Fresh off the announcement of the P5+1 nuclear deal with Iran, Secretary of Defense Ash Carter issued a statement declaring the US to be “prepared and postured” to attack Iran on Israel’s behalf whenever it decides to do so.

Carter insisted military options would be used to “bolster the security of our friends and allies in the region, including Israel,” and that tens of thousands of US ground troops in the Gulf region are going “full speed ahead”in that direction.

Carter is planning to visit Israel next week, something the White House is touting as proof of US military cooperation with Israel. With Israel railing against the nuclear pact, the idle talk of a US attack was seen as an effort to placate Israeli leadership that the deal doesn’t necessarily foil their efforts to spark a war with Iran.

At the same time, it’s virtually unthinkable that the US would actually sign a deal with Iran one day and attack them the next, irrespective of the more pro-Israel narrative such claims put forward. The posturing on about the threat to attack both harms Iran’s trust that the deal is sincere and is ultimately dishonest, since the US naturally isn’t going to attack Iran at this point.