America Lost the Iran War. Former Intelligence Officer Malcolm Nance Explains Why. | Six Questions with Steven Beschloss

Steven Beschloss sat down with Malcolm Nance — former Navy intelligence officer, counterterrorism specialist, and bestselling author — on Six Questions to discuss what Nance describes as a genuine national security emergency.

Nance’s bottom line is that America is in “grave danger.” Trump gutting the intelligence community — the CIA, FBI, DNI — isn’t about efficiency. It’s what third-world dictators do when they want to redirect those agencies toward hunting political enemies rather than protecting the country. The NSA and career intelligence professionals are the hidden firewall: they’ll slow-walk illegal orders, document everything, and eventually drop the evidence on the media’s doorstep.

On Iran, Nance was blunt — we lost. Iran won asymmetrically, the way Vietnam did, and in the process we burned through weapons systems we’d need against China. The Strait of Hormuz is now a strategic choke point we can’t reopen without Iran’s blessing.

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