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As the war against Iran enters its second month, expectations on what is being achieved seem to depend on who you ask. If you ask the average driver, however, you’ll hear concerns about when the cost of a gallon of gas will go back down. The economic crunch seems to be the predominant concern for the public, though it is hardly the only aspect of the big picture, and it is up to the White House to relay its strategies and hopes to the world. WOR White House correspondent Jon Decker has been in the briefing room since the war began over a month ago. He appeared on 710 WOR’s Curtis Sliwa and Larry Mendte in the Morning program to discuss the latest developments in the war that may or may not be ending soon.
Decker told Larry that Iran denies progress in the peace talks, but this is not the largest concern facing the White House: “In the meantime, there’s a second track going on, besides this diplomatic track, and that’s preparing for the possibility of a ground war. That’s the reason why, by the end of this week, there will be 50,000 US servicemembers will be in the region, awaiting orders from the Pentagon that could include securing the Strait of Hormuz.”
But in addition to the costs in terms of boots on the ground, Curtis prodded Decker to expand on a question he asked in the briefing room on Monday- who’s going to pay for all this? “If we’re protecting the UAE and Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, Oman, you could go through the list of all the Arab countries, then certainly the U.S. should have their war costs paid by the countries that are bring protected by the U.S. That’s what happened [in the Persian Gulf War] in 1991… So, you heard Karoline Leavitt’s answer to my question. It seems to me that that could be an announcement coming from President Trump in the next few days or so.”
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