Washington, Aug 19 (IANS) The Pentagon is evaluating whether to reduce the US military presence in the Persian Gulf after the Iran war, as extensive damage to American bases forces officials to reconsider how troops and equipment are positioned across the Middle East, US media reported.
The assessment is at an early stage and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has not ordered a formal review, according to a report by The Washington Post, which cited eight officials and other people familiar with the matter.
A senior Pentagon official described the exercise as “prudent planning”. It could eventually shape decisions on whether Washington should rebuild bases damaged during months of Iranian missile and drone attacks.
“Decisions are going to have to be made on some of this stuff,” the official said.
The Pentagon’s policy office is leading the evaluation. The Joint Staff and US Central Command are also studying the issue.
Central Command normally stations about 40,000 troops at nearly 20 sites stretching about 1,500 miles from Jordan to Oman. The largest and most permanent American bases in the Middle East are concentrated in the Persian Gulf.
Bahrain hosts the headquarters of the US Fifth Fleet. Kuwait houses major Army and Air Force assets.
Since early this year, the Pentagon has sent additional warships, fighter aircraft, air-defence systems and other equipment to the region. US forces have carried out more than 13,000 strikes against Iran, according to the report.
Adm. Bradley Cooper, the head of Central Command, supports discussions about potentially moving American troops west from the Gulf, a US official said. A Central Command spokesperson declined to comment.
Before the war began in February, Central Command evacuated personnel from several bases because they were considered vulnerable to Iranian missiles and drones. Some of those movements could remain in place after the conflict.
“Iran thinks we are in the traditional places,” a person familiar with the adjustments said. “And we are not.”
Six American service members were killed in a March strike on Port Shuaiba in Kuwait. More than 200 US facilities have been damaged or destroyed during the conflict, the newspaper reported earlier.
The US military has also used more than 1,000 advanced air-defence interceptors, reducing its stockpiles of Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defence missiles.
“The war really did highlight the vulnerability … of U.S. forces in the region,” said Michael Ratney, a former US ambassador to Saudi Arabia.
Ratney said moving personnel and equipment westwards to Jordan, Israel or Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coast could reduce some risks. But he said the added distance was not a “perfect solution to this problem.”
Iran has demonstrated that it can hit targets farther away. An Iranian attack on Jordan last month killed four US service members.
Allison Minor, a former National Security Council director for Arabian Peninsula affairs, said Gulf countries could retain arms sales, intelligence sharing and other parts of their US security partnerships while hosting fewer American troops.
“But you need to be discussing all of those comprehensively and not just the question of the sheer number of troops,” she said.
The Pentagon estimates that the war will cost about $37.5 billion by the end of September. That figure does not include rebuilding damaged bases. The American Enterprise Institute estimated in April that repairs could cost $5 billion.
–IANS
lkj/rs