Via The Hill:
President Trump on Friday announced that the U.S. will send roughly 1,500 troops to the Middle East in order to counter Iran’s influence in the region.
Trump emphasized that the new deployment will provide force protection for existing troops in the area amid heightened tensions with Tehran.
The president approved the additional forces on Thursday following a meeting with acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Joseph Dunford at the White House.
“We want to have protection,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
Director of the Joint Staff Rear Adm. Michael Gilday later told reporters at the Pentagon that fewer than 1,000 new U.S. troops will actually be deploying to the Middle East, while roughly 600 soldiers already in the region will have their deployment extended.
The new soldiers sent are part of a Patriot antimissile battalion being deployed to defend against missile threats.