He didn’t call it “fake news,” but acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan told reporters at the Pentagon that their sources “aren’t feeding you right information.”

Shanahan made a point of stopping to talk to reporters covering the arrival of the Vietnamese deputy prime minister to dispute reports that the Pentagon was briefing the White House Thursday on an option to send as many as 10,000 additional troops to the Persian Gulf region in response to threats from Iran.

“I got up this morning and read that we were sending 10,000 troops to the Middle East, and then I read about, more recently, there’s 5,000,” said Shanahan. “There is no 10,000 and there is no 5,000.”

Shanahan said the Pentagon is reviewing its “force protection” measures, which he conceded “may involve sending additional troops," but he insisted no plan to send 5,000 troops has been proposed.

“Numbers get floated out there, and you’ve got lots of good sources of information. What I’m telling you is: Those sources right now aren’t feeding you right information,” Shanahan said. “As soon as anything changes, I’ll let you know. I really will.”

Shanahan reiterated that the United States is not spoiling for a fight with Iran.

“We have a mission there in the Middle East: freedom of navigation, counterterrorism in Syria and Iraq, defeating al Qaeda in Yemen, and the security of Israel and Jordan,” he said. “Our job is deterrence. This is not about war.”