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Interview | Saeid Golkar on the Fear and Hope Shaking Iran

On 3 March 2026, Moment magazine published Interview | Saeid Golkar on the Fear and Hope Shaking Iran. The page does not name the interviewer. The person interviewed is Saeid Golkar. The page says he is an associate professor of political science at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and a senior adviser at United Against Nuclear Iran. It says he was born in Iran, earned his doctorate at the University of Tehran, and moved to the United States in 2010. An American family should care because the interviewer asks whether American and Israeli soldiers would have to land in Iran before people there could take over state buildings. Golkar does not say "no soldiers." He says a large occupation is not required. He then describes small teams of special forces seizing a few buildings.

Evidence rating: MODERATE. The rating covers one scholar's judgment, given to Moment on 3 March 2026, the fourth day of the operation: that "a few small groups of special forces could take control over a few buildings" in Tehran.

What the article says​

The interview covers fear and hope inside Iran, views of the United States and Israel, and Golkar's reading of what kind of government many Iranians want. The part about soldiers is near the end.

Golkar says people are waiting for someone to tell them the streets are safe. He names three figures they are waiting on: Reza Pahlavi, the exiled crown prince, or Benjamin Netanyahu, or Donald Trump. He says the hope is that people could then take over the state, neighborhood by neighborhood. He says that cannot happen while the security forces remain, because the public has no weapons. He uses Iraq as a comparison. He says Iraq under Saddam Hussein collapsed on the 21st day, and that this collapse came with boots on the ground. Boots on the ground means soldiers in the country, not only aircraft overhead. He is using Iraq as an analogy. He is not saying Iran is on that timetable.

The interviewer then asks whether, to give that all-clear with confidence, American and Israeli boots on the ground would be required.

Not really. A few small groups of special forces could take control over a few buildings, for example, the presidential palace or the parliament or the TV station.

Saeid Golkar, in this Moment interview dated 3 March 2026. Special forces are small military or intelligence teams trained for raids, not a mass of infantry. He adds that people are waiting for the moment to take revenge on the system. He does not name which country would send the teams. The question he was asked was about American and Israeli soldiers.

Later he answers Americans who doubt the war. He says, in his view, foreign intervention is the only realistic path to regime change, because a modern security state is too strong for an unarmed public to overthrow. He also gives other reasons he thinks Americans should support the war, including trade. That is a broader argument for outside force. It is still his argument.

What other reporting and posts add​

What Trump told Iranians on the first night. The president's 28 February address, as transcribed in a post, ended: "To the great proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand. Stay sheltered. Don't leave your home. It's very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations." @TheLastRefuge2, 28 February 2026. (capture: twitter/t42__v501.md) That is the "all-clear" Golkar says people were waiting for.

US intelligence was less hopeful. A US National Intelligence Council report finished a week before the war, as described via The Washington Post, said the likelihood of Iran's divided opposition seizing control was "unlikely," and did not address "sending US ground troops to Iran or arming the Kurds in Iran to incite an insurgency." @UnplugTheEmpire, 7 March 2026. (capture: twitter/t13__v150.md)

Israel's view of whose boots. Five days after this interview, Israel's ambassador to Washington, Michael Leiter, said "our preference is for the boots on the ground to be those of the Iranians." Politico, 8 March 2026. (capture: twitter/t13__v145.md) In September, the exiled Reza Pahlavi, whom Golkar names as one of the figures Iranians were waiting on, said: "Not asking for American boots on the ground. The boots on the ground are the people of Iran themselves." See X: Pahlavi, Iranian boots, not American. (capture: twitter/t13__v145.md)

What it shows​

Asked whether American and Israeli boots on the ground would be required, Golkar answered that small special-forces teams could seize key buildings in Tehran, and argued that foreign intervention is the only realistic path to regime change. The regime-change aim itself leads to soldiers on the ground. Israel's own leaders said the same: "there has to be a ground component." See Americans Already on Iranian Soil and Israeli Leaders on a Ground War.

Check it yourself​

No second source was opened for this page.

Status: Saeid Golkar is alive. This page reports his analysis. It does not accuse him of a crime.

For a newcomer: this interview ran on 3 March 2026, the fourth day of the US-Israeli air war on Iran that began on 28 February. Moment is an American Jewish magazine founded in 1975. United Against Nuclear Iran, where Golkar is an adviser, is a New York-based advocacy group that campaigns for pressure on Iran's government. His answer matters because it is an early, open statement of a middle path people argued about all year: not an American invasion, but small special-forces teams on Iranian soil.

Research captures: twitter/t42__v501.md, twitter/t13__v150.md, twitter/t13__v145.md

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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