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U.S. President Donald J. Trump is weighing whether to send possibly thousands of American troops into Iran as he looks for a way to achieve some of his key goals and end the war, according to the two current U.S. officials, two former U.S. officials and another person familiar with the discussions who spoke to NBC News. Several options are under discussion, with one aimed at freeing up passage in the Strait of Hormuz by deploying troops to Iranian ports or small islands in the Persian Gulf to mitigate the threat to vessels, while others include an operation to retrieve Iran’s highly-enriched uranium or using troops to seize Iran’s oil facilities to cut off a key financial lifeline and attempt to extract concessions from the Islamic Regime. The scale and duration of any deployment of U.S. troops inside of Iran would depend on the type of operation, but it could range from hundreds of specialized forces operating on the ground for a number of hours, to thousands over a matter of weeks, though none of the options that are being seriously considered are expected to involve large-scale deployments like those in Iraq or Afghanistan.

BREAKING: Pentagon has made detailed preparations for deploying U.S. ground forces into Iran, per CBS.

🇺🇸🇮🇷 The U.S. is sending thousands more Marines to the Middle East. The U.S.S. Boxer and two other amphibious assault ships carrying 2,500 Marines just left San Diego. The U.S.S. Tripoli and 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit have been redirected from Taiwan exercises. Combined, the two new Marine Expeditionary Units add around 5,000 Marines to a region where the U.S. already has 50,000 troops. Source: AP