The US will deploy additional warships and fighter jets to the Middle East to help defend Israel from possible attacks by Iran and its proxies, the Pentagon said, the BBC reports.
Tensions remain high in the region over the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Iran and a key commander of the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
Missile defence forces were placed on a state of increased readiness to deploy, the Pentagon said, adding that its commitment to defend Israel was “ironclad”.
Iran’s leader Ayatollah Khamenei has vowed “harsh punishment” against Israel for the assassination of Haniyeh.
The Hamas leader was killed in Tehran on Wednesday. Iran and its proxy in Gaza blamed the attack on Israel, which has not commented.
Haniyeh, 62, was widely considered Hamas’s overall leader and played a key role in negotiations aimed at reaching a ceasefire in the Gaza war.
His death came just hours after Israel claimed it killed Fuad Shukr, the top military commander of Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, Hezbollah.
A Pentagon statement said the new deployments would “improve US force protection… increase support for the defence of Israel, and … ensure the US is prepared to respond to various contingencies”.
The deployments would include additional ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers and destroyers, it said.
