Mike Baker

You watched them over the years build a system between the clerical authority, the political authority, however you want to refer to it, and the military and the IRGC that was very robust, could withstand something like this over the years.

So you've got a commander in the IRGC.

Well, now they've got three others in line who they know will take that person's place if something happens to them.

This is how they've developed this over the years.

I'm just, you know, I think that perhaps, I'm not saying they don't deserve an ass kicking.

I'm just saying that I think there were people who thought this was going to be easier.

than than it was and that's surprising i think there were people who didn't see that the straight up core moves would become the thing right the it's the only leverage point they've really got right and so to think that somehow straight up core moves wouldn't become uh you know closed in a sense not officially closed but it's closed for all intents and purposes um that's to me is would be i'd like to think everyone's thought this through i guess is what i'm saying

Doesn't appear that way because there still seem to be some people in Washington surprised that, oh my God, you know, what do you mean we've shut down the flow of 20% of the world's oil, LNG, you know, along with everything else that goes through the strait.

So that's what I mean by I'm not sure that this was completely well thought through.

You sound like the U.S.

president.

We've got the biggest military.

Yeah, it's a great question.

I think there's probably a lot of people trying to think about that.

But look, if...

The Pentagon has a lot of smart people and a lot of mid and senior level people who came up through the Afghan experience, right?

Combat operations, Afghanistan and Iraq.

real-world experience, right?

Now, does that mean that they are listened to?

I don't know.