Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf has claimed that the United States was secretly preparing for a ground invasion while publicly promoting diplomatic efforts to bring the conflict to an end.
“The enemy publicly sends messages of negotiation and dialogue while secretly planning a ground attack,” Mr Ghalibaf said in a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency, reports RTE.
“Our men are waiting for the arrival of the American soldiers on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional allies once and for all,” he added,
The USS Tripoli, an amphibious assault vessel carrying roughly 3,500 Marines and sailors, reached the Middle East on Friday, reports RTE.
The Washington Post reported that the Pentagon had been drafting plans for several weeks of ground operations, which could include raids on Kharg Island and locations near the Strait of Hormuz, although US President Donald Trump has not yet authorised any such deployment.
Iran has said it has effectively shut down the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial shipping route responsible for about a quarter of global seaborne oil trade, to what it calls hostile vessels, reports RTE.
Mr Trump has repeatedly referred to diplomatic communications with Iran, though Tehran has rejected these claims.
At the same time, fears of a wider conflict intensified as Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis carried out their first attacks on Israel since the war began, coinciding with the arrival of additional US forces in the Middle East, reports RTE.
Washington has sent thousands of Marines to the region during the month-long conflict.
The first of two groups arrived on Friday aboard an amphibious assault ship, according to the US military yesterday, reports RTE.
The Washington Post also reported that US officials indicated the Pentagon was preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran, potentially involving both Special Operations forces and conventional infantry troops.
It remains unclear whether President Donald Trump will approve the deployment of ground forces, the newspaper added, reports RTE.
A number of loud explosions were heard across the Iranian capital this morning, according to an AFP journalist.
The blasts were reported in northern Tehran, with smoke visible rising from affected areas in the northeast of the city, although the exact targets were not immediately known, reports RTE.
The war, which began on 28 February with US and Israeli strikes on Iran, has expanded across the Middle East, causing thousands of deaths and triggering the most significant disruption ever seen in global energy supplies.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday that the US could meet its objectives without deploying ground troops, but noted that some had been sent to the region to give Mr Trump “maximum” flexibility in shaping strategy, reports RTE.
The Pentagon was also expected to send thousands of troops from the US Army’s 82nd Airborne Division.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian held talks with Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, as Pakistan prepares to host discussions involving Turkish and Saudi foreign ministers aimed at reducing regional tensions, reports RTE.
Israel launched a series of strikes on Tehran on Saturday, targeting what its military described as Iranian government infrastructure.
It also struck sites in Lebanon, resuming its conflict with Iran-backed Hezbollah, killing three Lebanese journalists in an हमला on a media vehicle, as reported by Lebanon’s Al Manar TV, along with a Lebanese soldier, reports RTE.
Israel’s military said one of the journalists, Ali Shaib, had been targeted, alleging he was part of a Hezbollah intelligence unit and had reported on Israeli troop positions.
Hezbollah, which operates Al Manar, denied the claim, while Lebanese President Joseph Aoun described the journalists as “civilians doing their professional duty.”, reports RTE.
“It is a brazen crime that violates all treaties and norms through which journalists enjoy international protection in war,” he said in a statement on X,
A subsequent strike on rescue workers who had responded to the scene also resulted in deaths, with the World Health Organization stating that nine paramedics were killed and seven others injured in five separate attacks on healthcare facilities in southern Lebanon, reports RTE.
Iran continued its attacks on Israel and several Gulf countries after striking an air base in Saudi Arabia on Friday, injuring 12 US military personnel, two of them seriously, marking one of the most significant breaches of US air defences so far.
Air defence systems intercepted a drone near the residence of Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani in Erbil, according to security sources who spoke to Reuters early this morning, reports RTE.
Security officials also said that another drone strike had targeted the home of the president of Iraq’s Kurdistan region yesterday.
Israel, which had frequently faced missile attacks from the Houthis before the conflict, confirmed that a missile had been launched at it from Yemen, though no casualties or damage were reported, reports RTE.
The strike highlighted a possible new risk to global shipping, already affected by the effective shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz, previously a key route for roughly a fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas supplies.
The group carried out a second हमला on Israel, according to Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree, who warned that further strikes would follow, reports RTE.
The Houthis have demonstrated their capability to hit targets far beyond Yemen and disrupt shipping routes around the Arabian Peninsula and the Red Sea, as seen during their support for Hamas in the Gaza conflict.
With US midterm elections scheduled for November, the increasingly unpopular war has put pressure on Mr Trump’s Republican Party, reports RTE.
He has signalled a desire to bring the conflict to a swift end, while at the same time issuing threats of escalation.
Protesters gathered in cities across the United States on Saturday in anti-Trump demonstrations that organisers described as a call to action against the war with Iran, reports RTE.
Mr Trump has warned that Iranian power plants and other energy infrastructure could be targeted if Tehran does not reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
However, he extended a deadline he had set for this week, giving Iran an additional 10 days to respond, reports RTE.
Iranian warnings about attacking vessels in the strait have deterred most oil tankers from entering the waterway.
Iran has agreed to allow an extra 20 Pakistani-flagged ships to pass through the strait, with two vessels permitted to transit each day, according to Pakistani Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, reports RTE.
Israel has targeted Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The head of Russia’s state nuclear company Rosatom, which has evacuated staff from the Bushehr nuclear plant on the Gulf coast, warned that the strikes posed risks to nuclear safety, reports RTE.
Mr Pezeshkian said Iran would “retaliate strongly if our infrastructure or economic centers are targeted”,
Iranian strikes were reported in several Gulf locations, including Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, reports RTE.
An Iranian airstrike struck the Israeli village of Eshtaol near Jerusalem, injuring seven people who were taken to hospital, according to Israel’s ambulance service. Aluminium Bahrain ALBH.
Bahrain’s state news agency reported that Aluminium Bahrain said its facilities were targeted in an Iranian attack on Saturday, reports RTE.
In Iran, media reports said at least five people were killed in a US-Israeli strike on a residential building in the northwestern city of Zanjan, while in Tehran the Iran University of Science and Technology was also hit.
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