Blinken says military action against Iran was a mistake, citing limited setback

Former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that military action against Iran was a mistake, arguing that previous administrations had treated such action as a last resort because its effects would be limited, according to media reports cited on Saturday.

Speaking on a panel discussion, Blinken said, "Something that President Trump chose, military action, I think … was a mistake, because every previous administration had looked at it and decided that it needed to be a last resort, because even if you did it, you could set Iran back for a little while, but you would really likely only get a setback of a couple of years." He added that "the program would have been more deeply buried underground and they would come back and do even more."

Blinken further said that despite the losses, Iran has come out stronger after the war. He did not elaborate on the specific losses he was referring to, and the report did not provide further details on the panel discussion or its participants.

His remarks place the decision for military action within the context of earlier US policy, which he said had consistently weighed such a step as a final option rather than a first choice. According to Blinken, the assessment across previous administrations was that any strike would produce only a temporary delay in Iran's activities while potentially prompting a more entrenched and expanded effort afterward.

The comments were reported by Mehr News Agency (MNA), which cited media reports on Saturday. The report did not specify when the panel discussion took place or where it was held.