Ex-Pentagon chief: Iran war won't end any time soon

The US may be winning some battles in its more than six-month war with Iran, but is it losing the bigger strategic war? On GZERO World, former Defense Secretary Mark Esper tells Ian Bremmer that the Trump administration appears to be on its “back foot” strategically, despite heavy damage inflicted on the Iranian navy, airforce, and industrial base. The mission has shifted from stopping Iran’s nuclear program to freedom of navigation in the. So what is the endgame?

Esper makes the case for economic strangulation with a blockade and more sanctions as the “least-worst option” over a ground invasion or withdrawal from the Strait. The longer Washington remains consumed by Iran, he warns, the more it risks taking attention away from the United States’ biggest strategic threat: China. He and Ian also examine whether attacks on Iran’s leadership made a diplomatic resolution harder to achieve, and whether the administration’s approach has left the US trapped in a war with no clear political objective.
“We're not in a position where I would want to be right now, but we need to see what the strategy is,” Esper says, “Otherwise right now, it seems like it's not going to end anytime soon.”