Ex-Trump Energy Sec Warns ‘Iran Gets Exactly What It Wants’ If Trump Ends War Without Reopening Strait

 

Dan Brouillette, who served as Secretary of Energy during Trump’s first term, told Stuart Varney on Tuesday he highly doubts President Donald Trump would end the war in Iran without reopening the Strait of Hormuz.

Varney asked Brouillette to respond to a Wall Street Journal report from earlier in the day that Trump does not want to commit to reopening the Strait because it would extend the military campaign beyond his 6-week deadline.

“I find it hard to believe, to be honest. If this is part of the negotiating strategy, as the Secretary of War pointed out, to get the Europeans, the Asians, and others involved to help us open the strait, then that’s fine — I understand it,” Brouillette replied, adding:

But if it is truly accurate, if the Wall Street Journal story is accurate, then I think it’s highly problematic that we would leave that area without opening this strait. I mean, you think about this logically: if that were to happen, Iran gets exactly what it wants. It gets a ceasefire. It gets to keep this chokehold.

And it looks more like a timeout rather than a deal. We’re simply going to push this issue into a future administration and into future economies. I think it’s a very bad strategy, if in fact that story is accurate.

Trump later responded to the Journal’s report, telling the New York Post, “Well, I think it’ll automatically open, but my attitude is, I’ve obliterated the country. They have no strength left, and let the countries that are using the strait, let them go and open it… because I would imagine whoever’s controlling the oil will be very happy to open the strait,” Trump said.

“I don’t think about it, to be honest. My sole function was to make sure that they don’t have a nuclear weapon. They’re not going to have a nuclear weapon. When we leave the strait will automatically open,” he concluded.

Watch the clip above via Fox Business.

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Alex Griffing is a Senior Editor at Mediaite. Send tips via email: alexanderg@mediaite.com. Follow him on Twitter: @alexgriffing