{"id":187324,"date":"2026-07-02T10:19:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T10:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/187324\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T10:19:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T10:19:09","slug":"us-evaluates-moving-centcom-forces-and-naval-assets-to-israel-after-iran-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/187324\/","title":{"rendered":"US evaluates moving CENTCOM forces and naval assets to Israel after Iran war"},"content":{"rendered":"

The United States Central Command (CENTCOM<\/a>) is considering moving its military bases\u2019 operational systems in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia to Israel in order to increase their distance from further Iranian missile and drone attacks, The Wall Street Journal reported last Thursday.<\/p>\n

The US Navy<\/a> may revamp its base in Bahrain, which has suffered severe damage since late February up until the recent US-Iran ceasefire. Bahrain has been home to the US Navy\u2019s<\/a> central forces in the Middle East for over 50 years.<\/p>\n

One option is to establish a new base in the Negev big enough to hold the American army\u2019s forces, or to expand one of the Negev\u2019s air force bases and allocate an American compound there.<\/p>\n

The US Department of Defense and the US Army also plan to renew their supply contracts with the Ministry of Defense and the IDF until 2030, and possibly further.<\/p>\n

This idea for relocation follows Iran\u2019s extensive damage to at least 20 US sites across the Middle East since the onset of the war, especially NSA Bahrain.<\/p>\n

\"AA screengrab from a video released by U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), which accompanied a press release describing the operation dubbed ”Epic Fury”, an attack by the United States and Israel on Iran, shows a flight deck crew member signaling an F\u201135 jet on an aircraft carrier (credit: US CENTCOM\/Reuters)The US Army is hoping for less vulnerability in Gulf countries<\/p>\n

It would take an estimated $400 million to rebuild what Iran destroyed at NSA Bahrain, excluding costs of debris removal, the rebuilding of two AN\/GSC-52B satellite communication terminals and a communications management facility, and other relevant costs.<\/p>\n

It is possible that destroyed structures will not be revamped, and command and control nodes may have to be moved underground.<\/p>\n

Back in May, Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei stated the US military is not well enough protected in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\u201cAmerica will no longer have a safe haven for mischief and the establishment of military bases in the region,\u201d Khamenei posted on his Twitter\/X account.<\/p>\n

The Pentagon has yet to publicly acknowledge the extent of the damage that Iran inflicted on their naval base in Bahrain. Capt. Tim Hawkins, a US Central Command spokesman, said that the US military struck Iran harder than Iran hit it.<\/p>\n

\u201cCentcom rightfully prioritized the protection of people over buildings, and our strategy of protecting people worked,\u201d Hawkins told The Wall Street Journal. \u201cIran shot more than 8,000 missiles and drones, and only two hits resulted in US fatalities.\u201d<\/p>\n

The extensive damage \u201chas the US re-evaluating its entire footprint in the region,\u201d US officials told The Wall Street Journal.<\/p>\n

Retired Navy V.-Adm. Kevin Donegan, a US Navy Commander in the Middle East, expects the US does not want to completely remove its presence in Bahrain, given their strong alliance.<\/p>\n

Some of Israel\u2019s security officials approve the establishment of American bases in Israel. \u201cA permanent American presence in Israel will require an air defense envelope, and beyond that, it will strengthen the long-term relationship between the militaries and the administrations on the strategic level,\u201d a security source told Walla.<\/p>\n

No final decisions have been announced by the US yet.<\/p>\n

Moving forces further west offers US more access to future of Middle East<\/p>\n

A long-term American presence in Israel gives the US better access to the US Civil-Military Coordination Center (CMCC) at Kiryat Gat, and it can better monitor the ongoing operations in Gaza and the Middle East region.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, in his next visit to Israel later this week, CENTCOM Commander Adm. Brad Cooper plans to negotiate the Lebanon ceasefire terms and further define the withdrawal lines of the IDF from southern Lebanon.<\/p>\n

The Lebanese government and Hezbollah want withdrawals that are less modest than those the IDF is offering.<\/p>\n

USAF presence in Israel has made things harder for Israel<\/p>\n

Israel has already made room for America since the onset of the 2026 Iran war. Ben-Gurion Airport hosted USAF refueling aircraft over the course of the war, which interfered with the flexibility of Israel\u2019s airspace and airport operations.<\/p>\n

Not all officials received US military presence in Israel with open arms. Civil Aviation Authority head Shmuel Zakai once called Ben-Gurion a \u201cUS military base,\u201d given its constant presence of American planes.<\/p>\n

US Air Force presence has also caused the Israel Airports Authority<\/a> (IAA) to lose NIS 700 million, said National Security Council director Shmuel Ben-Ezra.<\/p>\n

In response to the constraints on airport capacity, Maariv said USAF aircraft will be relocated from Ben-Gurion to Israel Air Force bases. Those IAF bases\u2019 troops will move to other bases around Israel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The United States Central Command (CENTCOM) is considering moving its military bases\u2019 operational systems in Bahrain, Kuwait, and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":187325,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[33],"tags":[270,141,714,37,214,3051,35,12481,8140,50,10020,10021,225,343,736,77],"class_list":["post-187324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-israel","tag-bahrain","tag-centcom","tag-gulf-states","tag-israel","tag-israel-iran","tag-israel-us","tag-kuwait","tag-naval-base","tag-negev","tag-saudi-arabia","tag-us-army","tag-us-department-of-defense","tag-us-iran","tag-us-military","tag-us-navy","tag-us-israel"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116849879494800388","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=187324"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/187324\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/187325"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=187324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=187324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=187324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}