President Donald Trump warned that U.S. forces were preparing to take control of Kharg Island in a major escalation of the war in Iran, and a national security expert denounced his statements as "unhinged" and unnecessarily risky.
The 79-year-old president posted on Truth Social that U.S. forces would be "hitting Iran ... very hard tonight" and seizing the country's oil and gas markets on the Persian Gulf island.
Former Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh told CNN's "The Situation Room" that his statements were reckless.
"This post isincredibly unhinged andincredibly dangerous," said Singh, the former deputy press secretary for the Defense Department. "It ispreviewing U.S. military actionbefore it actually takes place,which puts the lives of ourpilots at risk, our Navy and Marines, our sailors and Marineswho are operating in that areaof responsibility just outside of Iran. So previewing militaryaction before it's actuallyhappened, one, you're losing theelement of surprise, and two,you're putting our troops atrisk."
"You'll rememberjust a few weeks ago, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the war hasconcluded," she added. "This is clearly notthe case, as we're seeing theceasefire is not holding – we'reback at kinetic action. So, Ithink, you know, to say that thewar is even concluded back thenwas was a silly statement, andnow it's proven so even moreso."
Singh suggested the president didn't appreciate what a massive undertaking the operation would be.
"Taking Kharg Island would require somany capabilities and resourcesthat the U.S. is continuing todraw down every single day,including long-rangecapabilities, and it's not justtaking Kharg Island, which weknow is the crown jewel of Iran's oil hub and exporting. It's also holding Kharg Island.Essentially, our military wouldhave to hold that, and it wouldrequire an incredible groundforce that would basically besitting ducks for Iran to targetif they have to. For how long?For however long they have tohold that island."
The president is allowed under the law to declassify information as he sees fit, but Singh said Trump's statements would have been problematic for anyone else in government to make.
"I would haveprobably been fired," the former Pentagon official said. "I think,you know, we would always haveissues when it came to, youknow, media outlets reporting onactions that hadn't been taken,even though we were, you know,leaning in that direction. It'sincredibly dangerous to signalto the enemy that one whenyou're going to conduct strikesand potential targets, and sothe fact that it's the presidentof the United States doing thatnot only just puts our men andwomen in uniform at risk. It isjust so unprecedented. I couldnot imagine Secretary [Lloyd] Austin or President [Joe] Biden doing somethinglike this and not having justsuch tremendous bipartisanblowback, and I'm not reallyseeing that today from the Republican Party right now."
In fact, Singh said, she would have probably faced criminal charges for making the same statements as Trump.
"I would havefaced charges," she said. "Yeah, definitely."