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An X writeup of Reza Pahlavi: the boots on the ground should be Iranians, not Americans

On 23 September 2026, the X account @urgentintel posted a long writeup of Reza Pahlavi speaking with Martha MacCallum on Fox after a UN speech by President Trump. The writeup says Pahlavi is not asking the United States to put troops on the ground, and that the boots on the ground would be Iranians. This page did not watch the Fox interview. It records the post. Pahlavi is alive. MacCallum is alive. The post is an account's notes of the interview.

Evidence rating: MODERATE. The post is a public record of how @urgentintel reported the Fox interview; the rating covers the post, and a reader can check the wording against the interview itself.

What the post says

The account writes that Pahlavi's line was to arm Iranians with frozen Iranian funds, so America would spend nothing and send no troops. It puts these sentences in his mouth:

We're not asking America to put troops on the ground, as the president has said.

The boots on the ground are the people of Iran themselves.

@urgentintel, 23 September 2026, describing a Fox interview. Quotation marks here follow the post's presentation of his words, not a transcript opened for this page.

Status: Reza Pahlavi is alive. Martha MacCallum is alive.

What other reporting and posts add

More of the interview, as the same writeup gives it. The writeup also quotes Pahlavi: "Not asking American taxpayers to fund the campaign," with frozen funds repurposed "without costing a penny to the American taxpayer," and "We need to equip the Iranian people." The account's own summary: "America spends nothing, sends no troops, and still gets the boots on the ground." MacCallum, per the writeup, cited retired Gen. Jack Keane saying Gulf states need to "man up." (captures: twitter/t13__v145.md, twitter/t13__v148.md)

Israel's ambassador made the same point in March. Six months earlier, Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Leiter, told CBS's Face the Nation, as Politico reported: "If that includes putting boots on the ground — our preference is for the boots on the ground to be those of the Iranians. … They need to put their boots on the ground and ensure their future and the future of the region." He also would not rule out boots on the ground. The day before, Israeli President Isaac Herzog told Fox News "it doesn't require troops on the ground" to bring down Iran's government. Politico, 8 March 2026. (capture: twitter/t13__v145.md) So "Iranians as the boots" is a line shared by the Iranian opposition in exile and by Israeli officials.

Supporters repeated it; critics argued over it. Pahlavi supporters replied to Trump and Netanyahu with lines like "We are the boots on the ground, Free frozen Money of Iran to arm us." @Pahlavist091339, 24 September 2026. (capture: twitter/t13__v145.md) Another poster wrote: "As HRH Reza Pahlavi has said, Iranians themselves are the boots on the ground. No foreign troops, no taxpayer burden." (capture: twitter/t13__v147.md) Online arguments followed over whether the clip had been twisted; one account said it "still says no American troops and no taxpayer money." @Zentorinus, 24 September 2026. (capture: twitter/t13__v147.md)

An Iranian official taunted the opposite way. Three days earlier, Mohsen Rezaee, described as secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, said: "If they are sincere, let their soldiers come and enter Iran. ... Why don't American ground forces enter Iran? Why do they only bomb from the sky and then leave?" @maxosintintel, 20 September 2026. (capture: twitter/t13__v145.md)

What it shows

"Iranians as the boots on the ground" is a line shared by Israel's ambassador in Washington and by the Iranian opposition in exile. It is also the line that has not come true: six months after Israel's ambassador said of Iranian boots "I think they're coming," no uprising had toppled the government. Meanwhile the ground component Israel's prime minister said is needed was being planned by the Pentagon with American troops, and Israel's own press said Israeli infantry would stay home. When the hoped-for Iranian boots do not arrive, the plans on the table are American. See Israeli Leaders on a Ground War and Pentagon Ground Plans 2026.

Check it yourself

• The post. The Fox interview is the thing to watch before treating the sentences as his exact words.

Who is speaking, for a newcomer: Reza Pahlavi is the exiled son of Iran's last shah, who was overthrown in the 1979 revolution. He lives in the United States and is the best-known figure in the Iranian opposition abroad; he called Iranians into the streets in January 2026, when, by his account, the government killed "tens of thousands." Martha MacCallum hosts Fox News's The Story. "Frozen funds" means Iranian government money held in foreign banks under sanctions. By September 2026, the US-Israeli war on Iran that began on 28 February was in its seventh month, and the question of American ground troops had not gone away. His answer, as this account tells it: use Iranians, not Americans.

Research captures: twitter/t13__v145.md, twitter/t13__v148.md, twitter/t13__v147.md

Last Updated: 2026-09-26