US Now In A 'Forever War' With Iran Because Of Trump, Anthony Scaramucci Says

The US is now in a “forever war” with Iran after Donald Trump refused to listen to any regional experts, according to Anthony Scaramucci.

The former White House press secretary told HuffPost UK the US president believed he was the “smartest person in the room” and so ignored any warnings about the consequences of attacking Iran.

Trump stunned the world when he and Israel agreed to launch strikes on Tehran back in February, killing Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran retaliated by effectively closing the major shipping lane, the Strait of Hormuz, which transported a fifth of the world’s oil and gas supplies.

More than seven months later, the waterway is still largely obstructed and global fuel prices have risen as a result, making the cost of living go up everywhere.

American voters punished Trump and his Republican Party over soaring prices in the midterm elections last week as the Democrats won a majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives.

Scaramucci, who served as Trump’s press secretary for just 11 days before he was fired in 2016, suggested there was no easy way for the president to end the disastrous conflict.

Asked if he believed Trump thought Iran would fall as easily as Venezuela did in January, Scaramucci said yes.

He said: “[He thinks] I’m the smartest person in the room. You’re an expert on the Middle East. You’re dumber that me. 

“I’m a better and smarter expert on the Middle East than you. If you’re telling me something, you’re an idiot. So therefore what you’re saying can’t be correct,  therefore what I think is correct. That’s how the guy thinks.”

Scaramucci said the US is in a “forever war” with Iran as a result.

“You’re not going back to where we were,” the ex-press secretary said. “Now the question is, you’re going go forward – and it’s going to cost us money.

“Everything that the intelligence community said [would happen] happened, [Iran] implemented the mosaic defence doctrine.

“You hit them with a decapitation, they were prepared for, they anted up, they closed the Strait of Hormuz, they cost you a fortune. “

Figures from the US Department of Defence say the war cost the States $47.1 billion between February and mid-October.

He said while Iran’s economy is struggling and inflation is up, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) is supported by Russia and China, meaning it is not going to collapse any time soon, despite Trump’s efforts.

However, he also predicted that the self-named secretary of war, Pete Hegseth – who has championed the Iran conflict – will be “out of his job at the end of the year” at the very latest.

Scaramucci said: “I think he’s been a national disgrace and in some ways a traitor in the United States. And he’s tried to destroy the Pentagon. And he has run the war about as poorly as any person could.”

Trump has already suggested that he would be willing to work with the Democrats now they have a majority in Congress.

But the party is expected to try to curb the president’s executive power and could possibly try to impeach him for a third time.

Though Scaramucci was delighted by Trump’s thrashing in the midterms, he said: “I’m just begging that they don’t do that.

“He’s going to pardon himself and his family. He’s going to cause a constitutional crisis.

“Why don’t you go to the guy and say, look, why don’t we leave you alone but can we get stuff done for the American people?”

He added: “Trump has amazing survival instincts. He’s paranoid. He’s going to put his a charm offensive on.”

Scaramucci also told HuffPost UK that Trump hates the Republican Party and vice versa, and that he might even be happy for his rival, Democratic governor of California Gavin Newsom, to be his presidential successor. 

Listen to Commons People, the podcast that makes politics easy. Every week, Kevin Schofield and Kate Nicholson unpack the week’s biggest stories to keep you informed. Join us for straightforward analysis of what’s going on at Westminster.