Seizure of Kharg Island to full-scale invasion: US eyes next steps in Iran war

White House weighing options for next stage of Iran war, which will likely require ground forces either for targeted operations or for a large-scale ground campaign.

By World Israel News Staff

The Trump White House is weighing the use of ground forces in Iran, Fox News reported Tuesday, after 19 days of airstrikes failed to topple the regime.

According to an analysis by Fox News, the options available to the White House for expanding the war range from limited operations against strategic targets to a full-blown invasion of the Islamic Republic.

The joint air campaign being conducted by the United States and Israel has heavily degraded parts of Iran’s military and put pressure on the regime, but Trump administration officials are now looking for additional options to achieve key goals that cannot be delivered by air power alone.

The air war was launched on February 28 with the primary goal of eliminating Iran’s ballistic missile and uranium programs, including the destruction of its enrichment capacity, degrading its ability to establish new enrichment sites and destroying its stockpile of enriched uranium.

The administration has also sought to weaken the regime to the point where it is vulnerable to opposition groups or, at the very least, cripple the Islamic Republic, thus forcing it to accept American demands.

To achieve these goals, the White House has three different options for ground operations in Iran, two of which could be carried out as part of a limited deployment of American soldiers.

The first option calls for the US to either seize Kharg Island or completely destroy Iranian oil facilities there.

Located northwest of the Strait of Hormuz, Kharg Island handles 90% of Iran’s oil exports, representing a crucial lifeline for the Iranian economy.

Destroying the island’s infrastructure or capturing the island could cripple the Iranian economy, potentially forcing Tehran to capitulate to American demands.

Under the second option, the US could use limited ground operations to locate and capture Iran’s enriched uranium stockpile. The regime is believed to possess some 440 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60%.

Much of this stockpile is thought to be held underground in facilities that could be difficult to destroy with airstrikes alone.

Alternatively, the US could embrace the third option: a full-scale invasion of Iran to remove the regime from power once and for all.

However, this option is both the riskiest and the most difficult.

While it could ensure the removal of the Iranian regime, such an operation would likely require hundreds of thousands of ground troops operating over a vast area, with fighting in difficult terrain.

Worst of all, a takeover of Iran could result in a military occupation of a country of 93 million.