Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said Tuesday that America’s deployment of additional military forces to the Persian Gulf might have given the Iranians second thoughts about attacking U.S. interests in the region. For now, he said, the threat from Iran is “on hold.”

“Our prudent response, I think, has given the Iranians time to recalculate,” Shanahan told reporters before meetings with presidents of the freely associated states of Palau, Micronesia, and the Marshall Islands.

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