United States sends 2,500 marines aboard up to three warships to the Middle East, US Officials Say
About 2,500 Marines on nearly three warships are heading to the Middle East from the Indo-Pacific region as Iran steps up its attacks on the Strait of Hormuz, two U.S. officials said.
The shift, previously reported by The Wall Street Journal, comes as Iran’s response to nearly two weeks of aerial bombardment and long-range artillery strikes appeared to be more resilient than Trump administration officials had expected.
The Marines will join more than 50,000 U.S. troops in the region. The new deployment comes as Iran’s attacks on and near the strait have rattled the global economy by blocking maritime traffic on the important waterway. It was unclear how the new distribution would be used.
The Strait of Hormuz is a strategically important waterway connecting the Persian Gulf to the northern Arabian Sea. Iran’s southern coastline runs along the strait, and military and civilian ships passing through the strait are routinely interrogated by Iranian authorities via maritime radio communications as they enter and exit the gulf.
Approximately one-fifth of the world’s oil passes through the strait via large oil tankers operated by civilians. The suspension of transit of tankers through the Strait of Hormuz due to security concerns since the US and Israel struck Iran on February 28 has contributed to an increase in global oil prices and increased gas prices for consumers in the US.
Last week, President Donald Trump said he might order Navy warships to escort merchant ships along the key oil supply route, as U.S. forces did for a time during similar tensions with Iran in the late 1980s.
This article was first published on: New York Times.
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