The U.S. Central Command announced on Friday the arrival of a squadron of F-16 aircraft stationed in Germany to the Central Command's area of operations in the Middle East, in anticipation of a potential Iranian response to the expected Israeli attack.

The U.S. military announced that F-16 fighter jets stationed in Germany have joined the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), the U.S. military command in the Middle East.

Iran is preparing for the anticipated Israeli attack on it and has ordered its forces to be on "high alert" in order to prepare for war and also "to try to avoid it," according to the New York Times.

The American newspaper reported, citing four Iranian officials in phone interviews this week, that Iranian leader Ali Khamenei "ordered the military to prepare multiple military plans to respond to any Israeli attack," noting that the scale of any Iranian response will largely depend on "the severity of the Israeli attacks.