As the war in Iran enters its second month, President Trump has delivered a prime time address promising, simultaneously, that the conflict will be over “very shortly” and that the United States is preparing to hit Iran “extremely hard”.

Thousands more US troops have arrived in the region in recent days, including a marine expeditionary unit as the president is reportedly weighing options for a potential ground assault, such as an attempt to seize the Iranian oil export hub on Kharg Island, which Trump has said the US could take “very easily.”

But what options does the President actually have and what would be involved in an attempt to forcibly re-open the strait of Hormuz? 

Katie Stallard is joined by Ruben Stewart, senior fellow for land warfare at the IISS think tank and a former infantry officer and UN peacekeeper.

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