Iran Claims Readiness for US Ground Invasion Amid Escalating Strikes
Iran has stated it is prepared to ‘welcome’ an American ground invasion, as the United States Central Command (Centcom) reported a ninth consecutive strike against the country following the deaths of American soldiers in Jordan and Iraq last weekend. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said the nation’s leadership is counting down the minutes to receive US forces in any ground assault. ‘Our people are counting down the minutes to welcome American forces in the event of a ground attack,’ he stated yesterday. He added that the text of a temporary agreement mediated by Pakistan and signed with the US in June is ‘very clear’, and that there is no reason for Washington to violate the accord.
In the early hours of Monday, the US military claimed in a post on X that its strikes targeted Iran’s military command centres, air defences and coastal surveillance sites, maritime capabilities, missile and drone launch sites, and communication networks. It added that the new strikes aim to further diminish Iran’s ability to attack commercial vessels and civilian sailors transiting the Strait of Hormuz. US President Donald Trump said the latest ‘very hard’ strikes were conducted to honour three American military members killed in recent days. ‘We hit them very hard again tonight, and we did it to honour, maybe three, maybe three great patriots,’ he told reporters.
He claimed Iran has suffered ‘very severe’ damage, nearly losing everything militarily. ‘They have some missiles, some drones, some manufacturing capability, not much.’ When asked about military casualties, Trump expressed deep sorrow, adding that they died fighting to prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Centcom said one American soldier was killed in northern Iraq on Saturday due to a controlled explosion of unexploded ordnance from a downed attack drone. At least two other US military members died after an Iranian attack on a US base in Jordan on Friday. US officials confirmed on Monday that Lieutenant Tyler James Feehan, 25, from Hawaii, and Private Isabella Gonzales, 19, from Texas, were killed following an enemy attack on 17 July at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base.
Shortly after the Centcom announcement, Iranian state media reported explosions across the country, including the southern cities of Bandar Mahshahr, Bandar Imam Khomeini and Chabahar, as well as the northwestern city of Tabriz. According to Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency, one person was killed and several others injured southwest of Tabriz. Later on Monday, Iranian state news media reported strikes targeting several locations in the southern port city of Bushehr, where the country’s civilian nuclear power plant is situated. ‘A few minutes ago, several locations in the city of Bushehr were hit by American enemy projectiles,’ said Bushehr Governor Mohammad Mozaffari, adding that the scope and extent of the attack were under investigation.