What the 82nd Airborne does and why it could play a key role in Iran
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A member of the U.S. Army's 82nd Airborne team near a Black Hawk helicopter last June 12 at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Photo: Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images
Army paratroopers are heading to the Middle East as President Trump weighs options to quickly end the Iran war, now entering its fourth week.
Why it matters: Putting U.S. boots on the ground in Iran would escalate the conflict, but the Trump administration has made no secret that it desires to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and restore the flow of oil.
- The president has considered plans to occupy Kharg Island, Iran's oil hub, in an effort to pressure Tehran to reopen the Strait, per Axios' Barak Ravid and Marc Caputo.
The big picture: Speculation had been building that the 82nd Airborne would deploy to the region since the Washington Post reported earlier this month that the Army had canceled a major training exercise.
- The troop is an active-duty, modular airborne infantry division that specializes in joint forcible entry operations, which could be used to seize the island, the New York Times reported.
"The paratroopers have the ability to threaten targets in the Gulf, without having to transit the Strait. They can also arrive relatively quickly," retired U.S. Marine Col. Mark Cancian, a senior adviser with the CSIS International Security Program, tells Axios.
- The 82nd Airborne Division, which is based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, includes the Immediate Response Force team that's capable of deploying "anywhere in the world within 18 hours," per the U.S. Army.
Yes, but: Cancian notes the 82nd is light infantry and would be "vulnerable while landing and if attacked by armor."
- Any mission to seize Kharg Island would be risky, Cancian added, as "there's not a lot of support nearby."
State of play: The division is the primary fighting arm of the XVIII Airborne Corps. It conducts parachute assaults and supports key military operations that are in U.S. national interests, according to the Army.
- This division traces its history back to 1917 and rose to international prominence during World War II due to the soldiers' major combat jumps.
- Its troops served as U.S. Forces' initial vanguard during Operation Desert Storm and the ensuing first Gulf War in 1991 and played key roles during then-President Bush's "Global War on Terror" in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other conflicts.
The Immediate Response Force was established in 2018. Its first deployment was to Iraq in January 2020 following an attack on the U.S. embassy in Baghdad. The unit was also used during the 2021 Afghanistan evacuations.
- The 82nd Airborne also deployed to Europe in 2022 following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
