The United States will send 1500 extra troops and 12 fighter jets to boost defences in the Middle East amid escalating tensions with Iran.
It follows several weeks of mounting aggression from both nations, fuelled by suspicious tanker bombings in the region and a series of fiery exchanges on social media.
Saudi Arabia said two of its oil tankers had recently been damaged in mysterious circumstances in the Persian Gulf, and the United Arab Emirates said last week that four commercial vessels had been sabotaged near the Gulf of Oman.
Tensions surged again on Friday when the United States’ department of defence publicly blamed Iran for attacking oil tankers near the United Arab Emirates, as well as a rocket attack in Iraq.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump had declared Iran would face destruction if it threatened the US, tweeting that if Tehran wanted to fight it would be the country’s “official end”.
If Iran wants to fight, that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 19, 2019
He also blamed predecessor Barack Obama for helping the oil rich country become “the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world”.
Iran’s foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif responded on Twitter by accusing the US president of having been “goaded” into “genocidal taunts”.
Read the article by Samantha Dick in The New Daily.