Newsmax guest: “We're supposed to be jumping down with joy that the strait is reopened, but guess what? The strait was opened before the war.”
Christian Whiton: “Every war scenario since 1979 has involved the Iranians closing the strait. And for one reason or another, this administration was not prepared for that.”
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Citation
From the June 22, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Carl Higbie: Frontline
CARL HIGBIE (HOST): Trump warned Iran, though, that it would actually cease to exist as a nation if it shut down the Strait of Hormuz again. They're claiming the United States could become guardian angel of it. Is — does Iran really internalize this? Are they still stuck in the, you know, we're protected by Allah or whatever weird thing they believe?
CHRISTIAN WHITON (GUEST): No. I don't think so. Because, the president frankly had threatened to do that multiple times, even going so far as to say we're imminently going destroy energy infrastructure on Kharg Island only to reverse himself hours later. The president has also said that the reason he brought this war to an end and signed the MOU is because he thought that global recession would ensue. He implied it would be the biggest recession since the Great Depression. So, this is a problem with the radical sort of whiplash communication style that the president has used during this war. The president of the United States really should never bluff, and he has. It's also the question of why we were never able to —
HIGBIE: You think he bluffed?
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HIGBIE: He bombed them back to the stone — you think he's bluffing?
WHITON: He didn't bomb back to the stone age. I mean, it was actually a very carefully crafted war program to avoid civilian casualties. And no, none of their energy infrastructure was hit. They have refineries right on the Strait of Hormuz that could be taken out, there's Kharg island. We never really prevented them from closing the strait. You know, we're supposed to be jumping down with joy that the strait is reopened, but guess what? The strait was opened before the war. And that's a real question. Why did they get the bad intelligence, or was it just bad judgment that the Iranians wouldn't close the strait? Because they went to war with that. Was that the DOD making bad advice? Was it bad advice for the intelligence bureaucracies? Did it come from another country? Because every war scenario since 1979 has involved the Iranians closing the strait. And for one reason or another, this administration was not prepared for that.
HIGBIE: Rebecca, I would say that, you know, definitively, whatever the MOU says, Iran still doesn't have a military anymore. We exploited China's supply lines. We know their weaknesses. We broke up OPEC. I mean, there's a lot of wins here besides the fact that Iran, you know, is finally now letting us inspect their nuclear dust.
REBECCA GRANT (GUEST): Leveling Iran's military is the major win of Operation Epic Fury. It's something that was never even contemplated under the JCPOA, and that air dominance and sea dominance is what allows us to enter into these negotiations. Hey, in my opinion, the US Navy already is the guardian of the Strait of Hormuz, and that means Iran understands one thing real well, and that's money. And Trump and Bessent can turn that on or off as they wish. Thank you, US Navy, US Joint Force for that.