Veteran Warns Iran in ‘Deep Trouble’ as U.S. Pressure Mounts in Strait of Hormuz

U.S. Army Special Forces veteran Jim Hanson says Iran’s economy is broken and the regime may be forced to give up its nuclear material.

As the U.S. military launches what President Donald Trump called “Project Freedom” in the Strait of Hormuz—deploying 15,000 troops and 100 aircraft to guide stranded ships past Iran—a Middle East expert warns that Iran is facing a severe economic collapse.

U.S. Army Special Forces veteran Jim Hanson assessed the growing confrontation, noting that while Iran only needs to “get lucky once” to appear victorious, the United States-led blockade is already crippling the Iranian regime.

“The difficulty for us is we have to be 100% on the protection side, and Iran only has to get lucky once to look like they’re winning,” Hanson said. “So it’s a tremendous challenge for us.”

However, Hanson emphasized that the blockade is “crushing them far more than everyone else.”

“Iran can’t make any money because they can’t sell their oil anywhere,” he said. “That’s where they are going to cave.”

According to Hanson, Iran is in “deep trouble.” He stated that the regime cannot pay its troops, has no room left in its oil storage, and has begun reactivating derelict tankers just to pump oil into them—because if they shut down their oil fields, they may not be able to restart them.

“They have no navy, no air force, no anti-aircraft equipment, no radar, nothing,” Hanson said, adding that Iran’s leadership is effectively gone. “They are in deep trouble. Their economy is broken. They don’t have much time left.”

Hanson dismissed the possibility of U.S. ground troops being sent to secure what President Trump has called “the nuclear dust,” describing that option as “messy.” Instead, he predicted that economic pressure would force Iran to hand over its uranium to the International Atomic Energy Agency or a third party.

Asked about oil prices and market predictions, Hanson accused “doom mongers” of wishing for bad outcomes because they do not want President Trump to succeed.

“The markets are betting on America, and any smart person should be doing the same,” he said. “We’ll win this. It’s just a little bit ugly before we get to the end.”