U.S. Forces Korea Commander Xavier Brunson has denied that a key missile defense system for defending against North Korean threats has been removed from the Korean Peninsula, while acknowledging the munitions for the system are still being sent to the Middle East.

Brunson made the comments during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington on Tuesday, following reports that the U.S. had relocated Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) batteries due to the Iran war.

“We’ve not moved any THAAD systems, so THAAD still remains on the peninsula currently,” he said 

U.S. forces shipped THAAD munitions to the