US Military denies sending more 14,000 troops to Middle East to counter Iran

The Pentagon has denied a Wall Street Journal report, that said the US Administration was considering sending 14,000 more military troops to the middle east in face of increased hostile actions from Iran.

Iran and US relations are at an all-time low ever since Iran allegedly sent drones to attack Saudi Arabia’s refineries and also attack ships that travelled over the strait of Hormuz in response to increased economic sanctions from the US after Trump’s administration pulled out from the Iran nuclear deal.

The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday reported the possible military deployment would include “dozens” more ships and double the number of troops added to the US forces in the region since the beginning of this year, citing unnamed US officials.

The report also said US President Donald Trump could make a decision on the troop boost as early as this month. but the Pentagon has now come out to deny the report.

“To be clear, the reporting is wrong. The US is not considering sending 14,000 additional troops to the Middle East,” Pentagon spokeswoman Alyssa Farah tweeted.

A senior Pentagon official said on Wednesday there were indications Iran could potentially carry out aggressive actions in the future.

“We also continue to see indications, and for obvious reasons I won’t go into the details, that potential Iranian aggression could occur,” John Rood, the Pentagon’s number three official, told reporters.

“We’ve sent very clear and blunt signals to the Iranian government about the potential consequences of aggression,” Rood said.

The US Military sailed the USS Abraham Lincoln warship through the Strait of Hormuz in mid-November as a show of force and a deterrent to Iran who have recently stalled or captured ships transporting through the strait.

The strait of Hormuz is a very narrow waterway between Iran and Oman that 90 per cent of the world’s oil shipping activities pass through, so a blockade by Iran on the shipping lane would definitely send oil prices spiralling and affect oil transportation round the world.