The Truth with Lisa Boothe: Iran Ceasefire Breakdown: Strait of Hormuz Crisis, Regime Strategy & U.S. Military Response

Summary

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The Truth with Lisa Boothe: “Iran Ceasefire Breakdown: Strait of Hormuz Crisis, Regime Strategy & U.S. Military Response”

Date: April 9, 2026
Host: Lisa Boothe
Guest: Vice Admiral John W. “Fozzie” Miller (Ret.), Former Commander, U.S. Naval Forces Central Command & U.S. 5th Fleet

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Episode Overview

Lisa Boothe sits down with retired Vice Admiral John W. “Fozzie” Miller to examine the ongoing crisis surrounding Iran’s broken ceasefire, threats to the Strait of Hormuz, regime resilience, and how the U.S. military is responding. The episode delves deeply into the region’s strategic dynamics, the Iranian regime’s tactics, complexity of achieving regime change, the regime’s nuclear ambitions, and notable recent U.S. rescue missions, all with candid, expert analysis and real-world context.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Current Status of the Ceasefire & the Strait of Hormuz

• No True Ceasefire:
  • Vice Admiral Miller clarifies that the so-called ceasefire has not resulted in sustainable, safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz. Despite intentions, Iran has continued making the strait unsafe, especially with recent threats and alleged mining of waters.
    • “I don’t think we have the ceasefire that we’re looking for…that was a key element of it. And right now, that’s not the case.” (Miller, 01:37)
  • Iran recently published transit charts, essentially dictating ships stay within their waters and declaring all other areas unsafe.
    • “If it's unsafe, it's because they've made it unsafe.” (Miller, 02:25)

2. Iran’s Longstanding Strategy and Escalation

• Chronic Hostility in the Straits:
  • Miller details Iran’s history of disrupting navigation and flouting international law, referencing their long-standing resistance to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
  • He describes attacks on shipping as aggressive and intended to control, shape, and threaten maritime commerce.
    • “They’ve always behaved poorly there...They are more aggressive today...than we’ve ever seen before.” (Miller, 03:15)
  • Recent attacks: about two dozen ships struck within weeks, causing the shipping industry to avoid the strait.
    • “It was enough to convince the shipping community that it's not safe.” (Miller, 04:41)

3. Regime Resilience and Decentralization

• Mosaic Defense:
  • Lisa and Miller discuss how Iran’s regime is intentionally structured for resilience, with assets and command structures distributed across 31 provinces and mountainous terrain.
    • “It’s very difficult to take away every capability that the regime has, even if they're broken down into very small units of IRGC soldiers...” (Miller, 07:35)
• Difficulties of Breaking the Regime:
  • Traditional bombing has only had partial effect due to the regime’s reliance on low-tech weapons (mines, speedboats) and decentralized IRGC units.

4. Choking Off Iran’s Revenue

• Economic Pressure as Leverage:
  • Miller stresses cutting off Iran’s oil export money flow as more effective than purely military means.
    • “I do think it requires more focus than it seems as if the administration has given it thus far.” (Miller, 10:57)
  • Describes potential military options: destroying or mining oil infrastructure, seizing islands, but doesn’t favor indiscriminate destruction due to need for future stability.
    • “Do you blow up Carg Island? That’s one way, as I said, not favored.” (Miller, 09:15)

5. Regime Hypocrisy & Disinformation

• Ayatollah Rumors:
  • Lisa brings up rumors about the new Ayatollah’s sexuality and possible death or disappearance.
  • Miller dismisses its significance, pointing to regime hypocrisy and the death penalty for homosexuality.
    • “There’s a level of hypocrisy with the regime that frankly would allow for someone who’s quietly homosexual to be the Supreme Leader, at the same time they’re throwing other known homosexuals off the roofs of buildings.” (Miller, 11:28)
• Who’s in Charge?
  • Miller suggests that real power is with the Revolutionary Guard, not whoever claims the titular leadership role.
    • “Regardless of who is the titular head of Iran right now, it’s clear that the Revolutionary Guard Forces are running the country.” (Miller, 12:49)

6. Iran’s Nuclear Capabilities

• Enriched Uranium & Bomb Potential:
  • Miller confirms Iran’s significant stockpile of highly enriched uranium, noting its potential bomb applications and use in dirty bombs.
    • “You can make a nuclear bomb with 60% enriched uranium. Just not a very efficient nuclear bomb...But you can still make a bomb, and certainly you make dirty bombs.” (Miller, 15:40)
  • Critically, he emphasizes need to secure or remove this material as part of any future agreement.

7. U.S. Military Strategy & Planning

• War Gaming and the 'Day After' Problem:
  • Miller reflects that decades have been spent planning a kinetic war with Iran, but there’s little clarity about postwar scenarios or regime collapse.
    • “It’s not clear to me that we’ve thought much about what happens after the war with Iran in much the same way we didn’t do it before Iraq.” (Miller, 17:09)

8. Regime Change, Challenges, and the Quagmire

• Religious Zealotry & Lack of Viable Opposition:

  • Unlike Venezuelan or other secular regimes, IRGC commanders’ religious fanaticism means they prefer martyrdom over compromise.
    • “The regime officials...are willing to die for the cause. And so we’ve got to be willing to either let that make that happen or marginalize them...” (Miller, 20:29)
  • No unifying external opposition leader akin to Khomeini in 1979; the Shah’s son lacks credibility.

• The Issue of Arming the People:

  • Regime opposition is hampered by disarmed populace and failed attempts to arm internal dissenters (Kurds keep weapons for themselves).
  • U.S. ground invasion considered untenable; protracted war would be disastrous.
    • “It just seems like we’re sort of stuck...Is this just going to be some long, protracted war?” (Boothe, 23:17)

• Averting Endless War:

  • Miller insists global community cannot accept a prolonged Ukraine-style stalemate.
  • Urges firm action on open navigation, warning a setback here emboldens China in the South China Sea.
    • “We can’t equivocate on the principle of an open Strait of Hormuz...” (Miller, 25:08)

9. Daring U.S. Rescue Missions & Leadership

• Recent U.S. Rescue Achievements:

  • Lisa and Miller discuss the high-profile rescue of two U.S. airmen from Iran, underlining the skill and determination of U.S. forces and intelligence agencies.
    • “It also shows what incredible capabilities and intelligence we have and the ability to coordinate across our governments.” (Miller, 26:45)

• Leadership Willingness to Take Risks:

  • Lisa attributes recent daring missions to President Trump’s boldness.
    • “We've seen under President Trump just, like, more daring and complex missions than maybe we have in the past.” (Boothe, 27:46)
  • Miller confirms that such missions require presidential courage and willingness to risk lives for the sake of the "no man left behind" ethos.
    • “It does take a lot of courage on the part of the President...to make a decision in that regard.” (Miller, 28:12)

• Military Morale and Ethos:

  • Miller: The culture of risking much for one is fundamental to U.S. military and boosts both morale and recruitment.
    • “It is one of the main reasons that people are drawn into this extraordinary community...that your welfare is more important to them than their own welfare.” (Miller, 30:16)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “If it's unsafe, it's because they've made it unsafe.” (Miller, 02:25)
• “They are more aggressive today in their conduct in the strait...than we’ve ever seen before.” (Miller, 03:44)
• “You can make a nuclear bomb with 60% enriched uranium. Just not a very efficient nuclear bomb...But you can still make a bomb.” (Miller, 15:40)
• “There’s a level of hypocrisy with the regime...that would allow for someone who’s quietly homosexual to be the Supreme Leader, at the same time they’re throwing other known homosexuals off the roofs of buildings.” (Miller, 11:28)
• “It is one of the main reasons that people are drawn into this extraordinary community...that your welfare is more important to them than their own welfare.” (Miller, 30:16)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Ceasefire Status & Strait of Hormuz: 01:37–02:57
• Iran’s Strategy & Shipping Threats: 03:15–06:17
• Breaking the Regime’s Resilience: 06:17–09:14
• Choking Off Iranian Revenue: 09:15–11:00
• Regime Hypocrisy & Who’s in Power: 11:00–12:49
• Iran’s Nuclear Program Threat: 14:31–16:22
• U.S. War Planning & Post-Conflict Uncertainty: 16:32–18:57
• Religious Zealotry & Lack of Opposition: 19:35–22:26
• No Invasion, No Clear Path – The Quagmire: 22:26–23:40
• Avoiding Endless War and Need for Action: 23:40–26:12
• U.S. Rescue Missions & Presidential Risk Appetite: 26:12–29:28
• Military Morale and Recruitment: 29:28–31:25

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Tone & Style

The conversation is forthright, authoritative, and insightful, with Lisa Boothe’s direct questioning balanced by Admiral Miller’s measured, experience-driven analysis. There’s clear concern for U.S. interests and the international order, a patriotic belief in military values, and a recognition of the thorny, often hypocritical complexities inside Iran’s regime.

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Summary Takeaway

This episode presents an unfiltered look at the Iranian crisis, blending expert military assessment and sharp political commentary. It provides a sobering analysis of why Iran’s regime is so difficult to topple, the stakes for global security in the Strait of Hormuz, the very real nuclear threat, and showcases the U.S. military’s valor and decision-making under pressure. Ultimately, listeners come away aware of the deep challenges, the necessity for strategic clarity, and the enduring spirit that animates America’s armed forces.

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Transcript

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[Lisa Booth]

Welcome to the Truth with Lisa Booth, where we get to the heart of the issues that matter to you. Today we're talking Iran with fresh ceasefire. Tensions in the Strait of Hormuz stalled shipping and Iran's proxies still active. We're going straight to the source. We're going to get straight talk from one of the Navy's most experienced leaders in the region. He's former Vice Admiral John W. Fazi Miller. He is the former commander of the U.S. naval Forces Central Command and U.S. 5th Fleet. So we're going to get to the truth. Obviously, we're in the fog of war. A lot of information out there. What's true, what's not, what do you need to know, and how does this thing end? Stay tuned for Admiral Miller. I want to start out saying Vice Admiral John W. Fozzie Miller, because I know you're going to tell me to call you Fozzie. So I just, I just want to make it known that you want me to call you Fozzie, and I'm not being disrespectful to your rank and title that you have so rightfully earned. So just to get that out of the way, Admiral Fozzie, it's great to. Great to have you on. I appreciate it. You know, obviously, so many moving parts with what's been going on in Iran. Is there a ceasefire right now? What's, what's the status of it? How do you observe it?

[Vice Admiral John W. Fozzie Miller]

Well, I don't think we have the ceasefire that we're looking for. And, Lisa, thanks again for having me. But when we look at sort of the general terms of the ceasefire, it was that the Strait of Hormuz would be open and safe, and that was a key element of it. And right now, that's not the case. And so I think, unless that changes, I don't think that we have a ceasefire in a way that we thought we might have had the ceasefire when it went into effect the other day. So it's certainly something that we need to keep a lookout for. Like a lot of ceasefires, this thing was done, I think, put together fairly quickly. Some of the details need to be worked out a little bit more so there's an opportunity that we can remain at a ceasefire. But there are certain things that need to be done, particularly on the side of the Iranians and particularly regarding the strait that need to happen. And the Iranians published last night a chart that said this is how you transit the strait. You go through our waters inside of Larocc island, and we will monitor that. And every place else is unsafe. Well, if it's unsafe, it's because they've made it unsafe. You know, the implication is that they put mines into the water there, and if they did so, then that obviously would be a ceasefire violation that we have to deal with.

[Lisa Booth]

You know, they've always kind of used this Strait of Hormuz as like holding it hostage to some degree. How different is what they are doing now? Or kind of like, how do you compare what's going on there versus, you know, attacks and things that have happened in the past?

[Vice Admiral John W. Fozzie Miller]

Well, Iranian conduct in the Strait of Hormuz is one of the reasons we're in this conflict in the first place, because they've always behaved poorly there. They've always thought that it's. It's their right to control shipping going through the strait. And that goes back to the very beginning of the regime when the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, which governs the international straits in the world, Hormuz, Baba Mandev in the Red Sea, Strait of Malacca between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean and the Strait of Gibraltar, among others, the Iranians were against the way that was written, which allows for transit passage of any ship for peaceful purposes without restriction other than some ability to monitor the environmental condition of the ship itself. So it's not polluting in what would be their territorial waters if it wasn't straight? The Iranians passed a law that allowed them, you know, so is an Iranian law to violate the United Nations Conventional Law of the Sea? Actually, before it came into effect, after it had received the required votes, but not before it had gone into effect. And so they've always conducted themselves in a maligned way in the straits. You'll hear periodically, we have over the years about the Iranians seizing a vessel that was transiting the strait for one reason or another, some dubious tie to some international court case. And because they have behaved poorly there, that has an impact, obviously, we can see today on the entire global shipping community and particularly the oil trade. And so this is not unusual. They are more aggressive today in their. In their conduct in the strait, and they have been since the very beginning of the conflict than we've ever seen before. And they did Attack some ships, not a whole bunch of ships, but, but over a period of a couple weeks, about two dozen ships were attacked in one fashion or another. There was some damage. I don't think anybody was killed and no ships were sunk. But it was enough to convince the shipping community that it's not safe. And when you talk to the shipping community today, they will tell you that the safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz is through the Iranian irgc. It's not through the United States, it's not by international convention, it's not by several hundred years of customary maritime law that backs up the free and safe transit through any international strait. And so this is a major sticking point that I think on the US Side we've yet to fully understand both the short term impact and the long term impact of their conduct in the strait has on the global shipping community.

[Lisa Booth]

I guess what's the path forward? Because I guess my concern is, you know, obviously, you know, Iran is sort of set up like decentralized with this mosaic defense structure where they have all these different commanders in charge of, I think there's something like 31 provinces and their military assets are spread throughout the country. It's a rather large country, they have mountainous terrain. So how do you break a regime that is sort of set up for resilience?

[Vice Admiral John W. Fozzie Miller]

Well, I think that there are two ways to go about breaking the regime. And the first one is the one that we, the path that we started down, which was that we will simply take away all of the regime's military might or as much of it as we possibly could. And we've been successful in terms of their air defense systems, their ballistic missile production capability. They still have ballistic missiles because they're still reaching out to the GCC countries on the other side of the Gulf, they're still reaching out to Israel. So we've not gotten all of that, but we've gotten a good deal of it. But you know, to sort of coin the phrase, you know, the plan was to bomb them into submission. It hasn't completely worked because the things that they use to close off the strait are in some cases high end weapon systems, anti ship cruise missiles and then drones of course, and I don't know that we've gotten all those. But in a lot of cases it's, it's, it's World War II vintage in terms of technology. Mines potentially, although I don't think the straits are great place for mines, but it's also small boats. And so we've seen on the news the last Couple of days, camera pictures inside the the Strait itself close to Iran. And they look like little sport fishing boats that are running around. That's the IRGC. They're not much of a threat until you put a 50 caliber machine gun on them. You load them up with some limpet mines that they can attached to the side of merchant ships and blow holes into those merchant ships. Or you put explosively formed projectiles in the bow and turn them into suicide boats. Whether they're manned or unmanned, they have both varieties. So it's very difficult to take away every capability that the regime has, even if they're broken down into very small units of IRGC soldiers that are in the Strait of Hormuz. They only have a couple of explosives, they only have a couple of boats. That's enough to deter the maritime shipping because it presents a danger to the ships that are transiting the other way. And I'm not sure that we've tried this in a way that we need to or are going to have to eventually is you choke off their ability to get money. And they are still making money exporting gray market oil or black market oil, if you will, out of the Strait of Hormuz. And that comes from Carg Island.

[Lisa Booth]

How do you cut that off?

[Vice Admiral John W. Fozzie Miller]

Well, there's a couple ways to cut it off. One, you can just blow it up. And I don't think we favor that. I don't favor that because that means that when there is a new regime, and clearly we're going to need as a solution to this problem, a different regime in Iran, a different governing structure that if you have zealots at the top, the Ayatollah Khamenei or his son, that's the same old regime. But if you go down three or four or five or six tiers into that same regime, you still have zealots. And so clearly there needs to be a different government structure that needs to be starved off. Do you blow up Carg Island? That's one way, as I said, not favored. Do you mind it? Do we mine it? And so it's unsafe for anybody to use to go to Carg island to to get oil. That's the kind of activity that I think we need to be prepared. Do we seize for a period of time some of the islands that are in the Strait of Hormuz or in vicinity Strait to Hormuz? I think we're at a point where we certainly, if we don't seize them, they should be rendered useless to the Iranians. And so it's that kind of activity. And it's really more than anything else, I think the ability for us to focus, for the administration to focus on how important it is that the Strait of Hormuz function in accordance with international law. And until we render the Iranians either unwilling or, or unable to interfere with that, we're not going to have a successful endeavor. And so I do think it requires more focus than it seems as if the administration has given it thus far.

[Lisa Booth]

Do you think the new Ayatollah is gay or is that just a disinformation?

[Vice Admiral John W. Fozzie Miller]

Op, I don't know if he is or he isn't. And I don't think it much matters really because of the hypocrisy that we routinely see out of the regime. And I'll use as an additional example. So he might be gay, but they're willing to ignore that. I think if, if he doesn't, he's not openly gay. I think openly gay would be different. But if he don't you get like

[Lisa Booth]

murdered there, if you are right.

[Vice Admiral John W. Fozzie Miller]

Like, it's like homosexual activity in Iran and in other parts of the Gulf, to be perfectly honest with you, is the death penalty offense. And isis, when they were in, in power, you know, a few years ago, if they found out someone was a homosexual, they would literally throw them off the roof of a building to their death. But I think they're willing to ignore these kinds of things in much the same way. You know, we've seen reports about the nieces and relatives of high ranking Iranian regime officials, these women that are living in the United States and living the lifestyle of a social media influencer and dressing that way. And this is a country where if a woman goes outside without a hijab on, she can be beaten, literally beaten on the street by the police. So there's, there's a level of hypocrisy with the regime that frankly would allow for someone who's quietly homosexual to be the Supreme Leader. At the same time they're throwing other known homosexuals that they, they've been able to find off the roofs of buildings.

[Lisa Booth]

Well, just like it's kind of genius if it is a disinformation up just right like, because it, but also, do we even know if the new Ayatollah is alive? I don't think we've seen or heard from him. So, like, who do you think we're or we are negotiating with since we've taken out so many of their, you know, head leaders?

[Vice Admiral John W. Fozzie Miller]

Well, it's entirely possible that who we're negotiating with and who's actually running the country aren't as connected as, as, as we might think they are. And regardless of who is the titular head of Iran right now, it's clear that the Revolutionary Guard Forces are running the country. So they're the ones that are conducting the conflict. They're the ones that are sending missiles into GCC communities, they're the ones sending cluster bombs into neighborhoods in Israel, and they're the ones that are controlling the Strait of Hormuz. So those are the people that we need to be going after. We haven't found all of those and they may not be the same people that are conducting the negotiations. So what that means when we saw, when the ceasefire went into effect, there was a rather lengthy period of time where they were actively firing missiles. Hezbollah is firing missiles today into Israel. So the IRGC is continuing the fight despite the fact that the people that we're speaking with have indicated that they're in favor of a ceasefire ostensibly to work toward a longer negotiated peace. Not clear that that's really going to happen the way that we might want it to happen.

[Lisa Booth]

Gotta take a quick commercial break. More on Iran on the other side,

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[Lisa Booth]

No. Steve Woodcoff had said at the beginning of all this on Fox that Iran had stockpiled enough enriched uranium for roughly, you know, up to 11 nuclear bombs and that they would be able to push it to weapons grade within like a day. I think it was like a week or within days, I think it was like a week or more. Do you believe that? I know there's questions as to if that's true or not. Like, do you believe that assessment?

[Vice Admiral John W. Fozzie Miller]

Well, I'm confident that they have close to a thousand pounds of uranium that they've enriched to 60%. They've been, they've been pretty clear about it and there's really no reason for them to lie about that. There's another several hundred pounds of uranium that's enriched to 20%, which people don't often talk about. But it's also significant going from 60% to weapons grade is not terribly difficult. And if you have the technology that gets you to 60%, that same technology gets you to weapons grade 90%. But, but the devices that they use to further enrich that are no Longer available. I'm also confident of that. But that material is still important to us, whether or not they. I mean, you can make a nuclear bomb with 60% enriched uranium. Just not a very efficient nuclear bomb by nuclear bomb standards. But you can still make a bomb, and certainly you make dirty bombs. You can aerosolize that material and use it to conduct radiological attacks in a terrorist sort of way. So there's lots of different uses for that 60% enriched uranium that we would, you know, we really can't endure. And that can go not just to the United States, but can go anywhere in the world.

[Lisa Booth]

You know, there's sort of a question. Oh, sorry, go ahead.

[Vice Admiral John W. Fozzie Miller]

At the end of the day, we want to have that material, and that ought to be a part of. Of. Of whatever settlement that we make.

[Lisa Booth]

You know, there's been questions, you know, about. Well, I may mind. Just went blank. Was I just gonna. I was gonna ask you. Oh, yeah, okay, John, clean this up. But there have been questions about, you know, if President Trump, if we're military, if they've thought through, like, the next steps and sort of gamed this out. But, like, haven't we sort of war theoried potential conflict with Iran and, like, the various avenues and paths for, like, decades now, since Iran's been a threat, since, you know, for 47 years, we've been.

[Vice Admiral John W. Fozzie Miller]

We've been planning how to deal with the regime in a kinetic sense for as long as I can remember. So really very back to the first days of the regime. So, as you said, almost a half a century now, but there's. There's more than one part to war. And we learned that in a very big way in the Iraq war, where we had a very quick, very decisive military victory. And then what happens after that becomes an important issue. It's not clear to me that we've thought much about what happens after the war with Iran in much the same way we didn't do it before Iraq. Certainly there's going to be an aftermath here, and the role of the current regime is going to be part of that in one fashion or another. So either the regime is able to cling to power, which means they continue to oppress their people. If they have a funding source, they also continue to harass their neighbors and harass the neighborhood, and that includes the Strait of Hormuz. But even if you move beyond the regime, because in the long term, I think it's very difficult for the regime, particularly if we continue to starve it economically to stay in power. But then what Does Iran look like it's a big country? It's two and a half times the size of Texas. It's got 90 million people. And does that country break up into different countries? You know, there's a lot of different ethnic groups that make up the population of Iran. It's not clear that we've completely thought that through, and those are issues that are going to have to be dealt with. We would benefit from a unified Iran with a new government, but there's a lot of work that has to take place in order for that to happen in the future and sooner rather than later.

[Lisa Booth]

Quick break. Stay with us. If you like what you're hearing, please share on social media or send it to your family and friends,

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[Lisa Booth]

Okay, so for instance, like in Venezuela, it seems like Darcy sold out Maduro, right? But she also didn't want to get arrested or die. But when you're dealing with a lot of these IRGC commanders, I mean, they're Islamists, right? Like, they don't mind, like, suicide missions, they don't mind dying. They think they're going to get, like, these virgin, right? Like, it's, like it's sort of. It's in their religion, it's in their beliefs to pursue jihadism, right? Like you, you look at what they did via Hamas on October 7th. They have no problem with the slaughter of innocent people. They don't value human life like we do. So how does that make it more challenging to get, like, regime change or maybe to get some of these people to flip or to think reasonly or reasonably or logically? Like, I guess, how does that change the equation or add complexity and difficulty to the situation?

[Vice Admiral John W. Fozzie Miller]

There's no doubt that this religious fervor that the regime zealots bring to this fight is an issue. And it's different. Just as you described. You know, Darcy decides, hey, I don't want to end up like the old boss, so I'm going to be a better new boss, and I'm going to get along with the Americans. The regime officials aren't going to make that same. They're not going to come to the same conclusion. They are willing to die for the cause. And so we've got to be willing to either let that make that happen or marginalize them to a point where other powers come into effect inside Iran. And that's a difficult thing to do. One of the things that makes it very difficult is there's no obvious opposition. So if you go Back to the 79 revolution, the opposition, the Ayatollah Khomeini, was in France, and so there was someone for them to look toward outside the country that could help them overthrow the Shah. That individual doesn't really exist. In fact, I think the most popular public figure that we might consider could unify Iran in a post conflict, post regime world is the son of the old Shah. And that's not a very good choice for a lot of different reasons, not the least of which the old regime wasn't a great regime if you were a citizen of Iran. They were a very oppressive regime themselves. And he hasn't lived in the country in almost 50 years. So part of what a post regime Iran looks like is made difficult to understand because there isn't an obvious opposition that the people could unify around and say these, this is the person or this is the group of people that will lead us into the future, and it'll be a better future than what we've had with the current regime.

[Lisa Booth]

Well, and then also, how do you get an up, like a real uprising going when the people aren't armed? And then I know there has been recent reports and President Trump has talked about it as well, trying to arm the Kurds and get some of those weapons to the Iranian people. And instead, you know, the Kurds used it for themselves. And, you know, so it's like, how do you. It just sort of seems like we're in this quagmire right now where you've got sort of a regime that's built for resilience and like a decentralized nature that even if you take out some of these leaders, it's still built to last and not necessarily to win a battle, but just to survive. Oh, and then it seems like there's no clear path on our end to try to get either regime change or to get the Iranians to really negotiate and to abandon their nuclear options. And then we can't really do a full ground invasion because, you know, Iran is a large country with I think, like 90 million people. And, you know, they've been really successful with the drone attacks and these drone attacks and these swarm of drones would be basically like sending our people to slaughter. So it's like what, you know, it seems like we're sort of stuck. And so is this just going to be some long protracted war or like what we see in Ukraine and no side really wins and people just continue to die?

[Vice Admiral John W. Fozzie Miller]

Well, we really can't, as a global community, we can't endure a long protracted conflict like we're seeing right now in Ukraine. There's other ways to think about the revolution, and we tend to think of it as something that would look like the 79 revolution, which really had its heart and soul in Tehran and emanated outwards to the rest of the country. After the new regime took power, there was a previous revolution in Iran around the turn of the last century. So in the early 1900s that really came from the outside, from the far flung reaches of the country into the center. And if there's going to be a change in government, that's one of the ways that might happen. But in terms of anyone's ability to endure this in the long term, unless the US and then by definition other countries of the world are willing to say, okay, we're going to pay a toll to go through Strait of Hormuz, we're going to let the Iranian regime govern how this international strait operates. Unless we're willing to do that, we're going to have to solve it. And we do that by choking off the regime's money supply. I think that's the point where we've come to and we have to be willing to do it, and we have to be willing to do that quickly. There cannot be a compromise on this, because if we compromise on the Strait of Hormuz, that bleeds over into places like the South China Sea, where the Chinese regime, the Communist regime there, claims the entire South China Sea as territorial Chinese water, and they want us charged tolls for ships transiting through there. And about 60% of all global commerce goes through the South China Sea. So we can't equivocate on the principle of an open Strait of Hormuz, which means we have to do things differently. And we're at a point now. I don't want to say that we're stuck because what we need to do is think through the way to success and then act in that way. And that's why I don't think the ceasefire, the way it's currently operating represents any sort of long term solution or road to a long term solution that we're willing to accept. Because I don't see the regime coming into the table on Saturday in Pakistan and saying, you know, we are going to open up the strait because we said we would, because there's nothing that forces them to do that. And they're not going to do anything that we want them to do that they don't want to do unless we force them to do it.

[Lisa Booth]

And then, before we go, I wanted to ask you, you know, looking at that remarkable rescue mission, getting back not one, but two of our airmen behind any lines in Iran, what does that tell you about her capabilities? And then also, I would imagine that President Trump would have had to sign off on a mission like that. So what does that say about him and his leadership after signing off on these, like, daring and complex missions like the capture Maduro or even the rescue of these two airmen there?

[Vice Admiral John W. Fozzie Miller]

There are a couple takeaways from this rescue, which was a. Was a great event. The first takeaway is that everyone should know there isn't anything we won't do to try to rescue soldiers, sailors, airmen, US Service members that are, that are down behind enemy lines. I mean, it's not everything but the kitchen sink. It includes the kitchen sink. And we did that. It also shows what incredible capabilities and intelligence we have and the ability to coordinate across our governments. So this wasn't just a great military operation, though. It was, it was also a great information operation because the CIA understood the mission. They understood the mission in a nuanced way, and they were able to contribute to the confusion of the irgc, which allowed us to get our airmen out of the country. So we, we learned a lot of great things about that. And what we need to do is take those lessons and apply them to the current problem set that we have.

[Lisa Booth]

But I feel like, too, it just shows. Seems like you would know way better than me, obviously, considering I've never served, and certainly not, you know, a lot of people haven't served at your level. But it just seems like we've seen under President Trump just, like, more daring and complex missions than maybe we have in the past. And I wonder if that's just because President Trump's bold enough to sign off on it and maybe other leaders might have been too scared.

[Vice Admiral John W. Fozzie Miller]

Well, certainly, I think you're right when you say that this required presidential approval, certainly at least approval at the Secretary of Defense level. But I think in this particular case, it did require presidential approval. And when you look at the problem set, you say, okay, we have one airman down behind enemy lines. We're gonna put a couple of hundred other American service members in harm's way to go get that one American. And the risk is that we might lose, you know, 10 people, 15 people, 25 people just to try to save this one individual. It does take a lot of courage on the part of the President, on the part of any leader to make a decision in that regard. He needs good advice from his uniformed leadership, and clearly that's the case. He got good advice. We can do it. Here's the risk. But ultimately, the President has to make that decision, that risk decision, that he's going to put other American lives in danger to save this one American life. That says a lot about the President himself and his ability to make hard decisions under difficult circumstances. And then it says a lot about the military. Of course, to then follow through and to have been able to do that without losing anyone else was really quite extraordinary.

[Lisa Booth]

Well, and then also with all the criticism toward Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, I mean, it seems, you know, thus far that he's been making the right decisions and listening to the right people as well and sort of thinking through some of this stuff. And then real, real quick, before we go, I would imagine, too, like the no Man Left behind and really validating that in, as you pointed out, having so many troops involved to rescue one person, I imagine that that does a lot to boost morale in the military. That, like, we believe so much in the value of the men and women who are serving the military that we are willing to risk at all to rescue one man. And I wonder if that's also why we saw such high recruitment and what this might do to both morale in the military and then also with more people wanting to sign up to serve.

[Vice Admiral John W. Fozzie Miller]

Certainly this is a great example of the military ethos. And a key part of that, a fundamental part of service to our nation is the fact that it's a team of people that service that our brothers and sisters, we are all part of something bigger, something more important, something better. And the ethos is that we will do everything to save our brothers and sisters, to help each other to accomplish the mission and do so without ever forgetting about anybody, without ever leaving anyone behind. That ethos is really heart and soul part of the United States military. And it is one of the main reasons that people are drawn into this extraordinary community of people that are blessed to be able to serve, is that you serve with people that are selfless and that your welfare is more important to them than their own welfare. And does that help recruiting? Of course. Does it help morale? Of course. It's fundamental to who we are as a fighting organization.

[Lisa Booth]

Yeah, it makes me really proud to be an American. Well, Fazi, appreciate your service and thank you for coming on and breaking this all down for us and even appeasing my silly question about the Ayatollah.

[Vice Admiral John W. Fozzie Miller]

It was an honor to serve Lisa, and certainly great to be with you again.

[Lisa Booth]

All right, talk soon. I appreciate you. That was Vice Admiral John W. Fozzie Miller. Appreciate him for taking the time to come on the show. Appreciate you guys at home for listening every Tuesday and Thursday, but you can listen throughout the week. Also want to thank John Cassio for putting the show together. Until next time.

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