Israel put its military on high alert and the Pentagon said it is sending a guided-missile submarine to the region and speeding up the arrival of a second aircraft carrier, amid heightened concerns about a possible Iranian and Hezbollah response to the killing of militant leaders in Tehran and Beirut.
Israel set the high-alert level for its military for the first time this month after observing preparations by Iran and Hezbollah to carry out attacks.
The Israeli military’s chief of staff, Herzi Halevi, approved plans on Monday and said offensive and defensive preparations were under way, according to the Israeli military.
“We are in the days of vigilance and readiness,” said Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defense minister. “The threats from Tehran and Beirut may materialize and it is important to explain to everyone that readiness, preparedness and vigilance are not synonyms for fear and panic,” he said.
The U.S. has shared intelligence it has gathered about shifting Iranian force postures, according to a U.S. official. But U.S. officials said that identifying the moving of military assets doesn’t provide enough information to determine the timing of a potential attack.
“Our assessment is consistent with the assessment that the Israelis put out over the weekend in terms of what they’re potentially expecting to see,” said John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, referring to the view that “something could happen as soon as this week by Iran and its proxies.”
The U.S. and four European allies called on Iran to stand down from its threats of a military attack, according to a joint statement with the U.K., Germany, France and Italy released by the White House.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told Gallant by phone on Sunday that U.S. deployments strengthen the U.S. military posture in the Middle East in light of recent tensions and reflect a “commitment to take every possible step to defend Israel.”
Austin told Gallant on Sunday that he had ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, which is equipped with F-35C jet fighters, to move more quickly to the Middle East, where it would add to the capabilities of the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group already in the region. In early August, the Defense Department said the Lincoln would replace the Roosevelt, which is currently near the Gulf of Oman and has been at sea since the beginning of the year, defense officials said.
The Lincoln is moving quickly toward the region because U.S. officials would like the two carrier strike groups to overlap before the Roosevelt leaves, defense officials said. It is unclear how long the U.S. would keep two carriers in the region.
Aircraft carriers often are deployed as a show of U.S. force and commitment to its allies or in defense of U.S. regional interests.
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