‘Trump has lost control of this war’: US Senator lists the big crises emerging from the Iran war

President Donald Trump has lost control of the war in Iran, said US Senator Chris Murphy, who has been part of closed-door briefings. He said that Trump grossly misjudged Iran’s capacity to retaliate. “The region is on fire,” he said. 

Murphy’s statement comes even as Trump reiterated, during a G7 call, that Iran is about to surrender. He also said “Iran’s crown jewel, Kharg Island” was bombed and every military target decimated. He said for reasons of decency, he chose not to wipe out the oil infrastructure on the Island.

The senator, on the other hand, listed the crises that have emerged from the Iran war, snowballing into disruptions globally. Here’s what he said:

• Trump believed Iran was bluffing about closing the Strait of Hormuz but he was wrong. After spikes in oil prices, food prices would go up. Trump has no plan to reopen the strait, and a plan might not exist. Iran’s assets like small drones, speed boats, mines cannot be eliminated as they are too many and too spread out. Unlike what Trump promised, escorting tankers won’t be an easy task for the Navy. Firstly, it would require almost the entire Navy to ensure ships pass securely, and second, the naval ships would be at risk of being under attack too.
• Iran’s missiles can be destroyed but their drones are a different game altogether. “Iran can hit oil sites in the region indefinitely because they possess so many cheap, weaponised drones,” he said. Trump should have learnt from the Ukraine war that warfare has changed, but he didn’t and then he blundered. The Gulf nations are also running out of interceptors.
• A broader, regional war is breaking out as Iranian proxies in Lebanon hit Israel and those in Iraq target the US. Israel is now threatening a massive ground invasion of Lebanon, which could become its own new crisis,” said Murphy. The Houthis in Yemen, relatively quiet now, won’t remain so for long.
• Trump has no endgame, and Iran and its proxies can create indefinite chaos. A ground invasion would be armageddon, and declaring false victory would only lead Iran hardliners in-charge to rebuild what’s been destroyed.

Murphy said all of this was totally foreseeable and the reason previous presidents did not start a war like this. “Trump has lost control of the war. His best course now is to cut his losses and end it. That’s the only way to prevent an even bigger disaster,” he said. 

Meanwhile, Trump expressed hope that China, France, Japan, South Korea, Britain, and other countries would send warships to the Strait of Hormuz. "The Countries of the World that receive Oil through the Hormuz Strait must take care of that passage, and we ⁠will help — A LOT!...The US will also coordinate with those Countries so that everything goes quickly, smoothly, and well."

However, none of these countries have indicated any immediate plans to do so. French officials stated on Friday that their government is continuing efforts to form a coalition to secure the Strait of Hormuz once the security situation stabilises.