Washington - The Pentagon has ordered about 2,000 soldiers from the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division to deploy to the Middle East, according to two officials briefed on the diplomacy, even as the United States has sent Iran a 15-point plan for ending the war in the region.
The order to move troops to the region aimed to give President Trump more military options even as he weighed the new diplomatic initiative with Iran, two Defense Department officials said on Tuesday. The plan to end the conflict also reflected the Trump administration’s desire to find an offramp to a war that has rattled the global economy.
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The combat forces would come from the division’s “Immediate Response Force,” a brigade of about 3,000 soldiers capable of deploying anywhere in the world within 18 hours.
New York Times reported that the deployment could give President Trump more military options after a 15-point proposal, delivered via Pakistan, was sent to the Iranians, according to two officials briefed on the diplomacy.