NEW YORK, March 25. /TASS/. The Pentagon has deployed about 2,000 paratroopers to the Middle East, The New York Times said.

Soldiers of the "Immediate Response Force" of the elite 82nd Airborne Division will be sent to the Middle East. It is noted that the paratroopers will be located "within striking distance of Iran."

Last week Fox News reported that an amphibious assault group consisting of about 4,500 sailors and marines headed by the universal amphibious assault ship USS Boxer and the 11th expeditionary detachment of the United States Marine Corps set off for the Middle East.