John Bolton

And I think just looking at targets over the past several days, it's pretty clear that the structures of the IRGC and the Besiege really are still heavily targeted.

And there are a lot of targets there.

So there's more work to be done to weaken that capacity of the regime to harm its own citizens.

Well, for Trump, it almost doesn't matter.

He's capable of declaring victory contrary to reality.

I think he's got a real problem now, as does the rest of the world, with this closure of the Strait of Hormuz.

I think it is practically, as a practical matter, impossible for him to declare victory when it's so obvious that this –

threat to our economy and the global economy is still in place.

I suspect that's one reason why these talks suddenly materialized and why he did make that announcement two hours before the market opened on Monday morning.

Well, I have heard that idea before, that one thing you want to do is take the position.

This is a very narrow straight, as everybody knows, 21 miles at its narrowest.

And it's surrounded by high ground on both sides.

So if it were feasible, and I don't know the answer to this, but if it were feasible to control the heights on much of the Iranian side to eliminate people firing shoulder-held missiles,

rockets and short-range missiles, then that would make sense.

About a week or so ago, we bombed positions on the heights with one of our bunker buster capabilities because we thought there were anti-ship missiles stored there.

So that would be the reason to go in, not to seize a lot of territory, but if it's defensible, just to make sure there's nobody close to the Strait itself who could launch these missiles.

Well, I don't think there was an imminent threat from Iran itself.

I've always said when I asked the question, how soon could Iran get nuclear weapons, about 72 hours by sending a wire transfer to the central bank in Pyongyang, North Korea, and having North Korea deliver one of their warheads.

There's no evidence that was in play now, and I do think that the 12-day war last summer did substantial damage to the Iranian nuclear program.

We did not obliterate the program, as Trump said, but there was substantial damage.