US military to stay in Middle East during negotiations with Iran

The U.S. military will maintain its current force posture in the Middle East during the 60-day negotiation period with Iran, according to senior Trump administration officials. 

“We hope to draw them down, but we’re not doing that yet,” a senior administration official told reporters during a phone briefing on Monday. 

“We want to see again the Iranians do what they promise they’re going to tell us that they’re going to do, and the agreement contemplates the reduction of military forces in the region upon the agreement of a final deal, which again is the agreement that we assume we can make, so long as the Iranians make some concessions and give up some of their activities and some of their nuclear program,” the official said. 

The comments come as both President Trump and Vance on the U.S. side and Mohammad Bagher-Ghalibaf, speaker of the Iranian........

© The Hill