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ISLAMABAD: The Pentagon is preparing plans for weeks of ground operations in Iran, though President Donald Trump has not yet approved any deployment, AFP reported earlier this week, citing the Washington Post.&nbsp; There is no confirmed presence of US ground forces inside Iran at this stage. However, any ground operation would stop short of a full-scale invasion, instead involving raids by special operations forces and conventional infantry troops, the Post said, citing unnamed officials. Troops on groundAFP said Saturday the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli had arrived in the Middle East, citing US Central Command, with 3,500 Marines and sailors aboard, while an estimated 2,000 to 4,000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division are deploying. The ship, which is usually based in Japan, arrived in the region on Friday, Centcom said in a post on X. The group also includes &quot;transport and strike fighter aircraft, as well as amphibious assault and tactical assets,&quot; it said. The Council on Foreign Relations reports that the United States maintains a vast network of both temporary and permanent military installations in at least 19 locations throughout the region. Eight of them are said to be permanent bases spread among Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Troops already stationed in the regionEven before the latest escalation, the United States maintained a substantial military presence in the Middle East. According to Al Jazeera, between 40,000 and 50,000 troops are stationed across countries, including Qatar, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.&nbsp; While exact deployment locations have not been officially disclosed, US forces are believed to be stationed at key bases, including Al Udeid Air Base, Naval Support Activity Bahrain, Camp Arifjan, and Al Dhafra Air Base, placing them within operational range of Iran. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, Washington operates at least 19 military sites in the region, including 8 permanent bases. Washington can achieve its objectives &#39;without ground troops&#39;As of now, Trump has not approved any deployment and has kept a vague stance on the issue for weeks. According to AFP, several US media outlets have reported that he is mulling the idea of sending at least 10,000 troops to the Middle East soon.&nbsp; The deployment would mark a significant boost to Washington&#39;s military presence in the region, despite US President Donald Trump insisting that Tehran was taking part in peace talks with Washington to end the war. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington can achieve its objectives &ldquo;without ground troops,&rdquo; while Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth -- who revealed he had visited US troops in the Middle East over the weekend -- warned Tuesday that the coming days would be &ldquo;decisive.&rdquo;&nbsp; On the Iranian side, parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said any deployment of US ground forces would mark a major escalation and would be met with widespread retaliation. &quot;It is unclear where precisely forces will go in the Middle East, but they will likely be within striking distance of Iran and Kharg Island, a crucial oil export hub off Iran&rsquo;s coast,&quot; The Wall Street Journal said. Middle East war &#39;far worse&#39; than IraqAccording to The New York Times, the US-led coalition that invaded Iraq in 2003 had about 250,000 members at first, with Al Jazeera reporting that the Baghdad morgue estimated it received 6,000 corpses. According to AFP, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez warned on March 25 that the Middle East war presented a &quot;far worse&quot; scenario than the invasion of Iraq in 2003. &quot;This is not the same scenario as the illegal war in Iraq. We are facing something far worse. Much worse. With a potential impact that is far broader and far deeper,&quot; he told parliament. &quot;This time, it&#39;s an absurd and illegal war. A cruel one that sets us back from achieving our economic, social, and environmental goals.&quot;

Middle East

Americas

The deployment adds to an existing US force of up to 50,000 in the Middle East, as the Pentagon advances plans for a limited ground action against Iran, though President Donald Trump has not yet approved any action.

US weighs Iran ground operation as 3,500 Marines arrive in region

WASHINGTON: The United States is planning to withdraw all of its approximately 1,000 troops from Syria over the next two months, according to US media reports on Wednesday. The Wall Street Journal reported that Washington intends to end its military presence in the country following significant political and military developments inside Syria.&nbsp; The report said the Syrian government has consolidated control over much of the country, while the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) once a key US partner in the fight against the Islamic State group have pledged to integrate into state structures. CBS News also cited unnamed US officials confirming the planned withdrawal. US forces have recently pulled back from several bases in Syria, including Al-Tanf and Al-Shadadi, which were central to operations conducted by the US-led international coalition against Islamic State (IS). The reported decision follows shifting dynamics in Syria after the fall of Bashar al-Assad in late 2024.&nbsp; Since then, Washington has sought closer engagement with Syria&rsquo;s new authorities and has transferred thousands of suspected IS fighters from detention facilities in Syria to more secure locations in Iraq. At the same time, the United States has increased its military capabilities near Iran amid rising regional tensions. Iranian officials have warned that any attack on Iranian territory would be met with retaliatory measures targeting American military positions in the region. US media outlets reported Wednesday that Washington could be prepared to launch strikes against Iran as early as this weekend, although President Donald Trump has not made a final decision, according to the reports.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Washington intends to end its military presence in the country following significant political and military developments inside Syria.

US to withdraw all troops from Syria: Reports

NUUK:&nbsp;Donald Trump on Friday warned that he could slap tariffs on countries that do not support his Greenland takeover plans, as US Congress members visited Copenhagen to give their backing for Denmark and its autonomous Arctic island. The bipartisan delegation, on a two-day trip to the Danish capital, said the US president&rsquo;s long-held territorial ambitions &mdash; strongly rejected by Denmark &mdash; were not shared by the American people. Europeans have also been showing their backing for Greenland in a military reconnaissance mission that a Danish general said Washington was invited to and which was linked to what Russia does after the war in Ukraine. Trump, again insisting the United States needed mineral-rich Greenland for its &ldquo;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-says-us-needs-greenland-for-national-security" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">national security</a>,&rdquo; warned that he &ldquo;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/trump-says-may-slap-tariffs-on-nations-that-dont-back-his-greenland-plans" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">may put a tariff</a>&rdquo; on countries that oppose that stance. The 11 visiting US lawmakers held talks with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and her Greenlandic counterpart, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, as well as Denmark&rsquo;s foreign and defence ministers, parliamentarians and business leaders. Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said there was &ldquo;good dialogue&rdquo; and stressed it was important to &ldquo;nurture&rdquo; ties between the United States, Denmark and Greenland. &ldquo;The vast majority&rdquo; of Americans do not agree that it is a good idea for the United States to acquire Greenland, she told reporters. &ldquo;Greenland needs to be viewed as our ally, not as an asset,&rdquo; she added.&nbsp;&quot;One way or the other&quot; Greenlanders were putting cautious hope in all-out efforts to contain US President Donald Trump&rsquo;s designs on their Arctic island, as European soldiers arrived in their streets and US lawmakers visited Denmark. In this vast territory that has never fought a war of its own, the 57,000 inhabitants say that, alone, they feel helpless against the leader of a world superpower who insists he will take their home &ldquo;one way or the other.&rdquo; &ldquo;I feel safer,&rdquo; Marie Sofie Pedersen, a social worker in the city of Nuuk, Greenland&rsquo;s capital, said after soldiers from countries including France and Germany arrived. &ldquo;I hope they won&rsquo;t stay here forever, but just as long as we&rsquo;re vulnerable and something could happen,&rdquo; she told AFP. A modest number of military personnel were deployed this week by a handful of European countries after Trump said he wants to seize the autonomous Danish territory. Trump has insisted the United States needs strategically located and mineral-rich Greenland for &ldquo;national security,&rdquo; and has criticised Denmark for, he says, not doing enough to ensure its security. The Republican has pursued that argument despite Greenland &mdash; as part of Denmark &mdash; being covered by NATO&rsquo;s security umbrella. A few dozen advance troops have arrived in Nuuk in the past few days to prepare for their armies&rsquo; participation in future Danish exercises in the Arctic. No US soldiers are among them. While the European military presence has been relatively discreet, it has been well received on the city&rsquo;s icy streets, where Greenland&rsquo;s red-and-white flag hangs from many shopfronts and buildings. &ldquo;We have to stay together in Europe,&rdquo; a 39-year-old union representative who asked to remain anonymous told AFP. &ldquo;Otherwise, the Americans will crush us. We are not big enough, but together, we will be.&rdquo; Greenlandic authorities have informed the population that more NATO troops will be coming to town. &ldquo;There will be more military flights and ships,&rdquo; Greenland&rsquo;s deputy prime minister, Mute Egede, said on Wednesday. Just hours earlier, talks at the White House between Danish, Greenlandic and US officials failed to iron out differences between Copenhagen and Nuuk on one side and Washington on the other. <h3 style="line-height: 2;">&lsquo;Strategic signaling&rsquo;</h3>Trump&rsquo;s ambitions appear to have temporarily dampened Greenlanders&rsquo; appetite for independence, a goal they have been striving for after three centuries of Danish sovereignty. But now is not the time, Greenlandic Prime Minister Jens-Frederik Nielsen said this week. &ldquo;We are now facing a geopolitical crisis,&rdquo; he said. If Greenland had to choose between remaining part of Denmark or becoming part of the United States, &ldquo;we choose Denmark,&rdquo; Nielsen added. According to experts, sending a small European contingent to the island is a matter of &ldquo;strategic signaling&rdquo; to the US. But Washington appears unfazed. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t think troops in Europe impact the president&rsquo;s decision-making process, nor does it impact his goal of the acquisition of Greenland at all,&rdquo; White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday. On Friday, a bipartisan US congressional delegation began a visit to Copenhagen to voice support for Denmark and Greenland, during which they were to meet Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and her Greenlandic counterpart. That provided another source of hope for Greenlanders. &ldquo;Congress would never approve of a military action in Greenland,&rdquo; the 39-year-old union activist said. &ldquo;If people in Congress want to save their own democracy, they have to step up.&rdquo;

A sailor works on the deck of the HDMS Knud Rasmussen Royal Danish Navy patrol vessel moored at the harbour in Nuuk, Greenland on January 16, 2026 (AFP)

Europe

Greenlanders were putting cautious hope in all-out efforts to contain US President Donald Trump’s designs on their Arctic island, as European soldiers arrived in their streets and US lawmakers visited Denmark

Articles tagged with "Troops"

US weighs Iran ground operation as 3,500 Marines arrive in region

US to withdraw all troops from Syria: Reports

Trump threatens tariffs as US lawmakers back Denmark, Greenland