Retired Gen. Frank McKenzie on the rescue of a U.S. airman and a "hard lesson for Iran"

[0:00] We're joined now by the former head of U.S. Central Command, retired General Frank McKenzie. [0:04] General, happy Easter. [0:07] And the same to you, Ed. [0:08] So it took just under 48 hours to find the missing weapons systems officer after the jet they were in went down in a remote and mountainous area of southwestern Iran. [0:18] The weapons officer was hiding in a mountainous crevice, we're told by a senior administration official. [0:22] What's your assessment of how the search and rescue operation went? [0:27] So I think I'd draw two lessons from it, Ed. [0:29] First of all, the excellence of the joint force, our ability to rapidly pivot to look for a downed air crewman. [0:37] We trained for this endlessly. [0:39] It's a part of every time we send air crew over enemy territory, we have detailed, elaborate plans to go get them. [0:45] It's a very basic part of who we are as American fighting men and women. [0:49] So that plan swung into action. [0:51] I think it was executed pretty effectively. [0:54] As always, you've got somebody on the ground, maybe injured. [0:57] They've got to get to a position where they can hide. [1:00] Until you can get to them, all that seemed to work out very well. [1:03] And, you know, we did, in fact, lose a couple of aircraft in that mission. [1:08] But I would just tell you it takes a year to build an aircraft. [1:10] It takes 200 years to build a military tradition where you don't leave anybody behind. [1:15] You take the aircraft trade any day in a situation like this. [1:18] The other lesson, I think, is a hard lesson for Iran. [1:21] First of all, they were not able to find the missing air crewman. [1:25] Second, you know, they put out a broad appeal to their people to turn him in. [1:30] They gave him a reward, asking for all kinds of leads. [1:33] That does not appear to have been successful. [1:35] And that would, I think that's maybe a sign of disaffection. [1:37] Don't know. [1:38] But you can't, you can't be happy with that if you're a senior leader in Tehran this morning. [1:43] Yeah, you know, Iran's Revolutionary Guards now claiming responsibility for attacks on petrochemical plants [1:48] in the UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain. [1:51] They warn its attacks against U.S. economic interests will intensify if attacks on civilian targets in Iran are repeated. [1:58] Does Iran and its proxies support that? [1:59] Yes. [2:00] retain the capacity to inflict serious damage at this point? [2:05] Ed, they have the ability to inflict damage. They do not have the ability to gain [2:09] mass effects. And by mass effects, I mean firing many, many dozens of rockets, missiles, or drones. [2:16] I think that capability has been eroded steadily since this campaign began. And frankly, at about [2:21] plus 30 days into this campaign, I think if you're at central command, you've got to be reasonably [2:26] satisfied with where you are right now. In fact, Ed, when I was the CENTCOM commander, [2:30] if you had given me this situation at plus 30 days, I would have rejected it as being [2:35] too optimistic by far. So we've had good effect. Our effects are going to continue. [2:40] It's going to be increasingly harder for them to launch missiles and rockets. [2:43] We may not get to zero for a while, and I think there's still some time ahead, [2:46] but everyone realizes that. But I think we're on track here. This campaign is moving [2:51] very effectively, and I believe the pace will pick up every day. [2:54] To your earlier point, the president said something interesting to Fox News this morning, [2:59] revealing for the first time that the [3:00] U.S. earlier this year had sent a, quote, lot of guns to the Kurds who live in northern Iraq, [3:06] northern Iran, for use by protesters. So he wanted them to use these weapons and said, [3:13] you know, he's inferring now that he was sending weapons to have the Iranian people rise up. [3:18] Wednesday night, though, in his big speech clarifying what the war is all about, [3:22] he said this campaign is not about regime change. [3:24] But if they are now, in fact, arming protesters, what might that signal? [3:30] Well, I think you want to put pressure on this regime, [3:32] every way that you can. Arming Kurds certainly increases pressure on the Iranian regime. [3:38] We know from history that leadership in Iran responds when existential pressure [3:43] is applied to the regime. Arming the Kurds moves you a step closer toward that. [3:48] Even if your ultimate aim is not regime change, getting the regime and Tehran to a place where [3:53] they'll make a deal that's to our liking is going to be the inevitable byproduct of [3:58] intolerable pressure that's placed over on them. And I think all of these add together [4:02] is going to do that. [4:03] You said last week a success for the White House is that the Strait of Hormuz reopens, [4:07] but that vital passageway, of course, remains effectively choked off. [4:10] The president this Easter morning used some, shall we say, colorful language to threaten Iran [4:16] again to reopen the Strait. If the U.S. launches its own [4:20] military operation in the coming days to open the Strait, what's it going to take militarily to do [4:25] that? [4:27] Well, let me let me say, first of all, we do have the ability to open the Strait, [4:31] should we choose to do it. And what you're seeing now are the, [4:34] call it the precursor of the initial steps in such a campaign. You want to reduce Iran's ability [4:39] to fire short range rockets and missiles into the Strait against warships. You want to take out [4:45] their fast attack craft. Think of them as cigarette boats, large, powerful outboard engine boats [4:51] that can race out and get among ships and cause direct damage that way. [4:54] What we're doing is we're going after all those vessels. And that's where A-10s attack aircraft, [5:00] attack helicopters and other slow moving, low altitude platforms are [5:04] so very effective. So we're in the process of removing those right now. At the same time, [5:08] we're working to get rid of Iran's mine stockpile. The mines are very dangerous. They had thousands [5:13] when the war began. I have no doubt we significantly attrited them now. Of course, [5:17] it doesn't take many mines to cause a significant blockage to world shipping. So all of that is [5:22] underway right now. And you want to reduce those to a low level before you put your warships up [5:26] there to actually sort of test the waters in that Strait. I have no idea what Admiral [5:31] Cooper's decision making process is going to be for that. [5:34] But I think we're well on the way to achieving those goals. [5:36] GEOFF BENNETT Can the Strait be reopened [5:37] with an air and naval campaign or are you going to need ground troops? [5:39] GEOFF BENNETT I think it could be opened with an air and [5:43] naval campaign. And the use of ground troops would probably be along the line of raids. [5:49] And remember, a raid is an attack with a planned withdrawal, where you don't plan to stay. [5:53] The one exception might be Karg Island. I know the president has talked about it. [5:57] I think it has a unique place in Iranian culture because one thing, [6:01] if you seize it, you're holding Iranian soil. Secondly, it is the critical note that we've [6:06] seen in the past, which all their oil supplies pass. By seizing it, you have the opportunity [6:10] to cut that off, inflicting grievous damage on the Iranian economy, and yet with the opportunity [6:16] perhaps to return it as part of a negotiation process. Further, you don't permanently damage [6:20] the global economy by destroying the infrastructure. So I think Karg Island is a very [6:24] lucrative target. I'm sure we're looking at it hard right now. I have no idea if we're going [6:29] to choose to go up there. [6:30] GEOFF BENNETT In our last 30 seconds or so here, [6:33] General, bottom line this. The president says two to three weeks is all that it's going to take. [6:35] GEOFF BENNETT Yes. [6:36] GEOFF BENNETT Would you agree with that or is it going to take longer? [6:38] GEOFF BENNETT I always hesitate to put time on a [6:43] to put a timeline on a military operation like this. But I would say the Iranians would be very [6:49] well served to listen to President Trump when he says he's going to hit him because he's proven [6:54] that he's willing to do that. So that's the lesson I would learn from from his most recent [6:58] pronouncement and from actually what we've done in the war to this date. If the president says [7:02] we're going to do something, we're probably going to do it. And it probably is good time for the [7:05] Iranian leadership to take note of that fact. GEOFF BENNETT [7:07] All right. We'll leave it there. General McKenzie, happy Easter again. Thank you for [7:10] spending some time with us this morning. We appreciate it.