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Hegseth: "15 Different Ways ... And Guess What? There Are"

Pete Hegseth runs the Pentagon; the administration styles him Secretary of War, and most outlets still call him Defense Secretary. If American soldiers are sent onto Iranian soil, the order passes through his office. Of all the officials asked about ground troops in 2026, he was the most open about what the government was doing: he said, more than once and on camera, that the United States would not tell the public, the press, or the enemy what it was willing to do, and that there were many ways to put boots on the ground in Iran.

His answers have one shape. First: there are no American troops in Iran right now. Second: we reserve the right, and we will not say. The first half is what a worried parent hears. The second half is the policy.

Evidence rating: CONFIRMED for the statements below that come from named outlets and broadcasts (PBS NewsHour, CBS 60 Minutes as reported by Israel National News and Military.com, the Times of Israel, Breaking Defense). STRONG for the reading that his refusals meant ground operations were a live option: CBS, the Washington Post, and Axios reported detailed ground plans in the same weeks.

June 2025: "intentionally limited"​

After the first American strikes on Iran's nuclear sites on 22 June 2025, Hegseth told reporters the strikes were "intentionally limited" and not about regime change, while the vice president said the United States "had no interest in boots on the ground" (Times of Israel, 22 June 2025). Eight months later the United States was at war with Iran, and the supreme leader was dead. See June 2025: the denial, then the strikes.

2 March 2026: "not currently," and "we're not going to go into the exercise"​

Two days into the war, at a Pentagon briefing with Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Hegseth was asked about ground troops. Breaking Defense reported: "As for US troops inside Iran, Hegseth said there are not currently boots on the ground but said that could change," and quoted him: "We're not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do" (Breaking Defense, 2 March 2026; article page). The Times of Israel's US bureau chief, Jacob Magid, wrote from the same briefing that Hegseth said there were no US troops on the ground at that moment but declined to rule them out, arguing that a promise not to use them would tip off the enemy (Times of Israel, 2 March 2026; article page). Drop Site News, which posted the clip, summarized that he said the US will go "as far as we need to go" (Drop Site News on X, 2 March 2026).

He also gave a sentence that tells you what the planners were weighing. As the New York Post and JNS quoted him: "You don't have to roll 200,000 people in there and stay for 20 years" (JNS, 2 March 2026; article page). That is not "no troops." It is a description of a smaller ground operation: in, out, and not an occupation. That is exactly the kind of operation the Pentagon was preparing by the end of the month.

Al-Monitor's headline the same hour captured the two halves: "Pentagon: No boots on ground in Iran, but won't rule out future" (Al-Monitor on X, 2 March 2026).

4 March: "without boots on the ground"​

"We've taken control of Iran's airspace and waterways without boots on the ground," Hegseth said on 4 March (New York Times, 4 March 2026). At the same news conference, Gen. Caine was asked directly about ground troops and answered: "I'm not going to comment on U.S. boots on the ground" (Associated Press, 4 March 2026; article page).

8–9 March, 60 Minutes: "We reserve the right"​

Hegseth told CBS's 60 Minutes, in an interview recorded 6 March and aired 8 March, that the United States did not currently have overt or covert forces inside Iran, and then: "We reserve the right" (Military.com, 9 March 2026). He went on:

"People ask, 'Boots on the ground, no boots on the ground? Four weeks, two weeks, six weeks? Go in, go in.' President Trump knows— I know—you don't tell the enemy, you don't tell the press, you don't tell anybody what your limits would be on an operation."

(Military.com, same article; also Israel National News, 9 March 2026 and the article page.) He added that the United States was "willing to go as far as we need to in order to be successful." A 19-second clip of the line circulated widely (@its_The_Dr on X, 9 March 2026).

JNS put the fuller version this way: "We would be completely unwise if we did not reserve the right to take any particular option, whether it included boots on the ground or no boots on the ground" (JNS, 10 March 2026; article page).

Notice who is on the list of people not to be told: "the press," and "anybody." That is the American public.

31 March, PBS: "15 different ways"​

Three days after the Washington Post reported the Pentagon was preparing weeks of ground operations, Hegseth was asked again:

"You can't fight and win a war if you tell your adversary what you are willing to do or what you are not willing to do to include boots on the ground."

"Our adversary right now thinks there are 15 different ways we could come at them with boots on the ground. And guess what? There are."

(PBS NewsHour, 31 March 2026.) This is the plainest statement any official made in 2026. The Secretary said, on camera, that there are fifteen ways to put American boots on Iranian ground, and that they exist.

Same week, what was happening: about 3,500 Marines and sailors of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit had arrived aboard the USS Tripoli; elements of the 82nd Airborne were deploying; and the Wall Street Journal reported the Pentagon was weighing up to 10,000 more ground troops (Al Jazeera, 30 March 2026). See the buildup.

April: the decision he made on Iranian soil​

Days later, Hegseth made a ground decision himself. When an F-15E went down in Iran on 3 April, he chose to send forces back in for the second crewman. He later told CBS it was a "really tough decision," especially after the first rescue helicopter took Iranian fire (Israel Hayom, 14 September 2026). Of the first recovery he said: "It was a gun fight all the way in and all the way out" (Ynetnews, 14 September 2026). More than 90 Americans ended up on the ground inside Iran. See the F-15E rescue.

A post summarizing his public line in mid-April said he would not "foreclose any option," including ground troops (@agtprpnabsrdty on X, 16 April 2026); that is a secondhand paraphrase.

September: the other denial​

By September the argument had moved from whether troops would go in to how many had already died. When the Washington Post reported on 18 September that "More American service members have died in the Middle East during the ongoing Iran war than the Pentagon has disclosed publicly," Hegseth answered on X: "This is DISGUSTING and FAKE. A complete LIE. Shame on the Washington Post — they're worse than Iranian state media" (Pete Hegseth on X, 18 September 2026). See the hidden toll.

What his words teach​

  • "Not currently" is a statement about today. He never said "never." He said "we reserve the right" and "you don't tell anybody."
  • He named the public as someone not to be told. "The press" and "anybody" are the channels through which a parent learns whether a son or daughter is going in.
  • He said the options were real. "15 different ways ... And guess what? There are."
  • He sent Americans onto Iranian soil in April. The denial of March and the rescue of April are both his.

Status: Pete Hegseth is alive. Dan Caine is alive.

Sources​

Research captures: twitter/t50__v589.md through twitter/t50__v600.md, twitter/t49__v577.md, twitter/t48__v569.md

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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