00:00Thousands of U.S. paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division will be sent to the Middle East in the coming
00:05days.
00:06That new deployment is in addition to the 5,000 or so additional Marines and thousands of sailors already being
00:12deployed to the region by the Pentagon.
00:14August Hackinson has more.
00:17The United States is preparing to send reinforcements from the Army's elite 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East, according
00:26to U.S. media reports.
00:27The unit, based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, is the military's rapid response force, capable of deploying anywhere in the
00:36world within 18 hours.
00:38Highly trained in airborne assaults, these troops can parachute into hostile territory, securing airfields and clearing the way for larger
00:47operations.
00:48Their deployment would mark the latest step in a major U.S. military buildup in the region as the Trump
00:55administration escalates pressure on Iran.
00:58The amphibious assault ship USS Tripoli, carrying more than 2,000 Marines, is expected to arrive by Friday.
01:07That deadline coincides with President Donald Trump's demand that Iran reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
01:13Meanwhile, another 2,500 Marines from the 11th Marine Expeditionary Unit are en route from California aboard the USS Boxer,
01:24forces trained to conduct amphibious assaults.
01:28If tensions escalate further, U.S. forces, either those already en route or elements from the 82nd Airborne, could be
01:37used to seize Karg Island, Iran's critical oil export hub.
01:41The U.S. already has roughly 50,000 troops in the region, spread across a wide network of bases at
01:49nearly 20 locations.
01:51The largest concentrations are in Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
02:01Well, for more now on this significant new troop deployment, we can bring in Christopher Featherston, Associate Lecturer at the
02:08Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of York in the United Kingdom.
02:13Thank you very much for speaking to us here on France 24 today.
02:17Now, U.S. President Donald Trump has said that talks with Iran have not hit a dead end.
02:23Yet here we have the Pentagon simultaneously deploying thousands of additional soldiers.
02:28Is the deployment a negotiating tool or has the U.S. administration already lost faith in diplomacy?
02:35Which is it?
02:37Well, I think I've got to say it's a it's something that is typical, maybe in international negotiations of this
02:44type, that you wouldn't necessarily stop your operations in this in this kind of military operation to start the discussions.
02:54You would think about moving the pieces, having your resources in place so that if you need to, you would
03:00be able to deploy troops to bend their arms to a certain extent.
03:05But I would also say that Donald Trump is a president who in his first term spoke quite a lot
03:12about being unpredictable, seeking to be someone who the opposition just could not get a grip on.
03:18And that is something that we've seen increasingly in this conflict with Iran.
03:21So I think it's entirely possible that it would be the typical kind of moving the pieces on the chessboard
03:28to have them available should they need to be used, maybe bending their arm a little bit so that the
03:33negotiations are a little bit smoother.
03:36However, this is Donald Trump.
03:38And actually, we haven't really had any confirmation yet that these negotiations are really happening.
03:43There are intermediaries.
03:45There are mediators.
03:46I think Pakistan, Egypt, various other actors are seeking to maybe take that role, position themselves to help.
03:54But direct talks between Iran and the US have, as far as I'm aware, not started yet.
03:58So I think it's entirely possible that this is a move from the United States to seek to keep the
04:06pressure on Iran and actually also signal to allies that the US is not backing down here.
04:12Now, we're hearing a fair bit that the US is considering operations inside Iran itself.
04:19What specifically would the US be seeking to achieve by getting boots on the ground?
04:26Well, I think it's an important factor to consider what level of control that would give you, right?
04:32Troops on the ground gives a certain level of control that the United States has, as of yet, not had
04:37in this conflict.
04:39Overflights, airstrokes, these kind of things have been able to reduce the Iranian military significantly and achieve some of what
04:47we believe Donald Trump's aims are.
04:49He's being very strategic and careful in not telling us what those goals are, so he can always seem to
04:56have meet them.
04:58But I think boots on the ground would be a huge, significant escalation.
05:02So it would be a signal to allies that this is something that is not going away.
05:06This conflict is going nowhere.
05:08And this would be a long-haul operation.
05:12However, I think it would also potentially enable them to strike some of the nuclear weapons, nuclear bases, where they
05:22would want to be able to check whether Iran is developing nuclear weapons, whether Iran is capable, has the machinery
05:33in place, has the technology in place to help achieve this,
05:35and also potentially dismantle further Iranian ballistic missile development bases.
05:42Donald Trump has signaled that he wants to bring a kind of shock and awe element to this conflict.
05:47He's been very willing to strike oil fields, strike energy resources.
05:53And so it would also be possible that this kind of boots on the ground approach would allow a much
05:59greater level of damage to Iran's economy, Iran's ability to project force and develop weapons and materials to prolong this
06:09conflict.
06:10And from a US point of view, then, how risky could such a potential move be?
06:17I think it's actually quite difficult to overemphasise just how risky this would be politically for the United States.
06:27We are seeing growing opposition to this conflict in Iran.
06:31We have some quite key MAGA figures who are aggressively against this conflict and are very willing to come out
06:37and speak against it,
06:38which is something Donald Trump hasn't really had to deal with in his entire time as being a political operator.
06:46He's very used to standing up to the Democrats, standing up to the media, who he sees as the opposition.
06:51He is not used to having to take on his own hardcore support, his own figures of Tucker Carlson kind
06:58of media personalities or Marjorie Taylor Greene in his MAGA political base.
07:04He's never really had to do that on this kind of scale.
07:07And I think that would be a challenge that he is not used to, whether he'd be able to take
07:12it on is a different thing.
07:13But I think it would be a huge, huge challenge.
07:16There's also a huge growth in opposition from the families of soldiers who have been injured and killed in this
07:23conflict so far.
07:24Donald Trump and Pete Hexer haven't been happy talking about the damage and the pain caused to the United States
07:30military by these attacks.
07:33But it is real.
07:35These people are being killed.
07:37They are suffering quite extensive injuries from this.
07:42So I think it's important to note that actually growing domestic opposition is going to be a significant factor the
07:48further into this conflict we go.
07:50And that will only increase if boots go on the ground in Iran.
07:53Now, one last question.
07:56Gulf countries, of course, very much in the firing line here.
08:00They have been since almost the start of this conflict.
08:03Is this latest massive U.S. troop deployment likely to reassure the U.S.'s Gulf allies?
08:09Or rather, will it only serve to increase their exposure to Iran's retaliation?
08:17Well, I think you hit a nail on the head there.
08:20I think one of the issues that comes in this conflict, Iran has arguably been more unpredictable than the U
08:27.S. has been.
08:28And Donald Trump has been in this conflict.
08:29They have been able to increase the costs of the conflict on U.S. allies in the region.
08:36And actually, there is a strong link between having close links with the United States and hosting U.S. forces
08:44and being struck by Iran.
08:46So I think U.S. allies in the region would be cautious about this.
08:51I think they would want reassurances based on where these troops would be based, where their ships may dock, those
09:00kind of things.
09:01And I think the U.S. will have to do quite a lot of handholding, quite a lot of reassurance
09:06of Gulf states to say there is still a value in being a U.S. ally in this.
09:11We are not abandoning you to just carry on our own policies and our own operations as we see fit.
09:17We will ensure that you are protected.
09:19Donald Trump hasn't done that particularly well so far.
09:22He is not someone who has been particularly persuasive with allies.
09:27He has not been someone who has been good at persuading allies that I am here for you and I
09:32will stand up to back you.
09:35So as much as moving troops into the region might show an increased intent, an increased willingness to put some
09:41skin in the game and escalate this conflict if it is required, if negotiations don't go well,
09:46equally, it is entirely possible that more troops in the region will actually escalate tension, escalate fears from U.S.
09:54allies in the region.
09:54And actually, it may not be welcomed by all U.S. allies.
09:59Christopher Featherston, I'm afraid we're going to have to leave it there.
10:01Christopher Featherston, Associate Lecturer at the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of York in the United
10:07Kingdom.
10:08Thank you very much.
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