← Air War Is Not Enough
Operation Epic Fury: Headwinds and Outcomes
On September 17, 2026, Hoover Institution scholar Russell A. Berman published Operation Epic Fury: Headwinds and Outcomes. Operation Epic Fury is his name for the joint U.S. and Israeli campaign against Iran. He writes that it began on February 28, 2026. An American family should care because he says that, more than six months later, the United States still had not sent ground troops. He also says that refusing to send them leaves open whether bombing alone can force a political result.
Evidence rating: MODERATE. This rates a named Hoover Institution scholar's account, more than six months into the war, that "there has been no deployment of ground troops," alongside his own note that press reports of plans to seize Kharg Island were confirmed by a presidential post on 11 June.
What the article says
Berman writes that the Trump administration had held to two limits. The first is ground troops.
First and foremost, there has been no deployment of ground troops.
Russell A. Berman wrote that at the Hoover Institution on September 17, 2026.
He says press reports of plans to seize Kharg Island, which he calls a vital oil production site, were confirmed by a posting from the president on June 11. He says it is not clear whether that post described a contingency about to start or words aimed at Tehran. He writes that boots on the ground are "dangerous political territory," because they would open the administration to the accusation of another "endless war." He then says that ruling out ground troops raises the question of whether air power alone can produce victory.
The second limit, he writes, is that the administration had apparently decided not to support a Kurdish uprising inside Iran. He says both ideas, inserting U.S. troops and stirring ethnic revolts, were rejected. His reason for the second rejection is that trying to break the country apart might instead rally nationalist support to the regime.
He calls the campaign a joint U.S.-Israeli operation and calls Israel a capable military ally. His claim about American soldiers is that a ground force had not been deployed. He does not report that Israeli infantry had entered Iran.
What other reporting and posts add
The acknowledged exception. In April, about 90 US troops went into Iran to rescue a downed F-15E crew member. The head of US Central Command, Adm. Brad Cooper, told CBS's 60 Minutes, as RT summarized it and a post quoted, that "More than 90 US service members were ultimately deployed on the ground" and called them "the first acknowledged US 'boots on the ground' in Iran in 46 years." @rbg4lif, 14 September 2026. (capture: twitter/t49__v577.md) A rescue is not a deployment in Berman's sense, but it is American soldiers on Iranian soil. See a238.
The same day, Trump spoke of a "big decision." A news account summarizing a new Axios interview on 17 September quoted Trump saying he has "a big decision coming up," Pentagon officials saying "US forces are prepared for the possibility of all-out war against Iran," and Trump: "Do I want to go in and annihilate them or do I not?" @jjarichardson quoting @HormuzLetter, 17 September 2026. (capture: twitter/t13__v148.md)
The Kharg plan Berman mentions. Independent reporter Ken Klippenstein reported in June a leaked order sending a company of the 82nd Airborne to Israel, tied per an X summary to "joint contingency planning" "for seizing Iranian-controlled Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf and carving out coastal territory inside Iran." X news summary, 8 June 2026. (capture: twitter/t07__v083.md) On the Kurdish option Berman says was rejected, a September AI-assistant reply on X said a reported Kurdish move "never materialized into an actual offensive." @grok, 21 September 2026. (capture: twitter/t01__v010.md)
What it shows
Even an essay stating that "there has been no deployment of ground troops" records the plans for one: press reports of seizing Kharg Island, confirmed by the President's own post. Berman also names why the line is held: boots on the ground are "dangerous political territory." Set his sentence beside the record: about 90 Americans on Iranian soil in April, the 82nd Airborne company Klippenstein reported sent to Israel for joint Kharg planning, and, the day this essay appeared, Pentagon officials saying US forces "are prepared for the possibility of all-out war against Iran." The limit being held is political; the preparation continues (see No Boots on the Ground and Kharg Island and the Uranium Raid).
Check it yourself
Hoover Institution, September 17, 2026: Operation Epic Fury: Headwinds and Outcomes. No second source was opened for this page.
For a newcomer: Operation Epic Fury is the Pentagon's name for the US part of the air war the United States and Israel began against Iran on 28 February 2026. The Hoover Institution is a conservative research center at Stanford University. Written almost seven months into the war, this essay's main claim is that there had been "no deployment of ground troops." That is broadly right as a description of an invasion or occupation force, with one acknowledged exception, noted below.
Research captures: twitter/t49__v577.md, twitter/t13__v148.md, twitter/t07__v083.md, twitter/t01__v010.md
Last Updated: 2026-09-26