- President Donald Trump has ruled out the immediate deployment of American ground troops to Iran, describing such a move as a “waste of time” amid the ongoing conflict
- Trump insisted that Iran has already suffered major losses in the war, claiming the country had “lost everything,” including key military assets such as its naval capabilities
- The US president also revealed that he has potential candidates in mind for Iran’s future leadership but declined to name anyone publicly
The United States President, Donald Trump, has dismissed the possibility of deploying American ground troops to Iran, describing the idea as unnecessary at this time.
In remarks reported by NBC News on Thursday, March 5, Trump said sending US forces into Iran would be pointless, rejecting warnings from Abbas Araghchi that such a move would end in disaster for invading troops.
“It’s a waste of time. They’ve lost everything. They’ve lost their navy. They’ve lost everything they can lose,” Trump said during a telephone interview with NBC.
He also dismissed Araghchi’s earlier statement that Iran was prepared for a potential US or Israeli ground invasion, describing the comment as unnecessary.
“They’ve lost everything they can lose,” Trump reiterated, adding that the Iranian minister’s remarks were a “wasted comment.”
Despite ruling out a ground invasion for now, Trump suggested that he would like to see major changes in Iran’s leadership structure.
“We want to go in and clean out everything,” he said, indicating a desire for a rapid and decisive shift in power rather than a prolonged rebuilding process.
“We don’t want someone who would rebuild over a 10-year period,” he added, noting that he already had ideas about who could lead the country next but declined to reveal any names.
Trump had earlier suggested that he would play a role in determining Iran’s next leader following the death of Ali Khamenei.
According to reports, Khamenei was killed when the conflict between Iran and a US-Israeli coalition began on Saturday, February 28.
Meanwhile, heavy strikes were reported in Tehran on Friday, March 6, after Israel said it was targeting “regime infrastructure” as part of what it described as a “new phase” of the war launched with the United States against Iran.