WASHINGTON, August 18. /TASS/. The United States is looking at reducing its military presence in the Middle East after the war with Iran, The Washington Post reported, citing sources in the US administration.

According to the newspaper, the Pentagon is considering "whether to pull back troops from the Persian Gulf, where America’s large overseas military bases have been battered by months of Iranian strikes. It cited sources as saying that the Defense Department "has already signaled that it might not rebuild its bases as they were before the conflict."

The newspaper notes that this is not a comprehensive revision of the US military presence in the region by the Pentagon’s policy office "is evaluating its military footprint in the Middle East in an early sign of the Iran war’s potential to transform the U.S. presence in the region." The Joint Staff and US Central Command (CENTCOM) are studying this matter as well, it said.

The United States and Israel launched a war against Iran on February 28. In June, Washington and Tehran signed a memorandum of understanding envisaging an immediate ceasefire on all fronts, including in Lebanon. However, the United States resumed large-scale attacks on Iran overnight to July 8, having accused it of breaching the existing agreements in what concerned the Strait of Hormuz, which accounts for 25% of global oil trade and around 20% of liquefied natural gas trade.