Retired Vice Adm. Robert Harward, who served as a Navy SEAL and deputy commander to U.S. Central Command, told Newsmax on Monday that Europe must assist the United States in working to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
"Iran is threatening and blocking it. And that's important not just to us, but more so to Asia and our European partners," Harward said on "The Record With Greta Van Susteren."
"Their economies will suffer for that. So inevitably, they will become responsible and accountable," he added.
Harward said it was in Europe's best interest to support the U.S. in rooting out what Iran has been doing for decades.
"It's going to be in their best interest to solve this problem, and they're going to be involved sooner or later," Harward said.
"We have a foothold now that we need to expand and see this through and their capacity, their capability, and their political will needs to be a part of that solution," he added.
Harward lived in Iran and went to high school there before the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
"It was a wonderful country. It was open, it was secular," Harward said. "Hardworking people, well-educated, a government that looked after the people's needs."
"Now you have a government exploiting the people under Sharia law for their own political and financial gains," he added.
"The IRGC and most of the mullahs control a vast part of the financial markets and industry," Harward continued, referring to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
"If unchecked, for another 10 years, we may not have been able to deal with it. We have an opportunity now that we cannot lose, and I think our European partners will come to that realization in [the] short term."
Iran's new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, is a "dead man walking," Harward said.
"Our targeting and the Israeli targeting of the leadership, the IRGC, and those others who have suppressed the Iranian people is ongoing and will stay ongoing," Harward said.
"When we solve [the Strait of Hormuz], you can rest assured our capacity and capabilities will shift to ... focusing all our energy on this senior leadership," he added.
Harward said once the inevitable happens and Khamenei is killed, the next leader will face this challenge "until this conflict is over and they capitulate to our demands."
The conflict will be over when Iran will be unable to launch missiles and block the Strait of Hormuz, Harward said.
"When we finish that kinetic activity associated with that, then they don't pose a threat," Harward said. "Then we can take our time to change the government by eradicating leadership."
Harward added that the new government must agree that "they will never have a nuclear weapon, won't pursue enrichment, won't pursue weapons-grade material, won't pursue weaponizing nuclear weapons, they won't fund their surrogates in the region, project threats through their surrogates and removal of their ballistic missiles and mines."
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Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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