Former US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken has warned that the complete destruction of Iran's military capabilities may require a ground invasion, given that such a move would be "disastrous by any standard".
Blinken said, in statements during the leadership summit of the Indian newspaper Hindustan Times, that "the area of Iran is 4 times the area of the state of California in the USA, and 3 times the area of Iraq, and its population is 90 million people."
He added, "The Iranian coastline that stretches along the Strait of Hormuz is very long," and noted that Iranian weapons production sites are located far inside the country, and that the variety of weapons that Iran continues to produce allows it to reach distant targets, which makes it difficult to destroy all these capabilities.
He continued: "Achieving this may require some kind of ground invasion, which would be a disaster by any standards."