Iran
accuses US of plotting ground assault while publicly seeking talks
Tehran
says it will confront any land attack, as Trump says regime’s export hub on
Kharg island could be taken ‘very easily’
Lorenzo
Tondo in Jerusalem
Mon 30
Mar 2026 02.49 BST
Iran has
warned the US that it is prepared to confront any ground assault, accusing
Washington of secretly planning a land attack while publicly seeking talks, as
the war that has killed thousands of people and caused the biggest ever
disruption to global energy supplies entered its second month.
In a
message published to mark 30 days since the start of the war, the Iranian
parliament speaker, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, said: “The enemy signals
negotiation in public, while in secret it plots a ground attack.”
“Our
firing continues,” Ghalibaf said. “Our missiles are in place. Our determination
and faith have increased.” He said Iranian forces were “waiting for the arrival
of American troops on the ground to set them on fire and punish their regional
partners for ever”.
In an
interview published on Sunday night, Donald Trump did little to assuage those
concerns, telling the Financial Times that his “preference would be to take the
oil” in Iran, and saying of Iran’s crucial export hub on Kharg island: “We
could take it very easily.”
The
newspaper also quoted Trump as stressing that, despite his threats to seize
Iranian oil production, indirect US-Iran talks via Pakistani “emissaries” were
progressing well.
Asked
whether a ceasefire deal could be reached in the coming days that would reopen
the vital strait of Hormuz, Trump declined to offer specific details, saying:
“We’ve got about 3,000 targets left – we’ve bombed 13,000 targets – and another
couple of thousand targets to go. A deal could be made fairly quickly.”
As
efforts to find a negotiated conclusion to hostilities inched forward with a
meeting of regional powers in Pakistan, there were signs of further escalation
over the weekend as Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis entered the conflict for the
first time and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said his country
was widening its invasion of southern Lebanon.
The
Israeli air force later said it had intercepted two unmanned aerial vehicles
launched from Yemen, and the UN peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (Unifil) said a
peacekeeper was killed when a projectile exploded at one of its positions near
the southern Lebanese village of Adchit al-Qusayr on Sunday.
Another
peacekeeper was critically injured, Unifil said early on Monday. “We do not
know the origin of the projectile. We have launched an investigation to
determine all of the circumstances,” it added in the statement.
The
Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran, US officials have
told the Washington Post, as thousands of American soldiers and marines arrive
in the Middle East.
Any US
ground operation would probably stop short of a full-scale invasion, instead
relying on raids by special operations forces and conventional infantry,
according to reports on contingency planning. But even a limited mission could
expose American troops to Iranian drones, missiles, ground fire and improvised
explosives.
Among the
options reportedly being discussed are the seizure of Kharg Island, Iran’s main
oil export hub, and raids on coastal sites near the strait of Hormuz to destroy
weapons threatening commercial and military shipping. Axios and the Wall Street
Journal have reported that the Pentagon is also considering sending another
10,000 troops to the region, alongside a broader bombing campaign.
The White
House has sent mixed signals, alternating between talk of de-escalation and
threats of a wider war. Karoline Leavitt, the press secretary, said Pentagon
planning was intended to give Trump “maximum optionality”, not to signal a
final decision. The Post said whether Trump would approve plans for deploying
ground troops remained uncertain.
Trump
said on Sunday that the US-Israel war had achieved regime change in Iran, even
as he assured that he would “make a deal” with the Iranians. “I think we’ll
make a deal with them, pretty sure … but we’ve had regime change,” Trump told
reporters on Air Force One, citing the number of Iranian leaders killed in the
month-long war.
He said:
“We’re dealing with different people than anybody’s dealt with before. It’s a
whole different group of people. So I would consider that regime change.”
In an
apparent rebuke of the Trump administration on Sunday, Pope Leo said God
ignored the prayers of leaders who waged war and had “hands full of blood”. The
pontiff made the comments days after the US defence secretary, Pete Hegseth,
prayed for violence against enemies who deserved “no mercy”.
Pakistan’s
foreign minister, Ishaq Dar, said on Sunday evening that Pakistan would soon
host talks between the US and Iran.
“Pakistan
is very happy that both Iran and the US have expressed their confidence in
Pakistan’s facilitation,” Dar said in a televised speech, adding that the talks
would take place in the “coming days”.
There was
no immediate confirmation from the US or Iran.
Last week
the US presented Iran with a 15-point ceasefire proposal, including reopening
the strait of Hormuz and curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme, but Tehran has
rejected the plan and offered alternatives. Tehran has refused to admit to
holding official talks with Washington but has passed a response to the
15-point plan via Islamabad, according to an anonymous source cited by the
Iranian Tasnim news agency.
The
Houthis claimed two missile launches at Israel on Saturday, their first attacks
on Israel since the start of the conflict. The group poses a potential new
threat to global shipping if it again targets vessels in the Bab el-Mandeb
strait off the Red Sea, through which about 12% of the world’s oil trade
typically passes. A shutdown of the strait would amplify the already grave
impact of the war on the global economy, and could also reignite a Saudi-Yemen
conflict that caused huge humanitarian suffering for seven years before a 2022
truce.
Since the
US-Israeli attack on Iran on 28 February, Saudi Arabia has been able to divert
some of its oil exports by pipeline to the Red Sea. Saudi commentators have
said that if this route is also threatened, Riyadh could enter the war
directly.
Farea
Al-Muslimi, a research fellow in the Middle East and north Africa programme at
Chatham House, said: “The decision by the Houthis to join the broader Middle
East conflict marks a serious and deeply concerning escalation. The potential
impact on key commercial maritime routes, especially in the Red Sea and the Bab
al-Mandab strait, cannot be overstated. At the same time, vital economic and
military infrastructure across the Gulf region may become increasingly
exposed.”
Israel’s
military has continued its relentless air assault on Iran, saying on Sunday its
forces targeted Tehran’s weapons manufacturing infrastructure, including dozens
of storage and production sites, the day before.
Five
people were killed in a strike on a pier in the southern Iranian port of
Bandar-e-Khamir, which also destroyed two vessels, state media reported. In
Tehran, a building housing Qatar’s Al Araby TV was hit and there were power
outages in the east of the city.
Netanyahu
announced that Israel would widen its invasion of southern Lebanon, as Israeli
forces continue to target the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group.
“In
Lebanon, I have just ordered the military to further expand the existing
security zone,” Netanyahu said in a video statement. “This is intended to
definitively neutralise the threat of invasion [by Hezbollah militants] and to
keep anti-tank missile fire away from the border.”
On the
ground in Lebanon, a funeral was held on Sunday for three journalists killed in
an Israeli strike the day before. Officials say more than 1,100 people have
been killed in the fighting in Lebanon since the Iran war began.
The UN
peacekeeping mission in Lebanon (Unifil) said a peacekeeper was killed when a
projectile exploded at one of its positions near the southern Lebanese village
of Adchit al-Qusayr on Sunday.
Another
peacekeeper was critically injured, it said in a statement. “We do not know the
origin of the projectile. We have launched an investigation to determine all of
the circumstances,” Unifil added.
An
Iranian missile sparked a fire in the Neot Hovav industrial zone near Beersheba
in Israel, and officials were assessing the risk of a hazardous materials leak
and urging the public to stay away. Adama, a maker of active ingredients and
crop protection materials, said its Makhteshim plant was hit.
The IDF
said on Sunday evening that the impact may have been caused by missile
shrapnel. Soroka hospital in Beersheba said it had treated six people who were
lightly injured in the attack.
Reuters
contributed to this report
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