US President Donald Trump is sending an additional 1,500 US troops to the Middle East, he said.
“We want to have protection,” Trump said, speaking to reporters Friday at the White House. “The Middle East, we’re going to be sending a relatively small number of troops – mostly protective. Some very talented people are going to the Middle East right now and we’ll see what happens.”
Asked how many troops, he said: “It’ll be about 1,500 people.”
Citing Iranian “threat”, Trump noted meanwhile, “I don’t think Iran wants to fight,” Trump added, “and I certainly don’t think they want to fight with us.”
Meanwhile, the CNN quoted a US official and a source familiar with the plan as saying that many of the new forces will be engineers to support Patriot missile batteries and reconnaissance aircraft that are being newly deployed.
In order for the ‘scenario’ to be completed, shortly after Trump’s remarks, the Pentagon announced that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps is responsible for attacks on four tankers at a port in the United Arab Emirates, nearly two weeks ago.
Vice Adm. Michael Gilday, director of the Joint Staff, told reporters at the Pentagon that “the Iranians have said publicly they were going to do things. We learned through intelligence reporting they have acted upon those threats and they have actually attacked.”
Source: Agencies
