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Trump won't rule out US troops in Iran, says doesn't care about polling

On March 2, 2026, JNS published Trump won't rule out US troops in Iran, says doesn't care about polling, by JNS Staff and Andrew Bernard. JNS is an English-language news service that covers Israel. The article says President Donald Trump told the New York Post he would not rule out sending American troops into Iran "if they were necessary," and that he probably did not need them. The same day, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth refused to rule out ground operations. An American family should care because the president and his defense secretary left the door open to soldiers in Iran while a war was already underway. They did not say the soldiers had gone in.

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: STRONG. JNS and the New York Post, which this page also opened, report the same refusal to rule out ground troops.

What the article says​

JNS, citing the New York Post, quotes the president. "The yips" is slang for freezing under pressure. He meant he would not freeze at the idea of ground troops.

I don't have the yips with respect to boots on the ground. Like every president says, 'There will be no boots on the ground.' I don't say it.

President Donald Trump, as reported by the New York Post and by JNS, March 2, 2026. He added that what he says is "probably don't need them" and "if they were necessary." He also said he does not care about polling, and that Iran must not have a nuclear weapon.

The New York Post story carries that quotation. It also reports that Hegseth, whom the Post calls secretary of war and JNS calls defense secretary, said no American troops were inside Iran at that Monday briefing, and that he still did not rule a later ground force out. Both outlets quote him: "You don't have to roll 200,000 people in there and stay for 20 years."

JNS reports that Hegseth called it foolish to set a public timeline or to promise anything about boots on the ground. He said this was not a "regime change war." He also called Iran's government "the former regime" after strikes that, JNS writes, killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other senior leaders. Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said more American forces were on the way to the Middle East. He did not say they were ordered into Iran. JNS says Hegseth confirmed that four US servicemen had been killed in the operation so far, and that three F-15s had gone down in the prior day. Caine said those crashes were not from enemy fire. JNS says US Central Command called them an apparent friendly-fire incident, and that the crews survived.

An Israeli official told JNS that Israel's goal in the war was regime change. JNS says US officials had not stated a clear end state.

What other reporting adds​

What Hegseth said a week later. In a 9 March video, Hegseth put it this way: "We're willing to go as far as we need to in order to be successful," and "You don't tell the ENEMY, you don't tell the PRESS, you don't tell ANYBODY what your limits would be." (words as rendered in a video post; research capture: twitter/t50__v595.md). On 1 April, from the Pentagon podium: "we're not going to foreclose any option," and "there are 15 different ways we could come at them with boots on the ground. And guess what? There are." (Pentagon briefing video, 1 April 2026; research capture: twitter/t52__v618.md).

What Jewish Insider took from the same day. "While officials emphasized that there are currently no American boots on the ground in Iran, Hegseth declined to rule out the possibility, saying the United States 'will go as far as we need to go to advance American interests.'" (Jewish Insider, 2 March 2026; research capture: twitter/t52__v617.md).

What it shows​

The President and his Defense Secretary said on 2 March 2026 that no American troops were in Iran that day, and refused to promise it would stay that way. The record that followed: a Marine unit of 2,200 dispatched on 13 March, detailed Pentagon ground preparations reported on 20 March, thousands of 82nd Airborne paratroopers arriving in the region by 30 March, and more than 90 Americans on Iranian ground in April. See No Boots on the Ground and The Buildup.

Check it yourself​

Status: Donald Trump is alive. Pete Hegseth is alive. Dan Caine is alive. Ali Khamenei is deceased (2026), according to this JNS article.

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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