Ex-Senior U.S. Officials Warn that Deterrence in the Pacific is Being Degraded Due to War with Iran

INDOPACOM has been sending troops and assets to deal with Middle East contingencies for many years. This is nothing new. If these recent deployments lead to the collapse of the Iranian regime that means the U.S. can truly focus on the Pacific in the future instead of constantly dealing with crisis is the Middle East:

Former senior U.S. officials expressed concerns Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has “vacated” some of America’s key military deterrence assets in the Indo-Pacific amid the U.S.-Israeli war against Iran despite growing Chinese threats in what it calls a “priority” theater.

Their remarks came amid reports that Washington has moved parts of its THAAD missile defense system in South Korea to the Middle East, and is dispatching over 2,000 U.S. Marines of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) in Japan to the volatile region, while there is no operational U.S. aircraft carrier in the Indo-Pacific.

“A very large component of the American military capability that is there to deter in the Indo-Pacific has been vacated,” one former U.S. official said in a meeting with reporters.

Korea Times

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