The Pentagon is looking at sending up to 10,000 additional ground troops to the Middle East, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday night, citing Department of Defense officials with knowledge of the planning.
The move would give US President Donald Trump more military options even as he weighs peace talks with Tehran.
The force, which would likely include infantry and armored vehicles, would be added to the roughly 5,000 Marines and the thousands of paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division who have already been deployed to the Middle East as Operation Epic Fury against Iran continues.
The report comes after Trump announced on Thursday that he would be pausing planned strikes on Iranian energy infrastructure for another 10 days as negotiations continue, setting a new deadline of April 6.
"As per Iranian Government request, please let this statement serve to represent that I am pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 Days to Monday, April 6, 2026, at 8 P.M., Eastern Time," Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
Speaking about the decision in an interview with Fox News later on Thursday, Trump said Iranian officials had requested more time through intermediaries ahead of a potential escalation, and that he agreed to extend a deadline from seven to 10 days.
“They asked for seven, and I gave them 10," he said, adding that talks were ongoing and “going fairly well."
Trump warned that if Iran failed to meet US demands, Washington could target additional infrastructure, including power plants.
He further told Fox News that the United States “knocked out" most of Iran’s missile capabilities and key military systems during the strikes.
Earlier on Thursday, Trump commented on the progress of Operation Epic Fury at a cabinet meeting, saying, "Over the past three weeks, we’ve been hitting Iran's military capabilities at a level that few people have ever seen before. It's a display of force and precision and skill like nothing the world has really witnessed."
"We're crushing their missile and drone stockpiles, destroying their defense industrial base, we've wiped out their navy completely, their air force completely. We've wiped out a large percentage of their missiles and missile launchers. Without the launchers, the missiles don't do any good. We've wiped out probably close to 90 percent of the launchers [and] probably, more than 90 percent of the missiles themselves," he added. "We've also destroyed a lot of the factories where they manufactured the drones and the missiles."
Trump further stated that Iran is "begging to make a deal, not me. They're begging to make a deal. And anyone who saw what was happening over there would understand why they want to make a deal."