U.S. President Trump authorized the deployment of additional U.S. forces to the Middle East to strengthen air and missile defenses around Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. U.S says the deployment would be defensive in nature. The developments come after attacks against two Saudi oil facilities last week. Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels have said they were behind the attacks but the US and Saudi Arabia have both blamed Iran itself. Earlier Trump announced new ‘highest level’ sanctions against Tehran that focus on Iran's central bank and its sovereign wealth fund. Strikes hit the Abqaiq oil facility and the Khurais oil field in Saudi Arabia a week ago, affecting the global oil supply.