U.S. cancels training exercises, fueling speculation of MidEast deployments

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The U.S. Army this week canceled training exercises for the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., raising expectations of a deployment to the Middle East, the Washington Post reported.

The 82nd Airborne is a paratrooper division that boasts thousands of mobile troops for quick deployments. The 82nd Airborne has not received deployment orders, though one official told the Post that “[w]e’re all preparing for something — just in case.”

The Trump administration has repeatedly declined to rule out the prospect of boots on the ground in Iran in recent days, despite previously asserting it would not consider such an operation. Iran has, thus far, declined to negotiate to end the conflict.

News reports this week erroneously relayed that armed Kurdish militants had launched an invasion of Iran from Iraqi territory, though relevant Kurdish militant groups have denied crossing the border.

“None of our forces have entered the territory of East Kurdistan and Iran, and we reject those statements that speak of such things,” a source from the Kurdistan Democratic Party of Iran told Rudaw, a Kurdish news source.

Ben Whedon is the Chief Political Correspondent at Just the News. Follow him on X.