Keith Kellogg is urging the United States to put ground troops into Iran and resume targeted killings of senior Iranian figures, including top diplomat Abbas Araghchi, arguing that only hard power will restore American leverage in the region.
Kellogg, a retired lieutenant general and former U.S. Special Envoy for Ukraine in President Donald Trumps second administration, made the remarks during a recent appearance on Fox News, where he pressed for a return to direct action against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and its leadership. According to the Daily Caller, he specifically named Araghchi, a senior regime insider who has long been involved in negotiations with Western powers, as a legitimate target despite his diplomatic status.
Araghchi survived the February strikes that killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and later played a central role in negotiating the June Memorandum of Understanding, underscoring his importance to the regimes continuity. In a recent interview, he recounted the immediate aftermath of the February attack, explaining how he had to claw his way out from under debris, a reminder of how close the strike came to decapitating Tehrans diplomatic corps.
For centuries, most civilizations have accepted that official envoys and messengers should be shielded from violence under the principle of diplomatic immunity, a norm Kellogg is openly challenging in light of Irans continued aggression. From a conservative national-security perspective, his stance reflects growing frustration with what many on the right see as a failed reliance on diplomacy and appeasement toward a terror-sponsoring regime.
Kellogg reiterated his position in a separate Fox News appearance Monday, insisting that Washington must overhaul its own negotiating team and prepare the American public for the likelihood of ground operations. Youre going to need ground troops to do something. That doesnt mean they go all the way to Tehran, Kellogg said, adding, Then Im not advocating that at all. But you could take a couple key strategic targets, that gives the president leverage and controls their economy.
The Iran War has sharply intensified, with the U.S. military acknowledging late Thursday that it has conducted strikes against Iran for 13 consecutive nights. Iranian outlets reported blasts in the strategic port of Bandar Abbas, a vital conduit for military logistics, as well as explosions on Qeshm Island, home to key naval assets, while a U.S. missile strike near Ahvaz on the Karun River reportedly killed four and injured others.
Tehran responded Friday by announcing a series of drone attacks on American bases in Bahrain, Jordan, and Kuwait, signaling that the conflict is widening beyond Irans borders. As Washington weighs its next steps, Kelloggs call for decisive military action and the targeting of figures like Araghchi highlights a deepening divide between those favoring restrained engagement and those arguing that only overwhelming force will deter a hostile regime that has repeatedly tested American resolve.
Login