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00:00The U.S. is preparing to send fresh military assets to the Middle East, including a carrier
00:04strike group and a fighter squadron.
00:07It is bracing for a further escalation of hostilities as Iran vows retaliation for the
00:13killing of a senior Hamas leader in Tehran earlier this week.
00:17It blames Israel for the attack.
00:19Israel has not commented publicly either way.
00:22New today, the U.S. embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, is telling Americans who want to get out of
00:26the country to book any ticket available.
00:30It's also warning those who do not leave that they, quote, should not rely on the U.S. government
00:34for assisted departure or evacuation in a crisis.
00:38I want to bring in now retired U.S. Army Major General Dana Pittard to talk more about this.
00:43General, I want to ask you to have a listen here to National Security Council spokesman
00:47John Kirby as he explains why exactly the U.S. is moving more resources into the region.
00:54We've heard the supreme leader loud and clear that he intends to avenge this killing of
00:59a Hamas leader in Tehran and that they want to conduct another attack on Israel.
01:05We can't just assume that we aren't also potentially going to be victims of that kind of an attack.
01:10So we've got to make sure we've got the right resources and capabilities in the region.
01:16So are these capabilities, should we presume, the focus here is additional missile and drone
01:23defense, not just for Israeli targets, but also U.S. forces deployed in the region?
01:30Well, good afternoon, Jim.
01:32I think what John Kirby said, and I know John Kirby, is that the U.S. military in America
01:40is just being prudent by sending a strike carrier force there, the U.S. Strike Carrier
01:47Group, there. But it's to protect American assets as well as to help defend Israel in
01:53case Iran decides to attack. And it does look like Iran is going to do something, just not
01:59sure what it is at this point.
02:01So Iran a number of weeks ago launched dozens of missiles and drones at Israel, what was
02:07then an unprecedented attack. The missile defenses, which by the way weren't just the
02:12U.S. and Israeli, there were other partners, including Arab partners in the region. The
02:15missile defenses worked then. I imagine Iran will want to prove it could do better this
02:22time. So what might that kind of attack look like?
02:27Well, as you mentioned, in April, nearly 300 drones, missiles, and other assets were fired
02:35at Israel, and it utterly failed. So this time Israel should anticipate really a multidirectional
02:45attack, which includes from Iran itself, as well as Hezbollah to the north, Houthis to
02:52the south, and even Gaza to an extent, which would try to overwhelm the air defenses of
03:00Israel and Israel's regional allies.
03:06So let me ask you this, because in the cycle of violence in the Middle East, and by the
03:10way this has been going on for decades, if and when Iran carries out such an attack,
03:17Israel will then say it needs to respond to retain deterrence or reestablish deterrence
03:24and retaliate in some way. I'm trying to figure out how we get out of this cycle.
03:34Well I think it depends on how much damage is done by Iran against Israel. If it isn't
03:39a whole lot of damage, then that's where the U.S. diplomatic actions can talk to Israel
03:45and say, let's call it a day so we can move on with the ceasefire in Gaza. So I think
03:51it depends. It depends on the level of attack from Iran.
03:57What is the danger that the U.S. gets drawn into this attack? It's going to participate
04:02likely in some way, largely, if they can, in a defensive role, providing additional
04:08missile defense and drone defense against any attack that would come from Iran and its
04:14proxies. But there's a chance that U.S. forces are also hit there, as John Kirby was referring
04:21to, which might then generate a U.S. response of its own. So the risk for U.S. direct involvement
04:30is quite high here, isn't it?
04:35There is risk of Iran attacking U.S. forces, but that will be on Iran. Iran does not want
04:42to have a fight with both the United States and Israel. Iran wants to certainly save face
04:48because of the assassination of Ismail Hania on its soil. But what Iran does not want
04:55is a full-blown war. In a full-blown war, Iran loses.
05:01And perhaps loses its nuclear facilities, which it's highly invested in. But before
05:05we go, as we look at this situation, which is again so familiar in the region, where
05:12is U.S. power at this point? Because there's been a lot of reporting, including by CNN,
05:16that the Biden administration has been constantly pushing, pressuring Israel to rein in some
05:24of its attacks. And yet these attacks continue and arguably get more aggressive. Is U.S.
05:30influence not just in the region, but with Israel, is it declining?
05:35I wouldn't say the U.S. influence is declining. U.S. forces and the U.S. influence in the
05:42Middle East is greater than any other power in the world. They're in the Middle East.
05:48But it is interesting that Israel has sent these really three major assassinations. And
05:55that may be more on Prime Minister Netanyahu and his situation as far as politically in
06:02Israel and how he remains in power himself, as opposed to a waning of U.S. influence.
06:09His own partner, former partner in the war cabinet, Benny Gantz, has said quite similar.
06:14Major General Dana Pitard, thanks so much.
06:18Thank you, Jim.
06:19I do want to ask you about the situation in the Middle East. We know the U.S. is sending
06:22an aircraft carrier, warships and a fighter squadron to the region, bracing for Iran to
06:28retaliate for the killing of a senior Hamas leader in Tehran earlier this week. How are
06:33you anticipating Iran to retaliate?
06:38Well, they will retaliate. The supreme leader of Iran has told us so. He was in a planning
06:42session a couple of days ago or yesterday discussing plans. I think now Secretary of
06:47Defense Lloyd Austin has done the right things with regard to deploying additional forces
06:51in the theater, you know, warships that can carry anti-missile systems and an additional
06:57fighter squadron, things that I had to do during my tenure. But I think this will happen
07:01in the next day or so or three. What I anticipate, look, there are a range of options they could
07:07attack an Israeli embassy somewhere in the region or outside the region. They could employ
07:11their Shia militia groups and others, all their proxies, whether it's the Houthis, Hamas,
07:15Hezbollah, you name it. But I suspect, you know, they'll go back to where they were in
07:19April with a very large assault using missiles and drones against the Israelis. And this
07:26time they will foreshadow the punch much less than they did in April. And I suspect what
07:31they could do is try to overwhelm Israeli air defenses and American assistance, I might
07:37say, by asking Hezbollah to launch hundreds, if not thousands of rockets from the north.
07:42And that has the possibility of overwhelming Iron Dome and the other Israeli air defense
07:47systems.
07:48Right. So just to remind everyone, because when this happened back in April and Iran
07:52launched those drones and missiles, the U.S. led a coalition. They were able to neutralize
07:57all of those. Nothing really got through. And they got a coalition also within the Middle
08:03East. Do you think that to your point, if they if they now go to the northern border
08:08and do this at the same time, that you think that does have the potential to maybe overwhelm
08:13the defense system that worked last time?
08:17I think it is very possible. I mean, as you said, there was it was a very feckless attack.
08:21They launched drones that took five, six, seven hours to get there. They followed a
08:25northern route. So they gave the Israelis time to prepare. And ultimately, it was about
08:29300 missiles. But, you know, at some point in time, an air defense system can be overwhelmed
08:34if you if the attacker launches simultaneously barrages and barrages of rockets, missiles
08:39and drones. And we know that Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, north of Israel, has up
08:44to one hundred and fifty thousand rockets and missiles.
08:47And depending on the numbers they use could overwhelm Israel.
08:50And this time, rather than a single person being hit, hurt or killed, as
08:56happened in April, they could kill or hurt dozens, who knows how many of Israelis.
09:01But I do feel that because the attack against Ismail Hania,
09:06the political leader of of Hamas, happened in Iran
09:11right after the ceremony bringing in Pozeshki and the new
09:15president, it was just such a major embarrassment to Iran that they have to act.
09:19They have to do something. They can't just do it through their proxies.
09:22And it's going to be more than what we saw in April.
09:25And so then that leads us to the U.S. role in all of this.
09:28Obviously, we laid out at the beginning what the defense secretary has been doing,
09:32the moves that have been made by the U.S. military.
09:35But at what point does the risk of U.S.
09:37involvement grow?
09:42Well, we are involved, you know, we are we're supplying Israel with weapons, intelligence,
09:47advice, we're pushing them here and there on different things.
09:50And as you noted, Jessica, in the April assault, we we shot down
09:55Iranian missiles with our own missiles and using our aircraft to shoot down drones.
10:00And so the fact is, if it if it's not de-escalated at some point,
10:04right, as the Israelis did last time in April, then this we start moving up the
10:09escalation ladder and that could draw us deeper and deeper into a real all out conflict
10:14in the Middle East, which would see now not just, you know, the conflict in Hamas,
10:18but again, you'd have Hezbollah attacking from the north, the Houthis from the south.
10:22You could have a lot of fighting on the West Bank right outside Jerusalem.
10:27You could have Shia militia groups attacking Israelis or American forces.
10:31We've got about twenty five hundred in Iraq.
10:34And then, of course, you'd be you'd see a lot of missile exchanges and other type of
10:39capabilities being displayed between Iran and Israel.
10:41It could be a very big conflict.
10:42And at that point, Israel would need our assistance, our direct assistance.
10:46And it could even involve going after Iran ourselves.
10:50All right. Well, we will see how this develops.
10:51Secretary Mark Esper, always good to have you on.
10:53Thanks again. Thanks, Jessica.