US President Donald Trump has rejected a New York Times report that American officials are preparing a military plan to deploy up to 120,000 troops to the Middle East to counter any threat by Iran.

"I think it's fake news, OK? Now, would I do that? Absolutely. But we have not planned for that. Hopefully we're not going to have to plan for that. And if we did that, we'd send a hell of a lot more troops than that," Trump told reporters at the White House on Tuesday.

The New York Times reported on Monday that Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan put forward -- a plan— which he had updated on National Security Advisor John Bolton’s orders — last week in a meeting of top national security officials that envisions deploying some 120,000 American troops to the Middle East region “should Iran attack American forces or accelerate work on nuclear weapons.”

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also declined to comment on the New York Times story.