{"id":2208,"date":"2026-07-15T10:30:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T10:30:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cnnglobalnews.com\/2026\/07\/15\/trump-claims-other-people-could-lead-ground-campaign-in-iran\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T10:30:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T10:30:25","slug":"trump-claims-other-people-could-lead-ground-campaign-in-iran","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cnnglobalnews.com\/?p=2208","title":{"rendered":"Trump claims \u2018other people\u2019 could lead ground campaign in Iran"},"content":{"rendered":"

The US president has vowed to escalate strikes against civilian infrastructure unless Tehran bows to his demands<\/strong><\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump has refused to rule out a ground campaign in Iran, saying unspecified allied forces could seize key strategic sites like Kharg Island without the involvement of US troops, while threatening to expand the bombing campaign to include power plants and bridges.<\/p>\n

In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Trump said he would consider a ground operation \u201cif I thought it was appropriate.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you need a ground campaign, but we have other people who will do the ground campaign for us… But we have already hit Kharg Island twice, even three times. I said, \u2018Hit everything but the oil!\u2019\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\n
\n READ MORE: <\/span>What would a US invasion of Iran\u2019s Kharg Island look like? (VIDEO)
\n <\/a>\n <\/p>\n

Located around 25 km (15 miles) off Iran\u2019s Gulf coast, Kharg Island handles around 90% of the country\u2019s crude exports and serves as the primary outlet for oil revenue.<\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"Footage
Trump threatens strikes on Iran\u2019s power plants and bridges (PHOTOS, VIDEOS)<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Ahead of the now-broken April ceasefire, Trump threatened to seize Kharg Island \u201cto take the oil<\/a>.\u201d<\/em> Asked whether he still intends to seize the island, Trump replied,\u00a0\u201cAs far as taking it is concerned, if we degrade them far enough and deep enough, I would do that.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

The president also vowed to intensify the air campaign, saying US strikes will continue until he decides\u00a0\u201cit\u2019s enough.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ll continue until I say it\u2019s enough. Next week comes the power plants. Next week comes the bridges. We\u2019re going to knock out all their power plants. We\u2019re going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Trump warned that Iran \u201cwon\u2019t have anybody left\u201d<\/em> unless it reaches a deal, claiming US officials relayed that message to Tehran\u00a0\u201cabout an hour ago.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\n Read more<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n \"Strait
Strait of Hormuz crisis: What is the current state of the waterway?<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re being very careful with the civilian population,\u201d<\/em> Trump said. He previously threatened to bomb Iran into oblivion, once warning that \u201ca whole civilization will die<\/a>\u201d<\/em> if Tehran fails to comply with US and Israeli demands.<\/p>\n

More than 1,500 civilians have been killed in Iran since the US-Israeli bombing campaign began on February 28, according to the authorities. One of the deadliest incidents was the strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls\u2019 elementary school in Minab<\/a>, which killed 168 people, mostly children. Open-source investigations by media outlets concluded that the school was likely hit during a US strike on a nearby IRGC naval base. Trump denied US responsibility but said last month that \u201cmistakes are made\u201d<\/em> and \u201cnobody did that on purpose.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The US president has vowed to escalate strikes against civilian infrastructure unless Tehran bows to his demands US President Donald Trump has refused to rule out a ground campaign in … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":2209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2208","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world-news","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cnnglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2208","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cnnglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cnnglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnnglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnnglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2208\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cnnglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnnglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cnnglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}