US warships repositioned, on high alert ahead of expected Iranian attack on Israel

The United States Navy remains on high alert and repositioned at least two of its warships ahead of the expected Iranian attack on Israel, The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported on Friday.

The move comes as U.S. CENTCOM Commander General Erik Kurilla arrived in Tel Aviv on Thursday to begin coordinating a potential joint military response to an Iranian attack.

The WSJ report, based on unnamed U.S. military officials, stated that one of the two U.S. destroyers was brought from outside the region, whereas the other changed its previous position in Middle Eastern waters. At least one of the U.S. warships is equipped with an advanced Aegis missile defense system.

U.S. intelligence warned on Friday that there was a high likelihood that the anticipated Iranian attack against Israel would be carried out within 24 to 48 hours. Washington is reportedly concerned that a major Iranian attack on Israel could ignite a large regional war that could threaten several Middle East governments, as well as U.S. forces deployed in the combustible region.

The Iranian regime has openly threatened Israel after a top Iranian Quds Force general and several other high-ranking Iranian military officials were killed in an airstrike attributed to Israel. The targeted Iranian general, Mohammad Reza Zahedi, was reportedly in charge of the anti-Israel terror militias in Lebanon and Syria.

The Israeli government has so far officially neither denied nor confirmed responsibility for the strike on the Iranian general and his entourage. Zahedi was the highest-ranking eliminated Iranian military official since the U.S. assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad in 2020.

“The evil Zionist regime will be punished by our courageous men. We will make them regret this and other crimes like it, by God's power and strength,” Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recently threatened.

While Washington supports Israel’s right to self-defense against Iran and its terror proxies, some U.S. officials reportedly expected that Jerusalem would have informed Washington in advance of its strike on the Iranian general in Syria.

“We were not aware that Israel was going to carry out this airstrike in advance,” an unnamed U.S. official said.

“Minutes before it happened and when Israeli planes were already in the air, Israel reached out to a U.S. official to say they were in the process of conducting a strike in Syria. It did not include any details on who they were targeting or where it would be conducted, and the strike was already underway before word could be passed through the U.S. government,” the official added.

The U.S. has, therefore, asked Jerusalem to keep it updated ahead of future potential high-value targeted strikes that could impact the security of American forces in the Middle East.

U.S. officials believe the Iranian regime intends to strike multiple targets in Israel and possibly in the region and affirmed that it would assist Israel in shooting down the hostile aerial targets, which could reportedly amount to as many as 100 drones and dozens of missiles.

While Iran’s conventional military forces are reportedly largely outdated, Tehran has developed a significant arsenal consisting of tens of thousands of rockets, missiles and drones.

IDF Chief of Staff Herzi Halevi said on Friday that Israeli military forces are ready for any scenario involving Iran and its multiple regional terror proxies.