Senior U.S. military officials are considering deploying thousands of ground troops to support operations in Iran, including a possible assault on Kharg Island, the country’s primary oil export terminal, defense officials cited by the Wall Street Journal said.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive planning, described the deliberations as prudent contingency work and stressed that no deployment order has been issued by the Pentagon or U.S. Central Command, which declined to comment.

At the center of the planning is the 82nd Airborne Division’s “Immediate Response Force,” a combat brigade of roughly 3,000 soldiers based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, capable of deploying anywhere in the world within 18 hours. Officials are also considering an assault by approximately 2,500 troops from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, currently en route to the region.

The two options reflect different tactical tradeoffs. Kharg Island’s airfield was damaged in recent U.S. bombing raids, making a Marine-first approach more attractive in the initial phase — combat engineers embedded with Marine units could rapidly repair the runway and other infrastructure, allowing the Air Force to begin flowing supplies and reinforcements via C-130s. Paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne could then augment or relieve the Marines once the airfield is operational.

The airborne option offers speed — paratroopers can arrive overnight — but comes with a significant vulnerability: the 82nd deploys without heavy armored vehicles, leaving troops exposed if Iranian forces mount a counterattack. The Marines, conversely, bring more firepower but lack the sustainment capacity for a prolonged hold. Current and former officials described a combined approach — Marines securing the island, paratroopers relieving them — as one scenario under active consideration.

In addition to the combat brigade, officials are weighing the deployment of elements of the 82nd Airborne’s divisional headquarters staff to serve as a subordinate command element for mission planning and coordination in what officials described as an increasingly complex operational environment.

Signs of preparation have already emerged. In early March, the Army abruptly pulled the division’s 300-member headquarters from a scheduled exercise at the Joint Readiness Training Center at Fort Polk, Louisiana. Army officials said the decision was made to keep the command element at Fort Bragg in case the Pentagon ordered a rapid deployment to the Middle East, not wanting the headquarters caught out of position if orders came through.

The 82nd Airborne’s ready brigade has been called up repeatedly in recent years for rapid-response missions, including to Baghdad in January 2020 following the attack on the U.S. Embassy, to Kabul in August 2021 to support the Afghanistan evacuation, and to Eastern Europe in 2022 in connection with operations related to the war in Ukraine.

Kharg Island handles the overwhelming majority of Iran’s crude oil exports. Its seizure would represent a significant escalation of the conflict and a severe economic blow to Tehran, a pressure point that U.S. planners appear to be actively gaming out as Operation Epic Fury enters its fifth week.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)