Marine unit being deployed to region

USA TODAY

Cybele Mayes-Osterman, Jeanine Santucci, Terry Collins and Michael Loria

The United States is sending a 2,500-strong Marine expeditionary force to the Middle East, a U.S. official said, as President Donald Trump declared he would end the war with Iran “when I feel it in my bones.”

The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told USA TODAY troops from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit have been ordered to the region. The 31st MEU is based in Okinawa, Japan. The Wall Street Journal first reported the deployment and said it would include the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli.

The Marine deployment signals deepening American involvement in the 2-week-old war and comes after U.S. Central Command confirmed the deaths of six U.S. troops when their refueling aircraft crashed over western Iraq.

The March 12 crash raised the total number of United States war dead to13. Officials initially believed that two members of the crew had survived.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told reporters that Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei was “wounded and likely disfigured” in air strikes on the war’s first day, and the average U.S. nationwide gas price hit $3.644 a gallon, with prices approaching $5 a gallon in some parts of the West.

More than 1,200 people have been killed in Iran under U.S. and Israeli air strikes, according to Iranian human rights organizations. In Lebanon, more than 600 have died in widening Israeli attacks on the militant group Hezbollah, displacing hundreds of thousands of people as explosions rocked Beirut’s densely packed city center.

Trump announced March 13 that U.S. military forces had struck Kharg Island, an Iranian island in the Persian Gulf that processes the majority of the country’s oil exports.

“The United States Central Command executed one of the most powerful bombing raids in the History of the Middle East, and totally obliterated every MILITARY target in Iran’s crown jewel, Kharg Island,” Trump said in a statement.

Trump said U.S. forces left the island’s oil infrastructure intact but gave the Iranians an ultimatum if the country continues its stranglehold on oil exports in the region.

“I have chosen NOT to wipe out the Oil Infrastructure on the Island,” the president said. “However, should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision.”

Trump’s war endgame shifting

Since the United States and Israel first attacked Iran on Feb. 28, Trump has floated several endgames, sometimes within the same day.

In a video address in the early morning hours of Feb. 28, Trump urged Iranians to seize “your only chance in generations” and “take over your

government.” But by the next day, he said Iran’s leaders “want to talk, and I have agreed to talk, so I will be talking to them,” he told The Atlantic.

Trump told Axios on March 5 that he must be personally involved in picking the country’s new leader. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed in the war’s first salvo and his son, Mojtaba Khamenei, has assumed leadership of the country.

In a post the next day, Trump said there would be no talks and demanded Iran’s “unconditional surrender.” Asked to elaborate, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later said Iran would not “come out and say that themselves,” and Trump would consider Tehran to have surrendered when the country no longer posed a threat.

By March 13, Trump had a new benchmark for the end of the war: “when I feel it in my bones,” he told Fox News.

“When it’s over, and I don’t think it’s going to be long, when it’s over, this is going to bounce back right back,”Trump said to Fox News host Brian Kilmeade, host of “The Brian Kilmeade Show.” “So fast.”

Trump also told Kilmeade that he believes Mojtaba Khamenei is alive, echoing comments by Hegseth to reporters earlier in the day.

“I think he probably is. I think he’s damaged, but I think he’s probably alive,” Trump said of Khamenei.“I believe he’s alive in some form, yeah.”

Trump went on to say that Iran is being hit “harder than anybody since World War II,” with more to come in the next few days.

Beirut swells with refugees

Israel destroyed a bridge in southern Lebanon on March 13 and dropped leaflets in Beirut threatening Gaza-scale devastation as it deployed more troops to fight Iran-backed Hezbollah and warned of more attacks on the country’s infrastructure.

As Israeli warplanes pounded Beirut’s suburbs with air strikes, Lebanon’s interior minister said authorities were unable to accommodate the hundreds of thousands of people who have sought refuge in the capital.

Israeli strikes have killed 773 people in Lebanon since March 2, Lebanon’s state news agency said March 13, citing the health ministry.

Israel launched its offensive against Hezbollah after it opened fire on March 2 to avenge the killing of Ali Khamenei.

Offices in Qatar evacuated

Qatari authorities evacuated parts of Doha’s Msheireb district, which includes government offices and a Google office, early on Saturday, witnesses said.

The witnesses also said authorities evacuated parts of Doha’s education city, which is home to branch campuses of six U.S. universities.

The evacuation orders come after Qatar’s interior ministry said authorities were evacuating a “number of specified areas as a temporary precautionary measure,” without providing details on the areas. It came about an hour before authorities reported missile interceptions in Qatar.

Contributing: Reuters