A former national security advisor to U.S. President Donald Trump says the commander-in-chief appears to be “getting frantic” as the war in Iran rages on, without an endgame plan in place.
“I think (Trump) thought he’d be finished before this, and I’m not sure that he paid attention to what his advisors were telling him,” John Bolton told host Mike Le Couteur in an interview for CTV Power Play on Monday.
“He said weeks ago he was surprised that the Iranians had closed the Strait of Hormuz. He said he was surprised that the Iranians had attacked the Gulf Arabs,” Bolton added. “Those were almost certainly givens once the U.S.-Israeli attack began, (so it’s) hard for me to believe that the Pentagon didn’t lay it out in great detail, and also what they plan to do about it.”
Bolton added Trump’s behaviour shows he, “as is typical,” is making decisions “one day at a time.”
In his latest ultimatum to Iran, Trump has threatened to destroy critical infrastructure if the Middle Eastern country does not comply with U.S. demands, saying Monday morning that “the entire country can be taken out in one night, and that night might be tomorrow night.”
Meanwhile, speaking to reporters from the White House on Monday afternoon, Trump insisted “very little is off limits” when it comes to targets in Iran, but refused to say whether civilian targets could be hit.
“We have a plan, because of the power of our military, where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o’clock tomorrow night, where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding and never to be used again,” Trump said. “And it will happen over a period of four hours, if we wanted to. We don’t want that to happen.”
Trump also claimed civilians in Iran are “willing to suffer in order to have freedom.”
“I think he’s getting frantic because he doesn’t know exactly what he wants to do or how to get out of the situation he’s created,” Bolton said, when asked about Trump’s state of mind.
Bolton added he still believes regime change in Iran should be the goal, and that it’s achievable with “a little patience and perseverance.”
“I don’t know what Trump’s going to do,” he said. “I know what the right objective is, and I think I can make some suggestions how to get there. What he does is your guess is as good as mine.”
Bolton, who also formerly served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Trump appears to be “near meltdown” as the war continues, and amid domestic pressure from within the United States, to declare some sort of victory.
“He’d love to get out of this and declare victory, but he knows he can’t do it,” Bolton said. “As long as the Strait of Hormuz is closed, it would destroy whatever credibility he has left, and that’s why he’s in such a dilemma.”
Bolton categorized it as a “self-inflicted wound by Trump,” because the president made “no effort” to make the political case to Americans and explain the necessity of regime change in Iran.
Bolton has been a longtime critic of Trump’s, and is facing legal challenges of his own. He’s been indicted on eight counts of transmission of national defence information (NDI) and 10 counts of unlawful retention of NDI.
