Trump declines to rule out deployment of US troops to Iran​

New York, March 3 (IANS) US President Donald Trump has not ruled out sending US troops into Iran “if necessary” in a further move away from his earlier opposition to getting involved in wars abroad. ​

He told the New York Post, ”Like every president says, ‘There will be no boots on the ground.’ I don’t say it.” ​

He said it could happen “if they were necessary”, but “I’ll say ‘probably don’t need them’”. ​

His remark about possible troop involvement in the conflict came as the Central Command reported on X that four members of US forces have died as of Monday. ​

He had foreseen the possibility of US casualties when he announced the start of Operation Epic Fury on Saturday morning. ​

“The Iranian regime seeks to kill. The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties — that often happens in war,” he said in the video announcement. ​

Trump told the Post in the interview published on Monday that Operation Epic Fury is going “way ahead of schedule” and “is going to go pretty quickly”. ​

He said it was expected to take four weeks to take out Iran’s leadership, but 49 leaders were killed “in one day”. ​

Those killed included Iran’s Supreme ruler Ali Khamenei. ​

However, on Monday, Trump said that he expected Operation Epic Fury to last four to five weeks, but he was ready if it was “to go far longer than that”. ​

Israel’s Permanent Representative to the UN, Danny Danon, said it would take as long as necessary. ​

After several misadventures with US wars abroad, Americans are wary of entanglements. ​

It was starkly reflected in a Reuters-IPSOS poll that showed only 27 percent of those polled supported the attack on Iran, 43 per cent disagreed with the decision, and 13 per cent were uncertain. ​

Trump dismissed it, saying, “I don’t care about polling. I have to do the right thing.”

He added, “I think people are very impressed with what is happening, actually.”

He indicated that he was depending on a “silent majority” that would show up in what he called a “real poll”. ​

With his America First agenda, Trump had been sceptical of getting involved in military action abroad during his campaign for the presidency and had aimed for a Nobel Peace Prize. ​

But this year, he ordered his military to go into Venezuela and capture its leader, Nicolas Maduro.​

Last week, he launched Operation Epic Fury on a much greater scale against Iran.

–IANS

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