Pentagon proposing 10,000 more troops, Patriot missiles to counter Iran

The Pentagon will present plans to the White House to beef up U.S. forces in the Mideast on Thursday, reports say.

By World Israel News Staff and AP

The Pentagon on Thursday will present plans to the White House to send up to 10,000 more troops to the Middle East, in a move to beef up defenses against potential Iranian threats, U.S. officials said.

The officials said no final decision has been made yet, and it’s not clear if the White House would approve sending all or just some of the requested forces.

Officials said the move is not in response to any new threat from Iran, but is aimed at reinforcing security in the region. They said the troops would be defensive forces, and the discussions include additional Patriot missile batteries, more ships and increased efforts to monitor Iran.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the plans have not been formally announced.

Thursday morning’s meeting comes as tensions with Iran continue to simmer, and it wasn’t clear if a decision would be made during the session.

Any move to deploy more forces to the Middle East would signal a shift for President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly emphasized the need to reduce America’s troop presence in the region.

U.S. officials have provided few details about possible Iranian threats, but indicated they initially involved missiles loaded onto small Iranian boats. This week officials said the missiles have been taken off the boats near Iran’s shore, but other maritime threats continue.

Sending more troops could also raise questions on Capitol Hill. During back-to-back closed briefings for the House and Senate on Tuesday, defense leaders told congressional officials the U.S. doesn’t want to go to war with Iran and wants to de-escalate the situation.

Iran however continues to send aggressive signals. On Wednesday night, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei declared that his country’s young people would witness the end of Israel and the end of American civilization. Khamenei said at a meeting with students from the extremist camp in Iran: “You young people, you will surely witness the end of the enemies of humanity, that is, the American civilization that is degenerate, and the end of Israel.”

Seeking deterrence

Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told lawmakers the U.S. is seeking to deter, not provoke, Iran, even while accusing Tehran of threatening U.S. interests in the Mideast. Shanahan told reporters, “Our biggest focus at this point is to prevent Iranian miscalculation.”

Many in Congress are skeptical of the administration’s approach to Iran, questioning whether it is responding to significant new Iranian threats or escalating a situation that could lead to war.

CNN first reported that the Pentagon will brief the White House on a plan that could send thousands of additional U.S. troops to the Middle East.

Air Force Col. Patrick Ryder, spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, declined to comment, saying, “As a matter of long-standing policy, we are not going to discuss or speculate on potential or alleged future operations or plans.”

In early May, the U.S. accelerated the deployment of an aircraft carrier strike group to the Mideast and sent four B-52 bomber aircraft to the region. The Pentagon also decided to move a Patriot air-defense missile battery to an undisclosed country in the area.

National Security Adviser John Bolton made the announcement of the initial beefing up of forces on May 5. He, too, stressed the deterrent nature of the move. “The United States is not seeking war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or regular Iranian forces,” he said.

A week and a half later, the Trump administration evacuated all nonessential personnel from Iraq, amid unspecified threats the administration said are linked to Iranian-backed militias in the country.

This was shortly after The New York Times reported that Trump had been presented with military plans by top security officials, including an optimal one that involved sending 120,000 troops to the region. The White House and Pentagon refused to confirm that report.

On Sunday, after a rocket was fired into Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone, landing less than a mile from the sprawling U.S. Embassy, Trump sounded his most bellicose, tweeting in anger, ” “If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran.”

There were no injuries and no group claimed responsibility, but the rocket was believed to have been fired from east Baghdad — which is home to Iran-backed Shiite militias.

Some Democrats say Trump is responsible for drawing Iran’s ire. Last year he abruptly pulled the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal, negotiated during the Obama administration to prevent Iran from nuclear weapons production.

He also has reimposed punishing sanctions that have crippled Tehran’s economy, and designated Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps as a foreign terrorist organization in April.

Trump, for his part, argues that he pulled the U.S. out of the deal because it only limited Iran’s nuclear ambitions for a specified period, after which the country would be free under the agreement to pursue nuclear weapons.

IranIran nuclear dealUS troops