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Iran Prepares for an American Landing

While Washington told Americans that ground troops were "not part of the plan," Iran's government acted as though an American landing was coming. From late March 2026 it texted citizens to volunteer, mined and fortified Kharg Island, drilled its Revolutionary Guard near Tehran against American helicopters and advancing troops, welcomed Iraqi militia fighters to its southern coast, and put a price on the head of every American soldier. Its leaders said, over and over, that they were waiting for American soldiers to arrive so they could kill them.

This page is not Iran's side of an argument. It is a description, from Israeli and Western reporting, of what American sons and daughters would meet if the ground plans on the Pentagon's list were carried out. Iranian numbers below are Iranian claims and are labeled as such; Iranian threats are reported as threats.

Evidence rating: STRONG that Iran mobilized for a US ground operation: the Wall Street Journal, CNN, the Associated Press, and Israel's own press (Israel Hayom, the Times of Israel, Haaretz, NEWSru, Noticias de Israel) reported the recruitment drive, the Kharg defenses, and the drills. The volunteer counts are Iranian claims.

"Waiting for the arrival of the American soldiers"​

On 29 March, the day after the Washington Post reported the Pentagon was preparing weeks of ground operations, Iran's parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a former Revolutionary Guard commander, answered through state media. The Times of Israel, citing Iran's official IRNA agency, quoted him:

"The enemy publicly sends messages of negotiation and dialogue while secretly planning a ground attack."

"Our men are waiting for the arrival of the American soldiers on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional allies once and for all."

(Times of Israel, 29 March 2026.) Israel Hayom headlined it "'Planning a ground invasion in secret'" and set it beside the arrival of "nearly 5,000 Marines and sailors and roughly 2,000 soldiers from the 82nd Airborne Division already deployed in the region" (Israel Hayom, 29 March 2026; article page). Haaretz and the Algemeiner carried the same charge (Haaretz; Algemeiner; article pages a043 and a156).

Iran's military said the same week it was "counting the moments" to destroy US forces if a ground invasion came, and that any occupation would bring "captivity, dismemberment and disappearance" for the aggressor (Wall Street Journal, as quoted in a news digest on X, 30 March 2026). An Iranian ambassador: "Let them come, we are ready. They won't be able to attack us & flee like they do in fighter jets. We welcome them" (as posted by Open Source Intel on X, 31 March 2026).

Janfada: the call-up by text message​

Iran launched a volunteer drive called Janfada, "sacrificing life." The Wall Street Journal reported it "to recruit volunteers to fight American forces amid reports the U.S. may launch a ground operation against the Islamic republic, according to a text message sent to mobile subscribers in Iran" (same digest). Israel Hayom, in Hebrew, published the text messages: after threats by the "American-Zionist enemy" to Iran's islands and borders, a national initiative had been launched for "defense of the homeland's soil," with a link to sign up (Israel Hayom, late March 2026; article page). Residents told the Wall Street Journal that masked security forces set up checkpoints in Isfahan.

On 2 April, Ghalibaf claimed about seven million Iranians had come forward to fight "any US ground invasion." The Associated Press, in the Times of Israel, noted it was unclear where the figure came from, and reported that the government had called on retired soldiers and that the Basij, the Revolutionary Guard's volunteer militia, had begun accepting children as young as 12 (Times of Israel, 2 April 2026; article page). A week earlier Iran's Tasnim agency had claimed more than a million fighters ready. These are Iranian numbers. What they show is intent: a country of about 90 million preparing a mass defense of its soil.

Israel's Spanish-language site Noticias de Israel reported that the Iranian government paper Tehran Times described an alleged US-Israeli plan whose "first phase would send about 5,000 American soldiers into Iranian territory," seizing airports at Bandar Abbas, Kermanshah, Orumiyeh, and Tabriz (Noticias de Israel, 29 March 2026; article page). That is Iran's regime press describing what it expects.

Kharg Island: mines and air defenses​

Kharg Island, which handles about 90 percent of Iran's oil exports, was the most discussed American ground target. Iran fortified it. A roundup on 26 March summarized CNN: "Iran laid traps and moved air defenses to Kharg Island in preparation for a US invasion" (@jackimaniel on X). Israel's Russian-language NEWSru, summarizing the Wall Street Journal's Benoit Faucon on 3 April, reported missile systems, mines, tunnels, shelters, and drones prepared for "a possible landing or raid," and that "Tehran is threatening new strikes on targets in Persian Gulf countries if American troops try to enter Iranian territory" (NEWSru.co.il, 3 April 2026; article page; our translation). See Kharg Island and the uranium raid.

A drill against American helicopters​

On 13 May, Israel Hayom reported that the Revolutionary Guard held a five-day exercise near Tehran simulating an American ground invasion. Fighters practiced striking US helicopters, firing on advancing troops, firing RPG rockets and light mortars, and using an exploding drone against a banner of an American helicopter. The commander, Brig. Gen. Hassan Hazanzadeh, said the goal was to counter any move by the "American-Zionist enemy" (Israel Hayom, 13 May 2026; article page). The same article noted that the Guard's only significant ground combat with the US military on Iranian soil so far had been its failed attempt to stop the April rescue force, "which operated by helicopter and on foot deep inside Iranian territory."

Iraqi militias move in​

In July, after the ceasefire collapsed, the Argentine Jewish outlet Itón Gadol, citing Iran International, reported that a senior commander of al-Hashd al-Shaabi, Iraq's coalition of Iran-aligned militias, said the group had sent fighters into Iran to prepare for a direct ground war against the United States, especially on the coast and the strategic islands in the south (Itón Gadol, 29 July 2026; article page). The same month, Trump said on Fox, as the World Socialist Web Site quoted him: "Sometimes you need a ground campaign, but we have other people that will do the ground campaign for us" (WSWS, 16 July 2026).

A price on American soldiers​

On 16 August, the Mexican Jewish news site Enlace Judío reported, citing IRNA, that Iran's army chief, Amir Hatami, announced a reward equal to about $30,000 for killing or capturing an "invading" American service member, doubled if a woman did it (Enlace Judío, 16 August 2026; article page). Earlier, an X news summary reported Iran's generals saying "any U.S. ground troops entering their soil won't make it out alive" (X trending, 2 April 2026).

The taunt​

Iran's leaders also mocked the Americans for staying in the air. The Revolutionary Guard's spokesman, Ebrahim Zolfaghari, said: "It is better to name this war as Epic Fear, instead of Epic Fury" (as relayed from the Daily Mail by Owen Gregorian on X, 18 March 2026). In September, Mohsen Rezaee, secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said on video: "If they are sincere, let their soldiers come and enter Iran ... Why don't they deploy airborne divisions? Why don't American ground forces enter Iran? Why do they only bomb from the sky and then leave?" (@maxosintintel on X, 20 September 2026). A taunt like this is pressure too: it dares the United States to take the step its own planners were preparing.

What this teaches​

  • The ground war would not be a raid on an empty island. Kharg was mined and defended; the coast was reinforced with Iraqi militias; the interior was drilled against helicopters.
  • Iran was preparing a mass defense, the kind that needs a mass army to defeat. This is why estimates for a real ground campaign run from hundreds of thousands to more than a million American troops. See troop math and the Jerusalem Post column.
  • The threats were aimed at specific people. A bounty on each American soldier is a bounty on someone's child.

Status: Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf is alive. Amir Hatami is alive. Hassan Hazanzadeh is alive. Ebrahim Zolfaghari is alive. Mohsen Rezaee is alive.

The articles behind this page​

Sources​

Research captures: twitter/t49__v577.md, twitter/t49__v581.md, twitter/t49__v587.md, twitter/t48__v571.md, twitter/t48__v572.md

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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