US reportedly weighing major troop pullback from Gulf following damage in Iran war

The US Defense Department is considering pulling back troops from the Persian Gulf following damage to its presence there during the ongoing war with Iran, the Washington Post reported Tuesday, citing eight sources.

The war has prompted a “once-in-a-generation chance” for the US to consider whether to maintain its bases in the Gulf, the report said, adding that the Pentagon is even considering not rebuilding its damaged bases as they were before the fighting broke out in late February.

While the move was being positioned as a chance for a review of US policy, such a shift would most likely be seen as a major achievement by Iran, which has long chafed at the large American presence in the region and has called for a US withdrawal. It could also leave Gulf countries that have long hosted the US bases vulnerable to further attack by Iran.

One option, according to the report, is for the US to move its troops and bases further west in the region and away from Iran, into an area that includes Jordan and Israel. American refueler jets have been stationed in Israel throughout the war, and Jordan houses several US bases.

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has not ordered a formal review of the question, but it is being explored by the Pentagon’s policy office and the US Central Command, according to the report.

“Decisions are going to have to be made on some of this stuff,” a senior Pentagon official told the US newspaper.

Normally, about 40,000 US troops are stationed across the Middle East, according to the Post, at some 20 bases scattered throughout the region. Many of these bases, as well as other US military sites, have come under heavy Iranian missile and drone fire since the US and Israel launched the war in late February, killing 18 US service members and injuring hundreds more.

The biggest American bases are in the Gulf, notably the US Navy Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain, and the US significantly increased its presence in the region during the Iran war.

The US has especially bolstered its naval forces in the CENTCOM area of responsibility, with dozens of warships and aircraft carriers stationed in the region, carrying thousands of sailors, many of whom have been deployed for hundreds of days more than planned.

“The war really did highlight the vulnerability” of American forces in the region, former US diplomat Michael Ratney told the Post.

The former envoy to Saudi Arabia said that while moving troops further west and away from much of Iran’s missile range could revive some pressure, there is no “perfect solution to this problem.”

The report cited sources familiar with the Pentagon’s thinking as saying that the issue would “likely” intensify an inter-administration debate over US military intervention in the Middle East, a question that has been central to the second term of US President Donald Trump as the hawkish and isolationist wings of his government vie for influence on the president.

Either way, the Post noted that any significant changes to US forces in the region were “distant” and would only take place if approved by the White House.