Submitted 14 hours ago by baltakatei@sopuli.xyz to nyt_gift_articles@sopuli.xyz
Date published: 2026-03-29. Date added: 2026-03-29. Author: Helene Cooper.
The probably more interesting number here is the 10,000 troops being sent because of the war. Guess it suggests a very limited operation… Are there any other suggestions for what this could be besides Kharg, some other islands and some kind of a uranium retrieval operation from the middle of Iran?
Usually there are around 40,000 American troops scattered around at bases and on ships at any time around the region, including in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. But as Mr. Trump has escalated the war in Iran, that number has reached more than 50,000, according to a U.S. military official.
The number of troops no longer includes the 4,500 aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Gerald Ford, however. That ship has been hobbled by constant mishaps, including a fire that broke out in the laundry. The Ford withdrew from the region on March 23 and sailed to Crete. On Friday it arrived in Croatia. It remains unclear where it is headed next.
Last week, the Pentagon also ordered about 2,000 soldiers from the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East to give Mr. Trump additional military options.
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But military experts caution that even 50,000 troops, many of them at sea, is a small number for any kind of major land operation. Israel used more than 300,000 troops for its operations in the Gaza Strip that began in October 2023. The U.S.-led coalition that invaded Iraq in 2003 was close to 250,000 at the beginning.
At almost a third of the size of the continental United States, Iran has around 93 million people. Taking, let alone holding, a country of its size and complexity and weaponry with 50,000 troops is not doable, military experts say.
Next stop ,Taiwan and China
Asfalttikyntaja@sopuli.xyz 7 hours ago
Yanks go home and get your own shit straight.