Pentagon considers deploying airborne troops for Iran war

Senior U.S. military officials are considering deploying a combat brigade from the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, along with elements of the division’s headquarters, to support potential operations in Iran, according to defense sources.

Officials emphasized that the planning is precautionary and that no orders have been issued by the Pentagon or U.S. Central Command, which declined to comment. The sources spoke on condition of anonymity, News.Az reports, citing The New York Times.

The combat forces under consideration come from the 82nd Airborne’s “Immediate Response Force,” a brigade of roughly 3,000 soldiers capable of deploying anywhere in the world within 18 hours. These troops could potentially be used to seize Kharg Island, Iran’s primary oil export hub.

Another option, should the president authorize action, involves roughly 2,500 Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit, already en route to the region. Experts suggest that Marines may be deployed first due to their combat engineers, who could repair Kharg Island’s airfield damaged in recent U.S. bombing raids. Once operational, Air Force C-130s could transport supplies and additional troops.

In this scenario, 82nd Airborne forces could augment Marine operations. Paratroopers offer rapid overnight arrival but lack heavy armored vehicles for counterattack protection, while Marines provide immediate engineering and assault capabilities but have limited sustainment. The 82nd Airborne could relieve Marines after the initial seizure of the island.

The division’s headquarters element would serve as a subordinate command for mission planning and coordination in an increasingly complex operational environment. In early March, the Army canceled the 300-member headquarters’ participation in an exercise at Fort Polk, Louisiana, keeping the command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in case rapid deployment was ordered.

The 82nd Airborne Division’s Immediate Response Force has a history of short-notice deployments, including to the Middle East in January 2020 following the Baghdad embassy attack, to Afghanistan in August 2021 for evacuations, and to Eastern Europe in 2022 to support operations in Ukraine.

News.Az 

By Nijat Babayev