The United States expanded its military campaign against Iran early Thursday, striking targets near Tehran for the first time in the current round of hostilities, as President Donald Trump weighs a broader escalation that could include sending American ground troops onto Iranian soil.
US Central Command announced it had completed its latest wave of strikes against Iran, with the operation concluding at 9 p.m. Eastern time on July 15. American forces hit Iranian command centers, air defense sites, missile and drone capabilities, and coastal surveillance facilities. For the first time in this round of strikes, targets in the Tehran area were struck, according to the CENTCOM announcement.
Iran responded overnight with an attack on a US base in Kuwait, part of a broader pattern of retaliatory strikes Tehran has directed at American positions across the Gulf in recent days, including facilities in Bahrain and Jordan.
Defense Minister Israel Katz spoke with US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth Wednesday night, according to a readout from Katz's office. Hegseth updated Katz on American military activity in Iran, and the two agreed to continue cooperation between their countries in the face of any possible developments. Katz also briefed Hegseth on Israel's operations in Syria, Gaza, and Lebanon, stressing that Israel intends to maintain its security zones in those areas to protect its borders, a policy he said was drawn from the lessons of October 7. "We have never asked the United States to act on our behalf along our borders," Katz said. "We are committed to defending the citizens of Israel against every threat, and that is what we intend to do."
According to the Wall Street Journal, Trump is leaning toward expanding operations after days of briefings from top aides, and convened a Situation Room meeting on Tuesday evening with Vice President JD Vance, Hegseth, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine to review the options.
The centerpiece of the ground option under discussion is Kharg Island, which handles roughly 90 percent of Iran's oil exports and would effectively strip Tehran of its ability to sell crude if captured. CNN reported that thousands of US ground troops have reportedly been moving toward the region, fueling speculation that Marine and Army Airborne units could be assigned to take the island, and Trump has affirmed his interest in the target directly, though he has suggested a ground operation there might ultimately fall to another country rather than American forces.
Military analysts caution that Kharg is heavily fortified and would be a difficult objective this time of year, and that any landing force would first need the surrounding islands cleared. Seven islands, Abu Musa, Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb, Hengam, Qeshm, Larak, and Hormuz, form what regional researchers call Iran's "arch defense," a chain Iranian commanders have described as the country's "stationary and unsinkable aircraft carriers." US strikes have already hit military infrastructure on several of these islands, including a 90-minute operation against Greater Tunb this week, in what analysts describe as the kind of preparatory bombing that typically precedes an amphibious landing. A former director of US Pacific Command's joint intelligence center estimated that an occupying force of 1,800 to 2,000 troops would be needed to hold the islands and prevent Iran from reclaiming them, and warned that any such force would remain exposed to ongoing drone, missile, and artillery fire from the Iranian mainland, raising the risk of a prolonged and unpopular entanglement with mounting American casualties.
Despite the momentum toward escalation, US officials told the Journal that Trump remains reluctant to commit ground troops to Iranian territory, having previously walked back earlier threats to seize Kharg outright.
An Iranian military spokesman said overnight that the Strait of Hormuz would remain closed to shipping until the United States respects the legal framework Iran seeks to impose on the waterway, and dismissed American efforts to reopen the strait through strikes or military pressure as unlikely to succeed.
