Esper says Iran may be planning more attacks on US interests

Iran or its proxy forces may be planning further strikes on American interests in the Middle East, Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Thursday.

Without providing details, Esper told reporters at the Pentagon that the U.S. has “indications” that more Iranian provocations may be in the offing. If that happens, he said, the U.S. will take action — preemptively, if it has sufficient warning.

He spoke two days after dispatching several hundred Army paratroopers to Kuwait as potential reinforcements in the region. Those troops were sent after an Iran-sponsored Iraqi militia attempted to break into the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

Speaking alongside Esper, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that if any group makes another attempt to overrun the embassy it will run into a “buzzsaw.”