Pentagon deploys more than 3K additional troops to Middle East

More than 3,000 American troops will be sent to the Middle East following the U.S. strike that killed top Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in Iraq, the Pentagon said Friday.

The troops will that will be deployed are from the Immediate Response Force of the 82nd Airborne Division, a Defense Department official told The Hill.

Iran has vowed “harsh revenge” for the killing of Soleimani. The Quds Force leader died Thursday in an airstrike at Baghdad International Airport alongside Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy commander of the Iranian-backed Iraqi militia Popular Mobilization Forces.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said the action, which was ordered by President Trump, was in response to “imminent threats” to American lives.

Trump tweeted that Soleimani “should have been taken out many years ago!”

….of PROTESTERS killed in Iran itself. While Iran will never be able to properly admit it, Soleimani was both hated and feared within the country. They are not nearly as saddened as the leaders will let the outside world believe. He should have been taken out many years ago!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2020

Thursday’s airstrike marks a major escalation in tensions between Washington and Tehran after a militia backed by Iran and its supporters stormed the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on Tuesday. That assault prompted Defense Secretary Mark Esper to announce the immediate deployment of 750 U.S. troops to the region.

Updated at 3:08 p.m.