General Jack Keane | 03-07-26

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The Larry Cudlow Show.

Intertaining and informative.

On the Red Apple Podcast Network.

So we continue our coverage of the war.

And there is no greater expert than General Jack Keane,

dear friend, retired four star general,

chairman of the Institute for the Study of War,

Fox News Senior Strategic Analyst.

Actually, I was in the room when he got the presidential medal of freedom.

So it's a wonderful thing.

General Keane, if you're out there, sir, you're out there.

I'm here, loud and clear.

All right, I just, I had texted you.

I know you're busy prior to reach your text messages.

I had texted you there two ago, thanking you for all the things you've done

for our TV show and our radio show, but just in general for the country.

Because this Iranian war must be won.

Change the course of history and rectify the mistaken architecture

of relations in the Middle East and the rest of the world.

I mean, you've done just superhuman stuff and you've been so helpful to us in particular.

I know other anchors, other hosts on Fox would say the same thing.

So I wanted to thank you, sir.

Since I wrote you the text message, I know you didn't see it.

I'm going to say it on the air.

Thank you very much for everything you've done, sir.

Thank you, Larry.

I truly appreciate that.

I enjoy talking to you and your audience, one, whatever you want to.

Oh, great.

So let's start off.

Are we ahead of schedule, General Keane?

How do you see it?

Yeah, we're pretty much on schedule.

Maybe a little bit ahead of it because the detail planning and how comprehensive this has been

between the two most proven militaries in the world today, the Israeli and the United States

and how vast the experience we are.

And let me just underscore how well we're working together.

The trust that we have in each other, the shared values, the shared interests.

You know, when we work with other allies in the past,

sometimes they didn't have the shared values many times they did,

but they didn't have much capability.

And we had a burden disproportionately, you know,

the capability and also the casualties.

And here the Israelis come not only with shared values and interest, but with huge proven

capability. So I just want to say that as a result of it, we're a little bit ahead of schedule.

But the plan was so detailed and so based on such clear understanding of the Iranian

capabilities and also Larry, what their intent was and we knew that.

So yes, we have significant momentum here.

And we cannot understate it and the casualties are considerably lower than anything expected.

I mean, we had this horrific incident with essentially a lucky shot on the

and the Iranian's heart that hit command center in the Gulf state of Kuwait and killed six of our

soldiers and we suddenly on in their service. And the heart goes out to the family and friends

and they're certainly going to be on it in a transfer ceremony at Dova today.

And I know that everybody is committed to make certain that we finish this honorably

achiever victory here. And that's the best thing we can do to honor our soldiers to make certain

that their lives are not squandered. And there's no intent that that will happen. So the commitment

part of the force out there is very real. But this momentum we have is significant and it really

is coming in two areas. One is as you have noted is taking out their military capability.

All their weapons systems that they have been navy, their Air Force, which never was much of

anything, ballistic missiles, drones, nuclear capability. But even more over going beyond that

into their defense industrial base, any company that's manufacturing a capability for the

Ukrainians on excuse me for the Iranians on the Iranian soil is going to be taken down. And that's

going to take some time because it's obvious what we're trying to do. We don't know we want to destroy

their current capability. We want to deny them from having any future capability. So that's the

intent. The second major thrust has taken place and the Israelis are doing this largely by themselves

because their intelligence is so good at it. And that is to take down all the organizations

that are sustaining the regime and keep it in power. The IRGC

headquartered in Iran with many other outlets in Iran and also in 32 other places in the

provinces spread out in the country. The Bosnian militia, which they use to suppress the people,

the entire police infrastructure. They do the same thing. This is systematic and deliberate and

will take some time. And the Israelis keep sending up a signal to us. Please have some patience

with us. This will take time to do. And they won't have the obvious tangible results when you

destroyed ballistic missiles and drones. Obviously the result of that is less retaliation attacks and

they can be measured. Taking down these organizations, it's not measurable. But there's a lot of

intelligence and intangible things that happen. We're already seeing in terms of impact, some good

things. And that is some breakdowns in the chain of command, lower morale among some of the

security forces. A degree of paranoia exists in terms of what's coming next. Those are all

good signs. So our audience understands the ultimate objective of war is always the same.

The break your opponents will. And you're obviously using force as much as possible to change

that behavior and break their will. So when we hear things like that taking place, those are very

good signs. And we don't want to get ahead of ourselves. We have a campaign here that's in front

of us. And it's a very determined campaign. And we got to go keep reminding ourselves of this

reality. This regime in what's left of it, they have one objective and one objective only.

And that's to preserve the regime and stay in power. They know full well that their lives are at

risk significantly if they give up power. They would likely be hung and killed by the very people

they've been repressing, you know, for almost 50 years. So they're fighting not just to stay in

power and enjoy the lifestyle that they have, but to also survive. And they believe the best way

to survive is to stay in power. Is that sort of when the president said yesterday, I guess,

that he wants nothing but unconditional surrender? Is that an attempt again to fight psychology and

morale and say, look, this is it. You either lay down your arms are going to be killed. There's no

more talking. There's no more deal making. It's a, you know, it's an it's a bot binary choice.

Yeah, I'm going to applaud him for saying that. And because the Iranians given the fact that

this president has always tried to find to try diplomatic solutions to achieve political

objectives. And he told me he has tried it with the Iranians and exhausted that capability really.

They believe they always have that as a lifeline. You know, they're taking the back and saying,

okay, we get it, Mr. President, we are going to come the terms now. Oh, serious terms over

the nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles and support for proxies. I'm just presuming they would

say something like that to stop the bombing, you know, and then international pressure would come

on to President say, well, the Iranians really do want to negotiate seriously. Let's, let's go to a

ceasefire. The president knows for well, any stopping of this campaign prematurely gives them a

lifeline. And in the year or so, we're dealing with these guys all over again. He gets it. So he

is said, he has put an ultimate amount there. I'm not going to negotiate with you at all. All I

wanted to talk to you about is unconditional surrender and the terms that would surround something

like that and what that really means and how we would execute it. And that just puts that out

there a huge ultimatum to them that puts in place, I think, the continued momentum to break the

will of this regime. And that's the path we're on. But so our audience understand these guys

have determined to stay in power. And we got to work towards that end every single day and believe

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sportsbook.fandal.com, gambling problem called 1-800-Gamilar. General King, let me circle back

one of your key points. The manufacturing base is getting bombed out, killed, destroyed.

Now people in business, there's a business group in Iran that presumably operates that base

or owns part of that base or whatever. I'm amazed they're not, you know, business people

should be up in arms against the regime because the regime is destroying their businesses.

And as you say, this can be destroyed for quite some time. Manufacturing companies,

you know, equipment factories the whole nine yards, it's not that easy to rebuild that stuff.

No, it's not. And certainly they have been complicit in all of this and building the weapons of

war for Iranians not only to use and feed to their proxies and use against Israel but to

repress their own people, obviously. Yeah, you know that they're doing everything they can to

survive themselves out of this. And at this point, they realize they've been on the wrong

horse. They may have been living off the fruits of all of that for a number of years. But that is

absolutely coming to an end. And so, to remind our audience, the protests began

in among the middle class merchants, not defense manufacturers, but middle class merchants.

I mentioned it because this was the first time the businesses really got involved in a protest

and it began with them because their businesses were in the tank as a result of the economy.

And they knew full well that this regime is not capable of recovering that economy.

And they got set up with it. And that when they fell in, then this then came the students,

then came the general population. So there's a recognition, certainly in Iran among the people

and the business community, that they're on a horrible path economically. And the only hope they

have is for another regime to come in and run this country more effectively.

What can they do, General Keen? Let's stay with that. The middle class, the merchant class.

Yes, I'll add to students, but you know, the people that own the stores and shops and so forth,

people that need trade from the outside world. What can they do?

Well, I think once the bombing stops and they know they're no longer in danger from going outside,

I think we're likely going to see some protests that it will be dependent on a couple of things.

Not just the cessation of the bombing and the threat to them as a result of it,

but also how much of this regime is already left in the streets because that's where they've been.

To make sure they didn't even come out of their homes. As you look at this as a vast country,

as we all know, and the IRGC extends into 32 locations outside of the capital city itself.

So I think two things would be operating there. One, it's now safe to go outside. Two,

but what's going to happen to us in terms of repression? How much of this regime is left with guns

pointing at them, willing to kill them? And that's what the Israelis are very attuned to this.

They are attempting, Larry, to put in place and set the conditions for a regime collapse.

That is the purpose of the operation in terms of what they're doing with all the organizations

that sustain this regime. So how successful they are at on that will be a condition for the people

themselves and how do they respond? I don't agree with arming the people. They're not an organized

group and I think putting weapons in their hands with no leadership, no training, nothing

would not be a very good solution. And I think whatever is left of the regime, they would come at them,

not just with team guns, but with tanks and every major weapon system they can get their hands

on if they were doing something like that. But it remains to be seen. How successful this campaign,

the Israelis are conducting against the organizations will have on the ability of the people to get

into the streets and begin to demonstrate and take control of their country again. I think

what's most likely here, Larry, is we'll find somebody that's in the regime now, maybe not the

diabolical ideologues that are at the top of it, but maybe somebody in their army organization,

not the IRGC, a leader there or two who could kind of step in and it would be an authoritarian

leader, likely more concerned about Iran surviving and its people surviving than this ideology that

the elites are running, kind of what assist he did in Egypt when he was over at the watch out

did in Indonesia or what we're doing in Venezuela with Delci Rodriguez. I mean, you rise the wide

open, these are dictators still, but you can maybe bend them to your will a little bit and they could

help us with the transition to a much better government than they would be able to represent.

Yeah, that's a great point. That's just a great point. Let's see, I was interviewing Treasury

man Scott Besson yesterday talked about the biggest bombing mission yet and then President

Trump's been talking about it and I guess the planes lining up in London and London in England

in our bases or their bases. What's going to happen here? Is this bombing mission this weekend or

I haven't seen any news of it. I just heard that Besson and then the President talking about it.

Do you have any thoughts on that? Yeah, show what we're in a different phase for the Israelis

they're still working on taking Iran's weapons away from them and they're working on organizations

as I indicated as their primary focus. The United States is still working on taking all of Iran's

weapons away but the means have changed. So we're in a different phase because we have air superiority

the freedom of the skies. So our aircraft is rallying at Americans to fly it over Iranian air

space day and night. Can you imagine? I call it the sound of freedom for the Iranian people knowing

well that those airplanes represent a force that's trying to destroy this regime on their behalf.

But what has happened is we don't have to use standoff weapons systems and cruise missiles

from ships standoff cruise missiles from airplanes and precision munitions. We can go right

into Toronto itself and right into the other places where the adversaries are located with big

bombers that normally we wouldn't do that unless we had air superiority. That's what they're

talking about and it gives us an increased mortality because we're bringing 500 pounds, a thousand

pounds, two thousand pounds bombs that we're using that are precision guided they have significant

accuracy to them but they can fly literally over those cities and release them and with those

themselves have a high degree of access. So there's more the scale of the bombing has increased

in terms of its lethality not necessarily in terms of the number of airplanes but the size of the

airplanes the bombers themselves we're bringing them in and so that internal military stuff that's

a different phase of the operation. We normally take extended operations and phase them so we can

bring order to each phase and that's what we're doing here this is phase two for us and also

phase two for the Israelis. I got to leave it there General Jack Keane again we appreciate

everything Fox News senior strategic analyst that's the least of the terrific stuff sir thank you

can't thank you enough take care talk soon all right folks we're gonna take a quick break and now

we might have a little bit on the other side but quick break many many many thanks to General Keane

for his wisdom and his insights and his analysis. National security advisor Robert O'Brien coming

up next stay with us. The Larry Cuglow Show on the Red Apple podcast network.