President Donald Trump is reportedly weighing whether to expand the war effort against Iran to ground troop deployments as the situation on the ground intensifies.
Reuters reported that administration officials are discussing options that could involve U.S. troops deployed on Iran’s shoreline, Kharg Island, or other sites tied to the regime’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
This does not necessarily mean a full-on ground invasion is imminent. But it suggests the White House is considering such a possibility as it weighs whether to go beyond air and naval strikes against the Iranian regime.
The deployments could help provide Trump with additional options as he weighs expanding U.S. operations, with the Iran war well into its third week.
Those options include securing safe passage for oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, a mission that would be accomplished primarily through air and naval forces, the sources said. But securing the Strait could also mean deploying U.S. troops to Iran's shoreline, said four sources, including two U.S. officials.
Reuters granted the sources anonymity to speak about military planning.
The Trump administration has also discussed options to send ground forces to Iran's Kharg Island, the hub for 90% of Iran's oil exports, the three people familiar with the matter and three U.S. officials said. One of the officials said such an operation would be very risky. Iran has the ability to reach the island with missiles and drones.
Pete Hegseth says the US will use ground forces in Iran if necessary, “we’ll go as far as we need.”
— SilencedSirs◼️ (@SilentlySirs) March 3, 2026
Treacherous mountain terrian, four times the size of Afghanistan, with a far larger and more sophisticated decentralized fighting force.
Send the politician’s kids to fight. pic.twitter.com/ENNQrn0lHC
The United States carried out strikes against military targets on the island on March 13 and Trump has threatened to also strike its critical oil infrastructure. However, given its vital role in Iran's economy, controlling the island would likely be viewed as a better option than destroying it, military experts say.
Kharg Island, in particular, might be an important target given that it handles about 90 percent of Iran’s oil exports.
Experts have warned that using ground troops to secure Iran’s enriched uranium could be quite dangerous because the sites are dispersed across the country and heavily guarded.
Earlier this month, the White House indicated that ground troops were not part of the overall plan against Tehran, but stopped short of taking this option off the table.
Hegseth says the President hasn't ruled out boots on the ground to avoid alerting the enemy to the US' limitations.
— AF Post (@AFpost) March 9, 2026
Internal sources have confirmed that the US military plans to deploy soldiers to Iran at some point, though the scope is unclear.
Follow: @AFpost pic.twitter.com/PEu5MBZQaz
The U.S. launched airstrikes on military targets on Kharg Island earlier this week. President Trump signaled that there is still more combat ahead to fully eliminate Iran as a nuclear threat. The bombing campaign struck over 1,000 targets just in the first 24 hours of the campaign.
Meanwhile, Trump is locked in a war of words with U.S. allies after they refused to answer his call to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz to stop Iran from shutting down traffic through the area. Several allied nations, including Germany, Spain, and Italy, rebuffed Trump’s demands, saying they had no plans to send naval vessels to the region.
During a press conference, Trump said some nations “are very enthusiastic” about helping, but others are not. “Some are countries that we’ve helped for many, many years. We’ve protected them from horrible outside sources, and they weren’t that enthusiastic,” he continued. “And the level of enthusiasm matters to me.”