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US ‘not really that much better off’ than before Iran war: Retired admiral

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by Max Rego - 05/10/26 11:49 AM ET

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by Max Rego - 05/10/26 11:49 AM ET

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Retired Adm. William McRaven said Sunday that the U.S. is “not really that much better off” than it was before the war with Iran

“I don’t think [Iran] had a nuclear weapon. I don’t think it was… coming about imminently,” McRaven, the former head of U.S. Special Operations Command under President Obama, told host Martha Raddatz on ABC’s “This Week.”

“But the fact of the matter is we’re not really that much better off now than we were before February 28th,” he continued, referring to the day that the U.S. and Israel launched strikes on Iran. “Yes, we have sunk their navy. Yes, we have destroyed their air force. Yes, we have taken out a lot of their leadership, but I’m not sure we’re a lot better off.”

President Trump and administration have justified the war by arguing that the Islamic Republic was on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon and was unwilling to curtail its own ballistic missile program.

The initial wave of U.S.-Israeli strikes resulted in the deaths of numerous Iranian military and government officials, including the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of the deceased ayatollah, succeeded his father as the head of the Islamic Republic.

The remaining Iranian officials in charge of negotiations with the U.S., including Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, have expressed defiance in the face of the Trump administration repeatedly demanding that Tehran agree to restrictions on its nuclear program.

Renewed fighting between the two sides also took place earlier this week, after the U.S. began a since-abandoned venture to escort ships through the Strait of Hormuz. While administration officials have insisted that the hostilities did not terminate the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran, McRaven argued otherwise.

“The fact of the matter is, when you’re shooting at each other, then you no longer have a ceasefire,” the retired admiral said.

As for how the U.S. can be “better off” than it was before the conflict began, McRaven said that Trump should offer to lift the American naval blockade on Iranian ports in exchange for the Islamic Republic opening the Strait of Hormuz and coming to the “negotating table.”

The Islamic Republic News Agency reported earlier Sunday that the Iranian government submitted its response to the administration’s peace proposal. The Hill has reached out to the White House for comment.

The administration’s proposal called for an end to the war and the start of a 30-day period of negotiations on an agreement to open the Strait of Hormuz, limit Iran’s nuclear program and lift U.S. sanctions, according to Axios.

But McRaven said Sunday that 30 days is not nearly enough time for the two sides to agree to a deal.

“The fact is… it took over two years to negotiate the JCPOA,” he told Raddatz, referring to the 2015 agreement between Iran, the Obama administration and other global powers on limiting Tehran’s nuclear program. “So this idea that somehow we will negotiate… a very challenging nuclear deal with the Iranians, I think 30 days is way too compressed of time.”

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