Former Trump deputy national security adviser KT McFarland said Thursday on Newsmax that the war with Iran could last another four to five weeks, arguing that Israeli and U.S. operations have already badly damaged Tehran's military infrastructure and are now moving toward keeping the Strait of Hormuz open.
Appearing on "American Agenda," McFarland said the campaign had unfolded in three broad phases, beginning with strikes on nuclear sites, missile sites, command-and-control targets, senior leaders and weapons stockpiles. She said a second phase focused on Iran's industrial capacity to rebuild drones and missiles.
"About four or five weeks," McFarland said when asked for her assessment after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the fight would continue for as long as it takes to win.
McFarland described the first two phases as largely complete, though not fully finished. She said the opening phase of attacks on nuclear and missile infrastructure had been carried out to a high degree, and she gave a similar assessment of efforts to damage Iran's industrial base.
She also said Iran had responded out of desperation by shutting the Strait of Hormuz and bombing Gulf Arab states and other regional targets.
In her telling, that move had the opposite of its intended effect by hardening support among U.S. partners in the region.
"So you never would have thought that some of these Gulf Arab countries would join with Israel, with the United States, to fight against Iran in the Middle East," she said. "That's exactly what's happening."
McFarland argued that the next stage should focus on preventing Iran from rebuilding its military capacity and eliminating what she described as the remaining threat to regional shipping and U.S. interests.
"And so where does this all go?" she said. "Well, I think that we have to continue to degrade Iran's ability to ever rearm, degrade what they have now so that they no longer can present a threat, certainly a nuclear threat, to the United States in the region, but also to the Strait of Hormuz."
She said keeping that waterway open would be central to the next phase of the conflict.
"You know, one missile in the Strait of Hormuz can take out a ship, a big ship," McFarland said. "And so that's why the next phase of this will be to clear the Strait of Hormuz and to keep it open."
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Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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