In a major move, US President Donald Trump on Tuesday ordered around 2,000 paratroopers to be sent to the Middle East even as he mulls peace talks with Iran. The 82nd Airborne Division has been ordered to the conflict zone for possible ground invasion, according to reports.
This comes as the USS Tripoli, carrying 2,000 Marines, will arrive in the Middle Eastern waters within a day or two. This will be followed by the US Navy’s Amphibious Assault Group led by USS Boxer, carrying additional Marines and helicopters from Camp Pendleton in San Diego. There are also open source reports that dozens of transport aircraft used to ferry troops and cargo have been flying out of airfields used by America’s most elite commandos, including the Army’s Delta Force and the Navy’s SEAL Team 6.
As for the paratroopers, they belong to the Division’s “Immediate Response Force,” a brigade of about 3,000 soldiers capable of deploying anywhere in the world within 18 hours. The contingent is led by Maj. Gen. Brandon R. Tegtmeier and each have about 800 soldiers. More of the brigade’s soldiers could be sent in the coming days, the officials said.
While it is unclear where the paratroopers will be deployed, reports indicate that they will be within the striking distance of Iran. Their mission could be a ground invasion, possibly Iran’s “oil hub” Kharg Island or even to secure the country’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
“Adding the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit (11th MEU) tells me that there’s something bigger afoot happening,” Michael Patrick Mulroy, the former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for the Middle East, told TIME Magazine. “To me, it indicates that somebody's planning to do something with these units, and they need them both,” he added.
Marines are no ordinary troopers and are the ones who lead in ground invasion. The unit consists of ground combat units with hundreds of infantry troops, armed vehicles and artillery, helicopters and attack jets, a logistics combat element, and a command team. It was the Marines who led the invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003.
If the Marines take over Kharg Island, they are likely to undertake repair works of the Kharg Island airport, which was damaged in the recent US strikes. Once the airfield is repaired, the Air Force could start sending in matériel and troops, if necessary, by C-130 cargo planes.
In that scenario, it is possible that the troops from the 82nd Airborne would augment the Marines, according to The New York Times.
