"Welcome To Hell": Iran Daily's "Coffin" Warning For Potential US Ground Invasion

The front page of Iran's English-language daily, the Tehran Times, today carries a warning to Washington under the headline "Welcome To Hell". It states that any US troops who set foot on Iranian soil will "leave only in a coffin". The warning comes as US media reported on Friday that the United States is considering the deployment of up to 10,000 additional troops to the Middle East. 

The move has fuelled speculation that Washington is preparing for the possibility of a ground operation inside Iran. The potential deployment would represent a major increase in America's military footprint in the region despite US President Donald Trump's repeated insistence that Tehran is engaged in peace talks with Washington aimed at ending the conflict.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the extra troops are intended to give Trump a wider range of military options in a Middle East that has been at war since US-Israeli strikes on Iran began on February 28. The reinforcements would join thousands of paratroopers and Marines who have already been sent to the area. An Iranian official said on Wednesday that Tehran would respond to any American ground invasion by activating its Houthi allies in Yemen. The Houthis would be instructed to resume attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, opening what the official described as a new front in the war.

Trump has consistently said he has no intention of committing ground troops to combat operations against Iran. It remains unclear exactly where the additional American forces would be based. The Wall Street Journal reported that they would most likely be positioned within striking distance of Iran itself and of Kharg Island, the vital oil-export terminal lying just off the Iranian coast.

In a separate development, Trump has postponed a deadline he had set for possible further strikes on Iran's energy infrastructure. He told reporters that negotiations to end the war were "going very well".

On the ground, Israel's military announced early on Friday that it had carried out a wide-scale wave of strikes against infrastructure belonging to what it called the "Iranian terror regime" in the heart of Tehran.Later the same day, the Israeli military renewed its attacks on Beirut's southern suburbs, saying it was targeting infrastructure used by Hezbollah. The Iran-backed Lebanese group responded by saying its forces had clashed directly with Israeli troops in southern Lebanon.