To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to an online
browser that
supports HTML5
video
The USA is preparing a ground invasion of Iran as 1000’s of American soldiers and Marines arrive within the region.
The Pentagon is drawing up plans for weeks of troops on the bottom in Iran, the Washington Post reported.
Anonymous officials said operations would fall in need of a full-scale invasion but involve raids by special forces and traditional troops.
Donald Trump is yet to approve any plans, but he has previously called a ground invasion a ‘waste of time’.
The President told reporters within the Oval Office last week: ‘I’m not putting troops anywhere. If I were, I actually wouldn’t let you know, but I’m not putting troops.’
Despite this, an extra 3,500 American troops have arrived within the Middle East.
The sailors and marines sailed into the region as a part of a unit led by the warship USS Tripoli, which also includes assault and transport assets.
Iran’s speaker reacted to reports of a ground invasion by saying the regime was able to fight them off.
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said: ‘[The armed forces]… are waiting for the arrival of American troops on the bottom to set them on fire and punish their regional partners without end.’
He added: ‘Our firing continues. Our missiles are in place. Our determination and faith have increased.’
These threats got here after Iran warned it should hit US and Israeli universities within the Middle East in revenge for attacks against its own institutions.
They gave Washington a midday Monday deadline to sentence strikes on the University of Science and Technology in Tehran.
It has been heavily speculated that US troops might seize Kharg Island within the Persian Gulf, which handles roughly 90 percent of Iran’s crude oil exports.
The five-mile long island is around a 3rd of the dimensions of Manhattan in Latest York, and has been described by US officials because the ‘nexus for all of the Iranian oil supply.’
Any ground operation in Iran would face considerable public backlash.
One poll, conducted jointly by the Associated Press and the National Opinion Research Center on the University of Chicago, found that 62 percent of respondents strongly oppose using ground troops in Iran.
Only 12 percent were in favour.
A staunch support of the President in Congress, Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wisconsin), told reporters on Thursday he has been ‘100% crystal clear from the start’ that he opposed boots on the bottom.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said: ‘It’s the job of the Pentagon to make preparations as a way to give the Commander in Chief maximum optionality. It doesn’t mean the President has made a choice.’
Get in contact with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
MORE: ‘No Kings’ anti-Trump protesters clash with MAGA supporters
MORE: British prisoner in UAE jail over air strike pictures ‘beaten by police in cell’
MORE: Who’re the Houthis? Yemen’s rebels joining war against the US within the Middle East