Military bases across North Carolina, including Fort Bragg and Camp Lejeune, will have heightened security as the United States and Israel engage in a joint military operation in Iran.
According to the commander of the U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM), all military installations will have heightened security measures at their entrance gates until further notice,
Camp Lejeune said they will have 100% ID checks, random vehicle inspections and suspend the Trusted Traveler Program, which allowed Department of Defense-affiliated sponsors to vouch for drivers for base access, until further notice.
“These enhanced security measures are being implemented to safeguard our service members, civilians and families, while ensuring our continued ability to generate and project combat power at the time and place of our Nation’s choosing,” the base said in a post on Facebook.
The base said drivers should expect delays and possible random inspectsion at all entry gates and should plan accordingly.
The announcement came as the United States and Israel pounded military targets across Iran as part of a campaign that followed the killing of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday. According to the U.S. military, three service members were killed and five were wounded in the Iran operation.
More than 200 people have been killed since the start of the strikes that killed Khamenei and other senior leaders, Iranian leaders have said, as blasts across the country rattled windows and sent plumes of smoke high into the sky above the capital city of Tehran.
Tensions have escalated in recent weeks as the Trump administration built up the largest force of American warships and aircraft in the Middle East in decades. President Donald Trump insisted he wanted a deal to constrain Iran’s nuclear program while the country struggled with growing dissent following nationwide protests.
Iran’s foreign minister blamed the U.S. and Israel for starting the war. He said he had spoken to his counterparts in the Gulf countries and urged them to pressure the U.S. and Israel to end it.
“You have crossed our red line and must pay the price,” Iran’s parliamentary speaker, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, said in a televised address. “We will deliver such devastating blows that you yourselves will be driven to beg.”
Trump warned against any retaliation.
“THEY BETTER NOT DO THAT,” he said in a social media post. “IF
THEY DO, WE WILL HIT THEM WITH A FORCE THAT HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN
BEFORE!”
A senior White House official says that “new potential leadership” in
Iran has suggested they are open for talks with the United States. The
official, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal
administration deliberations, said Trump says he is
“eventually” willing to talk, but for now the military operation
“continues unabated.”
Trump told The Atlantic in an interview on Sunday that he
planned to speak with Iran’s new leadership. “They want to talk, and I
have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them,” he said, declining
to comment on the timing.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.