US warns Iran-backed ‘set of attacks’ on Israel could come within days

Washington: US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered a guided missile submarine to the Middle East and is telling the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group to sail more quickly to the area, as the US said it believes Iran or its proxies may launch a strike against Israel as soon as this week.

The moves, announced by the Defence Department, come as the US and other allies push for Israel and Hamas to achieve a ceasefire agreement that could help calm soaring tensions in the region, following the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut.

A pilot speaks to a crew member on the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier in the Arabian Sea. Credit: AP

Officials have been on the lookout for retaliatory strikes by both Iran and Hezbollah for the killings, and the US has been beefing up its presence in the region.

John Kirby, the White House national security spokesman, said Iran’s response to the killings “could be this week,” but that “it is difficult to ascertain at this particular time if there’s an attack by Iran or its proxies what it could look like.” He said the US and its allies were preparing for a “significant set of attacks”.

“The president is confident that we have the capability available to us to help defend Israel should it come to that,” Kirby said, adding, “Nobody wants to see it come to that.”

Major General Pat Ryder, Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement that Austin spoke with Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant earlier in the day, and reiterated America’s commitment “to take every possible step to defend Israel and noted the strengthening of US military force posture and capabilities throughout the Middle East in light of escalating regional tensions”.

Three EA-18G Growlers fly over the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in Arabian Sea. Credit: AP

A joint statement from the leaders of the United States, Britain, France, German and Italy “called on Iran to stand down its ongoing threats of a military attack against Israel and discussed the serious consequences for regional security should such an attack take place”.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke by phone on Monday with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and “expressed his great concern about the danger of a regional conflagration in the Middle East,” the German government said.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke to Pezeshkian and called on him to refrain from carrying out an attack, the prime minister’s office said.

The Vatican Secretary of State, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, also spoke with Pezeshkian on Monday, “reiterating the need to avoid in any way the widening of the very serious conflict underway,” according to a Vatican statement.

On Tuesday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said it received a report of an incident 63 nautical miles south-west of Yemen’s Hodeidah, adding that authorities were investigating.

Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched attacks on international shipping near Yemen since last November in solidarity with Palestinians in the war between Israel and Hamas.

The Lincoln, which was in the Asia Pacific, had already been ordered to the region to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt aircraft carrier strike group, which is scheduled to begin heading home from the Middle East. Last week, Austin said the Lincoln would arrive in the Central Command area by the end of the month.

The call comes a day after an Israeli airstrike hit a school-turned-shelter in Gaza early Saturday, killing at least 80 people and wounding nearly 50 others, Palestinian health authorities said, in one of the deadliest attacks of the 10-month Israel-Hamas war.

AP

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