War in the Middle East: US preparing for ground operations in Iran, according to American press.

The Pentagon is gearing up for weeks-long operations on the ground in Iran, the Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing American officials, as the United States bolsters its posture in the Middle East. On the other side, the President of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, stated on Sunday that the United States was planning a ground offensive. “The enemy publicly sends messages of negotiation and dialogue while secretly planning a ground offensive,” Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said in a statement relayed by the official Irna news agency.

Such operations would not lead to a large-scale invasion of Iran, American officials emphasized anonymously in the American press, but would involve raids on Iranian territory by both special forces and other soldiers. According to the Washington Post, it was unclear on Saturday whether Donald Trump planned to approve all, some, or none of the Pentagon’s plans.

When asked by the media, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt stated, “It is up to the Pentagon to make the necessary arrangements to provide the commander in chief with maximum options. However, this does not mean that the president has made a decision.”

“We are managing the situation, we will soon be leaving the scene”

The news from the capital’s newspaper comes at a time when the US posture in the Middle East is being reinforced by the arrival of the amphibious assault ship Tripoli in the area, announced on Saturday by the American military. This helicopter carrier leads a naval group that includes “some 3,500” sailors and Marines, according to the US CENTCOM command.

The announcement of the ship’s arrival follows statements made by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday, who believed that the US could achieve its goals in Iran without deploying troops on the ground.

This Saturday, Vice President JD Vance stated that the US was “not interested in a presence in Iran for one or two years,” adding that Washington had “achieved most of its military objectives.” “We are managing the situation, we will soon be leaving the scene and the price of gasoline will decrease,” he added.

“I am not deploying troops anywhere. If that were the case, I certainly wouldn’t tell you, but I am not deploying troops,” Donald Trump also said on March 20 from the White House, as reported by the Washington Post. These remarks were made earlier this month.

However, the American president maintains some ambiguity about the potential deployment of troops on the ground, and several media outlets across the Atlantic have reported in recent days that he is considering sending at least 10,000 troops to the Middle East soon.