US: Iran, Proxies Responsible For Tanker Bombings, Iraq Attack

A senior Pentagon officer announced that the U.S. considers Iran and its proxies responsible for the recent tanker bombings near United Arab Emirates and a rocket attack in Iraq. AP quoted Vice Admiral Michael Gilday saying that the U.S. has a high degree of confidence that Iran's Revolutionary Guard was responsible for the explosions on four tankers, and that Iranian proxies in Iraq fired rockets into Baghdad.

His remarks acme as President Donald Trump announced that the U.S. will bolster its military presence in the Middle East with an additional 1,500 troops.

Speaking at the White House before heading to Japan, Trump said that the troops would have a "mostly protective" role.

According to Associated Press, the administration had notified Congress earlier Friday about the troop plans.

Acording to a copy of the notification obtained by AP, the forces would number "roughly" 1,500 and would deploy in the coming weeks, "with their primary responsibilities and activities being defensive in nature."

On other hand, the Trump administration on Friday invoked a rarely used provision in federal law to bypass congressional review of arms sales to Saudi Arabia, citing threats the kingdom faces from Iran.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo notified Congress of the decision to use an emergency loophole in the Arms Export Control Act to move ahead with sales of $7 billion in precision guided munitions, other bombs and ammunition and aircraft maintenance support to Saudi Arabia, along with the United Arab Emirates and Jordan, without lawmakers' approval, AP reported.

In his notification, Pompeo said he had made the determination "that an emergency exists which requires the immediate sale" of the weapons "in order to deter further the malign influence of the government of Iran throughout the Middle East region." He said the transfers "must occur as quickly as possible in order to deter further Iranian adventurism in the Gulf and throughout the Middle East."

There is precedent for using the emergency exemption for arms sales to Saudi Arabia. President Ronald Reagan invoked it in the 1980s and both Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush used it for sales before the 1991 Gulf War and the 2003 Iraq war.