WASHINGTON, May 22 (Xinhua) -- The Pentagon is expected to submit plans to the White House to send up to 10,000 troops to the Middle East amid increasing tensions with Iran, U.S. media reported on Wednesday.

The plans will be proposed during a high-level White House meeting on Thursday, reported the Associated Press, citing anonymous Trump administration officials.

The move is for defensive purposes, not a response to any new threat from Iran, said the report. And it remains unclear if the White House will greenlight the proposal.

Washington and Tehran have been locked in a war of words over the past two weeks, and escalating tension that had been stoked up following America's increasing military buildup in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, senior U.S. senior defense officials hinted that America has no intention of starting a war. Acting Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan said on Tuesday that America's actions so far had been deterring Iran rather than seeking a war.

Iran has been under unprecedented sanction pressure by the United States following U.S. President Donald Trump's withdrawal from Iran's nuclear deal in May last year.

Iran has vowed to withstand the pressures and resist the U.S. "bullying policies."