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Iran is stepping up military preparations as the risk of a ground operation on its territory rises, reinforcing defenses around key energy infrastructure while signaling a broader escalation across the Gulf, according to Wall Street Journal.
The moves follow orders from U.S. President Donald Trump to deploy thousands of Marines and Airborne troops to the region. While Trump has not confirmed plans for a ground assault, the buildup is expanding Washington’s options and prompting a more aggressive response from Tehran.

In a post on Truth Social on Friday, Trump said on Friday that the U.S. could reopen the Strait of Hormuz with more time, as pressure grows on his administration to bring a swift end to the war with Iran.

“With a little more time, we can easily OPEN THE HORMUZ STRAIT, TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.

Nearly five weeks after the conflict began with a joint U.S.-Israeli aerial assault, the war continues to destabilize the region and rattle financial markets, intensifying calls for a resolution.

Iran preparing for U.S. ground invasion
According to WSJ, Iran is fortifying Kharg Island, its main oil export hub, widely seen as a potential focal point in any ground conflict. The country is boosting missile defenses, the report added, laying coastal mines and preparing facilities for possible attacks.



Hakan demir , 27 Mar 2026 Cum, 18:10 tarihinde şunu yazdı:

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The European Central Bank should not rush to raise rates in response to surging energy costs, as its "baseline" outlook remains intact and there is no sign yet that inflation is becoming entrenched, Cypriot central bank chief Christodoulos Patsalides said.

With energy prices surging on the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran, euro zone inflation is set to breach the ECB’s 2% target as early as this month, prompting policymakers to debate whether to raise interest rates to head off second-round effects.

Patsalides, who sits on the ECB’s rate-setting Governing Council, said he would not hesitate to raise rates if he saw evidence that inflation was getting entrenched in the 21-nation bloc, but added there was no such evidence yet.

"We don’t have sufficient information to make a decision as to whether this should be looked through or whether we should be making a decision on interest rates," Patsalides said in an interview. "I would not rush into any decision."

Under the ECB’s baseline view, inflation tops 3% in the second quarter before returning to target a year later, but adverse scenarios show deeper and longer-lasting overshoots.

"I think we are still along the baseline," Patsalides argued. "Only two weeks have passed since the cutoff date of the projections, and we haven’t seen anything that points to a change in either the duration or the intensity of the war."

RATE HIKE NEEDS MORE EVIDENCE

Markets now price in three ECB rate hikes this year, starting as early as April or June, but expectations are volatile and prone to sharp shifts as the war evolves.

The head of the World Trade Organization said that she agreed with U.S. calls for reform of the global trading system ahead of a major meeting of the trade watchdog in Cameroon next month.

Last year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing tariffs ranging from 10% to 41% on U.S. imports from dozens of countries and foreign locations. The U.S. Supreme Court is due to rule on their legality.

"We may not like the action (U.S. tariffs), but we must take the signal that we need to reform many of the things with the world trading system," Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told the Munich Security Conference on Friday.

"The system is resilient, but it’s not robust, so we need to make it robust by doing the necessary reforms, and that is what we’re working on at the WTO," she said, without giving specifics on what needed to change.

She called for an end to "lamentations" about U.S. trade policy and urged Europe and middle powers to show leadership.