The Pentagon will deploy additional fighter jets and Navy warships to the Middle East as Washington seeks to bolster defenses in the region, Austin claimed.
This is while the countries of the region have repeatedly expressed opposition to the presence of foreigners in the region, stressing that the regional countries can ensure the security of the region themselves.
His remarks come while Washington in the past months has supplied the Israeli regime with numerous amounts of weapons and ammunition to use against the oppressed Palestinian people in the besieged Gaza Strip who are enduring a brutal Israeli war since October 2023.
"What I've been focused on is making sure that we're doing everything we can to put measures in place to protect our troops and also make sure that we're in a good position to aid in the defense of Israel, if called upon to do that," Austin said, TASS reported.
Issuing a statement on Saturday, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said that the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh was "designed and implemented by the Zionist regime and supported by the criminal government of America."
Ismail Haniyeh and one of his bodyguards were martyred after their residence was targeted in Tehran on Wednesday, according to a statement released by the IRGC.
Reacting to the Israeli act of terror, high-ranking Iranian officials vowed to give a proper response to the Zionist regime, with the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei saying, that by assassinating Ismail Haniyeh, the Israeli regime has prepared the ground for harsh punishment for itself.
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