The US is sending more firepower to the Middle East to check Iran — here are the weapons the US has sent that way
In response to hostile behavior and apparent acts of aggression by Iran, the US military has been sending additional firepower to the Middle East since May.
The US has sent a carrier strike group, bombers, fighters, amphibious assault vessels, missile defense batteries, and ground troops to deter Iran, which shot down foreign drones and allegedly attacked oil tankers and major oil plants in Saudi Arabia.
Trump called off retaliatory attacks at last minute in June after Iran downed a US drone. The US and Iran have so far managed to avoid allowing tensions to escalate into an armed conflict.
When tensions with Iran spiked in May, the US began sending significant firepower to the Middle East to confront possible threats. With tensions again on the rise, the US is sending additional troops and weapons to the region.
Responding to unspecified threats, the US sent the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group and a bomber task force to the US Central Command area of responsibility in May. Those assets were quickly followed by additional deployments of fighters, amphibious assault vessels, and air-and-missile defense batteries.
As the situation worsened with a string of troubling tanker attacks and other acts of aggression said to have been carried out by Iran, the US sent around two thousand additional ground troops into the area to improve US warfighting capabilities. The US also sent additional fighter and reconnaissance aircraft.
It is unclear how many of these assets are still in the region.
Following a relative lull in tensions, two Saudi oil sites came under fire, and the US has pinned the blame on Iran. The US made the decision, the Department of Defense announced Thursday, to send one Patriot battery, four Sentinel radar systems, and approximately 200 support personnel to Saudi Arabia.
"This deployment augments an already significant presence of US forces in the region.," the Pentagon explained in a statement. The secretary of defense has put two Patriot batteries and one Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system on a heightened state of readiness should they be needed in the region.
Aircraft carrier: USS Abraham Lincoln
REUTERS/U.S. Navy/Chief Mass Communication Specialist Eric S. Powell/Handout
Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Ryan U. Kledzik/US Navy
US Navy
Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Blake Midnight/U.S. Navy via AP
Tech Sgt. Robert Horstman/US Air Force
U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Jocelyn A. Ford
U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Megan Anuci
U.S. Army photo
