U.S. to boost military presence in Middle East; to send fighter jet squadron

Pentagon beefs up military presence in Middle East to defend Israel from Iran, deploying fighter jets and ballistic missile defences.

“The U.S. will move a fighter jet squadron to the Middle East and maintain an aircraft carrier in the region,” the Pentagon said on August 2, beefing up the American military presence to help defend Israel from possible attacks by Iran and its proxies and safeguard U.S. troops.

“Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has also ordered additional ballistic missile defence-capable cruisers and destroyers to the European and Middle East regions and is taking steps to send more land-based ballistic missile defence weapons there,” the Pentagon said in a statement.

“The shifts make good on a promise President Joe Biden made to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In a call on August 1, Mr. Biden discussed new U.S. military deployments to protect against possible attacks from ballistic missiles and drones,” according to the White House. In April, U.S. forces intercepted dozens of missiles and drones fired by Iran against Israel and helped down nearly all of them.

U.S. leaders worry about escalating violence in the Middle East in response to recent attacks by Israel 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 Fouad Shukur was killed in Beirut.

Israel has vowed to kill Hamas leaders over the group’s October 7 attack, which sparked the war in Gaza.

Mr. 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 U.S. military forces but don’t want it made public.