President Donald Trump Tuesday denied his administration is planning to send 120,000 troops to counter Iran.
He denied a New York Times report that the White House had a plan to send 120,000 troops to counter Iran.
At the same time, Trump told reporters that he would “absolutely” do so in the event of a U.S. action against Iran and send “a hell of a lot” more troops.
“I think it’s fake news. Okay? Now, would I do that? Absolutely. But we have not planned for that. Hopefully we’re not gonna have to plan for that. And if we did that we would send a hell of a lot more troops than that. But I think it’s just — where was that story, in The New York Times? Well, The New York Times is fake news.”
The Times report gave rise to speculations that Trump would go to war against Iran on the advice of National Security Adviser John Bolton, considered a hawk on the issue.
According to the report, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan presented a plan to national security officials last week to counter Iran should Tehran attack American troops or accelerate its nuclear weapons program.
Trump has pulled Washington out of an international nuclear deal with Iran but other major powers party to the agreement have vowed to stick to the accord, which aimed at stopping Tehran from acquiring capability to develop nuclear weapons.
Meanwhile, several world capitals have voiced their opposition to any war U.S.-Iran conflict and as per reports allies including Britain view threats, cited by the U.S. with skepticism.
The Trump Administration sees Iran as threatening United States interests in the Middle East by backing militants in Lebanon, Iraq and Syria and providing missiles to Houthi rebels in Yemen, according to an NYT report. The U.S. also says Iranian naval forces behave belligerently in the Persian Gulf.
Analysts say the war will have enormous ramifications for South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East, which has been in turmoil for about a decade with several civil wars going on simultaneously in Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
South Asia is already in the grip of tensions between Pakistan and India over Kashmir and Balochistan insurgency. Afghanistan remains fragile with peace process still not in a definitive shape. China and India, which import Iranian oil may be affected drastically by the war.
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