Latest / DEEP INSIGHT / H.R. McMaster on the U.S.-Iran feud over the Strait of Hormuz

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H.R. McMaster on the U.S.-Iran feud over the Strait of Hormuz · DEEP INSIGHT

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  Speaker 1: Turning out to the conflict in the Middle East, where
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  Speaker 1: the US and Iran have continued to trade attacks. US
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  Speaker 1: forces unleashed another round of strikes on Iran last night,
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  Speaker 1: aiming to degrade Tehran's ability to target commercial shipping in
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  Speaker 1: the Strait of Hormuz, while Iran says it has responded
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  Speaker 1: with attacks on US military facilities in Bahrain, Kuwait, and Jordan.
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  Speaker 1: For more on this, we're joined by retired Lieutenant General
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  Speaker 1: Hron McMaster. He's a CBS News Foreign policy and National
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  Speaker 1: security contributor and of course served as National Security advisor
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  Speaker 1: during President Trump's first term. General, what is your read
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  Speaker 1: on the latest round of attacks and at this point
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  Speaker 1: does it seem that these attacks that the United States
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  Speaker 1: has launched on Iran fundamentally changing anything. They're not coming
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  Speaker 1: to the table and they continue to attack and harass
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  Speaker 1: our partners in the region.
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  Speaker 2: Hey, Lennon Kelly, great to be with you. Hey, what
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  Speaker 2: this is focused on, these strikes are focused on is
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  Speaker 2: degrading RAN's ability to project power outside of its borders,
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  Speaker 2: including against against shipping in the Straits of Hormus and
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  Speaker 2: in the uh in the Arabian Gulf, but also to
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  Speaker 2: be able to project power outward toward its neighboring countries.
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  Speaker 2: And you saw the attacks against Jordan, the attasking r
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  Speaker 2: and so forth, as you mentioned, so I think you're
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  Speaker 2: to see a continuation of this campaign. What's happened since
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  Speaker 2: the ceasefire, as Iran has tried to rebuild those capabilities,
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  Speaker 2: repairing some of the damaged missiles, unearthing some of the
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  Speaker 2: drone complexes. We've been tracking that, and those those those
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  Speaker 2: strikes are focused on that. What the President has telegraphed
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  Speaker 2: is that he may soon extend that that target set
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  Speaker 2: with an aim toward coercing Iran to return to the
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  Speaker 2: table and agree to terms that that are favorable to
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  Speaker 2: the United States, in particular, the reinterpretation of this fifth
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  Speaker 2: point in the mo ou UH in terms of control
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  Speaker 2: of the of the strait of horror moves and allowing
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  Speaker 2: the free flow of shipping important as important as the strikes,
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  Speaker 2: Though vlad is reinstall reinsstalling this blackade against Iranian traffic.
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  Speaker 2: That's going to result in their lass about four hundred
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  Speaker 2: and fifty million dollars a day. They were already tremendously
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  Speaker 2: cash starved, about ready to run out of cash, to
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  Speaker 2: pay their tool, their arms of repression, the Islamic Revolutionary
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  Speaker 2: Guard's Corps, and the pasiege. But this initial relaxation of
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  Speaker 2: the blockade and payment of some of the frozen assets
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  Speaker 2: gave them an infusion of cash they desperately needed. But
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  Speaker 2: it's not going to last very long, and so I
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  Speaker 2: think the economic pressure is going to be what's important
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  Speaker 2: here in the coming days.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah. I find that that piece of it particularly interesting
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  Speaker 3: too general, because you know, they were able to sort
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  Speaker 3: of have a reprieve get some of that money. But
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  Speaker 3: the question always becomes how long can Iron just hold on.
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  Speaker 3: We've talked about this before, so we'll see how that
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  Speaker 3: blockade impacts this. I want to hear your take on
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  Speaker 3: something else. So Ron has released a dual US Iranian
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  Speaker 3: citizen that was barred from leaving the country for over
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  Speaker 3: a year. President Trump is hailing that missed all this
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  Speaker 3: fighting as a gesture of goodwill. What is your read
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  Speaker 3: on this? Do you think that this is the start
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  Speaker 3: maybe of an off round.
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  Speaker 2: I don't think so, Kelly. The reason is, you know,
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  Speaker 2: first of all, thank goodness, Thank goodness is what Dina,
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  Speaker 2: who is released, is out of there. I think what
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  Speaker 2: this is showing is that US negotiators have prioritized getting
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  Speaker 2: US citizens getting them out of the country who were
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  Speaker 2: held unlawfully by the Iranians held hostage. Really, but Iran
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  Speaker 2: has a long pattern of this going back to nineteen
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  Speaker 2: seventy nine with taking hostages US hostages from our embassy
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  Speaker 2: and holding them for four hundred and forty four days.
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  Speaker 2: And periodically they'll release people like they did, you know,
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  Speaker 2: famously in their ran Contra affair, and you know what
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  Speaker 2: they do, they immediately take more hostages. Remember you know
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  Speaker 2: they took a CIA station chief hostage eleven on, tortured
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  Speaker 2: him for fourteen for fourteen months before they killed them. So, hey,
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  Speaker 2: I think they have no regard for human life. And
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  Speaker 2: I think what they're doing is using this as a tactic.
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  Speaker 2: And it's probably a sign Kelly feeling a lot of
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  Speaker 2: pressure again. You know, they thought they were in the
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  Speaker 2: driver's seat, They thought they were in a position of strength.
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  Speaker 2: They thought President Trump, the United States, we didn't have
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  Speaker 2: the will to reinstate the blockade, to force open the
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  Speaker 2: strait of horror moves. Now, maybe you know the the
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  Speaker 2: Islam grillsh Reaguard's corps of this guy Vahiti and the
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  Speaker 2: people who are really in charge, maybe they're han't doubts
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  Speaker 2: about that now?
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  Speaker 1: All right, General, amid the fighting in the Middle East,
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  Speaker 1: the Pentagon is now suggesting CBS News has learned that
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  Speaker 1: they are considering new plans for military action against Cuba.
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  Speaker 1: What do you make of that?
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  Speaker 2: Well, I think this is probably combining military force, the
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  Speaker 2: potential for military for US, with a diplomatic effort to
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  Speaker 2: get and pressure and economic pressure to get the Cuban
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  Speaker 2: army regime that held out of there. You know, Lad,
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  Speaker 2: they have destroyed that country. With that regime in place,
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  Speaker 2: there is no hope for them anymore, in particularly after
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  Speaker 2: they lost their kind of sugar daddy, you know, Touro
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  Speaker 2: in Venezuela, who is keeping them on life support with
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  Speaker 2: flows of money and and flows of energy. Now they're
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  Speaker 2: now they're isolated, and you can see the effect of
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  Speaker 2: them destroying their economy.
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  Speaker 1: Uh.
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  Speaker 2: And of course, remember the Cuban economy, the Cuban Army
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  Speaker 2: controls everything uh in that in that in that country.
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  Speaker 2: So I think there's probably a plan in place here
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  Speaker 2: to try to get them to give up control. Uh,
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  Speaker 2: political control, but importantly economic control, because once that happens.
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  Speaker 2: Any cash that flows in to the country from you know,
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  Speaker 2: this really calended and very capable diaspora that we have
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  Speaker 2: in the in the in the United States, that will
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  Speaker 2: go to the Cuban people, and then they will be
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  Speaker 2: able to generate alternative sources of of strength, political strength,
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  Speaker 2: economic strength within the country. I think that's the play
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  Speaker 2: right now, is kind of a Maduro play, you know,
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  Speaker 2: get you know, get the leaders of the regime out
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  Speaker 2: of there, allows economic activity to resume with cash flows
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  Speaker 2: going to the people instead of the regime, and then
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  Speaker 2: work on a political a on a formal political transition
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  Speaker 2: over time. You know, I don't think that regime sustainable.
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  Speaker 2: Secretary Rubio has been pretty clear on this. He's like, hey,
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  Speaker 2: there's no future for Cube under this regime. So I
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  Speaker 2: think President Trump probably, I guess, I think he wants
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  Speaker 2: to resolve this by the midterms, Flad, and so I
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  Speaker 2: think you're going to see this as an increasing area
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  Speaker 2: of focus.
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  Speaker 1: All right, General, Before I let you go, it's been
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  Speaker 1: announced by the Defense Secretary Pete Hexath that military personnel
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  Speaker 1: over age thirty and older will undergo testing for testosterone
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  Speaker 1: deficiency as part of their annual health screenings. I think
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  Speaker 1: you retired from the US Army back in twenty eighteen.
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  Speaker 1: I think you were a couple of years older than
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  Speaker 1: thirty years old.
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  Speaker 4: Would you have agreed at that point in time to
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  Speaker 4: undergo testing to see where your tea, where your testosterone
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  Speaker 4: was flat?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know. I mean, do I get
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  Speaker 2: grand fathered into that? Can I get that any retirement?
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I don't think I need it, you know,
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  Speaker 2: but just in case, you know, I want to know
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  Speaker 2: to be able to get some of that. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, I'll tell you, lad, I mean, this is
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  Speaker 2: befuddling to me. I'm not sure. I mean, I don't know.
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  Speaker 2: I don't have a comment on that one.
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  Speaker 4: All right, The fuddling is a good word though.
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  Speaker 1: General. Yeah, thank you very much, sir. As always, we
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  Speaker 1: love talking to you.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you creepying with you.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, I'm good seeing you.