{"id":205825,"date":"2026-03-30T03:02:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T03:02:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/iran-says-its-bracing-for-ground-assault-as-peace-talks-stumble-what-to-know-usa-today\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T03:02:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T03:02:32","slug":"iran-says-its-bracing-for-ground-assault-as-peace-talks-stumble-what-to-know-usa-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/iran-says-its-bracing-for-ground-assault-as-peace-talks-stumble-what-to-know-usa-today\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran says it's bracing for ground assault as peace talks stumble: What to know – USA Today"},"content":{"rendered":"

Regional powers in the Middle East are converging in Pakistan in efforts to scale down the expanding U.S.-Israel war with Iran after the country rejected President Donald Trump<\/a>‘s 15-point peace plan, and as thousands of American troops arrived in the region
While negotiations stumble, Iran’s parliamentary leader said the country is bracing for a possible U.S.-led ground assault. His comments came hours after\u00a0The Washington Post<\/a>\u00a0reported that the Pentagon is preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters on March 27 the United States will not need ground troops to win the war, but added that the military must also give the president “maximum opportunity” should things change.
Rubio added that the war will not be a prolonged conflict, echoing many administration officials over the past few weeks in promising a speedy end. The U.S.-Israel war with Iran, launched Feb. 28, is now in its fifth week.
Here’s what to know.
Iran’s speaker of the parliament, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, alleged in remarks published by Iranian state media on March 29 that the United States is secretly planning for a “ground attack,” even as American officials have pressed for negotiations.
“As long as the Americans seek\u00a0Iran’s surrender, our response is that we will never accept humiliation,” he said in a message to the nation.
The foreign ministers of Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Turkey are slated to meet in Islamabad on March 29 to discuss ways to halt the war, though it’s not clear if there will be any U.S. or Iranian representatives present.
The United States said last week it had offered a 15-point ceasefire plan<\/a> to\u00a0Iran, with a proposal to reopen waterways and restrict\u00a0Iran’s nuclear program. But Tehran has rejected the list and put forward proposals of its own.<\/a>
Trump has also in recent days threatened to hit\u00a0Iranian power stations and other energy infrastructure if\u00a0Iran\u00a0does not open the Strait of Hormuz, a critical passage for the world’s energy supply. After the stock market had its worst single day of the war on March 27, Trump announced an extension of his deadline for the strait to reopen, giving Iran another 10 days.
U.S. Central Command said in a post<\/a> on X on March 28 that 3,500 troops and the amphibious assault ship the USS Tripoli arrived in the Middle East region. The contingent includes sailors and Marines and strike fighter aircraft.
Yemen’s\u00a0Iran-aligned Houthis\u00a0have entered the conflict after launching missile and drone attacks on southern Israel on March 27 and 28. The group’s strikes open a new front in the war and raise the specter of further escalation and disruption in the Gulf.
As efforts to find a negotiated end to the war inched forward, Israel and Iran have traded consistent strikes over the weekend. Israel’s military said on March 29 its forces had targeted Tehran’s weapons manufacturing infrastructure, including dozens of storage and production sites the day before.
The\u00a0U.S.-based rights group\u00a0HRANA<\/a>\u00a0said\u00a0on March 28 it had recorded more than 700 attacks throughout Iran over the course of the day, calling it one of the deadliest 24-hour periods since the war began. The group, which collects open-source data, tracked the majority of the attacks in Tehran, and reported 24 civilians were killed and 88 injured.
Hundreds gathered in Beirut to mourn three Lebanese journalists killed in an Israeli airstrike on March 28. Lebanon’s Al Manar TV reported the three correspondents, one with the channel and two with broadcaster Al-Mayadeen, were killed while in a media vehicle. A Lebanese soldier was also killed.
Israel’s military alleged one of the journalists was part of a Hezbollah intelligence unit and accused him of reporting on the locations of Israeli soldiers.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies tally at least 1,900 people have been killed and 20,000 injured in Iran as of March 27, Reuters reported. HRANA puts the death toll<\/a> at 3,461, of which 1,208 are military fatalities and at least 1,551 are civilians. Another 702 are unclassified between civilian and military personnel.
Lebanon’s public health authorities said 1,142 people have been killed by Israeli strikes as of March 27, and 3,315 injured. It’s not clear if the death toll reported by Lebanese authorities includes Hezbollah fighters.
Iraqi health authorities said at least 100 people have been killed since the start of the crisis, Reuters reported. Missiles launched from Iran and Lebanon towards Israel have killed 19 people in the country, according to Israel’s ambulance service. The Israeli military said four of its soldiers were also killed in southern Lebanon.
The number of American service members wounded in the\u00a0Iran war\u00a0has grown beyond 300<\/a>, according to the Pentagon. The death toll remains at 13 service members killed.
More than two dozen have been killed across other nations and territories pulled into the regional crisis, including in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the West Bank and United Arab Emirates.
Contributing: Reuters.<\/em>
Kathryn Palmer is a politics reporter for USA TODAY. You can reach her at<\/em>kapalmer@usatoday.com<\/em><\/a> and on X @<\/em>KathrynPlmr<\/em><\/a>. Sign up for her daily politics newsletter<\/em>here<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Regional powers in the Middle East are converging in Pakistan in efforts to scale down the expanding U.S.-Israel war with Iran after the country rejected President Donald Trump‘s 15-point peace plan, and as thousands of American troops arrived in the regionWhile negotiations stumble, Iran’s parliamentary leader said the country is bracing for a possible U.S.-led […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":205826,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-205825","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-us","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=205825"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/205825\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/205826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=205825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=205825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=205825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}