US sends carrier and fighter squadron to Middle East as region braces for Iranian retaliation

The US is preparing to send fresh military assets to the Middle East, including a carrier strike group and a fighter squadron. It is bracing for a further escalation of hostility hostilities as Iran vows retaliation for the killing of a senior Hamas leader in Tehran earlier this week. It blames Israel for the attack. Israel has not commented publicly either way. New today, the US embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, is telling Americans who want to get out of the country to book any ticket available. It's also warning those who do not leave that they, quote, should not rely on the US government for assisted departure or evacuation in a crisis. I want to bring in now retired U.S. Army Major General Dana Pittard to talk more about this. General, I want to ask you to have a listen here to National Security Council spokesman John Kirby as he explains why exactly the U.S. is moving more resources into the region. We've heard the supreme leader loud and clear that he intends to avenge this killing of a Hamas leader in Tehran and that they want to conduct another attack on Israel. We can't just assume that we aren't also potentially going to be victims of that kind of an attack. So we've got to make sure we've got the right resources and capabilities in the region. So are these capabilities, should we presume the focus here is additional missile and drone defense, not just for Israeli targets, but also US forces deployed in the region? Well, good afternoon, Jim. I think what John Kirby said, and I know John Kirby is, is that the U.S. military in America is just being prudent by sending a straight strike carrier for the U.S. strike carrier group there. But it's to protect American assets as well as to help defend Israel in case or decides to attack. And it does look like Iran is going to do something just not sure what it is at this point. Yeah. So Iran a number of weeks ago launched dozens of missiles and drones at Israel, what was then an unprecedented attack, the missile defenses, which, by the way, weren't just the U.S. and Israeli. There were other partners, including Arab partners in the region. The missile defenses work. Then. I imagine Iran will want to prove it could do better this time. So what might that kind of attack look like? Well, as you mentioned, in April, nearly 300 drones, missiles in and in other assets were fired at Israel, and it utterly failed. So this time, Israel should anticipate really a more timed directional attack, which includes from being from Iran itself, as well as Hezbollah to the north, Houthis in the south and even Gaza, to an extent, which would try to overwhelm the air defenses of Israel and Israel's regional allies. So let me ask you this, because in the cycle of violence in the Middle East and by the way, this has been going on for decades. If and when Iran carries out such an attack, Israel will then say it needs to respond to to retain deterrence or reestablish deterrence and and retaliate in some way. I just I'm trying to figure out how how we get out of this cycle. Well, I think it depends on how much damage is done by Iran against Israel. If it isn't a whole lot of damage, and that's where the U.S., through diplomatic actions, can talk to Israel and say, well, let's call it a day so we can move on with the cease fire in Gaza. So I think it depends it depends on the level of attack from Iran. What is the danger that the U.S. gets drawn into this time? It's going to partici pate likely in some way, largely if if they can write in a defensive role, providing additional missile defense against and drone defense against any attack that would come from Iran and its proxies. But, I mean, there's a chance that U.S. forces are also hit there, as John Kirby was was referring to, which were then which which might then generate a U.S. response of its own. So the so the risk for U.S. involvement, direct involvement, is quite high here, isn't it? There there is risk of Iran attacking U.S. forces, but that will be on Iran. Iran does not want to have a fight with both the United States and Israel. Iran wants to certainly save face because of the the assassination of Israel and the on on its soil. But what Iran does not want is a full blown war in a full blown war. Iran loses and perhaps loses its nuclear facilities, which is highly invested in. Before we go, as we look at this situation, which is which is, again, so familiar in the region. Where is U.S. power at this point? Because there's been a lot of reporting, including by CNN, that the Biden administration has been constantly pushing, pressuring Israel to to rein in some of its attacks. And yet these attacks continue and arguably get more aggressive is US influence, not just in the region, but but with Israel, Is it is it declining? I wouldn't say the U.S. influence is declining. U.S. forces and the U.S. influence in Middle East is greater than any other power in the world there in the Middle East. But it is interesting that Israel has seen these really three major assassinations and that maybe more on Prime Minister Netanyahu and his situation as far as politically in Israel and how he remains in power himself as opposed to a waning of US influence. Yeah, his own partner, former partner in the war cabinet, Benny Gantz, as I said, quite similar. Major General Dana Pittard, thanks so much. Thank you, Jim. I do want to ask you about the situation in the Middle East. We know the U.S. is sending an aircraft carrier warships and a fighter squadron to the region, bracing for Iran to retaliate for the killing of a senior Hamas leader in Tehran earlier this week. How are you anticipating Iran to retaliate? Well, they will retaliate. The supreme leader of Iran has told us so. He was in a planning session a couple of days ago yesterday discussing plans. I think now Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has done the right things with regard to deploying additional forces in the theater, you know, warships that can carry anti-missile systems and an additional fighter squadron. Things that I had to do during my tenure. But I think this will happen in the next day or so or three. What I anticipate, look, there are a range of options. They could they could attack an Israeli embassy somewhere in the region or outside of the region. They could employ their Shia militia groups and others, all their proxies, whether it's the Houthis, Hamas, Hezbollah, you name it. But I suspect, you know, they'll go back to where they were in April with a a very large assault using missiles and drones against the Israelis. And this time they will force out of the punch much less than they did in April. And I suspect what they could do is try to overwhelm Israeli air defenses and an American assistance, I might say, by May, asking Hezbollah to launch hundreds if not thousands of rockets from the north. And that has the possibility of overwhelming iron Dome and the other Israeli air defense systems. Right. So just to remind everyone, because when this happened back in April and Iran launched those drones and missiles, the U.S. led a coalition, they were able to neutralize all of those. Nothing really got through. And they got a coalition also within the Middle East. Do you think that to your point, if they if they now go to the northern border and do this at the same time that you think that does have the potential to maybe overwhelm the defense system that worked last time? I think it is very possible. I mean, as you said, there was a very feckless attack. They launched drones that took five, six, 7 hours to get there. They followed a northern route. So they gave the Israelis time to prepare. And and ultimately it was about 300 missiles. But, you know, at some point in time, an air defense system can be overwhelmed. If you if the attacker launches simultaneously barrages and barrages of rockets, missiles and drones. And we know that Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, north of Israel, has up to 150,000 rockets, missiles, and depending on the numbers they use, could overwhelm Israel. And this time, rather than a single person being hit, hurt as or killed as happened in April, they could kill or hurt dozens. Who knows how many of the Israelis. But I do feel that because the attack against Ismail Haniya, the political leader of of Hamas, happened in Iran right after the ceremony, bringing in possession the new president. It was just such a major embarrassment to Iran that they have to act. They have to do something. They can't just do it through their proxies. And it's going to be more than what we saw in April. And so then that leads us to the U.S. role in all of this. Obviously, we laid out at the beginning what the defense secretary has been doing, the moves that have been made by the U.S. military. But at what point does the risk of U.S. involvement grow, grow? Well, we are involved. You know, we were supplying Israel with weapons, intelligence advice. We're pushing them here and they're on different things. And as you noted, Jessica, in the April assault, we we shot down Iranian missiles with our own missiles and using our aircraft to shoot down drones. And so the fact is, if it if it's not de-escalated at some point, right. As the Israelis did last time in April, then this we start moving up the escalation matter. And that could draw us deeper and deeper into a real all out conflict in the Middle East, which would see now not just, you know, the conflict and Hamas, but again, you'd have Hezbollah attacking from the north, the Houthis from the south. You could have a lot of fighting on the West Bank right outside Jerusalem. You could have Shia militia groups attacking Israelis or American forces. We've got about 2500 in Iraq. And then, of course, you'd be you'd see a lot of missile exchanges and other type of capabilities being displayed between Iran and Israel. It could be a very big conflict. And at that point, Israel would need our assistance, our direct assistance, and it could even involve going after Iran ourselves. Yeah. All right. Well, we will see how this develops. Secretary Mark Esper, always good to have you on. Thanks again. Thanks, Jessica.