Chicago’s Morning Answer host Dan Proft shared commentary from writer Lee Smith of Tablet examining the administration’s approach to the ongoing conflict with Iran, including criticism of Vice President JD Vance’s public defense of the ceasefire negotiations. Proft played audio in which Vance rejected the characterization that current policy amounts to an open-ended commitment, arguing that continued airstrikes in response to Iranian violations do not constitute a forever war. Proft noted that Smith’s commentary argued the administration has not yet made a clear decision to pursue decisive victory, particularly regarding control of the Strait of Hormuz, and that continued rhetorical claims of success have created expectations the administration has struggled to fully deliver on.
Proft also played comments from retired military officials, including Lieutenant General Keith Kellogg and General Jack Keane, both of whom argued that targeted strikes on strategic Iranian assets, including Qeshm Island and national infrastructure such as power plants, ports, and airports, could meaningfully pressure the regime without requiring a full ground invasion, which Kellogg said would be logistically prohibitive given Iran’s size and terrain.
Proft welcomed Steven Bucci, a retired Army Special Forces officer, former senior Pentagon official, and visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation’s Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies, to respond to the debate. Bucci said he believed Smith’s framing was somewhat dramatic, but agreed that negotiations with the current Iranian regime have limited prospects for success given what he described as its ideological commitment to its cause. He pushed back on the idea that ongoing military operations automatically qualify as a forever war, arguing that meaningful strategic objectives rarely resolve within a matter of weeks, while acknowledging that the administration’s repeated public claims of imminent resolution have created a credibility problem of its own making.
Bucci argued that the United States should expand its target list beyond shipping lanes in the strait to include broader Iranian infrastructure, arguing that such pressure could accelerate internal unrest against the regime. He said earlier restraint aimed at preserving infrastructure for a future, post-regime Iranian government may no longer be strategically necessary, given signs of continued regime resilience. Discussing the physical occupation or destruction of Qeshm Island specifically, Bucci said he saw no reason for continued hesitation, citing Energy Secretary Chris Wright’s recent estimate that oil flow through the Gulf has already returned to roughly two-thirds of pre-conflict levels through a combination of pipeline workarounds and shipping activity.
Bucci also addressed reports suggesting Iran could attempt a ground incursion into Kuwait targeting American military installations, saying he views Iran’s conventional ground forces as poorly resourced compared to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which he said is oriented primarily toward internal repression rather than external warfare, and predicted any such incursion could be repelled from standoff distance without requiring an American ground response. He also addressed the deaths of several American soldiers in a recent attack, emphasizing the need for expanded air defense and detection capabilities at U.S. bases in the region.
Closing the interview, Bucci responded to recent remarks from Secretary of State Marco Rubio describing an increasingly coordinated international network of leftist and antifa-linked extremist groups operating across borders. Bucci agreed that decentralized cooperation among such groups has grown, but cautioned against overstating the level of centralized coordination involved, comparing the dynamic to the loosely networked structure long associated with Islamist terrorist organizations.