“...we are not going to be baited into fighting Iran.”
Iran wants to bait you. It’s seizing oil tankers. If you don’t take that bait, they’ll seize another naval vessel. If that doesn’t work, they’ll sink a naval vessel. Sooner or later, they will get a war with you. This is ancient Roman wisdom. “He that wants peace must prepare for war”. Note the double meaning.
If you want peace, you either must be strong enough that nobody will dare mess with you, or you better prepare for war, because you’ll have one.
I submit to you, America is no longer strong, because of Afghanistan, because of halting oil and gas production, because the supply lines still run through China, because America has been squandering resources on a war of attrition in Ukraine instead of giving them the resources to win quickly and decisively, and because your CIC is Brandon.
So you will have a war. Turning the other cheek is a sure way to get one. Spreading the other cheeks guarantees it.
The idea of Iran attacking the United States is ludicrous.