The US Pentagon is making preparations for weeks of ground operations in Iran, the Washington Post reported yesterday, Saturday, citing sources in the US government whom it did not name, at a time when Washington has begun to build up its ground forces in the Middle East.
These operations are not planned to be a large-scale ground invasion of Iran, at least according to the newspaper’s sources, but rather assaults on Iranian territory by members of the special forces and other, conventional units.
This information comes as US forces in the Middle East have been bolstered by the arrival in the region of the USS Tripoli, announced yesterday by the US military.
The helicopter carrier-submarine (capable of carrying twenty F-35s, capable of vertical dismounts) and landing craft has been put in charge of a strike group with “about 3.500” Navy and Marine Corps men, according to the U.S. Joint Command of the U.S. Armed Forces responsible for the Middle East region (CENTCOM, “Central Command”).
The arrival of this vessel in CENTCOM’s area of responsibility was announced against the backdrop of US diplomatic chief Marco Rubio’s statement the day before yesterday, Friday, that the US may have achieved its war objectives in Iran within a few “weeks” and without the need to deploy ground units on the ground.
However, US President Donald Trump has for weeks been maintaining a boastful stance on the possibility of ordering ground operations, and US media have reported in recent days that the possibility of sending at least 10 more in the near future is being considered.000 troops to the Middle East in the near future.
