eir.news/2026/06/news/chas-f…
Retired U.S. Ambassador Chas Freeman argued in a June 12 interview with The Watch Eye YouTube channel that, as a result of their failure to achieve their military objectives in Iran, the U.S. and Israel can no longer operate in Southwest Asia with impunity. “Israel and the United States, but mostly Israel, could do whatever it wanted because it had a qualitative edge militarily and was backed by the United States. So it could bomb its neighbors, it could murder people, conduct massacres in Lebanon and so forth with no fear of retaliation, effective retaliation. But that era is over,” he said. “Iran has now declared openly that it will retaliate for any attack on the elements of the resistance that it supports. This includes Ansar Allah in the Houthis in Yemen, who have now re-instituted, they say, a blockade against Israeli-affiliated shipping in the Red Sea. It includes Hezbollah in Lebanon, it includes Hamas, which is in Gaza.”
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Freeman noted that “Israel is conducting a very aggressive ethnic cleansing campaign in the West Bank and we’ve just been informed that the number of Palestinians who’ve been murdered by settlers over the past two years is unprecedentedly large. It’s over 1,200 people, about one-fifth of whom are children. So Israel now faces retaliation for anything it does.
“And the United States, which has been aiding and abetting Israel, also faces retaliation.”
When the US helicopter went down in the Strait of Hormuz, “Donald Trump intuitively bombed Iran, not to much effect,” Freeman said. “Iran’s retaliation was swift and it began with the destruction of a key radar in Bahrain, which is essential to the defense of Bahrain and Kuwait and American military operations in the region. And it also bombed Israel. And so what we now have is a clear pattern where any aggressive action by either Israel or the United States will be subject to retaliation, and not just any retaliation.”
“Whatever happens, I think the United States has been humiliated. And more to the point, Israel cannot ever again count on the United States to join it in attacking Iran,” Freeman added. “The costs are just too high,” and this was why Trump backed down from his threat to attack and take Kharg Island. “First, if there was indeed some progress in the talks, that would justify holding off. But more important, I believe the U.S. military told him that it would be catastrophic to do what he proposed to do. There would be huge American casualties in any infantry operation in Kharg Island or elsewhere in Iran.”
Freeman makes clear that, all-in-all, continuing the war would be a disaster for everybody – Trump, Netanayhu and the Gulf Arabs – and for the global economy.