The Pentagon's Plan To Cripple Iran & Red Sea Coalition

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**Mike Baker** (0:42)
It's Friday, the 31st of July. The end of another work week and the end of another month. As they say, time flies when you have multiple global conflicts and crises. Actually, I'm not sure who says that. Welcome to the President's Daily Brief. I'm Mike Baker, your eyes and ears on the world stage. All right, let's get briefed. First up, new reporting reveals that the Pentagon is weighing a dramatic expansion of the war with Iran, including a proposal for up to two weeks of sustained airstrikes aimed at crippling the regime's remaining missile capabilities. I'll explain what's under consideration. Later in the show, as Houthi attacks continue to disrupt shipping, Saudi Arabia is pushing for a new multinational naval coalition to secure the Red Sea.
Plus, US investigators now believe that Iranian hackers were likely behind a cyber attack targeting dozens of municipal water systems in Minnesota, raising fears that the conflict with the Iranian regime is expanding into America's critical infrastructure. And in today's Back of the Brief, it's been a month since devastating earthquakes rocked Venezuela, but experts warn that the country's biggest challenges may just be starting. But first, today's PDB Spotlight.
After Iran's surprise missile attack on American forces in Jordan earlier this week, President Trump now faces a decision. Should the US simply retaliate and continue talking about negotiations and that very elusive agreement to end the conflict, or should they dramatically expand the war?
Now, according to a new report from the Wall Street Journal, that debate is already underway inside the Pentagon, where senior military leaders have presented the president with options, ranging from another limited response to a sustained air campaign that could last as long as two weeks. At the center of that discussion is Admiral Brad Cooper, the commander of US Central Command. That's the military command responsible for American operations across the Middle East. According to the Journal, Cooper has been quietly arguing for months now that the first phase of the war ended before the military had fully achieved its objectives.
After Iran has once again demonstrated that it retains a significant missile capability, Cooper reportedly believes that the US has an opportunity to finish the job. To understand that argument, it's worth looking back at how we got here. When the US and Israel launched their joint campaign against Iran earlier this year, the stated primary objective wasn't to occupy territory or overthrow the regime. Instead, it was to cripple Tehran's ability to threaten its neighbors and American forces by destroying its missile launchers and production facilities, command centers and Revolutionary Guard infrastructure. The narrative, of course, then became all about preventing Iran from ever having a nuclear weapon.
That bombing campaign inflicted significant damage, that is very true. Following the April ceasefire, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth publicly described Iran's missile force as, quote, functionally destroyed. But functionally destroyed did not mean completely eliminated. Admittedly, the messaging coming from the White House talked about obliterating or decimating the Iranian military. Well, clearly, that was not the case. It's a reminder that it's probably best to pick and parse words carefully when describing military operations, objectives and results.
Comments about having obliterated the Iranian military notwithstanding, American intelligence assessed that Iran had in fact retained a significant portion of its missile arsenal and launchers along with enough surviving infrastructure to continue attacks. And that's exactly what happened. Earlier this month, Iranian missiles killed American troops stationed in Jordan. Then just this week, Tehran launched another surprise missile attack against US forces, prompting the latest round of American airstrikes. For Admiral Cooper, according to the Journal's reporting, those attacks reinforce a conclusion that he's reached for some time. The original campaign simply ended too soon. The Journal reports that Cooper had originally believed he needed roughly six weeks of sustained operations to substantially dismantle Iran's military capabilities. Instead, the ceasefire halted the campaign after little more than a month. Now Cooper is reportedly advocating for what amounts to a second phase of that air campaign. A 10- to 14-day operation targeting Iran's remaining missile forces, drone facilities, command centers and Revolutionary Guard assets. The logic behind that proposal is relatively straightforward. Rather than continuing to intercept Iranian missiles one by one, Cooper reportedly believes the US should further degrade Iran's ability to launch those attacks in the first place.