JAKARTA - At least 1,000 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division of the United States Army are expected to be deployed to the Middle East in the coming days, according to two sources familiar with the matter.
This will add to the US military presence in the region, as the Trump administration has said it is negotiating with Iran to end the conflict.
The contingent includes the commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, Major General Brandon Tegtmeier, and division staff, as well as a battalion from the 1st Brigade Combat Team, which is currently acting as the division's Immediate Response Force (IRF), the source said, launching CNN (25/3).
"The initial elements of the division and battalion staff are expected to begin deploying within a week," said one of the sources familiar with the matter.
Other elements of the brigade are also expected to be deployed at a later date, although these estimates may change as the situation evolves.
The brigade (IRF) will be a "standby unit" in the Middle East, ready to be called upon if needed, the source said.
The 82nd Airborne Division made a similar move in 2020 after the killing of Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani.
IRF is a brigade that is ready to move with limited notification, acting as a rapid response force that can be deployed within hours when called. The IRF designation rotates among the teams in the Army brigade.
The first source who knows this said that there has been no official order for deployment, although it is expected to be issued soon.
It is known that Israel and the US launched a joint attack on Iran on February 28, which killed about 1,300 people to date, including the then Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, hostilities have escalated.
Iran has retaliated with drone and missile attacks targeting Israel, Jordan, Iraq, and Gulf states hosting US military assets. Iran has also effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz since early March.
The US Army's 82nd Airborne Division was established in 1917 and deployed to a number of battlefields, including World War I, World War II, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War I, to operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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