Washington, June 19 (RHC)-- Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan has announced the deployment of about 1,000 more troops to the Middle East for what he said were “defensive purposes.”

The high ranking Pentagon official approved the U.S. Central Command request to increase forces to “address air, naval, and ground-based threats” in the region.  As U.S.-Iran tensions are at an all-time high, observers believe Donald Trump’s administration continues to push a warmongering agenda against Iran.

The U.S. government has blamed Iran for the attacks on the two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman last week.  The Persian nation categorically rejected “the U.S. unfounded claim with regard to the oil tanker incidents and condemns it in the strongest possible terms.”

Iran's diplomatic mission to the United Nations accused Washington and its regional allies, which include Iranian rival Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, of “warmongering,” while calling on “the international community to live up to its responsibilities in preventing the reckless and dangerous policies and practices of the U.S. and its regional allies in heightening the tensions in the region.”

Since early May, the U.S. has been increasing its military force and threat in the region, where it currently has around 50,000 troops.  Washington has deployed the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group, a bomber task force of B-52s and a Patriot missile defense battery in what many see as a bid to intimidate Iran.

Political observers say these actions and increasing confrontation can be traced to Trump’s decision to pull out of the nuclear deal last year, and subsequently reimposed tough sanctions on Iran’s oil industry in an attempt to strangle the country’s economy.