The Pentagon announced today that at the direction of President Biden, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has “authorized” the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile battery, manned by U.S. military personnel, to Israel “to help bolster Israel’s air defenses following Iran’s unprecedented attacks against Israel on April 13 and again on October 1.” The THAAD Battery “will augment Israel’s integrated air defense system. This action underscores the United States’ ironclad commitment to the defense of Israel, and to defend Americans in Israel, from any further ballistic missile attacks by Iran.”
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi warned that by deploying the THAAD battery to Israel, the U.S. is putting its own troops at risk. “The U.S. has been delivering record amount of arms to Israel. It is now also putting lives of its troops at risk by deploying them to operate U.S. missile systems in Israel,” Araghchi said in a post on social media platform X on Oct. 13. The post included a graph showing U.S. aid to Israel going from below $5 billion in 2000, 2010, and up to 2020, to now $18 billion in military grants and loans.
