‘Nobody else responsible’: Former CIA chief Panetta blames Trump for Iran crisis

Trump solely responsible for Iran crisis

Former US defence secretary and CIA director Leon Panetta has sharply criticised President Donald Trump over the escalating crisis with Iran, saying the President is entirely responsible for the situation.

“He’s facing a very tough issue, which is: does he go to expand the war by trying to get the strait of Hormuz open so that he can eliminate that leverage and maybe be able to ultimately negotiate with Iran? Or does he just simply walk away and declare victory, although everybody will clearly understand that he’s failed?” Panetta told The Guardian.

“It’s a very tough position he’s in right now but nobody else is responsible for where he’s at than Donald Trump,” he added.

Panetta, who served in the administrations of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, criticised the President’s approach, saying: “He tends to be naive about how things can happen. If he says it and keeps saying it there’s always a hope that what he says will come true. But that’s what kids do. It’s not what presidents do.”

Trump launched the war on February 28, seeking a decisive strike, and initially gained air supremacy alongside Israel following the death of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Yet the conflict has persisted. According to Panetta: “We replaced an old guy, a supreme leader who was near death at a time when the people of Iran were willing to take to the streets with the hope that they could ultimately change their way of government. And instead today we have a more entrenched regime, we have a younger supreme leader who’s going to be there a while, and he’s much more of a hardliner than the first supreme leader. That didn’t turn out too well.”

The crisis intensified after Iran blocked the Strait of Hormuz in retaliation to US and Israeli strikes. Trump warned that the United States would “obliterate” Iranian power plants if the strait is not reopened quickly.

“This is not rocket science to understand that if you’re going to conduct a war with Iran, one of the great vulnerabilities is the strait of Hormuz, and [it] could create an immense oil crisis that could drive the price of fuel sky-high,” Panetta said. He criticised the administration for failing to anticipate such consequences, adding that Trump’s only real option to declare success is tied to achieving a ceasefire — something impossible while Iran maintains control over the strait.

Panetta also pointed to Trump’s strained alliances, noting that NATO and European partners may now be the only route to reopening the strait. “If you’re planning a war, it’s not a bad idea to talk to your allies. Alliances are important… But he [Trump] takes a callous approach to alliances and now he suddenly finds himself in a place where he’s got to turn to allies, to NATO and to others, all of whom he certainly hasn’t treated well in his presidency, to try to help bail him out,” Panetta said.

Urging the President to abandon “magical thinking,” Panetta said: “There’s no question there’s going to be lives lost and it’s clearly going to expand the war but I don’t see the alternative. He’s got to do it… This is a test of whether the United States can be able to deal with that situation which otherwise is not only going to prolong the war but create a lot of economic damage to the United States with those soaring fuel prices and cause what some have said is a potential worldwide recession.”