Leon Panetta Dumps Cold Water on Trump’s New Iran Plan: ‘We’re Probably in for a Continuing Prolonged War’

Former CIA director Leon Panetta argued that President Donald Trump’s latest action against Iran showed he was “running out of options.”

In recent days, Trump has shifted his focus to applying economic pressure to Iran in an effort to end the war. That was reaffirmed Sunday when Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in the Financial Times that Iran was in for an “economic D-Day.”

Panetta appeared on Monday’s edition of State of Play with Peter Alexander. When Alexander asked if this “economic warfare” was a concession that Trump’s military strategy “has not worked,” the former director said:

Well, I don’t think there’s any questions that the president’s running out of options here. He’s decided not to use military force, our stockpiles are dangerously down, so that option may be off the table; and so he’s using economic pressure, calling the blockade economic pressure. But the reality is that our intelligence pretty much makes clear that whatever kind of economic pressure we put on Iran, they have the capability to survive. And as long as China’s around and the president doesn’t decide to take on China — which would have to be a decision here if they want any kind of sanctions to work — the reality is that it’s not likely that this is going to change the situation. And the bottom line is we’re probably in for a continuing prolonged war in Iran.

At the time of writing, the Trump administration was expected to announce additional sanctions on Iran. CNN’s Oren Liebermann described them as the “toughest sanctions in history.” In response, Iran vowed to retaliate with “devastating” actions of its own.

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