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Official from mediating country: Trump leaning toward ground invasion, convinced Iran will then capitula
Times of Israel ^ | March 26, 2026 | Jacob Magid

Posted on 03/26/2026 12:25:22 PM PDT by Miami Rebel

An official from one of the countries mediating between the US and Iran tells The Times of Israel that US President Donald Trump appears to be leaning toward ordering a major US ground operation against Iran, with Washington convinced Tehran will buckle under such military pressure.

The official intimately familiar with the mediation efforts says the US privately recognizes that Iran is not likely to agree to the concessions presented in Washington’s 15-point plan and has dispatched thousands of troops to the region in order to capture Tehran’s Kharg Island on Trump’s orders.

A second official from a mediating country warns that while the US may be able to capture the island, holding onto it for an extended period of time will require many more soldiers and an extended period of fighting — far beyond the four-to-six week window that Washington has told the public that the war would last. While Saturday will be the four-week mark, the US still claims to be well ahead of schedule.

Both officials from mediating countries say that the Islamic Republic is not likely to capitulate, regardless of whether a ground operation moves ahead.

They insist that Iran will now agree to terms that it wasn’t willing to accept before the US launched the war.

Trump on Monday announced that he was delaying until Friday his deadline for Iran to agree to his 15-point proposal for ending the war or face a bombing campaign against its power plants.

Thousands of additional US Marine troops are slated to arrive in the region around that new deadline.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: iran; nationbuilding; no
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To: Miami Rebel

I’m betting on a night invasion of Kharg Island this Friday.


41 posted on 03/26/2026 1:40:35 PM PDT by Nateman (Democrats did not strive for fraud friendly voting merely to continue honest elections.)
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Not even Trump is immune to sunk cost fallacies.


42 posted on 03/26/2026 1:40:44 PM PDT by proust (All posts made under this handle are, for the intents and purposes of the author, considered satire.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Netanyahu is a Prime Minister.

Israel is a parliamentary republic with a president as the head of state.
The president’s powers are largely ceremonial.

The prime minister holds the executive power. The current prime minister is
Benjamin Netanyahu of Likud, the ninth person to hold the position (excluding caretakers).


43 posted on 03/26/2026 1:40:53 PM PDT by Liz (Jonathan Swift: Government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slaveryen .)
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To: bigbob

“..the only strategic asset Iran has left is Hormuz. They’re not going to give it up without a fight...”

I suspect they’re in for a fight that’s beyond anything they can imagine. Off to meet the virgins!


44 posted on 03/26/2026 1:42:40 PM PDT by Magic Fingers (Political correctness mutates in order to remain virulent.)
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To: Liz

It’s a de facto title.


45 posted on 03/26/2026 1:56:45 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum (Democracy dies with Democrats.)
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To: Miami Rebel

Who’s going to tell Nancy Mace?
She will ‘explode’!


46 posted on 03/26/2026 1:57:16 PM PDT by lee martell
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To: OrangeHoof
I don't think any conflict was won by strategic bombing alone.

I don't want "boots on the ground" unless they are Iranian boots. If they are
too lazy to fight for their own country, why should Americans die for them?

47 posted on 03/26/2026 1:57:40 PM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie ( O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is gracious, and his mercy endures forever. — Psalm 106)
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To: OrangeHoof
I don't think any conflict was won by strategic bombing alone.

I don't want "boots on the ground" unless they are Iranian boots. If they are
too lazy to fight for their own country, why should Americans die for them?

48 posted on 03/26/2026 1:57:41 PM PDT by Governor Dinwiddie ( O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is gracious, and his mercy endures forever. — Psalm 106)
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To: Miami Rebel

Delusional


49 posted on 03/26/2026 2:05:57 PM PDT by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: Bruce Campbells Chin

We have to take something that is a big asset...and not just “ground”....so it looks like the Island....with all that oil sitting right there...


50 posted on 03/26/2026 2:14:29 PM PDT by Sacajaweau
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To: Miami Rebel

The only way something like this could work is if the Gulf States and Saudi comprised most of the ground forces. Otherwise, it’s a complete non-starter.


51 posted on 03/26/2026 2:18:06 PM PDT by Antoninus (Republicans are all honorable men.)
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To: Skwor

“more often than not they are a good bit off base “

Like which article, for example?


52 posted on 03/26/2026 2:22:37 PM PDT by Wayne07
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To: Liz

“Looks like Israel greatly misled Trump.”

How dumb and gullible do you think Trump is? Do you think maybe he is just paid off?


53 posted on 03/26/2026 2:24:08 PM PDT by Wayne07
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To: Miami Rebel

Let the Iranians fight their own revolution. Just give them the weapons to do it.


54 posted on 03/26/2026 2:25:50 PM PDT by Revel
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To: Miami Rebel

Kharg island oil export port— yes, necessary.
A few tiny little islands near, helping control free traffic via Strait of Hormuz — yes.
Mainland Iran— no (brief expeditionary raids to remove nuclear boom boom shirt, excepted if necessary)

No Iraq. No Afghanistan. These countries are simply too savage and primitive


55 posted on 03/26/2026 2:32:26 PM PDT by faithhopecharity ("Politicians aren't born, they're excreted." Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 to 43 BCE))
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To: Miami Rebel

Time to establish beach heads and allow Israeli, Saudi, and other countries to send in kill teams to destroy anyone who will shut of Strait of Hormuz for a 200 mile radius of the shipping lanes. Once, doing anything to impede world oil trade is understood as a death or suicide decision, things will change.


56 posted on 03/26/2026 2:48:16 PM PDT by Robert357
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To: rexthecat

Way more than can be provided, the numbers needed would require time and congressional authorization for an action so politically unpopular that congress would almost certainly not authorize it

And the civil pushback would likely get spicy as well


57 posted on 03/26/2026 2:49:52 PM PDT by Manuel OKelley
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To: Liz

Because they could


58 posted on 03/26/2026 2:50:24 PM PDT by Manuel OKelley
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To: Miami Rebel

I’m not for this but since we are doing it we should go all the way. Destroy all powerplants, and substations. Destroy all (9) refineries. Seize Kharg terminal and take what’s there. Wait for societal collapse while arming resistance and let them take their country.
Yeah I hate armchair Generals too but our troops on the ground is the last thing I want to see.


59 posted on 03/26/2026 4:46:59 PM PDT by 03A3 (If we can defund the police, we sure as hell can defund the FBI)
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To: 03A3

Agree but we might have to put troops on the ground in order to had out arms.

Another possibility is route arms through Iraq Kurdistan. A very iffy and delicate thing to do that. Greater Iraq might not like further arming of the Kurds because that will be what it looks like (Of course the Kurds will siphon off money and arms as part of “the deal”!) Greater Iran might not like it because part of Iran is “true Kurdistan”.


60 posted on 03/26/2026 5:03:19 PM PDT by Reily
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