The deaths of four U.S. service members in Iran-linked attacks should strengthen America's resolve to press ahead with its military campaign against Tehran rather than prompt a broader escalation, retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt told Newsmax on Monday.

Holt said on Newsmax's "Wake Up America" that the deaths of three American troops in an Iranian attack on a military base in Jordan, and a fourth service member killed while attempting to disarm a downed Iranian drone in Iraq, underscore the dangers of combat but should not alter the mission.

"I don't think" the attacks will prompt President Donald Trump to dramatically escalate military operations, Holt said. "We will certainly honor their sacrifice, the ultimate sacrifice, and that of their families by pressing on in this campaign and seeing it through to a place called victory."

Holt said warfare inevitably brings casualties and argued that Iran's recent attacks reflect an adversary under mounting pressure.

"When you're taking out an enemy in the final acts of desperation, when they're cornered, they're at their most dangerous," he said. "They're throwing everything out as they possibly can right now."

He pointed to what he described as an expanding U.S. air campaign against Iranian military infrastructure, saying recent strikes have destroyed missile fields, drone stockpiles, and weapons storage sites.

"We are just hammering away at their ability to fight back in any way, shape or form," Holt said.

Former Trump National Security Council Chief of Staff Fred Fleitz, who appeared on the program with Holt, said the deadly Iranian strike in Jordan raises serious questions about the security of American personnel stationed throughout the region.

"I would like to raise another issue," Fleitz said. "Why did Iran attack Jordan? Were U.S. forces in Jordan adequately defended? Did we expect an Iranian attack against this site?"

"I don't know the answer to that," he continued, "but I would like to hear an answer, because I think we have to know that our troops are being defended."

Fleitz said Trump is likely to continue intensifying military pressure on Iran while resisting calls for a wider regional war.

"The president is going to escalate this war to basically take it back to the Iranians," Fleitz said. "He's not going to tolerate their manipulation of peace talks."

At the same time, Fleitz cautioned against allowing the conflict to evolve into a prolonged U.S. military commitment.

"The American people do not want this war to be escalated into all-out warfare," he said. "They don't want this to become a quagmire."

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