It's Just a Matter of Time Before the Iranian Government Collapses: Retired Air Force General

U.S. Air Force General Charles Wald, former Deputy Commander of U.S. European Command. General, it's great to have you on the show, as always. The President claims the Strait of Hormuz is open. If he can convince the rest of the world that the Strait of Hormuz is open and get the shipping numbers up a little bit, that is big-time trouble for Iran. Is that a fair assessment? Yeah, absolutely it is. I think, again, I think perspective here, the military activity that you just heard Admiral Cooper talk about a little bit earlier and what they've done over the last six months is devastating. You know, in the United States military, strategically, there's an acronym called DIME, which is Diplomatic Information Military and Economic, and we like to try to do those all at once. We haven't necessarily done that in this situation in the past, and now we are, and I think militarily we all know what's happened there, informationally, you're doing that right now. The military side that we've talked about, as well as the diplomatic, but the big one now is economic, and I think it's just a matter of time before the Iranian government collapses and their people rise up. I mean, two million rials per dollar, no food available, lines all over the place. It's a difficult thing for the Americans to be patient, but $4 gas versus $2 million exchange for a dollar bill is quite a good thing on our side, I think. Yeah, and General, what I find fascinating about this is you have this renewed interest among some of the Iranians, some of the IRGC for negotiations again, and I think General Jack Keane was kind of talking about that, and he said this, and I want to get your take on the other side, watch. He is saying the goal here is economic collapse. In other words, he's not saying the goal is leverage to make a deal with the Iranians. That is very different than the path we're on by the Secretary of the Treasury, and I applaud him and President Trump for stepping up here and pushing in this direction. Yeah, he's talking about Scott Besson with the economic D-Day comments here, and that's really, in a nutshell, what it is, is the IRGC now, they're not talking about getting Iran back to the table for negotiations. They're talking about wiping out Iran's economy altogether, and the IRGC is starting to listen. Well, Jack Keane, Jack is always very insightful, and I totally agree with him. I think you've got to put yourself in the IRGC's shoes, it's hard to do, but they have got to be on their back feet right now, the back heels, I should say, right now, and I think it's just a matter of time. They've got to talk tough. There isn't any alternative for them other than to try to survive, and they now have not just the military that's been decimated pretty much, the straits, they're still getting some ships through there, the United States Navy's cleared the mines. We're pretty much in control of that, and now with the economy going south, I think it's just a matter of time. American people just have to be a little more patient. It's not going to be too long now, I don't think. You know, General, one of the telltale things that I look at and a lot of people are looking at and telling me is that when you see the IRGC weakening, one of the signs is that the proxies are weakening. Their influence in Yemen and in Lebanon and in Gaza is down significantly, and that is one of the first signs of the IRGC kind of, you know, being destroyed from within. No, you're 100% right, Trace. You know, the ultimate here is to have a stable Middle East with our allies, the GCC countries, and primarily Israel as a separate from the GCC. And for the proxies, as you pointed out, with Hezbollah, Hamas, and now the Houthis in Yemen, who, you know, I think they hijacked a ship that was sanctioned by the U.S. already as one thing recently, but that's not exactly threatening us to close the Red Sea. So I think time is on our side. I think we need to be vigilant. We need to be steadfast. I think the president is doing the right thing. I think this economic outcast mission they're talking about is brilliant. And I think when this is all said and done, we're going to have a better Middle East. We're going to have a stable Middle East. We're going to have a collaborative Middle East, and we're going to have oil flowing out of there like we did before, probably more. Yeah. General Charles Wald, great of you to join us, General. Always good insight. Thank you. Thanks, Trace. Be sure to like and subscribe for all the Fox News latest on YouTube and catch full shows streaming now on Fox One.