The United States is sending approximately one thousand more troops to the Middle East.

The announcement comes after the US military released new pictures it says shows members of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps removing an unexploded mine from a Japanese-owned vessel.

The vessel was one of two hit by explosions last week in the Gulf of Oman. The US has accused Iran of being behind the explosion, a charge Iran denies.

Al Jazeera's Heidi Zhou-Castro reports from Washington, DC.