The US is sending additional warplanes to the Middle East, a Trump administration official told The New York Times, as the administration is preparing to escalate its war against Iran and Israel is preparing to potentially join in.
The Times report said that US F-16 fighter jets based in Germany and F-35 fighter jets from bases in the UK were being sent to the region, along with additional refueling aircraft.
The report came after US troops were killed by an Iranian missile strike on a base in Jordan, but officials said that the deployment was planned before that, as President Trump was signaling plans to escalate before the US deaths.
“The US is planning for a wider war,” a US official familiar with the administration’s internal discussions told The Washington Post. The official acknowledged that the US wasn’t in the best position to escalate due to the depletion of air defenses and other munitions.
“We do not have enough to safely sustain operations, and I don’t think the White House is aware of that,” the official said.
Potential escalations include more strikes targeting civilian infrastructure, such as bridges, power plants, and desalination plants, or some sort of ground incursion targeting an Iranian island in the Persian Gulf. Any attempted ground operation will almost certainly lead to major US casualties.
Israeli media also reported on Sunday that Trump was leaning toward escalation and that the IDF was on “high alert” for the possibility of launching strikes against Iran. While the US State Department has said the US was in conflict with Iran “at the request” of Israel, Israel has so far sat out the renewed strikes.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that while Israel hasn’t been directly striking Iran, it has been supporting the war by providing the US with intelligence and in other ways. The report said that Israel’s less visible role was “a blessing for Israelis” since it “reduces the risk of casualties and allows daily life to continue largely as normal, without midnight sirens, trips to bomb shelters or major disruptions.”
Israeli officials told Israel Hayom that there were three scenarios in which Israel could join in on the attacks on Iran:
- A direct Iranian attack on Israel
- Signs that Iran is preparing to attack Israel
- A formal US request for the IDF to join the campaign
An Iranian attack on Sunday that targeted Aqaba, southern Jordan, near the Israeli city of Eilat led to the IDF firing interceptors at debris from the missiles, marking the first known time Israeli air defenses were used during an Iranian attack since the MoU collapsed.
