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"You Can't Bomb It Into Smithereens": Israeli Outlets on Boots for Iran's Uranium

Evidence rating: CONFIRMED for each quote below, from All Israel News (20 March 2026), JNS (26 March 2026), and Haaretz (14 July 2015). STRONG that the argument they make, that Iran's buried uranium can only be removed by soldiers on the ground, became the central justification for American ground plans in 2026.

The most common argument for American boots in Iran is about a stockpile the size of a refrigerator. Israeli outlets made it early and often.

All Israel News: "You've got to locate it"​

On 20 March 2026, All Israel News, an Israeli English-language outlet, published Maayan Hoffman's analysis "Could boots on the ground be the only way to fully eliminate Iran's nuclear threat?" It rests on Dr. Dan Diker, president of the Jerusalem Center for Security and Foreign Affairs, an Israeli think tank:

"You can't bomb it into smithereens. You've got to locate it. It's only the size of a refrigerator, but it can actually fuel numerous nuclear devices."

Diker said the uranium, enriched to 60 percent, is believed to be under the Isfahan nuclear site or a similar site, and that it would be hard to destroy, remove, or secure without troops. He called a deployment to the Strait of Hormuz or Kharg Island a "very strong possibility." Hoffman closed: what cannot be destroyed from the air may have to be secured on the ground (All Israel News, 20 March 2026; article page).

The same article reported that roughly 5,000 US sailors and Marines were heading to the region, which it said raised the chance of a ground operation within weeks, and that at least 13 American service members had already been killed in the wider conflict.

JNS: Greenblatt, "some sort of special force operation"​

Six days later, JNS reported a video briefing to the Jerusalem Press Club by Jason Greenblatt, President Trump's Middle East envoy in his first term:

"I know people are against boots on the ground, but I don't see how you can get that nuclear material if there is no deal without some sort of special force operation going to retrieve that nuclear material."

He also said the United States and its allies need control of the Strait of Hormuz to win the war (JNS, 26 March 2026; article page). The next day Secretary of State Rubio said the US could achieve its objectives "without any ground troops." A former Trump envoy, speaking to the press in Jerusalem, was already arguing past him.

Haaretz, 2015: "no effective military operation without boots on the ground"​

The argument is older than this war. On 14 July 2015, the day the Iran nuclear deal was signed, Haaretz published an analysis whose standfirst reads:

"There is no military option, neither Israeli nor American, because there is no effective military operation without boots on the ground."

(Haaretz, 14 July 2015; article page). Eleven years before the 2026 bombing, an Israeli paper stated the logic plainly: if the goal is to end Iran's nuclear program by force, air power is not a military option. Boots are.

Where the argument led​

  • June 2025: Israel told the Trump administration, per Axios's unnamed senior US official, that if bombs could not reach deep enough into the mountain, "they may 'do it with humans'" (Did Israel Ask?).
  • 10 May 2026: Netanyahu on 60 Minutes: the uranium "has to be taken out of Iran." How? "You go in, and you take it out" (You go in and take it out).
  • 10 June 2026: Gallant: "The ability of the US Army together with the Israeli army existed, and that was something that should have been done."
  • 12 June 2026: CNN reported the US military had rushed to prepare a ground mission to capture the uranium; a source said, "Essentially, we'd have to invade."
  • 25 July 2026: the New York Post reported a uranium raid that "would involve thousands of ground troops storming Iran's nuclear facilities."

See Kharg Island and the Uranium Raid for the American plans the argument produced.

Status: Dan Diker is alive. Maayan Hoffman is alive. Jason Greenblatt is alive. Benjamin Netanyahu is alive. Yoav Gallant is alive.

Sources​

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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