US to send advanced missile defenses to Israel to deter Iran

The U.S. is sending an advanced missile defense system and associated troops to Israel to help shield its ally from attacks by Iran, the Pentagon announced.

Deployment of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense battery will buttress Israel’s own air defenses, which were stretched by Iranian attacks at least twice this year, most recently by some 200 missiles fired at Israeli targets on Oct. 1.

President Joe Biden responded briefly when asked why the U.S. was sending the equipment. “To defend Israel,” he told reporters during a trip to Florida on Sunday.

THAAD will work as a counterpart to Israel’s Arrow system at the top level of a multitier missile shield that includes the mid-range David’s Sling and the short-range Iron Dome. A THAAD battery consists of 95 soldiers, six truck-mounted launchers, eight interceptors per launcher and associated equipment.

“This action underscores the United States’ ironclad commitment to the defense of Israel, and to defend Americans in Israel, from any further ballistic missile attacks by Iran,” Pentagon spokesman Pat Ryder said in a statement Sunday. The deployment includes “an associated crew of US military personnel,” he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate for the October attack, which Iran called a response to the killing of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in Beirut and the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

Both groups are backed by Iran and considered terrorist organization by the U.S. The European Union has designated Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, a terrorist organization.

THAAD’s “advantage is in added capabilities,” Zohar Palti, former head of strategy at Israel’s Defense Ministry, said on Channel 12 television. “It provides much for security, including for what follows our action in Iran.”

Asked if the deployment also limits Israeli autonomy by deploying U.S. troops in the country, Palti said Israel “does not endanger American troops, and therefore there will be full coordination here.”

Zvika Haimovich, a former commander of Israel’s air defense corps, told Channel 12 that THAAD performs similarly to Arrow, with interception altitudes of 150 kilometers (94 miles) to 200 kilometers. The advantage lies in the addition of dozens of launch platforms to Israel’s array, he said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Sunday that Iran has “no red lines” in defending itself from threats and that the U.S. is “putting lives of its troops at risk by deploying them to operate U.S. missile systems in Israel.”

Biden previously directed the deployment of a THAAD battery to the Middle East last year after the Oct. 7, 2023 incursion and attack by Hamas militants on southern Israel. It was also deployed to Israel in 2019 for an air defense drill.