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Some reports have indicated that the United States has planned to deploy at least 3,000 more Army troops to the Middle East following increased tensions between the U.S and Iran after the death of Iranian General Qassem Soleimani. Thousands of troops come as the U.S awaits retaliation from Iran for the U.S airstrike that killed the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Quds Force leader. It is noteworthy that tens of thousands of anti-America demonstrators have taken to the streets in Iran to protest the loss of their military commander. The United States had deployed about 700 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne to Kuwait, prior to the U.S airstrike at the Baghdad airport killing Soleimani.

It is important that the new deployment of U.S troops took place after the US Embassy compound in the Iraqi capital was stormed by Iran-backed militiamen and their supporters. The Associated Press reported that the U.S Defense Department officials said thousands of additional U.S troops are reportedly going to be deployed from the same division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Trump justified the attack on Soleimani and said, “He had “killed or badly wounded thousands of Americans over an extended period of time, and was plotting to kill many more”. Iran state television has attacked the killing as the biggest miscalculation by the U.S since the Second World War. The network said, “The people of the region will no longer allow Americans to stay”.

Iranian Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei said, “Harsh vengeance awaits the criminals that got his and other martyrs’ blood on their evil hands in last night’s incident”. Point to be noted U.S officials and diplomats have provided disparate accounts of the threats that Americans now face in the region. The U.S State Department has urged Americans to leave Iraq as soon as possible. The consular operations in Baghdad have suspended following the increasing tensions in Iraq and the region. The U.S Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that the attack on Soleimani has made Americans safer, despite warnings from his own department. Pompeo has claimed that the strike was carried out after the U.S learned of an imminent threat to Americans.