The Pentagon is dispatching a new carrier strike group, a fighter jet squadron, missile defense-capable cruisers and other military assets to the Middle East amid rising tensions between Israel, Iran and Tehran’s network of proxy groups across the region, military officials said Friday.

In a statement, Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said the U.S. remains committed to de-escalating the increasingly dangerous situation across the theater but is taking steps “to ensure the United States is prepared to respond to various contingencies.”

“As we have demonstrated since October and again in April, the United States’ global defense is dynamic and the Department of Defense retains the capability to deploy on short notice to meet evolving national security threats,” she said. “The United States also remains intently focused on de-escalating tensions in the region and pushing for a cease-fire as part of a hostage deal to bring the hostages home and end the war in Gaza.”

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The U.S. has surged assets to the Middle East before, in the months after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel. But Friday’s new deployments come at an especially tense moment, just days after Israel is believed to have carried out a strike in Tehran that killed Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh. Israel also has conducted numerous strikes against Hezbollah targets in Lebanon, as well as the first-ever Israeli strikes last month against Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who Iran also backs.

Hezbollah and the Houthis have each launched direct attacks on Israel in recent weeks.

Friday’s announced deployment will see the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group in the Middle East. Additionally, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered additional ballistic missile defense-capable cruisers and destroyers to the U.S. European Command and U.S. Central Command regions. The Pentagon is also taking steps to increase its readiness to deploy additional land-based ballistic missile defense to the area, officials said.

The U.S. will also send an additional fighter jet squadron to the Middle East, the Pentagon said. 

Since Oct. 7, the Biden administration has maintained that preventing a wider Middle East war is one of its top priorities, but the situation has steadily escalated and now appears to be nearing a fever pitch.

Iran met with the leaders of its proxy forces earlier this week to discuss their potential response to the strike that killed Haniyeh in Tehran.