US moves thousands of troops to Middle East as Trump weighs Iran strikes

WASHINGTON: The US military is dispatching roughly 9,000 troops aboard a group of ships to the Middle East, a US official said Thursday. The bolstering of the American military presence comes as President Donald Trump warned anew that new strikes against Iran could be on the horizon. He also said early indications suggest that Iran is linked to the co-pilot who stabbed his captain and tried to crash an Israel-bound flight on Wednesday. In an exchange with reporters at the White House, Trump raised the connection when asked by a reporter if there were any links between the pilot behind the attack and Tehran. 'I would say the answer, based on what I'm hearing, is 'yes,' but we're working on it right now,' Trump said, without offering details. Trump also warned that if the link is established to Iran, the United States would retaliate. 'Oh they'll be hit, very hard, don't worry,' Trump said. 'You just ask them. They know what happened. They'll be hit very hard.' Meanwhile, the group of ships now en route to the Middle East together carry over 7,000 sailors and 2,000 Marines. It includes the USS Theodore Roosevelt carrier strike group, which recently deployed with the cruiser USS Chosin, and the USS Makin Island amphibious readiness group, which includes the USS John P. Murtha and USS Anchorage amphibious landing ships. It could mean that three carriers are in the region as early as the end of October, according to the US official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive military operations. Given the personnel already in place in the Middle East, the move would bring the US naval presence to an unusually high number of more than 20,000 sailors and Marines and hundreds of aircraft. The Navy previously had three carrier strike groups in the Middle East in April for the first time since 2003. The carriers USS George H.W. Bush and the USS George Washington are in the region now, along with the USS Boxer amphibious readiness group. The Washington is typically deployed to Pacific Ocean but it was moved to the Middle East to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln, whose arduous deployment resulted in the crew being at sea for more than 260 days straight. Trump, in a Time magazine interview published Thursday, also raised the prospects of new strikes, saying it is 'possible' that he will ramp up bombing in Iran after the Nov. 3 elections in the United States. When pressed, Trump said he could not go further in detailing his strategy. 'I can't tell you that because look, you know, you're asking, where are you going to bomb?' Trump said. He said in the interview, conducted Monday, that he rejected the latest ceasefire proposal from Iran because 'things that I wouldn't have approved a year ago I wouldn't have today.' Trump cited as an example an offer from Iran to 'open up' the Strait of Hormuz, the key energy shipping corridor, but said the overall proposal was 'not good enough.' Asked if the increasingly unpopular war would threaten Republican Party chances in November, Trump at first responded, 'It's possible.' But then he added, 'It should help, because Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.' The president said '100 percent of the people' oppose Iran having nuclear attack capabilities 'including worldwide.' 'So, when you say it that way, It would help,' Trump added. 'If you don't say that, it could hurt.'