The US will send 1,000 additional troops to the Middle East, against the backdrop of soaring tensions with Iran.

In a statement acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said, the troops were being sent for defensive purposes to address air, naval, and ground-based threats in the region.

The Pentagon also shared new images linking Iran to recent oil tanker attacks in the Gulf of Oman. Meanwhile Tehran has denied the charge as baseless. Tensions between Tehran and Washington have escalated ever since the US quite a multi-nation nuclear deal with Iran.

Washington has imposed crippling sanctions, bolstered its military presence in the region and blacklisted Iran’s elite Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization.