Former U.S. Navy SEAL Jonathan Gilliam joined ‘Fox & Friends First’ to discuss what he sees as the ‘common denominator’ to the Biden administration’s response to attacks in the Middle East and how it will serve as a ‘litmus test’ in 2024. According to a U.S. official, the drone from an Iranian proxy that killed 3 American service members in Jordan and injured others managed to bypass air defenses for Tower 22 because it was mistaken for a U.S. drone expected to return to the base at the same time. The Wall Street Journal first reported on this development on Monday. President Biden has pledged to take action against Iranian-backed militants in the Middle East following the drone attack at Tower 22, a post in Jordan near Syria’s border, over the weekend.
Rep. Mike Waltz, R-Fla., who serves on the House Armed Services, Foreign Affairs, and Intelligence committees and is a former U.S. Army special forces commander, expressed his concern that Iran “has gotten the message loud and clear that they can get away with it.” He further criticized the administration’s response, stating, “To the extent we do respond, it will be feckless. We’re bombing empty warehouses in the middle of the night so that the administration can check the box to look like they’re doing something in response, but they’re still beholden to this appeasement strategy when it comes to Iran.”
Waltz also commented on the revelation that the Jordan base mistook the drone for its own, stating that further briefings are needed to understand what happened. He questioned whether the defensive measures failed or if the Iranians had reverse-engineered their drones. He also raised concerns about the sustainability of shooting down inexpensive drones with costly missiles, urging the Pentagon to address this issue.
“This is a broader issue of how we have to adjust in the tactical space, but strategically, we have a fundamental misunderstanding of deterrents in this administration,” Waltz added. “They’re so obsessed with non-escalation that it’s actually inviting escalation, and now people are dead because of it.”
The Iranian government has denied any involvement in the drone attack and the deaths of U.S. soldiers, dismissing the claims as “baseless.”
As this is a developing story, further updates are expected. Danielle Wallace, a reporter for Fox News, will continue to cover this topic. For any tips or information related to this story, she can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter: @danimwallace.
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