{"id":278838,"date":"2026-02-07T10:47:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T10:47:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/278838\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T10:47:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T10:47:14","slug":"ex-centcom-official-iran-unprepared-for-middle-east-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/278838\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-CENTCOM official: Iran unprepared for Middle East war"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Islamic regime<\/a> is on the brink of \u201ccollapse,\u201d retired Vice-Admiral Robert Harward, the former deputy commander of US Central Command (CENTCOM), told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday night.<\/p>\n

Harward, who now serves as a senior advisor to The Jewish Institute for National Security of America\u2019s Iran Policy Project, shared that the recent aggression shown by the regime is \u201cthe same game plan Iran has had for decades,\u201d but that it was little more than a failed attempt to display strength.<\/p>\n

The US military shot down an Iranian drone<\/a> that approached the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier<\/a> in the Arabian Sea last week, according to US officials. In a separate incident, six Iranian gunboats approached a US-flagged oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, according to maritime sources and a security consultancy, and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps later claimed to have seized two vessels<\/a> from near Farsi Island.<\/p>\n

In a package with the military aggression, senior officials in the Islamic regime have shared inflammatory rhetoric threatening to drag the entire region into war. The threats come amid allegations of international interference and Tehran\u2019s brutal mass killing of protesters.<\/p>\n

Iran has \u201calways harassed US warships in the region. And some of this is just a continuation, but some of it is clearly aligned to what’s going on with either the negotiations and the anticipation of strikes or other actions against Iran.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Vice-AdmiralVice-Admiral (ret.) Robert Harward, pictured in 2011 when he was Deputy Commander of US Central Command. (credit: US Military\/CENTCOM\/via WIKIMEDIA COMMONS)<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are all somewhat Tactical Operations intended to harass and reinforce the limited power that the Iranian government and the IRGC,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

Oman\u2019s foreign minister, Badr al-Busaidi<\/a>, held separate meetings with Iran\u2019s Abbas Araghchi, as well as US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner on Friday.<\/p>\n

According to Oman\u2019s Foreign Ministry, \u201cThe consultations focused on preparing the appropriate conditions for resuming diplomatic and technical negotiations, while emphasising their importance, in light of the parties\u2019 determination to ensure their success in achieving sustainable security and stability.\u201d<\/p>\n

Three Iranian officials and one Arab official confirmed to The New York Times on Thursday that the discussions would address Iran\u2019s ballistic missiles and its use of proxy terror groups.<\/p>\n

While regional players have expressed concern about the regional conflict, Harward assured that \u201cpast operations, the Israeli strike on the nuclear facilities with US support and US participation, the neutering of Iran’s surface-to-air missile threats illustrates how weak the regime is.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tehran ‘grasping at last straw’<\/p>\n

The recent aggression displayed by the regime is likely just Tehran \u201cgrasping at the last straw.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked whether the regime posed any real threat to US forces or allies in the region, Harward answered, \u201cnot in a strategic sense, just very tactical.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf they were to escalate and kind of their last remaining spear, be it missiles, be it strategic or tactical, dependent on the range, that would really bring escalation to the point that Iran is not prepared to deal with\u2026 so they’re playing poker,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Tehran\u2019s mass killing of protesters and widespread human rights violations, Harward expressed faith that US President Donald Trump would honor his promise to the Iranian people.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn his recent announcement, he said he stands behind the Iranian people\u2026 \u00a0to support them and help is on the way. So he’s made it clear that these violations, these mass murderings [of ]10 to 20,000 people are intolerable, and I think at the end of the day, that’s the main theme in Iran,\u201d he shared.<\/p>\n

Asked specifically what support he thought Trump would offer the protesters, he admitted there was a range of routes the US administration could take. \u00a0The US could \u201cprovide communications and intelligence to those who are opposing the regimes, couldprovide them arms, could provide them other means that are more covert or below the line, kind of like the way Iran has been addressing [the US] asymmetrically,\u201d he listed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this administration has those same sort of options on the table, and I’d be surprised if they’re not already pursuing them to influence the regime, much less lead to regime change. I think all those options are on the table,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n

Noting Harward\u2019s claims on the regime\u2019s weakened states, the Post asked why then the US and Israel didn\u2019t kill Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in June during the 12-Day War that followed Operation Rising Lion. Answering this, Harward said that destroying the regime took more than killing a single figurehead.<\/p>\n

It is important to \u201cunderstand how important not just the regime leadership is, but the apparatus is. Those entities within the regime, be it the IRGC, be it the Basijj and other elements that can still, with a change of leadership, be anxious to fill that void,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

Harward, who spent many of his teenage years in Tehran before the Islamic regime seized power in 1979, said that the regime\u2019s mistreatment of civilians over the past 46 years had ensured that the population couldn\u2019t be radicalized despite the ayatollah\u2019s efforts to indoctrinate the masses.<\/p>\n

While Tehran has used past conflicts, such as the Iraq war and wars with the US and Israel, to \u201cgalvanize \u00a0and draw nationalism\u201d at the regime\u2019s benefit, Harward said \u201cthe population realizes now that those are all kinds of shams, tools the regime was using to stay in power, and they are now demanding something else, because how counterproductive that has been.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile this regime has used its resources to export the Revolution by building up surrogates, by funding surrogates, building up a military capability to fight, they’ve completely missed the mark in providing for the Iranian people,\u201d he continued. \u201cAllowing them to have a life that they can afford to live and feed their families, kids go to school. I think they’ve realized how the government failed\u2026 So another confrontation with Israel or the United States on that scale, I think, would result in imminent regime collapse or change.\u201d<\/p>\n

The water crisis, the millions killed in wars, and the high inflation are \u201cthe counterbalance to the indoctrination,\u201d he said, evidencing his claims with the widespread protests.<\/p>\n

The regime\u2019s collapse may be helped along by the Trump administration, Harward said, noting that it was remarkably different leadership from the more conflict-averse governments the US has seen in recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI predict the regime will collapse, the sooner and better in my opinion, but I just don’t know how long,\u201d he shared.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my humble opinion, regime collapse is imminent. It’s no longer a matter of if. It’s just a matter of when.\u201d Harward had no doubt that the regime\u2019s fall would bring prosperity to the Iranian people and peace to the region. \u201cThe fall of the regime would mean\u2026 stability, a lot greater peace and prosperity. If you take the amount of oil reserves, the intellectual capacity, and just overall capacity of people, this region becomes one of the most prosperous in the world,\u201d he hypothesized.<\/p>\n

Fraidy Moser and Jerusalem Post Staff contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Islamic regime is on the brink of \u201ccollapse,\u201d retired Vice-Admiral Robert Harward, the former deputy commander of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278839,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[16097,47994,42,87,93,53065,79845,55,21453,43,3336,40,38,41,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-278838","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-ayatollah-ali-khamenei","9":"tag-centcom","10":"tag-headlines","11":"tag-iran","12":"tag-iran-nuclear-deal","13":"tag-irgc","14":"tag-islamic-regime","15":"tag-islamic-republic","16":"tag-islamic-revolutionary-guard-corps","17":"tag-news","18":"tag-tehran","19":"tag-top-news","20":"tag-top-stories","21":"tag-topnews","22":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}