Iran is a "significant threat" for many reasons, but the maximum pressure campaign that has been taking place is having a "significant effect" on the country's economy, Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan said in an interview airing Tuesday.
"Throughout the Middle East, [you can] also see them in terms of cyber activity, maritime activity, ballistic missiles, so they are a significant threat," Shanahan told Fox News' Brian Kilmeade in an interview recorded late last week and airing on "Fox and Friends."
"The pressure campaign, the maximum pressure campaign that Secretary [of State] Mike Pompeo has been leading and [Treasury] Secretary Steven Mnuchin, is having a significant effect on their economy."
Shanahan, who President Donald Trump tagged last week as his nominee for Defense secretary, also tagged China as an ongoing threat and said the United States can't ignore China anymore.
The militarization of the South China Sea, is a significant investment to project power, said Shanahan, and cyber attacks are also a concern.
The United States, meanwhile, has a military that must be modernized, whether it is "our efforts in space, our long-range missiles, what we're doing with cyber," said Shanahan. "All of these things need a refresh. That's what modernization represents. So it is a replacement of some of our helicopters. It's a replacement to our submarines. It's a replacement to our combat vehicles."
Shanahan, a former executive for Boeing, rejected arguments that he lacks the experience to be named secretary, particularly when it comes to modernizing the military.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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