- White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt declined to definitively rule out a U.S. military draft for the Iran conflict, stating that the president keeps all options open.
- She appeared on Fox News Sunday and host Maria Bartiromo said, “Mothers out there are worried that we’re going to have a draft, that they’re going to see their sons and daughters get involved in this.”
- “It has been, and it will continue to be,” Leavitt replied. “President Trump wisely does not remove options off of the table. I know a lot of politicians like to do that quickly, but the president as commander-in-chief wants to continue to assess the success of this military operation. It’s not part of the current plan right now, but the president, again, wisely keeps his options on the table.”
- This prompted strong criticism, including from ex-Trump ally Marjorie Taylor Greene who wrote, “How about the answer is NO DRAFT AND NO BOOTS ON THE GROUND because we campaigned on NO MORE FOREIGN WARS OR REGIME CHANGE!!! Liars every single one of them! Not my son, over my dead body!!!!!”
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, in a 60 Minutes interview, also refused to specify operational limits. “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. We’re willing to go as far as we need to in order to be successful,” he said.
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