The United States will take “measures” if Iran threatens its interests in the Middle Eastwill reinforce its air defense capacity in the region in the coming days and has “additional” troops ready for deployment in case of “contingencies,” the Pentagon reported this Sunday.
According to a statement, the Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, assured today that “U.S. is determined to prevent Iran, its partners and Iranian-backed proxies from taking advantage of the situation or expanding the conflict” that has intensified in recent days with Israel’s bombings in Lebanon.
Austin stressed that if Iran or its allies “use this moment to attack US personnel or interests in the region, The US will take all necessary measures to defend” its people.
The note indicates that the Department of Defense will “further strengthen” its air defense capabilities in the region “in the coming days” and has “additional” troops prepared to deploy in case it has to respond to “various contingencies.”
Despite the tension in his posture, The Pentagon maintains that Austin and agency leaders remain focused on “de-escalation through deterrence and diplomacy.”as well as in “the protection of American citizens and forces” and the “defense of Israel.”
The statement comes after the Israeli Army announced today that it killed more than twenty members of the political and militia group Hezbollah in the massive bombing in Beirut on Friday in which its top leader, Hasan Nasrallah, and the commander of the southern front Ali Karaki.
A general of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Abbas Nilforushan, was also killed in the attack.a death that today the Foreign Minister of that country, Abás Araqchí, said “will never go unanswered.”
In the last two weeks, Israel has launched a series of unprecedented attacks against Hezbollah’s main strongholds that have already left more than a thousand dead, 6,000 wounded and around a million internally displaced, according to official data.
With information from EFE.
Keep reading:
• Iran’s dilemma over whether or not to support Hezbollah against Israel
• The crisis worsens in Lebanon, more than 90,000 people are displaced in 72 hours
• Benjamin Netanyahu rules out possible truce in Lebanon
