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Saudi Arabia's crown prince pushing Trump to keep fighting Iran, put boots on the ground - report

The Times of Israel published this on 24 March 2026. Lazar Berman, its diplomatic reporter, wrote the liveblog entry. The headline is Saudi Arabia's crown prince pushing Trump to keep fighting Iran, put boots on the ground - report. He reports a New York Times account, drawn from people briefed by American officials. Those people said Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's day-to-day ruler, often called MBS, urged President Donald Trump to keep fighting until Iran's government fell. They said he wanted American soldiers on the ground to take energy sites. An American family should care because the report is about sending US troops into Iran, not only firing from a distance.

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 A Long Pattern; the full article index lists every article on this shelf.

Evidence rating: MODERATE. The rating covers the report that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman privately urged American boots on the ground to seize energy sites and topple Iran's government. The Times of Israel relays it from the New York Times, which drew on people briefed by American officials. Riyadh's public line, the same entry notes, was diplomacy; the private account and the public line do not match.

What the article says​

Berman writes that bin Salman spoke with Trump several times in the week before 24 March 2026. According to the report he is relaying, the crown prince sees Iran as a threat for as long as its current government exists. The newspaper account says he also fears a broken Iranian state, with military factions still striking Saudi Arabia, and that Iran could keep targeting the kingdom and shipping after the war.

The entry then records the public line. Riyadh has been hit by Iranian drones and missiles, Berman writes, and still says it wants a diplomatic solution.

The sources in the New York Times account, as Berman reports them, said bin Salman wanted something harder in private. He wanted US strikes on Iran's energy system in order to weaken the government. He told Trump that jumps in the oil price would be temporary, the report says. Berman adds a separate point from a week earlier: a senior Gulf official told The Times of Israel that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were considering joining US and Israeli strikes. That is about joining a bombing campaign.

He even advocated for US boots on the ground in order to take control of energy sites and topple the regime, they said.

The "they" are the people the New York Times cited. Lazar Berman quotes that line in The Times of Israel on 24 March 2026.

What other reporting adds​

A different picture of the Saudi role, from Trump's own supporters. Four days after this report, pro-Trump commentator Bill Mitchell posted that Saudi Arabia had "opened key air bases for U.S. strikes," that "Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman views this as a historic opportunity to eliminate the Iranian threat," and that "U.S. airpower provides overwhelming support without American boots on the ground." (Bill Mitchell on X, 28 March 2026; research capture: twitter/t13__v151.md). In his telling, Gulf armies, not Americans, are the ground force. He gives no source for the air-base claim.

The source. The private request rests on the New York Times account that The Times of Israel relayed; the research captures found no Saudi statement addressing it.

What it shows​

A regional ally with its own war aims asked, in private, for American soldiers to do the ground work, while saying "diplomacy" in public. That is the pattern this section documents with Israel: allies who want Iran's government gone, who will supply bases, airstrikes and intelligence, and who look to American infantry for the part that has to be done on the ground. Israel's Channel 12 reported the same week that Israeli soldiers would not join a US ground operation. The report landed as the 82nd Airborne was ordered toward the region. See A Long Pattern and Israel Keeps Its Infantry Home.

Check it yourself​

Status: Mohammed bin Salman is alive. Donald Trump is alive.

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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