Senator References Bloodiest Battle in USMC History While Urging Attack on Kharg Island

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., urged President Donald Trump on Sunday to order U.S. Marines to seize Iran's Kharg Island, invoking one of the bloodiest battles of World War II to make his case for a ground operation in the Persian Gulf.

"We did Iwo Jima. We can do this," Graham said during an appearance on Fox News Sunday. "My money is always on the Marines."

The remark, delivered as the U.S. enters its fourth week of military operations against Iran with 13 service members killed and roughly 200 wounded, drew immediate backlash from fellow Republicans who called the comparison reckless.

Graham Pushes for Ground Operation

Graham, a retired Air Force Reserve colonel, told host Shannon Bream that controlling Kharg Island would cripple the Iranian regime financially. 

"Keep it up for a few more weeks, take Kharg Island where all of the resources they have to produce oil, control that island, let this regime die on a vine," Graham said.

When Bream cited an Atlantic analysis warning of ballistic missile strikes, drone attacks and limited resupply, Graham was dismissive. 

"I'm sort of tired of all this armchair quarterbacking," he said. "I trust the Marines, not that guy. I trust DOD. We've got two Marine expeditionary units sailing to this island."

The comments drew swift rebukes from within his own party. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., an Air Force veteran, called his words "unacceptable and dark" in a post on X, writing that Graham was treating troops "as if they are expendable cattle." 

Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C., wrote that Graham "has one foreign policy: send someone else's kids to war. He was wrong about Iraq. He was wrong about Afghanistan. Now he's wrong about Iran."

Paul Dans, the Project 2025 architect challenging Graham in the Republican primary, called the senator "drunk on war and power" in a post on X.

The Battle That Changed the Course of WWII

The battle Graham mentioned stands as one of the bloodiest in Marine Corps history. The fight for Iwo Jima, a volcanic island roughly 700 miles south of Tokyo, raged from Feb. 19 to March 26, 1945, and produced staggering losses on both sides.

American forces suffered more than 26,000 casualties during the 36-day campaign, including nearly 7,000 killed. A Japanese force of roughly 20,000 soldiers fought from an elaborate network of underground tunnels and fortified bunkers, refusing to surrender. Fewer than 1,100 of them survived.

It was the only major engagement of the Pacific campaign in which Americans lost more troops, killed and wounded, than the enemy they were fighting. The cost of taking an eight-square-mile island stunned military planners and shook public confidence in the war effort.

That toll, combined with the bloodier fighting on Okinawa two months later, convinced military leaders that invading the Japanese home islands would cause losses the public could not bear. The grim casualty estimates weighed heavily on President Harry Truman when he chose to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki rather than send ground forces ashore.

Twenty-seven Marines and sailors received the Medal of Honor for their actions on Iwo Jima, more than any other single battle in U.S. history.

Rep. Jason Crow, D-Colo., an Army Ranger and veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, highlighted the losses on Iwo Jima to push back against Graham's remarks. The nearly 7,000 Americans who died and 19,000 wounded at Iwo Jima "did it to fight for our freedom, with the support of Congress and the American people," he wrote on X.

Why Kharg Island Is at the Center of the Iran War

Kharg Island is a small coral outcrop roughly 16 miles off Iran's southern coast in the Persian Gulf. Only about five miles long and three miles wide, it processes approximately 90% of Iran's crude oil exports. Deep surrounding waters allow supertankers to dock directly, a geographic advantage that most of Iran's shallow coastline cannot offer.

The U.S. military has already hit military targets on the island. Trump announced on March 13 that American forces had struck Kharg's military installations in what he called one of the most powerful bombing raids in Middle East history, though oil infrastructure was left intact.

U.S. officials have confirmed the administration is weighing whether to send ground forces onto the island or impose a naval blockade. White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly told AFP that the military “can take out Kharg Island at any time if the President gives the order.” 

Several Marine units are already en route to the region. CBS also reported that the Pentagon is preparing to deploy elements of the 82nd Airborne Division to the region alongside additional military forces.

Fourteen U.S. service members have been killed and over 200 wounded in the conflict so far. If the operation moves forward, it would mark the war's first significant ground engagement, placing American troops within easy range of Iranian drones, missiles and coastal defenses. 

The talk of a ground assault on Kharg Island stands in contrast to earlier assurances from Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that the conflict would not become a prolonged ground war. Trump told reporters on Thursday that he was "not putting troops anywhere," though he added, "If I were, I certainly wouldn't tell you." 

The war is now approaching the four-week mark that administration officials initially cited as the anticipated endpoint, with the Strait of Hormuz still closed and no clear path to a negotiated resolution. Recent polling shows just 7% of Americans support a potential ground operation in Iran.