US sending more troops to Middle East; Iran planned to put missiles on fishing boats
“Within hours” of receiving that information, Gilday continued, “a warning was issued through a third party to the Iranian leadership,” telling them that “we knew of this planning” and that we would “hold them responsible” for any attacks.
Pressed by journalists to identify the third party, Gilday declined to do so.
However, Oman has managed to maintain friendly relations with both the US and Iran. Earlier this week, the Omani Foreign Minister visited Tehran, where he met with his Iranian counterpart.
Friday’s announcement was the third time since May 5 that the US has announced the dispatch of forces to the region. This announcement added intelligence personnel and surveillance aircraft, “both manned and unmanned,” to the earlier deployments, Gilday explained.
The purpose of those elements is “to allow us to see the threat better,” he said.
The US is also sending engineers “to harden defenses that we already have,” and a fighter squadron of 12 aircraft “to be able to defend or respond, if we have to,” Gilday stated.
On Friday afternoon, before leaving on a visit to Japan, President Donald Trump described the new deployment as “a relatively small number of troops, mostly protective.”
“I don’t think Iran wants to fight, and I certainly don’t think they want to fight with us,” Trump continued. “But they cannot have nuclear weapons, and under the Obama horrible agreement they would have had nuclear weapons within five or six years,” he continued.
“They can’t have nuclear weapons, and they understand that,” he concluded.
Despite speculation that Trump wants a war with Iran, he made clear that he does not. Pentagon officials spoke similarly, describing the deployments as limited in size and aimed at deterring Iran, rather than preparing for conflict.
The US has some 70,000 troops across the Middle East, as the Associated Press reported. The Navy’s Fifth Fleet is based in Bahrain, while Qatar hosts a major US Air Force base. There are also 5,200 US troops in Iraq and some 2,000 troops in Syria.