The US deployed more troops to the Gulf, even as President Donald Trump expressed optimism that a deal with Iran was close.
The US vice president and secretary of state are leading talks, Trump said, and Washington yesterday sent Tehran a 15-point peace proposal via Pakistan; though Iran has denied negotiations have taken place, stocks rose and oil fell on the prospect of an end to the fighting.
The arrival of 2,000 paratroopers and a Marine amphibious warfare group in the region nevertheless suggests that Trump is maintaining the option of escalating hostilities, while Saudi Arabia’s leader — wary of leaving a job half-done — told Trump that the Iranian regime should be destroyed, The New York Times reported.