WASHINGTON/UNITED NATIONS/TEHERAN – US President Donald Trump has privately expressed serious interest in deploying US ground forces into Iran, NBC News reported on Friday, citing multiple sources.
Trump has discussed the idea of deploying ground troops with aides and Republican officials outside the White House, focusing on a small contingent of troops for specific strategic missions rather than a large-scale invasion, said the report.
The report cited two US officials — a former US official and a person with knowledge of the discussions. However, no decision has been made.
Trump has also outlined a vision for a post-war Iran in which its uranium would be secured and a new Iranian government would cooperate with the United States on oil production, similar to the current US-Venezuela arrangement that allows Washington to benefit from Venezuela’s oil output, the sources were quoted as saying in the report.
“This story is based on assumptions from anonymous sources who are not part of the President’s national security team and are clearly not read into these discussions,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
“President Trump always wisely keeps all options open, but anyone trying to insinuate he is in favor of one option or another proves they have no real seat at the table,” Leavitt said in a statement.
Trump told the New York Post earlier this week that while other presidents have ruled out boots on the ground, “I say ‘probably don’t need them,’ (or) ‘if they were necessary.'”
The US forces have struck over 3,000 targets inside Iran since operations began on Feb 28, with 43 Iranian ships damaged or destroyed, U.S. Central Command said Friday in a post on X.
The United States and Israel launched massive attacks on Iran on Feb 28, killing Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, multiple senior military commanders and hundreds of civilians. Iran has responded with multiple waves of missile and drone attacks targeting Israel and U.S. assets across the region.
Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi told NBC News on Thursday that his country is not requesting a ceasefire and does not see any reason to negotiate with Washington.
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Also on Friday, Trump said the United States will accept no agreement with Iran short of “unconditional surrender,” one day after Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said Iran is not requesting a ceasefire and does not see any reason to negotiate with Washington.
“There will be no deal with Iran except unconditional surrender,” Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social.
Trump said that after such a surrender and the selection of a “great and acceptable leader,” the United States and its allies would help rebuild Iran’s economy.
On Thursday, Araghchi told NBC News, “We are not asking for a ceasefire, and we don’t see any reason why we should negotiate with the United States when we negotiated with them twice, and every time, they attacked us in the middle of the negotiations.”
The US-Israel massive attacks on Iran entered the seventh day and are escalating. US-Israeli strikes on Tehran and several other Iranian cities started Saturday morning, leading to the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, some of his family members, top military commanders and civilians.
Iran responded with several waves of missile and drone attacks targeting Israeli and US assets across the region.
‘US-friendly Iranian leader’
Trump said the White House is seeking a new Iranian leader who can “treat the United States and Israel well” and he is not concerned whether the Middle Eastern country becomes a democracy.
Asked in a phone call with CNN whether Iran needs to be a democracy, Trump said: “No, I’m saying there has to be a leader that’s going to be fair and just.”
Trump also said he is open to having a religious leader in Iran.
1,332 Iranians killed
At least 1,332 Iranian civilians, including women and children, have been killed in US-Israeli airstrikes and thousands more injured, Iran’s UN ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani said on Friday.
Over 180 children across the country have been killed and more than 20 schools have been damaged, Iravani told reporters at the UN headquarters in New York, quoting the Iranian Red Crescent Society.
The United States and Israel have deliberately targeted civilians and civilian infrastructure across Iran, demonstrating that they recognize “no red line in committing their crimes,” he said.
International waters
Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi has condemned the United States for targeting Iran’s IRIS Dena frigate without any warning in international waters 2,000 miles off the Iranian coasts.
The minister made the remarks during phone calls with his Indian and Sri Lankan counterparts over the ongoing US and Israeli “aggression” against Iran, according to a Foreign Ministry statement on Friday.
‘Civilians are facing consequences’
UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher on Friday warned that civilians are facing consequences across the Middle East amid rapidly escalating crises.
“We’re seeing these crises escalate rapidly with consequences that are out of control for those instigating the conflict,” Fletcher told a daily press briefing.
He said that homes, hospitals and schools are being hit, noting that the UN Refugee Agency reported hundreds of thousands of people displaced and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) found over 190 children have been killed since the escalation, including more than 180 in Iran, seven in Lebanon, three in Israel and one in Kuwait.
Putin, Pezeshkian phone call
Russian President Vladimir Putin held a phone conversation with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday, urging an immediate end to hostilities in the Middle East, the Kremlin said.
During the phone call, Putin expressed condolences over the killing of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, members of his family, representatives of the country’s military and political leadership, as well as the numerous civilian casualties as a result of the U.S.-Israeli armed aggression against Iran.