Trump Says He Would Deploy Ground Troops to Iran “If Necessary”

President Trump refused to rule out deploying U.S. ground troops to Iran in an interview on Monday, saying he would consider it  “if necessary,” as his administration offered conflicting timelines on how long the military operation would continue.

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Trump told the New York Post that he does not have the “yips with respect to boots on the ground” and that, unlike previous presidents, he would not categorically rule out putting troops in Iran, adding that he “probably” doesn’t need them but would use them if needed.

In the same interview, Trump said the operation was “right on schedule, way ahead of schedule in terms of leadership,” claiming rapid progress against Iranian command figures and military infrastructure.

Read More: After Khamenei, Who Could Lead Iran Next?

In his first public comments on the strikes in Iran, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also declined to rule out the deployment of ground troops during a press briefing Monday at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. alongside Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Gen. Dan Caine.

When asked specifically about whether American forces could be sent to Iran, Hegseth said it would be “foolishness” to expect U.S. officials to say publicly “here’s exactly how far we’ll go.”

“We’re not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do,” he added.

The comments come days after U.S. and Israeli forces began a widespread military campaign against Iran dubbed “Operation Epic Fury.” The initial wave of strikes killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, eliminating the country’s highest political and religious authority.

At least 555 people have been killed in Iran in strikes across the country, according to Iranian state media, citing the Iranian Red Crescent, including more than 100 children killed when a girls’ elementary school in the southern city of Minab was hit. Lebanon’s Health Ministry said Monday that Israeli strikes had killed 31 people there.

At least six U.S. service members have been killed so far by Iran’s retaliatory strikes, and 11 people in Israel were reported killed in Iran’s subsequent missile and drone attacks.

‘Ongoing’ or quick campaign?

President Trump, for his part, floated several different timelines for when the conflict would end over the weekend.

Announcing the strikes early Saturday morning, he said that the operation would be “massive and ongoing.”

“Combat operations continue at this time in full force, and they will continue until all of our objectives are achieved,” he said in the address, speaking from his Mar-a-Lago residence in South Florida, while urging Iranian forces to surrender and calling on civilians to rise up against their government.

Early Saturday after the strikes, Trump suggested to an Axios reporter that the military campaign might not take long: “I can go long and take over the whole thing, or end it in two or three days.”

On Sunday, though, he told the Daily Mail, “it’s always been a four-week process. We figured it will be four weeks or so.” 

At a Medal of Honor ceremony on Monday, Trump reiterated the timeline of four to five weeks, but said that it “could go longer.”

“Whatever the time is, it’s OK. Whatever it takes,” Trump said during remarks at the White House. “Right from the beginning, we projected four to five weeks, but we have capability to go far longer than that. We’ll do it.”

Trump also clarified his objectives in the campaign during the ceremony: destroying the country’s missile capabilities, “annihilating” its navy, ending its nuclear ambitions and “ensuring that the Iranian regime cannot continue to arm, fund and direct terrorist armies outside of their borders.”

He said that the U.S. is “already substantially ahead of our time projections,” but could not provide a definitive answer for when the military operation would finish.

During the Pentagon press briefing on Monday, Caine said the campaign was “not a single overnight operation.” 

“The military objectives CENTCOM and the Joint Force have been tasked with will take some time to achieve, and in some cases will be difficult and gritty work.”

Hegseth added that he would “never hang a time frame” on the war and said that the timeline “could move up and move back.”