President Trump asserted on Thursday that he had no plans to commit ground forces to the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran, even though he has acknowledged he is contemplating moves that could drag the military into land combat operations.
Mr. Trump’s comments still left some room for him to reverse course.
“I’m not putting troops anywhere,″ Mr. Trump told a reporter who asked about using ground troops. “If I were, I certainly wouldn’t tell you.”
The president has spent several days alternating between threats to escalate strikes on Iran — which at times he has insisted are an “operation” or an “excursion” instead of a war — and promising that the hostilities are on the brink of completion.
His latest comments come just two days after Mr. Trump said that he was “not afraid” to put U.S. boots on the ground.
They also come amid revelations that the Pentagon has asked for $200 billion to pay for its war operations against Iran, a sum that is expected to encounter resistance on Capitol Hill.
The fighting has been steadily escalating since the United States and Israel first struck Iran three weeks ago. Overnight Israel and Iran exchanged a series of strikes on key energy infrastructure sites. Israel struck Iran’s the processing complex for the South Pars natural gas field, and Qatar blamed Iran for missiles that damaged Ras Laffan International City, a major energy hub.
Those strikes shocked global markets, sending oil prices soaring before falling later in the day. The turmoil may have prompted Mr. Trump to speak in calmer tones when challenged about the negative economic impact the war was having.
He said on Thursday that while he hated to attack Iran, he felt it was necessary, even though oil prices would rise and the economy might “go down a little bit.”
“I thought there was a chance it could be much worse,” he said. “It’s not bad, and it will be over with pretty soon.” He provided no further explanation.
Despite Mr. Trump’s efforts at reassurance, the administration was sending signals that it was bearing down for a longer fight. It was not immediately clear what operations the $200 billion the Pentagon was seeking would pay for, but even at the steep price tag of recent operations — the first six days alone cost more than $11.3 billion, officials recently told lawmakers — that sum could most likely sustain operations for months.
The United States is currently weighing whether to attempt a takeover of Kharg Island, where Iran loads most of the oil it produces onto tankers. The United States struck what it described as several military sites on Kharg Island over the weekend, though Mr. Trump has repeatedly pointed out they left the oil infrastructure alone. On Wednesday, however, he also threatened that the United States could destroy Iran’s oil infrastructure or its electrical grid.
The United States is also deciding whether to attempt to seize the underground nuclear site at Isfahan, where Iran stores most of its 970 pounds of near-bomb-grade nuclear fuel. Either operation would likely require ground troops.
Last week, the United States began moving 2,500 Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit from the Indo-Pacific region to the Middle East, adding to approximately 50,000 U.S. troops already in the region. The selection of that unit, which has expertise in conducting ground operations buttressed by sea and air support, suggests that the United States might be planning raids into Iran, potentially against the islands from which Iran has been launching fast boats capable of mining the Strait of Hormuz.
Karoun Demirjian is a breaking news reporter for The Times.
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