The United States is deploying thousands of additional troops to the Middle East in the coming days as it seeks to pressure Iran into a deal, the Washington Post reported, citing US officials.
The deployment will include sailors and Marines and comes as President Donald Trump’s administration works to enforce a maritime blockade against Iran, the report said.
The move is part of broader efforts to push Tehran toward an agreement to end the conflict, while the United States also considers further military options if a fragile ceasefire does not hold, according to the report.
The WP report comes as Iran’s top joint military command says its armed forces would act to prevent the continuation of trade flows in the Red Sea and other regional waters if the United States continues its maritime blockade against Iranian vessels in the Persian Gulf.
The commander of the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Headquarters said Iran would not allow exports or imports to continue across the Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman and the Red Sea under such conditions.
Iran has no border with the Red Sea, but its proxy force, the Yemeni Houthis, could pose significant challenge there should the higher leadership deem it necessary to support Tehran's war efforts against the combined US-Israeli forces.
The Red Sea has served as an alternative export route for Saudi Arabia to export energy products while Tehran keeps blocking the Strait of Hormuz to secure its war demands from the US. It has also been an alternative trading route for Europeans. Blocking it would significant heighten the already volatile stakes in the war.
In the first ever bilateral talks in decades, hosted in Pakistan on Sunday, Iran showed defiance in the face of US “maximalist demands” including that Tehran abandon its “peaceful nuclear ambitions” for at least 20 years.
Amid intractability from both sides the marathon talks continued till pre-dawn hours only to collapse. Another round of talks is expected within two days, Trump told the New York Post on Tuesday. And it appears the US is taking all the possible military pre-emptive measures for subjugating Tehran’s negotiators this time.
Apart from additional troop deployment, US Marines have already started conducting close-quarters tactics training aboard the USS Tripoli as the amphibious assault ship operates in the Arabian Sea and enforces a blockade of Iranian ports, US Central Command said on Wednesday.
“Tripoli is currently executing a mission to blockade ships entering and departing Iranian ports,” CENTCOM said in a post on X.
The command said the blockade was being enforced impartially against vessels of all nations.
It added that the training was aimed at preparing Marines for missions such as maritime interception operations.
FP/MI
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