The Pentagon announces the deployment as tensions between Iran and Israel rise following the high-profile assassination of Haniyeh.
The US military has announced the deployment of additional assets to the Middle East, including an aircraft carrier, amid growing concerns over the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran.
On Friday, the Pentagon revealed it would send an additional squadron of fighter jets, naval cruisers and destroyers to the Middle East.
“We have been protesting since October and again in April. [that] “America’s global defense is dynamic, and the department maintains the ability to deploy at short notice to meet evolving national security threats,” Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters Friday.
“As a result, the Secretary will be ordering multiple, future force posture measures to bolster the protection of U.S. forces throughout the region, to provide increased support for the defense of Israel, and to ensure that the United States is prepared to respond to this evolving crisis.”
The announcement comes after recent high-profile assassinations of officials from Hamas and Hezbollah, two groups linked to Iran.
Israeli forces are believed to be behind the killings, and media reports indicate Iran is likely to retaliate, particularly after one of the killings took place on its territory.
This, in turn, has raised fears of a widening conflict that could unleash destruction across the region.
Singh told reporters on Friday that the decision to increase US military capabilities in the Middle East came after high-level calls with Israeli officials.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had a telephone conversation with his Israeli counterpart, Yoav Gallant, that same morning, he said.
An earlier call had taken place on Thursday between US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Austin “committed to Minister Gallant — and the president committed to Netanyahu — to strengthen our military protection in the region,” Singh said Friday.
“We will support Israel in its self-defense, and that is something the Secretary reiterated to Minister Gallant in his call this morning.”
The increased military presence is the latest US effort to discourage attacks on Israel and prevent a regional war.
But this comes at a tense time. Israel's controversial war in Gaza will soon enter its 11th month, amid continuing fears of genocide and famine in the Palestinian territory.
The Biden administration has already signaled its full support for Israel should a wider war break out. While it has criticized the suffering of civilians in Gaza, U.S. officials have so far declined to openly pressure Israel to end the war in Gaza.
Biden, however, addressed the fallout from the killings on Friday, describing them as a setback for ongoing ceasefire talks.
“It's not helpful,” he said in a brief statement to reporters.
The Pentagon announcement comes less than three days after the assassination in Tehran of Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh. He had been one of the lead negotiators in the effort to broker a ceasefire and his death is seen as a serious setback for the negotiations.
Haniyeh had been in Iran to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the country's new president. An explosive device had reportedly been placed in the residence where he was staying.
A day before Haniyeh was killed on July 30, Fuad Shukr, a commander in the powerful Lebanon-based Hezbollah group, was also killed in an Israeli strike in Beirut.
The Israeli Air Force claimed responsibility for the attack. Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed group, has exchanged fire with Israel across the Lebanese border since the Gaza war began in October.
The Biden administration, however, has expressed hope that tensions can still be eased.
“I don't think war is inevitable. I stand by that. I think there's always room and opportunity for diplomacy,” Austin said earlier this week.
