Trump "Controls the Narrative" With Iran | VADM (ret.) Robert Harward on Fox News

Added: 2026-05-19

[00:00:00]Let's get some analysis, vice admiral Robert Harward, former CENTCOM deputy commander. Thanks for coming back, sir, and good morning to you. Uh General Keane was with Dana and me yesterday.

[00:00:08]Let's begin with this analysis and we'll get to you. Watch.

[00:00:13]The president has exhibited huge amount of patience here since the ceasefire on April the 8th.

[00:00:18]And we've tried to work a deal with these guys and it it just doesn't seem possible. And where we are, we're on the cusp of going back into military operations. When we stopped, Bill and Dana, we had 2 weeks to go, a little less than 30% of the targets. Those targets remain, but we have better intelligence now after these 5, 6 weeks.

[00:00:39]So, that target list is expanded. It's considerably more comprehensive.

[00:00:43]Admiral, I think the general is exactly right about the point he makes and also Iran has a vote in this as well.

[00:00:49]Uh they've reconfigured a number of things, I am certain. What do you think the next best move is today?

[00:00:57]Well, I agree with the general completely with one caveat. Patience may be a little short of the real uh objective here. The president has time on his hands. He's controls the narrative, he controls the strike capabilities, and he knows that the policy he set with the blockade has had short-term and long-term effects on the regime and the people of Iran. So, he's been very astute in leveraging that time. And so, I don't see it as negotiations. It really is capitulation.

[00:01:33]The president's made it very clear, you will not have a nuclear weapon, you will not have the material, surrender that, and you will ensure that the Straits of Hormuz are open to free commerce, that you have no claims for a surcharge or approving. Those two things are irreversibly uh and the president knows he's in the position to demand those. So, I think in that sense, he controls the narrative and when he would strike. I'd also say that patience and the request from Saudi, Qatar, UAE may be more also religious at the moment. You're in the middle of Hajj. You have millions of Muslims in Saudi doing their annual Hajj at the end of this month, and that includes 30,000 Iranians. And so, that plays into the calculus. Do you want to strike during Hajj, which is a very sacred Muslim month and activity followed by Eid al-Adha. So, both of those things are the time equation, and that's what the president controls most.

[00:02:38]So, he can take his time, let the blockade and the economic sanctions continue to erode the economy of Iran, erode the power of the regime, enhance the hatred that all the Iranians in Iran have for the regime. So, all those things work in his favor, and he can strike whenever he wants to.

[00:02:59]Okay. But But that said, this from a US senior official reported in Axios, "It's time for the Iranians to throw a bit of candy out. We need some real sturdy and granular conversation regarding the nuclear program. If that's not going to happen, we will have a conversation through bombs, which will be a shame."

[00:03:16]So, this morning, if there is this National Security Council meeting in the situation room, and this is on the table, I mean, I hear what you're saying about the president having time and the blockade working, but also it does seem that Iranians are quite resilient, and the oil reserves are running low. Not Not in our country, but for the rest of the world, for our allies, and in particular you have a situation where derivatives from oil, like all the chemicals that are used to make things all around the world, like the Japanese are very concerned today. So, I'm not sure about the patience point for the rest of the world.

[00:03:50]Well, let me give you another little on that. When you talk about resilience, the IRGC, the entity that controls the country, may have resilience, but the Iranian people are suffering miserably.

[00:04:04]And the more we can enhance that discord and weaken the regime, not only in the eyes of the Iranian people, but the world global economy, which they're all holding all hostage to, the more everybody comes to realize this is all about the IRGC. At the end of the day, we're going to have to need a government in Iran that not only hands over the nuclear material, stops threatening the Straits of Hormuz, but quits exporting the Islamic Revolution throughout the region, causing the collapse of Lebanon, Gaza, Yemen, Syria, and as well stop their ballistic missile programs. So, at the end of the day, the real center of gravity is the IRGC, the entity the part of the US the government of Iran that controls everything.

[00:04:53]>> He's trying to move big pieces here. I agree with you the blockage is working, no doubt. But you wonder if we can bomb our way to peace in Iran today. That's a question mark. Sir, thanks for coming on today. We'll see what happens later today. Thank you.