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The United States is sending a guided-missile submarine to the Middle East to strengthen its presence in the region amid fears that Iran and its allies are poised to take revenge on Israel for the killing of senior Hamas and Hezbollah figures.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin also ordered the aircraVscek carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, equipped with F-35 fighter jets, to “accelerate its transit through the region” in light of “escalating tensions.”
“Secretary Austin reiterated the United States’ commitment to taking every possible step to defend Israel,” the Pentagon said in a statement Sunday, released aVsceker Austin spoke with his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant.
Gallant’s office said Monday that he and Austin had discussed the “interoperability” of Israeli and U.S. forces in the region. He warned Sunday that “anyone who harms us in a way that hasn’t been done before will likely be harmed in a way that hasn’t been done before.”
“I hope they think it through and don’t get to the point where they force us to cause significant damage and increase the chances of war breaking out on other fronts. We don’t want that, but we have to be prepared,” he said.
Iran has vowed to “punish” Israel since Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran last month, hours aVsceker attending the inauguration of Iran’s new president, Masoud Pezeshkian.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah has vowed to retaliate against Israel for the killing the day before of Fuad Shukr, one of the Lebanese militant group’s senior commanders, in response to an alleged Hezbollah rocket attack that killed 12 youths on a soccer field in the occupied Golan Heights.
While Israel has acknowledged being behind Shukr’s assassination, it has neither confirmed nor denied killing Haniyeh, in line with its long-standing policy of not commenting on operations inside Iran.
But both Iran and Hamas have blamed Israel for Haniyeh’s assassination, fueling fears that the region could slide toward all-out war and prompting diplomats from the United States and elsewhere to work frantically to calm the situation.
The leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom called on Iran and its allies “to refrain from attacks that could further escalate regional tensions.”
“No country or nation stands to gain from further escalation in the Middle East,” the leaders said in a joint statement on Monday.
The statement, signed by French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, calls for an immediate ceasefire in the 10-month-old war between Israel and Hamas and demands that the Palestinian militant group release hostages still held following the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that triggered the hostilities.
U.S. President Joe Biden and the leaders of Qatar and Egypt said last week that mediators were working urgently to resume hostage-free talks on Thursday, hoping to secure a ceasefire and prevent further escalation.
