In a plan that is set to be presented to the White House on Thursday, up to 10,000 more U.S. service members would be deployed to the Middle East as tensions between the U.S. and Iran are high.
The Associated Press reports the Pentagon’s plan was aimed at ensuring the safety of the U.S. and its allies in the region and that the troops would be deployed in a defensive manner, with the possibility to include more Patriot missile batteries and ships.
The State Department announced May 15 they are ordering all nonemergency U.S. government employees to immediately leave Iraq. The evacuation order applied to the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad and the U.S. Consulate in Erbil.
“The U.S. government has limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in Iraq,” the embassy in Baghdad said.
The Pentagon’s plan also comes after a rocket, the same model used by Iran, was fired at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad on Sunday. No casualties were reported in the attack.
