About 2,500 additional Marines aboard three warships are heading to the Middle East, U.S. military officials said Friday, as the Trump administration’s war on Iran continued to prompt Iranian retaliatory strikes largely closing the Strait of Hormuz.
The Marines, who will deploy next month, are from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit based at Camp Pendleton, California, and the U.S.S. Boxer amphibious ready group. They are expected to take the place of the Marines who quickly deployed to the region last week from Japan, one military official said.
Even as President Trump has said he had no plans to put American boots on the ground, he has left himself some wiggle room in part because of these forces. Marine Expeditionary Units can rapidly put detachments of troops and vehicles on the ground. Keeping a force of them in the region allows commanders to quickly launch small-scale ground operations with infantry Marines. Such Marine units also could help to evacuate American citizens from the region.
The unit already deployed, one official said, was scheduled to return to its home in Japan after a few weeks, although he added that defense officials could decide to keep both units in the region. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to share operational details.
It was unclear how the Marines would be used, but this is the second time in little over a week that the Pentagon has said it is sending Marines to the region. They will join more than 50,000 American troops already there.
The latest deployment, reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal, came a day after Mr. Trump said he had no plans to put American troops on the ground in Iran.
Helene Cooper is a Pentagon correspondent for The Times. She was previously an editor, diplomatic correspondent and White House correspondent.
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