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U.S. Issues Worldwide Caution Alert as Trump Official Warns of Escalation

On March 22, 2026, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz published U.S. Issues Worldwide Caution Alert as Trump Official Warns of Escalation. The part that loaded says the State Department warned Americans worldwide, and that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent left U.S. boots on the ground on the table. An American family should care because those boots would be U.S. soldiers. That can mean someone's son or daughter on Iranian soil, not only pilots overhead.

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 No Boots on the Ground; the full article index lists every article on this shelf.

Evidence rating: CONFIRMED. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said sending US troops was still an option. Haaretz reports it, and NBC News, opened for this page, reports the same Sunday interview.

What the article says

Haaretz reports that on Sunday the State Department issued a worldwide caution for American citizens as the war with Iran intensified. It says this came shortly after Bessent described U.S. strategy with the words "sometimes you have to escalate to de-escalate."

The deck under the headline is more specific. It says his hard-line comments left every option open, from U.S. boots on the ground to a possible takeover of Kharg Island. Kharg Island is a small island in the Persian Gulf and a main outlet for Iranian oil. The deck says those comments came hours after President Donald Trump gave Iran 48 hours to reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face U.S. strikes on its power plants. The Strait of Hormuz is the narrow sea lane at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. Much of the world's shipped oil passes through it.

all options remain on the table, from U.S. boots on the ground to a possible takeover of Kharg Island

Haaretz wrote that on March 22, 2026, as its summary of Bessent's comments. The body sentence that loaded does not quote him saying "boots" himself. It quotes the escalate line. The byline and the rest of the article did not load. They sat behind a subscription wall.

What other reporting adds

Trump himself on Kharg, a week later. Trump told the Financial Times, as a digest of that interview quoted him: "Maybe we take Kharg Island, maybe we don't. We have a lot of options... It would also mean we had to be there [in Kharg Island] for a while." (@ZackEiseman on X, 30 March 2026, quoting the FT; research capture: twitter/t49__v587.md).

Is an island "boots on the ground"? Representative Pete Sessions, a Texas Republican, argued in March that Marines holding an island would not count: "The island is not, in my opinion, boots on the ground in combat circumstances. It's not like inside Iran in the cities." (as rendered on Threads, 17 March 2026; research captures: twitter/t52__v613.md, twitter/t52__v616.md). In July, one X user predicted the administration would treat an island landing as "NOT a violation of the No Boots on (continental) Iran ground" (@TomGrey56 on X, 17 July 2026; research capture: twitter/t50__v591.md). That is a guess about future wording, not a quote from any official. It is worth knowing because Kharg Island is Iranian territory.

What it shows

On 22 March 2026 a cabinet officer said on television that US troops remained an option, while the State Department warned Americans worldwide to take caution. Two days earlier the White House had said the President had "no plans" to send troops into Iran, the same day CBS reported detailed Pentagon preparations to do so. See No Boots on the Ground and Pentagon Ground Plans 2026.

Check it yourself

• The Haaretz article, March 22, 2026: U.S. Issues Worldwide Caution Alert as Trump Official Warns of Escalation.
• Digest quoting the FT interview, 30 March 2026.
• NBC News the same day, by Alexandra Marquez: Treasury secretary defends U.S. military actions in Iran. NBC reports that Bessent told Meet the Press that "all options are on the table," including sending U.S. troops to secure Kharg Island. It also reports that he had told Fox Business the military assets there were destroyed, and raised whether the island "eventually becomes a U.S. asset." NBC says U.S. officials told it Trump was weighing sending troops to the island to secure oil facilities. On the same broadcast, Senator Chris Murphy said the war was spinning out of control and compared the escalate line to Vietnam and Afghanistan. That is a challenge to the strategy. It is not a claim that Bessent never said the words.
• Research captures: twitter/t49__v587.md, twitter/t50__v591.md, twitter/t52__v613.md, twitter/t52__v616.md.

Status: Scott Bessent is alive. Donald Trump is alive.

Last Updated: 2026-09-26