Middle East Tensions Escalate After Overnight Military Developments | Douglas Macgregor

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:00]clear that regime change wasn't going to work, we said, "Well, we'll have to double down and drop more bombs, fire more missiles, and compel them to accept unconditional surrender."

[00:00:11]That certainly has worked out well.

[00:00:14]In the meantime, [clears throat] the Iranians, who always knew this was coming, just as I said it, many other people said it, had spent the last uh 20 years putting together a a way to survive it.

[00:00:26]And that has been their goal, to survive the inevitable onslaught of American military power.

[00:00:32]And they've done it. And not only have they survived it, but they've managed to strike back very decisively against their opponents.

[00:00:39]And they have punished everyone and anyone who worked with, supported, or cooperated with the United States and Israel.

[00:00:47]So right now, the Iranians, despite all the damage that they've taken, and they have taken some substantial damage inside their country, is actually in a very strong position.

[00:00:56]We, on the other hand, that have made all these strident, ill-advised demands and silly remarks, are sitting around trying to figure out what we are going to do next.

[00:01:07]Uh we boast about destroying the Iranian air force. Well, the Iranians have not had an air force to speak of since the Shah left.

[00:01:15]Uh just as it's significance.

[00:01:17]And as far as a navy is concerned, well, we sank the seven frigates that were the backbone of the navy. We're dealing with small boats, and we seem to think that that's a significant achievement.

[00:01:29]And I was listening to General Keane, the uh chairman of the Joint Chiefs, read from what sounded like a spreadsheet from an accountant, and tell us about all the sorties that have been flown, and all the thousands of places we've struck and dropped bombs, as though this was a metric for success.

[00:01:47]We've learned nothing since 1965. We went through this in Vietnam. I remember, as a young man, listening in 1969, '70, '71 to similar officers in uniform stand there and tell us, "Well, today we flew this many sorties and we dropped these many bombs and this much tonnage."

[00:02:08]And the entire time we were doing this, we were losing the war.

[00:02:11]Nobody seemed to understand that until it was too late.

[00:02:15]I think now we are genuinely in a state of confusion and I think that President Trump, as you point out very definitely, is looking for an off ramp.

[00:02:23]The problem is no one's going to give it to him.

[00:02:26]He can't get it.

[00:02:28]And the Iranians are in no hurry to end