As the United States continues airstrikes against Iran, an analysis has emerged that Washington faces a situation where air power alone cannot eliminate meaningful military targets. Without deploying ground troops, achieving substantial results will be difficult, observers say.
On Friday, U.S. political news outlet Politico reported that although President Donald Trump expressed his strong commitment to striking Iran during a national address at the White House on Thursday, there are almost no major targets left that can be destroyed through airstrikes alone.
A former senior official from the Trump administration said, "There are very few military facilities that can be reached without ground forces at this point." The person added, "Iran's ballistic missiles are likely stored in hardened bunkers, making strikes increasingly difficult. If that weren't the case, they would have already been destroyed."
In practice, U.S. forces have been able to eliminate missiles and launchers exposed on the surface through airstrikes. However, key military facilities located in underground tunnels and caves that Iran has built over decades are assessed as beyond the reach of air power alone.
This has raised growing concerns that despite Trump's pledge to "hit Iran hard," the campaign could devolve into a prolonged war of attrition with no clear results. A Department of War official said, "The importance of the targets we can strike is declining," adding, "It is hard to expect any effect beyond provoking Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and giving them justification."
Against this backdrop, the possibility of deploying ground troops is also being discussed. A prominent scenario involves seizing Kharg Island, Iran's main oil export hub.
However, assessments within the U.S. military suggest such operations would carry significant costs. Another Department of War official said, "A military operation on Kharg Island would result in casualties, and that would lead to more painful consequences for the United States."
Concerns are also emerging from U.S. political circles. Representative Gregory Meeks, the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said, "President Trump still has no clear plan for what comes next," adding, "The American people deserve more than vague declarations of success."
Politico projected that "ground troops may be needed to keep the Strait of Hormuz open, but in that case, strong political backlash from both Democrats and Republicans would be inevitable."
Earlier, Trump claimed in his national address, "Iran's navy and air force have already been completely annihilated." He also asserted, "The nuclear weapons Iran had been developing to target the United States and Europe have been neutralized to the point where they can never be rebuilt." He warned, "Over the next two to three weeks, we will unleash fierce strikes on Iran. We will send them back to the Stone Age."