US to deploy thousands of additional troops to the Middle East, officials say

FILE PHOTO: A U.S. Navy sailor signals an F/A-18E Super Hornet on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in support of the Operation Epic Fury attack on Iran at an undisclosed location March 4, 2026. U.S. Navy/Handout via REUTERS / File Photo

(Refiles to remove ⁠extraneous 'of' from headline, lower case 'sailors' in ⁠first paragraph)

WASHINGTON, March 20 (Reuters) - The United ‌States military is deploying thousands of additional Marines and sailors to the Middle East, three U.S. officials ​told Reuters on Friday.

The ⁠deployments of the USS ⁠Boxer, along with its Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) ⁠and ‌accompanying warship, comes as Reuters reported that President Donald Trump's administration ⁠was considering deploying thousands of U.S. ​troops to ‌reinforce its operation in the Middle East.

Trump ⁠told ​reporters on Thursday that he was not putting troops "anywhere," but that if was going ⁠to, he would not tell ​journalists.

The sources, who were speaking on the condition of anonymity, did not say what the ⁠role of the additional troops would be.

But one of the officials said the troops were departing the West Coast of ​the United States about ⁠3 weeks ahead of schedule.

The White House and ​Pentagon did not immediately ‌respond to a request ​for comment.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)