US sends more troops to Middle East

WASHINGTON－Charging that Iran was "fully responsible" for an attack on the United States embassy in Iraq, US President Donald Trump ordered about 750 US soldiers deployed to the Middle East as about 3,000 more prepared for possible deployment within days.

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said on Tuesday that at Trump's direction, he authorized the immediate deployment of the infantry battalion from the Army's 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.

He did not specify the soldiers' destination, but a US official familiar with the decision said they will go to Kuwait.

"Approximately 750 soldiers will deploy to the region immediately and additional forces from the IRF (the Immediate Response Force) are prepared to deploy over the next several days," said the Pentagon chief in a series of tweets.

Esper added that the deployment would be "an appropriate and precautionary action taken in response to increased threat levels against US personnel and facilities".

The Pentagon's decision came hours after hundreds of Iraqi demonstrators stormed the US embassy in Baghdad's Green Zone.

Many of the protesters rallied outside the US embassy chanting slogans condemning airstrikes by the US forces against bases of Kataib Hezbollah, a Iran-backed militia group, in Iraq on Sunday.

The protest then turned violent as protesters set ablaze a guard tower and the outer gate of the embassy, an official from the Iraqi Interior Ministry said on condition of anonymity.

Trump blamed Iran for "orchestrating an attack" on the embassy in a Tuesday morning tweet.

He later threatened in another tweet that Iran "will be held fully responsible for lives lost, or damage incurred, at any of our facilities".

"They will pay a very BIG PRICE! This is not a Warning, it is a Threat," the US president added, but later said he does not want, or foresee, war with Iran.

Iran on Monday denied any role in the recent attacks on US forces in Iraq after US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed Iran-backed forces for the attacks.

Also on Tuesday, Trump spoke over the phone with Iraqi Prime Minister Adel Abdul Mahdi, emphasizing the need to protect US personnel and facilities in Iraq, according to a White House statement.

US forces on Sunday attacked five locations in Iraq and Syria controlled by the Kataib Hezbollah militia group, in response to recent attacks on US forces in Iraq, triggering strong responses from Iraq and Syria.

Agencies - Xinhua