Troops on the ground by this weekend? This seems to be what Tehran wants, and Mark Halperin thinks it might happen. At the same time, Iran is escalating the war into Jordan and might be launching drones to deplete the US supply.
Battlefield successes are not being turned into long-term victories, says Eric Schmidt. That seems to be true. Mark Halperin spoke with Jonathan Swan about the Iran War. Swan seems to be on top of the issue and is very involved, but one caveat: he works with Maggie Haberman.
Halperin read from a remarkable comment by a senior Iranian official.
“They do have a big, a big problem winning this war now. … I want to show you a tweet from a senior Iranian official. …Here’s what this Iranian official said. I’m not going to try to pronounce his name, but he’s described here as a senior Iranian official. He says that if in the next two or three days the Americans continue the war, we will enter the phase of total attack and destruction. We will continue to attack the American troops and bases. The negotiations in the war are over. This is the part that’s new. There will even be challenges among between some Arab countries; there will be clashes between China and Taiwan; there will be clashes between Russia and Europe. There will even be fires all over the world, and we do not want this. But the Americans, as they have regionalized the war, unfortunately, are doing this all wrong.”
There are some people in the White House who are still hopeful, but not very, Swan indicates. As difficult as things are inside Iran, they won’t relent on control of the Strait or nuclear.
Halperin said, “Don’t be surprised if there are troops on the ground by the weekend.”
Who makes the decision?
Swan said there are about eight people involved in decision-making in this war. Secretary Rubio has not been very involved. Swan thinks there are people who should be trusted and are not in the circle to the administration’s detriment.
“I wouldn’t say there are big divisions between Vance, Whitkoff, and Kushner,” Swan said, “I do think Hegseth is generally more hawkish than any of them, and — Caine is always modulated, he has to think about. I mean, so does Hegseth, but Caine is in touch with the combatant commanders.
They’ve raided UCOM. They’ve raided Indo-Pacific. You know, we have a real supply issue with long-range munitions, so he’s [Hegseth] thinking about all of that. But he’s obviously, his history is much more hawkish than any of those three.”
Regarding American troops and Iran, “don’t be surprised if there are boots on the ground this weekend. On an island,” said @MarkHalperin to @JonathanVSwan on Friday evening’s 2WAY TONIGHT. Said Jonathan, “I will be very surprised. Like my head will fall off.” To which Mark… pic.twitter.com/jXwZSakhrl
— 2WAY (@2waytvapp) July 18, 2026
Iran’s Dangerous Escalation
Another attack this morning as CENTCom ended its seventh day straight of bombardment.
🇯🇴🇮🇷 A fresh attack from Iran has reportedly hit a U.S base in Jordan
It comes hours after their overnight attack on Jordan’s Muwaffaq Salti Airbase saw Patriot interceptors fail to stop missiles from hitting it
The airbase is a major staging post for the U.S Air Force in the… pic.twitter.com/4TIyK5ThDO
— Mario Nawfal (@MarioNawfal) July 18, 2026
The scariest theory about Iran’s Gulf barrages isn’t that they’re missing. It’s that the missing might be the point.
Watch the pattern rather than the damage reports.
- Iran keeps sending waves of missiles and drones at the same American-hosted bases in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, and Jordan, night after night.
- Most get intercepted.
- That looks like a failure until you count what the intercepting costs.
- Every Patriot fired to down a cheap drone burns a million-dollar interceptor that takes years to replace.
- The U.S. can’t produce them fast enough even for Ukraine. Iran’s drones are cheap, and its missile stockpile is deep.
- So each “successful” defense drains a magazine that cannot be refilled at the speed it’s being emptied.
That’s the attrition logic. Exhaust the shield with volume; then the wave that matters arrives against thinner defenses.
Whether Iran is actually running this playbook is unconfirmed, but the math explains why every intercepted salvo isn’t quite the win it appears to be. Source: AP, CBS,WSJ / Writer: Daniel
The previous assault
Prior to this, Iran launched ballistic missiles targeting U.S. and allied military facilities in Jordan, including strikes on the Prince Hassan Air Base and the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base. Iran claimed to have destroyed command and control centers and drone hangars, though Jordan’s air defenses intercepted the majority of the missiles, with no casualties reported. Some US military personnel were reportedly injured, according to CBS News.
The Jordanian government strongly condemned the Iranian attacks, calling them a brutal escalation, a violation of national sovereignty, and a gross breach of the UN charter.
Tehran has explicitly claimed to target US military installations at facilities such as the Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Al-Azraq and the Prince Hassan Air Base. However, Jordanian military officials maintain that these attacks were aimed at purely Jordanian sovereign territory and deny hosting US military strike operations against Iran.
Iran is willing to start a large-scale war.
How does the US get out of this war? The 2-to 4-week war didn’t work.
