President Trump has expressed “serious interest” in the idea of sending US troops into Iran, NBC News reported on Saturday, citing US officials.
The officials said that Trump has discussed the idea of deploying ground troops with aides and senior Republicans in Congress. Publicly, the president has refused to rule out the idea of putting “boots on the ground” in Iran.
The US has about 50,000 troops in the Middle East, nothing near the force that would be needed for a full-scale invasion, but sending in special operations teams is on the table.
According to a report from Axios, the US is considering sending in a team of special operations forces to secure Iran’s stockpiles of uranium that’s enriched at the 60% level, which is still below the 90% needed for weapons-grade. The night before the US and Israel began, Oman’s foreign minister said Tehran was willing to hand the uranium to the US as part of a diplomatic deal.
The Axios report said the potential special-operations raid to seize the uranium wouldn’t happen until a later stage of the war. One major issue with the plan is the fact that it’s believed the enriched uranium is still buried under the rubble as a result of the US airstrikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the June 2025 war.
Another option for a special operations raid would be attempting to seize Kharg Island, an Iranian island in the Persian Gulf where a major oil terminal that handles most of Iran’s oil exports is located.
Amid reports of potential US troops on the ground in Iran, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said that the Iranian military was ready to face them. “No, we are waiting for them,” Araghchi said when asked if Iran was afraid of a US invasion. “Because we are confident that we can confront them, and that will be a big disaster for them.”
