War Secretary Pete Hegseth vowed he and President Trump will do whatever it takes to topple the Iranian regime – and didn’t rule out sending US ground troops into Tehran as Operation Epic Fury rages on.
“We’re willing to go as far as we need in order to be successful,” Hegseth told CBS News’s Major Garrett during a “60 Minutes” sit-down interview that aired Sunday night.
“We reserve the right. 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 not boots on the ground.”
Trump told The Post last week that US forces could be sent into Iran if deemed necessary.
Hegseth told Garrett if a decision is made to deploy American troops – whether overtly or covertly – to the Middle East, it wouldn’t be shared publicly with the press.
“People ask, ‘boots on the ground, no boots on the ground, four weeks, two weeks, six weeks? Go in, go in,’” he added.
“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.”
Hegseth, echoing the president, also admitted casualties will surely mount as the conflict continues.
Seven US service members were killed in Iranian retaliatory drone strikes – six Army Reservists in Kuwait, and another who later died from wounds in Saudi Arabia.
“The president’s been right to say there will be casualties,” the secretary said in his interview.
“Things like this don’t happen without casualties. There will be more casualties … especially our generation knows what it’s like to see Americans come home in caskets. But that doesn’t weaken us one bit. It stiffens our spine and our resolve to say this is a fight we will finish.”
The six slain reservists – Nicole Amor, 39; Cody Khork, 35; Declan Coady, 20; Robert Marzan, 54; Jeffrey O’Brien, 45; and Noah Tietjens, 42 – were returned home Saturday during a solemn transfer ceremony.
The seventh service member, whose death was announced Sunday, has not been publicly identified.
The news came a day after NYPD Officer and decorated Army veteran Sorffly Davius died during a health crisis while deployed in Kuwait with the National Guard.
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