An opinion piece published in an Israeli newspaper proposes forgiving young Americans’ debts to encourage them to enlist in a potential US invasion of Iran, Anadolu reports.

The proposal to use young, indebted Americans has been put forward by AJ Jaff, a retired Canadian Armed Forces officer, in the opinion pages of The Jerusalem Post last Sunday.

Jaff proposes a “federally administered debt-forgiveness enlistment programme” under which Americans would have their student loans, credit card balances and other debts discharged after 24 or 36 months of military service, arguing that it “would produce voluntary enlistment at scale”.

He adds that “the war with Iran will not be won through airstrikes” alone, saying that a ground invasion would require 750,000 to 1.5 million US troops — far exceeding the 452,000 currently serving in the active US Army. The article proposes debt relief as a means to fill that gap.

“The economics of the indebted American 20-and 30-something make this the most efficient conversion mechanism available to the Pentagon and the Trump administration,” Jaff writes, asserting that “states generate the soldiers they need through the incentives that work on the population they have.”

The article has drawn widespread criticism, with many viewing it as a confirmation that Tel Aviv expects the US citizens to fight and die in wars fought on its behalf.