Adm. McRaven on Trump’s War in Iran

Here's what the military leaders would have told the president from the very beginning.They would have said, look, changing regimes is hard.So if you think by bombing them, they're all of a sudden going to give up, probably not going to happen.Particularly in Iran, the regime is wide and it is deep.So taking out the supreme leader just means that somebody else is going to step up.And oh, by the way, you took out an 86 -year -old man, now you got a 56 -year -old man.

And even according to Israeli intelligence, the new regime is even more hardline.So they would have told him, the military would have told the president, regime change is hard.The military would have also said, we've never bombed our way to victory.So in no point in time in the history of the military, we bombed our way to victory.It was going to be hard.The final thing they would have, well, they would have also said, look, if you think there's going to be this uprising and we'll have a Jeffersonian democracy, that's probably not going to happen.

It could.It could, but it's unlikely.But the one thing they would absolutely positively have told the president is you never, ever, ever, ever talk about Iran without talking about the Straits of Hormuz.

They would have told the president as soon as you start bombing Iran, they are going to do what they can to close the Straits of Hormuz.And clearly they have done that.So now the question is going forward, where do we go?Well, the Iranians have come forward and they said, if you will lift the blockade, that we will open the Straits.

I've been saying for the last several weeks, that this is something the president should have put on the table.He should have told the Iranians, I will lift the blockade if you will open the straits, because he's got to think about what are his strategic goals at this point in time.The world economy is getting crushed.And the only way it's going to pick up is if we can open the straits.Unfortunately, now that the Iranians have come forward with this offer, I'm not sure the president will buy it.But the blockade, he can turn the blockade on, turn the blockade off.

He should seriously consider this offer from the Iranians.