SpaceWar.com reports: “The United States is sending additional naval resources to the Middle East as it braces for the likelihood of a retaliatory attack by Iran after the killing of a Hamas leader in Tehran.

‘Secretary [of Defense Lloyd] Austin has ordered additional ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers and destroyers to the U.S. European Command and U.S. Central Command regions,’ Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said in a statement issued by the Pentagon.

‘The Department is also taking steps to increase our readiness to deploy additional land-based ballistic missile defense.’

The Navy’s USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group will replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt to ‘maintain a carrier strike group presence in the Middle East.’

The USS Abraham Lincoln and its accompanied ships were sailing off the coast of Hawaii on Saturday.

Austin has also ordered an additional fighter squadron deployed to the Middle East…”