live US Considers Sending Up To 10,000 Additional Troops To Middle East: WSJ

PARIS -- US Secretary of State Marco Rubio arrived in France early on March 27, joining G7 foreign ministers and allied representatives who have already gathered for the second day of a high-stakes meeting overshadowed by tensions over Iran, Ukraine, and global security.

Rubio is set to attend formal sessions of the G7 Foreign Affairs Ministerial in Cernay-la-Ville, near Paris. This will be his first face-to-face engagement with key allies since President Donald Trump intensified Washington’s messaging on Iran.

The gathering, hosted nearby in the Vaux-de-Cernay Abbey under France’s rotating G7 presidency, brings together top diplomats from Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Canada, the European Union, and Japan, along with guest countries, including Ukraine.

Ahead of his departure for Paris on March 26, Rubio signaled that a central message for allies would be the urgency of reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global transit route effectively blocked by Iran.

“It’s in their interest to help,” Rubio told reporters.

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Two Israeli soldiers -- both aged 21 -- were killed in Lebanon, the Israeli military said on March 26.

The deaths bring the number of Israeli troops killed in the recently launched ground operations in southern Lebanon to four, according to military figures.

Israeli media reported that one of the soldiers was killed in a rocket attack by the Iran-backed Hezbollah militia. The second soldier was killed in an exchange of fire with fighters from the Shi'ite group, local media reported.

Meanwhile, security sources said an Israeli air strike with three missiles targeted a building in Beirut's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.

With reporting by dpa and Reuters

The Pentagon is considering sending up to 10,000 additional ground troops to the Middle East to give US President Donald Trump more military options, even as he is pushing a 15-point peace plan that has been delivered to the regime in Tehran, The Wall Street Journal reported on March 26.

The WSJ cited Defense Department officials with knowledge of the planning as saying the force would be in addition to the approximately 5,000 Marines and the thousands of elite paratroopers of the 82nd Airborne Division who have already been ordered to the region.

The report said it was not yet clear where in the region the forces would go, but it said they would likely be within striking distance of Iran and Kharg Island, a crucial oil export hub off Iran’s coast.

Some observers have speculated that the Trump could order US forces to seize the island as part of efforts to secure shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely blocked by Iran.

“All announcements regarding troop deployments will come from the Department of War. As we have said, President Trump always has all military options at his disposal,” Anna Kelly, deputy White House press secretary, was quoted by the WSJ as saying.

A spokesperson for US Central Command, which is responsible for American forces in the Middle East, declined to comment, the report said.

Iran's Sports Ministry has banned national and club sports teams ⁠from playing in countries ‌it deems hostile to the Islamic republic, Iranian media reported on March 26.

The ministry said the move was due to concerns over the safety of its athletes amid the US-Israeli war with Iran that has spread to other parts of the region.

"The presence of national and club teams in countries considered hostile and unable to ensure the security of Iranian athletes and team members is prohibited ⁠until further notice," the ministry ‌said.

Iran's soccer team has qualified for this year's World Cup, which is being jointly hosted by the United States. Canada, and Mexico. However, its participation in the world's most popular sporting event has been in doubt since the conflict with US and Israeli air strikes began on February 28.

US President Donald Trump has said that while Iran's team was welcome to play in the United States, it might not be appropriate for their "life and ⁠safety."

Iran's football federation is in talks with FIFA, ‌soccer's governing body, about moving its World Cup matches to Mexico from the US venues at which it is scheduled to play. The possibilities of such a switch have been played down by World Cup officials so far.

The Iranian national team is currently in Turkey preparing for exhibition matches, called "friendlies," against Nigeria on March 27 and Costa Rica on March 31.

With reporting by Reuters

US ⁠Secretary ⁠of ‌State Marco Rubio on March 26 held a phone conversation with Iraqi Kurdistan ⁠Regional Government Prime Minister Masrour Barzani, the ⁠State Department ‌said, adding that he offered condolences to families of Kurdish Peshmerga fighters killed in an Iranian missile attack.

A statement said Rubio expressed his "gratitude" to Kurdish authorities for enabling oil from Iraq, including from Iraq's Kurdistan, ‌to reach global markets.

He "offered his condolences to the families of the Peshmerga killed in an Iranian missile attack on March 24 and wished a speedy recovery to those injured."

"The secretary strongly condemned the continued attacks by Iran and Iran-aligned Iraqi terrorist militias against US citizens and energy infrastructure across Iraq," he added.

Masrour Barzani is son of the powerful Kurdish figure of Masud Barzani, leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) since 1979.

The Pentagon has for the first time acknowledged deploying uncrewed drone speedboats for patrols as part of its campaign against Iran, Reuters reported on March 26.

The use of the vessels -- which are suitable for surveillance or kamikaze strikes -- has not been previously reported.

Uncrewed, explosive-laden speedboats were used by Ukraine to ⁠inflict significant damage on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet.

Tim Hawkins, a Pentagon spokesman for the US Central Command, told Reuters that unmanned vessels built by Maryland-based BlackSea, known as the Global Autonomous Reconnaissance Craft, or GARC, had been used for patrols as part of the US campaign against Iran that began on February 28.

“US forces continue to employ unmanned systems in the Middle East region, including surface drone assets like the GARC. This platform, in particular, has successfully logged over 450 underway hours and more than 2,200 nautical miles during maritime patrols in support of Operation Epic Fury,” Hawkins said, referring to the US name for the air campaign against Iran.

Reuters reported that the United States has for years struggled to build a fleet of uncrewed surface and underwater vessels as an alternative to more expensive and slower manned ships and submarines.

The project has faced technical problems, cost concerns, and a ⁠series of testing setbacks, the report said.

The GARC is an angular speedboat about 5 ‌meters long.

“The GARC is an emerging capability and part ‌of a fleet of surface drones operated by US 5th Fleet to enhance awareness of what’s happening in regional waters,” Hawkins said.

US President Donald Trump has postponed threatened attacks on Iranian power plants for a second time, citing what he said was a request from Tehran.

"As per Iranian Government request…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 social media post on March 26.

On March 21, Trump said the United States would "obliterate" Iran's power plants if Tehran did not open the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial oil and gas transport channel that Iran has effectively blocked to most traffic amid the war with the United States and Israel, within 48 hours. He later extended the deadline until March 27.

"Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements ‌to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well," Trump said in the post on his platform Truth Social.

Senior Iranian officials have denied Tehran is in negotiations with Washington, but Iran said on March 25 that it was reviewing a 15-point US proposal and put forward what it said were five conditions that needed to be met in order for the conflict to end.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a surprise visit to Saudi Arabia on March 26 as the conflict in the Middle East was about to enter its second month.

"Important meetings are scheduled. We ‌appreciate the support and support those who are ready to work with ‌us to ensure ‌security," Zelenskyy wrote on X.

No details of Zelenskyy's visit were disclosed by the evening of March 26.

Since the start of the US-Israeli war with Iran on February 28, Kyiv has been offering its air-defense expertise and drone-interception technologies to the Gulf countries targeted by Iran, one of Russia's biggest allies, which supplied it with military equipment and technology, fueling Moscow's war effort against Ukraine.

In his comments last week, Zelenskyy said over 200 Ukrainian specialists were already working on the ground ‌in Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia to help them repel Iran's relentless drone attacks.

Referring to Ukraine's experience of being targeted by more than 57,000 Iranian-made drones over the last four years, Zelenskyy previously suggested that modern air defense is not complete without a combination of different technologies and not just expensive anti-missile systems alone.

European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas has called on the United States to "put pressure on Russia" to refrain from helping Iran wage war and launch attacks against Americans.

"We see that Russia is helping Iran by providing information to target Americans, to kill Americans, and also now supporting Iran with drones so that it can attack neighboring countries and also American military bases," Kallas told reporters on March 26 on the sidelines of a G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in France.

Several Western media outlets have reported that Russia has provided Iran with intelligence to help it target US military assets in the Middle East since the war began with US-Israeli air strikes on Iran on February 28. US officials confirmed this to RFE/RL following the initial report in the Washington Post.

On March 25, the Financial Times (FT) reported that Russia has been shipping drones to Iran, as well as medicine and food. The FT cited what it said were Western intelligence reports.

Russia's war against Ukraine and the war US-Israeli war with Iran "are closely linked," Kallas said.

“If America wants the war in the Middle East to stop and Iran to stop attacking them, it should also put pressure on Russia so that it cannot help Iran in this regard,” she said.

Kallas emphasized that the priority should be finding a way out of the conflict rather than escalating tensions in the Middle East.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff said on March 26 that the United States has presented Iran with a "15-point action list" as a basis for negotiations to end the current conflict, adding that there are signs that Tehran is interested in reaching an agreement.

This is the first time the Trump administration has officially confirmed the presentation of such a plan to Iran. There have been previous reports that Pakistan had presented it to Iranian officials.

"We will see where things lead, and if we can convince Iran that this is the inflection point with no good alternatives for them other than more death and destruction," Witkoff told reporters during a cabinet meeting at the White House.

"We have strong signs that this is a possibility," he added.

Witkoff also said that Pakistan acted as a mediator, confirming statements of Pakistani officials.