Special Operations Forces, Marines and Army troops now in Middle East, sources say

Hundreds of U.S. Special Operations Forces, including Navy SEALs and Army Rangers, are now in the Middle East, as well as thousands of Marines and Army paratroopers, according to sources familiar with the deployments. 

The sources said having the forces in the region gives President Trump military options in Iran, including operations that could target opening the Strait of Hormuz, take oil from Kharg Island or seize Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium. 

The New York Times first reported the forces had arrived in the region. 

U.S. Central Command declined to comment.

President Trump said Monday morning on Truth Social that his administration was continuing to negotiate with Iran and expressed optimism that an agreement would soon be reached to end the war, now in its fifth week, that was launched by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28.

But Iranian officials have repeatedly said that no direct talks are underway and dismissed a 15-point ceasefire proposal from the White House as “excessive and unreasonable,” raising doubts that any common ground might be quickly found.

In the same post, Mr. Trump warned that if a deal “is not shortly reached” and the Strait of Hormuz isn’t immediately opened, the U.S. would attack all of Iran’s “Electric Generating Plants, Oil Wells and Kharg Island (and possibly all desalinization plants!), which we have purposefully not yet ‘touched.'”

More than 3,500 U.S. troops, including the USS Tripoli with about 2,500 Marines, arrived in the Middle East, officials announced Saturday, as strikes in the Iran war intensified. A second Marine Expeditionary Unit is on its way to the region.

The U.S. was also expected to send elements of the 82nd Airborne to the region, a contingent of under 1,500 service members.