US military’s Iran war pivot forces Asia-Pacific security rethink

The redeployment of US military assets from the Asia-Pacific to the Middle East has split security analysts, with some arguing that any strategic damage is largely “psychological” while others warn of a real and measurable gap opening in the region’s defences.More than 2,000 marines and at least one amphibious assault ship have begun moving from Japan towards the Gulf as the US-Israeli war on Iran grinds on. The assault ship USS Tripoli, docked at Sasebo in Nagasaki prefecture, is expected to reach the Middle East within one to two weeks.US troops dismantle a launch vehicle of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) system at an American military base in Seongju, South Korea, on March 5. Photo: Yonhap/EPA“The effect is perhaps more psychological,” said Grant Newsham, a retired US Marine Corps colonel and senior research fellow at the Japan-forum-for-strategic-studies" class="entity-link entity-organization" data-entity-id="40146" data-entity-type="organization">Japan Forum for Strategic Studies.