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Trump on possibility of ground forces monitoring Iran's uranium: 'That would be great'

On March 7, 2026, Ynetnews, the English-language site of the Israeli news organization Ynet, published Trump on possibility of ground forces monitoring Iran's uranium: 'That would be great'. The page metadata credits AFP, the French news agency. The item is three sentences. An American family should care because the president was asked about someday putting U.S. ground forces in Iran to watch the enriched-uranium stockpile. Enriched uranium is uranium processed to a higher concentration, the material at the center of the fight over Iran's nuclear program. He did not close the door. He also said not now.

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 Pentagon Ground Plans 2026; the full article index lists every article on this shelf.

Evidence rating: MODERATE. The rating covers the President's direct answer aboard Air Force One, reported by AFP and published by Ynetnews: US ground forces monitoring Iran's uranium stockpile "would be great," something "we can do later, but not now."

What the article says​

Ynetnews says Trump does not rule out a future deployment of ground forces in Iran to monitor the enriched-uranium stockpile. It says reporters asked him about that possibility at a briefing on Air Force One.

Maybe at some point we'll do that, that would be great.

President Donald Trump, as quoted by Ynetnews, March 7, 2026. Ynetnews says he added: "That's something we can do later, but not now."

What other reporting adds​

The same Air Force One briefing, a second quote. PolitiFact reported what Trump said aboard Air Force One on 7 March when asked about ground troops more generally: "Could there be? Possibly, for a very good reason. Have to be a very good reason." (PolitiFact, 9 March 2026; research capture: twitter/t48__v574.md). Taken with "Maybe at some point we'll do that, that would be great," it shows the president treating ground troops as a later possibility, not a present plan.

Who else wanted troops at the uranium. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CBS's 60 Minutes two months later that the uranium "has to be taken out of Iran," and when asked how: "You go in, and you take it out." He added: "what President Trump has said to me, 'I want to go in there.'" (CBS News transcript, 10 May 2026; research capture: twitter/t13__v145.md). In June, Trump told reporters he had turned down a plan to go in because "You have to be there for two weeks" (see It's entombed: Trump says US can retrieve Iran's uranium).

What it shows​

A week into the war, the President called the idea of American ground forces guarding Iran's uranium "great," and said only that it would come "later." Two months later Israel's prime minister said on 60 Minutes that the uranium must be removed ("You go in, and you take it out") and quoted Trump telling him "I want to go in there." In June, CNN reported that a ground mission to seize the uranium had been prepared and then paused. Every step pointed at American soldiers at Iran's nuclear sites. See Kharg Island and the Uranium Raid and Israeli Leaders on a Ground War.

Check it yourself​

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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