The US is on the brink of restarting “full-throttle combat operations” against Iran as peace talks stall and tensions ramp up in the Middle East, a retired top general warned Monday.
Gen. Jack Keane — acting Army Chief of Staff at the start of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars — told Fox News Channel that after the Islamic Republic’s latest rebuff of President Trump’s peace proposals, the US and Israel were ready to restart attacks using intelligence collected since the cease-fire went into effect April 8.
“It’ll be a combined operation with the United States and Israel going full-throttle, all-out, no half measures here whatsoever,” Keane said on FNC’s “America’s Newsroom.”
“The president has exhibited a huge amount of patience here since the cease-fire [began] on April the 8th. And we’ve tried to work a deal with these guys, and it just doesn’t seem possible,” he added.
Keane, who chairs the DC-based Institute for the Study of War, claimed the US has a clear sense of Iran’s remaining military capabilities, noting that the joint American-Israeli airstrikes that began Feb. 28 left only 30% of the allies’ intended targets remaining.
It’ll be those targets that the US and Israel wipe out next, including facilities tied to Iran’s missile and nuclear program, he continued.
Along with military targets, Keane salso uggested the US would take out Iran’s revenue sources, a threat Trump has repeatedly levied against Tehran.
“Obviously, the Kharg Island blockade is having significant impact,” Keane said of the naval operation in the Gulf of Oman. “But this attack will even further aggravate their ability to gain revenue source.
“Without revenue, it’s hard to see how this regime can survive,” he added.
Iran has bet that closing the Strait of Hormuz and sowing chaos in the global energy marketplace will force the US to call off military operations, with Tehran hoping that its own struggling economy will hold out until then.
“They want to run this clock out, increase the political [and] economic pressure on the president. And they just don’t care about the suffering of people,” Keane said.
Monday’s comments by Keane came after Trump warned Iran to agree to a peace deal soon or else.
“For Iran, the Clock is Ticking, and they better get moving, FAST, or there won’t be anything left of them. TIME IS OF THE ESSENCE,” Trump wrote on Truth Social Sunday.
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