U.S. Sends Nuclear Submarines and F-35s to Middle East to Protect Israel from Iranian Attack

WASHINGTON — US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered a guided missile submarine to the Middle East and is telling the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to sail more quickly to the area, the Defense Department said Sunday.

Austin’s order came following a conversation with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who argued that from its current military preparations, Iran is gearing up for a large-scale attack on Israel, said Axios’ Barak Ravid on X, citing a source familiar with the call.

The moves come as the United States and other Western allies try, through massive regional diplomacy, to push Israel and Hamas to secure a cease-fire agreement that could help calm soaring tensions in the region following the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut.

Similarly, US military social media mentions in July revealed how the nuclear-powered USS Georgia has been in the Mediterranean for some time. It is rare, however, for the deployment of a submarine to be announced to the general public.

After speaking with his Israeli counterpart, the Pentagon said that the defense secretary called for the Abraham Lincoln strike group to move to the region with all due haste. Secretary Austin reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to take every possible measure to protect Israel and noted the strengthening of US military force posture and capabilities throughout the Middle East in light of escalating regional tensions,” Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement.

Ryder added that Austin also told the Israeli cabinet minister “that America continues to be committed to doing everything possible to provide for Israel’s defense” and had quizzed that US force posture and capabilities were being thoroughly strengthened in the Middle East in response to rising regional tensions.

The US military already announced that additional fighter jets and Navy warships will be sent to the Middle East, beefing up defenses for Israel as Washington sees fit. Both Iran and Hezbollah are expected to react with retaliatory strikes for the killings, with the US beefing up in the region.

The Lincoln, which had been in Asia Pacific, had already been ordered to the region to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier strike group, which was scheduled to start heading home from the Middle East. Last week, Austin said the Lincoln would arrive in the Central Command area by the end of the month.

It could have been more explicit what his latest order meant or how quickly the Lincoln would steam to the Middle East. The carrier has F-35 fighter jets aboard and the F/A-18 fighter aircraft on carriers.  Ryder said Austin and Gallant also discussed Israel’s military operations in Gaza and the importance of mitigating civilian harm.

It came a day after Israeli air strikes had hit a school being used as a shelter in Gaza shortly after midnight on Saturday, killing at least 80 people and wounding nearly 50 others, according to Palestinian health authorities—in one of the deadliest attacks of the 10-month Israel-Hamas war. Additionally, fighter planes and US warships are already in the process of being sent to the Middle East, part of Washington’s efforts to beef up defenses for Israel.

The assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, political chief of Iran-backed Hamas, in the Iranian capital, Tehran, on July 31—an attack that drew threats of revenge by Iran against Israel, which is fighting the Palestinian Islamist group in Gaza. Iran said the killing was an Israeli plot. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the killing.

The killing has raised fears that the assassination of Shukr, the senior military commander of the Lebanon-based, Iran-back group, Hezbollah, by Israel in a strike in Beirut, meant the conflict in Gaza was ballooning into a broader war in the Middle East.Iran has said the US is responsible due to its support of Israel. In the second major attack on US forces in recent days, several US and coalition personnel were wounded in Syria on Friday in a drone attack.