MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

US deploys 82nd Airborne troops to the Gulf as Trump claims Iran offered a “gift”

“They gave us a present today. It was a very big present worth a tremendous amount of money,” Trump said

The Pentagon is preparing to deploy soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East, even as President Donald Trump insists negotiations with Iran are advancing and that Tehran has offered a “gift” related to gas, oil and the Strait of Hormuz.

“They gave us a present today. It was a very big present worth a tremendous amount of money,” Trump said from the Oval Office on Tuesday, following the swearing-in of his new homeland security secretary, Markwayne Mullin. “It's not nuclear, it has to do with gas and oil,” he added without elaborating.

According to AP, the deployment includes a battalion from the 82nd Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team, along with the unit's commander, Major General Brandon Tegtmeier, and headquarters staff. Figures vary across sources: AP reports around 1,000 troops, while other accounts place the number between 2,000 and 3,000. The elite unit, based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, serves as the Army's Immediate Response Force and can deploy anywhere in the world within 18 hours.

The deployment adds to approximately 5,000 Marines already heading to the region aboard two amphibious groups led by the USS Boxer and USS Tripoli. While US officials stress that no decision has been made to send ground troops into Iranian territory, the deployment expands the president's options should he pursue ground operations, including a potential seizure of Kharg Island, Iran's main oil export terminal, located roughly 700 kilometres north of the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump said Iran has agreed never to develop nuclear weapons and that talks are being led on the American side by envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President J.D. Vance. “The other side wants to make a deal. And who wouldn't, if you were them?” he said.

Several countries are mediating between Washington and Tehran. Pakistan has offered to host potential negotiations, and its prime minister, Shehbaz Sharif, spoke with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday. India, Turkey and Egypt are also acting as intermediaries.

Iran, however, has dampened expectations. Tehran denies any direct negotiations and this week appointed Mohammad Bagher Zolqadr, an ultraconservative former Revolutionary Guard commander, as the new secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, replacing Ali Larijani, who was killed in the bombing campaign. The appointment is seen as a signal of hardening.

Trump's extended deadline for his ultimatum over Iranian power plants expires on Friday.