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The Pentagon has ordered astir 2,000 soldiers from the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division to statesman moving to the Middle East, offering President Donald Trump further subject options arsenic helium considers a caller diplomatic inaugural with Iran, 2 Defence Department officials said Tuesday.The troops are portion of the division’s “Immediate Response Force,” a brigade of astir 3,000 soldiers susceptible of deploying anyplace successful the satellite wrong 18 hours. The contingent includes Maj. Gen. Brandon Tegtmeier, the part commander, on with dozens of unit members and 2 battalions of astir 800 soldiers each, officials said, speaking connected information of anonymity owed to operational sensitivity.The deployment comes alongside astir 4,500 Marines already heading to the region, taking the full fig of further US crushed troops sent since the struggle began to astir 7,000.
The determination signals a caller escalation, with astir 50,000 troops presently assigned to the broader operation, named Epic Fury, spanning the Middle East, Europe and the United States.Officials said the nonstop destination of the paratroopers remains unclear, though it would spot them wrong striking region of Iran. One imaginable nonsubjective could beryllium Kharg Island, Iran’s superior lipid export hub successful the bluish Persian Gulf, wherever US warplanes person struck much than 90 subject targets this month.
Meanwhile, astir 2,300 Marines from the 31st Expeditionary Unit are expected to get successful the Middle East this week. Commanders could deploy them either to prehend Kharg Island oregon assistance successful securing the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has efficaciously closed to astir commercialized traffic. Another similar-sized Marine contingent from the 11th Expeditionary Unit departed Southern California past week and is apt to scope the portion by mid-April, Pentagon officials said.Military planners judge Marines could play a cardinal relation successful aboriginal operations, peculiarly successful repairing the damaged airfield connected Kharg Island pursuing caller US strikes. Once restored, the airstrip could let the Air Force to bring successful further troops and instrumentality via C-130 cargo aircraft.In specified a scenario, paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division could reenforce Marine units. However, officials noted that portion these forces tin deploy rapidly, they deficiency dense instrumentality specified arsenic armoured vehicles, which whitethorn beryllium captious successful the lawsuit of an Iranian counterattack.
