The top U.S. commander who oversees missions in the Middle East said that newly deployed troops might remain in the region for “quite a while.”
Marine Gen. Frank McKenzie, who leads the U.S. Central Command, told forces aboard the USS Bataan that he is not sure how long they will remain deployed to the area.
“You’re here because I requested that you come,” McKenzie said. “I’m not sure how long you’re going to stay in the theater. We’ll work that out as we go ahead. Could be quite a while, could be less than that, just don’t know right now.”
In the past eight months, about 20,000 U.S. troops have been deployed to the region as the United States continues to grapple with Iran. McKenzie told reporters that although Iran is “deterred right now,” the nation “continues to pose a very real threat.”
“Iran is very hard to read,” the general said. “So I would say the fact that things are quiet for a while does not mean that necessarily things are getting better.”
Tensions between the two nations have been high since the U.S. successfully killed Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike this month. Iran responded to the strike by firing more than a dozen missiles at bases in Iraq housing U.S. troops.
Soon after the missile attacks in Iraq, the Iranian government shot down a commercial airliner, killing all 176 people on board and further complicating the situation in the Middle East.
