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← US Troops in Iran: Videos

The Ground-Troops Debate on Camera: Carlson, Levin, Kelly, Kasparian, and the Veterans

Evidence rating: CONFIRMED for the words quoted on the pages below, checked against transcripts, major-outlet reports of the broadcasts, or the posted video, unless marked. These are opinions and arguments, not policy. They matter because they show who is making the case for sending Americans into Iran, who is fighting it, and how many millions of Americans are listening.

The fight over whether Americans should fight in Iran is not left against right. It splits the right down the middle and unites unlikely allies against a ground war. On one side: a Fox host endorsed by the President, arguing "we wouldn't need 300,000" troops to seize Iran's uranium. On the other: the most-watched conservative commentator saying "Israel would like us to commit ground troops," a former Fox host saying the first American dead "died for Iran or Israel," a progressive host saying the war "won't benefit the United States, but Israel," and combat veterans warning that a few thousand Marines "will not open the Straits."

Tucker Carlson: "Israel would like us to commit ground troops"​

In June 2025 Carlson asked Senator Ted Cruz, who wanted regime change in Iran, how many people live there; Cruz did not know ("You don't know the population of the country you seek to topple?"). In February 2026, U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee told him it "would be fine" if Israel took all the land from the Nile to the Euphrates. On March 12, 2026, Carlson said: "Israel would like us to commit ground troops, obviously, but it would take a lot to get us to do that. It would take some sort of terror attack in the United States, probably, like 9/11." In June, in a clip preserved in this investigation's archive: "the President of the United States didn't decide the time and place of this war, the prime minister of Israel decided the time and place of this war."

Read more: Tucker Carlson on Camera

Mark Levin: "we wouldn't need 300,000 of them"​

On March 28, 2026, the President posted: "Watch Mark Levin ... on FoxNews. Will discuss the importance of hitting Iran, HARD!!!" That night Levin said: "We've got to get the uranium," and "Why would we need troops on the ground? Well, there's a lot of reasons, and we wouldn't need 300,000 of them." It was the week the Pentagon confirmed the 82nd Airborne was deploying.

Read more: Mark Levin on Fox

Kelly, Kasparian, Bannon: "dying for a foreign country"​

Megyn Kelly on the first four Americans killed: "I don't think those 4 service members died for the United States. I think they died for Iran or Israel." Ana Kasparian, a week before the war: "Americans will pay for it and U.S. soldiers will risk their lives. It won't benefit the United States, but Israel" (766,000 views). Steve Bannon: Netanyahu's son, living in the U.S., should go "in the first wave."

Read more: The Unlikely Coalition

The veterans: "It will not open the Straits"​

Retired Lt. Col. Daniel Davis, four combat tours: a force of "a few thousand marines and airborne troops ... will not open the Straits. It will not compel the Iranian gov to collapse or surrender," and if they die, "in no way, shape or form, will they have died defending their country." Blackwater founder Erik Prince: "Don't ever contemplate ground troops in Iran." Former CIA analyst Larry Johnson: "They are lying to the American people about what's happening." And on the other side, a former CENTCOM commander, Gen. Frank McKenzie, recommending that U.S. troops seize Kharg Island because "possession of Iranian soil would be a significant factor in future negotiations."

Read more: Veterans and Former Officials Against a Ground War

The former counterterrorism chief​

Joe Kent, who resigned as director of the National Counterterrorism Center over the war, released videos urging Americans to call the White House: "We do not support putting any boots on the ground in Iran." See Joe Kent.

The general who said Iran was last on the list​

The oldest clip in the debate is from 2007: retired General Wesley Clark describing a post-9/11 Pentagon memo to "take out seven countries in five years ... and, finishing off, Iran." It resurfaced on the day of every strike. See The Wesley Clark Clip.

What a citizen can check​

  • Watch the long versions, not the 30-second cuts. The Cruz and Huckabee interviews each run hours.
  • Separate three claims: "we should bomb Iran," "we should send a limited force to seize the uranium," and "we should invade." Most of the on-camera fight is about the second one, and the second one means American troops inside Iran. Netanyahu, on 60 Minutes, described the same idea: "You go in, and you take it out."
  • Notice who pays the cost of each option. None of the commentators arguing for troops would be the ones going in.

Go deeper​

Status: Tucker Carlson, Ted Cruz, Mike Huckabee, Mark Levin, Megyn Kelly, Ana Kasparian, Steve Bannon, Daniel Davis, Erik Prince, Larry Johnson, Frank McKenzie, Joe Kent, and Wesley Clark are alive. Characterizations of one commentator by another are reported as opinion.

Sources​

Research captures: twitter/t56__v661.md, twitter/t56__v662.md, twitter/t56__v665.md, twitter/t56__v667.md, twitter/t56__v668.md, twitter/t58__v686.md, twitter/t59__v699.md, twitter/t59__v701.md, twitter/t59__v703.md, twitter/t59__v704.md, twitter/t59__v706.md, twitter/t57__v682.md.

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

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