Quill Lawrence

90% of Iran's oil comes out of there.

President Trump has said to have a particular interest in Karga Island going back decades.

The U.S.

has already bombed it during this war, but they say they avoided oil infrastructure.

But again, sending these troops, it could all be a negotiating tactic.

Yeah, I mean, I can see why our listeners might be confused by this.

It's a mixed message.

I mean, NPR has confirmed that there are at least back channel efforts through third countries to open up a dialogue.

President Trump says he's already talking with Iran, but the Iranians deny that.

Now, having thousands of ground troops could make it a more credible threat in any negotiations to pressure the Iranian regime, that there is some threat of direct regime change or seizure of the nuclear material.

This is all speculation.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth has said in blunt terms that the U.S.

won't get into some sort of prolonged quagmire like Iraq and Afghanistan.

And Iran is still far from that, you know, a decades-long conflict with hundreds of thousands of U.S.

troops and thousands of American troops killed in action.

So far, you know, Iranian casualties have been massive and the destruction there has been massive.

But U.S.

casualties have been low.

The U.S.

could still, you know, sail and fly away.