The Pentagon shifted a “large number” of refueling planes and an aircraft carrier to the Middle East, suggesting that Washington “is greatly strengthening its air power for potentially sustained operations, as Iran and Israel trade blows in unprecedented open warfare,” Reuters reported, citing two U.S. officials.
A flight tracking website stated that “more than 31” refueling planes were deployed, according to Reuters. Later in the day, Pete Hegseth, the U.S. secretary of defense, stated that he directed that “additional capabilities” be sent to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility.
A U.S. defense official told JNS that “consistent with the duty to protect U.S. forces in the Middle East, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth directed the Nimitz Carrier Strike Group to the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility to sustain our defensive posture and safeguard American personnel.”
“In the U.S. European Command area of responsibility, the U.S. Navy continues to conduct operations in the Eastern Mediterranean in support of U.S. national security objectives,” the official said.
“The decision to deploy a large amount of tanker aircraft appears to reflect U.S. military preparations for any contingency,” Brian Carter, Middle East portfolio manager at the Critical Threats Project at the American Enterprise Institute, told JNS.
Carter told JNS that these capabilities could also serve offensively.
Iran has threatened “that the war could ‘expand’ in unspecified ways if the fighting is not stopped,” he told JNS. “One of these expansions could be Iranian attacks on U.S. forces, which is certainly a contingency CENTCOM is preparing for.”
There is to be “a major exercise in Europe that is going to occur in the next few days,” Carter said, but “it is unlikely such an exercise would require over two dozen of these aircraft.”
The recent deployments come amid Iranian attempts to keep America out of the war. The Islamic Republic reportedly asked Gulf states to help broker a ceasefire by offering a return to nuclear negotiations. But “Iran is not offering any concessions in the negotiations,” Carter said.
“Some sources claim that there are ‘concessions,’ but Iran is only offering concessions if the Israelis stop strikes and allow Iran to finish its ‘response,’” he stated. “This would be like Israel allowing Iran to get a ‘free punch’ in a fist fight.”
U.S. President Donald Trump has expressed support for Israel’s strikes against Iran and warned that any attacks from Tehran on Americans or U.S. sites would face swift retaliation.
“If we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the U.S. Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before,” Trump stated. “We can easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel, and end this bloody conflict.”
Since Israel launched a preemptive strike on Iran last week, Iran has fired hundreds of missiles at heavily populated civilian areas in the Jewish state.
