One of the country’s most experienced national security officials gave a damning assessment of Donald Trump’s primetime address in which he tried to convince Americans that his war on Iran was “on track.”
Brett McGurk, who served in senior national security positions under the past four presidents, including during Trump’s first term, warned that Trump might be dragging the U.S. into another forever war in the Middle East.
Asked by CNN’s Kaitlan Collins for his reaction to Trump’s primetime address, McGurk said the 79-year-old failed to explain to the American people what the actual goals were for ending the war. He suggested Trump was more likely to intensify the fighting than end it anytime soon.
“When he laid out the objectives and the plan, I don’t think we heard too much, and my takeaway was that we might be in for an escalation of this war,” McGurk said.
“I 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,” the 52-year-old added.
“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.”
Trump delivered a curiously low-energy speech to the nation on Wednesday to provide an update on the Iran war, which has dragged on for more than a month with no clear end in sight.
He did not provide any new insights into the conflict beyond what he has already been posting on social media since the war broke out on Feb. 28.
Trump again suggested the war would end within a few weeks, without giving a clear indication of how that would actually be achieved.
“Thanks to the progress we’ve made, I can say tonight that we are on track to complete all of America’s military objectives shortly. Very shortly,” Trump said.
“We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We’re going to bring them back to the Stone Ages, where they belong.”
There have long been fears that Trump has no clear plan to end the war he started. This includes how to resolve the Strait of Hormuz crisis, which has sparked a worldwide oil shock and rising gas prices in the U.S.
Last month, The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump has been telling aides he is willing to end military operations in Iran even if the vital shipping lane remains largely closed off by Tehran.
White House officials have also told MS Now that the president is getting “bored” with the Middle East conflict and wants to “move on.”
McGurk, the former White House coordinator for the Middle East under Joe Biden, resigned as Trump’s U.S. special presidential envoy for the Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS over the decision to withdraw troops from Syria in 2018.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
