President Donald Trump admitted he may ‘possibly’ deploy US troops on the ground in Iran, but said there would have to be a ‘very good reason’ for him to do so.
By FRANCINE WOLFISZ, NEWS REPORTER
The president floated the idea on Air Force One on Saturday, after attending the dignified transfer of the remains of six US servicemembers killed so far in his war with Iran.
His remarks came as Israel launched a fresh wave of airstrikes on Tehran, engulfing the Iranian capital in fireballs as plumes of black smoke filled the skies across the region.
Stunning footage circulating social media showed apocalyptic scenes in the capital on Saturday night, which came as the Israeli military said it was moving into a ‘new phase’ of the war by targeting Iranian oil refineries and storage sites.
Hours earlier, Iran sent another barrage of retaliatory strikes at its Gulf neighbors, with debris from an intercepted missile striking the luxury 23 Marina skyscraper in Dubai.
In a separate incident in Dubai, one man was killed after debris from an ‘aerial interception’ fell on his car, and Dubai Airport was evacuated following an Iranian drone attack.
The strikes were launched while Iran’s de facto leader Ali Larijani told state media that the nation would not cede to Trump’s demands for ‘unconditional surrender’, and he vowed that the United States ‘must pay the price’ for killing late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei.
The tit-for-tat strikes have threatened to spiral the war across the Middle East out of control, with Trump earlier warning that he was considering sending a mega-strike he dubbed ‘the big one’ this weekend.