Warships the size of football fields equipped with hospitals and drone lasers have been deployed as Donald Trump prepares to seize Iran’s key islands.
Thousands of Marines are arriving in the war-torn region as the US President considers launching a ground invasion.
The Sun revealed how a plan was drawn up for Trump’s 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit to storm the key island fortress to unlock the Strait of Hormuz.
But now the Pentagon has given the clearest signal yet of invasion intentions after ordering pre-built bunkers to occupy the island, sources say.
Trump has his crosshairs firmly established iranis the main Oil The terminal on Kharg Island – where 95 percent of the oil is shipped.
He hinted last week that he was preparing to remove his crack squad of marines, saying: “I’m considering taking Kharg.”
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There is also a red circle around other small islands of utmost importance under Tehran’s control – e.g. they have to be seized Break the regime’s grip on the Strait of Hormuz.
Protected by brutal well-armed IRGC agents teethInsiders have warned Wrestling These islands escape from Iran’s grip, there could be a very bloody fight
IRGC island garrisons, gunboats and naval drones are so far being destroyed by bunker-busting aerial bombardments as well as low-flying Apache helicopters and A-10 Thunderbolt jets.
But the marines were trained to capture and fortify small islands – Can withstand an intense barrage of Iranian missiles and killer drones launched from virtually anywhere on the Iranian mainland.
of Iran Parliament The speaker, ex-IRGC officer Bagher Ghalibaf, threatened to “rain down fire” on any attacking US forces.
We Army War College professor Ivan Ellis told The Sun: “The Marines could become a drone magnet.”
Additional Marine Expeditionary Units (MEUs) are now en route from California bases along with military support ships to reinforce any capture efforts – thereby giving credence to Trump’s threat to capture Khargum.
The 11th Amphibious Ready Group, with landing dock support ships and 2,500 Marines, is more than halfway across the Pacific Ocean and making a brief stop in Hawaii this week.
It is joining the 31st MEU, which already has a similar number of troops deployed around Hormuz aboard the USS Tripoli.
Reinforcements are arriving in the Middle East theater Soon – including a converted container ship equipped with a 100-bed Ann Arborden hospital.
Scores of people are feared injured in a “dangerous” mission to seize control of the world’s main oil shipping ports being blocked by the IRGC.
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth compared the situation to a “terrorist hostage siege on a global scale”.
The ship’s lower deck has been converted into a well deck for dozens of large LCAC hovercraft.
These would be used to deliver large quantities of supplies to reinforcements, artillery, armored vehicles and marine units, which would initially be inserted by helicopters and rotary wing aircraft.
Retired US Special Forces Colonel Ron McCammon told The Sun: “Maintaining forces on the islands will be a complex task.
“They will need air defense and engineering equipment.”
Huge air cushions could detonate floating mines dropped in the water around the islands.
Naval destroyers and logistics ships have also been fitted with newly developed laser cannons, capable of firing a beam capable of frying entire drone swarms.
Russian spy satellites monitoring US military activities in the Gulf region are believed to be able to reveal the locations of US warships and marine units.
Russian satellite intelligence may have enabled the targeting strikes Major US air defense radar and an AWAC aircraft were destroyed by a martyr drone in Saudi Arabia Prince Sultan Air Base last Saturday.
Meanwhile, insiders say the Pentagon this week placed orders for prefabricated bunkers that could be used to strengthen island positions.
Reopening the waterway has become Trump’s top priority since the IRGC began laying mines and firing missiles at oil tankers to block the 19-mile strait.
But this week the president warned that he is ready to move away from Iran and leave other countries Police Waterway.
He threatened the US that “they will not help you anymore” – and said he could end the war with or without the agreement.
However, it could be that Trump is taking time to prepare for a ground invasion after more than a month of crippling Iran’s capabilities to fight off any audacious attack.
Experts have also pointed to the fact that oil market Wall Street and much of Europe will now be closed for the three-day weekend.
The Gulf attacks may also be coordinated with an internal rebellion inside Iran by a growing underground movement called the Immortal Guard.
They are being assisted by covert Israeli Mossad agents, who are operating on the ground – arming regime opponents with grenade-carrying drones.
However, rising Iranian commanders have called in reinforcements in a last-ditch effort to push back enemies.
In recent times, radical Shia militias from neighboring Iraq have been entering Iran to support their powerful IRGC masters.
IRGC commander-in-chief Ahmed Vahidi – who is wanted by Interpol for directing truck bombings against the Israeli embassy and a Jewish synagogue in Argentina in the 1990s – has so far escaped killer drones.
As the longtime head of the Quds Force, which manages IRGC proxy groups throughout the Middle East, Wahdi has organized the Hezbollah militia in Iraq.
Bloodthirsty radicals have been ordered to attack American targets and the IRGC is bringing thousands of terrorists in armed convoys to suppress the insurgency in Iran.
U.S. intelligence analysts are also concerned that since the IRGC lacks missiles and drones, the group could use its terrorist network to expand its capabilities. Target Americans.
It came as Trump said the US had “not even begun to destroy what’s left of Iran” and reiterated a pledge to increase the intensity of attacks on its infrastructure.
The president has stepped up his rhetoric in recent days as brokered talks with Iran’s new leaders show limited signs of progress.
Last night, Trump said the US military “haven’t even begun to destroy what’s left in Iran. Then the bridges, then the electric power plants.”
He said Iran’s leadership “knows what to do, and to do it fast!”
Trump had earlier posted footage of the US bombing of a newly constructed bridge between Tehran and nearby Karaj. The B1 bridge was scheduled to open to traffic this year.
How will the invasion of the islands unfold?
By Katie Davis and Martin Arostegui
Plans have been drawn up for Donald Trump’s marines to attack Iran’s vital island fortress to unlock the Strait of Hormuz, insiders have told The Sun.
Despite having nothing on the map, these small Tehran-controlled areas have grown in importance – straddling vital oil trade.
An angry Trump last month deployed Apache helicopters and low-flying jets to attack Iranian ships near the waterway.
But now a squadron of U.S. Marines trained to seize and fortify small islands could be poised to take over Iranian bases that dominate the entrances to key waterways.
B-2 strategic bombers dropped 5,000-pound GBU-72 deep penetration bombs on IRGC missile bunkers on the barren islands of Larak, Kish, Qeshm and Abu Musa and launch sites dug into the coastal cliffs of the mainland.
In operations that typically preceded ground attacks, low-flying Apache helicopters and A-10 Warthogs engaged IRGC fortifications, firing Hellfire missiles and advancing 30 mm chain cannons to eliminate any resistance.
CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper said: “The United States aims to eliminate Iran’s ability to project power and disrupt shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.”
Following any occupation, a temporary force may be required to establish temporary military facilities – fire bases.
Intelligence sources told The Sun that they will be equipped with missiles, sophisticated radar and drones to protect strategic waterways and provide staging areas for ground attacks on IRGC naval bases.
An ex-Marine officer and career intelligence officer told The Sun on condition of anonymity: “They will take the Hormuz Island missile and drone sites.
“Plans have been drawn up for this.”
V-22 Osprey rotor-wing aircraft, which take off and land like helicopters but fly like airplanes, will initially airlift Marines from the amphibious landing ship USS Tripoli to island points.
Tripoli was recently converted into a pocket aircraft carrier for air operations that can be launched from 200 meters offshore.
This reduces the mothership’s exposure to anti-ship missiles and the landing craft’s exposure to sea mines.
The site in Tripoli that once housed hovercraft – such as giant inflatable landing boats – has been converted into a hangar for aircraft maintenance and additional storage for parts, ammunition and supplies.
Covered by missile-firing Viper attack helicopters near Tripoli, CH-53 Sea Stallion helicopters armed with .50 chain guns would engage advance teams of Force Recon units for depth reconnaissance and establish sniper positions to cover the main force.
Advance teams would conduct airstrikes from F-35 stealth aircraft flying from Tripoli to level pockets of resistance that would have survived heavy B-2 bombing before the main force could land.
While securing their shores, the Marines will install air defense and radar systems to closely monitor air and sea traffic, and establish fuel weapons re-supply posts for continuous helicopter re-provision and support.
Carefully concealed HIMARS batteries fire lethally accurate long-range ATACAMs to neutralize IRGC threats within a 300-mile radius.
And covert maritime firebases could also operate from the coasts of Oman facing Iran across the narrow Strait of Hormuz.
Read more here
