“Protecting US forces is our top priority and these deployments are intended to enhance our defensive posture in the region,” Hegseth said in a post on social platform X.
He did not name the additional capabilities, though earlier on Monday, a U.S. official confirmed to NewsNation, The Hill’s sister network, that the U.S. military has moved a large number of refueling tanker aircraft to Europe.
The move is intended to “provide options” to Trump amid the escalating tensions, the official added.
A Defense official also confirmed to The Hill that Hegseth directed the USS Nimitz Carrier Strike Group be sent to the Middle East “to sustain our defensive posture and safeguard American personnel.”
Multiple outlets have reported that the action was a pre-planned deployment that had been expedited. The vessel is able to hold some 5,000 personnel and more than 60 aircraft, including fighter jets.
U.S. European Command also deployed two destroyers to the eastern Mediterranean Sea on Friday. The vessels can help defend against guided missile strikes.
The shifted U.S. military assets and personnel comes as the conflict between Israel and Iran has entered its fourth day, with both sides intensifying their assaults following Israel’s initial strike on Tehran on Friday.
Israel and Iran have taken part in tit-for-tat attacks, open warfare that Israeli officials have said could last “weeks, not days” and threatens to spark a wider war in the Middle East.
Israel last week moved forward with its strikes after accusing Iran of being on the verge of building a nuclear bomb.
Since then, the two sides have traded large scale missile attacks back and forth in what has become the deadliest confrontation between the countries, with at least 24 people killed in Israel and more than 220 killed in Iran.
Read the full report at TheHill.com.
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