A ground invasion of Iran is not off the table.
US President Donald Trump said he is not ruling out sending American ground troops into Iran “if they were necessary”. Speaking to the New York Post on Monday, he also declared “I don’t care about polling” after launching strikes in Iran on Saturday – a move initial polls suggested was unpopular with Americans.
Trump told the outlet he believes that he did “the right thing” as he argued that allowing “crazy people” to acquire a nuclear weapon would have been worse than triggering a regional conflict.
“I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground – like every president says, ‘There will be no boots on the ground.’ I don’t say it,” he said. “I say ‘probably don’t need them,’ [or] ‘if they were necessary’.”
A Reuters/Ipsos poll conducted on Saturday and Sunday found that just 27 per cent of Americans approved of the strikes, while 43 per cent disapproved and 29 per cent were unsure.
“I think that the polling is very good, but I don’t care about polling. I have to do the right thing. I have to do the right thing. This should have been done a long time ago,” Trump said. “It’s not a question of polling. You cannot let Iran, who’s a nation that has been run by crazy people, have a nuclear weapon.”
“I think people are very impressed with what is happening, actually,” Trump insisted. “I think it’s a silent — if you did a real poll, the silent poll – and it’s like a silent majority.”
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