Washington is considering a smaller military footprint in the Middle East after the Iran war.
The Washington Post reports speaking with eight officials who said that the extensive damage to US bases in the Middle East caused by Iran has given the White House a once-in-a-generation opportunity to pull back US forces from the Middle East.
The discussions have not reached the desk of Secretary of War Pete Hegseth but have involved US Central Command and the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Officials arguing for a drawdown in the Middle East want the US military to be more prepared to fight a war against China.
Iranian missiles and drones have significantly damaged over a dozen US military bases in the region throughout the six-month-long conflict. At least 18 American soldiers have been killed, and billions of dollars in aircraft and radars have been destroyed.
A US official speaking with The Post said US personnel have been moved out of military bases. “Iran thinks we are in the traditional places,” the person said. “And we are not.”
The US may be unable to defend its bases in the Middle East in the near term. President Donald Trump’s war against Iran has depleted the US stockpile of missile interceptors.
