Rachel Maddow

We've replaced one supreme leader with a younger one who's probably even more radical than his father.

We've convinced the Iranians that their only survival is probably to try to pursue a nuclear weapon on the back end of this war.

And the Iranians are currently running the Strait of Hormuz, which is 20 percent of the world's fossil fuel energy, like a toll road and are charging to get oil out and gas out.

So you tell me where the strategic benefit is for the United States.

There's really two or three things that these ground troops could be doing.

One, they could be trying to secure the remaining nuclear stockpile, the nuclear fuel, the enriched uranium that the Iranians have.

That's largely in a place called Isfahan that is in the center of Iran.

So not a simple mission to go in there and get highly enriched uranium.

Two, they could be a part of some effort to open the Strait of Hormuz.

That's incredibly difficult, right?

This is mountainous, difficult terrain.

The Iranians would contest it.

And then third, they could try to seize Karg Island that Trump has talked about, which is key to Iranians ability to export.

its energy resources, or some of these other islands in the Strait of Hormuz.

But then they're also sitting ducks, too.

It's not like the Iranians wouldn't be firing missiles and drones at them.

So all three of these missions carry great risk.

Like you, Rachel, this reminds me of the buildup in Iran, where

As he's sending all these troops, he's saying, oh, no, we want to negotiate.

Well, actually, he was sending troops for the purpose of launching this war.