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U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had been planning a trip to Moscow, Russia this Tuesday. Yesterday he canceled it and instead headed to Brussels, Belgium. That's where the leaders of the United Kingdom, Germany and France were scheduled to discuss international tensions with Iran and the U.S. Secretary of State decided to join them. U.S. military officials recently said they had intelligence that Iran and groups that operate beneath its military were planning to target U.S. troops in the Middle East and at sea.
In response, America sent warships, bomber planes and other military equipment to the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow passage of water that borders Iran. Now, U.S. intelligence indicates Iran may be putting missiles aboard small Iranian boats in the Persian Gulf and the U.S. is moving missiles of its own to the region. An American military official says they're defensive in nature. But the U.S. says that the threat from Iran is still real and credible and that America is taking it seriously.
Meantime, U.S. President Donald Trump is warning Iran not to take action against American interests saying quote,"if they do anything it would be a very bad mistake. We'll see what happens." If there is a confrontation between Iran and the U.S. the Middle Eastern country has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz. That could impact the global economy since about 30 percent of the worlds crude oil is shipped through the strait. There was an incident earlier this week involving four oil carrying ships that were near the strait. They were apparently targeted by an act of sabotage. International officials, including U.S. Secretary of State Pompeo are not saying Iran was behind it and Iran's government called the incident quote, "alarming and regrettable". But anxiety is high in the region.
