ISLAMABAD – The United States announced on Friday that it was sendingmilitary reinforcements to the Gulf region following attacks on Saudi oilfacilities that it attributes to Iran, just hours after President DonaldTrump ordered new sanctions on Tehran.
Trump said the sanctions were the toughest-ever against another country,but indicated he did not plan a military strike, calling restraint a signof strength.
The Treasury Department renewed action against Iran’s central bank after USofficials said Tehran carried out weekend attacks on rival Saudi Arabia’soil infrastructure, which triggered a spike in global crude prices.
Those attacks, combined with an Iranian attack on an American spy drone inJune, represented a “dramatic escalation of Iranian aggression”, Secretaryof Defence Mark Esper said.
The Pentagon chief announced that the US would send military reinforcementsto the Gulf region at the request of Saudi Arabia and the United ArabEmirates.
“In response to the kingdom’s request, the president has approved thedeployment of US forces, which will be defensive in nature, and primarilyfocused on air and missile defence,” Esper said.
However, Joint Chiefs of Staff Joe Dunford categorised the deployment as“moderate”, with the number of troops not expected to reach the thousands.
Read Top Stories
Earlier in the day Trump attacked both critics who thought themogul-turned-president would trigger war and hawks seeking a militaryresponse.
“The easiest thing I could do (is) knock out 15 different major things inIran,” Trump said.
“But I think the strong-person approach and the thing that does showstrength would be showing a little bit of restraint,” he said.
Trump in June authorised a military strike after Iran shot down the US spydrone, only to call it off at the last moment. -APP/AFP
