John Bolton

You know, normally try and build an international coalition before the war starts, not after it is kind of a second idea.

And he obviously didn't do that.

I mean, we've got very close ties with Israel.

I think our military planning

and preparation has been seamless as far as I can tell.

But there are plenty of others, not just the NATO allies, but the Gulf states in the region who are obviously affected by this, our allies in the Pacific, Japan, South Korea, and others who get most of their oil from the Gulf.

And this may be the most important of all.

As far as we can tell,

uh he did he did no preparation of uh the opposition actually inside iran no coordination no effort to to see what they would do no effort to support them to provide resources money arms if that's what they wanted telecommunications just just no coordination at all and given that trump's made it pretty clear he's not going to put boots on the ground in any major way

The opposition was always going to have to have a major role in overthrowing the regime, and they don't seem prepared for it.

Honestly, I don't have the slightest idea why he changed his mind from the position he took in the first term.

I and others tried to make the case to him then that regime change should be our policy, and he didn't accept it.

There were plenty of dissenters, and we had this debate and debate.

he wanted to go after the nuclear program and make sure it never got started but he did that through economic pressure what he called a maximum pressure campaign it said publicly in fact he was opposed to regime change in iran so why this happened now i i just i'm i'm as uh at a loss for an explanation as anybody just i can't understand it frankly

Well, those points were obviously mentioned.

They're sort of a first reaction by any regime like the Ayatollahs in Tehran to try and use the Strait of Hormuz as a pressure point and to retaliate against its competitors and adversaries in the region, the Gulf Arab states, as well as Israel.

Absolutely.

I mean, really, you can't miss it.

If you look at geography, it's obvious that both attacking the Gulf Arab states and closing the Strait of Hormuz are some of the first things Iran would consider.

Yeah, I mean, it was something you had to consider, and there were certainly people who didn't want to seek regime change who made those points.