00:00In my assessment, there was no imminent threat to the United States that justified the president
00:05using his Article II powers, and there was insufficient preparation to make sure
00:09that we had the right troops, the right capability deployed. There used to be a consensus in national
00:16security that America should only go to war when there's an imminent threat to our national
00:21security, when all the other options have been exhausted, and when we have clear objectives and
00:26a plan for how it ends. As General Cain testified, the military was given three clear goals.
00:32Sink the Navy, attack and destroy the ballistic missile launchers, and degrade their defense
00:38industrial base, and you've accomplished those. But President Trump celebrated regime change after
00:43saying that regime change was the real goal, and our NATO allies have delivered. They have allowed
00:49overflight. They have allowed projection of force despite not being consulted. You said just a few
00:55moments ago, Mr. Secretary, we control the strait. But it's clear that reopening the Strait of Hormuz for
01:02commercial traffic eludes us, in no small part because Iran retains a robust stockpile of cheap,
01:11lethal Shahed drones, and they are getting help from our adversaries in rebuilding them. What is your plan
01:18for reopening the Strait of Hormuz, Mr. Secretary? I would just note that the majority of your question was
01:25highly disingenuous and loaded with suggestions that I very much don't agree with. From the
01:30beginning, please feel free, sir, to pick any one of those. From the beginning, we've been very clear
01:34about the military objectives and the underlying strategic objective, which is preventing Iran from
01:38getting a nuclear weapon. Yes. Take, for example, the fact that Iranians, conventional Navy, they had
01:43aircraft carriers with Shaheed drones on them before this started. They had full-on destroyers and battleship
01:49capabilities, none of which they have anymore. And did the Iranian Navy have aircraft carriers?
01:55The Iranian Navy had three drone aircraft carriers. The Iranian Navy had 11 submarines. They had launch platforms for drones.
02:01Sure. They had 11 submarines. And you've sunk all over the regular Navy. Great. Good. They retain fastboat capabilities, which
02:08they've always had. We understand that, which we can control for and will. We've degraded almost completely their defense industrial
02:15-based capabilities. The idea that they control anything, you can terrorize something. You can terrorize something. You can
02:19hold it at issue with piracy, as I've talked about at the Pentagon podium time and time again. That doesn't
02:24mean you control it. We control what goes in and out. And we control whether or not we have to
02:28restart conflict. The president does as well.
02:30Mr. Secretary. So we're the ones that will manage where this goes in the future. And they have very limited
02:35ability to set the tempo or respond to it. And that gives the president a lot of options to ensure
02:40that Iran never gets a nuclear weapon.
02:43The connection between their ability to close the Strait of Hormuz using fastboats and Shahed drones and our strategic goal,
02:52shared broadly, to prevent them from ever having a usable nuclear weapon is utterly unclear to me.
02:57And my question was, what's the plan for reopening the Strait of Hormuz to commercial traffic, given skyrocketing prices?
03:06Shared broadly, but never executed. Shared broadly, but never executed, because previous administration didn't have the willingness to actually do
03:11what it would take.
03:12And when Iran was at its weakest moments following the 12-day war, but still wanted the pursuit of a
03:17nuclear capability, President Trump made the courageous decision to go at their conventional umbrella and shield, which they were using
03:25to protect their nuclear program, which we knew came with threats and branches and sequels.
03:30My concern, Mr. Secretary, is that you've achieved a series of tactical successes, but are on the verge of a
03:36strategic loss, because we are now negotiating a demand.
03:40Just think it's so foolish. Here we are in a committee in the United States Senate, 74 days in, and
03:44you're talking about strategic loss.
03:46We have the ability to defeat a 47-year threat of a pursuit of a nuclear weapon.
03:51We have more leverage than we've ever had. We've had incredible battlefield successes.
03:55And you're talking about a strategic loss, cloaked and disingenuous questions.
04:00Mr. Secretary, Mr. Secretary, Mr. Secretary, Mr. Secretary, this is how you undercut efforts that could otherwise and are otherwise
04:04being very effective.
04:04I am not your enemy, sir. I am not your adversary.
04:07I share your goal of preventing Iran from ever having a usable nuclear weapon.
04:12To finish my sentence, control of the Strait of Hormuz, the ability to degrade our partners and allies' gas and
04:19oil production capabilities through cheap drones,
04:22the ability to harass and harry commercial shipping remains in Iran's hands.
04:28And their demands are that we recognize sovereignty for them over the Strait of Hormuz, which I believe our president's
04:35rejected, you've rejected, I reject.
04:37But my question remains, how do we reopen the Strait of Hormuz to commercial shipping?
04:42If we control it, how do we reopen it?
04:45And your average American is seeing this at the gas pump every single day as the cost of gas continues
04:51to rise.
04:53Senator Coons, I know that your question has not yet been responded to.
04:58And it deserves an answer.
04:59It does deserve an answer.
04:59But I also understand I'm delaying my colleagues.
05:02But that's the question that deserves an answer, Mr. Secretary.
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