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US strikes on Iran prepare ground for more intensive operations, officials say

The Times of Israel published this on 15 July 2026, crediting Reuters and its own staff. The headline is US strikes on Iran prepare ground for more intensive operations, officials say. Three unnamed US officials told Reuters that July strikes on Iranian defenses were also preparation, in case President Donald Trump later ordered heavier operations. The article recalls March planning for options to put American troops on Iran's shoreline, and it says officials had discussed sending ground forces to Kharg Island, the island it calls the hub for 90 percent of Iran's oil exports. An American family should care because "options" for shoreline troops are a plan for putting American soldiers on Iranian land.

Background for new readers: On 28 February 2026 the United States and Israel began a joint air war on Iran. The Pentagon calls its part Operation Epic Fury; Israel calls its part Operation Roaring Lion. It came eight months after a shorter war in June 2025, when US bombers hit Iran's nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. The question running through this section is whether the air war turns into American soldiers fighting on Iranian soil. This article is filed under Air War Is Not Enough; the full article index lists every article on this shelf.

Evidence rating: MODERATE. The ground-troop claim is planning and discussion, reported by three unnamed US officials through Reuters and carried by The Times of Israel. The Pentagon did not immediately comment. Trump's own words, quoted from Fox News, keep the taking of Kharg Island on the table.

What the article says​

The article says the war was in its fifth month. A memorandum of understanding, a written deal meant to stop the fighting and lead to a peace agreement, had fallen apart. Israel had no part in negotiating that deal, the article says, and Israeli officials criticized it for failing to lock in a concrete concession on Iran's nuclear program. Despite months of US and Israeli strikes, the article says Iran still had drones and missiles, and had attacked tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, the sea lane it later calls a chokepoint for about a fifth of the world's crude oil, and had attacked its Gulf neighbors.

Three US officials, names withheld, said the latest strikes were also hitting air defenses, coastal radar, missile and drone sites, and small boats. One official called them shaping operations. That means strikes meant to wear down defenses before a harder mission, if one is ordered. The same official said, "This is helping set the stage, if needed." The article says Trump had told Congress the weekend before that the conflict with Iran had formally resumed. It says he had kept the next step unclear.

The article then turns to ground options. It says Reuters reported in March that the US military was planning options to deploy troops to Iran's shoreline to better secure the strait. It says officials at that time said the administration had also discussed sending ground forces to Kharg Island. It says that kind of operation would be risky, because Iran could hit the island from the mainland with missiles and drones.

Trump, the article says, told Fox News on the Tuesday before publication that he had ordered the military to avoid striking Iran's oil facilities during earlier strikes on Kharg Island. It says he still left open the option of taking the island. "If we degrade them far enough and deep enough back, I would do that," he told Fox News, as the article quotes him on 15 July 2026. Read next to the shoreline paragraph, "that" refers to taking the island.

A fourth official, the article says, said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has been an advocate of escalating the military operation against Iran. A retired Marine officer and a former Pentagon official, both quoted by name in the piece, warn that talking through options in public is not the same as carrying them out. One of them says to separate the noise from the actions.

Reuters in March reported on US military planning to create options to deploy US troops to Iran's shoreline to better secure the strait.

The Times of Israel, citing Reuters, 15 July 2026.

What other reporting adds​

Why "resumed" matters: the war-powers clock. Under the War Powers Resolution, a 1973 law, a president must end hostilities within 60 days (plus up to 30 more for withdrawal) unless Congress authorizes them. The Pentagon's public casualty database split the war into two labels in July. A letter from House Oversight Democrats to Hegseth says four soldiers' deaths were removed from the Iran war count and "Days later, the four deaths reappeared under a new category called 'Overseas Operations'" (Oversight Democrats letter, 4 August 2026; research capture: twitter/t53__v626.md). Representative Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, wrote: "The Pentagon is pretending there have been two Iran wars separated by a brief cease-fire. The reality: By going more than 90 days without congressional authorization @SecWar IS BREAKING THE LAW and must be held accountable." (as quoted by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 27 July 2026; research capture: twitter/t53__v626.md). The House voted 214-208 on 23 July to direct US forces out of hostilities with Iran, according to GlobalSecurity.org's running war summary; the Senate did not follow (research capture: twitter/t52__v617.md).

The ground plan behind the "shaping." Ten days after this article, the New York Post reported that seizing Iran's uranium "would involve thousands of ground troops storming Iran's nuclear facilities," citing "a source familiar with military planning" (as pasted by @OwenGregorian on X, 25 July 2026; research capture: twitter/t52__v613.md). Two weeks after that, strategist Edward Luttwak complained that Trump "refuses to risk deploying even a small number of troops to the desert islands in the Persian Gulf" (UnHerd on X, 29 July 2026; research capture: twitter/t50__v593.md). Both pieces confirm the ground option was still open at the end of July.

What it shows​

US officials gave the July bombing its own name: "shaping operations," strikes meant to wear down Iran's coastal defenses before harder missions. "This is helping set the stage, if needed." The stage is the one Reuters described in March: American troops on Iran's shoreline and on Kharg Island, which the President said he "would do" once Iran was degraded "far enough and deep enough back." Ten days later the New York Post described a uranium raid by "thousands of ground troops." An air war sold as the alternative to boots on the ground was, in the officials' own words, preparing the ground for them, while the Pentagon's casualty labels and the "resumed" war reset the War Powers clock (see Air War Is Not Enough and The Hidden Toll).

Check it yourself​

Status: Donald Trump is alive. Pete Hegseth is alive.

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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