← Boots on the Ground: TV Clips
Col. Jernigan: Ground Troops to Secure Iran's Uranium
Mike Jernigan, retired Marine Corps colonel. Fox News, March 31, 2026.
Fox News · posted 2026-03-31 · 6:30
Added to this site: September 27, 2026 · Transcribed: September 27, 2026
Original: youtube.com/watch?v=Uq9LpxGea6w · IPFS QmSJYBjUnDHXyyqFGKhtKNq7dR1Ni91tZy3bDjsExyu8TV
What this video shows
Mike Jernigan is a retired U.S. Marine Corps colonel whom Fox introduces as a commander in the 2003 invasion of Iraq. The segment first plays Secretary of War Pete Hegseth at a Pentagon briefing: "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." The host then asks Jernigan about "the potential for boots on the ground, the need for them."
Jernigan says ground troops are "a significant investment of American lives," but "I think it's required." His reason is Iran's enriched uranium, roughly 940 pounds of it by his count: "somebody has to go in and get that." He puts it in movie terms:
"If we don't put boots on the ground and take the Iranian uranium, then we may have a sequel. And then this, nobody wants the Iran war to become a franchise."
He describes how it would be done: the two Marine Expeditionary Units in the area "have the capability to be able to go in, launch a precision strike, attack, secure, and take the uranium," and "Marines or soldiers from the 82nd Airborne just drop in out of the sky" to seize objectives, even at sites inside cities with civilians around them. Danger, he says, "is not the same as impossible." A week into April, Fox viewers were hearing from both the Secretary of War and a retired Marine commander that American troops going into Iran was on the table and, in the colonel's view, needed.
Where this fits: this clip is one of the TV clips calling for American boots on the ground in Iran. For the full story, what the public was told next to what was happening, see American Soldiers on the Ground in Iran — Videos.
Transcript
Machine transcription (apple-speechanalyzer · Source duration: 00:06:30 · Transcript covers: 00:06:30 ✓ full) made with Large File Bridge on September 27, 2026. It can mishear names and words, so check exact wording against the video before quoting it.
The video the president posted last night of Esfahan, an ammo depot, struck by U.S. bombers. You see, you don't get to see many of those videos, because, as a reminder, Iran has still shut off the internet to 99.
9% of its population. But if Iran is wise, they will cut a deal. President Trump doesn't bluff and he does not back down. If you were on X last night, and then watched the Pentagon briefing from earlier today, you might have seen this in the night sky.
That's an Isfahana Ra, this is located due south of Tehran. It's an ancient city, and really, it's part of the broad nuclear program that the Iranians had established there, and I'll move over here, and let you know what the United States hit it with, is a GBU31. GBU stands for a guided bomb unit. It's 2,000 pounds, dropped by the U.
S. Air Force, 2,000 pounds, bunker buster bomb that's been now used in this fight, a couple times now, but yet again, the past 24 hours. It's compatible with fighter and bomber aircraft, so you can load it up on a bomber, or a fighter aircraft, like an F 15, and get it closer to a target, designed to destroy these hardened, deeply buried targets, which would be, perhaps, the nuclear program or elements of it. It was first deployed in 1999, with a range up to about 15 miles.
It can drop from a height of 45,000 feet, which makes it very effective for an F 15 to fly at that level at that altitude, and be able to withstand the possibility of ground fire, taking it down. Accuracy rate for a 2,000 pound bomb is 30 feet. That's pretty good for a target, over to Dana now for more than this. Well, actually, that's bringing somebody who knows even more than me.
That is retired Colonel Mike Jernigan. He's a former Iraqi invasion commander. So good to have you with us. Can I just play this for you from the Secretary of Wards briefing this morning?
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.
So if we needed to, we could execute those options. Or maybe we don't have to use them at all. Maybe negotiations work. The point is to be unpredictable in that.
Certainly not let anybody know what you're willing to do or not do. Colonel, your view on the potential for boots on the ground, the need for them? Yeah, I really liked what the secretary said about giving the Iranians uncertainty of what's coming next. Boots on the ground is a significant investment of American lives and force, but also, I think it's required.
If we go back to the original objectives that the President stated, when he started this war, two of them remain of making sure that the Iranians do not be able to fund or arm proxies, Hamas and Hezbala come to mind, but also to make sure that the Iranians do not ever have a nuclear weapon or the capability to make one. And so we're talking about about £940 of enriched uranium, and somebody has to go in and get that. And I think that the boots on the ground is valuable because I kind of remember some of the adventure movies I watched. The good guys win.
And then there's a blockbuster and they decide that the bad guy has to seek revenge. If we don't put boots on the ground and take the Iranian uranium, then we may have a sequel. And then this, nobody wants the Iran war to become a franchise. So President Trump is apparently weighing this possibility of extracting the uranium.
Secretary Crest Secretary. Caroline Lovett talked about it as well. Listen here. This is another historic opportunity for Iran to do the right thing, to rid themselves of their nuclear ambitions, and to come to a deal with this president in the administration, or again, they will see the grave consequences of the United States armed forces, which they are continuing to see every day throughout this operation.
From your experience, could you explain how dangerous that might be? Sure, um, dangers is not the same as impossible. You know, your United States Marines do the dangers every day. And so with the two Marine Expeditionary units in the area, they have the capability to be able to go in, launch a precision strike, attack, secure, and take the uranium wherever it is in the world.
And so that's a capability that right now, the Iranians, and what passes for their government, are having to measure against, because going into a site that's perhaps in a city, and perhaps with other non-combatants around it, perhaps they think it is as not vulnerable to an aviation strike like we were just talking on the earlier segment. But if you have Marines or soldiers from the 82nd Airborne just drop in out of the sky, you can go seize objectives that are important to the Iranian government, but also important for the safety of the region. Do you think that Iran is able to even communicate amongst each other, whichever leaders are left, in order to, do what Heg Seth or Levitt are saying, or even Trump? Like, if you want to make a deal, like, who are you talking to?
Are they able even to talk to each other? Right, that's such a good question, and it is part of the confusion that the Iranians have. And frankly, I don't feel bad for them. They've been bullies in the region.
You know, just this morning, United Arab Emirates is reporting that they shot down 8 ballistic missiles. So the question of who can negotiate a surrender is important because that person has to have credibility within the government, but they also have to have credibility internationally. And one of the things that I remember as a military campaign planner is that you always gave your adversary and out. You don't push him into a corner where he has to fight to the death.
But you give him a chance to take an off ramp. And so right now, our military planners and the combatant and the co-com commander of Sentcom is giving the Iranians a chance to stop. Hey, turn in your nuclear in risk material. You know, we can end this.
And so, yes, right now, there are people that are working to talk to the correct Iranians, to help them, make a decision in their best interest to give up their nuclear material. Well, they, um, they've been quiet so far, um, at least in terms of words, but maybe there's something happening behind the scenes. Great to have you. Mike Turnigan.
We appreciate it. Thank you. Be sure to like and subscribe for all the Fox News latest on YouTube and catch full shows streaming now on Fox One.
Last Updated: 2026-09-27