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By Ellie Cook
Senior Defense Reporter
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Former White House adviser Steve Bannon has warned that U.S. troops could be on the ground in Iran as the White House mulls whether to dramatically escalate the war with Tehran, now in its fifth week.
Thousands of Marines have just arrived in the Middle East, the U.S. military said this weekend, with more on the way, accompanied by elite U.S. Army paratroopers and ships carrying equipment for amphibious landings on Iranian shores.
The deployment of extra forces, specializing in quickly capturing chunks of territory and in raids, is widely seen as possible preparation for targeted operations on Iranian soil, including its islands in the Strait of Hormuz and Persian Gulf, rather than a full-scale invasion.
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President Donald Trump has said he is "not putting troops anywhere," but also told reporters he would not publicly disclose any future ground operations, should he greenlight U.S. boots hitting Iranian soil.
But the potential for deepening U.S. involvement in the Middle East has split Make America Great Again (MAGA) ranks, the prospect of more U.S. lives being lost in a foreign war conjuring the ghosts of the Iraq War and drawn-out fighting in Afghanistan.
Ground operations would almost certainly spell significantly more troop deaths, on top of the 13 U.S. service personnel already killed in the past month. At least 300 have been wounded.
"Your sons, daughters, granddaughters, grandsons could be on Kharg Island or be holding a beachhead down by the Strait of Hormuz," Bannon, a key architect of Trump's MAGA agenda, said during an appearance at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Grapevine, Texas, on Saturday.
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A beachhead is a military term used to describe a position secured onshore by troops who have landed from the sea. It’s the first foothold in enemy territory and the basis for a mission's next stage.
Trump, while insisting the U.S. is negotiating with Iran, has threatened attacks, saying the U.S. "can take out" Kharg Island "at any time."
The small island, sitting just 15 miles off the mainland, is crucial to Iran's already juddering economy, accounting for 90 percent of Tehran's oil exports. U.S. forces bombed it earlier this month, targeting naval mine sites.
Military experts also say U.S. troops could seize Qeshm Island, south of Kharg and one of a handful of islands in the Strait of Hormuz. Qeshm is thought to host anti-ship missile, mine and drone stockpiles in a vast underground network.
Seizing Iranian territory in the Strait of Hormuz or Persian Gulf could force Tehran to ease its chokehold on the waterway, a vital route through which 20 percent of the world's oil and gas ordinarily transits.
Since the start of U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran on February 28, one of Iran's most effective countermeasures has been to block tankers and cargo ships from safely passing through the strait.
Stymying normal flows through the strait has sent global oil and gas prices soaring, prompting concerns over fuel supplies and wreaking havoc on share markets. Tehran says ships not linked to the U.S., Israel or their allies can travel through unscathed.
Seizing Kharg Island would also give the U.S. control of Iran's all-important oil exports.
"You have to be convinced that this is the right thing to do, particularly now that we’re on the eve of potentially the insertion of American combat troops," Bannon said.
Although no final decision has been made, the Pentagon is preparing for weeks of operations on the ground in Iran, The Washington Post reported late Saturday.
U.S. Special Forces would likely lead raids alongside infantry troops rather than carry out a full-scale invasion, anonymous U.S. officials said.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the Pentagon's job was "to make preparations in order to give the commander in chief maximum optionality."
"It does not mean the president has made a decision," Leavitt told the Post.
U.S. Marines on board the USS Tripoli arrived in the Middle East on Friday, the U.S. Central Command said on Saturday. Thousands more Marines are en route from the U.S. West Coast, and the Pentagon is sending paratroopers from the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne Division to the region.
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