White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan cited the possibility of a new battle front on the Israel-Lebanon border. File

The U.S. said on Sunday it fears an escalation of the war between Israel and Hamas and the prospect of Iran getting directly involved.

Speaking on CBS, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan cited the possibility of a new battle front on the Israel-Lebanon border and added, “We can’t rule out that Iran would choose to get directly engaged some way. We have to prepare for every possible contingency.”

Iran is a long-time backer of the militant group Hamas and of Hezbollah in Lebanon, providing them funding and weapons.

“That is a risk and that’s a risk that we have been mindful of since the start,” Mr. Sullivan said of the prospect of Iran getting involved in the war, which was triggered by the Hamas attack on southern Israel from Gaza last weekend.

“It’s why the President moves so rapidly and decisively to get an aircraft carrier into the eastern Mediterranean, to get aircraft into the Gulf, because he sent a very clear message to any state or any actor that would seek to exploit this situation,” Mr. Sullivan added.

Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin announced the deployment of the second aircraft carrier on Saturday “to deter hostile actions against Israel or any efforts toward widening this war following Hamas’s attack.”

In the eastern Mediterranean, the carrier USS Eisenhower and its accompanying ships will join the USS Gerald R. Ford, which was dispatched after the Hamas attack on October 7.

John Kirby, spokesman for the National Security Council, also said that the U.S. is concerned about a new front in the war opening on the Israeli border with Lebanon.

“We don’t want to see another terrorist group like Hezbollah widening this and opening fronts to distract against the fight against Hamas,” Mr. Kirby said on the “Fox News Sunday” program.

Hezbollah has claimed responsibility for several rocket attacks on northern Israel since the war between Israel and Hamas erupted.

“Of course, Iran is broadly complicit and this has helped Hamas function and be able to conduct the terrorist attack they have conducted,” Mr. Kirby said.

But he reiterated the U.S. position that it has no intelligence pointing to specific Iranian participation in the Hamas attack.