The United States said Friday it was sending reinforcements to the Middle East amid growing fear that Iran could soon launch an attack on Israel.
“We are moving additional assets to the region to bolster regional deterrence efforts and increase force protection for US forces,” said a US defence official was quoted as saying by news agency AFP.
The United States has dispatched the aircraft carrier USS Dwight Eisenhower, equipped to intercept missiles and drones launched by Iran, northward through the Red Sea towards Israel in an apparent move to show deterrence from the Biden administration, according to a Times of Israel report.
Israel braced for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of retaliation for the killing last week of a senior officer in Iran’s embassy in Damascus.
Countries including India, France, Poland and Russia have warned their citizens against travel to the region, already on edge over the war in Gaza, now in its seventh month. White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the threat from Iran was real and viable.
The Israeli military said it had not issued fresh instructions to civilians, but asked people to remain vigilant.
“Over the past day, the military has conducted a situational assessment and approved plans for a range of scenarios following reports and statements on an Iranian attack,” chief military spokesman Daniel Hagari said in a televised statement on Friday.
Israel’s foreign ministry did not comment on reports that some Israeli diplomatic missions had been partially evacuated and security stepped up.
“The revenge will come,” wrote Israel’s largest daily newspaper, Yedioth Ahronoth. “For the moment, the premise is that it will be very soon, in the next few days.”
Israel did not claim responsibility for the airstrike on April 1 that killed Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Zahedi, a senior commander in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps’ overseas Quds Force, and six other officers as they attended a meeting in the Damascus embassy compound.
But Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Israel “must be punished and shall be” for an operation he said was equivalent to an attack on Iranian soil.
“It’s going to be very difficult for Iran not to retaliate,” said Raz Zimmt, senior researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies.
(With agency inputs)
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