President Trump and his War Department confront a quandary. The effort to topple the government of Iran and destroy its ability to protect itself has stalled. It is common knowledge airstrikes alone are unable to accomplish the goal of unseating a government. The only option for Trump is to send ground troops.
On March 11, Senator Richard Blumenthal, told reporters Trump “seems to be on a path” toward deploying troops to Iran. Initially, the Trump administration considered capturing Kharg Island, where Iran has its primary oil export terminal. The island handles around 90% of Iran’s oil exports.
President Trump spoke to reporters on March 13 before boarding Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, for a trip to Florida. He said the US launched a “punishing” attack on Kharg Island, and described the sorties as the “most powerful bombing raids in the History of the Middle East.” Trump added that the US military had “totally obliterated every MILITARY target in Iran’s crown jewel, Kharg Island.” Later that day, he posted to his Truth Social that “for reasons of decency, I have chosen NOT to wipe out the Oil Infrastructure on the island.”
The US Central Command said the strike destroyed naval mine storage facilities, missile storage bunkers, and multiple other military sites. The US military “successfully struck more than 90 Iranian military targets on Kharg Island, while preserving the oil infrastructure,” according to an X post on March 14.
Kharg Island and Boots on the Ground
In 1979, during the Iran hostage crisis, then President Jimmy Carter considered putting pressure on the Khomenei government by targeting Kharg. The plan was rejected as too difficult and risky. The island was well defended and close to the mainland, making it vulnerable to retaliatory attack if invaded. If the Kharg terminal were closed, Brent would spike upward to $150 or more a barrel.
“Kharg Island is the measure of how far the United States is willing to go,” writes analyst Shanaka Anslem Perera. “The discussion is the signal. The seizure, if it comes, is the moment this war transforms from a regional conflict into a global economic crisis that touches every economy on earth.” If the US invades Kharg Island, explains Glenn Diesen, a professor at the University of South-Eastern Norway, “then Iran will likely strike every energy facility in the region.”
The capture and occupation of Kharg may be out of the question. However, the desire to send US troops to Iran remains “on the table.” Trump’s Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, did not discard the possibility of sending US troops to West Asia. “President Trump knows, I know, you don’t tell the enemy, you don’t tell the press, you don’t tell anybody what—what your limits would be on an operation. We’re willing to go as far as we need to in order to be successful,” Hegseth said in response to a question by Major Garret of CBS News.
On March 10, Trump spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said as for “boots on the ground, the president has talked about this repeatedly. Wisely, he does not rule options out as commander in chief.” Regardless of ambiguity, members of Congress are divided on the war along partisan lines. On March 5, 2026, the House narrowly rejected a war powers resolution designed to halt Trump’s military actions in Iran. The vote was 212-219. A majority of Republicans opposed the resolution, while most Democrats supported it.
Senator Joni Ernst, a retired military officer serving as the junior senator from Iowa, told Newsmax Iran might deploy drones against the United States. Ernst claimed to speak for the American people when she said “they understand the threat to the homeland and if we want to protect Americans here, we have to send our service men abroad.” The Iowa Republican senator has received $441,553 from pro-Israel interest groups.
The Mayaguez Incident at Koh Tang
In 1975, following the fall of Vietnam, the Cambodian Khmer Rouge navy seized the American cargo ship SS Mayaguez and its crew of 39 in international waters. The administration of President Gerald Ford thought the crew of the Mayaguez was held on Koh Tang, the largest of a group of Cambodian islands off the coast of Sihanoukville Province in the Gulf of Thailand. The captives were instead taken to the Cambodian mainland. Ford and his National Security Council considered the Mayaguez seizure an act of piracy, although the claim did not have standing in maritime law.
Then Secretary of Defense, James R. Schlesinger, instructed the military to locate the ship and also ordered the aircraft carrier USS Coral Sea, the destroyer escort USS Harold E. Holt, and the guided missile destroyer USS Henry B. Wilson to the Gulf of Thailand as part of an effort to locate the Mayaguez. In addition, an alert order was sent to 1st Battalion 4th Marines at Subic Bay and to the 9th Marine Regiment on Okinawa. A reinforced company of Marines were ordered to airlift to Thailand while a thousand man Battalion Team assembled in Okinawa.
“The mission aimed to swiftly free the captured Americans, but it quickly spiraled into chaos,” writes Aria Moore. “Intelligence failures led to the Marines landing in unexpected locations, encountering fierce resistance. This miscalculation turned the operation into a prolonged and deadly engagement, highlighting the unpredictability and danger of military rescues under uncertain conditions.”
The Khmer Rouge had 150 well-armed soldiers stationed on the island. The Battle of Koh Tang resulted in a significant loss of life for the US Marines. Tragically, 41 Marines and Airmen lost their lives, while over 50 others sustained injuries. In addition, three CH-53 helicopters were shot down or destroyed, and several others sustained heavy damage, making the incident the most significant airlift loss since World War II. The staggering casualty rate represents one of the highest in a single engagement during the Vietnam War era. “The high casualties highlighted the mission’s dangers and the costly price paid in human lives, marking a somber end to the conflict,” notes Moore.
Kharg Island: Suicide Mission
Michael Rubin, a senior fellow at the neocon American Enterprise Institute, has described the potential seizure of Kharg Island by the US military as a “no-brainer.” Rubin told The Washington Post capturing Iran’s energy resources would permit the Trump administration to cut off the Islamic Republic’s critical oil revenues. Trump has “expressed serious interest” in sending US troops into Iran, according to NBC News.
Despite Trump’s order to bomb Kharg Island and his intention to deploy a small unit of troops to conduct strategic operations on the ground, the act of occupying the oil terminal will likely not be an easy mission.
“In February 1945 the US spent 15 days shelling and bombing an 8 square mile island called Iwo Jima in preparation for a Marine assault,” Scott Ritter, a former United States Marine Corps intelligence officer and United Nations Special Commission weapons inspector, posted on X. The US dropped 6,800 tons of high explosive on the island occupied by the Japanese and it “didn’t make a dent… Don’t put Marines on Kharg Island. We don’t want to be building another memorial.” The Battle of Iwo Jima cost over 18,000 lives.
According to Francis Galgano, an associate professor at Villanova University in Pennsylvania, capturing the small coral reef island “would involve moving a considerable number of ground combat troops into the region … I estimate about 5,000 to take and hold the island.” However, the America-class amphibious assault ship, the USS Tripoli, would not be able to approach Kharg Island due to the current shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz.
“If Marines are to attempt to take Kharg Island, it will have to be an assault launched from ashore, not from the sea. Marines and their Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft will need to deploy to Kuwait or Bahrain, both of which are currently under attack from Iranian missiles and drones, and from there attempt an air assault,” explains Ritter. “Any attempt to land Marines on Kharg Island will end in a disaster that would make Koh Tang island look like child’s play.”
Trump Attacks Media for Questioning his War Narrative
In a desperate effort to change the narrative on his inability to defeat Iran, Trump went on his Truth Social platform and claimed the Islamic Republic lost its “air defense, Air Force, Navy, and Leadership” despite evidence to the contrary. However, as Robert A. Pape, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago points out, Iran appears to be winning the war strategically. “The regime is consolidating power, fracturing the U.S.–Gulf coalition, and driving global energy shocks. Meanwhile Washington believes escalation will restore control. History suggests the opposite.”
As part of an effort to flip the narrative and change the perception of the war, Trump rebuked the corporate media. On March 14, he demanded they stop reporting on damage and losses inflicted on the US by Iran. “The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal (in particular), and other Lowlife ‘Papers’ and Media actually want us to lose the War,” he posted. “They are truly sick and demented people that have no idea the damage they cause the United States of America.”
Not long after Trump posted his diatribe, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr went on X and said that broadcasters “are running hoaxes and news distortions” and they have a chance to “correct course before their license renewals come up.” According to Carr, reporting facts about the US-Israeli war against Iran is not “in the public interest.”
Apparently the First Amendment and the truth are also not in the public interest. The damage Trump mentions has little to do with the floundering effort to overthrow the government of Iran and balkanize the country and everything to do with leveling with the American people about an undeclared war that does not have clear objectives and a conceivable exit ramp.
Reprinted with permission from Another Day in the Empire.
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