Trump faces split among retired US commanders over whether to resume Iran strikes

President Donald Trump said nan ceasefire pinch Iran is connected "massive life support," arsenic retired U.S. commanders and nationalist information experts are progressively divided whether Washington should resume subject operations against Tehran aliases debar what critics pass could go different prolonged Middle East conflict.

"I would opportunity nan ceasefire is connected monolithic life support," Trump told reporters Monday. "Where nan expert walks successful and says, ‘Sir, your loved 1 has astir a 1% chance of living.’"

Trump besides dismissed Iran’s latest consequence to a projected statement arsenic "a portion of garbage," amid reports nan White House is reviewing subject options should negotiations collapse.

Retired Lt. Gen. H.R. McMaster, erstwhile national information adviser nether Trump, said he believes Iran’s activity is improbable to make nan concessions Trump considers basal for a deal.

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President Donald Trump said nan ceasefire pinch Iran is connected "massive life support," arsenic retired U.S. commanders and nationalist information experts are progressively divided whether Washington should resume subject operations.  (Atta KENARE / AFP via Getty Images)

"I deliberation nan Iranian activity and IRGC are unwilling to make nan benignant of concessions that President Trump thinks are astatine nan minimum," McMaster told Fox News Digital, referring to Iran's hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. 

"President Trump ever wants a deal," he added. "But he's not going to motion up for a bad deal."

The emerging statement now centers connected a halfway mobility facing Washington: whether further subject unit could unit Iran to wantonness its atomic and rocket ambitions, aliases whether renewed strikes would deepen a regional conflict without producing decisive results.

Retired Vice Adm. Mark Fox, erstwhile lawman commandant of U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), said he believes nan existent ceasefire and negotiated way are improbable to unit Iran to backmost down.

"I really cannot envision thing different than a full return to combat operations," Fox told Fox News Digital. "The only point that they will respond to, I deliberation ultimately, is force."

Fox based on nan U.S. subject remains tin of reopening and securing commercialized shipping done nan Strait of Hormuz contempt ongoing Iranian threats against vessels transiting nan waterway.

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Supporters of renewed subject action reason Iran is weaker than it has been successful decades and that stopping now risks allowing Tehran to regroup, rebuild its rocket arsenal and sphere leverage complete 1 of nan world’s astir important power choke points. (AP Photo)

"This is simply a militarily obtainable objective," he said, outlining a strategy involving guided rocket destroyers, onslaught helicopters, drones and expanded aerial surveillance to create a protected maritime corridor done nan Strait.

Fox acknowledged nan U.S. Navy is smaller than it was during nan 1980s tanker wars, but based on American forces still person nan capacity to unafraid nan chokepoint if Washington commits capable naval assets and persistent monitoring operations.

"It’s not easy," Fox said. "But nan surface science is fixed."

He described a imaginable strategy that would trust connected destroyers, drones and onslaught craft to create what he called an "unblinking eye" complete nan strait, allowing U.S. forces to place and neutralize Iranian speedboats, drones and anti-shipping threats earlier they tin onslaught commercialized vessels.

Fox besides warned against allowing Iran to sphere leverage complete Hormuz while continuing to beforehand its rocket and atomic programs.

"If not now, when?" he said. "If they had a atomic weapon, they would usage it."

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But not everyone agrees that renewed subject action would nutrient a amended outcome. (Contributor/Getty Images)

Fox, who besides signed onto a caller policy paper by nan Jewish Institute for National Security of America, echoed nan report’s statement that Iran is utilizing negotiations to bargain clip while preserving its subject capabilities.

The insubstantial was authored by respective retired elder U.S. subject officials and nationalist information experts, including retired Gen. Chuck Wald, erstwhile lawman commandant of U.S. European Command and retired Vice Adm. Robert Harward, erstwhile lawman commandant of CENTCOM, based on nan existent ceasefire and negotiated way "cannot reliably compel Iran" to meet U.S. demands and warned Tehran was seeking to "drag retired talks, erode U.S. resolve, and usage nan clip to fortify itself."

The study called for expanded subject operations targeting Iran’s maritime capabilities, rocket infrastructure and soul coercive servants of nan state while avoiding wide attacks connected civilian infrastructure that could trigger wider location escalation.

But not everyone agrees that renewed subject action would nutrient a amended outcome.

Retired Lt. Col. Daniel Davis, a elder chap astatine Defense Priorities and longtime professional of expanded U.S. subject interventions, warned that calls to "finish nan job" disregard nan realities exposed during nan caller fighting.

"To ‘finish nan job,’ arsenic they say, is irrational," Davis told Fox News Digital. "It’s illogical, and it violates immoderate benignant of subject principle."

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A screengrab from a video released by U.S. Central Command shows fume and particulate rising aft an detonation astatine an chartless location during nan cognition dubbed Epic Fury, an onslaught by nan United States and Israel connected Iran, released Feb. 28, 2026. (CENTCOM/Reuters)

Davis based on that contempt thousands of strikes and weeks of fighting, Iran retained important rocket and maritime capabilities.

"We couldn't sound them retired pinch 14,000 targets hit," he said. "Why does anybody deliberation that going backmost different clip is going to person a different result?"

He described Iran’s geography, dispersed rocket infrastructure and asymmetric naval strategies arsenic creating what he called "a militarily unsolvable problem."

"The only point near is simply a negotiated outcome," Davis said.

The disagreement reflects a broader disagreement emerging successful Washington arsenic officials measurement what comes adjacent if negotiations fail.

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Supporters of renewed subject action reason Iran is weaker than it has been successful decades and that stopping now risks allowing Tehran to regroup, rebuild its rocket arsenal and sphere leverage complete 1 of nan world’s astir important power choke points.

Critics antagonistic that moreover extended U.S. and Israeli strikes grounded to fundamentally break nan regime’s power aliases destruct its subject capabilities, raising nan consequence that further escalation could resistance nan United States into different drawn-out location conflict pinch uncertain results.