Pen­ta­gon chief orders sub­ma­rine to the Mid­dle East, tells air­craft car­ri­er to has­ten its tran­sit

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Defense Sec­re­tary Lloyd Austin has ordered a guid­ed mis­sile sub­ma­rine to the Mid­dle East and is telling the USS Abra­ham Lin­coln air­craft car­ri­er strike group to sail more quick­ly to the area, the Defense Depart­ment said Sun­day.

The moves come as the U.S. and oth­er allies push for Israel and Hamas to achieve a cease­fire agree­ment that could help calm soar­ing ten­sions in the region fol­low­ing the assas­si­na­tion of Hamas polit­i­cal leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a senior Hezbol­lah com­man­der in Beirut.

This pho­to released by the US Navy show a guid­ed-mis­sile sub­ma­rine capa­ble of car­ry­ing up to 154 Tom­a­hawk mis­siles. The Navy said nuclear-pow­ered sub­ma­rine, based out of Kings Bay, Geor­gia, passed through the Suez Canal on Fri­day, April 7, 2023. (US Navy via AP)

Offi­cials have been on the look­out for retal­ia­to­ry strikes by both Iran and Hezbol­lah for the killings, and the U.S. has been beef­ing up its pres­ence in the region.

Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, Pen­ta­gon press secre …