'Sense of urgency': US accelerates military deployment to MidEast The Pentagon said Sunday that US 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 moves come as tensions soar in the region following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran and a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut. "It has to be noted, it's pretty rare for the Pentagon, for the US, to actually publicly state submarine movements, so that in itself is pretty significant," FRANCE 24's Kethevane Gorjestani said in an analysis, adding that the US aircraft carrier being ordered to sail more quickly to the region also conveys a "sense of urgency".