Fox analyst Jack Keane calls on Trump to “return to full combat operations and finish what we started” in Iran
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From the May 11, 2026, edition of Fox News' America's Newsroom
JACK KEANE (FOX NEWS ANALYST): Listen, President Trump is the ultimate backstop here. He's not gonna take a deal like this under any circumstances because he knows that this deal clearly favors Iran, and what a setback that would be for the Iranian people themselves and also for our national interest in the region.
I mean, they would take that money and do what with it? Recover their nuclear program, their ballistic missile program, and support for the proxies, the very thing we went into this war to stop. So where are we? Listen, President Trump likely get together with his team before he takes over to China, his national security team, and they'll look at the options. I think the most favorable option in front of us is really, after all of this time we have spent trying to negotiate a deal, recognize that a deal is not to be had that would meet our objectives.
Number one, return to full combat operations and finish what we started. We got somewhere between a week to two weeks. The president knows better than I. He just mentioned two weeks. That's Israeli full throttle, United States full throttle. Then open up the Straits of Hormuz. Going full throttle will help us reduce Iran's capability to retaliate against the Straits of Hormuz. And then we have an ace in the hole here that we should play, and that is Kharg Island. We're blocking all the oil distribution coming out of Kharg Island now. But we can tell the Iranians, because what they will want to do if we return to combat operations is retaliate against our allies and partners' oil and gas infrastructure.
Tell them if you begin to do that, then we will begin to dismantle or destroy parts of Kharg Island which could lead to the ultimate destruction of 80% of their revenue source. Right now it's being blocked. But blockading is one thing, destroying it is quite something else. And the last thing that clearly has to be done here is make certain that we do open the Straits of Hormuz, and we have the full capability to do that.
And I also think, Bill, that the CIA and the Mossad, if they haven't already, should brief the president in detail about two major points I think that they can handle. This is in their lane, it's their business. Undermine the Iranian regime going forward, and all the subtext to what that would mean, and also what assistance can we provide to the Iranian people in terms of their resistance against that regime. There is no internal pressure on Iran right now. But as we weaken Iran, both militarily and economically, yes, that regime will begin to fracture. Not necessarily collapse immediately, but in time, and the CIA can help accelerate that time frame leading to the eventual collapse of the regime.