The Pentagon is weighing whether to send 10,000 additional ground troops to the Middle East — on top of the thousands already there — while President Trump simultaneously claims Iran is desperate to make a deal.
That’s the state of this war: more soldiers, more armored vehicles, more bodies within “striking distance” of Iran, all while Trump goes on Fox News to brag about a “gift” of eight oil tankers being allowed through the Strait of Hormuz like it’s some kind of diplomatic breakthrough.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the potential deployment on Thursday. If approved, the 10,000 troops would join the 5,000 Marines and thousands of 82nd Airborne paratroopers already ordered to the region since Trump started bombing Iran on Feb. 28.
Thirteen American service members are dead. Nearly 300 have been wounded. Dozens are hospitalized in Germany with traumatic brain injuries and memory loss.
And the administration’s response is to raise the military enlistment age from 35 to 42 and start shopping for 10,000 more troops to deploy.
Meanwhile, Trump is putting on an absolute masterclass in talking to himself. He told the crowd at a Republican fundraising dinner Wednesday night that Iran “wants to make a deal so badly but they are afraid to say it. Because they figure they will be killed by their own people. They are also afraid they will be killed by us.”
Iran’s response to all this dealmaking? Iranian Lieutenant Colonel Ebrahim Zolfaghari asked the U.S.: “Has the level of your internal conflicts reached the state of negotiating with yourselves?”
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi flatly denied any negotiations are happening, though he acknowledged the U.S. had been “sending various messages through different intermediaries.” Trump announced he’s giving Iran 10 days before resuming threats to destroy their power plants, which he framed as a generous extension from the seven days they supposedly asked for.
Reports suggest that Pakistan has been acting as an intermediary to deliver Trump’s 15-point peace plan. Iran says no such talks exist.
So let’s be clear about what’s actually happening: Trump is escalating a war he started, lying about negotiations with a country that says it isn’t negotiating, and privately telling associates he wants this whole thing wrapped up in a couple weeks because it’s distracting him from other priorities.
Distracting him. Thirteen dead Americans and nearly 300 wounded, and it’s a distraction.
The American public is not buying it. Fresh polling released Thursday shows military action in Iran has a net approval rating of negative 16. Trump’s handling of Iran overall sits at negative 28. His personal approval rating has cratered to its lowest point yet: negative 18.
Even members of his own party are breaking ranks. Rep. Nancy Mace has repeatedly said she doesn’t support deploying troops to Iran. The anti-interventionist wing that helped put Trump in office is watching him become exactly the kind of war president he swore he’d never be.
But here’s the thing about sending 10,000 more troops: it doesn’t look like de-escalation. It doesn’t look like a man who wants to negotiate. It looks like a president with collapsing poll numbers who needs a bigger war to justify the one he already started.
Just Monday, Trump was vowing to continue “bombing our little hearts out.” By Thursday he was playing peacemaker on Fox News. The Strait of Hormuz is still closed. Gas prices are still punishing working families. And the Pentagon is drawing up plans to put thousands more Americans in harm’s way.
The enlistment age went up to 42 less than a week ago. The troop deployment discussions leaked the same week Trump’s approval numbers hit rock bottom. The war is a month old and there is no stated objective, no congressional authorization, no exit strategy, and no honest accounting from the White House about what any of this is actually for.
Iran says it isn’t negotiating. Trump says they’re begging. Somewhere in between, 10,000 more troops might be heading to a region where 13 Americans have already come home in caskets.