Donald Trump will not rule out putting troops on the ground in Iran while warning that the next ‘big wave’ of strikes is impending.
The President said on Monday that he would allow for US service members to enter Iran ‘if they were necessary.’
‘I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground – like every president says, “There will be no boots on the ground.” I don’t say it,’ he told the New York Post.
‘I say “probably don’t need them,” [or] “if they were necessary.”‘
Trump also struck a defiant tone about the possible political consequences of such an action, telling the outlet ‘I don’t care about polling.’
‘Look, whether polling is low or not, I think the polling is probably fine. But it’s not a question of polling. You cannot let Iran, who’s a nation that has been run by crazy people, have a nuclear weapon,’ the President explained.
In a separate interview, Trump alluded to major forthcoming action in Iran.
‘We haven’t even started hitting them hard,’ the President told CNN. ‘The big wave hasn’t even happened. The big one is coming soon.’
The President did not expand on what the ‘big wave’ could entail or whether it would explicitly include sending US ground forces into Iran.
The joint US and Israeli offensive, titled Operation Epic Fury, has resulted in the death of Iran’s longtime leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and scores of top Iranian officials.
At least four US service members have been killed since early Saturday and 18 were injured.
The President and his Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, have warned that more casualties are anticipated as a consequence of war.
So far, the operation has utilized US air support to bomb Iranian military targets. Should the President send troops into Iran, it would represent the first major troop deployment abroad since the US withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021.
Hegseth also left the door open to sending US ground forces into Iran during a Pentagon press conference on Monday.
When pressed about whether there are currently troops in Iran, Hegseth responded: ‘No, but we’re not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do.’
‘I think it’s one of those fallacies for a long time that this department or presidents or others should tell the American enemies, by the way, here’s exactly what, here’s exactly how long we’ll go, here’s exactly how far we’ll go, here’s what we’re willing to do and not do – it’s foolishness,’ he added.
If Trump does instruct US forces to invade Iran, it would likely prove broadly unpopular.
Just 27 percent of Americans approved of the strikes on Iran, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted Saturday and Sunday.
Close to half of respondents, 43 percent, disapproved of the strikes, while 29 percent said they were not sure.
General Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, noted on Monday that air superiority has been achieved over Iran.
Strikes by American forces ‘resulted in the establishment of local air superiority. This air superiority will not only enhance the protection of our forces, but also allow them to continue the work over Iran,’ Caine said.
Controlling the skies over Iran would provide significant protection for any potential ground operation within the country.
Trump told the Daily Mail in an exclusive interview on Sunday that the offensive could last weeks.
‘It’s always been a four-week process,’ he told the Daily Mail. ‘We figured it will be four weeks or so.’
In later interviews, the president extended that horizon to a potential five-week offensive.
Still, some current and former US military officials have concerns about what comes next in the operation.
Iran has launched massive missile and drone salvos at American military bases within the region, including in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Israel and Kuwait.
US air defense systems have been used to shoot down the Iranian retaliation strikes, though officials reportedly are concerned that American-made anti-missile and anti-drone systems may soon run out of ammo.
