Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin announced overnight there would be additional U.S. deployments in the Southwest Asia region, following “detailed discussions with President Biden on recent escalations by Iran and its proxy forces across the Middle East Region.” The new moves include ordering the USS Dwight Eisenhower aircraft carrier strike group into the Central Command area of responsibility—it could end up in the Persian Gulf—to “further increase our force posture and strengthen our capabilities and ability to respond to a range of contingencies.”
Secondly, additional air defense forces, a THAAD battery and Patriot systems, are being deployed to the region. And thirdly: “I have placed an additional number of forces on prepare to deploy orders as part of prudent contingency planning, to increase their readiness and ability to quickly respond as required.” The announcement doesn’t identify what these additional forces are.
The Pentagon announcement came after a series of incidents, including attacks on U.S. bases in Iraq and what is now being described as a 9-hour “battle” involving the guided missile destroyer USS Carney against cruise missiles and drones launched from Yemen towards Israel on Oct. 19.
Today on the ABC News Sunday broadcast “This Week with George Stephanopolous,” Austin ratcheted up the public discourse from the U.S. side: “We’re concerned about potential escalation. In fact, what we’re seeing is a prospect of significant escalation of attacks on our troops and our people throughout the region.… If any group or any country is looking to widen this conflict and take advantage of this very unfortunate situation that we see, our advice is: don’t. We maintain the right to defend ourselves and we won’t hesitate to take the appropriate action.”
