The Pentagon is accelerating the deployment of thousands of additional Marines and sailors to the Middle East as the war in Iran enters its third week, according to multiple reports on Thursday.
 
The 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard the USS Boxer, as well as up to two additional ships, will head toward the region to bolster existing American forces sooner than they were originally scheduled to leave their post in San Diego. 

Roughly 2,200 Marines aboard the Boxer will head to Iran less than a week after another unit of 5,000 Marines and sailors left for the region aboard the Japan-based USS Tripoli. If the two additional ships, the USS Portland and USS Comstock amphibious ships, are attached to the deployment, a total of about 4,000 additional service members would be heading to the Middle East.