Iranian missile capacity PLUMMETS as US military hammers regime targets - #NewVM2 #Dailyworldnews

Meanwhile, the U.S. is promising swift retaliation on Iran after two servicemen were killed and a third is still missing this morning after Iran launched strikes on an airbase in Jordan, further intensifying a weeks-long exchange of fire. Central Command confirming fresh strikes on Iran Saturday night to further destabilize Iran's ability to strike ships in the strait and attack U.S. bases. Joining me now with analysis is former Trump National Security Advisor Victoria Coates. Victoria, thanks very much for weighing in this morning, your assessment of these latest developments. Good morning, Maria. First, I just want to associate myself with the comments from Senator Fetterman from my home state of Pennsylvania, grieving for our two heroes and have prayers for the third that's missing and for their families. That's just it. It's an awful thing. And it's a reminder of the cost of war. And I think the president is rightly now looking at ways to escalate against Iran to punish them for that terrible strike on Jordan and further, as you just said, degrade their capability to take further strikes. Now, looking at what they're targeting this morning, they're going after Aqaba, which is a port in southern Jordan right on the Red Sea, where Jordan and Israel meet. So very strategic point, very close to the Suez Canal. That's Iran trying to go after shipping through the Red Sea. That's intolerable. We can't take that. So we're going to see other allies, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, who have very strong interests in that shipping lane way in. But I think what you're seeing is Iran trying to affect more shipping outside of the Strait of Hormuz as possibly they're starting to lose control of that because of these ongoing strikes. You know, CENTCOM says that there will be outsized action in retaliation, but I don't understand how it's possible that Iran has the capabilities to fight this way and continue to try to lash out at Gulf countries and U.S. military bases, because the U.S. has obliterated Iran's military, and the president continues to reiterate that. Yes. And if you look at the numbers of missiles that they've been able to fire off from the beginning of this war, you know, late February, early March, and what they're able to do now, it is very seriously degraded. They've gone from over 100 a day to less than 10, if even that. There's been a number of days where they haven't fired off anything, and they haven't targeted Israel for months now. So I think their capabilities are lessened, but they're not zero. And that's the important thing. They are a nuisance. They're going after their regional neighbors. And that, in a way, though, can also, in the long term, be a benefit for us, Maria, because this unites the entire region behind the United States and with Israel. That would have been impossible 10 years ago. Now it's actually happening in real time. Well, it's also quite extraordinary that the prime minister of Iraq visited President Trump. And I know that the prime minister of Lebanon is going to Washington and going to meet with President Trump as well. You will also be meeting with the prime minister of Lebanon on Monday. Is that right? Tomorrow morning? Indeed. And these are two amazing visits, which are getting no coverage because they're good news stories. And we'll start with Prime Minister al-Zaidi of Iraq, a new kind of politician for Iraq. He comes out of the business world. I really hope you get to interview him at some point, because he's treating Iraq like a business. And that's why his first visit was to Washington. And he inked deals with Exxon and Chevron. He's working with Syria to restart a pipeline from the 1950s that goes up through Syria from Iraq. So that's a way we're going to be able to move oil. They're already doing it by truck. So huge good news story. And then, actually, it's President Joseph Abu. And this is the first visit of a Lebanese president in almost 20 years to Washington. It follows the first direct talks between the United States, Israel and Lebanon in 15 years. Those talks went on last week in Rome. So I think we may get some really important announcements out of President Aoun, and I am looking forward to getting his firsthand views on what's happening on the ground, what's really going on with Israel. And what about Hezbollah in Lebanon? Well, that's the big thing, is if Israel and the government of Lebanon unite against Hezbollah, they're not going to be able to do very much. And very importantly, Syria interdicted a big shipment of arms that Iran was trying to get through Syria to Hezbollah. It shows you the situation is not what it was five years ago, when Iran could act with impunity in Syria. Now they're getting stopped and blocked. And so it is a huge opportunity to finally defang Hezbollah and remove that awful, awful blight that's been on the beautiful country of Lebanon. I mean, these are all such serious issues, and yet in Congress, you've got to divide in terms of support for Israel and to divide in terms of support for the president's leadership on this war. How do you see that? I mean, when you look at the polling of Jewish people and of Israel, what's your takeaway in terms of young people and this negative stance toward Israel? Is that because the Democrats in Congress are setting the tone in terms of sentiment around Israel? I think that we're really seeing a very, very bad trend in the United States. And it is, as you say, with young people. And at Heritage, we think that this is because really anti-Semitic, anti-Israel kind of sort of academic inquiry in not just our colleges, but also our K-12, in our public schools. Our kids are getting indoctrinated in this stuff. And so when they go to college, they have a very open mind to the anti-Semitic views of their professors. And this is being reflected in the polling, and then it's reflected in Congress. And I think that those members of Congress know better. They know the value of our security relationship with Israel, which was just on extraordinary display during Operation Epic Fury. We worked together seamlessly. Everybody took note, from China to Russia to Cuba, of what we're capable of doing. That is of enormous value. It keeps the American people safe. And so this is just a show vote. It's posturing, but it's dangerous. Very serious and very dangerous. Victoria, thanks very much for weighing in on all of that. Good to see you. Thank you, Marie. Victoria Coates there.