'Epic Fury' under US crossfire. Former adviser to President Trump undoes his decisions: 'It's like mowing the grass'
The latest decisions made by Donald Trump, culminating in the way Operation Epic Fury is being conducted, are being criticized even by John Bolton, one of his former security advisers.
The Shahran oil depot was hit by the Americans and Israelis. PHOTO: AFP
Operation Epic Furry is causing reactions among policy analysts around the world, and in many cases the reactions are not positive. This is also the case of John Bolton, a well-known American diplomat, former National Security Advisor (2018–2019) under the presidency of Donald Trump. and US Ambassador to the United Nationse (2005–2006) under George W. Bush. Although he is generally known as a “hawk” of foreign policy (hardliner), often supporting aggressive positions and regime change in countries such as Iran, North Korea or Venezuela, Bolton criticizes Trump's actions in one of the most watched podcasts in the US – The Trump Report.
He a certain lack of firmness on the part of Trump and does not hesitate to criticize this aspect. John Bolton believes that Donald Trump should give the green light to much more aggressive actions and that he is unnecessarily hesitating in the hope that the Iranians will give in.
“You know, he extended the deadline for escalating attacks on energy infrastructure to April 6 to give a chance to the Iran-US negotiations, which he says are happening but haven't been in person. It could start today. We're only on the 2nd (nr- the date this podcast was made). It's a few days away. But you're certainly not going to get an agreement through an exchange of postcards through middlemen. So we should say that the short-term outlook on this point is that we will escalating the attacks and that the war will continue for another two or three weeks. As he said, I think the markets read it the same way. That's why oil went up and stocks went down this morning.” Bolton said.
Regime change in Tehran, mandatory
On this occasion, the former advisor to the president analyzed Trump's speech about the war with Iran, and a first criticism came due to the fact that, the expert claims, regime change in Tehran, now denied by the Americans, would be the only solution. His main argument is that simply destroying nuclear equipment is not enough. That's because, he says, Iranian scientists can always rebuild the nuclear program.
“Here's the real dilemma: Even if we dismantled every piece of equipment used in the nuclear program and removed all the enriched uranium we could find, Iran and its scientists and technicians still they have the intellectual capacity to start the program over. And if the regime stays in power, that's what they will do. Now they have suffered a lot of damage, but they have the expertise to put it back together. And that's why regime change is necessary, because until you have a regime that says 'we don't want nuclear weapons,' we're in danger,” he also said.
Bolton also referred to the 12-day war in 2025, when the Americans heavily bombed Iran's nuclear sites. The expert compared that operation to mowing the grass. Concretely, John Bolton used the metaphor of mowing the lawn to describe the limited attacks which, in his view, only postpone the resolution of the problem in Iran.
Trump's actions compared to mowing the lawn
“Well, it's a case again… last year's 12-day war was a 'grass-cutting' operation. There is nothing wrong with mowing the grass, unless you recognize that if you are prepared to do it endlessly, there may come a day when you mow the wrong grass and wake up the next morning to find that the Ayatollahs have nuclear weapons. So it's really a process of logic: Once you say the regime itself is the problem, the only long-term solution—and it's not just about these threats, it's about peace and stability in the Middle East as a whole—is to keep Russia and China out by separating them from their proxies, the ayatollahs. And it would have been easier to do that a long time ago, but this is as good a time as any, given how disaffected the Iranian people are and how alienated they are from the regime, how unpopular the regime is, and why, with assistance from us, they could, in a situation of regime collapse, change the regime.” Bolton thinks.
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Moreover, he believes that Trump is insecure and that he does not have a very clear strategy. Here, the expert comes up with the example of blocking the Strait of Hormuz, which would have surprised Trump, although this option of Iran should have been known to him and anticipated.
Otherwise, the United States would now be forced to break the Iranian blockade and open the Strait of Hormuz to international traffic. Otherwise, the expert believes, if the Americans withdraw without reopening the strait, this would amount to a great strategic defeat, and Iran, Russia and China would gain a dominant position in the Middle East.
“I think it would establish Iran as the dominant force in the region. That's why the Saudis and the Emiratis and others are rightfully so concerned. And I think it would give the China-Russia axis the dominant position in the Middle East. We've been trying to keep the Russians out of the Middle East since 1945. And Trump is basically inviting them back and now he's inviting China. So to leave without solving the problem of opening the Gulf and the Straits would be a massive strategic defeat for the United States. It would have negative implications around the world, because other allies would say, “if you don't understand that it was a defeat for you to leave without removing the problem of closing the straits, then what will you do with us when our time of restraint comes?” So that would be the ultimate mistake they would make. This would of course have ripple effects all over the world”he warned.
Trump's anger at NATO, heavenly hand for Putin
Trump's threats and criticisms of NATO did not escape John Bolton either. All this would be, in his opinion, a fatal mistake that would give Vladimir Putin exactly what he wants – freedom of action and greater power to threaten and hold the whole of Europe under pressure.
At the end, he was asked by the producer of the podcast, journalist Maddie Hale, where he would take the repeated threats against NATO.
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“That's another big mistake. He can weaken NATO, maybe fatally, without withdrawing. But I could say he can unilaterally withdraw. That's the president's prerogative. There's a statute that says he needs House and Senate approval for that. That's unconstitutional. And I speak as someone who helped negotiate presidents' exit from many treaties. They didn't like the 1972 ABM treaty. George W. Bush withdrew from the treaty The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty that Trump withdrew from. We didn't need their approval to withdraw. And if Trump withdraws, he's going to say, 'Sue me.'John Bolton concluded.
“The Trump Report,” the podcast critical of the president
The Trump Report is a video podcast (mainly broadcast on YouTube and social media) produced by the UK's Daily Express media group. Despite the fact that the name suggests a pro-Trump orientation, the show is actually very critical of the current administration and often invites harsh Trump critics like John Bolton to dissect the current president's decisions. The podcast is extremely popular among those who follow geopolitics in real time, providing “hot” analysis after major events (presidential speeches, military attacks).
Maddie Hale is a British journalist and presenter, known for her collaborations with UK and US political analysis platforms. She stood out for her direct interview style, focused on getting quick reactions from controversial political figures.
