As Trump pushes for talks, US troop moves signal potential Iran war escalation
he Pentagon has dispatched the amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli and thousands of Marines to the region.
Photo: Reuters Even as Donald Trump pushes for talks to end the war against Iran, the US has ordered thousands of troops to the region, fuelling fears that the president is gearing up for exactly the sort of risky ground invasion that he once campaigned against.
Iran has publicly rejected Trump’s diplomatic outreach and threatened massive retaliation if the US does put boots on the ground in a bid to break Tehran’s will.
For a president who faulted his predecessors’ so-called forever wars, the potential escalation scenarios bear the prospect of major casualties.
Current and former military officials and analysts envision three possibilities for US troops, none of them easy: occupy the Iranian oil nexus of Kharg Island, help in an operation to capture Iran’s nuclear material, or deploy along Iran’s coast to break the regime’s chokehold over the Strait of Hormuz. “All feel less than 50-50 to me at the moment but that could change,” said Michael O’Hanlon, who specialises in defence strategy at the Brookings Institution think tank. “Each is very risky.” US President Donald Trump on Wednesday.
Photo: Reuters Some Trump allies including his former Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg and Republican Senator Lindsey Graham have touted troop deployments on Iranian soil as a necessary way of forcing Tehran to capitulate.
Yet the regime has warned of even greater retaliation if the US goes ahead with that plan, and opposition has grown among Republicans, as well as Democrats, about the dangers involved.
Among the concerns: any US troops who deploy would be poorly equipped to defend themselves against a drone-saturated battlescape fundamentally different from past conflicts.
Iran has vowed massive retaliation and to lay naval mines across the Persian Gulf.
Casualties could far surpass the 13 American servicemembers killed so far. “Let me repeat: I will not support troops on the ground in Iran,” Republican congresswoman Nancy Mace said on social media. “Washington’s war machine is hard at work,” she wrote, adding the administration is trying to “drag us into Iran to make it another Iraq.
We can’t let them.” While Trump has not announced his plans, people familiar with the matter said in recent days the Pentagon ordered the deployment of two Marine Expeditionary Units - made up with about 5,000 troops along with aircraft and amphibious landing vehicles - to the re
原文链接: 南华早报