{"id":11867,"date":"2026-07-20T20:35:01","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T15:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=11867"},"modified":"2026-07-20T20:35:01","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T15:35:01","slug":"us-needs-to-return-to-major-combat-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=11867","title":{"rendered":"US Needs to Return to &#8216;Major Combat Operations&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"post-body\">\n<p>Retired General <strong>Jack Keane,<\/strong> a Fox News senior strategic analyst, made the case on Monday that the U.S. will need to return to \u201cmajor combat operations\u201d for several weeks to achieve President <strong>Donald Trump\u2019s<\/strong> new mission in Iran \u2013 to gain control of the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNine straight nights, sir, is not insignificant. Do you see this conflict much differently than it was a week ago?\u201d began anchor<strong> Bill Hemmer<\/strong> to start the conversation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWell, certainly, yes. Look, taking stock of what\u2019s happened here \u2014 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 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/tag\/donald-trump\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">president<\/a> of the United States both signed the agreement,\u201d Keane replied, adding:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>We have said many times on this broadcast: You can\u2019t 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 \u2014 with their president\u2019s signature on it \u2014 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 \u2014 no tolls, no insurance fees, nothing. It\u2019s international waters, and none of that took place.<\/p>\n<p>Obviously, we\u2019ve been retaliating against that violation ever since. And what are we doing? We\u2019re doing what we couldn\u2019t get done diplomatically. We removed our blockade as part of the deal, but they maintained control. So now we\u2019re conducting the Battle of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/business\/energy\/few-tankers-enter-hormuz-load-oil-data-shows-2026-07-19\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Strait of Hormuz<\/a> 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 \u2014 and casualties are part of war \u2014 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\u2019s what we\u2019re dealing with \u2014 this barbaric regime.<\/p>\n<p>So this is going to take some time to achieve the objective the president has given his military commanders. But that\u2019s the path we\u2019re on.<\/p>\n<p>What is the fuss all about with the Strait of Hormuz, Bill and Dana? From Iran\u2019s 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 \u2014 something they have always wanted \u2014 and they\u2019re willing to fight for it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThe Ayatollah put out this statement \u2014 he hasn\u2019t been seen since the initial attacks \u2014 but he said: \u2018Now 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.\u2019 Could you speak to the anonymous reporting in the <em>Washington Post<\/em> today about our munitions and our capabilities, which I\u2019m sure the Ayatollah is factoring into his calculations in some way?\u201d followed up co-anchor<strong> Dana Perino.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cYes, I can\u2019t speak to the specifics \u2014 not because I\u2019m withholding anything, but because I don\u2019t know. What I have been told is that over these 90 days of diplomatic effort, we\u2019ve come to full magazine depth again, and the Israelis are at full magazine depth as well. That\u2019s what I know. I think we\u2019ve got to ask the administration about it,\u201d Keane replied, adding:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I\u2019m confident we can execute the mission the president has given us. The reason I say that is because we\u2019re fully prepared to go back to major combat operations \u2014 which would take about two weeks \u2014 with a different set of targets than what we\u2019re pursuing right now, along with the Israelis. And if we\u2019re prepared to do that, with targets considerably more extensive than what we\u2019re dealing with at the Strait of Hormuz, I think we\u2019re in good shape.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cGeneral, thanks for coming on, Jack Keane. We\u2019ll check in again in a few days, perhaps midweek, and see where things are then. Thank you. Thank you, sir,\u201d concluded Hemmer.<\/p>\n<p>Watch the clip above.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>New: The Mediaite One-Sheet &#8220;Newsletter of Newsletters&#8221;<\/strong><br \/>Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/subscribe\">Subscribe now!<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script type=\"text\/javascript\">\n!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\nn.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\nn.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\nt.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,\ndocument,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Retired General Jack Keane, a Fox News senior strategic analyst, made the case on Monday that the U.S. will need to return to \u201cmajor combat operations\u201d for several weeks to achieve President Donald Trump\u2019s new mission in Iran \u2013 to gain control of the Strait of Hormuz. \u201cNine straight nights, sir, is not insignificant. Do&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11868,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.mediaite.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/keane.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsweek-trending"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/11868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}