Retired Gen. Frank McKenzie, the former commander of U.S. Central Command (Centcom), said Sunday that the U.S. military has been working on plans for a ground raid in Iran for years, as President Trump is reportedly considering sending troops into the war.
“Margaret, for many years we’ve considered options along the southern coast of Iran, seizing islands, seizing small bases. Typically raids. And a raid is an operation with a planned withdrawal. You’re not going to stay. But some of those islands you could seize and hold. That would have a couple effects,” McKenzie told CBS News’s Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation.”
“First of all, it would be profoundly humiliating for Iran and would give us great weight in negotiations. The second, the example of Kharg Island, which everyone talks about, if you seize Kharg Island, you really can shut down the Iranian oil economy completely. And the beauty of seizing it is, you’re not destroying it,” he said.
The Washington Post reported this weekend that the Department of Defense was preparing plans for ground operations lasting for weeks in Iran. The ground operations may involve special operations forces and regular infantry troops undertaking raids, U.S. officials told the Post.
Some 3,500 sailors and Marines aboard the USS Tripoli arrived on Friday in the Centcom area in the Middle East. The Amphibious Ready Group of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit includes “transport and strike fighter aircraft, as well as amphibious assault and tactical assets.”
U.S. officials have said the massive deployment of troops in the Middle East a month into the war does not mean Trump has decided to use ground troops.
McKenzie said the U.S. could achieve some level of success without a ground component to its operations in Iran.
“I think a success looks like the Strait of Hormuz is open. We get some kind of deal on the ballistic missile program, some kind of deal on the nuclear program. That’s probably about as much as you could hope for,” he said.
“I believe all of those things are actually within our grasp. We just need to continue. Iran will ultimately respond to the use of force,” he added.
The majority of Americans have a negative view of the war, according to recent polling. In a recent CBS News/YouGov poll, 60 percent of respondents were against the conflict with Iran, while 40 percent were for it.
