March 26th, 2026 | Weekly Issue
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Report: US Preparing Major Escalation Against Iran That Could Include Ground Troops and Intensified Bombing
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The Pentagon is developing options for a potential major escalation against Iran that could involve ground troops and an intensified bombing campaign, Axios reported on Thursday.
US officials and other sources speaking to Axios reporter Barak Ravid, a former IDF intelligence officer, described the potential escalation as a "final blow" that would give Trump more leverage and room to "declare victory," though all indications are that Iran is ready to face ground forces and that any such operation would prolong the war.
Ravid's sources said the potential options for a "final blow" include:
Invading or blockading Kharg Island, Iran's main oil export hub.
Invading Larak, an island that helps Iran solidify its control of the Strait of Hormuz. The strategic outpost hosts Iranian bunkers, attack craft that can blow up cargo ships, and radars that monitor movements in the strait.
Seizing the strategic island of Abu Musa and two smaller islands, which lie near the western entrance to the strait and are controlled by Iran but also claimed by the UAE.
Blocking or seizing ships that are exporting Iranian oil on the eastern side of the Hormuz Strait.
Another operation being considered is sending troops deep inside Iran to secure Tehran's stockpile of uranium enriched at 60%, though it's believed to be buried under the rubble following the June 2025 airstrikes against Iran's nuclear facilities, so it's unclear if a team of US special operators would be able to access the material.
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Top GOP Lawmaker Says Pentagon Not Sharing Enough Details on Potential Iran Ground War
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Rep. Mike Rogers (R-AL), chair of the House Armed Services Committee, denounced the US War Department on Wednesday for not providing enough information about the US war against Iran, including plans for potential ground operations.
According to POLITICO, Rogers said that during a briefing, members told Pentagon officials that any US troop movements should be "thoughtful and deliberate" and that they were not given enough details about the war.
"We want to know more about what's going on, what the options are, and why they're being considered," Rogers said. "And we're just not getting enough answers on those questions."
Rogers' comments appeared to be reaffirmed by his Senate counterpart, Senate Armed Services Chair Roger Wicker (R-MS). "Let me put it this way: I can see why he might have said that," he told POLITICO after a Senate briefing. "I haven't heard his comment, and I don't know the context. But I can see why he might have said that."
Rogers also said that he warned the administration could lose support for the war if it didn't share more information. "That's what I conveyed to them at the end of this hearing, is this has consequences if you don't remedy it," he said.
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How the US Became an International Serial Killer
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For decades, the United States moved from covert assassination plots to openly embracing assassination or "targeted killing" as policy. Now, in its war with Iran, that evolution is reaching its most dangerous phase.
On March 17th and 18th, the United States and Israel assassinated three senior Iranian government officials in targeted air strikes: Ali Larijani, the secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council; Brigadier General Gholamreza Soleimani, the commander of Iran's Basij domestic security forces; and Esmaeil Khatib, Iran's Intelligence Minister.
The missile that killed Ali Larijani also demolished an apartment building and killed more than a hundred people. Israeli defense minister Israel Katz announced that Israeli forces were now authorized to assassinate any senior Iranian official whenever they can, and they have continued to do so, bringing the number of Iranian officials assassinated in the past year to at least seventy.
The assassination of Ali Larijani is a blow to the already fraught chances for a negotiated peace between Iran and the United States and Israel. Ali Larijani was an experienced, pragmatic senior official who had played leading roles in negotiations with the US and other world powers since 2005.
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Israeli Defense Minister Says Israel To Occupy All of Lebanon South of Litani River
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No civilians will be allowed to return home until Israel satisfied Hezbollah Is 'Removed'
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Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz formalized the plan for a military occupation of southern Lebanon today, announcing the intention of the Israeli military to take full military control of a "buffer zone" spanning southern Lebanon from the border with Israel all the way to the Litani River. Before the latest war this region was home to several hundred thousand people.
Now, very few people remain, as Israel issued evacuation orders for the entire region in the early days of their invasion, and Katz now says Israel will not allow any of the "hundreds of thousands of residents of southern Lebanon who evacuated northward" to return to the area until Israel is satisfied Hezbollah is no longer a threat.
Given the ambiguity of that end condition, this amount to a de facto population transfer on a massive scale, a scale Katz clearly freely admits with his own comments, and which would be wildly illegal under Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
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Pope Leo XIV Suggests Aerial Bombing Campaigns Should Be 'Banned Forever'
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Pope Leo XIV suggested on Monday that aerial bombing campaigns should have been "banned forever" following the atrocities committed from the sky during the 20th century, as he continues pushing an antiwar message following the start of the US-Israeli war against Iran.
"Airplanes should always be carriers of peace, never of war," Leo said while hosting executives and staff from ITA Airways, Italy's national airline, and the Lufthansa Group, according to Vatican News. "No one should be afraid that threats of death and destruction might come from the sky."
The Vatican News report said the US-born pope recalled the bombing campaigns of the World Wars and other conflicts. "After the tragic experiences of the twentieth century, aerial bombings should have been banned forever," he said. "Instead, they still exist, and technological development, positive in itself, is being placed at the service of war. This is not progress; it is regression."
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US Considers Diverting Military Aid for Ukraine for Use in the War With Iran
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The US has been using a huge number of air defense munitions since it launched the war against Iran
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The Washington Post reported on Thursday that the Pentagon was considering diverting military aid meant for Ukraine to the Middle East for use in the US-Israeli war against Iran, as the US military continues depleting its stockpiles of air defenses and other munitions in the conflict.
Since last summer, the US has been sending military aid to Ukraine through a NATO program under which the US's allies pay for the equipment, known as the Prioritized Ukraine Requirements List (PURL) initiative. The Post report said that the US could divert air defense munitions paid for through PURL for use against Iran.
The US has already begun bringing in air defense systems and munitions from across the globe as it is running low on interceptors. Just over a week into the war, the US began moving the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) air defense system, based in South Korea, to the Middle East and also pulling Patriot air defense munitions from stockpiles across the Asia Pacific.
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