April 15, 2026
Dave DeCamp
The US is sending thousands of additional troops to the Middle East and is considering restarting the bombing campaign against Iran or launching ground operations in the country, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed US officials.
Dave DeCamp
The US is sending thousands of additional troops to the Middle East and is considering restarting the bombing campaign against Iran or launching ground operations in the country, The Washington Post reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed US officials.
About 4,200 other US troops, including thousands of Marines, are heading to the region from the Pacific aboard the Boxer Amphibious Ready Group. The Post said they are expected to reach the Middle East by the end of April. Once both forces arrive, the US will have more than 60,000 troops in the region.
The buildup and the US blockade of Iranian ports are framed as an effort to get Iran to agree to US demands for a diplomatic deal. But according to President Trump, the US is continuing to demand that Iran make a commitment to never again enrich uranium for civilian purposes, a condition that’s seen as a non-starter and will likely lead to a renewal of the bombing campaign if the US sticks to it.
The current ceasefire between the US and Iran will expire on April 22 if it’s not extended. Other reports have said that President Trump has considered launching “limited” strikes in Iran to get Tehran to capitulate, but any renewed bombing campaign would mean a return to full-blown war.
Concerning possible ground operations, the Post report said that Trump administration officials have “discussed everything from launching a complex Special Operations mission to extract Iranian nuclear material, to landing Marines on coastal areas and islands to protect the strait, to seizing Kharg Island, an Iranian export facility in the Persian Gulf.”
President Trump on Tuesday rejected reports that said the US has proposed to Iran to freeze uranium enrichment for 20 years, suggesting that he wants a permanent end to Iran’s nuclear enrichment program.
The president made the comments to the New York Post and again conflated the idea of any uranium enrichment with the pursuit of nuclear weapons, even though Tehran has been willing to cap uranium enrichment at very low levels far below the 90% enrichment needed for a weapon.
“I’ve been saying they can’t have nuclear weapons, so I don’t like the 20 years,” the president said. When asked whether a 20-year moratorium could work as a deal, since it could allow Iran to sell it as a win, Trump said, “I don’t want them to feel like they have a win.”
Before the war, Iran was willing to suspend uranium enrichment for three to five years since its program was already effectively frozen by the June 2025 US airstrikes on its nuclear facilities. The New York Times reported that Iran responded to the US proposal for a 20-year suspension by again offering a five-year pause.
Iran is not expected to capitulate to the US demand to never enrich uranium, which Joe Kent, a former senior Trump administration official who resigned over opposition to the Iran war, has described as a “poison pill” meant to serve Israel’s interest in the US continuing the war.
“The Israelis push for zero uranium enrichment because they know it’s a poison pill for Iran & will result in the war continuing,” Kent, who stepped down from his role as the head of the National Counterterrorism Center, said in a post on X on Monday.
Trump also suggested in his comments to the Post that another round of talks between the US and Iran could take place in Pakistan in “two days,” though the status of the negotiations is unclear. The US military is currently enforcing its own blockade on the Strait of Hormuz and has said that it will block ships that are heading to or departing from Iranian ports.
China imports a significant
amount of oil from the Persian Gulf, but it is not as reliant on the region as
the US's major allies in East Asia and has a major stockpile of Iranian oil
The Chinese Foreign Ministry on
Tuesday strongly condemned the US military blockade on Iranian ports as
“dangerous and irresponsible” and warned that it risks the very fragile
ceasefire between the US and Iran.“With the temporary ceasefire agreement still in place, the United States ramped up military deployment and resorted to a targeted blockade. This will only aggravate confrontation, escalate tension, undermine the already fragile ceasefire, and further jeopardize safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun told reporters.
“It is a dangerous and irresponsible move. China believes that only a complete ceasefire can fundamentally create conditions for easing the situation. We urge relevant parties to honor the ceasefire agreement, stick to the direction of peace talks, and take concrete actions to de-escalate the situation so that normal traffic via the Strait will be able to resume as soon as possible,” Guo added.
According to Reuters, three ships, including two oil tankers under US sanctions, entered the Persian Gulf on Tuesday, the first full day of the US blockade. The US military has said that it will block any ships traveling to or from Iran, and according to the Reuters report, the three vessels were heading to non-Iranian ports.
A Chinese-owned tanker, the Rich Starry, left the Gulf and traveled out of the Strait of Hormuz, but it appears to have turned around, as the latest ship-tracking data shows it heading back into the Gulf near the coast of Iran. The ship’s last port of call was Hamriyah in the UAE, where it loaded 250,000 barrels of methanol. The US military is enforcing the blockade on warships in the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea.
China imports a significant amount of oil and gas from the Persian Gulf, but it is less reliant on the region than key US allies in East Asia, and has so far weathered the crisis caused by the US-Israeli war against Iran better than South Korea, Japan, and the Philippines. China also has a major stockpile of Iranian oil, as its imports from Iran increased after the start of the US-Israeli war.
The US blockade on Iran comes ahead of a planned summit between President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, scheduled for May 14 and May 15 in Beijing. On Tuesday, Xi hosted Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, and made comments on the situation in the Middle East that were seen as a veiled swipe at the US.
Kyle Anzalone
The White House will allow the waiver on Iranian oil sanctions to expire on Sunday. The US granted sanctions waivers for Russian, Iranian, and Venezuelan oil after starting a war against Iran in an effort to keep energy prices from spiking.
Two US officials speaking with Reuters said that the White House is not planning to further extend the waivers on Iranian oil. The move was expected after President Donald Trump announced a total blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
Tehran was already restricting the flow of ships in and out of the Persian Gulf. Iran has allowed vessels from “friendly nations” that pay a toll to pass the Strait. Trump also said that he would order the Navy to seize any ship that pays a toll to Tehran.
Trump imposed the blockade amid a two-week ceasefire. Pakistan brokered the truce in hopes it would lead to a peace agreement to end the US and Israeli war on Iran.
After Iran initially seized control of the Strait, in response to an unprovoked war started by the US and Israel, the oil price spiked. In an effort to keep energy prices from climbing higher, the White House granted sanctions waivers for Russian, Iranian, and Venezuelan oil.
The US allowed the waiver on Russian oil to expire on Monday. The waivers, combined with rising oil prices, allowed Moscow and Tehran to boost revenue from the war.
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