Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the Trump administration’s military campaign against Iran is designed to permanently weaken the regime’s ability to threaten the United States and its allies.
According to Fox News, while appearing on the outlet’s “Special Report” with Bret Baier, Rice described Operation Epic Fury as a coordinated U.S.-Israeli effort to dismantle Iran’s military infrastructure and its network of proxy forces across the region.
“Iran has been at war with us for at least 47 years,” she explained. “If you ask people about Iraq, what was the source of many of our casualties in Iraq, you’ll get estimates as high as 75 or 80% of them were due to Iranian-made roadside bombs.”
Rice, who served as national security adviser and later secretary of state under former President George W. Bush, argued that Iran has long extended its reach beyond its borders through allied militant groups.
“They also have developed the military capability to reach outside the boundaries of Iran, including Hezbollah and Hamas, which they both arm and equip,” Rice said.
Operation Epic Fury has involved more than 50,000 troops, 200 fighter aircraft and two aircraft carriers, according to U.S. Central Command.
Officials have said six American service members have been killed and 20 Iranian ships have been struck or sunk during the operation.
The joint campaign follows failed diplomatic efforts to rein in Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
“To say that this regime was not a threat … it’s ahistorical,” Rice said. “They have been a threat for a long time.”
Rice emphasized that the operation is not the start of a new war but an effort to degrade Iran’s military capacity and disrupt coordination with groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas.
“If you can render Iran essentially incapable of military action against us and against our allies, that’s worthy,” she said. “And I think what they’re trying to do is to neuter Iran as a military power in the region.”
She added that Iran is currently in a weakened position.
“They are essentially, at this moment, defenseless,” Rice asserted. “They won’t always be defenseless, and so the decision is to really, at this point, take care of it and render them incapable of those activities.”
