00:00And why are European countries now saying they're willing to help secure the Strait of Hormuz,
00:06but they feel reluctant, and they have been reluctant, Jim,
00:09to support broader U.S.-Israeli military action against Iran?
00:13And it's really, really frustrated and irked President Donald Trump greatly.
00:19Well, it has, and I think Donald Trump was poorly advised by his staff.
00:26If they wanted the Allies on board and participating in this,
00:30they needed to be approached early on before the conflict began to be part of this,
00:37to be part of the planning, to be part of setting the goals.
00:41You know, that's what we did with Desert Storm.
00:43We've done that with Iraq, Afghanistan.
00:46The Allies have been with us in many, many conflicts.
00:49And so for that to happen, you've got to have a lot of preparatory work with them
00:54before the fighting begins.
00:56You don't do it afterwards, and you don't do it using threats and mocking and insulting
01:02and then expect them to put their troops in harm's way
01:06when it's very unclear what the U.S. goals are and what the plan is.
01:12But I think what is clear to the Allies, to a lot of nations around the world,
01:16is the Straits of Hormuz is very important to everyone.
01:21Having those Straits open, it will be critical.
01:24Iran right now, because of their asymmetric capabilities, are keeping it closed.
01:28And so when we can get to some type of end of the fighting,
01:32I don't know if it's a ceasefire or what,
01:34but at some point the Allies need to be able to feel confident enough
01:38to go in and help us keep the Straits open.
01:42And that includes, you know, shepherding along the tankers
01:46and includes protecting them from drones and this type of thing.
01:50So they will be going in harm's way.
01:51This is not going to be a picnic, keeping the Straits open.
01:55But asking the Allies to come into the fighting, into the shooting part of the war
02:01without any initial preparation and helping the Allies themselves get support from their people,
02:07that's just, that's a tall order.
02:09So it's an owned goal by President Trump.
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