US President Donald Trump has claimed that talks with Tehran “are going very well” and delayed strikes on the Islamic Republic’s power facilities for another 10 days, while the Pentagon is reportedly mulling sending another 10,000 troops to the region.
The Department of War is considering deploying up to 10,000 additional ground forces to the Middle East to expand the US leader’s military options against Iran, according to officials familiar with the planning, the Wall Street Journal reported. The US military is devising a “final blow” to Iran that could see American ground troops deployed on Iranian soil, according to Axios sources.
If approved, the new deployment would add to thousands of troops already en route to the region, including approximately 2,000 to 3,000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division and two Marine Expeditionary Units totaling an estimated 4,500 to 5,000 Marines and support personnel.
In the meantime Trump has again touted alleged progress in negotiations with unnamed Iranian interlocutors, repeatedly hinting at an imminent deal to calm turbulent global markets.
Tehran has denied holding direct talks with the US and outlined strict conditions for any ceasefire, refusing to talk on Washington’s terms, after the US and Israel already “backstabbed” Iran twice during negotiations last summer and in February.
Here are the latest developments:
- Trump initially threatened last Saturday to “obliterate” Iran’s power network if it does not reopen the critical Strait of Hormuz to international shipping. After Tehran warned it will retaliate against the entire regional energy infrastructure, Trump on Monday postponed his threat for five days. On Thursday, he again postponed the deadline until April 6, claiming that Tehran begged for more time.
- Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who was reportedly “temporarily” removed from the US-Israeli kill list for Washington to have someone to talk to, has insisted that receiving messages does not constitute “talks.”
- Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir reportedly warned a security cabinet meeting that without a new conscription law, a reserve duty law and a law to extend mandatory service, the IDF will “collapse in on itself” due to a mounting manpower shortage.
Follow our live coverage below for continuous updates. You can also read our previous updates here.
27 March 2026
A US-Israeli strike in the Iranian city of Urmia, the capital of West Azerbaijan province, has “completely destroyed” four residential buildings and “left a number of citizens killed and injured,” IRNA news agency reports, citing the local crisis management center.
Moscow has requested a UN Security Council meeting to discuss US-Israeli attacks on civilian infrastructure in Iran, including a reported strike near the Russia-operated Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant earlier this week.
The US, which holds the council’s rotating presidency this month, has scheduled a closed consultation for Friday morning, according to AP sources.
Iran sent a letter to the United Nations accusing the US and Israel of “state-sponsored terrorism,” after a Wall Street Journal report alleged that Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf were “temporarily” removed from the list of assassination targets.
“The reports indicate the existence of an operational framework contemplating the assassination of the highest-ranking political officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran,” said the letter dated Thursday and signed by Ambassador Amir Saeid Iravani.
“The conditional nature of the purported ‘suspension’ further underscores that the threat remains real, deliberate and ongoing,” it added.
Israel has announced that it had just “completed a wave of strikes in the heart of Tehran.” The wide-scale bombing raid allegedly targeted unspecified infrastructure, with the IDF promising to release further details soon.
Republican Rep. Nancy Mace of South Carolina told CBS News that she would oppose sending American ground forces into Iran and argued that military officials left “most of our questions unanswered” during a House Armed Services Committee briefing this week.
“I have grave concerns about the Washington war machine getting us into another 20-year-plus endless war,” Mace said, adding that “a lot of us share the heartburn” over the direction of the conflict.
While Mace said she remains a strong supporter of President Trump and believes US operations have successfully degraded Iran’s missile capabilities, she urged the president to “declare victory” rather than allowing the conflict to become a “never-ending war.”
“I haven’t seen an exit strategy yet,” she added. “I believe we owe the American public, the American people, the men and women we’re sending into war, we owe them an answer to the question: how does this end?”
The Department of War is considering deploying up to 10,000 additional ground forces to the Middle East to expand President Trump’s military options, according to officials familiar with the planning, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The prospective force is expected to include infantry units and armored vehicles. If approved, the deployment would add to thousands of troops already ordered to the region, including approximately 2,000 to 3,000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division and two Marine Expeditionary Units totaling an estimated 4,500 to 5,000 Marines and support personnel.
Some 40,000 US troops were already stationed across the region before the US and Israel launched their attack on Iran on February 28.
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said during a White House Cabinet meeting that he would welcome a negotiated peace deal with Iran, but in the meantime the Pentagon will keep “negotiating with bombs.”
“We pray for a deal, and we welcome a deal and we have the ultimate dealmaker to make it happen – but in the meantime, as I said yesterday, the Department of War will continue negotiating with bombs,” Hegseth stated.
President Donald Trump’s approval rating has hit its lowest across both of his terms, according to a new Fox News poll. The survey found that 59 percent of registered voters do not approve of Trump’s handling of the presidency – while 64 percent specifically said they do not approve of his handling of the war with Iran.
“I hate Fox polls,” Trump told the network’s The Five show on Thursday. “Honestly, whoever does your polls are terrible.”
The UN nuclear watchdog has expressed “deep concern” about the US-Israeli strikes “reportedly occurring” near Iran’s Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant following the latest attack earlier this week.
“Given that it is an operating nuclear power plant with a large amount of nuclear material, DG Grossi warns that damage to the facility could result in a major radiological accident affecting a large area in Iran and beyond,” the IAEA said in a statement, calling for “maximum restraint to avoid the risk of such a nuclear accident.”
The head of Russia’s state nuclear corporation Rosatom, Alexei Likhachev, said Wednesday that the situation at Bushehr is developing along a “worst-case scenario.” The strike, which caused no casualties, occurred at around 1800 GMT on Tuesday and hit an area near an operational power unit, Likhachev said. Rosatom has begun a third phase of personnel evacuation. Until the situation stabilizes, the corporation is temporarily reducing the number of staff at the plant to a minimum.
Bushehr, Iran’s first nuclear power plant, was built with Russian assistance. Its first 1,000 MW unit was commissioned in 2013, with construction of a second and third phase beginning in 2016. The facility remains a critical piece of energy infrastructure in the region.
26 March 2026
The IDF has again instructed residents to seek shelter amid a new wave of Iranian missile attacks, just 90 minutes after permitting them to leave protected spaces.
Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir has warned that the military will “collapse in on itself” due to a mounting manpower shortage as it fights on multiple fronts. Speaking at a security cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Zamir said he was “raising 10 red flags” before ministers, according to Israeli media reports.
He reportedly stated that the military requires a conscription law, a reserve duty law and a law to extend mandatory service, warning that before long the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would be unable to perform its routine missions and the reserve system “will not hold.”
Tehran has not requested a pause to US strikes on its energy infrastructure, and has yet to deliver a final response to Washington’s 15-point ultimatum to end the war, the Wall Street Journal has reported, citing mediators in the indirect talks.
President Trump has claimed that his unnamed contacts in Tehran initially asked him to pause US strikes on the city’s energy infrastructure for seven days, and were “very thankful” after he instead gave them ten.
“They said to me very nicely, through my people, ‘Could we have more time?’ Because we’re talking about tomorrow night, which is pretty quick, and if they don’t do what they have to do, I will knock out their power plants,” Trump told Fox News.
“They asked for seven, and I said, ‘I’m going to give you 10,’ because they gave me ships,” he said, adding that Iranian officials were “very thankful” about that.
The US president claimed earlier in the day that Iran had gifted him ten “big boats” of oil, allowing the tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz in a show of goodwill. Tehran insists that the strategic waterway is and has always been open for passage for all vessels unaffiliated with “hostile” nations.
The US Central Command has shared several photos showing US soldiers maintaining Patriot mobile interceptor missile systems, which it called a part of “the most extensive air defense umbrella in the Middle East.”
The continuing US-Israeli regime change efforts in Iran have led to rapid consumption of munitions and interceptors by the attackers and Washington’s regional partners enduring Iranian retaliation, raising concerns in Ukraine about the continuity of Western military support.
The US could redirect arms supplies originally designated for Ukraine to America’s own war with Iran, the Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing sources familiar with discussions on the matter. According to the WaPo, internal discussions within the Department of War are focused on determining the appropriate level of Ukraine supplies. While deliveries are expected to proceed, Patriot interceptors may be excluded. In certain scenarios, shipments could be redirected entirely, sources indicated.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has recently emphasized that replenishing US arsenals for conducting American military operations takes precedence over supplying Kiev.
The IDF has detected a new wave of missiles fired by Tehran at Israel, shortly after it bragged about the destruction of “more than 1,000 production-related targets” across Iran.
“Defensive systems are operating to intercept the threat,” the military said in a statement, warning residents to seek shelter in a protected space and remain there until further notice.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said it is “intensifying strikes” on Iranian weapons production industries, with more than 1,000 production-related targets struck so far since the start of its Operation Roaring Lion, conducted in coordination with the US’s Operation Epic Fury.
In a statement, the IDF said the Israeli Air Force, Intelligence Directorate and Operations Directorate are leading an ongoing effort to “degrade” Tehran’s industrial capabilities.
“This effort includes the systematic targeting of production lines, with the aim of degrading the regime’s manufacturing, development, and research capabilities across its military industries,” it said.
The IDF claimed that “much of Iranian development is carried out in cooperation with private companies operating in coordination with the regime’s security apparatus, led by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).”
President Donald Trump has stepped back from his promise to resume strikes on the Islamic Republic’s power facilities when a five-day pause expires on Friday, and extended the deadline for another ten days.
“As per Iranian Government request, please let this statement serve to represent that I am pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 Days to Monday, April 6, 2026, at 8 P.M., Eastern Time. Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well,” Tump wrote in a post on Truth Social.