Iran war not over yet? US sending 10,000 more troops, warships to West Asia

Even as US President Donald Trump suggested the war in Iran could end soon, the Pentagon is sending thousands of additional troops and warships to West Asia, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday. 

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The deployment includes about 6,000 troops aboard the aircraft carrier USS George HW Bush and several warships. Another 4,200 personnel with the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group and the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit are expected to arrive later this month, the report said. 

The reinforcements are likely to join existing forces in the region as a two-week ceasefire deadline ends on April 22. The Pentagon has said around 50,000 US personnel are already involved in operations countering Iran.

The military build-up comes as the Trump administration seeks to pressure Tehran into a deal, while keeping open the option of further strikes or ground operations if the ceasefire does not hold, the report said.

Trump on Sunday announced a blockade of maritime traffic to and from Iranian ports, in a bid to squeeze Iran economically and push it to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end its nuclear programme. 

On Wednesday, Trump told Fox Business he believed the conflict could end “very soon” and said fuel prices could fall if Iran is prevented from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

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The arrival of additional warships would give US Central Command chief Adm. Brad Cooper and other military leaders more operational options if diplomacy fails. “The more tools you have got in your kit, the more diversity of options that you have,” James Foggo, a retired Navy admiral, told The Washington Post. He described the deployment as “a reserve capacity, in the event that things go south.”

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump has kept all options on the table in the event that the Iranians will not forgo their nuclear ambitions and make a deal that is acceptable to the United States.

With the latest deployment, US commanders would have three aircraft carriers in the region, each carrying dozens of fighter jets. The USS Abraham Lincoln has been deployed since January, while the USS Gerald R. Ford arrived in the eastern Mediterranean in February.

The USS George H.W. Bush was near the Horn of Africa on Tuesday and is expected to head towards West Asia.

Meanwhile, more than a dozen US Navy warships are already positioned in the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea to enforce the blockade, intercepting vessels leaving the Strait of Hormuz.