Speaking to troops deployed as part of a recent US course of action, Marine General Frank McKenzie, the top US commander in the Middle East, said to troops he was “not sure how long you’re going to stay”. General McKenzie spoke to sailors and marines aboard the USS Bataan amphibious assault ship. He said: “I’m not sure how long you’re going to stay in the theatre. We’ll work that out as we go ahead.

“Could be quite a while, could be less than that, just don’t know.”

General McKenzie addressed the extra 20,000 troops who have been deployed to the Middle East as a result of tensions between the US and Iran.

He added: “Iran is very hard to read.

“So I would say the fact that things are quiet for a while does not mean that necessarily things are getting better.”

Speaking to reporters present, General McKenzie also stated Iran still proves a “very real threat” to the US.

The US state department confirmed US forces would remain present in Iraq after Iraqi PM Adel Abdul Mahdi asked Mike Pompeo, the Secretary of State for the US, to withdraw US forces from the country.

A spokeswoman for the State Department, Morgan Ortagus, said: “America is a force for good in the Middle East.

“Any delegation sent to Iraq would be dedicated to discussing how to best recommit to our strategy partnership – not to discuss troop withdrawal, but our right, appropriate force posture in the Middle East.”

US-Iran tensions came to an explosive head when President Trump ordered the killing of Iranian general, Qassem Soleimani in an airstrike.

Soleimani was the commander of Iran’s Quds Force, and described in some circles as “the most powerful general in the Middle East”.

Mr Trump stated to Republican donors that Soleimani had been “saying bad things about our country” in the run up to the death of the Iranian leader.

Esmail Qaani, the new Quds Force commander, vowed to avenge his predecessor “in a manly fashion”.

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However, Iran’s plans backfired when they accidentally shot missiles at a Ukrainian passenger plane, which killed all 176 passengers and crew.

Iran later stated the plane’s downing was because of “human error”.

Tensions have also risen as a result of the US special representative for Iran, Brian Hook, and his statements.

Mr Hook said if any Americans were killed by Soleimani’s successor, the US was prepared to kill him in a similar way.

Iran’s President, Hassan Rouhani, said the US had failed to cause division between Iran and Iraq.

He added: “Martyr Soleimani was a very respectful person who did not abandon his services to the Revolution and the society.”

It has been recently announced 34 US service members have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries as a result of Iran’s missile strike against the deployed troops.

Earlier in the week, Mr Trump stated he does not consider potential brain injuries to be as serious as physical combat wounds, downplaying the severity of the injuries.

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