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← Israel Keeps Its Infantry Home

As US weighs putting troops in Iran, realities on ground keep Israeli boots closer to home

On 1 April 2026, military reporter Stav Levaton published As US weighs putting troops in Iran, realities on ground keep Israeli boots closer to home in The Times of Israel, a major Israeli news site in English. An American family should care because the article says Washington is preparing possible ground operations that could put thousands of US troops in Iran, while Israel is unlikely to send its own infantry. It also quotes Israel's prime minister saying a ground component is needed for regime change, which means replacing Iran's government. And it reports American service members asking why they should die in a war they see as serving Israel.

Background for new readers: On 28 February 2026 the United States and Israel began a joint air war on Iran. The Pentagon calls its part Operation Epic Fury; Israel calls its part Operation Roaring Lion. It came eight months after a shorter war in June 2025, when US bombers hit Iran's nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. The question running through this section is whether the air war turns into American soldiers fighting on Iranian soil. This article is filed under Israel Keeps Its Infantry Home; the full article index lists every article on this shelf.

Evidence rating: MODERATE. A named Times of Israel military reporter, Stav Levaton, lays out the reported US ground options, quotes Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the need for a ground component, and explains, with named analysts, why Israeli infantry will stay home. The rating covers that reporting.

What the article says​

Levaton writes that the US was preparing options for a limited ground operation in Iran. She points to a Washington Post report, retold by The Times of Israel, that the Defense Department was preparing operations short of a full invasion, possibly involving thousands of troops over weeks or months. She writes that Trump had not greenlit the plans, even while he was also talking about the war ending soon. She also cites an Axios report that a "final blow" could include US forces on the ground to seize an Iranian-held island in the Strait of Hormuz, the oil shipping lane, or in the Persian Gulf. Kharg Island, which she calls Iran's main oil-export hub, is one place named. She adds that CNN reported Iran was building up defenses on Kharg against a possible US seizure.

She then quotes Netanyahu from earlier in March. He said a ground component was required to bring about regime change, which the article calls an unofficial goal shared by Israel and the United States. He did not say what that ground component would be. Levaton writes that, despite those remarks, recent reporting gave no sign Israel would take part, and that by all accounts an Israeli ground role had never been seriously considered.

She gives a practical reason. Israeli troops, she writes, were already fighting on fronts close to home, including Lebanon and Gaza. Sending thousands more soldiers thousands of miles away, something she says the Israel Defense Forces, Israel's military, has never done, was treated as a non-starter. Analyst Blaise Misztal, of the Jewish Institute for National Security of America, told the paper an overt Israeli role was unlikely, comparing it to the 1991 Gulf War, when Israel stayed out of the ground fight in Iraq. His reason this time was different. He said Israeli forces were needed at home against Iran-backed groups on Israel's borders. The article says five Israeli divisions were in southern Lebanon, with a sixth being prepared.

The article also says Americans were uneasy about bearing the cost. It states that 13 US service members had been killed and more than 300 wounded, and that holding territory would be more dangerous. It describes a HuffPost investigation of service members and advocacy groups. A veteran and reservist who mentors younger officers told HuffPost he was hearing service members say they do not want to die for Israel or be political pawns. Levaton writes that polls from CNN, The Washington Post, and Quinnipiac showed a majority of Americans opposed the war, with still less support for American boots on the ground. She reports that the Quinnipiac survey found 44 percent thought the United States supports Israel "too much," and that a separate Institute for Middle East Understanding Policy Project poll found 56 percent thought the war benefits Israel more than the United States.

Analysts in the piece argue Israel is not sitting the war out. Gregg Roman, executive director of the Middle East Forum, said the first three days of strikes were meant to soften Iranian territory in case ground forces were needed. The article describes those strikes as having hit Iran's leadership and air defenses. It states that they included the killing of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Levaton writes that Israeli defense sources said the Israel Defense Forces had given the United States intelligence on the Strait of Hormuz and nearby islands, including Kharg. Misztal said Israeli ground forces would likely stay close to home, but that Israeli special forces might still join covert work in Iran with US counterparts. Roman said that if there were not one Israeli soldier on Iranian territory, "that would be strategic malpractice," and that Israel had already had personnel operating there "in one way or another." He pointed to the June 2025 war, when, the article says, the Mossad, Israel's foreign intelligence service, publicized operatives inside Iran. Roman also said: "This isn't about Israel not contributing to an Israeli-led campaign; this is about Israel doing what America asks of it in an American-initiated campaign."

There has to be a ground component as well.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as quoted by Stav Levaton in The Times of Israel, 1 April 2026. The article says he was speaking about regime change and did not explain what the ground part would be.

What other reporting adds​

Netanyahu's full sentence. The line Levaton quotes came from a press conference in Jerusalem on 19 March 2026. Just the News printed the longer version: "It is often said that you can't win, you can't do revolutions from the air, that is true. You can't do it only from there, you can do a lot of things from the air and we're doing, but there has to be a ground component, as well. There are many possibilities for this ground component, and I take the liberty of not sharing with you all those possibilities." (Just the News, 20 March 2026; research capture: twitter/t13__v147.md).

Other Israeli officials, in their own words. Israel's ambassador in Washington, Michael Leiter, told CBS's Face the Nation on 8 March 2026: "If that includes putting boots on the ground — our preference is for the boots on the ground to be those of the Iranians." The day before, Israeli President Isaac Herzog told Fox News that bringing down the regime "doesn't require troops on the ground," as Politico reported (Politico, 8 March 2026; research capture: twitter/t13__v145.md). In June 2026 Israel's defense minister, Israel Katz, told Israel's Channel 14: "We have never asked the United States to fight alongside us in Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria—we only want a diplomatic umbrella to protect us." (Channel 14, 18 June 2026; research capture: twitter/t52__v624.md). Note that Katz's list names Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria. It does not mention Iran.

What this adds up to. The Israeli sentences say "a ground component," "Iranian boots," and "we never asked," for Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria. Israel's own press says its infantry will not go. A ground component that Israel will not supply leaves American soldiers as the force the Pentagon's options are written for.

What it shows​

Israel's leading English-language news site set the whole arrangement out in one article. Israel's prime minister says regime change needs "a ground component." Washington is preparing ground operations that could put thousands of US troops in Iran for weeks or months. And Israel's own infantry will stay close to home; an Israeli ground role "has never been seriously considered." Israel contributes intelligence on Kharg Island and the strait, and perhaps special forces. The soldiers who would hold ground are American, and some of them were already asking why they should die in a war they saw as serving Israel. See Israel Keeps Its Infantry Home and Israeli Leaders on a Ground War.

Check it yourself​

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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