The Pentagon is considering sending several thousand additional troops to the Middle East to help deter Iranian aggression, amid reports of escalating violence in Iran and continued meddling by Tehran in Iraq, Syria and other parts of the region.
John Rood, defense undersecretary for policy, told senators Thursday that Defense Secretary Mark Esper “intends to make changes” to the number of troops deployed in the region. Other officials said options under consideration could send between 5,000 and 7,000 troops to the Middle East, but they all stressed that there have been no final decisions yet. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
The troop deliberations follow several decisions since spring to beef up the US presence in the Middle East because of a series of maritime attacks and bombings in Saudi Arabia that the US and others have blamed on Iran.
US President Donald Trump has approved those increases, even though he also routinely insists that he is pulling US troops out of the Middle East and withdrawing from what he calls “endless wars” against extremists. In October, Trump told his supporters that despite the sacrificing of US lives in Iraq and other parts of the Middle East, the region is less safe and stable today.
“The single greatest mistake our country made in its history,” he said, “was going into the quicksand of the Middle East.”
Asked about a possible troop increase, Trump told reporters Thursday: “We’ll announce whether we will or not. Certainly there might be a threat. And if there is a threat, it will be met very strongly. But we will be announcing what we may be doing — may or may not be doing.”
Later Thursday, Trump’s national security adviser Robert O’Brien said the president was open to sending more troops to the Middle East.
“If the troops are needed to deter Iran, we have the capacity to move them into the region — although I don’t think that’s happening right now,” O’Brien said on Fox News Channel’s “Special Report with Bret Baier.”
Military leaders have argued that the US needs to increase its presence in the region in order to deter Iran from conducting more and broader attacks. Rood provided no details to back up why the additional troops are needed, but said the US is concerned about recent intelligence indications suggesting an increased threat from Iran.
The troop discussions came as the Trump administration on Thursday accused Iranian security forces of killing more than 1,000 people in crackdowns against recent protests that have swept the country.
The estimated death toll is significantly higher than previously estimates from human rights groups and others, and the administration did not present documentary evidence to back up the claim. But Brian Hook, the US special representative for Iran, told reporters the tally was based on a variety of reports coming out of Iran as well as intelligence analyses.
Speaking at the State Department, Hook said the US had received and reviewed video of one specific incident of repression in the city of Mahshahr in which the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps had mowed down at least 100 protesters with machine-gun fire.
He said the video was one of tens of thousands of submissions the US has gotten since Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appealed last month for Iranians to submit evidence of atrocities by the authorities in putting down the protests. In it, he said IRGC forces can be seen opening fire on protesters blocking a road and then surrounding those who fled to nearby marshlands where they were sprayed with bullets.
In addition to the deaths, Hook said more than 7,000 protesters had been detained, with many sent to two prisons. Hook said that Pompeo had notified Congress on Thursday that both prisons would be hit with US sanctions for gross human rights abuses. It was not immediately clear when those designations would occur.
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