'One major error': Bill O'Reilly blames Pentagon for not 'war-gaming' Strait of Hormuz threat

WASHINGTON, DC: Conservative commentator and television host Bill O’Reilly declared that it was a major strategic mistake by the Pentagon not to war-game the possibility of Iran closing the critical maritime transit, the Strait of Hormuz.

The restriction of ship passage in the Strait of Hormuz has played a vital role in the conflict between the US and Iran, ultimately dominating the peace talks and terms of the deal.

Bill O’Reilly said Pentagon missed key war scenario

Criticizing the Pentagon for failing to account for the risk of Iran disrupting traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, O’Reilly said, “One major error by the Pentagon is they did not war-game the Strait of Hormuz. I can’t explain it; nobody knows why they didn’t.”

“But certainly, that should have been taken into account. When you say if you don’t get regime change, if the mullahs tough it out, they’re going to try and strangle the world economy by screwing up the Strait of Hormuz,” the conservative commentator told 'Batya!' host Batya Ungar-Sargon on NewsNation.

He further defended the US’s decision to wage war with Iran, calling it an attempt to defend the people.

He described the US's decision to start the conflict as a “noble gesture to try and protect us and the world from a nuclear weapon that a state almost surely had.”

But he emphasized that “after you start a war, and I said this at the very beginning, unintended consequences roll in, things that you never anticipated.”

Bill O’Reilly cites past wars to counter criticism

Bill O’Reilly further tried to downplay the current administration’s strategic mistake by highlighting the missteps in past wars, including the Vietnam and Korean wars and World War II.

He said that “every single modern war has casualties,” such as the US reportedly bombing the Shajareh Tayyebeh Elementary School, which killed more than 165 people, mostly children, at the start of the war on February 28.

“A guy at the Pentagon did not wake up that morning and say, ‘I’m going to kill schoolgirls in Iran,'” O’Reilly continued. “That didn’t happen. What happened was there was a mass bombing to destabilize the infrastructure of that country.”

The former Fox News host said this will “happen again because President Trump has two options”: establish inspectors’ access to Iran’s nuclear facilities or resume US strikes, adding that if Washington attacks Tehran, there will be casualties.

“If we bomb them, more schoolgirls are going to be killed,” the commentator added. “That is what war is. I don’t justify it. It’s horrible. But if you think, in this age, where you’re using the most powerful weapons on earth, that civilians aren’t going to be affected, you’re crazy.”