← Pentagon Ground Plans 2026

"טראמפ שוקל לשלוח עוד אלפי חיילים": אלו האופציות הקרקעיות שלו באיראן — "Trump is considering sending thousands more soldiers": these are his ground options in Iran

On 19 March 2026, Ynet, a major Israeli news site, published "טראמפ שוקל לשלוח עוד אלפי חיילים": אלו האופציות הקרקעיות שלו באיראן. The page credits Reuters. The article says the Trump administration was discussing ground options in the Iran war, including Kharg Island, Iran's own coast, and a guard force for Iran's enriched uranium. Enriched uranium is uranium processed for a nuclear program. An American family should care because those options would put US soldiers on Iranian territory. The same page says no decision had been made, and that ground forces had not entered Iran as of this story.

Background for a new reader. The United States and Israel began bombing Iran on 28 February 2026; Washington calls its part Operation Epic Fury. Through March the argument in Washington was whether to add ground troops, meaning American soldiers physically inside Iran, to what had been an air and sea war. Israeli outlets, writing in Hebrew, Russian, Spanish, French and English, followed that argument closely and often passed on American reports to their readers. This page is one of those reports.

Evidence rating: MODERATE. This rates the claim that officials were discussing sending American ground forces onto Iranian territory. Ynet is relaying what American officials told Reuters. A White House official on this page said no decision to send ground forces had been made, and the article notes that, as of 19 March, ground forces had not entered Iran.

What the article says

American officials told Reuters that the administration was considering sending thousands more soldiers to the Middle East as the war neared three weeks, and as the US military prepared for a next stage. The article says Trump was considering widening the war and was not ruling out ground action. More troops would give him more military choices.

The options it describes are not all ground options. Escorting oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow sea passage out of the Persian Gulf, would be done mostly by naval and air forces. The article says that job might also require placing American soldiers on Iran's coast.

ממשל טראמפ גם דן באפשרות לשלוח כוחות קרקעיים לאי חארג במפרץ הפרסי – שדרכו עוברים 90% מהנפט שאיראן מייצאת.

Ynet, 19 March 2026, in a Reuters report.

One of the people who spoke to Reuters said sending ground forces to Kharg would be very dangerous, because Iran can hit the island with missiles and drones. The article says the United States struck military targets on Kharg on 13 March, and that Trump also threatened its critical oil infrastructure. It says military experts believe that, given Kharg's role in Iran's economy, taking the island would probably be preferable to destroying it.

The article says any American use of ground forces, even for a limited mission, could be a serious political risk for Trump, because of wide American public opposition to a war with Iran. It notes that US midterm elections come later in the year.

Officials in the administration had also discussed sending American forces into Iran to guard its enriched-uranium stocks. The sources did not believe a deployment inside Iran was close, and they would not discuss the details of US military planning. Experts told the news agency that guarding that stock would be extremely complex and dangerous, even for US special operations forces.

A White House official said that at this stage no decision had been made to send ground forces, but that Trump wisely keeps every option. The official added that the president was focused on stated goals of the operation: destroying Iran's ballistic-missile capability, eliminating its navy, keeping what the official called its terrorist proxies from destabilizing the region, and making sure Iran can never hold a nuclear weapon.

The article says that so far, without ground forces having entered Iran, 13 American soldiers had been killed in the war. About 200 more had been wounded. It says the US military said most of those wounds were light.

A senior White House official told Reuters that Trump had several options for taking control of the enriched-uranium stock and had not yet decided how to act. The official said he still had not made a decision.

The people who spoke to Reuters said the reinforcement talks went beyond an amphibious landing group due in the region the next week, with more than 2,000 Marines. One source said the US military was also losing significant forces in the region because the aircraft carrier Ford had been sent to Greece for maintenance after a fire broke out on board.

The article says Trump had lately asked whether the United States should take on opening the strait to ship traffic. After first saying the US Navy could escort ships, he called on other countries to help. Allies were reluctant. He then raised dropping the idea, in a post on his social network, Truth Social. The article quotes him wondering what would happen if the United States finished off what remained of Iran, which he called a terror state, and left the strait to the countries that use it.

What other reporting and posts add

• The reinforcements arrive. The next day, 20 March 2026, FinancialJuice summarized the Wall Street Journal: "The Pentagon is sending three warships and thousands of additional Marines to the Middle East, even as President Trump insists he won't put American boots on the ground in Iran." It says this was "the second massive deployment of Marines in the past week." FinancialJuice on X. (captures: twitter/t50__v599.md, twitter/t50__v592.md)
• What Americans told pollsters that week. Common Dreams, 20 March 2026, reporting a Reuters/Ipsos poll: "just 7% of US voters support the idea of a large-scale ground invasion of Iran," "65% of Americans believe that Trump will order such an operation anyway," "34%" would support "a small number of special forces," and "55% said they would oppose the use of any ground troops." Common Dreams. (capture: twitter/t13__v147.md)
• An Israeli channel's version. Four days earlier, a post citing Israel's Channel 14 said: "The U.S. and Israel are reportedly preparing contingency plans for a possible ground invasion of Iran, according to Israeli broadcaster Channel 14," and that about 2,200 troops of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, normally based in Japan, had deployed to the Middle East. The Channel 14 item itself was not opened. Post. (capture: twitter/t13__v152.md)

What it shows

Ynet laid out for Israeli readers the American ground options on 19 March 2026: thousands more troops, Kharg Island, the coast, the uranium stockpiles. The White House said every option was open. Within three weeks, American special forces had gone onto Iranian soil for the F-15E rescue, and the ground options Ynet listed remained on the table through the year (Americans on Iranian Soil, Kharg Island and the Uranium Raid).

Check it yourself

Ynet, published 19 March 2026: "טראמפ שוקל לשלוח עוד אלפי חיילים": אלו האופציות הקרקעיות שלו באיראן. The published time is in the page metadata. The visible article text credits Reuters.

Related reports opened while writing this page: N12 on 7 March 2026, דיווח: טראמפ הביע עניין בהצבת כוחות קרקעיים באיראן, and N12 on 26 March 2026, הפנטגון וצבא ארה"ב עובדים על "מכת סיום" באיראן. They are other days and other claims about ground options.

Research captures: twitter/t50__v599.md, twitter/t50__v592.md, twitter/t13__v147.md, twitter/t13__v152.md

Last Updated: 2026-09-26