More U.S. Air Force warplanes and other military assets are likely to deploy to the Middle East in the coming days, a U.S official told Air & Space Forces Magazine. The aircraft could help fend off an attack from Iran on Israel and would enhance U.S. force posture in the region following the death by explosion of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.
President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed “new defensive U.S. military deployments” during a phone call on Aug. 1, the White House said in a readout of the call.
The killing of Haniyeh in the heart of the Iranian capital was likely carried out by Israel, though it has not confirmed it was responsible. President Joe Biden and Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III said the U.S. would defend Israel from attack by Iran.
U.S. Air Force fighters shot down more than 70 drones launched by Iran against Israel on the night of April 13 and the early morning hours of April 14, part of a successful allied defense that neutralized an attack that included some 300 missiles and drones. Among the USAF planes were F-15Es from the 494th Fighter Squadron at RAF Lakenheath, U.K., and from the 335th Fighter Squadron from Seymour-Johnson Air Force Base, N.C. U.S. F-16s also participated, as did coalition fighters and U.S. Navy ships in the region. The bulk of the air and missile defense was handled by Israel, however, using surface-to-air missiles and its own aircraft.
Today, the U.S. has 12 warships in the region, according to reports in the Washington Post and Al-Monitor, including the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt and its battle group.
In April, as an Iranian attacked seemed imminent, additional F-15Es were rushed to the region just a day before the April attack. “They were right in the middle of the flight, and that says something to our level of training, our level of capability,” Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr. told reporters April 26.
Now, as Iran plots a response to the Haniyeh killing, Austin said the U.S. is once again ready to aid Israel’s defense.
“If Israel is attacked, we certainly will help,” Austin told reporters July 31. “You saw us do that in April. You can expect to see us do that again. But we don’t want to see any of that happen. We’re going to work hard to make sure that we’re doing things to help take temperature down and address issues through diplomatic means.”