IRAN – The United States is sending a carrier strike group, a fighter squadron and additional warships to the Middle East as the region braces for possible Iranian retaliation to the killing of a senior Hamas leader in Tehran earlier this week.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the USS Abraham Lincoln strike group to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt strike group, which is currently operating in the Gulf of Oman, according to a statement from deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh.

Destroyers and cruisers capable of ballistic missile defense will also be sent to the Middle East and the Mediterranean Sea. The statement does not say which warships have been sent, but two US destroyers in the eastern Mediterranean Sea took part in intercepting the barrage of strikes Iran launched against Israel in April.

Austin also ordered the deployment of a fighter squadron to the region, Singh said. The US already has the USS Wasp amphibious assault ship in the region, which operates with the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit, capable of carrying out an evacuation of US citizens in Lebanon should it be ordered.

Iran has vowed to attack Israel for the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran. Israel has not commented on the killing. (CNN)…[+]