Ex-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calls US strikes on Iran a 'shot in the arm' for American credibility
Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States and Israel's strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities are a significant moment for the Middle East and a sign of bolstered American credibility on the global stage.
Rice joined "Special Report" on Thursday after the United States struck three Iranian nuclear sites over the weekend, praising the American military and Israeli forces for their accomplishments.
"We will eventually know precisely how much the Iranian program was damaged, but I think all of the evidence is that it was substantially, significantly damaged to the place that, for a while at least, it will be hard to build a nuclear weapon," she said.
Iran's Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan nuclear sites were hit early Sunday morning by U.S. B-2 bombers and Tomahawk missiles as part of Operation Midnight Hammer.
The B-2 bombers flew for 37 hours non-stop from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri to drop 12 GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators on Fordow and two on Natanz.
More than two dozen cruise missiles were also launched at Isfahan from a U.S. submarine.
Top Trump administration officials have maintained the "obliteration" of Iran's nuclear program in the days following the strikes despite questions regarding the whereabouts of the Islamic Republic's highly enriched uranium.
"President Trump directed the most complex and secretive military operation in history. And it was a resounding success, resulting in a ceasefire agreement and the end of the 12 Day War," said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during a Thursday press briefing at the Pentagon.
"There's been a lot of discussion about what happened and what didn't happen. Step back for a second. Because of decisive military action, President Trump created the conditions to end the war, decimating, choose your word, obliterating, destroying Iran's nuclear capabilities."
Rice told Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier that she believes the U.S. strikes set Iran's nuclear program back significantly.
She criticized a leaked, "low-confidence" preliminary intelligence assessment from the Defense Intelligence Agency — which claimed President Donald Trump's strikes did not destroy key components of Iran's nuclear facilities — as "irresponsible."
"When you look at what the Israelis were able to do to Hezbollah, what they were able to do to Hamas — the significant efforts against the Iranian military establishment, against scientists. This really is a now-crippled Iran, and a crippled Iran is good for the region," the Stanford professor explained.
The Trump administration is pushing for diplomatic talks with the Iranians following Operation Midnight Hammer, but Rice argued she has no doubts that the Iranian regime isn't interested in peace, given its "legitimacy" is based on destroying Israel.
"We've had 46 years of the Iranians destabilizing the region, killing Americans. We've had 46 years of their proxies holding terror against Israel, against Iraq, against the people of the Middle East. So, no, they don't want peace," she said.
The former Bush official added that the U.S. strikes were a "shot in the arm for American credibility" on the global stage following former President Joe Biden's "disastrous" withdrawal from Afghanistan.
"Credibility is not something that you establish one day and then you sort of dial it in and say it's done. We have to keep establishing that the United States is going to try and shape the international system, not just be a victim of it," Rice said. "But what's happened in the last couple of days is very, very good for American credibility."
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