US CENTCOM chief meets top IDF generals amid US military buildup in Mideast
US Central Command commander Adm. Brad Cooper visited Israel on Saturday, meeting senior Israeli military officials amid heightened regional tensions over Iran's protest crackdown.
Cooper held discussions at Tel Aviv's Kirya headquarters with IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, Intelligence Directorate chief Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder, and Operations Directorate chief Maj. Gen. Itzik Cohen.
The Israeli military has remained on high alert and conducted preparations following US threats of action against Iran. President Donald Trump indicated he is preserving the option for military strikes if Iran proceeds with executions of protesters. He stated Thursday aboard Air Force One that such action would make last year's US strikes on Iranian nuclear sites "look like peanuts." Trump mentioned an "armada" moving toward Iran, including an aircraft carrier group with thousands of troops, though he expressed hope it would not be needed.
The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group, accompanied by three destroyers, departed the South China Sea earlier this week and was in the Indian Ocean as of Friday. It is not yet in CENTCOM's area and remains several days from striking range of Iran. Upon arrival, it would add about 5,700 personnel, joining existing US assets like littoral combat ships in Bahrain, destroyers in the Persian Gulf, and bases such as Al Udeid in Qatar.
The Air Force deployed F-15E Strike Eagles to the Middle East to bolster readiness, while the UK sent Typhoon jets to Qatar defensively. Flight data showed numerous US military cargo planes moving toward the region.
A senior Iranian official warned Friday that any US attack would be treated as "all-out war," stating:
"This time we will treat any attack — limited, unlimited, surgical, kinetic, whatever they call it — as an all-out war against us, and we will respond in the hardest way possible to settle this."
Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan noted signs Israel seeks an opportunity to strike Iran, warning of further regional instability.