We are now in a transitional phase from a war of choice to a war of necessity. The Iranians have created enough uncertainty where anyone's tankers they don't approve of will be blocked.
Aaron David Miller
We have weeks if not months of military deployments still in train. 2500 Marines are en route from the Asia-Pacific. There's significant talk of providing options to seize Kharg Island, the major export facility.
As the president teases winding down military efforts, what about competing objectives between U.S. and Israel? Could the U.S. leave Israel to continue prosecuting its war?
Joe
Aaron David Miller
No American president has more leverage over an Israeli prime minister than Donald Trump has over Benjamin Netanyahu. Netanyahu's core objective is getting reelected, not Iran.
Does that sound like a war that's winding down or is the president trying to take our eye off the ball?
Joe
Aaron David Miller
It's psychological operations. The major challenge now is we're going from standoff strikes to actually putting assets, men and women and American equipment in the theater of operation.
Aaron David Miller
Where there are boots on the ground, ships in the sea, aircraft in the air, we're going to be there for quite some time.