US sends MORE troops to Middle East to prepare for ‘imminent’ Iranian attack on Israel: Pentagon sends missile-intercept aircraft carrier to Red Sea as warning to Tehran

The US has sent more troops to the Middle East to prepare for what officials believe could be an “imminent” attack by Iran on Israel that could trigger a full-scale war.

The Pentagon is strengthening its presence in the region and the USS Dwight Eisenhower has been sent into the Red Sea as a warning to Tehran and to protect US personnel if violence spreads, multiple reports suggest.

US officials fear that hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles could be used in retaliation for the April 1 attack on a building next to the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has vowed retaliation in the aftermath of the attack in Damascus, for which Tel-Aviv has yet to take responsibility.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to respond with force to any attack from Iran, leaving tensions in the Middle East at a sharp edge.

Defense officials said Friday they are moving “additional resources to the area,” hours after the US embassy in Jerusalem locked down its staff.

The USS Dwight Eisenhower could intercept missiles and drones fired by Iran.

The White House on Friday would not go so far as to say an attack was “imminent,” but called the threat “viable.”

“We continue to view the potential threat from Iran here as real, viable and certainly credible and we are monitoring it as closely as we can,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Friday.

Kirby added that the US was “in constant communication with our Israeli counterparts regarding assurances that they can defend themselves against these types of attacks.”

He added that “forced posture changes” had been made to ensure the US is “well prepared” for any Iranian attack, but declined to go into details.

The NSC spokesperson did not provide details on the possible timing of such an attack, amid warnings that it could happen within the next 48 hours.

“I really don’t feel like sitting in an armchair talking about this thing in a public way in terms of the conversations we’re having or what we’re seeing in the intelligence picture,” Kirby said.

On Thursday, the US embassy in Jerusalem did not explicitly mention Iran but issued a warning to government officials.

The US Embassy in Jerusalem has imposed travel restrictions on diplomats living in Israel as officials fear there could be an Iranian attack using 100 drones and dozens of missiles.

Iranians burn an Israeli flag during a gathering to mark Quds Day and the funeral of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps members killed last week in a suspected Israeli airstrike on the Iranian embassy complex in Damascus, Syria

“Out of an abundance of caution, U.S. government employees and their family members should not travel in person outside the greater Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Be’er Sheva areas until further notice,” the security alert said.

The April 1 attack in Damascus killed two senior members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and five other officers, Iran said.

Israel has not yet publicly claimed responsibility.

The Washington Post reported this on Thursday that senior Pentagon officials were frustrated that the US received no warning from Israel before launching an airstrike on the Iranian compound.

A missile is launched during a military exercise at a secret location in southern Iran, in this handout image obtained January 19, 2024

Iran warned arch-enemy Israel on April 2 that it will sanction an airstrike that killed seven Revolutionary Guards, including two generals.

Three unnamed U.S. officials told the newspaper that Defense Secretary Lloyd Ausin and other senior defense officials believed Israel should have informed the Pentagon before the attack because of the attack’s impact on U.S. service members in the region.

If the US had received warning, the Pentagon would have been able to increase defense capabilities to counter Iranian retaliation, the sources said.

If Israel and Iran were to engage in all-out war, the consequences could be devastating.

Professor Gerald Steinberg, an expert in conflict management and founder of the Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor, said a potential war between Iran and Israel would be both futile and devastating.

“They are on the brink of a confrontation similar to the October 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis between Washington and Moscow. Both countries can inflict enormous damage on each other, but neither can “win,” he said.

Wyn Bowen, professor of international security at the Department of War Studies at King’s College London, told DailyMail.com that Iran is unlikely to attempt to directly attack targets on Israeli territory, fearing it risks an uncontrollable military response from Israel and its main ally, the ONS.

But he also warned that “the Iranian leadership is under significant pressure to respond forcefully” to the attack on the consulate, suggesting that direct conflict, even if unlikely, should be considered.