{"id":116509,"date":"2026-05-16T10:52:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T10:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/116509\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T10:52:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T10:52:08","slug":"former-u-s-officials-admit-military-option-against-iran-failed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/116509\/","title":{"rendered":"Former U.S. Officials Admit Military Option Against Iran Failed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>WANA (May 16) \u2013 Amid rising regional tensions, former American officials have acknowledged the extensive damage inflicted on U.S. interests in the Persian Gulf and the ineffectiveness of military action against Iran \u2014 remarks that point to major shifts in the region\u2019s security landscape.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>A former deputy national security adviser to President Barack Obama stated that the Persian Gulf monarchies\u2019 security model, which had long relied on American military protection and economic stability, has effectively collapsed following the recent conflict.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He warned that Washington\u2019s traditional allies in the Persian Gulf may gradually move closer to China and Russia, a development that could significantly alter the balance of power in the Middle East.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The former U.S. official also criticized Washington\u2019s approach toward international law, saying, \u201cWhen you set aside international law, the other side no longer feels obligated to abide by it either.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Referring to attacks targeting U.S.-linked facilities, he stressed that the damage inflicted on American installations, military bases, and diplomatic centers across the Persian Gulf is far greater than what has been publicly disclosed.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>According to him, the Pentagon has not provided transparent or accurate assessments of the real extent of the damage, while Iranian drones and missiles were able to penetrate air defense systems \u2014 a matter that has raised serious concerns about the effectiveness of America\u2019s regional defense infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, former U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also acknowledged that the Obama administration had carefully examined the military option against Iran, but ultimately concluded that military action was not necessarily the best solution.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Blinken stated, \u201cThe reasons we are witnessing today are the same factors that led us at the time to seriously question the effectiveness of a military option.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WANA (May 16) \u2013 Amid rising regional tensions, former American officials have acknowledged the extensive damage inflicted on&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":103552,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[34,39,1690,36],"class_list":{"0":"post-116509","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-persian-gulf","8":"tag-iran","9":"tag-persian-gulf","10":"tag-the-united-states","11":"tag-war"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@iran\/116583880690474258","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116509","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=116509"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116509\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=116509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=116509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/iran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=116509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}