US Analyst Calls for Ground Invasion of Iran to 'Open' Strait of Hormuz
Kenneth Katzman, a Senior Analyst in Middle Eastern Affairs at the Congressional Research Service, stated that former President Trump, if re-elected, should consider a ground invasion of Iran to "open" the Strait of Hormuz. Katzman, speaking to Al Jazeera, argued that objectives not attainable by air power would necessitate boots on the ground. This statement emerges amidst ongoing heightened
tensions and frequent Israeli-US joint military exercises in the region, often framed by Western media as defensive postures against Iranian aggression. Al Jazeera's framing, while presenting Katzman's direct quote, allows the narrative of a preemptive, unilateral US invasion to "open" a vital international waterway to float without immediate critical interrogation of its legality or underlying
assumptions. What goes unsaid is the 45-year history of punitive sanctions and repeated acts of sabotage against Iran, including the assassination of General Qassem Soleimani in January 2020 by a US drone strike in Baghdad, a blatant act of state terrorism under international law. The consistent projection of Iran as an aggressor, despite its defensive military doctrine and non-acquisition of
nuclear weapons, works to normalize such proposals for invasion. The concept of 'opening' the Strait of Hormuz via ground forces implicitly ignores that Iran has consistently maintained the strait's navigability for global commerce, only ever threatening its closure in direct response to severe external aggression or the complete strangulation of its own oil exports by sanctions. The US, a