The U.S. Department of Defense announced this week that it is moving military assets to the Middle East to deter continued Iranian aggression against the U.S. and Israel after Iran vowed this week to hit Israel following last week’s strikes in Iran.
The Pentagon ordered the deployment of “additional ballistic missile defense destroyers, fighter squadron and tanker aircraft, and several U.S. Air Force B-52 long-range strike bombers to the region.”
The forces will arrive in the region in the coming months as the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group prepares to leave the region.
“These deployments build on the recent decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile defense system to Israel as well as DoD’s sustained Amphibious Ready Group Marine Expeditionary Unit (ARG/MEU) posture in the Eastern Mediterranean,” a statement said.
Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said that the movements demonstrated the “flexible nature of U.S. global defense posture and U.S. capability to deploy world-wide on short notice to meet evolving national security threats.”
The statement added that the U.S. would respond if Iran or its terrorist proxy groups throughout the region targeted U.S. personnel or interests.
The repositioning of U.S. forces comes after Iran signaled this week that it would now respond to Israel’s limited strike on Iranian military and missile production facilities last week after it initially sought to downplay the incident because it wanted to avoid escalating a military conflict against a far superior opponent.
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Iranian state-controlled media highlighted remarks from two top officials this week who said that they would respond after Israel struck the country following Iran’s decision to fire 180 ballistic missiles at Israel.
“Iran’s response to the Zionist aggression is definite,” said General Ali Fadavi, the deputy commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). “We have never left an aggression unanswered in 40 years. We are capable of destroying all that the Zionists possess with one operation.”
Gholamhossein Mohammadi Golpayegani, head of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s office, said that Iran would deliver a “fierce, tooth-breaking response.”
Analysts say that Iran is stuck between a rock and a hard place because if it does not respond, it will appear weak and lose credibility with its allies and terrorist proxy groups. Not responding will also embolden opposition groups in the country that are gaining popularity as the country increasingly sours on the regime.
However, if Iran responds, it risks provoking a much greater response from Israel after the nation has repeatedly proven that it has significant military and technological advantages over Iran. Israel wiped out Iran’s air defenses during its strikes last week, allowing the Israel Air Force (IAF) to operate freely over Iranian airspace.
“We hit its underbelly,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “The boastful talk by the Iranian regime’s heads cannot conceal and compensate for the fact that Israel now has greater freedom to operate in Iran than ever before.”
The Wall Street Journal reported that Israel has directly conveyed to Iran that if it launches a response, Israel will “mount a far more aggressive attack in return.”
Iran is also considering having one of its proxies launch a strike against Israel believing that going that route will protect it from an Israeli response.
Kamal Kharrazi, Iran’s Strategic Council on Foreign Relations head, said on Friday that the Islamic regime now possesses the technological capabilities to create a nuclear weapon.
Iran already has enough enriched uranium that — if it decided to break out — could build a weapon in roughly a week, assuming that they have technological abilities.
“We now have the technical capabilities necessary to produce nuclear weapons,” he claimed. “We are ready for war but we do not want to escalate because we have currently proven our ability to deter from doing so.”
“The matter is up to the Israelis – if they really want to continue, we will respond to them,” he continued. “Our missile capabilities are clear to everyone and everyone believes in them, and we have proven that during our operations.”
