{"id":2021,"date":"2026-03-20T11:48:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T11:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/?p=2021"},"modified":"2026-03-21T12:30:52","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T12:30:52","slug":"netanyahu-calls-for-boots-on-the-ground-in-iran-as-missile-exchanges-continue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/2026\/03\/20\/netanyahu-calls-for-boots-on-the-ground-in-iran-as-missile-exchanges-continue\/","title":{"rendered":"Netanyahu calls for &#8216;boots on the ground&#8217; in Iran as missile exchanges continue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Israel&#8217;s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in a press conference yesterday, called for the presence of troops in Iran, a move that is likely to escalate the war, launched by the Zionist state and its United States ally, to a new level.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"683\" src=\"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AA-20260314-40824601-40824582-PROTESTERS_RALLY_AGAINST_US_AND_ISRAELI_STRIKES_ON_IRAN_IN_TEL_AVIV-1024x683.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2049\" style=\"aspect-ratio:1.4993346407059813;width:420px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AA-20260314-40824601-40824582-PROTESTERS_RALLY_AGAINST_US_AND_ISRAELI_STRIKES_ON_IRAN_IN_TEL_AVIV-1024x683.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AA-20260314-40824601-40824582-PROTESTERS_RALLY_AGAINST_US_AND_ISRAELI_STRIKES_ON_IRAN_IN_TEL_AVIV-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AA-20260314-40824601-40824582-PROTESTERS_RALLY_AGAINST_US_AND_ISRAELI_STRIKES_ON_IRAN_IN_TEL_AVIV-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AA-20260314-40824601-40824582-PROTESTERS_RALLY_AGAINST_US_AND_ISRAELI_STRIKES_ON_IRAN_IN_TEL_AVIV-630x420.jpg 630w, https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AA-20260314-40824601-40824582-PROTESTERS_RALLY_AGAINST_US_AND_ISRAELI_STRIKES_ON_IRAN_IN_TEL_AVIV-150x100.jpg 150w, https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AA-20260314-40824601-40824582-PROTESTERS_RALLY_AGAINST_US_AND_ISRAELI_STRIKES_ON_IRAN_IN_TEL_AVIV-696x464.jpg 696w, https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AA-20260314-40824601-40824582-PROTESTERS_RALLY_AGAINST_US_AND_ISRAELI_STRIKES_ON_IRAN_IN_TEL_AVIV-1068x712.jpg 1068w, https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/AA-20260314-40824601-40824582-PROTESTERS_RALLY_AGAINST_US_AND_ISRAELI_STRIKES_ON_IRAN_IN_TEL_AVIV.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Israeli protestors gather at Habima Square to protest US and Israeli strikes on Iran and call for an end to the war in the region in Tel Aviv, Israel on March 14, 2026.-AA<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><br>Meanwhile, as Muslims in the Middle East mark Eid al-Fitr and the end of the holy month of Ramadan, missile exchanges between the warring parties continue unabated.<br>Israeli airstrikes hit Tehran on Friday as Iranians also marked Nowruz (the Persian New Year). Strikes were heard around Iran\u2019s capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Overnight, Iran launched rounds of missiles at Jerusalem.<br>Kuwait&#8217;s state-owned oil company confirmed its oil refinery had been hit by an Iranian drone. The UAE&#8217;s Ministry of Defence said Friday it was responding to incoming threats from Iran and warned residents about interceptors taking out incoming missiles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Saudi Arabia&#8217;s Ministry of Defence reported the interception and destruction of several drones in the Gulf region of the country. Bahrain&#8217;s government asked residents to go to the nearest shelters after falling shrapnel set fire to a building.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Meanwhile, Qatar&#8217;s energy minister confirmed that Iran&#8217;s attack on its Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas facility (LNG) would cost 20 billion US dollars and take years to repair.<br>The attacks occurred a day after Israel pledged to refrain from more strikes on a key Iranian gas field, and Iran intensified attacks on oil and natural gas facilities around the Gulf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed alignleft is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\u201cThere has to be a ground component.\u201d <br><br>Addressing Israelis and foreign media, PM Netanyahu claimed to have made significant progress in 20 days of war on Iran but indicated more is to come. <br><br>Al Jazeera\u2019s Rob McBride unpacks what he said. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/rMrHV2IQNF\">pic.twitter.com\/rMrHV2IQNF<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AJEnglish\/status\/2034848657212625147?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 20, 2026<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Netanyahu, at the press conference, suggested the need for a &#8220;ground component&#8221; in the war on Iran and said &#8216;you can&#8217;t do revolutions from the air&#8221;.<br>The Guardian reported that Netanyahu denied that Donald Trump was \u201cdragged\u201d into the war by Israel amid growing signs that the US and Israel were not aligned on their war aims.<br>\u201cDoes anyone really think that someone can tell President Trump what to do?\u201d the Israeli prime minister said, adding: \u201cI misled no one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Netanyahu also stated that Israel \u201cacted alone\u201d in striking Iran\u2019s South Pars gas field, though he didn\u2019t address whether or not he had told Trump about the attack beforehand. \u201cPresident Trump asked us to hold off on future attacks, and we\u2019re holding out,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> Trump has distanced himself from Israel\u2019s attack on the world\u2019s largest gasfield (which he claimed on Wednesday that Washington \u201cknew nothing\u201d about), and confirmed today that he told Netanyahu to stop attacking Iran\u2019s energy facilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><br>Iranian officials said the country would not hesitate to hit back if its energy facilities were attacked again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Israel&#8217;s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, in a press conference yesterday, called for the presence of troops in Iran, a move that is likely to escalate the war, launched by the Zionist state and its United States ally, to a new level. Meanwhile, as Muslims in the Middle East mark Eid al-Fitr and the end of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2053,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[140,205,168],"tags":[306,65,262,18],"class_list":{"0":"post-2021","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-must-reads","8":"category-secondary-story","9":"category-world","10":"tag-benjamin-netanyahu","11":"tag-iran","12":"tag-olivenewsnetwork","13":"tag-zionist"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2021"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2050,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2021\/revisions\/2050"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2021"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2021"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olivenewsnetwork.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2021"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}