Pentagon denies report US sending additional troops to Mideast

WASHINGTON, Dec 5 (KUNA) -- The Pentagon denied Wednesday evening a Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report that the Trump administration is considering sending up to 14,000 additional troops to the Middle East.
Pentagon Press Secretary Alyssa Farah said in a tweet, "This reporting by the WSJ is wrong." "The US is not sending 14,000 troops to the Middle East to confront Iran," she affirmed. She reiterated in a separate tweet "to be clear, the reporting is wrong. The US is not considering sending 14,000 additional troops to the Middle East." On Wednesday, the WSJ reported, citing US officials, "The Trump administration is considering a significant expansion of the US military footprint in the Middle East to counter Iran, including dozens more ships, other military hardware and as many as 14,000 additional troops." Meanwhile, Undersecretary of Defense for Policy John Rood told reporters "we do remain concerned about potential Iranian aggression," adding "deterrence is dynamic, our response is going to be dynamic." "I think we're going to be dynamic in our deployments, in our response and how we message. In private, you should know we've sent very clear and blunt signals to the Iranian government about the potential consequences of aggression," the top Pentagon official affirmed. (end) si.gta