Former CIA Boss: Iran Has Gun To Our Head Over Hormuz

Thursday, May 14, 2026

Leon Panetta, who helped locate Osama bin Laden, believes the war will continue for months because the US president has few options to end it.

Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 06:11 AM | 5 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

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"The only justification for putting boots on the ground is if you want to make sure that Iran never controls the Strait of Hormuz," Panetta said. "When I was secretary of defence, [we concluded] you've got to have enough troops to cover 50 miles on each side of the Strait of Hormuz and 100 miles further in to control that entire area. There will be casualties as a result of that kind of effort."

He said there was no support in the US for a mission of that kind " which could require about 200,000 troops " either in Congress or among the American people.

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Further:

"The only other way to approach this is to recognise that Iran will have some control, but that the main passage will be operated by an allied coalition which will guarantee free movement of ships without fees. I think that's a preferable approach. But at this moment in time, Iran has a gun to our head with the closure of the Strait. Somehow, we've got to find a way to make sure that that gun is not there.

"The reality is, we always knew that Iran would ultimately close the Strait of Hormuz, and we should have had a plan. We missed that opportunity. As long as the Strait remains closed, as long as they continue to put tremendous pressure on the US and the world economy, we're not going to get anywhere because they have the leverage."

#1 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2026-05-14 06:12 AM | Reply

"I have all the cards," says American president, a convicted felon, serial fraudster, fabulist, pathological liar, and six-times bankrupt who ran four casinos into the ground.

Problem is, nobody's playing cards, Donnie, nobody but you.

#2 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2026-05-14 06:21 AM | Reply

Hi Doc Sarvis:

When JFK was POTUS, he occasionally called Ike and HST for advice on foreign policy issues and spoke with his rival Richard Nixon, as well.

In 1961, JFK asked a man with 52 years military experience-- most of it in the Pacific Theater-- for advice on Vietnam.

Retired five-star US Army General Douglas MacArthur told JFK to make Japan, Formosa, and the Philippines his "red lines," not Vietnam, and to focus on "domestic issues" instead. That may have meant civil rights or the economy.

When LBJ was getting overwhelmed with the Vietnam issue, he called HST, who advised him: "When the enemy hits you, hit'em back twice as hard!" But HST's Korean War experience was a far cry from the jungle and urban insurgency being fought against the deeply unpopular Diem regime in Vietnam (which "Mac" recognized as well). Nevertheless, LBJ called out for advice.

So, who would Dummkopf Trumpf call for advice?

Vladimir Putin? Benjamin Netanyahu?

Trumpf also purged the National Security Council, DOD, CIA, DIA, FBI, and NSA, losing sharp people.

#3 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-05-14 06:51 AM | Reply

JFK and Bush 1 were both capable of appreciating war's realities well beyond the comic book phase, each having served in one and seen action and its consequences. As JFK wrote in a letter soon after his PT boat was rammed by a Japanese destroyer and he worked at rescuing his crew:

The war is a dirty business. It's very easy to talk about the war and beating the Japanese if it takes years and a million men, but anyone who talks like that should consider well his words. We get so used to talking about billions of dollars, and millions of soldiers, the thousands of casualties sound like drops in the bucket. But if those thousands want to live as much as the ten I saw, the people deciding the whys and wherefores had better make mighty sure that all this effort is headed for some definite goal, and that when we reach that goal we may say it was worth it, for if it isn't, the whole thing will turn to ashes, and we will face great trouble in the years to come after the war.
www.ms.now

#4 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2026-05-14 07:02 AM | Reply

the war will continue for months because the US president has few options to end it.

Posted by Doc_Sarvis

Trump has the clear option of admitting that he made a mistake and doing something different.

He won't, because he is a sick and prideful sumbitch.

Who is about to directly steal---What is it?---$10 Billion from the US Treasury?

#5 | Posted by Zed at 2026-05-14 07:59 AM | Reply