PENTAGON — The US is deploying 1,500 additional troops to the Middle East to defend US forces and American allies and partners in the region from Iran, defense officials said Friday, explaining the additional force protection is necessary as intelligence shows that Iran continues to plot attacks against US interests in the region.
“The acting secretary of defense has approved a request from the CENTCOM combatant commander for additional forces and capabilities in the region,” Acting Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Katie Wheelbarger told reporters at the Pentagon in the first on-the-record briefing on this issue since tensions with Iran spiked three weeks ago.
The US will, in the coming weeks, send the requested additional troops to operate manned and unmanned strike and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms, some of which are already in theater, to US Central Command, which oversees military operations across the Middle East.
The deployment will include a Patriot missile battalion to combat missile threats, reconnaissance aircraft, an engineer element to harden existing defenses, and a fighter jet squadron to provide additional deterrence capabilities.
The request for additional force protection came from CENTCOM commander Gen. Kenneth McKenzie in response to heightened levels of Iranian aggression, officials said. Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, who discussed this matter with the president Thursday, notified Congress of the impending deployment Friday morning.
The decision follows the rapid deployment of a heavily-armed US Navy carrier strike group led by the USS Abraham Lincoln, a task force consisting of four US Air Force B-52H heavy, long-range bombers, an amphibious assault vessel, and a Patriot missile battery to the region.
These deployments were in response to what CENTCOM said were “clear indications that Iranian and Iranian proxy forces were making preparations to possibly attack US forces in the region.”
Director of the Joint Staff, Rear Adm. Michael Gilday, told reporters that in recent weeks, Iranian leaders have repeatedly made threats backed up by changes in their force posture. Iranian-backed forces have attacked foreign tankers, hit a pipeline in Saudi Arabia, and fired a rocket into the Green Zone in Iraq. And Iran has reportedly mobilized dhows modified to be able to launch cruise missiles, and officials said there continue to be credible threats to US forces.
The latest move, Wheelbarger explained, is “in response to credible intelligence that Iran continues to plan for attacks by itself and its proxies against the United States, its forces, and its allies and partners in the region.”
The Pentagon declined to provide evidence for its claims, saying it was unable to share the intelligence at this time.
“We have had multiple credible reports that Iranian proxy groups intend to attack US personnel in the Middle East,” Gilday said. “While we won’t be able to declassify all the available intelligence, we believe that Iran’s actions and threats are troubling, escalatory and dangerous to our US forces and those of our regional partners.”
Defense officials speaking to reporters Friday stressed that the US is not seeking war with Iran. The US is moving forward with deterrence as the primary objective.
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