Trump says deploying ground troops to Iran would be a waste of time

Donald Trump said Thursday that considering the deployment of US ground troops to Iran at this stage would be a “waste of time,” dismissing a warning from Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi that such a move would spell disaster for invading forces, according to NBC News.

“It’s a waste of time. They’ve lost everything. They’ve lost their navy. They’ve lost everything they can lose,” Trump said in a telephone interview with NBC. He also described Araghchi’s earlier comment that Iran was ready for a US or Israeli ground invasion as a “wasted comment.”

Trump further indicated that he favored removing Iran’s current leadership structure, saying, “We want to go in and clean out everything” quickly. He added that Washington would not want a situation where someone could rebuild power over a decade.

“We don’t want someone who would rebuild over a 10-year period,” he said, noting that he had ideas about a potential new leader for Iran but declining to name anyone.

Trump had earlier said he would “have to be involved” in selecting Iran’s next leader after US-Israeli strikes killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei when the conflict began on Saturday.

Heavy attacks were reported in Tehran on Friday after Israel said it was targeting “regime infrastructure” in what it described as a new phase of the war launched with the United States against Iran.