Mark Dubowitz

And they end up owning it because they've created deterrence

because we don't have the ability to confront them when they have nuclear weapons capability, ICBMs, tens of thousands of missiles, a large Navy and a dominant position in the Gulf, right?

We had to fight that war.

Over six, over eight.

I mean, I'm talking about the first two terms of President AOC.

Well, Trump hasn't excluded that and depends on what it means by doesn't involve ground troops.

in if that's the case could be wrong but if that's the case then seems like to open the straits you have to seize that territory does that seem like something that could happen i don't want to get into details on a public podcast but i will just say that there are other ways to control the three key provinces that are important to the to the straight and are also critical to iran's energy industry

There's lots of ways in which you can, not even through military means, but through financial warfare and cyber, where you could do severe damage to Iran's ability to control its own energy industry, pay its own workers, and have effective control over that territory.

Well, again, it's...

It's week three, Ross.

There's a lot ahead of us and there's a lot of things we can do besides dropping bombs or sending in the Marines, right?

Which is not to suggest that Trump may not do that, but I think there's just a lot of ways we can take away Iran's control of its energy industry

and essentially strangle it economically.

Everybody's talked about Carg Island, seizing Carg.

Obviously, Carg's an important part of this energy industry.

95% of oil exports go through Carg.

It's 50% of the state budget.

It's $78 million a year, represents three years of budget for the IRGC, the Ministry of Intelligence, the security apparatus, and the proxies.

So even if you block Carg, now that could be through Marines or the US Navy quarantining it.

But that is just actually one piece of an overall strategy where you literally could take away Iran's entire energy industry.