Retired Adm. William McRaven told Martha Raddatz on ABC’s “This Week” that the U.S. is “not really that much better off” than before the attack on Iran. McRaven, the former head of U.S. Special Operations Command under President Obama, said: “Yes, we have sunk their navy. Yes, we have destroyed their air force. Yes, we have taken out a lot of their leadership, but I’m not sure we’re a lot better off.” But the fact of the matter is we’re not really that much better off now than we were before February 28th, he continued. “It took over two years to negotiate the JCPOA. So this idea that somehow we will negotiate, you know, a very challenging nuclear deal with the Iranians, I think 30 days is way too compressed of time.” “So if the President wants to get to a position where we are better off, [Trump] needs to bring them to the table, and my recommendation is he can make the blockade — you know, make it a carrot rather than a stick. Get the Iranians to the table and then go from there.”

MARTHS RADDATZ, ABC NEWS: You heard what Ambassador Waltz said, and I especially want to talk about — they say there is no — that the ceasefire has not been violated. As you look at what — I see you laughing already. As you look at this situation, and again this morning we’ve had drones launched from Iran, has the ceasefire been violated? ADM. WILLIAM MCRAVEN, FORMER U.S. SPECIAL OPERATIONS COMMANDER: Yes, well, of course, the ceasefire has been violated, Martha. Anytime you have rounds being exchanged, then that’s a violation of the ceasefire. Now, I understand Ambassador Waltz’s position. At the end of the day, this is about hopefully getting the Iranians to agree to the proposal, and therefore, you know, we want to downplay this exchange of fire. But, I mean, in technical terms, of course, the ceasefire has been, you know, has been put aside. The fact of the matter is, when you’re shooting at each other, then you no longer have a ceasefire. RADDATZ: And how do you think the Iranians are taking this when they see what’s happened, and, OK, we can keep firing these things? It appears that they are keeping on that. MCRAVEN: You know, of course. You know, this is — and we’re at an interesting point right now. We’re at this impasse, and if I were advising the president, I would tell him to look towards your strategic goals. I mean, at the end of the day, he wants to get the Strait open back up. He wants to have some sort of agreement on the nuclear enrichment of the uranium. So if you want to do that, you’re going to have to get the Iranians to the negotiating table. And he has one ability — or his real one leverage point is this blockade. And the blockade has been working. So if I were the president, I would go to the Iranians and say, look, I will lift the blockade if you will open the straits and come to the negotiating table. By doing that, one, he can always put the blockade back in place. This is something with a flip of a switch, he can put the blockade back in place if the Iranians don’t come to the negotiating table or if they don’t open the straits. But you’re not going to get any further along where we are right now unless they come to the table and we begin to have these discussions about some of the hard and serious issues. RADDATZ: And some of those hard and serious issues, the number one is some sort of nuclear agreement, and that has a 30-day period right now to get that done. Is that realistic to you? MCRAVEN: Yes, I don’t think it is. The fact is, you know, it took over two years to negotiate the JCPOA. So this idea that somehow we will negotiate, you know, a very challenging nuclear deal with the Iranians, I think 30 days is way too compressed of time. RADDATZ: Do you see the Iranians giving up that enriched uranium? We’ve heard President Trump say it doesn’t matter. Then we’ve heard him say we’re going to get it back. Is it important? MCRAVEN: Yes, of course, it’s important. I mean, the fact of the matter is they’ve got about 970 pounds of highly enriched uranium. It would not take them long if they have the ability to do that to produce enough uranium to build a bomb. Yes, I think what the American people have to ask themselves, Martha, is, you know, are we better off now than we were before February 28th? And I think that’s open for some serious debate. The fact is, before February 28th, the straits were open. You had a — you know, not a moderate regime, but the regime, you know, right now is much more hard line than before February 28th, and I get — my guess is that they were moving towards an enrichment. I don’t think they had a nuclear weapon. I don’t think it was, you know, coming about imminently. But the fact of the matter is we’re not really that much better off now than we were before February 28th. Yes, we have sunk their navy. Yes, we have destroyed their air force. Yes, we have taken out a lot of their leadership, but I’m not sure we’re a lot better off. So if the President wants to get to a position where we are better off, he needs to bring them to the table, and my recommendation is he can make the blockade — you know, make it a carrot rather than a stick. Get the Iranians to the table and then go from there. RADDATZ: I want to ask you a question about the girls’ school that was bombed on the first day. There is an investigation underway, 170 people were killed. The U.S. was bombing in that area. Obviously, we would never have done that on purpose, but mistakes can be made. Is it normal for an investigation to take this long? And how important is it that we own up to mistakes if we made them? MCRAVEN: Yes, well, I think it’s very important that we own up to mistakes. I mean, the fact of the matter is, this is who we are as Americans. Look, we hold people accountable, or we certainly should hold people accountable. And to your point, Martha, look, this was clearly a mistake. Mistakes do happen. I mean, I’ve been involved in mistakes like this, not quite this serious, but in Iraq and Afghanistan. You feel terrible about innocent civilians being killed. But you do a very thorough investigation, and then you hold people accountable. That doesn’t mean you have to end their careers or destroy them, but there has to be some level of accountability when you have an accident like this. RADDATZ: Is it taking longer than usual? MCRAVEN: Well, I don’t know the details of it, but, you know, it was frankly pretty clear from the very beginning that we were probably responsible. But again, I don’t know the details of how this whole thing unfolded. It seems to be taking longer than I would think. But again, not being in the inner circle, I can’t tell you whether this is too long or not.

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