U.S. Digs in Deeper in Middle East With New Hardware
As a warning to Iran, United States deployed additional military forces to the region on Friday, including the USS Arlington and a Patriot missile battery.
By Lara Seligman | May 9, 2019, 10:40 AM
Almost 16 months ago, then-U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis initiated a course correction for the Pentagon. After 17 years of war in the Middle East, great power competition with Russia and China, not terrorism, would be the priority.
But this week, the White House ordered an aircraft carrier strike group operating in the Mediterranean Sea and bomber task force to move to the U.S. Central Command region, in a striking show of force designed to counter what acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan called “a credible threat†from Iran to attack U.S. forces. Then on Friday, the United States sent additional hardware into the region, including the USS Arlington amphibious ship, which transports U.S. Marines and their equipment, and a Patriot missile battery, according to the Pentagon.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2019/05/09/iran-aircraft-carrier-bomber-patriot-missile-the-us-cant-escape-the-middle-east-iran/
