Pentagon weighs reducing Gulf troop presence as Iran war cost hits $37.5 bn : Report

The Pentagon is weighing whether the United States should maintain a smaller military presence in the Persian Gulf after the Iran war, as per a Washington Post report. The scale of damage to American bases has forced Washington to reconsider a decades-old security posture in the region.The discussions are still at an early stage and do not amount to a formal review ordered by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Instead, the Pentagon’s policy office, along with the Joint Staff and US Central Command, is assessing what America’s military footprint could look like once the fighting ends, including whether heavily damaged bases should be rebuilt in their current form.The US normally stations about 40,000 troops across nearly 20 sites stretching from Jordan to Oman, with some of its largest and most permanent facilities located in the Persian Gulf.