The likelihood of U.S. military action against Iran is rising as American forces continue a major buildup in the region, retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt told Newsmax on Saturday.
"The probabilities are ever increasing by the day," Holt said on Newsmax's "Saturday Report," pointing to the positioning of the USS Gerald Ford and the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike groups within striking distance of Iran.
Holt described the buildup as giving President Donald Trump greater flexibility in responding to Tehran.
"What else is increasing is the fact that President Trump is building optionality into anything that he wants to do with that new carrier strike group from the Ford coming into the theater," he said.
"Every day that passes by, our intelligence operatives on the ground are softening things up, are working with the IRGC, are trying to make them understand the futility in fighting," Holt added.
Holt said any potential action would aim to avoid a broad conflict like previous Middle East wars.
"What the president is going to try to attempt to do here is to use as minimal a military force as possible," he said.
"Maybe negotiations get that done," Holt added. "But if that's not the case, every day that passes, more military forces are in, the risk to our forces drops, and we will be able to aid and assist this burgeoning revolution and help the Iranian people take back their country."
He said he hopes that will happen "with scalpel precision strikes," not with "something that's wide scale or looks as egregious as Iraq or Afghanistan."
Meanwhile, aiding the Iranians "could be very, very successful and then we should be welcoming them into the community of nations," Holt said.
Holt also suggested that internal pressure on Iran's leadership could shape the outcome of any U.S. action.
"If we do take out the Ayatollah and the mullahs, or if they exile themselves, or however that works out, the IRGC will be facing 92 million angry people," he said.
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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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