Greg Myhre

No reason was given.

Hegseth has ousted many top generals and admirals in the past year.

He has not offered reasons for the individual dismissals, but has been sharply critical of the way the military was run before he took over the Pentagon.

Greg Myhre, NPR News, Washington.

This expanding force gives President Trump additional options, but these are still relatively small numbers.

They could carry out specific limited operations, but it's not nearly enough for a major sustained ground invasion.

And neither Trump nor the Pentagon has hinted at the mission, but clearly the most urgent issue is the Strait of Hormuz.

So there's speculation that the troops may be part of an effort to try to open the strait for oil tankers.

Yeah, more than 2,000 Marines arrived in the region over the weekend.

Another 2,000 or so Marines are on the way by ship.

A similar number of paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne are expected soon.

So overall, the U.S.

is going to have roughly 50,000 troops in the Middle East.

Now, this expanding force gives President Trump additional options, but these are still relatively small numbers.

They could carry out as

specific limited operations, but it's not nearly enough for a major sustained ground invasion.

And as we noted, neither Trump nor the Pentagon has hinted at the mission, but clearly the most urgent issue is the Strait of Hormuz.

So there's speculation, and at this point it's just that, speculation, that the troops may be part of an effort to try to open the Strait for oil tankers.

Yeah, Iran struck the Prince Sultan Air Base outside the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Friday.

And this is a big deal for several reasons.