Brett McGurk, who served as White House coordinator for the Middle East under both Trump and Biden, appeared on CNN’s The Source with Kaitlan Collins minutes after Trump’s primetime address ended. His reading was not reassuring.
“When he laid out the objectives and the plan, I don’t think we heard too much,” McGurk told Collins. “And my takeaway was that we might be in for an escalation of this war.”
He had been hoping for something different.
“If we thought we might hear a de-escalatory speech that we’re going to wrap this up in a couple of weeks, I actually heard something quite different,” he said. “He said he visits the families at Dover, and he said, ‘We must honor them by completing the mission.’ And then he basically threatened Iran that we’re going to prepare to ‘send you back to the Stone Age.’ So I think this war is going to continue for some time.”
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Iran’s foreign minister responded to the stone age threat with dry efficiency. No oil or gas was being pumped back then, he noted.
The Strait of Hormuz was the other problem McGurk flagged. Trump told reporters securing the waterway was “not for us.” McGurk heard that clearly. “If Iran comes out of this controlling the Strait of Hormuz and being able to meter ships and taking a cut of every ship, they’re going to make hundreds of millions and billions of dollars,” he said. “If that is the outcome here, strategically, that is not good if our objective is to contain Iran.”
On the question of allies stepping up to help reopen the strait, McGurk was equally skeptical.
“I heard him say we kind of would lead that mission from behind, hoping that our allies might step up, which I’m not sure they’re going to do.” Spain, Italy and France have already said no. Japan and Australia have said they have no plans to send ships.
McGurk is not alone in his assessment.
Analysts at Al Jazeera noted the speech made four familiar arguments Trump has been making daily since the war began. The war is necessary. It has already been won. It must continue. It will wrap up soon. No new information. No exit strategy. No answer on the strait.
White House officials have reportedly told multiple outlets that Trump is getting “bored” with the conflict and wants to “move on.”
The Wall Street Journal reported he is willing to end military operations even if the strait remains closed. Oil prices jumped to around $110 a barrel after the speech. Asian markets fell. The Nikkei dropped 1.4%. South Korea’s Kospi fell 2.82%.
Featured image via YouTube screengrab
