00:00When assessing Donald Trump's options for the war he's started, it's best to begin
00:05with the options he doesn't have. As it stands, he can't claim to have stopped Iran's nuclear
00:09program, he can't convince the Iranian people to topple their government, and he doesn't
00:14appear able to reopen the Strait of Hormuz without the help of European allies.
00:18But the American president is still insisting the war will be over soon. So what options
00:23does he have? In his own words...
00:26If for any reason a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be, and if the Hormuz
00:31Strait is not immediately open for business, we will conclude our lovely stay in Iran by
00:36blowing up and completely obliterating all of their electric generating plants, oil wells
00:41and Karg Island, and possibly all desalinisation plants.
00:46This plan to attack civilian infrastructure adds to Trump's earlier comments threatening
00:50to send US troops to capture Karg Island, Iran's oil lifeline, and reporting their
00:56that he's thinking about a mission to put troops inside the country for days or longer in
01:00order to extract a critical stockpile of more than 450 kilograms of uranium.
01:06We want the nuclear dust, we're going to want that, and I think we're going to get that.
01:12These boots on the ground missions would carry significant risks to personnel in a war that's
01:18already deeply unpopular with American people. While a final major air assault before walking
01:23away would only be a Pyrrhic victory with the Gulf massively destabilised. Whatever course
01:29of action the commander in chief chooses, he's already selling it as a major victory, claiming
01:34for instance to have already brought about regime change by killing top Iranian officials, while
01:39all signs point to Iran's commitment to continue the fight.
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