'Dangerous new phase' of Iran war on horizon as Pentagon plans hit Trump's desk: report

The Pentagon is preparing plans that would be a substantial escalation of the Iran war and place U.S. troops at risk from a number of dangerous threats if President Donald Trump chooses to act on them.

Military leaders are laying out plans for weeks of ground operations in Iran as thousands of American soldiers and Marines arrive in the Middle East, U.S. officials told the Washington Post, which described the escalation as a "dangerous new phase" in the war but would not be considered a full-scale invasion.

“It’s the job of the Pentagon to make preparations in order to give the Commander in Chief maximum optionality," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Post. "It does not mean the President has made a decision.”

The ground operation would involve aids by a mixture of Special Operations forces and conventional infantry troops, said the officials on condition of anonymity, but would expose U.S. personnel to Iranian threats such as drones and missiles, ground fire and improvised explosives.

"The Trump administration in recent days has vacillated between declaring that the war is winding down and threatening to amplify it," the Post reported.

"Discussions within the administration over the past month have touched upon the possible seizure of Kharg Island, a key Iranian oil export hub in the Persian Gulf, and raids into other coastal areas near the Strait of Hormuz to find and destroy weapons that can target commercial and military shipping," the report added. "One person said that the objectives under consideration would probably take 'weeks, not months' to complete. Another put the potential timeline at 'a couple of months.'"

Thirteen U.S. have been killed in action in the four weeks since Trump launched the war, while more than 300 service members have been wounded by strikes at facilities across the Middle East, and the military operation faces significant opposition among Americans and poses considerable risks to ground troops – especially if they attempt to seize Kharg Island.

“I just wouldn’t want to be in that small place with Iran’s ability to rain down drones and maybe artillery,” said Michael Eisenstadt, director of the Military and Security Studies Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Eisenstadt, a retired Army officer who served in Iraq, Israel and Jordan, suggested it might me much safer for U.S. forces to deploy mines around the island to pressure Iran to remove its mines from the Strait of Hormuz and send troops to "clear out" coastal military sites threatening shipping routes.

“I think it’s better to not have the troops located in any given place for a prolonged period of time,” Eisenstadt said. “Agility is part of your force protection, if they are moving and doing raids, in and out.”