US task force to cut off Iran’s transport of advanced weapons: What we know

As the threat of renewed war grows, Washington is expanding efforts to choke Tehran’s military supply networks, including through Task Force Iron Gate – a unit targeting land routes and the Caspian Sea.

With it, the US military ⁠⁠⁠⁠is trying to prevent Iran from using ground routes to transport advanced weapons and other materials, the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) announced on Saturday.

The same day, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) announced ambitious plans for underground complexes capable of sustaining missile and drone production under bombardment. That announcement came amid reports of ongoing construction near Iranian missile bases, based on satellite imagery and previous claims by Tehran that US strikes failed to destroy its underground facilities.

Here’s what we know about the US task force:

What is the purpose of the task force?

Task Force Iron Gate will aim to find out where “weapons systems are coming in, how they could potentially be cut off” and how “Iran is transporting its energy”, Michael Mulroy, a former US deputy assistant defence secretary for the Middle East, told Al Jazeera.

It expands on the US blockade of Iranian ports to cover Iran’s land borders and the Caspian Sea and will reportedly be run by 20 civilian and military personnel.

Iran shares borders with seven countries – Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Pakistan Turkiye and Turkmenistan.

Based in Tampa, Florida, the unit will coordinate with other US government agencies “on preventing the movement of advanced weapons systems, dual-use technologies, sanctioned materials and illegal revenue streams across Iran’s land borders and the Caspian Sea”, CENTCOM said. Task Force Iron Gate will reinforce “the success of our ironclad blockade against Iran at sea”, CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper said.

If US President Donald Trump ramps up the war, there will likely be attacks on this “series of targets”, said Mulroy.

“Unlike Operation Epic Fury, which primarily (focused) on military targets, I think these targets will be focused on economic and infrastructure targets, as part of this comprehensive plan to cut the regime off from its ability to fight and ability to fund itself,” Mulroy said. “It’s primarily a coordination body that’s looking for how the US can increase its economic strangulation strategy by going after the ground routes as they’ve already covered a majority of the maritime routes.”

How has Iran responded to CENTCOM’s announcement?

The IRGC dismissed the US military plan as “just a play on words”.

“The Americans cannot achieve their goal through this, which is to apply severe economic pressure to collapse and disintegrate the Iranian economy,” said IRGC spokesman Sardar Mohebi, as reported by the Fars news agency.

Washington previously “claimed that Iran will suffer an economic collapse within two weeks, but we witnessed that this did not happen”, he added.

Is the task force a response to reports of Russia-Iran weapons ties?

While CENTCOM’s announcement did not explicitly identify Iran’s weapons trade with Russia, analysts say the unit could be seen as an attempt to disrupt supply networks that include Russian connections.

US media have reported that Russia has sent drone components and explosives to Iran via the Caspian Sea. There are also claims that Russian technology could be helping Iran develop advanced supersonic cruise missiles.

Mahjoob Zweiri, a professor of contemporary history and politics at Qatar University, told Al Jazeera that reports of military equipment imported via Russia are a “real concern” for the United States.

The task force therefore could “cause a confrontation with Russia”, he said.

Rami Khouri, a public policy fellow at the American University of Beirut and a non-resident senior fellow at the Arab Center in Washington, said of the new unit: “The US really doesn’t quite know what to do about Iran as we’ve seen, and it’s doing things off the cuff” – a strategy that has led to little success.

Can the US really choke off Iran’s supply lines?

Khouri pointed to Iran’s history as a trading nation for thousands of years as evidence that the US mission is near impossible.

“There’s an enormous web of contacts that Iran has had for thousands of years with traders and partners and allies all over the region, especially in Asia –  it’s virtually impossible for the US to seal off every one,” he said.

While the US can impose a blockade or sanctions on Iran, it cannot control the behaviour of everyone from the Russians, to the Chinese, to the Emiratis and beyond, said the analyst.

“There are people all over the region who have links with Iran, some very close, some just commercial,” he said.

A lot of the materials that go into Iran’s weapons systems are bought from some other countries, – some even from the US or Europeans – and then they are channelled through companies in Asia, Khouri added.

Could this change the course of the war?

Former Trump aide and top counterterrorism official Joe Kent, who resigned in March due to the US’s war on Iran, said the new task force is an attempt by CENTCOM to subvert ongoing diplomatic efforts.

“This is CENTCOM inviting Iran to escalate while the vice president is attempting to negotiate with the Iranians,” Kent posted on X. “This is, as CENTCOM calls it, ‘policy by CONOP’, when the military finds a way to subvert the White House without blatantly disobeying the President, by taking actions that will ensure a war escalates or perpetuates.”

According to The Wall Street Journal, CENTCOM chief Cooper is among the many officials, alongside Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, pressing Trump to renew attacks on Iran.

The task force may also just be symbolic because the US has no military presence on the Caspian Sea, said Zweiri.

“America has no access to the sea, unless some of the neighbouring countries like Azerbaijan or Armenia or others collaborate [with them] … And they’re not collaborating on this because they don’t want to upset Russia,” he said. “It will require … troops on the ground, and this is unlikely to happen.”

Zweiri also said that the Caspian Sea’s contribution to Iran’s economy is just 11 percent, so the task force’s actions won’t have much negative impact on Tehran.

Al Jazeera could not independently verify this figure but the Caspian Sea accounts for only a fraction of Iran’s overall maritime trade, according to the Soufan Center based in New York City.