The New York Times
There Are Now Over 50,000 American Troops in the Mideast
The arrival of 2,500 Marines and another 2,500 sailors is keeping the number of American troops in the region at roughly 10,000 more than usual.
In the foreground, a ship floats near a tugboat. Farther back on hazy waters are other ships.
The U.S.S. Tripoli entering the Singapore Strait earlier this month. The 2,500 Marines who have been dispatched to the Middle East are part of the U.S.S. Tripoli amphibious ready group.Credit...Edgar Su/Reuters
By Helene Cooper
March 29, 2026
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The arrival of 2,500 Marines and another 2,500 sailors is keeping the number of American troops in the Mideast region at over 50,000 — roughly 10,000 more than usual — as President Trump decides on his next step in his month-old war in Iran.
While it is still unclear just what the Marines, from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, will be charged with, U.S. officials say the president is weighing whether to try a larger attack, like venturing to seize an island or other ground as part of Mr. Trump’s effort to open the Strait of Hormuz.
The narrow waterway, through which around 20 percent of the world’s oil usually traverses, has been largely closed because of attacks by Iranian forces who are retaliating against the U.S. and Israeli war on their country.
Usually there are around 40,000 American troops scattered around at bases and on ships at any time around the region, including in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. But as Mr. Trump has escalated the war in Iran, that number has reached more than 50,000, according to a U.S. military official.
The number of troops no longer includes the 4,500 aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Gerald Ford, however. That ship has been hobbled by constant mishaps, including a fire that broke out in the laundry. The Ford withdrew from the region on March 23 and sailed to Crete. On Friday it arrived in Croatia. It remains unclear where it is headed next.
Last week, the Pentagon also ordered about 2,000 soldiers from the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East to give Mr. Trump additional military options.
The location of the Army paratroopers is not public, the military official said. But they will be within striking distance of Iran. The paratroopers could be used to seize Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil export hub in the northern Persian Gulf, where U.S. warplanes bombed more than 90 military targets earlier this month. Or they could be deployed for other ground operations in conjunction with the Marines.
But military experts caution that even 50,000 troops, many of them at sea, is a small number for any kind of major land operation. Israel used more than 300,000 troops for its operations in the Gaza Strip that began in October 2023. The U.S.-led coalition that invaded Iraq in 2003 was close to 250,000 at the beginning.
At almost a third of the size of the continental United States, Iran has around 93 million people. Taking, let alone holding, a country of its size and complexity and weaponry with 50,000 troops is not doable, military experts say.
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Helene Cooper is a Pentagon correspondent for The Times. She was previously an editor, diplomatic correspondent and White House correspondent.
A version of this article appears in print on March 30, 2026, Section A, Page 9 of the New York edition with the headline: U.S. Deploys More Troops to Mideast, Raising the Total to Over 50,000. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe
See more on: U.S. Politics, U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Marine Corps, Donald Trump
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More on the Fighting in the Middle East
Fighting in Southern Lebanon: Two U.N. peacekeepers were killed when their convoy was “struck by an explosion of undetermined origin” and several other peacekeepers were injured, according to a U.N. report seen by The New York Times. The blast came a day after the organization’s secretary-general condemned the killing of an Indonesian member of the peacekeeping force.
President Trump Weighs In: The president suggested that “regime change” in Iran had been achieved because so many of its top leaders have been killed in U.S.-Israeli attacks. He also threatened to destroy Iran’s main hub for oil exports, and other key energy sites in the country, if Iran didn’t agree to a peace deal and end its de facto blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Gas Prices: Oil prices rose and stocks were mixed amid increasing signs of escalation of the war, which has led to a blockage of critical energy supplies. With a cutoff in shipments imminent, Asian countries are already burning more coal and reducing consumption. And most public transit across the Australian state of Victoria, of which Melbourne is the capital, will be free of charge for a month, in an effort by the local government to insulate residents from the widening oil shock.
U.S. Troops: Several hundred U.S. Special Operations forces have joined thousands of Marines and Army paratroopers in a deployment to the Middle East meant to give Trump additional options to expand the war, two U.S. military officials said. The war has also drawn attention to the U.S. troop presence in Saudi Arabia.
Israel Pulls Battalion: The Israeli military has suspended a battalion of reservists from active duty in the occupied West Bank after soldiers there detained a team of CNN journalists and one of the soldiers said on camera that the troops were carrying out “revenge” against Palestinians.
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