Iran has reportedly readied more than 100 cruise missiles as part of an ‘imminent’ strike on Israel after the US moved more forces into the Middle East over fears an attack could spark a full-scale war.
Military officials briefed on the matter told both ABC News and CNN that the US has observed Iran readying at least 100 cruise missiles, indicating they could be ready to attack.
ABC also reported that a large number of drones that could be used in an attack on Israel have also been readied by the nation.
Pentagon officials said the US would beef up its presence in the region and send the USS Dwight Eisenhower into the Red Sea as a warning to Tehran.
Iran has publicly threatened to hit back at Israel over an attack in Syria last week, which Tehran says was an Israeli airstrike on an Iranian diplomatic building in Damascus.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei vowed retribution in the wake of the Damascus attack, for which Tel-Aviv has yet to take responsibility.
US Defense officials on Friday said they are moving ‘additional assets to the area’, hours after the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem locked down it’s staff.
The USS Dwight Eisenhower would be able to intercept missiles and drones fired by Iran.
President Biden said on Friday that he expected Iran to attack Israel ‘sooner than later’ and that his message to Tehran was ‘don’t’.
‘We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel and help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,’ Biden said.
Asked how imminent an attack on Israel may be, Biden said he didn’t want to get into classified information but ‘my expectation is sooner than later.’
Former President Trump called Biden ‘pretty pathetic’ and claimed that had he been in office Iran wouldn’t be attacking Israel.
Trump said: ‘For the president of our country to actually put out a warning that he thinks that we’re going to be attacked or they’re going to be attacked. That’s pretty pathetic.’
‘They wouldn’t be attacking Israel if I were president, that I can tell you,’ he continued. ‘And they never did.’
Meanwhile, Navy special forces from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps used a helicopter to board and seize a container ship near the Strait of Hormuz, the state-run IRNA news agency reported. It added that the MSC Aries was being transferred to Iranian territorial waters.
Video on the state-owned news network, Press TV, showed what it said were people using a rope to drop onto the ship. NBC News could not independently verify the footage.
IRNA stated that the Zodiac shipping company operated the Portuguese-flagged ship, which it linked to an Israeli businessman. Zodiac said in a statement that the ship is managed and operated by the U.K.-based shipping company, MSC.
