Pentagon to Deploy Army Paratroopers to Middle East

The Pentagon will deploy elements of the elite Army 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East.

A source at the Pentagon familiar with the plans initially confirmed that the division would be deployed, though they didn’t provide other details on the plans.

The Pentagon has since confirmed that the deployment will include the Army division’s headquarters component, its 1st Brigade Combat Team, and some additional enablers.

One of the 82nd Airborne Division’s core functions is to hold troops in a rapidly deployable status, supporting what’s known as an immediate response force. These highly trained forces are able to deploy anywhere around the world with as little as 18 hours’ notification, with the ability to conduct airborne assaults and hold key objectives until additional forces can arrive.

The 82nd Airborne is one of the most renowned forces in the U.S. military. Members of the 82nd Airborne were among the U.S. forces deployed to France ahead of the D-Day invasion of Normandy; since then, they’ve been involved in the Gulf War in the 1990s, conflicts related to the War on Terror, and a series of more recent deployments to the Middle East in the wake of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan.

This movement of Army paratroopers comes just days after the Pentagon dispatched two separate amphibious ready groups to the Middle East. Each amphibious ready group can consist of as many as 5,000 U.S. sailors and Marines, including Marine amphibious landing forces, fighter jets, and troop transport and attack helicopters.

These growing force deployments also come as the U.S. military carries out airstrikes on Kharg Island. The eight-square-mile island, 16 miles from Iran’s Persian Gulf coast, is the source of 90 percent of the country’s oil exports.

In these airstrikes, the United States solely targeted Iranian military facilities, with oil fields and infrastructure left untouched.

On March 13, Trump wrote about the strikes in a post on Truth Social.

“The United States Central Command executed one of the most powerful bombing raids in the History of the Middle East, and totally obliterated every MILITARY target in Iran’s crown jewel, Kharg Island,” Trump wrote.

He warned that the decision not to target oil facilities could be reversed.

“I have chosen NOT to wipe out the Oil Infrastructure on the Island. However, should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision.”

Speaking about the broader state of Iran on Tuesday, Trump said that the Iranian regime has agreed not to pursue nuclear weapons in order to stop the U.S. military from striking the country.

“There won’t be any nuclear weapons,” Trump said at the White House, adding that Iran “has agreed to that.”

Trump said that “we’re in a good bargaining position” and said Iran is mostly “defenseless.”

Since the U.S.–Israel air strikes, the Strait of Hormuz, which connects oil-rich nations around the Persian Gulf to the broader ocean, has effectively been shut down by Iran.

The stalemate over the waterway led Trump to threaten airstrikes on Iranian power plants and other infrastructure if no progress in opening the Strait is made within 48 hours. On Monday, the administration said the U.S. military would extend the deadline to five days.

That comes as Israel said on Tuesday that it carried out an extensive series of strikes targeting Iran’s “production sites.” In Tehran, a massive blast was heard in northern neighborhoods and another in the city center.

John Haughey and Jack Phillips contributed to this report.