Gen Jack Keane: Tehran may be making a MASSIVE mistake

Welcome back.President Trump says a deal with Iran is possible over the next week, as the Department of War says it is ready to relaunch strikes if necessary.The president wrote on Truth Social, talks are continuing at a rapid pace, quote -unquote, following reports that Tehran halted all negotiations because of Israeli operations against Now, the commander -in -chief spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu this weekend, in a call that reportedly got heated over Israel's Hezbollah fight, which the president described as a glitch in current negotiations.Joining me now is Fox News senior strategic analyst and chairman for the Institute of the Study of War, General Jack Keane.General, great to see you this morning, as always.

Yeah, great seeing you, Maria.

Well, it's quite troubling to see all these quotes in Axios out of this phone call that the president had with Benjamin Netanyahu.I'd like to know how all these specific quotes get in the media in terms of a leak, and what does that mean for this war?And do you really believe that this is something that caused Iran to stop negotiations?

Well, a couple of things.One, quotes get there because if somebody's leaking to the media, they're leaking to the Two, I know a person who was on the phone call and completely denies those statements were actually made.So maybe the Stokes don't even represent it.I think it was a tough conversation.No one denies that.But, yeah, this has happened in multiple administrations, and phone calls between heads of states are classified by nature.

And somebody, obviously, is leaking or fabricating the content of that phone call.What's taken place here, Maria, is we have had numerous ceasefire problems here since April the 8th.But first, in the Straits of Hormuz, in that area there, the Iranians have been up to real mischief on a regular basis for multiple weeks.with their boats trying to interfere with traffic passing through the Straits of Hormuz, which is permissible.under the guidelines of the ceasefire.They've attacked with their boats.

They've attacked with drones.They've attacked with missiles.Admiral Cooper and Central Command has defeated all of that.Scores of boats have been defeated.There's not been a single penetration that's taken place, which argues, also, why did the Arabs panic so much when we put Operation Freedom in the books there and were executed?And they felt that they were going to be vulnerable as a result of it.

And the proof is that we have been quietly succeeding, and scores of ships passing through the lane that the United States has opened have navigated through there.And the media is reporting 70—I don't know exactly what the number is, but certainly it's been a quiet, successful operation, but nonetheless, ceasefire violations almost every single day by Iran.In Lebanon, it is something else again.On April the 17th, a ceasefire was established with specific terms of agreement to do that.Since April the 17th, Hezbollah has fired 2 ,400 rockets and drones into northern Israel, forcing the evacuation of multiple towns and villages, wounding over 300 Areli citizens and killing one of them.Fourteen—maybe now, as of last night—15 IDF soldiers have been killed under the ceasefire.

And during that timeframe, the Israeli forces are in a defensive crouch, allowed to respond and react, but not to conduct offensive operations.The tension here comes from the fact that Israelis have killed 3 ,000 Hezbollah during this, quote, ceasefire, that, obviously, Hezbollah is violating.There wouldn't be any contact.if Hezbollah wasn't violating the ceasefire.Think of this.If the Mexican cartel flew scores of drones across the United States border and hit several towns because they're so aggravated with the United States and pushing back on them, and wounded scores of American people, can you imagine the reaction that we would have as a result of a cross -border incident like that?

Remember, Iran's purpose in stating the destruction of Israel What do they mean by that?They don't mean the physical destruction of Israel.They know they can't do that.They know they can't destroy Israelis' military.And they have tried.Well, what is it—what are they really trying to do?

They're trying to create such a security problem for the people who live in Israel that the Jewish population of some 7 million people—that's a small population, less than what lives in New York, of 8 million people.to create such a volatile situation that they no longer want to raise their children and grandchildren there.That is what this is all about.That's what the stakes are about here.The president is trying to resolve this.Here's what we know.

Yes, he's got a ceasefire on both sides.The reality is Hezbollah is going to violate it.And we have got to give, at that point, Netanyahu the green light to deal with this thing.And that's what he was attempting to do.He was going to go on offense, and President Trump tried to separate both of these forces.Remains to be seen whether this temporary ceasefire will hold or not.

As to the larger picture of the Iranian deal, obviously, the Iranians are providing, in their statement, Objectives that we do not want any part of.Likely over the Straits of Hormuz is part of it, I would assume.They probably want up front goodwill money, Maria, and likely some expression on the nuclear deal that's unacceptable to us.And that's why the president has kicked that deal out.to them and, I'm certain, told them what our objections are.So this is taking more time than what we expected to do.

And it doesn't surprise us, in my mind, that the Iranians— are completely sticking to what they're trying to achieve here.Maria, they believe time's on their side and they can kick this can down the road some more.After all, when we get the agreement on the MOU, then the negotiations begin on all the tough subjects during a 60 -day time frame.I think, in my own mind, they're about to miscalculate the president again.I'm sure they will.Because remember, prior to the 12 -day war, he gave them 60 days to make a deal.

And on the 61st day, when they didn't make a deal, he green -lighted the Israelis.They are counting on the fact that the closer they get to the midterms, the less likely the Americans would ever come back to military operations.In my judgment, that's a miscalculation.It remains to be seen what's going to happen here.

Yeah, it's probably a miscalculation.I would agree with you, General.a Chinese -made shoulder -launched missile.The crash resulted in a dangerous rescue mission, as you know, by U .S.forces.

We had to go get our man back.China has also likely been providing Tehran with long -range early warning radar and missile systems since the beginning of this conflict, something I've reported on extensively, General.What do you say about that?I mean, shouldn't China be

one of their major allies.Their number one ally is Russia, and they provide huge support to Russia in the war against Ukraine.And they're supporting here.I mean, the number one thing they're doing is what they—until we shut it down, they've been buying 90 percent of Iran's oil.In other words, they've been financing all of Iran's aggression for years, since the sanctions were imposed on them.So they're their major, major number one supporter, for sure.

And the fact that they're sneaking weapons components in, solid fuel precursors to help their missiles use mobile launchers, which are more difficult to find.These are their ballistic missiles, which is the number one threat, certainly.that we're dealing with on a conventional side.And yes, have they provided shoulder -fired weapons?We think they have.It's not decisive, obviously.

It was for two crew members, that's for sure.But in terms of impact on a war, no.Financing Iran, that is the major effort here.And they used to provide tanks, artillery in the 80s and 90s, and actually some jet fighters.Because the UN imposed sanctions on them, they shut all of that down around 2006.Now they provide dual -use capability, they provide components, they try to avoid providing weapons end states.

They obviously snuck in shoulder -fired weapons.It's not like a tank or an artillery piece or a jet fighter, for sure.But, yeah, they are going to continue to support him.Why?It gives them a foothold in the Middle East, and that's what China wants.They lost Venezuela in the Western Hemisphere.

That's a major setback that President Trump provided to them.And they don't want to lose this, and that's where they are.

General, real quick before you go, do you have confidence that this ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel stands?

None.None whatsoever.Iran will push Hezbollah to continue to attack at some point.Wow.That's the pattern of behavior.

Really an incredible conversation.As usual, we so appreciate you, General.Thank you.

Yeah, great talking to Maria.

And to you, General Jack Keane.We'll be right back.Stay with us.