Biggest U.S. Ground INVASION in Iran's History Is About to go DOWN!

Iran thought that its troubles on Kharg Island were over. The U.S. had hit the island hard,

ruining its military infrastructure, but at least the oil terminals and pipelines were spared. Cash

could keep rolling in to prop up the ailing Iranian regime. But not for much longer. The

U.S. is sending something massive to take Kharg Island. The U.S. may be preparing for the largest

ground operation against Iran in decades, and it could leave Iran’s regime in tatters. We’ll

explain why later in the video. First, what on Earth is happening at Kharg Island? Right now,

the island is still trying to recover from a wave of U.S. attacks that “totally obliterated”

every military target on Kharg Island, per U.S. President Donald Trump. Not a lot has changed on

the island since, as its oil operations are still running. But it’s not what’s happening now that is

worrying Iran’s regime. It’s what’s going to happen in the future, as the U.S. is sending

something Iran’s way that is the last thing that the regime wanted to see: U.S. Marines. Or,

more accurately, even more of them. According to The War Zone, or TWZ, the U.S. is sending

the USS Boxer and the rest of its Amphibious Ready Group, or ARG, to the Middle East, from their base

on the West Coast. Coming along for the ride is the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit, or MEU,

which reportedly has around 2,500 U.S. Marines that could be ready to put boots on the ground in

Iran, if they get the order. Along with the USS Boxer are a pair of other amphibious warships,

the San Antonio-class USS Portland, and the Whidbey Island-class USS Comstock, along with

air and ground components that could support the 11th MEU if it needs to launch a ground

operation. This alone would be massive news. But what makes this report really important is that

the 11th MEU isn’t the first that the U.S. has ordered to the Persian Gulf region. In mid-March,

news broke that the 31st MEU was being deployed to the Middle East from its base in Okinawa, Japan,

bringing yet more amphibious assault ships and a contingent of roughly 2,000 U.S. Marines with it.

Those Marines seem likely to arrive in Iran’s waters at some point toward the end of March,

and it’s looking like the 11th MEU is expected to follow, potentially

reinforcing the 31st MEU in the coming weeks to create a contingent of over 4,000 U.S. Marines,

along with the airpower and amphibious vessels needed to land them on Kharg Island. At least,

that’s one of the options. As you’ll discover if you keep watching, there are three scenarios

that these MEU deployments could support, each with different potential consequences. TWZ notes

that what we’re seeing right now is an accelerated deployment of manpower that is being sent to Iran

in support of Operation Epic Fury. Kharg Island seems to be the likely target for these Marines,

and there are other hints that the U.S. is building up to do something on an island

that is absolutely critical to Iran’s economy. Along with the incoming MEUs,

the U.S. has also been deploying the U.S. Navy MQ-4C Triton unmanned aerial vehicle,

or UAV. This isn’t an attack drone. Rather, this UAV is designed to conduct reconnaissance,

and that’s precisely what it has been doing in the Persian Gulf and Kharg Island regions. On March

20, one of America’s Tritons was even observed orbiting the largest oil terminal on Kharg Island,

suggesting that it is keeping a close eye on whatever Iran is trying to do on the small stretch

of land. And there’s more. The U.S. has also announced that it is deploying Apache helicopters

and A-10 Warthogs to the Strait of Hormuz. Both of these aircraft can serve a purpose in the Strait,

especially in terms of attacking fast boats, Shahed drones, and coastal missile launch sites

and ports. However, we can’t ignore the fact that both of these aircraft were also used by the U.S.

in its wars against Iraq and Afghanistan. What did they do in these wars? The Apache and A-10 set the

stage for U.S. ground operations in these nations by providing support to ground troops, shaping the

battlefield, and taking out fortified positions ahead of arrival. So, these aircraft were among

the first that the U.S. deployed in these two conflicts. And do you want to guess what the first

types of ground troops were that the U.S. sent into Afghanistan? U.S. Marines from MEUs. We’re

starting to get some serious echoes of the past in this deployment of a second MEU to Iran’s waters,

and all signs are pointing to an operation that is set to take place on Kharg Island. For now,

there’s no confirmation that Washington has made a final decision — but the pieces being put in

place are hard to ignore. Whether that means boots on the ground or not isn’t certain, but before we

get into what the U.S. is planning to do, let’s examine why Kharg Island matters. After all, it’s

just an island, and one that the U.S. has already destroyed, at least in terms of its military

infrastructure. However, it’s not this particular type of infrastructure that makes Kharg Island so

important. It’s another… Oil infrastructure. A lot of it. Though it only measures about five

miles end to end, Kharg Island is where almost all of Iran’s oil exports are processed and passed

through on their way out of the country and to Iran’s clients. Oil, in particular, is Iran’s

economic lifeblood. The country is home to about 10% of the world’s proven oil reserves. It’s on

Kharg Island that the terminals and pipelines are located that pump Iranian crude and refined oil

products onto tankers, which then ship the oil to other countries. According to CBS News, Kharg

Island historically handles anywhere between 85% and 95% of all of Iran’s crude oil exports, and

that is a major problem for Iran. Crude oil prices recently surged during the crisis, before pulling

back slightly, due to Operation Epic Fury. The situation that Iran has created in the Strait of

Hormuz, Kharg Island is key to Iran’s regime and its ability to keep cash flowing into the country.

The most recent figures we have for Iran’s crude oil revenue come from 2024, which is the year that

the Tehran Times claims that oil revenue topped $46 billion for the country. If up to 95% of those

sales are made by way of Kharg Island, losing this small strip of land would blow a $43.7

billion hole in Iran’s economy at a time when it literally can’t afford to let that money go.

Therein lies a clear motivation for the U.S. to seize Kharg Island, thus putting a ton of pressure

on Iran’s regime to capitulate to Operation Epic Fury. But it goes even deeper than that. As

another MEU sails toward Iran, the U.S. may also be looking to Kharg Island as a bargaining chip

that it can use to pressure Iran into releasing its stranglehold over the Strait of Hormuz. The

one thing that Iran can rely upon to perhaps place enough pressure on the U.S. to end Operation Epic

Fury is its ability to halt shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Billions of dollars of cargo

pass through that strait annually, including about 20% of the world’s oil, along with 20% of all

liquefied natural gas. By preventing ships from passing through the strait, which Iran has mostly

done by attacking merchant ships with drones and fast boats, Iran is able to create global price

shocks that shake up the world’s economies. Do you remember how we mentioned that oil is over

$100 per barrel right now? That isn’t normal. It’s happening because shipments through the

Strait have been severely disrupted, as tanker captains rightfully don’t want to take the risk

of their ships being the next that Iran targets. So, the math here is simple: U.S. Marines plus

a Kharg Island takeover equals a major card that the U.S. can play to force Iran to ease up in the

Strait of Hormuz. If Iran is going to bring the world’s oil and gas supplies to a standstill,

the U.S. can respond by snatching away billions of dollars from the Iranian economy. On top of all

of that, there’s the message that more action on Kharg Island would send, especially if that action

involves putting boots on the ground. According to former U.S. Central Command, or CENTCOM,

commander Joseph Votel, that message would be twofold and directed at both Iran and the many

nations that rely on the Strait of Hormuz. “I get that it has an informational and kind of messaging

advantage against the Iranians that we are on their territory. And it may send a message to the

broader energy community that we are safeguarding these vital Iranian infrastructures,” Votel told

TWZ in a March 20 interview. Boots on the ground would indeed tell Iran that the U.S. is serious,

as well as communicate to other nations that America is doing what it can to solve the Strait

of Hormuz problem. The 11th MEU heading to the Middle East to join the 31st MEU reinforces that

message. However, taking that approach with Kharg Island does present some challenges, as we’ll get

to in a moment. But before we do, there’s a lot more where this came from. If you’re getting value

from The Military Show, remember to subscribe to the channel so you never miss a video. Now,

earlier in the video, we told you that there are three approaches that the U.S. could take now that

it’s sending another MEU towards Kharg Island. Boots on the ground is the most obvious, and we’ll

be getting to that approach in a few minutes. But less obvious, and perhaps much less risky,

is the idea that the U.S. could be planning to use its MEUs to form a small naval blockade around

Kharg Island that will stop Iran from exporting its oil. This would be a case of the U.S. giving

Iran a small taste of its own medicine by stopping merchant ships from doing what they came to do,

albeit without the added terroristic element of attacking those ships. But, as TWZ notes,

it’s certainly an option. Remember that it’s not just MEUs that the U.S. is sending to the Middle

East right now. It’s also sending a pair of ARGs, which amount to about half a dozen amphibious

warships that the U.S. could use to prevent merchant ships from getting access to the Kharg

Island terminal. The U.S. also has several carrier strike groups in the Persian Gulf region. However,

deploying warships from those groups may not be an option, as doing so would leave their

associated carriers more vulnerable to Iranian counterattacks. The idea behind a blockade would

be to neutralize Kharg Island as a factor for Iran in Operation Epic Fury without taking the risk,

militarily or politically, of placing boots on the ground. The U.S. could claim to be avoiding

an escalation of Operation Epic Fury while still hitting Iran where it hurts. And there is a

certain sense of justice in the idea of trading one blockade for another. However, the obvious

challenge with this solution would be that the U.S. would have to make its incoming ARGs close

to sitting ducks for Iranian drones and missiles. After all, a blockade that doesn’t involve zipping

in, attacking merchant ships, and getting out, as Iran is doing in the Strait of Hormuz, requires

warships to actually block any vessels attempting to make it to Kharg Island. Iran’s coastal missile

launch sites would get opportunities to strike. But then, perhaps that’s why A-10s and Apache

choppers are being deployed in the Persian Gulf region. The former, at the very least,

is a well-suited choice for taking out these coastal launch sites before they become problems

for the U.S. Still, this challenge of dealing with the Iranian response to what the U.S. does next on

Kharg Island exists for the second, and seemingly most obvious, option that the U.S. has for the

strip of land: Putting boots on the ground. The numbers certainly line up for a ground assault on

Kharg Island, and there are some in the U.S. who support this option. Senator Lindsey Graham is

one of those people, as The Hill has reported on Graham invoking the spirit of Iwo Jima as

he has called for the U.S. to take Kharg Island by force. “Here’s what I tell President Trump:

Keep it up for a few more weeks, take Kharg Island where all of the resources they have to

produce oil, control that island, let this regime die on a vine,” Graham declared when speaking to

Fox News Sunday. We still don’t know how close the U.S. is to making this particular decision,

though it appears that plans are being put in place. Beyond MEUs heading to the Middle East,

along with everything else that we’ve mentioned that could support a ground operation, CBS News

reported on March 20 that Pentagon officials have already drawn up detailed plans for deploying U.S.

ground forces into Iran. Even Trump himself is using misdirection to prevent people from figuring

out what he has planned. “No, I'm not putting troops anywhere,” he said to reporters in the Oval

Office on March 19, before quickly adding, “If I were, I certainly wouldn't tell you.” So, a ground

operation might be coming. Or it might not. If it does, the number of U.S. Marines that the U.S. is

sending in the direction of Kharg Island should be more than enough to take the small strip of

land. Votel suggests that the U.S. would probably need between 800 and 1,000 of its Marines to push

whatever’s left of Iran’s forces off Kharg Island. The Sunday Times disputes that figure, suggesting

that even the 2,200 Marines or so that are with the 31st MEU may not be enough to take Kharg

Island, with the number needed likely to depend on how many Iranian soldiers were killed during

America’s initial strike against the territory. A larger deployment may be needed to hold the island

and secure a perimeter around it. Perhaps that’s why a second MEU is on its way to the Middle East

right now. It’s better to have too many Marines and not need them than to have too few and wind up

losing those that you send. But what the U.S. has in its incoming MEUs are operators who are trained

for precisely this kind of operation, and they’re being supported by appropriate intelligence, along

with airpower that has already set the stage for a ground operation and continues to work in the

Strait of Hormuz to make such an operation as safe as possible. Add the artillery, armored vehicles,

choppers, and the F-35B vertical take-off fighter jets that are arriving alongside the MEUs heading

toward Iran, and you get a force that should offer more than enough to tackle Iran’s fractured troops

on Kharg Island. Taking Kharg Island likely won’t be much of a problem, especially if the

U.S. launches more airstrikes before the arrival of its MEUs. Keeping it, however,

brings up the same issues that could affect America’s ships if it attempts a naval blockade.

The U.S. Marines and equipment stationed on Kharg Island would become stationary targets for Iran,

and, despite the country’s missile capabilities having been significantly diminished, Iran has

shown that it can still hit stationary targets with its ballistic missiles. Kharg Island is

only about 20 miles away from the Iranian coast. It would certainly be in range of coastal missile

launchers, and the U.S. would have to deal with the fact that its nearest base is over 120 miles

away. Any resupply vessels that the U.S. sends to the island may also have to deal with Iranian

drones and fast boats. The U.S. has the airpower to deal with those latter threats. The A-10s and

Apaches in the Strait of Hormuz ensure that, as they can both serve as escorts to American supply

ships. As for missile launches, the U.S. can hit missile sites that it knows exist, but it can’t do

much about those that are still hidden until Iran exposes them. The flipside to all of this is that

by hitting U.S. Marines on Kharg Island, Iran also risks damaging its own oil pipelines. Would it

want to take that risk? Would the risk seem worth it, even if the pipelines are damaged, if a U.S.

occupation strips away Iran’s oil money anyway? These are questions that will only be answered if

the U.S. goes through with putting boots on the ground, as it seems like it might be planning to

do as two MEUs steam toward Iran. But there is a third option. One that the MEUs could support,

or might not even need to get involved in. The U.S. could just bomb Iran’s Kharg Island oil

infrastructure into oblivion and avoid all of the problems that come with a blockade or occupation.

There would certainly be no problems with sitting ducks becoming targets for Iran’s missiles. And

according to CNBC, by destroying Kharg Island’s oil terminal and pipelines, Iran loses out on the

1.5 million barrels per day in crude exports that keep money flowing into the country. It would take

years for Iran to rebuild that infrastructure, and that’s assuming it even could after losing so

many billions to an American strike. So, problem solved. No MEUs required. Well, not really. The

Kharg Island infrastructure requiring years to rebuild would mean that the nations that rely

on Iranian oil end up with major problems. China is a prominent buyer, as it purchases about 80%

of Iran’s shipped oil. Tensions are already high between the U.S. and China, and the U.S. doesn’t

need to make things worse by taking out Kharg Island. All of this is without even mentioning

the likelihood that Iran would ramp up its attacks on the energy infrastructure of its Gulf neighbors

if the U.S. chose destruction. And we also can’t discount the possibility that the U.S. might want

to hold Kharg Island so it can push Iran into some sort of agreement where America benefits from the

country’s oil exports. That could be a tempting carrot to hold out in front of Iran’s regime,

but it gets swallowed up if the bombs start flying and the Kharg oil infrastructure goes up

in smoke. So, it’s likely that the U.S. is only seriously considering two options – blockade or

ground operation. Both would be aided massively by the arrival of the two MEUs en route towards

Iran as we speak. In fact, they may not be possible without those MEUs, at least with

what the U.S. has deployed in Iran right now. The only question now is whether the 11th and

31st MEUs are actually going to be used. Again, Trump is sending mixed messages. On March 20,

he declared that there would be no ceasefire with Iran, stating that “You don’t do a ceasefire when

you’re literally obliterating the other side.” But a day later, Trump was implying that he’s looking

to “wind down” Operation Epic Fury. Putting boots on the ground in Kharg Island would be the

opposite of winding down. And on March 23, reports said that Trump claims the U.S. and Iran have held

talks on the “complete and total resolution of hostilities” in the Middle East, which has led to

Trump saying he’ll hold back on a threat to strike Iran’s power stations for five days based on these

talks. Iran says that these talks never happened. Iran's parliament speaker says the news of these

talks is fake, and it’s being used to manipulate oil prices. Frankly, it’s impossible to guess

what the Trump administration’s next move is going to be. The one thing we can say for sure is that

around 2,500 more U.S. Marines are heading towards Iran, and they likely have Kharg Island in their

sights. If the U.S. pulls the trigger, be that on blockading, destruction, or occupation, Iran is

staring down the barrel of a multi-billion-dollar black hole in its budget that could end the regime