Trump Will Send Drones, Fighter Jets, and 1,500 Troops to the Middle East

On Friday, the Trump administration notified Congress about plans to increase military presence in the Middle East, including the deployment of additional troops, drones and fighter jets.

“The deployment will include approximately 1,500 U.S. military personnel and consist of a Patriot battalion to defend against missile threats, additional intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft, an engineer element to provide force protection improvements throughout the region and a fighter aircraft squadron,” Patrick Shanahan acting Secretary of Defense wrote in a statement on Friday.

The latest deployment comes after a carrier strike group, missile systems, and a bomber task force were sent to the region in early May.

Besides and increased military force in the region, Iran is facing increasingly severe economic threats from the US government. Trump recently ordered new sanctions on Iranian metals, the country’s largest source of export revenue that isn’t oil related. The US also threatened other countries worldwide to stop buying Iranian oil or face punishing sanctions.

The US military currently has troops in Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.



Photo: “All Aboard!” by The U.S. Army is licensed under CC BY 2.0