to that proposal, whereas “Hamas is demanding dozens of changes.”
Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar “is the obstacle to a deal,” the statement said, “and not the prime minister, who is prepared to go a long way to free the hostages that are so important to him, while preserving Israel’s security and preventing conditions that would allow Hamas to regain control of the Strip, threaten Israel, and carry out more of the October 7 horrors.”
It is “precisely because of a desire [for a viable deal],” the statement concluded, that Netanyahu has now instructed negotiators to travel to Cairo.
The announcement was brushed off by senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri.
“Netanyahu does not want to stop the war and is using these empty statements to cover up his crimes and evade their consequences,” he told Reuters.
