JERUSALEM, Israel – President Donald Trump believes that negotiations for a possible end to the war in Iran are going well. Yet, as the talks continue, so do the attacks on the Tehran regime’s military, increasing the possibility that U.S. troops may be on the ground inside Iran.
The president told reporters on Sunday that negotiations and military action are taking place simultaneously.
He stated, “But they’re very good, moving along very nicely. And they’ve destroyed a lot of additional targets today. The (Iranian) Navy’s gone. The Air Force has gone. We know that. But we destroyed many, many targets today. It was a big day. And we are negotiating with them directly and indirectly.”
Trump also asserted that a measure of regime change has already taken place.
“If you look already, because the one regime was decimated, destroyed. They’re all dead. The next regime is mostly dead. And the third regime, we’re dealing with different people than anybody’s dealt with before. It’s a whole different group of people. So I would consider that regime change,” he remarked.
The president also told The Financial Times on Sunday, “I want to take control of Iranian oil, maybe take control of Kharg Island.” He added, “That means we will need to be on Kharg for a while. I don’t think the Iranians have any defense there. We will take the island very easily.”
Iran exports most of its oil from Kharg Island, and it has become Iran’s main economic engine.
U.S. CENTCOM announced that the amphibious assault ship, the USS Tripoli, has arrived in its area of responsibility. The 3,500 U.S. Marines on board are trained as a rapid response strike force.
Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf warned the U.S. against a ground invasion and threatened to set American troops “on fire.” He also warned that Iran will increase its attacks on U.S. allies in the region.
Trump is weighing a military operation to extract nearly 1,000 pounds of uranium from Iran, according to U.S. officials. It’s a complex and risky mission that would likely put American forces inside the country for days or longer.
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Over the weekend, exiled Iranian Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi delivered an address at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Texas.
He asked, “Can you imagine Iran going from ‘Death to America’ to ‘God Bless America?'”
Pahlavi noted, “Imagine a new Middle East where Iran was a friend of Israel, where the Abraham Accords are extended into the Cyrus Accords.”
He continued, “In a country with the fastest rate of growth of Christianity in the world …the regime and its IRGC storm into and ransack underground house churches, detain and torture pastors, and persecute and execute evangelists and Christian converts. This is the Islamic Republic, not the true Iran.”
For now, the current leader of Iran is thanking top religious leaders and paramilitary groups in Iraq for their support, and the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad is warning U.S. citizens to leave the country immediately amid the threats from Iranian-backed militias.
Tehran’s mayor, in the meantime, sees the war as advancing the goals of Shiite Islam,
“All the (American) predictions have gone to ruin,” said Alireza Zakani. “Therefore, I believe that post-war Iran will be at such an exalted peak that it will prepare humanity for the coming of the Mahdi.”
The Mahdi is the Shiite Messiah, who they believe will appear at the end of time to establish his rule on the earth.
