Norway moves some of its 60 soldiers in Middle East due to security situation

COPENHAGEN, Feb 20 (Reuters) – Norway is relocating some of the around 60 soldiers it has in the Middle East to Norway as well as to other countries in the region on security grounds, a spokesperson for the Norwegian armed forces said on Friday.

U.S. President Donald Trump warned Iran on Thursday it must make a deal over its nuclear program or “really bad things” will happen, setting a deadline of 10 to 15 days, drawing a threat from Tehran to retaliate against U.S. bases in the region if attacked.

Norway declined to say how many soldiers it was relocating and which locations were affected.

“These are soldiers who have jobs like training local forces and other missions,” Lieutenant Colonel Vegard Finberg from the Norwegian Joint Headquarters told Reuters.

“The way the situation is now, it’s not possible for them to do their primary tasks, and that’s why we are relocating them,” he said, adding other nations had made similar moves in recent days.

Norway has forces stationed in several sites in Iraq and other nearby countries.

(Reporting by Louise Rasmussen, editing by Terje Solsvik, Alexandra Hudson)