--- ---  # Trump Says He Has No Plans to Send Troops to Iran: ‘If I Were, I Certainly Wouldn’t Tell You’ ## Video: "It Takes Money to Kill Bad Guys," Hegseth Says After $200 Billion Request to Fund Iran War VERTICAL [Watch (HLS stream): "It Takes Money to Kill Bad Guys," Hegseth Says After $200 Billion Request to Fund Iran War VERTICAL](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/nJenUE9x.m3u8) (0:26)  _Published 2026-03-19. “If I were, I certainly wouldn’t tell you, but I’m not putting troops," the President told reporters._ by [Chantelle Lee](https://time.com/author/chantelle-lee/) and [Nik Popli](https://time.com/author/nik-popli/) Mar 19, 2026 7:03 PM UTC by [Chantelle Lee](https://time.com/author/chantelle-lee/) and [Nik Popli](https://time.com/author/nik-popli/) Mar 19, 2026 7:03 PM UTC President [Donald Trump](https://time.com/7382697/trump-iran-war/) suggested on Thursday that he has no plans to deploy American troops to the Middle East as the [Iran war](https://time.com/article/2026/03/19/united-states-national-debt-trillions-iran-war/) heads into its fourth week. “No, I’m not putting troops anywhere,” Trump told reporters when asked. “If I were, I certainly wouldn’t tell you, but I’m not putting troops.” His comments come as the U.S. is weighing what lengths to go to in order to eradicate [Iran's weapons program](https://time.com/article/2026/03/18/tulsi-gabbard-iran-nuclear-trump/), including seizing Iran's nuclear material that is thought to still be buried under rubble despite last summer’s military operation that Trump declared “obliterated” the country’s [nuclear](https://time.com/7381094/iran-united-states-conflict-trump-nuclear-weapons-program/) capabilities. Such an operation would likely require a considerable number of U.S. [troops](https://time.com/7382186/iran-ground-troops-trump/) to be sent into Iran. The Trump Administration is also considering whether to send air and naval forces to Iran to help secure safe passage for oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran closed in response to the war, [Reuters reported](https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/us-weighs-military-reinforcements-iran-war-enters-possible-new-phase-2026-03-18/), a move that would likely involve sending American troops to the nation’s shoreline. Trump earlier this month [refused to rule out](https://time.com/7382186/iran-ground-troops-trump/) the possibility of sending ground troops to Iran. In an interview with the [New York _Post_](https://nypost.com/2026/03/02/us-news/trump-wont-rule-out-sending-us-troops-into-iran-if-necessary-tells-the-post-i-dont-care-about-polling/)just a few days after the U.S. and Israel [launched the initial strikes](https://time.com/7346357/iran-strikes-news-us-trump-protests/) on Iran that started the war, Trump said that he would be open to deploying American ground troops to Iran “if they were necessary.” **Read more:** [_Trump’s War_](https://time.com/7382697/trump-iran-war/) “I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground—like every President says, ‘There will be no boots on the ground.’ I don’t say it,” Trump told the _Post._ “I say, ‘probably don’t need them’ \[or\] ‘if they were necessary.’” When asked earlier this month whether there were U.S. troops on the ground in Iran, Trump’s Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, said no, but went on to say that it would be “foolishness” to expect government officials to publicly disclose “exactly how far we’ll go.” “We’re not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do,” Hegseth said at a press briefing on March 2. Thirteen U.S. service members have [died](https://time.com/article/2026/03/10/us-service-members-killed-iran-war-casualties/) in the conflict since it began on Feb. 28, and about 200 more have been injured. The majority of those injuries have been minor, U.S. Navy Capt. Tim Hawkins, a spokesperson for U.S. Central Command, confirmed to TIME earlier this week. **Read more:** [_What We Know About the Thirteen U.S. Service Members Killed in the Iran War_](https://time.com/article/2026/03/10/us-service-members-killed-iran-war-casualties/) The Trump Administration has given [mixed signals](https://time.com/7383292/trump-iran-war-end/) on the state of the war in Iran in the weeks since the initial military strikes. At times, the President has suggested that the end of the war was near, asserting that the U.S. and Israel have destroyed much of Iran’s military power. But at others, he has portrayed the war as unfinished and indicated that the U.S. would continue to exert military pressure on Iran. On Thursday, Trump again suggested that the war was near its end, adding that the U.S. has “obliterated” Iran’s military infrastructure. “I would say we are substantially ahead of schedule,” Trump told reporters. “And I had to do this,” he continued. “I call it an excursion. I had to take this little excursion and do something that no other President had the courage to do, and everybody wanted to do it, but they never had the courage to do it, and I don’t blame them. I’m not blaming them. It was left to me, and we’ve done a great job.” Trump Says He Has No Plans to Send Troops to Iran ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/03/19/trump-iran-war-us-troops/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/03/19/trump-iran-war-us-troops/"},"headline":"Trump Says He Has No Plans to Send Troops to Iran: ‘If I Were, I Certainly Wouldn’t Tell You’","datePublished":"2026-03-19T19:03:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-22T15:08:54.545Z","description":"“If I were, I certainly wouldn’t tell you, but I’m not putting troops,\" the President told reporters.","url":"https://time.com/article/2026/03/19/trump-iran-war-us-troops/","keywords":["Iran","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd531300522ccfd2f/69bc4122052322ea6c9ec1cc/Trump-Iran-Troops.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Chantelle Lee","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/chantelle-lee/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Nik Popli","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/nik-popli/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd531300522ccfd2f/69bc4122052322ea6c9ec1cc/Trump-Iran-Troops.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Trump-Iran-Troops.jpg","caption":"","creditText":"Aaron Schwartz—CNP/Bloomberg/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/iran/","name":"Iran"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/article/2026/03/19/trump-iran-war-us-troops/","name":"Trump Says He Has No Plans to Send Troops to Iran: ‘If I Were, I Certainly Wouldn’t Tell You’"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"\"It Takes Money to Kill Bad Guys,\" Hegseth Says After $200 Billion Request to Fund Iran War [VERTICAL]","description":"“If I were, I certainly wouldn’t tell you, but I’m not putting troops,\" the President told reporters.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/nJenUE9x/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2026-03-19T19:22:53.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/nJenUE9x.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/article/2026/03/19/trump-iran-war-us-troops/","duration":"PT26S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/article/2026/03/19/trump-iran-war-us-troops/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```