Trump says deploying US ground troops to Iran would be 'a waste of time'

In response to Iran’s foreign minister saying that the country was waiting for a US deployment of ground troops amid Operation Epic Fury, Trump told NBC News that such a move for the US would be a "waste of time." 

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi had said on Wednesday that Iran is "waiting" for the US ground strike "because we are confident that we can confront them, and that would be a big disaster for them."

Trump said that this was a "wasted comment,” adding, "It’s a waste of time. They’ve lost everything. They’ve lost their navy. They’ve lost everything they can lose." He said that the pace and intensity of strikes on Iran would continue.

Over the weekend, Trump said he could not rule out the use of American ground troops in Iran. Trump told reporters the day following the launch of Operation Epic Fury in Iran that ground troops would be used "if they were necessary."

CENTCOM Commander Brad Cooper revealed on Thursday that over 30 Iranian ships have been sunk or destroyed since the stop of the operation, and over 200 targets have been hit by US bomber planes. He said that the military has also been tasked with taking out Iran’s ballistic missile production capabilities.

"So we’re not just hitting what they have, we’re destroying their ability to rebuild. And so as we transition to the next phase of this operation, we will systemically dismantle Iran's missile production capability for the future, and that's absolutely in progress. This is going to take some time, but our forces are well supplied, as the Secretary said, and we are absolutely ready to prosecute this mission decisively," Cooper said at the time.