Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) said on Tuesday that the US “seems to be on a path” toward deploying troops to Iran, comments he made after a classified briefing for members of the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“We seem to be on a path toward deploying American troops on the ground in Iran to accomplish any of the potential objectives,” the senator told reporters.
Blumenthal said that he left the briefing “as dissatisfied and angry, frankly, as I have from any past briefing in my 15 years in the Senate.” He added that he had “more questions than answers, especially about the cost of the war.”
.@SenBlumenthal remarks after Iran briefing: "I emerged from this briefing dissatisfied and angry frankly that I have for any past briefing in my 15 years in the Senate.. We seem to be on a path toward deploying American troops on the ground in Iran." pic.twitter.com/e2qv0dcAds
— CSPAN (@cspan) March 10, 2026
President Trump and his top officials have refused to rule out “putting boots on the ground” in Iran, and while a full-scale invasion doesn’t seem to be on the table, the US is reportedly considering sending in special operations teams, potentially to secure Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium, though it may be buried under the rubble after the June 2025 US airstrikes that hit Iran’s nuclear facility.
Another option under consideration is to capture Kharg Island, an Iranian island in the Persian Gulf through which the vast majority of Iran’s oil exports pass.
Blumnethal, a Russia hawk and strong supporter of the proxy war in Ukraine, also raised the issue of Russia and China potentially helping Iran with intelligence. “Literally, Russia seems to be aiding our enemy, actively and intensively with intelligence, and perhaps with other means, and China also may be assisting Iran,” he said.
The senator described the conflict with Iran as “a war of choice made by this president, not chosen by the American people with potentially huge consequences to American lives.”
