The Pentagon plans to send about 1,000 more troops to the Middle East as tensions rise between the US and Iran, although US President Donald Trump called two tanker attacks blamed on the Islamic Republic “very minor.”
“I have authorized approximately 1,000 additional troops for defensive purposes to address air, naval, and ground-based threats in the Middle East,” Acting US Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan said in a statement on Monday night.
He offered no details on where the troops would be deployed or what their missions might be.
The US has accused the Iranians of being behind the attacks in the Gulf of Oman last week. The Tehran government has denied any involvement.
Trump seemed to downplay the attacks in an interview with Time magazine that was published the same day.
“So far, it’s been very minor,” he said.
Asked if he was considering a military confrontation with Iran, he said: “I wouldn’t say that. I can’t say that at all.”
In the interview he also said that the Gulf of Oman and the Middle East were less of a concern than in the past, because the US acquires “very little” oil from the region.
Shanahan, in his statement, said that the “attacks validate the reliable, credible intelligence we have received on hostile behavior by Iranian forces and their proxy groups that threaten United States personnel and interests across the region.”
“The United States does not seek conflict with Iran,” he said. “The action today is being taken to ensure the safety and welfare of our military personnel working throughout the region and to protect our national interests.”
Earlier on Monday, the Pentagon released photographs and a time line that it said bolstered US accusations that Iran was responsible for the attacks in the Gulf of Oman.
“Iran is responsible for the attack based on video evidence and the resources and proficiency needed to quickly remove the unexploded limpet mine,” the statement accompanying the photographs read.
Trump said last week that “Iran did it,” and British officials said it was “almost certain” that Tehran was behind the attacks.
A US Navy explosives expert, who is not part of the US investigation, told reporters that while the explosive only damaged the tanker Kokuka Courageous, he could not infer what the attackers intended to accomplish.
The Pentagon took the unusual step of identifying the source of the imagery — in this case a US Navy MH-60R surveillance helicopter that can fly and hover as it gathers imagery at lower altitudes than drones or P-8 maritime patrol craft.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an independent investigation of the attacks, because “it is very important to know the truth,” a statement that has won support from other nations.
MONEY MATTERS: Xi was to highlight projects such as a new high-speed railway between Belgrade and Budapest, as Serbia is entirely open to Chinese trade and investment Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic yesterday said that “Taiwan is China” as he made a speech welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to Belgrade, state broadcaster Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) said. “We have a clear and simple position regarding Chinese territorial integrity,” he told a crowd outside the government offices while Xi applauded him. “Yes, Taiwan is China.” Xi landed in Belgrade on Tuesday night on the second leg of his European tour, and was greeted by Vucic and most government ministers. Xi had just completed a two-day trip to France, where he held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as the
With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of US airpower, but the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence (AI), not a human pilot, and riding in the front seat was US Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall. AI marks one of the biggest advances in military aviation since the introduction of stealth in the early 1990s, and the US Air Force has aggressively leaned in. Even though the technology is not fully developed, the service is planning
INTERNATIONAL PROBE: Australian and US authorities were helping coordinate the investigation of the case, which follows the 2015 murder of Australian surfers in Mexico Three bodies were found in Mexico’s Baja California state, the FBI said on Friday, days after two Australians and an American went missing during a surfing trip in an area hit by cartel violence. Authorities used a pulley system to hoist what appeared to be lifeless bodies covered in mud from a shaft on a cliff high above the Pacific. “We confirm there were three individuals found deceased in Santo Tomas, Baja California,” a statement from the FBI’s office in San Diego, California, said without providing the identities of the victims. Australian brothers Jake and Callum Robinson and their American friend Jack Carter
CUSTOMS DUTIES: France’s cognac industry was closely watching the talks, fearing that an anti-dumping investigation opened by China is retaliation for trade tensions French President Emmanuel Macron yesterday hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at one of his beloved childhood haunts in the Pyrenees, seeking to press a message to Beijing not to support Russia’s war against Ukraine and to accept fairer trade. The first day of Xi’s state visit to France, his first to Europe since 2019, saw respectful, but sometimes robust exchanges between the two men during a succession of talks on Monday. Macron, joined initially by EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, urged Xi not to allow the export of any technology that could be used by Russia in its invasion