SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Moments after President Donald Trump addressed the nation following the United States' strikes on three Iranian nuclear sites, National Security Expert Ron Bee spoke with ABC 10News Anchor Max Goldwasser to dissect the historic decision.
You can watch the full interview at the top of this page or bottom of the transcript.
Max Goldwasser: Ron, thanks so much for being here tonight. We heard from the President — short remarks, which is unusual for him, but he did at one point say if peace does not come quickly, the U.S. plans to attack other targets with speed and skill. He's calling for peace, but leaving the door open for more. Do you think that this eliminated a threat or ignited a new one?
Ron Bee: Well, that message is to Iran, clearly. The message to the American people is he took action. He attacked the three main nuclear sites of Iran. Decided it was in the United States' best interest to do so, but the next short term thing he has to worry about is a counterattack from Iran against the 19 bases in the Middle East and our servicemen and women that are there. So, he was being — letting us know what had happened and also sending a message to Iran that they should not counterattack or else they will receive more of America's military might.
Goldwasser: How do you anticipate Iran to react?
Bee: Well, I think that they'll want to retaliate against our our bases in Iraq, and possibly Syria, but I think that Israel has decimated their military to a point where I'm not sure what they can do. Their leadership has been assassinated, their, their air defenses have been destroyed, their Air Force has been nonexistent. What Navy they have, if they were to mine the Persian Gulf, that would be terrible for 1/5th of the oil, and that's why our oil prices have gone up because of fears of that very thing. So, if they do anything, the United States is prepared to retaliate, but in the interim, I think the Israelis are just going to continue doing what they've been doing for the last week, and that is to destroy the military infrastructure of Iran.
Goldwasser: Donald Trump frequently, during his campaign trail, promised to avoid engaging in future wars and existing conflicts. Why do you feel like he felt he had no choice but to go back on that word and do it now?
Bee: That's a, that's a very good question. I, I think he'll explain that over time, but I think what he came to the conclusion from not only Israeli intelligence, but his own intelligence community, that Iran was very close to getting a nuclear weapon and that he could not allow.
Goldwasser: Leading up to this attack, the US was already shifting ships — warships — in the Middle East and military aircrafts, one of them being the USS Carl Vinson, which is homeported here in San Diego. It's a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier stationed right now in the Arabian Sea. Was its involvement combined with the others a sign that this was imminent?
Bee: Yes, I, I think the — in totality, the Vinson being there, the Nimitz Carrier Group being there, the 31 refueling tankers, going to be there in order to refuel planes, if necessary, including the B-2. The B-2 shifting, from the United States to "Dodge," as they call it, Diego Garcia, as well as Guam. I mean, the idea is that we were prepared to give the President options and he chose the option to attack.
Goldwasser: It's an unprecedented move, potentially an unusual one as well, because it's being reported Trump did not alert members of the House Intelligence Committee. To what extent is the president even allowed to engage in war and use military force in this fashion without Congressional approval?
Bee: Well, that's always a debate, but it's always — it comes down to the President does have the authority because you don't want it to leak out that something's gonna happen because then you put American servicemen and women at risk for political purposes. So, he certainly didn't want to do that and I think that may be the rationale for delaying talking to the main parties until this is happening. This is, you know, we, American Presidents have not attacked Iran since the Islamic Republic started in 1979 from Jimmy Carter on. Nobody's, nobody's done it. So, this is unprecedented for the Islamic Republic. Now the question is what happens next, and that's what the President was trying to address in his short talk to the American people to say we're prepared to do more, but now is the time to talk peace.
Goldwasser: And this comes after White House press secretary Caroline Levitt said on Thursday that Trump was going to make a decision within the next two weeks whether or not he would use military force directly against Iran. We got our answer in 2 days. Do you think that was part of a strategy?
Bee: That's a wise thing to do because you don't want to, you don't want to telegraph, you know, two weeks from now something's gonna happen. They could have moved a lot of stuff, in two weeks away, from the nuclear sites. So it makes sense that you would give them that false impression but decide earlier.
Goldwasser One final question for you. How would you define this moment in American and international history?
Bee: Well, I think it's one of the most important moments in what I would call preemptive nonproliferation, knocking out a nuclear program of a country that was destined to use it against Israel and even possibly the United States. So, I think it's a very important moment that, at a certain point, we have to realize that negotiations are always the first priority, but we'll have to be prepared to act if they fail. These negotiations have failed over 20 years, so it was time to act, and I think this moment will be judged on that criteria.
Goldwasser: Trump said on Truth Social, right after the attacks, "NOW IS THE TIME FOR PEACE." Only time will tell if that is in fact what comes of this new chapter in the conflict.
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