Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt said on Newsmax that the United States has the force in place to seize Iran's main oil export hub at Kharg Island with limited risk, and that Iran's Revolutionary Guard is in its final stages.

His comments aired earlier Thursday, before President Donald Trump declared the same day that he had "ended the war" with Iran and canceled planned strikes pending a signed deal.

Holt spoke on "Ed Henry: The Big Take" as Trump publicly weighed a move on Kharg, the Persian Gulf outcrop that handles roughly 90% of Iranian crude exports.

By Thursday evening, Trump said an "emerging memorandum of understanding" had been approved at the highest level of Iranian leadership. Tehran, however, had not confirmed a deal, and a senior Iranian official told MS NOW that no MOU or framework had been agreed.

Asked whether seizing the island would require U.S. ground forces, Holt said it would, but argued the Pentagon already has the means in theater.

"There's no real way to secure Kharg Island without having some force on Kharg Island," he said, adding that "we have a Marine expeditionary unit there" and the operation could be done "in a minimally risky way."

The 31st MEU aboard the USS Tripoli reached U.S. Central Command in late March. The 11th MEU followed weeks later.

Holt cast Kharg as central to the wider campaign, saying control "keeps the Chinese on the sidelines," "gets oil flowing through the Gulf" and "saves the Iranian oil fields" for a post-regime Iran.

"We're going to a place called victory," he said. "And the president knows that Kharg is a part of that process."

Previously, U.S. forces struck more than 90 military sites on Kharg in a March 13 raid that deliberately spared oil infrastructure.

Regarding the Revolutionary Guard, Holt said the corps has been hit "handily" and is losing leadership "left and right."

"They have no command and control. We're removing their communications," he said, calling Iran's remaining strikes evidence of "the last throes" of its arsenal.

He cautioned that "as martyrs leave the planet, we may have domestic security problems here at home."

Holt said Trump has signaled a Venezuela-style outcome for Iran, in which "Iranians, for the first time in over 100 years, get their country back and get to determine who their leader is, not Western intelligence services."

He said that Trump has cited the U.S. ouster of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro as a template for Iran.

Trump told Fox News on Thursday his "preference has always been" to take Kharg but said he was not sure "America has the stomach" for it.

Hours later, he canceled the night's strikes, said a signing could occur in Europe within days, and pledged to lift the U.S. naval blockade once a deal has been signed. Iran declared the Strait of Hormuz closed to all traffic earlier in the day.

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