NEW YORK, January 3. /TASS/. The US Department of Defense has approved deployment of additional troops to the Middle East. According to Reuters news agency, the US may send up to 3,000 troops to the region.

CNN informed that the additional troops would come from the Immediate Response Force of the 82nd Airborne Division. "Following the disturbance at the US embassy in Baghdad, the US deployed 750 troops from the same unit and said that additional deployments were possible," the channel reported.

The Pentagon earlier confirmed that a missile strike near the Baghdad airport killed the head of the Quds Force Qasem Soleimani. The operation was carried out at the direction of US President Donald Trump, the statement said.

According to the Pentagon, the strike was defensive, since it was aimed at protecting US troops in Iraq and other countries. Washington blamed Soleimani for allegedly approving a rally outside the US Embassy in Baghdad earlier this week. The US claims that Soleimani personally approved the recent attacks on US military bases in Iraq and that he is responsible for the deaths of hundreds US troops at the hands of Shia armed formations supported by Tehran during the campaign aimed to overthrow Saddam Hussein.