Official from mediating country: Trump leaning toward ground invasion, convinced Iran will then capitulate

An official from one of the countries mediating between the US and Iran tells The Times of Israel that US President Donald Trump appears to be leaning toward ordering a US ground operation against Iran, with Washington convinced Tehran will buckle under such military pressure.

The official intimately familiar with the mediation efforts says the US privately recognizes that Iran is not likely to agree to the concessions presented in Washington’s 15-point plan and has dispatched thousands of troops to the region in order to capture Tehran’s Kharg Island on Trump’s orders.

A second official from a mediating country warns that while the US may be able to capture the island, holding onto it for an extended period of time will require many more soldiers and an extended period of fighting — far beyond the four-to-six week window that Washington has told the public that the war would last. While Saturday will be the four-week mark, the US still claims to be well ahead of schedule.

Both officials from mediating countries say that the Islamic Republic is not likely to capitulate, regardless of whether a ground operation moves ahead.

They insist that Iran will not agree to terms now that it wasn’t willing to accept before the US launched the war.

Trump on Monday announced that he was delaying until Friday his deadline for Iran to agree to his 15-point proposal for ending the war or face a bombing campaign against its power plants.

Thousands of additional US Marine troops are slated to arrive in the region around that new deadline.