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Report: Trump leaning toward expanding military campaign against Iran, with Pickaxe bombing in the cards

On July 15, 2026, The Times of Israel published a liveblog item, Report: Trump leaning toward expanding military campaign against Iran, with Pickaxe bombing in the cards. The item has no byline. It says the Wall Street Journal reported that President Donald Trump was leaning toward a wider US military campaign, and that one option discussed was deploying ground troops near the Strait of Hormuz. The Strait of Hormuz is the narrow sea passage beside Iran that oil tankers use. An American family should care because ground troops means American service members on land, not only ships and aircraft. The same item says he had not decided.

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 rated claim is that deploying American ground troops to seize Iranian territory near the Strait of Hormuz was among the options discussed in the Situation Room, as The Times of Israel reported from the Wall Street Journal. This page could not read the Journal story the item cites; the link did not return the article.

What the article says​

The Times of Israel wrote on July 15, 2026, that Trump was leaning toward further expanding US military operations in Iran after meeting top aides in the Situation Room the night before. It attributed that report to the Wall Street Journal.

The item then said:

Options discussed include intensified airstrikes, deploying ground troops to seize Iranian near the Strait of Hormuz or bombing the Pickaxe mountain nuclear site, WSJ reports.

The Times of Israel, July 15, 2026, citing the Wall Street Journal. The sentence, as published, drops a word after "Iranian." Quote it as printed. Do not fill in a place name the item does not give. The other options it names are heavier airstrikes, and bombing a site it calls the Pickaxe mountain nuclear site.

The item says Trump had not made a final decision. It says some US officials told the Journal that he was reluctant to deploy ground troops after walking back earlier threats to seize Kharg Island.

What other reporting adds​

Eight days later, the president on Israeli TV. A New York Post story by Caitlin Doornbos, dated 23 July and pasted on X, says Trump told Israel's Channel 12: "I am considering a massive attack." The same paste names four American soldiers killed that month by Iranian fire, three at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan and one in Iraq, and quotes the Pentagon's count of "roughly 50,000 American troops stationed across the region." (@P_F_Lherisson_ on X; research capture: twitter/t49__v580.md).

The Pickaxe option, spelled out. On 25 July 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." Former National Security Council official Richard Goldberg told the Post: "more likely, if you had to do a special operations mission inside Pickaxe Mountain the reason you would do that is you don't think you can collapse the facility by airstrike." (as pasted by @OwenGregorian on X; research capture: twitter/t52__v613.md). So the two Pickaxe options in this article, bombing it or sending troops, are linked: troops become the fallback if bombs cannot collapse the mountain.

What it shows​

Four and a half months after "no boots on the ground," the options on the Situation Room table included ground troops seizing Iranian territory near the Strait of Hormuz. The reluctance officials described came after earlier threats to seize Kharg Island, so the ground option kept coming back each time the bombing fell short. Eight days later Trump told Israel's Channel 12 he was "considering a massive attack," and the New York Post laid out a uranium raid by "thousands of ground troops," with about 50,000 American troops already in the region. The Pickaxe options show the ladder plainly: if bombs cannot collapse the mountain, soldiers go in (see Air War Is Not Enough and Kharg Island and the Uranium Raid).

Check it yourself​

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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