00:00Ambassador Bolton, if you were to take that book off the shelf, John Bolton's plan for regime change in Iran,
00:05how closely would it hew to what we've seen take place here today?
00:07I'm curious just what you make of the means by which the president decided to do this,
00:11the element of surprise so much as there was one here, and the cooperation with Israel on these attacks.
00:17Well, I think there are a couple things that worry me.
00:20In his statement in the very early morning hours today, when he told the people of Iran that he was
00:27finally delivering,
00:28he said, now you have a president who is giving you what you want, so let's see how you respond.
00:35That doesn't sound like cooperation with the opposition, Ron.
00:39It sounds like a challenge, and I'm worried that this campaign in the air, however important it may be for
00:48other reasons,
00:48has not been made clear to the people of Iran how they can use the time to seek defections from
00:56within the regime
00:57to try and pull it apart at the top, and I think it's something when autocratic regimes begin to fall,
01:03people look around to say, I want to be on the winning side of this,
01:07and if they think the regime is in danger, they could well defect to the opposition.
01:11I think it's that coordination with the opposition leaders, and it's a disorganized opposition to be sure,
01:18but I'd feel a lot better if I knew there was more to that.
01:23And second, I worry about the potential that after a couple, three days, Trump declares,
01:31okay, that's victory, and now it's up to the people of Iran.
01:34That's not going to be enough.
01:35It's not a one-and-done kind of operation.
01:38These attacks, I think, as they destroy the instruments of Iranian state power,
01:42can be very effective, but it remains to be seen if Trump will carry through.
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