{"id":257566,"date":"2026-08-20T11:39:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T11:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/257566\/"},"modified":"2026-08-20T11:39:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T11:39:13","slug":"us-weighs-smaller-military-presence-in-persian-gulf-after-iran-war-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/257566\/","title":{"rendered":"US Weighs Smaller Military Presence in Persian Gulf After Iran War: Report"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\n \"The
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The US is assessing whether to reduce its military presence in the Persian Gulf after the war with Iran, The Washington Post reported<\/a>, citing officials familiar with the discussions.<\/p>\n

Planners are considering whether damaged bases should be fully rebuilt or replaced with a smaller, more dispersed network.<\/p>\n

The discussions remain preliminary, and no changes have been approved.<\/p>\n

CENTCOM normally stations about 40,000 personnel at nearly 20 sites stretching from Jordan to Oman.<\/p>\n

These include the US Fifth Fleet headquarters in Bahrain and major US Army and Air Force facilities in Kuwait.<\/p>\n

Iranian attacks<\/a> have reportedly damaged or destroyed more than 200 US facilities during the war, killing six service members<\/a> at Kuwait\u2019s Port Shuaiba in March and four more in Jordan in July.<\/p>\n

Any US military force reduction could have wider consequences for Gulf countries, which have long relied on US forces and air defenses.<\/p>\n

Arms sales and intelligence sharing could continue with fewer American troops in the region, but replacing their defensive role would require time and substantial investment.<\/p>\n

Planning is further complicated by the continuing hostilities.<\/p>\n

A preliminary peace agreement between Washington and Tehran reached in June collapsed, and the US and Iran have since exchanged intermittent strikes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"US(Representative image only.) US soldiers in Jordan. Photo: KHALIL MAZRAAWI\/AFP<\/p>\n

Possible Relocation of US Forces<\/p>\n

Ahead of the war in February<\/a>, CENTCOM had already lowered staffing at several bases considered particularly exposed to Iranian missile and drone attacks.<\/p>\n

According to the report, some of those changes could remain in effect after the fighting ends.<\/p>\n

One option under discussion is moving some US forces westward from the Persian Gulf. Former US diplomat Michael Ratney suggested Jordan, Israel, and Saudi Arabia\u2019s Red Sea coast.<\/p>\n

Other proposals include closing exposed facilities in Kuwait and concentrating forces at Prince Sultan Air Base near Riyadh.<\/p>\n

Some analysts have also recommended expanding the US presence at Israel\u2019s Ovda Airbase.<\/p>\n

\"AA member of the US Air Force near a Patriot missile battery at Prince Sultan air base in Al-Kharj, Saudi Arabia, 2020. Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds\/AFP via Getty<\/p>\n

Costs and Impact<\/p>\n

Since the conflict began, Washington has sent additional warships, combat aircraft, and air-defense systems to the region while conducting more than 13,000 strikes on Iran.<\/p>\n

According to The Washington Post, the Pentagon estimated that the war could cost up to $37.5 billion by the end of September, excluding the cost of rebuilding damaged military bases.<\/p>\n

The American Enterprise Institute has estimated<\/a> that repairing damaged US facilities could require another $5 billion.<\/p>\n

The war has also placed pressure on US air-defense stocks.<\/p>\n

American forces have fired more than 1,000 Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense interceptors to protect bases and other regional targets.<\/p>\n

Eighteen US service members have been killed during the conflict.<\/p>\n

More than 1,300 civilians have died in Iran since the war began, according to figures presented<\/a> to the United Nations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The US is assessing whether to reduce its military presence in the Persian Gulf after the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":257567,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[26],"tags":[141,177,359,34,39,51],"class_list":["post-257566","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-persian-gulf","tag-centcom","tag-conflict","tag-gulf","tag-iran","tag-persian-gulf","tag-united-states"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/117127647309015647","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257566","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257566"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257566\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257566"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257566"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257566"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}