The Pentagon said it was sending as many as 1,500 more troops to the Middle East in response to what officials described as a campaign of low-level attacks directed by Iran on U.S. allies in the Middle East.
The U.S. aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln, shown on May 8, is part of a group of ships that have been sent to the Persian Gulf, adding pressure on Iran.
The reinforcements are the latest escalation in a tense series of military moves by Washington and Tehran that have increased tensions in the Persian Gulf and raised the danger of a military clash. He said that U.S. intelligence agencies “attribute” sabotage attacks that damaged four oil tankers off the coast of the United Arab Emirates this month to Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps using “limpet mines,” a naval munition attached to a target by magnets.
“I can’t reveal the sources, other than to say we have very high confidence,” he said when pressed by reporters to describe the evidence. That was in response to what officials said was intelligence showing Iran had put cruise missiles aboard small boats. The U.S. has not released satellite photographs backing up that claim.
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said in a statement that he had approved the request after briefing Trump on Thursday “to improve our force protection and safeguard U.S. forces given the ongoing threat posed by Iranian forces, including the [Revolutionary Guard] and its proxies.”
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