Chas Freeman, former U.S. Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and former Assistant Secretary of Defense, warned in an interview on March 1 that the war on Iran could destroy the constitutional foundations of the United States, and that Iran may be better positioned to endure it than Washington.
Speaking as explosions were being reported across Tehran, Freeman said the war was Israel’s project, not America’s. He cited an Israeli source indicating the attack was agreed on Dec. 29, 2025 at Mar-a-Lago, making the subsequent Witkoff/Kushner negotiations “another deception, intended to string things out.” Trump’s decision to launch the war without Congressional authorization and against roughly 75% public opposition amounted to “a dictatorial act” that “marks the end of the American Republic and its constitutional aspirations” if left uncorrected.
On the stated objective of eliminating Iran’s nuclear program, Freeman predicted the opposite outcome. Khamenei had issued a fatwa against Iran having nuclear weapons; his killing removes that restraint. “Maximum pressure in the case of North Korea had as its principal result the development of an ICBM with a nuclear warhead aimed at the continental United States. So that is one set of consequences that we may now expect.”
