US military readies plan for ground troops in Iran: Report

The US Department of War has produced detailed plans involving the use of ground troops in the war on Iran, CBS News reported on Friday, citing unnamed officials.

The plans include options for the president in scenarios where Iranians are captured and detained, as well as how to handle paramilitary forces. 

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told CBS that it's normal procedure for the Pentagon to ensure President Donald Trump has several options at his disposal, and that it "does not mean the president has made a decision" to deploy soldiers anywhere. 

A total of four warships and more than 4,000 US Marines have been ordered to the Middle East thus far, with the first set to arrive from the Pacific region in about a week. 

The administration's moves suggest this will be a protracted war, but the president has also been trying to make declarations that can, at least temporarily, calm volatile markets. 

"I'm not putting troops anywhere. If I were, I certainly wouldn't tell you, but I'm not putting troops," he said on Thursday. 

'Punish Iran': Saudi Arabia and UAE inch closer to supporting US-Israeli war

Read More »

"It's going to be over with pretty soon," he added, calling the war on Iran an "excursion" for the US. 

"I saw what was happening in Iran, and I said, I hate to make this excursion, but we have to do it. And I actually thought the [oil price] numbers would be worse. I thought that it would go up more than it did, but we're doing this excursion, and when it's completed, we're going to have a much safer world," Trump insisted.

"And the prime minister agrees with me on this," he said, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. 

A poll done by Reuters and Ipsos and released on Thursday shows that nearly two-thirds of Americans believe Trump will, in fact, order troops into a large-scale ground war in Iran.  

Only seven percent of respondents supported the idea. 

The poll showed Trump's approval rating increased by one percentage point to 40 percent, compared to his 39 percent approval rating at the start of the war on 28 February.