While the administration continues to downplay the possibility of boots on the ground in Iran, large numbers of US ground troops continue to conspicuously arrive in the Middle East, with over 3,500 additional troops reported by Central Command (CENTCOM) to have arrived Saturday.
A substantial majority of the new arrivals were US Marines aboard the USS Tripoli, with various reports putting the number at 2,200 to as many as 2,500 Marines from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) being delivered to the “area of responsibility.”
Another similar sized number of Marines from Camp Pendleton’s MEU, aboard the USS Boxer and its associated Amphibious Ready Group, are also reportedly en route to the region, and is expected to arrive in roughly a week.
Marines from the USS Tripoli arrive in the Middle East | Image from CENTCOM’s X account
All of this amounts to the largest US military buildup in decades, supplementing some 50,000 US troops already stationed in the area as the Iran war continues to escalate, leading to military turmoil across the region and economic turmoil the world over.
The US and Israel launched the war on Iran, dubbed “Operation Epic Fury” on February 28, assassinating top Iranian officials including Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and leading to substantial Iranian retaliation against US and Israel targets across the region.
Though US officials have been insisting for nearly a solid month that the war is on the verge of ending, it seemingly continues to pick up pace, and the deployment of more and more Marines to the region only adds to speculation that the administration ultimately has designs on it becoming a ground war.
That would likely prove wildly unpopular, particularly as the administration has struggled to define the point of the attacks is, and what end goals they envision for the conflict. This has raised fears that the escalation is ultimately happening without a well thought out plan.
Further escalation seems on the horizon with Yemen’s Houthi movement announcing today that they are joining the conflict. Much of the attention surrounding the war of late has centered on the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway off the Iranian coast, and the Houthis have threatened ships in the Bab al-Mandab Strait, another vital economic route for the Arabian Peninsula.
US and Israeli attacks over the weekend have centered on Khuzestan Province, and the Khuzestan Steel Company, which has announced it was halting certain of its operations after substantial damage was done in the strikes.
