President Donald Trump cannot let Iran make him “look like a loser” because his legacy is tied up in the war with the Islamic Republic, a former Fox News personality says.
Political commentator Bill O’Reilly, the former host of The O’Reilly Factor, made the remark on Tuesday night as the six-month anniversary of the start of the war draws closer.
Appearing on NewsNation’s On Balance, O’Reilly began by saying that he believes the U.S. does have a strategy going forward in the conflict with Iran.
”From what I understand, there is some kind of strategy that will involve a tougher approach on Iran,” he claimed. “I don’t know what it is. It’s top secret, classified.”
O’Reilly continued, “But Donald Trump’s legacy is involved - personal to him now - can’t let the Iranians make him look like a loser, ok?”
“Because he sees life in terms of winners and losers,” O’Reilly concluded.
The former Fox News host made the remarks after the president lashed out at both the United States’ allies and its enemies earlier this week, threatening to “bomb the s***” out of Oman over its negotiations with Iran.
Also on Monday, the commander-in-chief declared that the Strait of Hormuz was under U.S. control, with Iranian officials later firmly rejecting that claim.
“We control it with the blockade, and I like the idea of declaring it a territory,” he told reporters on Monday.
Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi responded on X by claiming that his own country controlled the Strait of Hormuz.
“The Strait of Hormuz has been Iranian, is Iranian, and will remain Iranian,” he said in a statement translated from Persian into English, noting that the Islamic Republic will continue to enforce its own blockade of the vital trade route.
Despite the president’s boasts about the war, O’Reilly told NewsNation that Trump’s decision to launch the war on Iran back on February 28 was a “miscalculation.”
“If Donald Trump had not decided to go in and confront Iran in February, late February, he would be…the odds are that the Republican Party would be well ahead in the midterms,” he claimed. “This was a miscalculation.”
The former Fox News personality also said that a rise in diesel prices - which have been caused, in part, by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz - has led to an increase in the price of food.
“That’s a big problem for the Trump administration and the Republican Party,” he said.
O’Reilly has generally been supportive of Trump’s actions in the war with Iran, though, telling NewsNation’s Cuomo earlier in August that the president must win the conflict.
“He’s got to come out as the winner in Iran somehow,” he stated. “I said if it were me, I would go after the infrastructure.”
During the interview, O’Reilly added: “I think the American people want to win. I think they despise Iran and have no sympathy for Iran.”
