The United States Department of Defense is preparing for “weeks” of ground operations in Iran, within the framework of Operation ‘Epic Fury’ against the Islamic Republic, US officials reported this Saturday.
Pentagon sources have detailed to the newspaper that any possible ground operation “would not amount to a full-scale invasion,” but would instead consist of “joint raids” by special forces and infantry troops.
Likewise, the US Government has held talks over the last month about a possible seizure of Jark Island, one of Iran’s oil epicenters. Donald Trump’s Administration would also have considered carrying out raids on “nearby coastal areas to “destroy weapons capable of attacking commercial and military searches.”
This information comes one month after the offensive launched by the United States and Israel against Iran, which for the moment is limited to bombings from the air. However, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt assured on March 10 that the president Trump “does not rule out options” in the war against Iran, including the deployment of troops to the Persian country.
In this sense, the United States Government confirmed on Wednesday that it has deployed elements of an airborne division and a combat brigade to the Middle East. North American media have published that this movement could involve between 1,000 and 2,000 soldiers.
“A matter of weeks”
This Friday, the Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubiopointed out this Friday that the military operation in Iran will end in and urged the rest of the countries “to get more involved” so that navigation in the Strait of Hormuz “is safe.”
“We can’t leave them [a los dirigentes de Irán] to build a nuclear weapon to threaten the world. As the War Department has already said, we are ahead of schedule in our plan and we will finish it at the right time, a matter of weeks, no more,” Rubio assured the press at the end of the G7 meeting held in Paris.
Rubio conveyed a message of optimism about the end of the conflict, but the arrival of tens of thousands of soldiers to the Persian Gulf seems to indicate the opposite. “We have objectives, we are very happy to be close to achieving them and very soon,” he stressed, without giving details.
Possible peace negotiations with Iran
For his part, the United States special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoffstated this Friday that meetings will be held with Iran “this week.” “We think there will be meetings this week. We certainly hope so. Some ships are passing. That’s a very good sign. And,” Witkoff declared at the FII Priority forum, organized by Saudi investors in Miami.
The US president’s envoy has not indicated who would participate or where these meetings with Iran would take place. “Some people have denied that we are negotiating. I think everyone in this place knows that we are negotiating. It is clear that some ships are passing. We may have a different definition of negotiating than they do,” Witkoff added.
