Chatter and fear about US military draft emerge as Trump's Iran war drags on

Source: Guardian

In recent weeks, Donald Trump has ordered a number of marines and army paratroopers to head to the Middle East, gesturing toward a possible ground war to reopen the strait of Hormuz or secure nuclear weapons material. The provocative military activity has led to speculative conversation about what it would take to invade a country twice the population and three times the territory of Iraq.

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“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 table,” Leavitt said on Fox News. “There’s no greater priority or responsibility to this president than, of course, protecting the American people and protecting our troops.”

Because her answer was not conclusive, commentary about a draft snowballed from there. News organizations like Task and Purpose, Yahoo and USA Today ran stories about how a draft would work.

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Shortly after the US launched attacks on Iran, the South Park writer Toby Morton launched DraftBarronTrump.com, satirizing the president’s willingness to send others into combat while his own family has assiduously avoided military service, including himself, obtaining draft deferments for bone spurs. It noted the president’s assertion that his son was “too tall” to enlist. By 2 March, the hashtag #SendBarron was trending on X and TikTok.


Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/mar/31/us-military-draft-fears-trump-iran-war