Gen Jack Keane: They BLEW THIS UP…

It's open now.Look, the only one that has control of the Strait of Hormuz right now is the United States Navy.We have a blockade that's been infallible.It's a steel wall.And we let people in that we want to let in, and those people come in.They've been coming in and they're going out.

So it's actually open now.We do not let them go into Iran.

I mean, look, the blockade is killing Iran.There's no question about that.No more oil sales.And the sanctions are increasing from Secretary of Treasury Scott Bessett.We welcome back to the show General Jack Keane, Fox News senior strategic analyst and mentor for all this.So General Keane, it seems pretty clear at this point the president is now relying on an economic starvation or strangulation strategy.

And Iran is a basket case.Question is, Is the MOU over?Deals are over?It looks like negotiations are over, sir.

Well, a few days ago, we thought there was something substantive there with negotiations.And obviously, that did not prevail.I mean, we started on down this diplomatic path when we went to the ceasefire on April the 7th.Remember, the war started on February 28th.38 days into the war, we went to the ceasefire.And the reason is because Iran seemed to want to negotiate over the Straits of Hormuz, which they shut down on March the 3rd.

And so we've been at this for four months, and the Straits of Hormuz are still not open to free navigation.Yes, we're blocking Iran, but we're only blocking Iran from their ports because they're not permitting freedom of navigation transit through parts of the straits that they've taken control of.That's really the issue here.What is passing through certainly is not representative or even close to what it was prior to the war beginning.

Now, you're right.

Iran believes this is a they they believe blackasset.They're not going to give it up willingly.We've already seen that.Their president and our president signed a deal to negotiate over this and they blew that deal up in a matter of days.So where are they?

I understand the economic pressure.And we talk about it in terms that we're used to dealing with.The amount of revenue they're losing every day, spiraling inflation, currency devaluation, all the things that we look at anybody's economy.And reasonable people would come to the conclusion they can't stand this.They're going to collapse eventually.They're going to eventually bend to our will.

I don't think so.And the reason is, this is a diabolical, tyranny -based terrain that has an ideology to destroy the state of Israel and drive the United States out of the region, and they want to take control.They have never given up on that.And in their mind, and we have to understand this, it's not the truth, but in their mind, they believe they have the upper hand here, that they're bending the United States to their will because they're controlling the Straits of Hormuz.And here's what I think is going to happen.as we get closer to the midterms, because they believe we're so focused on midterms and oil and gas prices, and they're aggressive in their diplomacy now.

Look at what they're asking for in return.I mean, they're, like, asking the United States to surrender.That's not going to happen.But I think they're going to get more aggressive violently, because they know that'll create a volatile situation that'll put pressure on the administration in the sense that, well, the war isn't going well.And they want President Trump to lose those midterm elections, he and his party, because they want him to be checkmated, obviously, by the opposition party that doesn't support the war.That's their mindset.

And I think that's the reality we're dealing with.What do I think will happen?Eventually, President Trump will combine military force and what Secretary Best is doing.And at that point, when we do that, we will bend Iran to our will.

I think that's right.You know what?I think you're 100 percent.Look, you've said a thousand times correctly.There is nothing Iran can do or say that has any credibility.They always break their promises.

It's the nature of this Nazi -like, as you call it, diabolical regime.And they don't care about their own people.They only care about their own power.And they own half the businesses or more in Iran.And the businesses are being destroyed.So at this stage, sir, I guess I'm saying, General, This is the—having tried the diplomacy, having tried diplomacy, I don't see what else Mr. Trump can do.

He'd just stay with the economic starvation, and until such time as the bombing will be ready again, these troops will still be there.It just seems to me that he's—I don't know what else he can do, General Keene.That's, I guess, my point.

It depends on what objectives are the most important.I mean, it's obvious that the administration values the political impact of the midterm elections.Oil and gas prices are a part of that story, and that is the priority.I've always had the view that if we hammered these guys the way we know we can, and I mean massive hammering of them, then they're on their knees for sure.And the sooner we do that, we declare victory.And I think that actually, I'm not the political guy here, but it seemed to me just common sense that would sort of help you in the election to have Iran on its knees truly.

And I'm not talking about having economic peril on them.I'm talking about taking everything away that they value.Andhit the nail right on the head here when you said, they don't care about their people.And we can't apply rationale to that.They put their people in economic peril.

It doesn't move the needle for them.That's the truth of it.They're staying in power.And they believe they have the upper hand.It's not going to change until we take it away from them by force.

Well, sir, I can't disagree.No, no, I'll never disagree.I don't think President Trump disagrees.I just think we're at this stage where diplomacy is completely broken down.He has tried to be a statesman.And the Iranians, they just won't play ball.

So now he's just going to keep squeezing, squeezing them in economic terms.I spoke to the president last week.He mentioned something I didn't know, that all the rail lines have been bombed out.So it's getting hard.Truck routes and rail lines, it's isolating Iran from their neighbors so they can't even get goods and services into the country, you know, particularly goods, particularly sensitive goods.So that's, it looks to me like that's the strategy right now, General King.

I don't see anything different.

the Iranians in trading across that border, very aggressively bailing them out, so to speak.At the same time, they're trying to negotiate deals with us and create favor for Iran in those negotiations.I think that's part of the pattern that we created here, that Iran really does want to make a deal.Who's telling us that?Well, the Pakistanis tell us that, the Qataris tell us that, and then some of the Iranian negotiators tell us that.Does it turn out to be true?

No, it's false, as we can see.

They harbored Osama bin Laden.

You and I are on the same page here.

Yes we are.They harbored Osama bin Laden all those years and they knew about it.General Keene, thank you sir.We got to jump.We'll talk some more about all this.Coming up folks...