Iran said on Sunday it is ready to confront United States troops on the ground, accusing Washington of secretly preparing an assault even as it pursues negotiation with Tehran to end the month-long war.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, one of the most senior surviving civilian figures in the country, said the enemy “openly sends messages of negotiation and dialogue and secretly plans a ground attack,” adding that Iranian forces were “waiting for the arrival of American soldiers on the ground to set fire to them and punish their regional partners forever. Our firing continues. Our missiles are in place. Our determination and faith have increased.”
His warning came after The Washington Post reported that the Pentagon is preparing for weeks of limited ground operations in Iran. If President Donald Trump approves the plans, such an effort would mark a new and significantly more dangerous phase of the war for US troops than the first four weeks of air strikes.
The build-up on the ground is accelerating. The USS Tripoli carrying 3,500 US Marines has arrived in the Middle East, alongside ships, vehicles, fighter jets, and amphibious assault equipment. A second similarly sized Marine unit is en route, backed by paratroopers from the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, adding to the more than 50,000 US service members already deployed across the region.
Speculation is mounting that US forces could be ordered to seize Kharg Island, Iran’s main oil terminal in the Persian Gulf that accounts for approximately 90 percent of Tehran’s crude oil exports, or to raid coastal positions to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has effectively blocked since the start of the conflict in late February, causing an acute global energy supply shock.
Trump has repeatedly stated he is not deploying ground troops, though he has qualified his remarks by saying he would not publicly announce such a decision if he made one. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday that the US could achieve its objectives in Iran without a ground operation, even as thousands more troops continue to flow into the region.
On the battlefield, US and Israeli strikes bombed the port city of Bandar Khamir in southern Iran on Sunday, killing at least five people. The Israeli military said it is days away from striking all targets it classifies as top priority inside Iran, while Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he has ordered an expansion of ground operations.
On the diplomatic front, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar announced that Islamabad is prepared to host talks between the US and Iran in the coming days, following a four-way meeting in Islamabad involving the foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and Pakistan. Separately, Iran agreed to allow 20 Pakistan-flagged ships, two per day, to pass through the Strait of Hormuz under an arrangement brokered by Islamabad.
Oil prices climbed sharply on Sunday following Tehran’s ground invasion warnings, with Brent crude rising 2.47 percent to $107.92 per barrel.
