James Stavridis on Iran Amid Deadly Attacks: Trump Has Three Options, and ‘None of Them Are Good’

RUSH EXCERPT:
STAVRIDIS: "Let‘s start by just taking a beat on two more dead Americans. Uh, brave men and women. Now up to 16. Whatever your tradition, I hope you raise a glass to them tonight. All volunteers. In terms of the president‘s options, Jake, I‘D say he has three options, and None of them are good. One, he can simply do pontius pilate and walk away from this. That would be a terrible outcome for the United States, for the gulf, for global trade. I don‘t think he‘s going to do it, but that certainly is an option. Option two he can go big. And I mean, back to the level of strikes we were at at the start. Uh, hundreds of strikes a day and amping up going after targets that put pressure on the Iranian economy. That would be a big military move, and that could include boots on the ground. That‘s a bad option because it‘s expensive and no one wants boots on the ground. And it just doesn‘t kind of add up for the American public. And then third, and finally, so, okay, admiral, where does he land? Probably with option three, which is what you‘re seeing, uh, increasing to some degree the kinetic activity, the bombs, uh, increasing economic sanction pain, hopefully getting our allies on side and above all, keeping the door open for negotiations. Some have called this, and I think it‘s accurate. Escalate to deescalate, to force them back to the table."