Former Air Force Commander warns: "Trump's military leverage is weakening - and he is almost losing it"
Major General (res.) Eitan Ben-Eliahu was interviewed on 103fm radio and addressed the controversy surrounding the Strait of Hormuz, Donald Trump's repeated threats, and the concerning shortage of American interceptors: "His military leverage is almost lost."
Major General (res.) Eitan Ben-Eliahu, former Air Force Commander, spoke this morning (Thursday) with Nissim Mishal and Anat Davidov on 103fm radio about the tension in the Persian Gulf in the shadow of Iran's announcement that reaching an agreement with Oman regarding the Strait of Hormuz is in its final stages. At the same time, Ben-Eliahu addressed recent reports about a shortage of American interceptors - and the confrontation between US President Donald Trump and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on the matter.
According to the former Air Force Commander, the parties have not yet reached full and official agreements: "In the meantime, there is no agreement there yet. There is more or less an agreement that Iran will control the entrance to the strait, but regarding the exit from the gulf, it is still unclear whether it will have control or not."
He added: "The second thing is that Iran is demanding a certain commission amount and Oman is demanding less. Some are demanding around 7%, and others only 3%, and the United States is demanding that there be no payment at all. Although we often hear inaccurate news, not to mention actual fake news, it is true this time as well."
Later, Ben-Eliahu addressed the possibility that Tehran is deceiving Donald Trump: "The Iranians are acting in a way that the American president does not understand them. In my opinion, he does not understand this mentality. Even we barely understand it. Maybe we understand a little more, but we are not reacting as we should."
"It's not exactly 'deception'," he added. "They raised an idea, and from their perspective, it is a good idea, which says: 'Leave the Americans alone. This is our business with the Omanis, and in this way, we will overcome the limitations of international law, because if it is just us, it is a total problem.' That is - a total prohibition in terms of international law. If you make an agreement with Oman, it is a crack in international law. Therefore, they are also ignoring the Americans."
So, from the United States' perspective, is this a concession? According to Ben-Eliahu, the answer is clear. "Indeed," he says. "I don't know if Donald Trump will go for it, and I don't know what power he has not to go for it. His military leverage is slowly weakening, and I would say he is almost losing it."
Afterward, he criticized the conduct of the American president: "How many times can you attack? How much can you shout 'wolf, wolf' when it doesn't help, and how many times can you attack and achieve a result? At a certain stage, achievements, standing, and endurance are not measured by economic damage or damage to symbols of government."
He further emphasized: "The Iranians are reaching a state where they are simply willing to commit suicide, to hold on until death and until the last soldier. When you reach this state, then the use of force loses its leverage. And then you ask the ultimate question: when is the right point? And the other side has an attrition capability that is almost unlimited. So where is the point to stop? Where to start conceding?"
"A country suddenly naked"
He then addressed the explosive question in the shadow of recent reports about a severe shortage of armaments, after having exhausted almost 80% of the interceptor inventory of its air defense system: "I don't have absolute information, no one does. The point is that the issue was brought to the surface, which that general from the headquarters in Europe expressed. So there is some problem. Now the debate begins, is it 60%, 70%, 80%? It doesn't matter."
He also said that "if there was protection only for Israel, it would be a kind of point defense. Are all the missiles aimed at Israel? You prepare here, and you have the amount of Israeli and American missiles, and for every expected scenario, you have reasonable protection. But when it starts to spread, and you need to protect also Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Egypt, Turkey, and also Israel, then the whole system spreads out. It is enough for the Iranians to launch two missiles at Qatar to place a full defense system there."
At the end of the interview, he said: "The number of missiles that the Iranians are launching is small. The number of launchers and missiles that the Americans or we need to place all over the Middle East is much, much larger. Therefore, the shortage is significant. Imagine a situation where a country is suddenly naked, exposed to missile launches and splitting missiles, and there is nothing to stop them. That is an unbearable situation."
