The New York Times:

By Liam Stack

Iran’s supreme leader on Saturday threatened “a crushing response” to Israeli strikes on his country, as the Pentagon said it would deploy additional resources to the region in the coming months.

Tehran initially appeared to play down the damage caused by Israeli strikes inside Iran late last month, raising hopes that it might de-escalate the situation rather than pursue a new cycle of retaliation. But in recent days, Iranian officials have changed their tone.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has the authority as commander in chief to order strikes on Israel. In a statement posted online, he said on Saturday that Israel and the United States would “definitely receive a crushing response” for actions against Iran.

His remarks echoed two Iranian officials who this past week said that Iran would retaliate, with one telling state news media that a response would be “definite” and a second saying Iran would launch “a fierce, tooth-breaking” response.

After years of avoiding direct military clashes, Iran and Israel have been locked in an escalating monthslong cycle of retaliation that has drawn in their allies and proxies, bringing the region to the brink of an all-out war.

The Pentagon in late September extended the deployment of an aircraft carrier strike group in the Gulf of Oman to deter Iranian attacks and shoot down any ballistic missiles fired into Israel.

To maintain those kinds of capabilities in the region when that carrier, the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, returns to its home port, the Pentagon announced late Friday that a new deployment of ships and land-based warplanes would head to the region.

Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said that Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III had ordered the deployment of fighter aircraft, ballistic missile defense destroyers and B-52 long-range bombers to assist in the defense of Israel and other U.S. interests in the region.

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