WASHINGTON, United States
The US has sent a guided
missile submarine to the Middle East, as tensions grow in the region.
Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin
also said an aircraft carrier which was already heading to the area would sail
there more quickly.
The move comes in response to
fears of a wider regional conflict, after the recent assassination of senior
Hezbollah and Hamas leaders.
It signals the US's
determination to help defend Israel from any attack by Iran - with Mr Austin
saying US would "take every possible step" to defend its ally.
Iran is being closely watched
for any indication of how and when it might respond to the assassination of
Hamas's top political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran on 31 July.
The Iranians blamed Israel for
the assassination of Mr Haniyeh on their soil, and have vowed to punish it.
Israel has not commented but is widely believed to have been behind it.
In a statement on Sunday, the Pentagon said Mr Austin
had sent the the USS Georgia guided missile submarine to the region.
It had also ordered the USS
Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, which is carrying F-35C fighter jets, to
accelerate its journey there. The ship was already on its way to replace
another US ship in the region.
It remains unclear what Iran
could be planning to do.
Meanwhile, another possible
attack on Israel could come from Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed militia and
political movement in Lebanon.
The group has vowed to respond
to the killing by Israel of senior commander Fuad Shukr, which happened just
hours before Mr Haniyeh’s assassination, in Beirut’s southern suburbs.
The Biden administration
believes a ceasefire in Gaza that frees Israeli hostages would be the best way
to calm tensions in the region, and has called for talks to resume on Thursday.
But on
Sunday night, Hamas responded to US efforts to revive the ceasefire
talks by saying Israel should be forced to implement the deal already on the
table.
Hamas said that any resumption
of ceasefire talks about the conflict in Gaza should be based on previous plans
rather than holding new rounds of negotiations.
However its statement
indicated an agreement in principle to participate.
Washington has previously
blamed Hamas for the failure of negotiations.
But Israeli press reports say
the US increasingly sees Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as partly
responsible – because he is accused of appeasing far-right members of his
coalition who are opposed to a deal.
Last week, for the first time
the White House openly criticised one of these coalition leaders, finance
minister Bezalel Smotrich.
Mr Smotrich had urged Israel
to reject the US push for ceasefire talks, saying it would be a surrender to
Hamas. White House national security spokesman John Kirby said Mr Smotrich was
"dead wrong" and accused him of making false claims.
Meanwhile the leaders of the
UK, France and Germany echoed calls for ceasefire talks to resume.
"We agree that there can
be no further delay," said the statement from UK Prime Minister Sir Keir
Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
"We have been working
with all parties to prevent escalation and will spare no effort to reduce
tensions and find a path to stability."
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