On Friday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Fast Money,” Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Wesley Clark (Ret.) said that “Israel is not going to trust the United States if Iran strikes. It can’t, because look at what’s happening in Gaza right now with the pressure between the United States and Israel.” And “Iran has to feel like they’re kind of winning right now. They’ve got the United States and Israel at odds, Hamas has survived, you’ve got the whole world down on the Israelis for what’s gone on in Gaza. This was part of the plan.”
Clark said, “The United States doesn’t want the escalation. The United States would like Israel to trust it. But Israel is not going to trust the United States if Iran strikes. It can’t, because look at what’s happening in Gaza right now with the pressure between the United States and Israel. But bottom line on this is, if Iran does something, my instinct is that it’s going to be something relatively minor, something indirect, something the Iranians can — the mullahs can cheer about, but not something that could be directly attributed to Iran, maybe a strike on an embassy somewhere by some unknown terrorist group, something like that. If they really strike Israel, you will have escalation and Iran will definitely be the loser.”
Later, he added, “Iran has to feel like they’re kind of winning right now. They’ve got the United States and Israel at odds, Hamas has survived, you’ve got the whole world down on the Israelis for what’s gone on in Gaza. This was part of the plan. This was the plan from the beginning for Hamas, to draw the Israelis in and then accuse them of creating a humanitarian catastrophe. That’s what the world sort of sees right now. And so, if you’re the Iranians, why shake the tree? Let it play out. So, that’s me trying to think like the mullahs might think.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
