AP: US deploys thousands more troops to the war as Iran threatens world tourism sites

https://apnews.com/live/iran-war-israel-trump-03-20-2026




A U.S. official confirmed that three more warships and roughly 2,500 more Marines are bound for the Middle East, where the U.S. military says it has about 50,000 troops. The Pentagon’s request for another $200 billion to fund the war would need congressional approval as the U.S. national debt hits a record $39 trillion.

On one of the holiest days on the Islamic calendar, Iran fired on Israel and energy sites in neighboring Gulf Arab states, insisting that it can still build missiles and issuing a new threat, to deny safety to its enemies in “parks, recreational areas and tourist destinations” worldwide. Israel, meanwhile, pounded Tehran with airstrikes as Iranians marked Nowruz, the Persian New Year.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday that Iran no longer has the ability to enrich uranium or make ballistic missiles. U.S. leaders said weeks of U.S. strikes have decimated Iran’s military. Little information has come from Iran about damage to its weapons and energy facilities since the war began nearly three weeks ago. Netanyahu said Israel will refrain from any further attacks on the Iranian gas field, at the request of U.S. President Donald Trump. Iran responded to Israel’s attack on the field, which Iranians depend on for their electricity, by intensifying targeting of energy infrastructure in other Middle East countries, sending oil and gas prices soaring.

More than 1,300 people in Iran have been killed during the war. Israeli airstrikes have killed over 1,000 people in Lebanon and displaced more than 1 million, according to the Lebanese government. In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian missile fire. At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed. Four Palestinians in the occupied West Bank were killed Wednesday as Israel and Iran exchanged airstrikes.

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