WASHINGTON: The US is to send 1,500 troops and a dozen fighter jets to the Middle East in the coming weeks. Fighter jets, drones and other weaponry will also be deployed.
Pentagon has said that sending additional troops becomes imperative in view of an escalating campaign by Iran against the US and its interests in the region. President Donald Trump declared the move earlier on Friday.
Tensions ran high this month as shipping in the Gulf of Oman was destroyed by a series of explosions.
The US move is intended to ‘safeguard US forces’ in face of the ongoing threat posed by Iranian forces, including the IRGC [Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps] and its proxies. The IRGC is the most elite military unit in Iran, which is treated as a foreign terrorist organization by US.
(Agencies)
Comment