Pentagon weighs next steps as Iran tensions continue to rise

The Pentagon is moving into a more openly kinetic phase of the Iran conflict even as senior officials insist that diplomacy is still alive. War planners are refining options that range from intensified airstrikes to weeks of ground combat, while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth publicly casts the coming days as decisive for Tehran.

Behind the scenes, military leaders and President Donald Trump are trying to balance pressure on Iran with the risk of a regional firestorm, as U.S. and Israeli forces already prosecute one of the most extensive air campaigns either has carried out in the country.

From air campaign to ground options

The conflict began with a massive wave of strikes by the United States and Israel that officials describe as among their most ambitious attacks on Iran, hitting more than 1,000 targets across the country. According to briefings to Congress, the Pentagon told lawmakers there was no intelligence that Iran planned a first strike on U.S. forces before those attacks.

What started as a predominantly air and missile campaign is now evolving into a more complex ground-centered planning effort. The Pentagon is preparing for weeks of potential ground operations in Iran as thousands of U.S. troops deploy to the Middle East, according to officials who say the plans could involve raids by Special Operations and conventional infantry units.

Separate reporting describes the Pentagon preparing to send thousands of additional troops, primarily from the 82nd Airborne Division, to expand an already significant U.S. military presence in the region. Those reinforcements would join what reports indicate are around 50,000 U.S. troops already positioned across the Middle East, one of the largest American deployments there in years.

Hegseth’s hard line and Trump’s threat matrix

Publicly, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has tried to project both resolve and a sense of looming decision. In a recent appearance, he said the next few days in the war against Iran would be decisive and warned Tehran that the conflict would intensify if it did not make a deal, according to remarks carried in one video and echoed in another segment where he again described the coming days as decisive for Iran and Tehran.

Pressed on whether the United States will send ground troops deeper into the country, Hegseth has carefully avoided a firm answer. In an interview during a visit with U.S. troops already fighting in the Iran war, he said that in the meantime the United States would negotiate with bombs, a stark phrase captured in a broadcast that underlined how tightly the military campaign and diplomatic track are now intertwined.

President Donald Trump has paired that tone with his own maximalist threats. In a briefing, President Donald Trump said Monday that the United States would completely obliterate Iran’s electric generating plants, oil wells and Kharg Island, the country’s main point for shipping oil, if Tehran did not change course, according to a recording of his comments.

Inside the Situation Room, however, the menu is more granular. The Pentagon has prepared multiple options for President Trump as potential next steps in the Iran war, including scenarios that would send Americans into Iran to seize nuclear material, according to officials cited in a briefing. That range of choices reflects both the administration’s desire to keep Iran guessing and the Pentagon’s effort to avoid locking itself into a single course.

Regional escalation and the maritime front

The war is no longer confined to Iranian territory. Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen have begun launching their first missiles toward Israel, a development that widens the battlefield and raises the risk that other Iranian partners could join in. One report links those launches to a broader pattern of regional flare-ups and notes that gas prices continue to rise across the globe as the conflict drags on.

At sea, the Pentagon is weighing additional reinforcements tied to the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow waterway that carries a significant share of the world’s oil exports. U.S. planners are considering options that include securing safe passage for oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, a mission that would be accomplished primarily through air and naval forces rather than large ground contingents.

That maritime calculus is not theoretical. A Kuwaiti oil tanker was reportedly struck by an Iranian drone in the Gulf, part of a pattern of incidents described in a broadcast that also highlighted a blackout bomb suspected in Tehran and U.S. Troops Build Up Around Iran, according to a live segment. Each maritime strike not only threatens energy markets but also strengthens the argument inside the Pentagon for a more muscular naval escort mission.

AI targeting and the air war’s moral strain

While ground options dominate the political debate, the air war inside Iran has already moved into a new technological era. A system tied to Project Maven and run by Palantir has been used as part of what insiders call a Kill Chain in which the Pentagon Bombs Thousands of Targets in Iran Using Palantir AI, according to an investigation into Iran Using Palantir.

For commanders, that system promises faster targeting and tighter integration between surveillance and strike aircraft. For critics, it raises profound questions about accountability when an algorithm helps decide which buildings live or die. The sheer scale of the air campaign, already measured in thousands of targets, amplifies those concerns and could fuel political blowback if civilian casualties rise or if postwar investigations reveal faulty intelligence.

Diplomacy under fire

Despite the intensity of the fighting, U.S. officials insist that diplomacy has not stopped. The administration sent Tehran a U.S. 15 point plan aimed at ending the conflict, a proposal that Tehran has publicly dismissed, according to a summary of the offer. That same account situates the plan within the ongoing U.S. Israeli war against Iran and the broader troop buildup ordered by the Pentagon.

Hegseth has leaned into public pressure tactics to try to move Tehran. In one clip he is heard warning that the United States is threatening to escalate the war in Iran if a deal is not struck in the next few days, according to a video that has circulated widely. The message is clear: accept terms now or face more destructive options, including the kind of infrastructure strikes Trump has already sketched out.

Tehran, for its part, has so far treated that pressure as something to be endured rather than accommodated. Iranian leaders have rejected the 15 point plan and signaled that they see the war as part of a longer confrontation with the United States and Israel, not a discrete crisis that can be settled through a single document.

Ground invasion debate and domestic scrutiny

Inside Washington, the question of a large-scale ground invasion hangs over every briefing. In one widely watched exchange, Hegseth would not say directly whether the United States will send ground troops into Iran, even as he spoke about visiting American forces already in combat and repeated his line about negotiating with bombs in the meantime, as captured in the interview.

Lawmakers, already briefed that there was no intelligence Iran planned to attack U.S. forces first, are likely to scrutinize any move toward deeper ground involvement. The fact that the Pentagon has told Congress there was no sign Iran intended a first strike before the initial wave of U.S. and Israeli attacks gives critics a clear line of argument if casualties spike in a ground campaign.

At the same time, the military’s own preparations signal that a limited ground presence may be hard to avoid. The Pentagon is preparing for weeks of potential ground operations in Iran as thousands of U.S. troops deploy to the Middle East, according to planning details shared in one dispatch. Another account notes that the Marines could be part of an operation to take Kharg Island, Iran’s main point for shipping oil and located further north in the Gulf, according to a planning summary that describes The Marines role.