Middle East and North Africa

Welcome back to Foreign Policy’s Situation Report, where John is still recovering from the earth-shattering news that Mohamed Salah, aka the Egyptian king, is leaving Liverpool FC at the end of the season. That said, we’ve got even bigger global developments to tackle in this week’s edition.

Alright, here’s what’s on tap for the day: Trump mulls options for escalating the Iran war, Israel pushes the war to the Caspian Sea, and Trump reschedules his visit to China.

Welcome back to Foreign Policy’s Situation Report, where John is still recovering from the earth-shattering news that Mohamed Salah, aka the Egyptian king, is leaving Liverpool FC at the end of the season. That said, we’ve got even bigger global developments to tackle in this week’s edition.

Alright, here’s what’s on tap for the day: Trump mulls options for escalating the Iran war, Israel pushes the war to the Caspian Sea, and Trump reschedules his visit to China.

Nearly a month into the U.S.-Israel-Iran war, U.S. President Donald Trump appears to be seeking an off-ramp as he continues to face economic and political fallout over Tehran’s chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz. Though Trump has claimed the war is already won, he’s pushing for a deal to end the fighting, and on Thursday he postponed U.S. strikes on Iran’s energy infrastructure until April 6 to allow time for negotiations. But he’s still maintaining military pressure on Iran with continued strikes on other targets and the deployment of thousands of additional troops to the region.

A number of congressional lawmakers, including Republicans, have emerged from war briefings over the past few days and intimated that U.S. ground troops could soon be involved in the fight. They’ve also lamented that they’re not getting enough information from the Trump administration on its plans.

Here’s what we know about the troops being sent, the operations they could potentially be involved in, and why the deployments are tied to Iran’s apparent skepticism over U.S. diplomatic outreach.

Thousands of troops en route. Roughly 7,000 additional U.S. troops have been ordered to the region in recent days, including around 2,000 soldiers from the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division and nearly 5,000 Marines.

Roughly 2,200 Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit—along with the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli and the amphibious landing dock USS New Orleans—are expected to arrive in the region on Friday as part of this new deployment.

Overall, around 50,000 U.S. troops are already taking part in Operation Epic Fury—the Trump administration’s nickname for the war.

Menu of possible targets. Kharg Island, through which 90 percent of Iran’s crude oil exports flow, is widely considered to be at the top of the list of prospective targets for a U.S. ground operation. Iran has reportedly been building up defenses in and around Kharg as it braces for a possible U.S. ground........

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