FILE - Iran's Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, dressed in an IRGC uniform, chairs a session in Tehran. AFP
"We are closely monitoring all US movements in the region, especially troop deployments. What the generals have broken, the soldiers can't fix; instead, they will fall victim to (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu's delusions," said Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf in an X post in English.
"Do not test our resolve to defend our land."
Despite U.S. President Donald Trump's stated hopes for diplomacy, The Wall Street Journal reported that the United States is planning to send 3,000 soldiers from the elite 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East.
Trump's envoys were negotiating a nuclear deal with Iran just two days before the United States and Israel launched the massive attack on February 28, killing Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on the first day.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the additional 3,000 US soldiers would join thousands of Marines due to arrive in the Middle East by Friday, the latest deadline set by President Donald Trump for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz.
No decision has been made to put troops on the ground, the Journal reported, citing two US officials who said a written order on the deployment was expected in the coming hours.
However, the deployments mean units of the most battle-ready US ground troops will soon be in the region.
The 82nd Airborne Division can deploy anywhere in the world within 18 hours and specialises in "forcible entry parachute assaults" that clear the way for follow-on military action, according to its website.
The New York Times was the first to report on Monday that senior military officials were weighing a possible deployment of a combat brigade from the 82nd Airborne and some of its planning and logistics staff to the ongoing US-Israel war against Iran.
Those soldiers or members of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit already en route "could be used to seize Kharg Island," Iran's oil export hub, the Times said.
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