While the Israeli occupation army declared a state of maximum alert in its ranks, in anticipation of an expected response to the assassination of the head of the political bureau of the Islamic Resistance Movement "Hamas" Ismail Haniyeh, and the leader of Hezbollah, Fouad Shukr, the US Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, ordered the US forces to defend Israel if it is attacked, and two US destroyers headed to the Mediterranean Sea and US warships approached the coasts of Israel for this purpose.

The New York Times quoted a Pentagon official as saying that Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin had given orders for American forces to move to defend Israel if it were attacked, and to prepare for the possibility that Iranian-backed groups would target American forces in the region as part of the expected response, according to Al Jazeera.

The Associated Press quoted an American official as saying that two US Navy destroyers will head to the Mediterranean via the Red Sea, and that one of the destroyers "may remain in the Mediterranean if necessary."

Austin ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group to the Middle East to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group, which is in the Gulf of Oman and is scheduled to return home later this summer.
This decision indicates that the Pentagon has decided to keep an aircraft carrier permanently in the region to serve as a deterrent to Iran until at least next year.

Austin also ordered additional cruisers and destroyers capable of defending against ballistic missiles to Europe and the Middle East, and is taking steps to send more land-based ballistic missile defense weapons there.

The Pentagon said on Friday that the United States "will move a squadron of fighter aircraft to the region and maintain an aircraft carrier in the region, which will enhance the US military presence to help defend Israel from potential attacks by Iran and its partners, and protect US forces."

On Friday, US Department of Defense spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told reporters, "The movements are ongoing and multiple troop movements will be directed to provide additional support to Israel and increase protection for US forces in the region."

The shifts fulfill a promise President Joe Biden made to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call on Thursday, in which he pledged to bolster U.S. forces in the region to “protect” against potential ballistic missile and drone attacks, according to the White House.

The White House said in a statement that Biden "affirmed his commitment to Israel's security against all threats from Iran and its partners in the region."