Back in the Middle East, the New York Times reports that, quote, Iran said on Friday that it had warned three ships not to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, a day after Mr. Trump extended a U.S. deadline for Tehran to reopen the waterway.

And as much as Donald Trump has been talking about striking a peace deal, and his reporting suggests he wants to end the war,

Department of defense officials

tell the Wall Street Journal that, quote, the Pentagon is looking at sending up to 10,000

additional ground troops to the Middle East to give the president more military options.

The force, which would likely include infantry and armored vehicles, would be added to the

roughly 5,000 Marines and the thousands of

paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division who have already been ordered to the region.

It is unclear where precisely forces will go in the Middle East, but they will likely be within

striking distance of Iran and Clark Island, a crucial oil export hub off Iran's coast.

Mixed messages from the Trump administration as the war rages on.

Why would he send them if he did not plan to use them?

That's a more credible force for some types of operation,

seizing Carg Island, for example.

Maybe doing some raids or some smaller operations in the vicinity of the strait itself.

It's not a force that's going to invade Iran and try to overrun the country.

You'd have to have a force several times, at least bigger than that to do that.

So it does increase the options the administration has, but they're not very good options.

Iran is fighting an asymmetric fight. The cyber attack you just talked about is a piece of that.

Closing of those strategies of her moves, which I don't think this force can fundamentally reverse,

is another part of it. So we're in a type of conflict that for reasons to mystify me,

the administration did not anticipate, did not prepare for, and did not think through the

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