US sends forces to region as Israel braces for Iran attack

Israel is preparing for a large-scale military attack from Iran, defence minister Yoav Gallant has told his US counterpart.

- CHRIS STEVENSON

The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, has ordered a nuclearpowered 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. The US and other allies continue to push for Israel and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire agreement over the war in Gaza that could help calm soaring tensions in the region.

Israel has been braced for a major attack since last month when a missile killed 12 in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Israel responded by killing a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut. A day after that operation, Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas, was assassinated in Tehran, drawing Iranian vows of retaliation against Israel.

The US has been beefing up its presence in the region. Yesterday, Israel’s air force suspended travel abroad for its service personnel, a military spokesperson said, adding that safety instructions from the military for the general public remained unchanged.

Meanwhile, Tehran’s acting foreign minister Ali Bagheri Kani has said Iran has the “right to an appropriate and deterrent response” against Israel to ensure regional stability, in discussions with his Chinese counterpart, according to state media.

Earlier, the leaders of France, Germany and Britain called on Iran and its allies to refrain from any retaliatory attacks that would further escalate regional tensions.

In a joint statement released yesterday, they endorsed the latest push by the United States, Qatar and Egypt to broker an agreement to end the 10-month-old Israel-Hamas war. The mediators have spent months trying to get the sides to agree to a three-phase plan in which Hamas would release the remaining hostages captured in a 7 October attack in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, as well as Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza.