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Pentagon Reduces Military Units in Middle East, Focuses on Russia and China

It plans on taking out antimissile systems and jet fighter squadrons, among other units.

Less than a week after the G7 agreed Russia and China posed the biggest adversarial threat to the world, the U.S. military has taken action. The Department of Defense is reducing its military presence in several Middle Eastern countries in order to better focus on Russia and China, The Wall Street Journal reports. The military is removing antimissile technology from Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan, and Kuwait, while jet fighter squadrons in the area are being reduced. The move is meant to return the level of involvement in the area to pre-Trump levels, an administration official told the Journal, saying the countries have developed strong enough defenses that diminish the need for a heavy U.S. presence. In doing so, the U.S. will shift more resources toward the national security threats posed by China and Russia.

The White House also plans to push Iran toward re-establishing the 2015 nuclear deal, three years after former President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of it.