The United States military is once again increasing its arsenal in the Middle East to counter Iranian threats, announcing Friday the movement of a Patriot missile battery and the USS Arlington landing platform dock ship used in amphibious assaults.

The move comes a day after The USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier strike group and four B-52 bombers arrived in the Middle East in response to concerns Iran may be planning an attack against American targets.

“It’s important that Iran understand that an attack on Americans or its interests will be met with an appropriate response,” Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Pat Shanahan said Friday. “We’re in the Middle East to defeat terrorism, fight and build security ... but we will protect ourselves.”

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FILE - Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, center, accompanied by Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford, left, and Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson, speaks during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington.

The Iranian threat was both “on land and sea” and included commercial dhows that the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, a branch of Iran’s armed forces, loaded with “potential military hardware to include missiles,” a senior military official told reporters at the Pentagon.

The USS Arlington will be replacing the USS Fort McHenry to provide “additional command and control capability in the region,” which would “speed up the ability to respond” to any threat, the official added.

Pentagon officials would not comment on where the Patriot missile battery was being sent. The all-weather air defense system is used to counter ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and aircraft.

WATCH: US Sending Ships, Patriot Missiles to Counter Iranian Threat

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