U.S. envoy Waltz: Iran war could last another year
Waltz says U.S. goals won't be met until Iran gives up its highly enriched uranium. The blockade stays, and Ambassador Barrack says a strike could come this weekend.
Archive image · Photo: HumDrum931 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz expects a long war with Iran. The conflict could last another year, he told the Financial Times, CBS News reported. He said he hoped Iran would come to the table before then. But the U.S. will not achieve its key goals until Tehran disposes of its highly enriched uranium and accepts a “meaningful agreement on their domestic enrichment,” he said. The Navy can maintain the blockade of Iranian ports for the foreseeable future, he said. When the war began in late February, President Donald Trump had spoken of “four to five weeks.”
U.S. Central Command said the renewed blockade reached its 100th day on Thursday and has kept Iran from exporting at least $25 billion in crude. U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Tom Barrack said a strike on Iran this weekend was possible, even though Trump had earlier pledged no strikes before the Nov. 3 midterm elections. Trump is “open and available and accessible to a deal,” said Barrack, who according to CBS News has no direct role in Iran policy. Trump said he didn't know anything about it. The New York Times has reported that the U.S. and Israel have drawn up plans for strikes after the elections.
Tehran appears undeterred. The Revolutionary Guards said two supertankers carrying more than 4.5 million barrels of crude between them had struck mines on an “unauthorized” southern route through the Strait of Hormuz and been abandoned by their crews, which has not been independently confirmed. Brent crude briefly hit a wartime high above $117 a barrel on Friday. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said U.S. weapons packages “won't keep coming,” Gulf News reported, and that Israel should prepare for possible sanctions.