Trump Sends Special Operations Forces to Mideast Amid Iran Tensions

U.S. Special Operations Forces arrived in the Middle East without assigned roles as the Trump administration weighed deploying thousands more troops and debated options as provocative as securing Iran's stocks of highly enriched uranium, according to multiple sources.

A U.S. official and three people familiar with the matter said the administration was considering a significant military reinforcement in the region as the Iran war entered its third week. Options under discussion included securing safe passage for oil tankers through the now-closed Strait of Hormuz and establishing a U.S. military presence at Kharg Island. Administration officials had also discussed the possibility of deploying forces to secure Iran's highly enriched uranium stockpiles, one person familiar with the matter said.

Trump expressed concern about both the shuttered strait and Iran's store of enriched uranium. Securing tanker passage through the Strait of Hormuz would primarily require air and naval forces, sources said, but four sources, including two U.S. officials, added that the mission could also mean deploying troops directly to Iran's shoreline.

The prospect of approaching uranium stockpiles alarmed military experts. Securing those stocks would be "highly complex and risky, even for U.S. special operations forces," experts warned, a conclusion that pointed to the intelligence requirements, force protection challenges, and the number of potential dispersal sites involved.

None of the sources believed a deployment of ground forces anywhere inside Iran was imminent, and they declined to detail U.S. operational planning. The commandos already in the region had not been assigned specific roles, leaving them positioned for a range of contingencies as decision-makers in Washington debated next steps.

The domestic political calculus added another layer of complexity. Any ground troop deployment, even a limited one, carried significant political risk for Trump given low public support for the Iran campaign and his own pre-election pledges to avoid new Middle East entanglements. Deploying ground forces could anger parts of Trump's base, sources said, the same voters who backed his promise of fewer foreign wars.

The pre-positioned special operations forces, unassigned and waiting, reflected a White House still navigating between military pressure and political constraint.