According to the Wall Street Journal, citing Department of Defense officials with knowledge on the matter, the Pentagon is considering the deployment of an additional 10,000 ground troops, including armored vehicles, to the Middle East, in preparation for potential ground operation in Iran.

These 10,000 U.S. Servicemembers, most likely to come from combat units with the Army, will join well over 50,000 Servicemembers already deployed to air and army bases, as well as on naval ships, across the Middle East in the lead up and since the start of Operation Epic Fury.

On February 26, 2026, the U.S. Army tested the Altius-700 (A-700) Rocket Medium-Range Launched Effect (MR-LE), a loitering munition produced by Anduril. The A-700 was launched from the pylon of an AH-64E “Apache” Attack Helicopter as a part of ongoing tests that have been in motion since its first live-fire test back in 2024.

U.S. President Donald J. Trump is weighing several options for dramatically escalating the Iran War should his latest push for diplomacy fail, with Pentagon officials preparing for the next phase of war by drawing up scenarios for deploying troops to seize various targets within Iran, more than half a dozen people familiar with the discussions told CNN.

Officials have developed options for capturing Kharg Island, which handles roughly 90% of Iran’s crude exports, or authorizing a bombing raid aimed at effectively wiping out all oil infrastructure on the island in the Persian Gulf. And the administration has examined the potential for taking over other strategically placed islands near Iran that might weaken the regime’s ability to threaten tankers trying to traverse the Strait of Hormuz.

White House officials believe that taking Kharg Island in particular would “totally bankrupt” Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), one official told CNN, potentially paving the way for a definitive end to the Iran War.

New pixelated image posted by the White House, with this one appearing to not be of President Trump and instead of Vice President JD Vance.

A U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagle takes off from a base in the Middle East for combat operations against Iran, in support of Operation Epic Fury.

The White House and the Pentagon are considering sending at least 10,000 additional combat troops to the Middle East in the coming days, significantly increasing the number of ground forces the United Stated has in the region as another signal that a major ground operation in Iran is being seriously prepared, a senior U.S. defense official confirmed to Axios.

Defense official expects the decision to be made next week and said the troops will be from different combat units than the ones which have already been sent to the region, while more reinforcements, including several fighter jet squadrons and thousands of troops, are expected to arrive in the Middle East in the coming days and weeks, as President Trump continues to consider escalation against Iran.

The Head of the Ugandan Armed Forces has announced that “any talk of destroying or defeating Israel” would bring Uganda to the side of Israel in the Iran War. “If Israel needs help, it only need ask,” said Gen. Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the son of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni.

Explosions reported within the last hour over Dubai and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.

According to Barak Ravid, U.S. Vice President JD Vance had a difficult call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday where he said that Israeli assessments for toppling the Iranian regime were not realistic enough, saying "You were too optimistic in your assessments regarding the overthrow of the regime in Iran."

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio attended the G7 Foreign Ministers Meeting in France today, where key topics were the Ukraine War and the conflict in the Middle East.

Since the start of Operation Epic Fury, the ongoing strike campaign against the Islamic Republic of Iran which began roughly four weeks ago on February 28, the U.S. Navy has utilized over 850 BGM-109 Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missiles (TLAM) on targets throughout Iran, burning through precision weapons at a rate that has alarmed some Pentagon officials, according to the Washington Post.

Prior to the start of the Iran War, it was assessed by the American Enterprise Institute that the Navy had an inventory of between 4,000-4,500 Tomahawks, with only a few hundred being produced every year, while other naval analysts have said the number could be much lower, perhaps closer to 3,000, following their extensive use in recent operations, including the Trump Administration’s strikes last year in Iran, Yemen and Nigeria.

In addition to the 850 Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAM) that have been expended, the Washington Post reports that the U.S. military has also has fired more than 1,000 of its much more advanced and limited supply of air-defense interceptor missiles in defending against retaliatory attacks by Iran. These include hundreds of interceptors fired by the U.S. Army’s MIM-104 “Patriot” Surface-to-Air Missile and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) Systems, and SM-3 Exoatmospheric Ballistic Missile Interceptors launched by Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers with the U.S. Navy.