Dem Rep. Auchincloss: Iran Is Winning the Escalation Ratchet and We’re Desperate To Go Back to the Status Quo Before the War Started

EXCERPT:

AUCHINCLOSS: "First of all, I don‘t know what that means. I mean, every 12 hours, it‘s a roller coaster, which is no way to conduct sensitive diplomacy. He‘s lost control of the situation. That‘s what it comes down to, is he started an illegal war, didn‘t consult Congress, didn‘t consult his allies, didn‘t have a plan. And what‘s happened is now we‘re in an escalation ratchet in which the president is trying to vertically escalate, meaning put more and more effects on target, but we‘re running dangerously low on munitions. And then Iran is countering by horizontally escalating, meaning that it‘s bringing this war into the rest of the region by pulling in infrastructure in other countries, including the Strait, into the escalation ratchet. Iran is winning that escalation ratchet, such that the United States is now desperately trying just to get back to the status quo before the war started, which was a free and open Strait of Hormuz. I think this president will fail in that endeavor. I think Iran and Oman are likely to be able to toll the Strait of Hormuz. And the net effect for Americans is higher prices, less security."