U.S. and Israeli objectives in Iran "parted about 10 days ago," retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Tony Shaffer said on Newsmax on Wednesday, citing "obvious disagreements about target sets and end state objectives."
Appearing on "Carl Higbie: FRONTLINE," Shaffer said, "The United States has made it very clear we're open to a Venezuela-style solution. We want to rent the government, and the government is going to do what we ask it to do."
But he also warned, "The Israelis, I'm not sure, are on board with that."
Shaffer added that Israel appears to favor "a more permanent reduction of the Iranian nation, beyond what scope we're willing to accept." He noted, "The Israelis want to hit industrial and commercial targets ... we've got to watch very closely to not make the Iranian people" turn further against U.S. interests.
Retired U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt argued Iran's current leadership is weakened. He said, "You're looking at the mullahs isolated in the ninth inning," with messaging aimed at convincing citizens that they are "very much still in control. Nothing to see here."
Holt added that U.S. and allied forces have already "serviced over 9,000 targets" and claimed Iran "doesn't have a military anymore," while suggesting Washington is "talking to the next government."
On military options, Shaffer stressed that there is "no indication anybody is talking about a major land army," explaining, "Do we have boots on the ground in Iran? Oh yeah but they're not a land army. We're doing reconnaissance special operations."
He underscored the scale of the challenge. He said, "Iran's the size of Alaska," and "there's things we should do on the ground, invading is not one of them."
Holt floated a potential diplomatic outcome involving a new Iranian government that would "give us all the enriched uranium open the doors and say, 'Help us secure the Straits of Hormuz.'"
He called such an arrangement "the types of operations that I would absolutely favor."
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