US embassy in Baghdad hit by strike as Trump says military targets ‘obliterated’ on Iran’s key oil island – follow live
Potential troop actions suggests Washington is weighing its choicesrevealed at 05:28 GMT
Paul Adams
Diplomatic correspondent
It’s being broadly reported in US media that the American military is sending further forces to the Gulf, together with what’s identified as an amphibious prepared group (ARG), with as much as 5,000 Marines and sailors.
The amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli will be part of the substantial armada already working off the coast of Iran.
It’s not clear which different vessels will accompany the Tripoli, however an ARG usually contains ships able to carrying touchdown craft, as properly as giant numbers of helicopters.
The newest deployments recommend the Pentagon is contemplating an expanded vary of choices. These might embrace defending business transport in the Strait of Hormuz and conceivably some sort of restricted amphibious touchdown.
One doable goal is Iran’s tiny Kharg Island, in the northern Gulf.
Lying 22 miles off the Iranian mainland, Kharg is a crucial oil hub, the place tankers have been seen filling up with Iranian oil because the struggle started two weeks in the past.
