The White House on Wednesday declined to rule out deploying U.S. ground troops in Iran, echoing comments earlier this week by President Donald Trump, while emphasizing such a move is not part of the current plan for Operation Epic Fury.
"Well, they're not part of the plan for this operation at this time, but I certainly will never take away military options on behalf of the president of the United States or the commander in chief," White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters in a briefing that aired live on Newsmax and the free Newsmax2 streaming platform.
"And he wisely does not do the same for himself," she said. "I know there's many leaders in the past who like to take options off the table without having a full understanding of how things could develop.
"So again, it's not part of the current plan, but I'm not going to remove an option for the president that is on the table."
On Monday, Trump said he would not make blanket promises about not deploying ground troops. He made the remarks while touting the successes of the U.S.-Israeli joint military operation against the Islamic Republic's political leadership and military infrastructure that began Saturday.
"I don't have the yips with respect to boots on the ground — like every president says, 'There will be no boots on the ground.' I don't say it," Trump said. "I say 'probably don't need them,' [or] 'if they were necessary.'"
Trump had said he expected the war to last "four weeks or so," though he signaled Monday the timeline could shrink given what he characterized as rapid progress.
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Michael Katz ✉
Michael Katz is a Newsmax reporter with more than 30 years of experience reporting and editing on news, culture, and politics.
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