Iran hit another ship. The U.S. struck back. Iran hit Bahrain. The U.S. struck back again. Fmr U.S. Navy intel officer Malcolm Nance calls it the loop tape of stupid.
Iran is announcing their retaliatory strikes in advance, hitting the same 3 empty targets every single time, and the U.S. is blowing up the same radar towers Iran replaces within days.
Nobody is winning anything. Malcolm says they're just burning through inventory while the global oil supply gets closer to what he calls tank bottom.
How do you actually force Iran out of the strait? You'd need to invade 8 Iranian islands, fly in 10k Marines, and accept that within hours Qatar loses its gas production, the UAE gets bombarded around the clock, and the Iranians execute a plan they've had since the 1980s to push across the Arabian Peninsula.
Malcolm had an actual copy of the war game on his desk.
The Iranians have shown more strategic restraint than the U.S., not because they can't escalate, but because they're thinking long ball. They didn't use a thousand Chinese anti-ship missiles they've been stockpiling since 1988. They didn't fire everything at the Abraham Lincoln. They're waiting.
His advice to the president: take the deal. You made this bed.
Enjoy my interview with @MalcolmNance
