Retired Army Gen. Jack Keane warned the Biden administration’s “hands-off approach” to Iran and lack of willingness to confront U.S. adversaries will allow “aggressiveness” to continue.
“This administration has a hands-off approach to Iran,” Keane said in an interview with John Catsimatidis on the radio show “Cats Roundtable.” “If we continue down this path where we are not willing to confront our adversaries, they are just going to keep coming for us.”
“That’s the reality we’re facing,” Keane added.
In the Sunday interview with Catsimatidis, Keane, who served as the Army’s vice chief of staff from 1999 to 2003, stressed the 2021 shut down of the Suez Canal, increased tensions in the Middle East, and, the U.S. warship that came under attack after Yemen’s Houthi rebels launched a missile at it in January, as areas of concern that occurred during the Biden administration.
When asked why Biden won’t use the U.S. military to reopen the Red Sea, a key shipping route the Houthi rebels have effectively shut down due to attacks on merchant vessels, Keane said Biden and his administration “fear escalation.”
“This administration gets paralyzed by the fear of adverse consequences. They advocate diplomacy, but they don’t back it up with hard power. They don’t realize that the consequences of doing nothing also produces negative results. They fear escalation,” Keane said.
On Saturday, Biden told reporters the country is “responding” to a missile barrage from the Iranian-backed group in the Red Sea.
During the interview, Keane said the U.S. is in a “pre-war era” and its adversaries see it as an opportune time.
“We are in a pre-war era … China, Russia, Iran and North Korea are collaborating and cooperating together,” he said. “They have become considerably more aggressive in the last 3-plus years because they believe the United States is politically weak.”
“They can take advantage of our vulnerabilities,” Keane added. “And they see this as an opportune time.”
This is not the first time Keane has critiqued the The White House’s foreign policy, specifically regarding Iran.
Keane appeared on Fox News only a few days after Hamas’s attack on Israel on Oct. 7 last year, expressing concern that the administration wasn’t focusing enough attention on Iran.
“The president gave heartfelt support certainly of the suffering that has taken place and the need to support Israel to see this operation that they’re going to conduct through to its completion,” Keane said at the time. “But he never mentioned Iran, who is directing their proxies to attack Israel.
But, on Sunday, Keane did emphasize his belief the Biden administration will continue to back Israel.
“I cannot imagine the Biden Administration or a successor administration to them saying no. They are obligated to respond if [Israel] needs assistance,” he said.
The Hill reached out to The White House for comment.