The US Department of Defense has ordered the deployment of approximately 2,000 paratroopers to the Middle East, The New York Times reports.
According to the newspaper, members of the “immediate reaction force“ of the elite 82nd Airborne Division will be sent to the Middle East. The paratroopers will be deployed "in close proximity to Iran."
Last week, Fox News reported that a landing group of approximately 4,500 sailors and Marines, led by the amphibious assault ship USS Boxer and the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, had departed for the Middle East.
About 290 American service members were injured during the US-Israeli operation against Iran, CNN reported, citing a spokesman for the US Central Command.
According to him, of the 290 soldiers injured during the conflict, 255 were returned to duty, and 10 American service members were seriously injured. Previously, 200 were reported injured and 13 killed in the fighting.
Earlier this week, Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesman for the Khatam al-Anbiya Central Command of the Iranian Armed Forces, said that the US military was hiding the real number of dead and wounded during the aggression against Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz remains open to navigation, but not to ships from the United States, Israel or countries that Iran considers aggressors, according to a circular sent by the Iranian delegation to members of the UN International Maritime Organization.