The Pentagon has ordered a second aircraft carrier strike group to the eastern Mediterranean near Israel to deter Iran or Hezbollah from joining the Israel-Hamas conflict, according to U.S. officials.
A senior US official and a US official told ABC News that the USS Eisenhower carrier strike group will be ordered to the eastern Mediterranean to join the USS Gerald R Ford carrier strike group that arrived there earlier this week and is in international waters off of Israel.
"I have directed the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower Carrier Strike Group (CSG) to begin moving to the Eastern Mediterranean," said Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in a statement confirming the deployment. "As part of our effort to deter hostile actions against Israel or any efforts toward widening this war following Hamas's attack on Israel."
They're there to pre-answer the questions "how quickly and how forcefully would the USA get involved if we did a thing? Are they too focused on Ukraine? Do they have any appetite for a new middle East conflict?"
Instantaneously. Overwhelmingly. No. Yes.
It's better for everyone that these answers are readily available and explicitly clear so that nobody miscalculates. Deterrence is much cheaper than a real follow-through.