Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan Patrick Michael ShanahanHouse Armed Services chairman expresses confidence in Esper amid aircraft carrier coronavirus crisis Boeing pleads for bailout under weight of coronavirus, 737 fallout Esper's chief of staff to depart at end of January MORE last week presented the White House with a plan to send up to 120,000 troops to the Middle East in the event that Iran escalates tensions, according to a New York Times report.

The Times reports that national security adviser John Bolton John BoltonMaximum pressure is keeping US troops in Iraq and Syria Woodward book trails Bolton, Mary Trump in first-week sales Ex-NSC official alleges 'unprecedented' intervention by White House aides in Bolton book review MORE issued an order for the plans and the proposal does not include a ground invasion, which would require many more troops.

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The plan was ordered to prepare in the event that Iran attacks American forces or accelerates the development of nuclear weapons, according to the Times, citing administration officials.

It is largely driven by Bolton, who has pushed for more aggressive action against Iran under both Trump and former President George W. Bush.

It remained unclear whether Trump has seen the plan or if he would support it given his frequent push for the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan and Syria.

Two American national security officials told the Times they were concerned Trump’s announced Syria drawdown, as well as reduced U.S. naval presence in the region, had encouraged some Iranian leaders and given them the impression the U.S. will avoid a military confrontation if at all possible.

On Monday, when asked about the possibility of regime change in Iran during an appearance with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, Trump responded, “We’ll see what happens with Iran. If they do anything, it would be a very bad mistake.”

It was also unclear whether Trump had been briefed about the number of troops the plan called for, which would be nearly the size of the initial American force that invaded Iraq in 2003, according to the Times.

European leaders have expressed concerns to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo Michael (Mike) Richard PompeoTreasury sanctions individuals, groups tied to Russian malign influence activities Navalny released from hospital after suspected poisoning Overnight Defense: Pentagon redirects pandemic funding to defense contractors | US planning for full Afghanistan withdrawal by May | Anti-Trump GOP group puts ads in military papers MORE about escalating tensions between Washington and Tehran, with British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt saying, “We are very worried about the risk of a conflict happening by accident, with an escalation that is unintended really on either side,” according to the Times.

A series of moves in recent weeks has ratcheted up tensions between Iran and the United States.

On the first anniversary of Trump’s announcement that the U.S. would withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tehran would scale back some of its commitments under the 2015 pact, and on Sunday Bolton announced the U.S. would deploy a bomber task force and carrier strike group to the region in response to “a number of troubling and escalatory indications and warnings” from Iran.

The Pentagon did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.