United States anunced Friday that it was sending military reinforcements to Gulf region following attacks on Saudi oil facilities that it attributes to Iran, just hours after President Donald Trump ordered new sanctions on Tehran. Trump said sanctions were toughest-ever against ar country but indicated he did t plan a military strike, calling restraint a sign of strength. Treasury Department renewed action against Iran's central bank after US officials said Tehran carried out weekend attacks on rival Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure, which triggered a spike in global crude prices. Those attacks, combined with an Iranian attack on an American spy drone in June, represented a "dramatic escalation of Iranian aggression," Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said.

Trumps puts more sanctions, deploys more troops

Pentagon chief anunced that United States would send military reinforcements to Gulf region at request of Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. "In response to kingdom's request, president has approved deployment of US forces, which will be defensive in nature, and primarily focused on air and missile defense," Esper said. However Joint Chiefs of Staff Joe Dunford categorized deployment as "moderate," with number of troops t expected to reach thousands.

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Anti-war Trump

Earlier in day, Trump attacked both critics who thought mogul-turned-president would trigger war and hawks seeking a military response. " easiest thing I could do (is) kck out 15 different major things in Iran," Trump said. "But I think strong-person approach and thing that does show strength would be showing a little bit of restraint," he said. Trump in June authorized a military strike after Iran shot down US spy drone, only to call it off at last moment.

Aramco attack

Saudi Arabia on Friday revealed extensive dam from strikes on state giant Aramco's facilities in Khurais and world's largest oil processing facility at Abqaiq. attacks, which kcked out half of Saudi Arabia's oil production, have been claimed by Yemen's Iran-backed Huthi rebels, but Washington has pointed its finger at Tehran, condemning strikes as an "act of war." Abqaiq was struck 18 times while nearby Khurais was hit four times in a raid that triggered multiple explosions and towering flames that took hours to extinguish, Aramco officials said. Aramco flew dozens of international journalists to two sites to show it was speeding up repairs, giving rare access to nerve center of world's largest oil producer as it seeks to shore up investor confidence ahe of a planned initial public offering (IPO).

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Houthi Rebels and Iran connection

Meanwhile, Yemen's Huthi rebels, who have repeatedly targeted key Saudi infrastructure in recent months in cross-border attacks, unexpectedly anunced late Friday that y planned to halt all strikes on country. move, y said, was part of a peace initiative to end ir country's devastating conflict which has killed tens of thousands of people -- most of m civilians -- and driven millions more to brink of famine. Iran denies US and Saudi accusations that it arms Huthis. United States alrey maintains sweeping sanctions on Iran including on its central bank, with anyone who deals with it subject to prosecution, due to Tehran's alleged nuclear programme.

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But new sanctions Friday were imposed for ditional reason of "terrorism," Treasury said, ding that Iran's central bank h provided "billions of dollars" to two groups blacklisted by United States. "Treasury's action targets a crucial funding mechanism that Iranian regime uses to support its terrorist network, including Qods Force, Hezbollah and or militants that spre terror and destabilize region," said US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. Qods Force conducts international operations for Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards, while Hezbollah, Shiite militant group and political party in Leban, is among Iran's closest regional partners.

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US-Iran relations

Iran responded that move showed that United States was running out of options. United States also imposed sanctions on Iran's sovereign wealth fund, whose board of trustees includes President Hassan Rouhani, as well as Etem Tejarate Pars, a company that Treasury Department said h sent money internationally on behalf of Iran's defense ministry. Trump recently said that he hopes for talks with Rouhani, who responded that Trump must first ease sanctions. Last year Trump pulled out of a nuclear accord with Iran negotiated under former president Barack Obama, sending tensions soaring as he tried to stop all countries from buying Iran's oil.