The move suggests the US is not seeking to wind down its war on Iran, despite boasting of success
US President Donald Trump, left, and US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth arrive in Dover, Delaware, to receive the remains of American soldiers killed in Kuwait, on 7 March 2026 (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
By MEE staff
Published date: 13 March 2026 20:17 GMT | Last update:5 hours 57 mins ago
A dispatch of up to 5,000 more American marines and sailors is headed to the Middle East, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday, citing unnamed US officials.
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth is said to have approved a request from US Central Command (Centcom), the Pentagon’s Middle East hub, for an amphibious ready group and an attached Marine expeditionary unit, which includes three warships and some 2,500 US Marines.
The unit, per its dedicated website, contains F-35B Lightning II jets and also MV-22B Ospreys.
The USS Tripoli, based in Japan, is now headed to the Middle East. Such a journey typically takes two weeks.
The move suggests Washington is not seeking to wind down its war on Iran anytime soon, despite repeatedly boasting of operational successes that include killing Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and sinking 60 Iranian naval vessels.
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More than 1,400 Iranians have been killed since 28 February.
“We are totally destroying the terrorist regime of Iran, militarily, economically, and otherwise,” President Donald Trump wrote on this TruthSocial account on Friday.
The war has proven unpopular with the American public, well before the acknowledged US casualties reached double digits. At least 150 Americans have been wounded.
US casualties mount
The US announced on Friday that all six of its soldiers aboard a KC-135 refuelling aircraft that crashed in western Iraq a day earlier were killed.
“The aircraft was lost while flying over friendly airspace March 12 during Operation Epic Fury,” Centcom said on X.
Hegseth says Gulf states ‘going on offensive’ against Iran
“The circumstances of the incident are under investigation. However, the loss of the aircraft was not due to hostile fire or friendly fire,” Centcom asserted.
“The identities of the service members are being withheld until 24 hours after next of kin have been notified.”
The deaths bring the total number of US personnel killed since 28 February and the start of the US-Israeli war on Iran to 13.
At a press briefing on Friday morning in Washington, Hegseth told reporters that “War is hell, war is chaos.”
When pressed by a reporter on exactly how many American casualties there have been so far, and also the locations where they were killed, Hegseth hesitated before turning to the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Dan Caine, to answer for him.
“A bunch have returned to duty,” Caine said.
“We’ve had… in Kuwait, Jordan, down across the southern flank… a variety of places, most from one-way attack strikes,” he added, not providing any actual figures.
Hegseth jumped in to say that for the purposes of “clarity”, the Pentagon is not indicating how many personnel are “KIA” (killed in action) or “WIA” (wounded in action), but that “90 percent” have returned to duty.
The comments ultimately proved more confusing.
Trump had warned from his very first remarks on the war that Americans would be dying, and potentially in large numbers.
Iran has claimed hundreds of Americans dead from its targeting of US assets in the Gulf region, but has not provided any evidence.
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