The USS Tripoli arrived in the CENTCOM area of operations around 27 March carrying 3,500 Marines and sailors.1 The 82nd Airborne Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team, the Devil Brigade, began deploying to Kuwait, joining forces already positioned at bases struck by Iranian missiles in recent days. The deployment follows the 82nd Airborne headquarters order issued on 24 March.
Three Pentagon sources confirmed to The Washington Post that planning for 'weeks of ground operations' is active.2 Options include an amphibious seizure of Kharg Island and coastal raids near the strait of Hormuz to destroy weapons targeting commercial and military shipping. Decision authority rests with Trump personally. Byron Callan of Capital Alpha Partners assessed a 75% probability that US troops will set foot on Iranian soil; that estimate, made five days ago, now looks conservative.
Iran is not blind to this. Parliamentary Speaker Ghalibaf stated publicly: 'The enemy openly sends messages of negotiation but secretly is planning a ground attack.' Tehran fortified Kharg Island with mines and anti-aircraft missiles five days ago. The IRGC's warning about ground assault planning through CNN suggests Iranian intelligence has independent visibility into Pentagon deliberations.
The combination of two amphibious ready groups in theatre, a brigade combat team in Kuwait, Saudi basing access at King Fahd Air Base, and explicit ground planning has not been assembled in The Gulf since the 2003 Iraq invasion. Whether these forces stage forward toward Hormuz or remain in Kuwait determines whether 'weeks of ground operations' moves from planning to execution.
