Trump: U.S. to send 1,500 more troops to Mideast

WASHINGTON — The U.S. will bolster its military presence in the Middle East with an additional 1,500 troops, President Trump said Friday amid heightened tensions with Iran.

Trump said the troops would have a “mostly protective” role. He spoke to reporters on the White House lawn as he headed out on a trip to Japan.

The administration had notified Congress earlier in the day about the troop plans.

The forces would number “roughly” 1,500 and would deploy in the coming weeks, “with their primary responsibilities and activities being defensive in nature,” according to a copy of the notification. Their mission would include protecting U.S. forces already in the region and ensuring freedom of navigation.

Earlier this week, officials said Pentagon planners had outlined plans that could have sent up to 10,000 military reinforcements to the region. Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan later said planners hadn’t settled on a figure.

Meanwhile, Iran’s foreign minister lashed out at Trump on Friday during a critically timed visit to Pakistan amid the crisis with Washington and ahead of next week’s emergency Arab League meeting called by Saudi Arabia over the region’s tensions.

The remarks by Mohammad Javad Zarif were the latest in a war of words between him and Trump. The Iranian diplomat assailed the American president for his tweet earlier this week warning Iran not to threaten the U.S. again or it would face its “official end.”

“Iran will see the end of Trump, but he will never see the end of Iran,” Zarif was quoted by Iran’s semiofficial Fars new agency as saying during a visit to Islamabad.

The U.S. began reinforcing its presence in the Persian Gulf region this month in response to what it said was a threat from Iran.

The U.S. has tens of thousands of troops in the Middle East, including at a major Navy base in Bahrain and an Air Force base and operations center in Qatar. There are about 5,200 troops in Iraq and 2,000 in Syria.

Earlier this month, the U.S. sent thousands more into the region around Iran, including an aircraft carrier strike group, four bomber aircraft and fighter jets.