As Trump pushes for talks, US troop moves signal potential Iran war escalation

Even as Donald Trump pushes for talks to end the war against Iran, the US has ordered thousands of troops to the region, fuelling fears that the American president is gearing up for exactly the sort of risky ground invasion that he once campaigned against.

Trump on Thursday warned Iran to “get serious soon” in talks to end the war, as he once again criticised Nato allies for not joining in the conflict.

Trump insisted Iran was actively talking with the United States on a deal to end the nearly four-week exchange of strikes, despite public denials from Iranian officials.

“The Iranian negotiators are very different and ‘strange’, he wrote in an early morning post on Truth Social.

“They are ‘begging’ us to make a deal, which they should be doing since they have been militarily obliterated, with zero chance of a comeback, and yet they publicly state that they are only ‘looking at our proposal.’ WRONG!!!”

Iran “better get serious soon, before it is too late”, he urged, “because once that happens, there is NO TURNING BACK, and it won’t be pretty!”