(RT) – More US troops and air defense systems are headed for the Persian Gulf to “bolster defenses” of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, the Pentagon announced after the embarrassing attack on Saudi oil facilities. Speaking at the Pentagon on Friday, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper blamed the September 14 attack on Saudi oil facilities on Tehran, calling it a “dramatic escalation of Iranian aggression” in the region. In response to requests for assistance from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, Esper
said the US will expedite the delivery of weapons and send more troops and equipment to the Gulf, primarily “air and missile defense” assets. The deployment has three objectives, according to Esper: to help bolster Saudi and Emirati defenses, “ensure the free flow of commerce” in the Persian Gulf, and “protect and defend the international rules-based order” that Iran is supposedly defying. Exact details of the deployment are still being worked out, said General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, adding that he could only describe it as “not thousands.” READ MORE
