The US Defence Department has decided to move a fighter jet squadron to the Middle East and maintain an aircraft carrier in the region, the Pentagon said. In a statement, the department said Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin also ordered additional ballistic missile defence-capable cruisers and destroyers to the European and Middle East regions and is taking steps to send more land-based ballistic missile defence weapons there.

The shifts come as US leaders worry about escalating violence in the Middle East in response to recent attacks by Israel on Hamas and Hezbollah leaders, which triggered threats of retaliation. Biden in a call on Thursday afternoon with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed new US military deployments to protect against possible attacks from ballistic missiles and drones, according to the White House. The assassinations of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on Wednesday and senior Hezbollah commander Fouad Shukur in Beirut on Tuesday risk escalating the fighting into an all-out regional war, with Iran also threatening to respond after the attack on its territory.