The US says it will send more warships and bombers to the Middle East as tensions persist between Iran and Israel

• The US is deploying warships and B-52 bombers to the Middle East amid rising tensions.
• Israel and Iran are stuck in a cycle of retaliatory strikes.
• The US earlier said it would also send a missile defense system and 100 more troops to Israel.

The United States is sending bombers and warships to the Middle East as Iran and Israel trade threats of retaliatory strikes.

The Pentagon announced on Friday that the United States will send ballistic missile defense destroyers, tanker aircraft, and “several” US Air Force B-52 long-range jets to the Middle East in the coming months.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the deployments to defend Israel and to de-escalate “through deterrence and diplomacy,” Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said in a statement.

“(Secretary Austin) continues to make clear that should Iran, its partners, or its proxies use this moment to target American personnel or interests in the region, the United States will take every measure necessary to defend our people,” Ryder said.

The deployments follow Israel’s first-ever open attack on Iran on October 26, when it launched airstrikes inside the country. That attack was a retaliation for Iran launching a barrage of missiles against Israel earlier in the month, which was itself a retaliatory attack for Israel’s assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, a key ally of Iran, in September. Tensions between the two countries have skyrocketed since the start of the Israel-Hamas conflict last year.

Israel’s airstrikes last week were initially met with a measured response from Iran, which appeared resistant to escalating the conflict further. But the rhetoric from Iran in recent days has led to concerns that it could be planning another attack.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in a post on X on Saturday that the United States and Israel would receive a “crushing response” for their actions against Iran and its allies.

The Pentagon said in October it had also ordered the deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense missile defense system and an associated crew of US military personnel to Israel. The United States said it would send about 100 troops to operate the air defense system.

Ryder said the deployments of the THAAD system and the new ship and jet deployments together represent the US military’s flexibility to “deploy world-wide on short notice to meet evolving national security threats.”