The WWII battles for Okinawa and Iwo Jima, where marines waded ashore in the Pacific, are oft-repeated events when analysts discuss U.S. island warfare. But Daniel Davis, a former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel, told MEE that the initial U.S. invasion force would likely come from the air because of Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz.
“I don’t see any way in hell that you are going to get the USS Boxer or the USS Tripoli through the Strait of Hormuz,” he told MEE, referring to the two amphibious assault ships which are bringing thousands of U.S. marines to the region. The vessels carry smaller landing and hovercraft.
“There is only one real possibility, and that’s by air,” said Davis, who is a senior fellow at Defense Priorities, a Washington, DC, think tank.
Davis, at Defence Priorities, said that U.S. troops arriving by helicopter would be vulnerable to shoulder-launched air-defence systems, drones and even small arms and RPG fire.
“I’d wager on a helicopter insertion from the UAE,” Davis said. “But Iran can read a map too, so they will be ready for it.”
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