U.S. moves forces in the Middle East to prepare for 'imminent' Iranian strike on Israel: Pentagon sends aircraft carrier that can intercept missiles to the Red Sea in warning to Tehran

The U.S. has moved more forces in the Middle East to prepare for what officials believe could be an ‘imminent’ strike by Iran on Israel.

The Pentagon is beefing up its presence in the region and the USS Dwight Eisenhower has been sent into the Red Sea in a warning to Tehran and to protect American personnel should the violence spill over, multiple reports suggest.

U.S. officials fear that hundreds of drones and dozens of missiles could be used in a retaliation for an April 1 strike on a building adjacent to the Iranian embassy in Damascus, Syria.

The USS Dwight Eisenhower could would be able to intercept missiles and drones fired by Iran.

The Pentagon is beefing up its presence in the Middle East and the USS Dwight Eisenhower has been sent into the Red Sea in a warning to Tehran and to protect American personnel should the violence spill over

The White House on Friday wouldn’t go as far as to say that an attack was ‘imminent,’ instead calling the threat ‘viable.’

‘We still deem the potential threat by Iran here to be real, to be viable, certainly credible and we’re watching it as closely as we can,’  White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Friday on a Zoom call.

Kirby added that the U.S. was in ‘constant communication with our Israeli counterparts about making sure that they can defend themselves against those kind of attacks.’

The NSC spokesperson gave no details on the potential timing of such an attack.

‘I really don’t want to get into armchair quarterbacking 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 U.S. embassy in Jerusalem did not explicitly mention Iran but issued a warning to government workers.

The U.S. embassy in Jerusalem has imposed travel restrictions on diplomats living in Israel as officials fear an Iranian attack could be coming using 100 drones and dozens of missiles

Iranians burn an Israeli flag during a rally marking Quds Day and the funeral of members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps who were killed in a suspected Israeli airstrike on the Iranian embassy complex in Damascus, Syria last week

‘Out of an abundance of caution, U.S. government employees and their family members are restricted from personal travel outside the greater Tel Aviv, … Jerusalem, and Be’er Sheva areas until further notice,’ the security alert read.

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

Israel has yet to claim responsibility publicly.

The Washington Post reported Thursday that senior Pentagon officials were frustrated that the U.S. did not get a heads up from Israel before conducting an airstrike on the Iranian site.

Three unnamed U.S. officials told the paper said Defense Secretary Lloyd Ausin and other senior defense officials believed Israel should have informed the Pentagon ahead of the attack because of the strike’s implications for U.S. servicemembers in the region.

Had the U.S. gotten a heads up, the Pentagon would have been able to heighten defense capabilities in order to withstand Iranian retaliation, the sources said.

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