Rich Iran proxies have carried out at least
103 attacks against U.S. military targets since the Israel Hamas
war began.
It comes as the US is under increasing pressure to
tackle the worsening crisis in the Red Sea after Iranian
backed Houthis attacked another commercial shipping vessel That happening just
yesterday. Let's bring in David Friedman,
former U.S. ambassador to Israel.
Mr. Ambassador, I want to put up the map of
of the US assets in the region We have,
I believe it's around 900 troops
in Syria right now around
2500. I believe it is in Iraq,
plus all those naval assets we've been talking about both
in the Med and in the Red Sea.
Are we doing enough to protect all of those assets,
given that we've seen this more than 100 attacks on
them?
No, we're not doing enough at all,
Jonathan. And and thank you for having me.
And happy New Year. We're we're not doing
anything close enough. In fact,
I think the Wall Street Journal reported today that some
of the
members of our distinguished military there,
you know, consider themselves nothing more than drum catchers.
I mean, they're not fighting back.
And, you know, let's be clear,
the Biden policy on Iran
is really at the core of all the conflicts that
are raging through the Middle East.
It's funding and fueling the war of Hamas and Hezbollah
against Israel and the war
by that's begun now by Iraqi Hezbollah and the Houthis
against the United States and against other nations engaging in
commerce
in the Red Sea. And you know,
people speak about it in terms of appeasement,
but it's much more than appeasement.
It's actually active assistance we have
made available to Iran over the last 16 over the
last six months,
16 billion dollars, $6 billion in exchange for five hostages
and another $10 million for no particular reason over the
last couple of months,
that's $16 billion. Now our entire aid package to Israel
that that still hasn't passed Congress is only $14 billion.
So, Mr. Ambassador, what do,
what do we, what should we be doing here?
Is the answer to take military action directly against Tehran?
Is that the only thing that is ultimately going to
get the message through?
I I think so. I mean,
look, we have, we have 40 times the size of
Iran's military budget.
You know, we are enormously threatening to Iran if we
choose to exercise our our power and our leverage.
We exercise that power. When I was in,
when I was in government,
I was in the Trump administration
through the taking Qasem Soleimani off the field when he
was the leading sponsor of terrorism around the world.
The response by Iran to that was was fairly tepid
against the Trump administration because we showed our strength.
There's no question that American strength will deter Iran and
bring us to a more peaceful place.
Biden seems to think that by getting on our knees
and begging for mercy will will will end or reduce
the risk of conflict.
Just the opposite. These are people.
So, Mr. Ambassador, let me let me Can I just
be clear here?
Are you saying that we should
strike Iran? Strike at the heart of Iran?
Should we launch strikes against,
for instance, military facilities in and around Tehran?
Iran has taken military actions against the United States.
And of course, in that context,
the United States should respond accordingly.
I mean, that's what that's what,
you know, America does when it's attacked.
And those are the actions that that keep this from
escalating into something bigger.
Well, would it not escalate it into something much bigger
if we took that kind of direct action or do
you believe that that would actually bring the flames of
war down rather than found them?
I have no doubt they would bring the flames of
war down.
I have no doubt. I think Iran is a bully.
I think with any other bully,
you push back, you show your strength.
Especially as I said, we are 40 times stronger just
on our budget and our military are far better.
Our soldiers are much better.
They're much more skilled. We're just,
we're just so much stronger than them that the failure
to exercise that strength is what's causing Iran to continue
to engage in malign activity across the Crescent of the
Middle East. And Mr. Ambassador,
just quickly, I asked this question of one of our
guests yesterday.
It strikes me as odd that given the Intel that
we have,
the satellite intelligence gathering that we can do,
when we strike back at these militant groups in,
be they in Syria or Iraq,
we injure a couple, we kill one here and there.
We know who those people are.
We can see them quite plainly.
They have carried out acts of war against us.
Why do we not just take out the entire militant
group that we see?
Well, look, I think I think all these actions simply
betray our fear of getting into a fight.
And when you're afraid of getting into a fight,
your enemy act accordingly and they act with greater aggression
and and we're just sending exactly the wrong signals.
And, and and these are the same people that were
around back in the Obama administration that want to placate
Iran,
that operate under the under the misguided notion that somehow
Iran can be coaxed into a more peaceful position through
kindness.
And it just doesn't work.
David Friedman, former U.S. ambassador to Israel,
so great to talk to you.
Happy New Year Sir, and thank you for being here.