Former US Defence Secretary and ex-CIA Director believes that US\nPresident Donald Trump is caught between two difficult choices after\nthree weeks of war in Iran and has sent a message of weakness to the\nworld. Panetta criticised what Trump has done in the Iran war as not the\nrole of a national leader.<\/p>\n
Cited from The Guardian on Tuesday (24\/3\/2026), Panetta, who served\nin the administrations of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, recalled that\nnational security officials have always been acutely aware of Iran\u2019s\nability to create an energy crisis by blocking the Strait of Hormuz.\nThat scenario is now unfolding, leaving Trump with no exit strategy\nbeyond wishful thinking.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe tends to be naive about how things can happen,\u201d said Panetta, 87,\nwho oversaw the operation to find and kill Osama bin Laden, in a\ntelephone interview. \u201cIf he says it and keeps saying it, there\u2019s always\nhope that what he says will become reality. But that\u2019s what children do.\nThat\u2019s not what presidents do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Iran war began on 28 February with what Trump hoped would be a\ndecisive blow. An Israeli surprise attack killed Iran\u2019s supreme leader,\nAyatollah Ali Khamenei. The US and Israel quickly gained air\nsuperiority. However, the longer the conflict rages, the more the\ninitiative seems to be slipping out of control.<\/p>\n
Thirteen US military members and, according to Iranian health\nofficials, more than 1,400 Iranians have been killed, while Khamenei has\nbeen replaced by his son, Mojtaba Khamenei. Trump is struggling to claim\nthe image of victory at home due to rising oil prices, declining poll\nnumbers, and signs of fracture in his electoral coalition. He is angry\nat media coverage and sending mixed signals about the goals or when the\n\u201cexcursion,\u201d as he calls it, will end.<\/p>\n
Panetta said: \u201cWe replaced an old leader, a supreme leader who was\nnearly dead at the time the Iranian people were ready to take to the\nstreets in the hope that they could finally change their government. And\ninstead, today we have a more entrenched regime, we have a younger\nsupreme leader who will be in power for a while, and he is far more\nhardline than the first supreme leader. That didn\u2019t go well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The regime has retaliated against the US and Israel by effectively\nclosing the Strait of Hormuz, causing chaos in the global energy market.\nOne-fifth of the world\u2019s traded oil flows through that waterway.<\/p>\n
For Panetta, this is a crisis caused by Trump himself. \u201cIt\u2019s not hard\nto understand that if you\u2019re going to go to war with Iran, one of the\nbiggest vulnerabilities is the Strait of Hormuz, and (it) can create a\nmajor oil crisis that can drive fuel prices skyrocketing.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn every national security council I\u2019ve been in where we discussed\nIran, that subject always came up. For some reason, they didn\u2019t consider\nthat it could be a consequence or they thought the war would end quickly\nand they wouldn\u2019t have to worry about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
He continued: \u201cWhatever it is, they weren\u2019t prepared for it and now\nthey\u2019re paying the price because, if there\u2019s an exit for Trump, it\u2019s by\ndeclaring victory and everything\u2019s over and we\u2019ve succeeded in all our\nmilitary objectives. The problem is he can declare victory all he wants,\nbut if he doesn\u2019t get a ceasefire, he has nothing.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd he won\u2019t get a ceasefire as long as Iran keeps threatening him\nwith the Strait of Hormuz.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump said he does not plan to deploy US troops in Iran, but also\nsent thousands of marines to the Middle East as a possible sign of an\nupcoming operation. On Friday (20\/3), he refused to confirm reports from\nAxios media that he was considering occupying or blockading Iran\u2019s Kharg\nIsland to pressure Iran to reopen the strait.<\/p>\n
Panetta said: \u201cHe\u2019s facing a very difficult problem, namely: Will he\nexpand the war by trying to open the Strait of Hormuz so he can\neliminate that influence and perhaps finally negotiate with Iran? Or\nwill he just walk away and declare victory, even though everyone will\nclearly understand that he has failed?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s in a very difficult position right now, but no one else is\nresponsible for his position but Donald Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Saturday (21\/3), after Trump posted that other countries might\nneed to help keep the Strait of Hormuz open, the reaction was less than\nenthusiastic. On Friday (22\/3), Trump called NATO a \u201cpaper tiger\u201d\nwithout the US and mocked its members as \u201ccowards.\u201d He kept his war\nplans against Iran secret from allies other than Israel.<\/p>\n
Panetta commented: \u201cIf you\u2019re planning a war, it\u2019s not a bad idea to\ntalk to your allies. Alliances are important to be able to support any\nkind of military effort. We\u2019ve learned that lesson a long time ago,\nsince World War II. But (Trump) has taken an insensitive approach to\nalliances and now he suddenly finds himself in a place where he has to\nturn to allies, to NATO and to others, all of whom of course he hasn\u2019t\ntreated well during his presidency, to try to help him out of\ntrouble.\u201d<\/p>\n
The former defence secretary added with a chuckle: \u201cKarma is coming\nsoon.\u201d<\/p>\n
He suggested that Trump abandon his fanciful thinking and \u201cface\nreality\u201d that he must use the military to open the strait, neutralise\nIran\u2019s defences along the coast, and deploy ships to escort oil tankers\nthrough it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWithout a doubt there will be casualties and it will clearly expand\nthe war, but I don\u2019t\u201d<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/ex-cia-boss-criticises-trump-he-created-the-oil-crisis-in-the-middle-east-1774331448", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }