Washington — The U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division is deploying paratroopers to Kuwait, after Iran-affiliated rioters swarmed the U.S. embassy in Baghdad.<br /><br />U.S. Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said in a written statement on Tuesday that Air Force C-17s were already flying in 750 paratroopers of the division's Immediate Response Force.<br /><br />The Military Times reports that the 750 paratroopers will be joined by an additional 4,000 U.S. soldiers from the division's IRF in the following week.<br /><br />The 82 Airborne Division said in a statement that the 1st Brigade Combat Team is currently assigned to the IRF role.<br /> <br />According to Fox News, the alert sequence for the Division Ready Brigade is to have one rifle battalion ready in 18 hours, another rifle battalion in 36 hours and a third in 54 hours.<br /><br />The alert brigade should be ready to deploy for operations within a 96-hour alert window. <br /><br />Fox reports that the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman has been in the Gulf of Oman with its carrier strike group, armed with F-18 fighters and Tomahawk cruise missiles.<br /><br />Citing the Pentagon, Fox reports that there are 60,000 US troops in the Middle East, including the 14,000 reinforcements added since May in response to Iran's rising threat.
