The United States military is deploying thousands of additional Marines and Sailors to the Middle East, three U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday.
A U.S. Navy sailor signals an F/A-18E Super Hornet on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in support of the Operation Epic Fury attack on Iran at an undisclosed location March 4, 2026. U.S. Navy/Handout via Reuters
The United States military is deploying thousands of additional Marines and Sailors to the Middle East, three U.S. officials told Reuters on Friday.
The deployments of the USS Boxer, along with its Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) and accompanying warship, comes as Reuters reported that President Donald Trump's administration was considering deploying thousands of U.S. troops to reinforce its operation in the Middle East.
Trump told reporters on Thursday that he was not putting troops "anywhere," but that if was going to, he would not tell journalists.
The sources, who were speaking on the condition of anonymity, did not say what the role of the additional troops would be.
But one of the officials said the troops were departing the West Coast of the United States about 3 weeks ahead of schedule.
The White House and Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart
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Two people were killed and eight injured in an attack on King Fahd International Airport in Saudi Arabia's eastern oil hub of Dammam on Wednesday evening, Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation said on Thursday.
Israel's election next week may change its leader, but not its strategy: Iran will remain its chief adversary, military force will continue to be its preferred tool and Palestinian statehood a distant prospect, regional policymakers and analysts say.
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