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.
Even as Donald Trump pushes for talks to end the war against Iran, the US has ordered thousands of troops to the region, fueling 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.
