U.S. President Joe Biden updated congressional leadership on Tuesday regarding Middle East developments and U.S. military preparations in keeping with America’s “longstanding commitment to Israel’s security.”
United States forces will remain in the region to serve important national interests, including protecting U.S. persons and property, against attacks from Iran and Iranian-aligned militias, he wrote.
The United States will continue to support the defense of Israel, an “ironclad” commitment, he added.
“In this context, I directed the deployment to Israel of a ballistic missile defense system and United States service members capable of operating it to defend against any further ballistic missile attacks,” Biden wrote.
U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, pursuant to Biden’s request, ordered a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense battery (THAAD) and about 100 soldiers to Israel over the weekend. Battery components began arriving in Israel on Monday.
The United States helped Israel fend off Iran’s ballistic-missile attack on Israel on Oct. 1.
“Our shared success on October 1 included downing dozens of incoming Iranian weapons before they could harm civilians in Israel,” Biden wrote.
U.S. forces also downed rockets during the Iran missile barrage overnight on April 13-14, the first-ever direct attack on Israel from Iranian territory.
The president also updated congressional leadership on the positioning of U.S. forces in the region, including the extension of time at sea of the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group.
The USS Abraham Lincoln CSG replaces the previously extended USS Theodore Roosevelt CSG.
“We also have deployed additional destroyers, including some that are ballistic missile defense-capable; the guided-missile submarine USS Georgia, the USS Wasp Amphibious Ready Group/Marine Expeditionary Unit, multiple fighter and attack squadrons of Fourth and Fifth Generation Fighters, including F-22, F-15E, and F-16, as well as A-10 attack aircraft; and other forces,” Biden wrote.
