The United States is expanding its military presence in the Middle East, increasing President Trump's options for action against Iran as the cost of the conflict rises and disruption to regional shipping continues, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited people familiar with the matter.

The buildup includes special operations forces redeployed to the region, squadrons of jet fighters positioned across the Middle East, and bomber aircraft placed on high alert in the United States and the United Kingdom. The United States is also moving medics and weaponry toward the region as Washington weighs whether to expand the war against Iran.

The Journal reported that more than 150 medics have arrived in recent days at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, the main facility used to treat US troops wounded in combat in the Middle East. The preparations follow the deaths of three American soldiers in an Iranian attack in Jordan over the weekend. A fourth US servicemember was killed in Iraq during the controlled detonation of an Iranian drone.

A former chief of US Central Command cautioned that the troop surge does not necessarily mean major new operations are imminent, describing the move instead as an effort to give military leaders greater flexibility. That distinction matters because deployments can serve multiple purposes at once: protecting existing forces, improving evacuation and medical capacity, deterring further attacks, or preparing commanders for a wider set of options if the White House orders them.

The buildup is taking place as the conflict has already disrupted tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, a chokepoint that handled roughly one-fifth of global oil flows before the war began. Iranian attacks on commercial vessels moving through the strait, along with Houthi threats in the Red Sea, have kept a geopolitical risk premium in oil prices and raised freight and insurance costs for shipping through the region. Investinglive earlier cited a UK military report that another tanker had been struck in the Red Sea.

Any move toward strikes on Iranian infrastructure, a possibility raised by President Trump, would likely draw a sharper reaction in crude markets because of the potential for direct retaliation against energy assets or further disruption to the Strait of Hormuz. For shipping firms and energy buyers, the immediate focus is whether military steps reduce attacks on vessels or instead deepen the security risk around routes that connect Gulf producers with global markets.

Concern is also growing in Washington over the financial cost of the war and the pressure a return to full-scale conflict could place on US munitions stocks and global oil supply. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Congress this week that the war's cost has surpassed $37 billion.

The House nonetheless voted narrowly to approve a $95 billion budget framework that includes an additional $73 billion in defense and intelligence funding. A separate defense policy bill also passed with little Democratic support. Congressional approval of additional war funding indicates Washington's intent, for now, to sustain rather than wind down its military posture in the Gulf, while also making the conflict a larger budget and oversight issue on Capitol Hill.

Trump and Hegseth have defended the conflict, now in its fifth month, as necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Trump has warned that he would target Iranian infrastructure, including bridges or power plants, in response to further attacks on vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz.

Despite a fragile ceasefire that has been in place since April, 18 US troops have been killed and hundreds wounded during the war. Iranian officials have vowed to continue striking US forces and partners across the Gulf.