The Trump administration is reportedly considering several options for a massive escalation of its unlawful war on Iran, heightening fears that US troops – possibly as early as Friday or the weekend – could be hurled into a deadly quagmire with no clear objective, legal rationale or exit strategy.
Axios reported that among the options the Pentagon is considering are “invading or blockading” Kharg Island – Iran’s primary oil export hub – and sending American forces “deep inside the interior of Iran” in an effort to seize the country’s enriched uranium. The reporting indicates that the administration views the options as a “final blow” against Iran, despite US President Donald Trump’s public claim that the war has already been won decisively.
The new reporting marked just the latest signal that the Trump administration could be readying a ground invasion, which – like the ongoing bombing campaign across Iran – has not been approved by the US Congress and would be deeply unpopular with the American public.
The US and Iran have both put forth demands for a diplomatic resolution, but Iranian officials have said there are no active negotiations with the Trump administration, contrary to the president’s claim earlier this week.
Brandan Buck, a research fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute who has criticized the war from the start, warned in a recent blog post that “any serious American invasion of Iran would likely rival or exceed the scale of Vietnam or the 1991 Gulf War, making it the largest US military undertaking since the Second World War.”
“Looking to the invasion of Iraq in 2003, a similar invasion of Iran, given its population size, would require as many as 1.6 million troops,” Buck noted. “Trump’s ill-considered decision to launch the war, coupled with his vague-but-ambitious goals, has made this impossible scenario a military possibility. Given the horrific costs such an invasion would entail, however, Trump should choose a different path: declare ‘victory’ and de-escalate.”
Fears of an imminent ground invasion have spread to Republicans who were otherwise supportive of the Trump administration’s decision to attack Iran. Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC), who earlier this month voted against a resolution that aimed to stop the war, wrote on social media Wednesday afternoon that she “will not support troops on the ground in Iran.”
Mace’s post came shortly after she left a closed-door House Armed Services Committee briefing on Iran. The Republican lawmaker said she was “even more” opposed to a ground invasion following Wednesday’s briefing.
“The justifications presented to the American public for the war in Iran were not the same military objectives we were briefed on today in the House Armed Services Committee,” Mace wrote in a separate post on Wednesday. “This gap is deeply troubling. The longer this war continues, the faster it will lose the support of Congress and the American people.”
Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), who celebrated the US-Israeli bombing of Iran when it kicked off last month, told reporters following Wednesday’s briefing – nearly a month into the war — that “we want to know more about what’s going on, what the options are, and why they’re being considered.”
Rogers noted that Trump “has a well-documented pattern of escalating on Friday night, after the markets close.”
House Democratic leaders, meanwhile, faced backlash for reportedly deciding to punt a vote on an Iran war powers resolution until at least mid-April, even amid mounting evidence that the Trump administration is barreling headlong toward an illegal and potentially catastrophic ground assault.
“Congress is in session until Friday, after which they will go on a two-week recess,” noted Nathan Thompson, senior policy adviser at Just Foreign Policy. “Trump has a well-documented pattern of escalating on Friday night, after the markets close. If House Democrats and [the House Foreign Affairs Committee] wait until after the recess, the damage could be done.”
The Pentagon earlier this week ordered roughly 2,000 soldiers from the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division to head to the Middle East. According to the US Central Command, more than 50,000 American troops are currently involved in the war on Iran.
During a briefing on Wednesday, a reporter noted to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt that the 82nd Airborne Division is “typically deployed at the beginning of conflicts.” In view of that, the reporter asked, “Does the White House consider this conflict as wrapping up, or is it changing shape?”
Leavitt responded that “the president likes to maintain options at his disposal.”
Drop Site’s Ryan Grim, citing an unnamed source, reported Thursday that “Naval Special Warfare teams were also given deployment orders yesterday, as well as a bunch of Tier 1 operators.”
Taken together, Grim argued, recent developments suggest that “all the pieces are in place for a ground operation within a day.”
Originally published by Common Dreams, this article is republished under a Creative Commons license.
The final blow belongs to Iran. You have nobody to blame but yourselves. Iran was a threat to nobody but has been subjected to atrocious abuses by the USA and that vile Talmudic abortion squatting on Palestine. Iran was negotiating in good faith but had nobody but your own greedy, corrupted selves to deal with and so now you started this, you fake Arab monarchies supported it and you’re all in bed together with the Kingdom of BAEL which is the best description I have for that apostate Talmudic state. The majority of the world’s people have seen through your masks and for us Iran is the champion of the hour which has arrived. I’m in Australia and already subjected to Zionist abuses and police corruption so I know first hand how far your evil influence has spread. Here you are also hated by and distrusted by most people and those who are yet to awaken will do so or in their turn will be swept away as humanity rises from this filthy quagmire of corruption and demonic abuses which are amply described and known to most through the Epstein files filth which yet escapes your grasp. Humanity has seen better days but its days are either at an end shortly or yours are.
The American savages think they are free. The Israeli yahoos think they are free. But that is not freedom. Theirs is irresponsible free dumb, so that they can wash themselves from accountability. That is not real freedom. The freedom to behave like a savage and yahoo is nothing worthy of emulation.
You can ignore reality but you cannot ignore the consequences of ignoring reality. And when the second and third order effects bite back, the blindspot in the Western Johari window will become apparent. Their Overton windows are as dumb as their policy-makers.
Iran has learnt something critical. It was sanctioned when it kept the Hormuz open. It was unsanctioned when it closed the strait. North Korea learnt something critical. It ditched talks with snakes and chose to keep its nuclear deterrent and it won independence. Russia and China also learnt something critical. The more sanctions that were applied turned to them, the more impervious they became to Western pressure.
This is the final final blow before next year’s final final blow. 🤣🤣🤣🤣 Chump likes his options of multiple blows and winnings
Trumpty Dumpty has the turd touch of the giant toad. All he touches turns to crap. The perfect leader for an abomination of an Empire. The Ginger Caligula is performing as I expected he would when I recognised him and became a supporter of his elections from afar. I’m Australian. That was in 2015 and now here we are, facing the ignominious end of the Empire of Lies. I couldn’t be more pleased to see it. Albeit humanity has some hard times ahead, inshallah now we can hope to see them without the millstone of the kingdom of BAEL and the Empire of lies dragging us down.