Retired General Jack Keane, a Fox News senior strategic analyst, made the case on Monday that the U.S. will need to return to “major combat operations” for several weeks to achieve President Donald Trump’s new mission in Iran – to gain control of the Strait of Hormuz.
“Nine straight nights, sir, is not insignificant. Do you see this conflict much differently than it was a week ago?” began anchor Bill Hemmer to start the conversation.
“Well, certainly, yes. Look, taking stock of what’s happened here — first of all, we went to a ceasefire on April 7 after 39 days of military operations. The reality was we went into a diplomatic phase that lasted almost 90 days, and out of that, we did get a signed document: the memorandum of understanding. What was in there was one agreement, and then 60 days of negotiations to get to the tougher future agreements. But that one agreement was on the Strait of Hormuz, and the president of Iran and the president of the United States both signed the agreement,” Keane replied, adding:
We have said many times on this broadcast: You can’t trust the Iranians. They lie about what they intend to do, and even if they sign a deal, they likely will not comply with it. And the fact is, even this time, three or four days after signing the deal, they violated it — with their president’s signature on it — by disrupting the Strait of Hormuz. What they were supposed to do was announce that the Strait of Hormuz is open, with no restrictions imposed whatsoever — no tolls, no insurance fees, nothing. It’s international waters, and none of that took place.
Obviously, we’ve been retaliating against that violation ever since. And what are we doing? We’re doing what we couldn’t get done diplomatically. We removed our blockade as part of the deal, but they maintained control. So now we’re conducting the Battle of the Strait of Hormuz to forcibly open the strait, secure it, and eventually control it. That is what has taken place, and huge progress is being made. As we take casualties in doing this — and casualties are part of war — our hearts go out to the loss of life here. Three losses of life have taken place, one a non-combatant, and potentially a fourth. Add that to the thousands of Americans the Iranians have killed since 1983. That’s what we’re dealing with — this barbaric regime.
So this is going to take some time to achieve the objective the president has given his military commanders. But that’s the path we’re on.
What is the fuss all about with the Strait of Hormuz, Bill and Dana? From Iran’s perspective, this is a strategic asset that exceeds the nuclear deal in terms of importance to their enterprise. Why? Because their enterprise is largely under a mountain of rubble. But this is a means for them to have influence in the region and control the distribution of oil — something they have always wanted — and they’re willing to fight for it.
“The Ayatollah put out this statement — he hasn’t been seen since the initial attacks — but he said: ‘Now that the American enemy seeks to ignite war and endure heavier costs, it should know that the Iranian nation and the resistance front have unforgettable lessons in store for it.’ Could you speak to the anonymous reporting in the Washington Post today about our munitions and our capabilities, which I’m sure the Ayatollah is factoring into his calculations in some way?” followed up co-anchor Dana Perino.
“Yes, I can’t speak to the specifics — not because I’m withholding anything, but because I don’t know. What I have been told is that over these 90 days of diplomatic effort, we’ve come to full magazine depth again, and the Israelis are at full magazine depth as well. That’s what I know. I think we’ve got to ask the administration about it,” Keane replied, adding:
I’m confident we can execute the mission the president has given us. The reason I say that is because we’re fully prepared to go back to major combat operations — which would take about two weeks — with a different set of targets than what we’re pursuing right now, along with the Israelis. And if we’re prepared to do that, with targets considerably more extensive than what we’re dealing with at the Strait of Hormuz, I think we’re in good shape.
“General, thanks for coming on, Jack Keane. We’ll check in again in a few days, perhaps midweek, and see where things are then. Thank you. Thank you, sir,” concluded Hemmer.
Watch the clip above.
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