WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump earlier gave a green light to a "moderate" American military deployment to Saudi Arabia to protect it from possible future attacks coming from Iran.
The decision came soon after both the kingdom and Washington accused the Islamic Republic of attacking Saudi Aramco facilities, despite Tehran denying this.
The US has redeployed the USS Nitze destroyer to the northeast coast of Saudi Arabia in a bid to "plug the gap" in Saudi Arabia's air defences that was allegedly used in the 14 September raid on its oil facilities, CBS reported. link
The redeployment comes in line with previous allegations from Washington and Riyadh that the attack came from Iran to the north, rather than from Yemen in the southwest.
The USS Nitze has an Aegis launch system on board that is capable of firing both SM-3 missiles to serve as air defence, and Tomahawk missiles as a strike capability. The latter's range would allow the Nitze to deliver strikes anywhere in Iran, if such an order is issued.