Iran War may drag on for another 6 months: Ex-US defence secretary Leon Panetta

Former US defence secretary Leon Panetta has said that the United States’ war with Iran is likely to drag on for another six months and risks becoming another “forever war in the Middle East”, with no clear end in sight.

“It’s no mystery that the United States and Iran are caught in a terrible stalemate, in which there really are very few options available to bring this war to an end,” said the ex-Pentagon chief, who served in former President Barack Obama’s administration and oversaw the operation that led to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s death in 2011.

Panetta, who also served as CIA director, suggested in an interview with the Guardian that the conflict is on course to become “another failed war” in the Middle East “like Iraq and Afghanistan”.

“I think the likelihood is this war is going to continue for another six months without being resolved,” he added.

Panetta’s remarks come days after the US army secretary, Dan Driscoll, resigned abruptly, departing amid the conflict after reports of tensions with the defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, over a series of firings.

US service members “are going to war at a time when there’s tremendous turmoil at the Pentagon, in the command structure, which really creates a sense that there’s nobody in charge”, said Panetta, who served as defence secretary from 2011 to 2013.

‘Adversaries of US meeting and supporting each other’

“My biggest concern right now is we live in a very dangerous world, with the primary threats coming from China, from Russia, from North Korea, and from terrorism, and yes, from Iran as well. But what I’m concerned about is that we’re sending a message of weakness to our primary adversaries,” he added.

Panetta claimed that the adversaries of the US are meeting and supporting each other in this axis that’s been created.

However, the Pentagon had said in a statement that it was “firing on all cylinders” under Hegseth’s leadership.

“The premise that the Department is in disarray is completely baseless and an insult to every dedicated professional and warfighter in this building who comes to work every day to defend this nation. This is what reform looks like,” it said.

‘Hope Trump admin learsn long deployment of USS Abraham Lincoln’

Panetta also said he hopes the Pentagon and Trump’s broader administration learn from what happened with the extremely long deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln. “Bottom line is, you do not deploy people endlessly into a war zone without making some kind of plans for rotation,” Panetta said.

Earlier this week, JD Vance told reporters that he would not describe the current military conflict with Iran a “war”. And asked whether he expected the conflict to be over by November’s US midterm elections, the vice-president said, “I think the reality is I don’t know the answer to that question. You would have to ask the Iranians.”

‘US often entangles in wars that drain American resources’

Last week, Panetta said that the US has often become entangled in wars that only drain American resources and compared the ongoing conflict to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I think we’re locked into an unwinnable war that is going to continue as other wars have continued without any satisfactory conclusion,” he told CNN in a July-end interview.

“Whether it was Iraq, whether it was Afghanistan, or whether it’s Iran, we are finding ourselves in unwinnable wars that ultimately consume the United States, hurt our economy, and most importantly, I think, make us look weak to the rest of the world,” Panetta added.