On Tuesday’s broadcast of Newsmax TV’s “Finnerty,” Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-MO) responded to a question on when the war in Iran becomes a “forever war” by saying that there aren’t boots on the ground, and “I think we get to a place where we’re ensured we have a deal where they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon, we have the ability to inspect that, and then that’ll be the end of it. But the Iranians have to come to the table.” And negotiating with Iran is a struggle “because they’re having an internal struggle between the hardliners and the more rational actors, and depending on which day it is, that faction is either more involved or the other one’s more involved.”
Host Rob Finnerty asked, “Is this now a quagmire?”
Schmitt answered, “I don’t think the president’s going to allow that to happen. A lot of people are sort of rooting for us to lose or for a forever war. The president doesn’t support either one of those outcomes, and neither do I. The president’s been pretty clear about what the objective here is, to make sure they don’t have a nuclear weapon. And then, if you’re going to fire at ships in the strait, you’re going to get fired upon. And that’s what’s happening right now. But, again, I think it creates this space for diplomacy. This is not going to be a situation where it’s like another Iraq and we’re there and we’re stuck there for a decade or — I don’t support that. And that’s not where the president is.”
Finnerty then cut in to ask, “This is day number 143. So, I don’t think, by any definition, it’s a forever war. But when do we arrive at forever war?”
Schmitt responded, “Well, certainly, there are no boots on the ground. I don’t support that either. We’re in a situation, right now, where we’re taking out sort of the arsenal that’s attacking ships in the strait and making sure they can’t have a nuclear weapon. So, I think we get to a place where we’re ensured we have a deal where they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon, we have the ability to inspect that, and then that’ll be the end of it. But the Iranians have to come to the table. It’s very difficult — I will just say this Rob — it’s difficult to negotiate with them because they’re having an internal struggle between the hardliners and the more rational actors, and depending on which day it is, that faction is either more involved or the other one’s more involved. So, it’s proved challenging.”
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