xi's moments
Home | Americas

Pentagon to present Mideast troops deployment plan to White House: US media

Xinhua | Updated: 2019-05-24 09:25

US President Donald Trump walks outside the Oval Office as he returns to the White House after visiting Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, US, May 23, 2019. [Photo/Agencies]

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon is expected to submit plans to the White House to send up to 10,000 troops to the Middle East amid increasing tensions with Iran, US media reported on Wednesday.

The plans will be proposed during a high-level White House meeting on Thursday, reported the Associated Press, citing anonymous Trump administration officials.

The move is for defensive purposes, not a response to any new threat from Iran, said the report. And it remains unclear if the White House will greenlight the proposal.

Washington and Tehran have been locked in a war of words over the past two weeks, and escalating tension that had been stoked up following America's increasing military buildup in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, senior US senior defense officials hinted that America has no intention of starting a war. Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan said on Tuesday that America's actions so far had been deterring Iran rather than seeking a war.

Iran has been under unprecedented sanction pressure by the United States following US President Donald Trump's withdrawal from Iran's nuclear deal in May last year.

Iran has vowed to withstand the pressures and resist the US "bullying policies."

Global Edition
BACK TO THE TOP
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349