Tehran said American bases in the Middle East could face reprisals if the U.S. helped repel Iranian attacks on Israel.

U.S. officials told multiple outlets that the Navy directed the USS Thomas Hudner, a destroyer capable of intercepting ballistic missiles, from the western Mediterranean Sea toward the eastern Mediterranean Sea, where it will join the USS Arleigh Burke. A second destroyer was also ordered to change course to be available if requested.

Shapiro served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for the Middle East until January—charged with, among other things, considering scenarios in which tensions between Israel and Iran escalated into all-out war and preparing U.

James Anderson, former acting Under Secretary of Defense for Policy during the first Trump administration, told Newsweek what Iran's possible next steps may be.

Iranian officials and lawmakers are warning of a withering Iranian retaliatory response against Israel but decision makers in Tehran may need to weigh up a major constraint: the desire to avoid actions that would bring the U.

U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff plans to meet Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Oman on Sunday and discuss Iran's response to a recent American proposal for a nuclear deal, a U.S. official said late on Wednesday.

By Crispian Balmer, Michael Martina and Matt Spetalnick JERUSALEM/WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Israel's surprise attack on Iran had an obvious goal of sharply disrupting Tehran's nuclear programme and lengthening the time it would need to develop an atomic weapon.