The United States is already at war with Iran, former Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie said Sunday on Newsmax, while urging the Trump administration to eliminate the regime's ability to wage future aggression after Tehran violated a ceasefire memorandum.
"We are in a war against a dead-end regime," Wilkie commented on Newsmax's "Sunday Agenda." "We are in a war against theocratic fanatics. They don't keep any deal or any agreement that they reach."
Wilkie's comments came after Israel's military said Iran launched additional missiles toward Jordan, and the State Department warned Americans to exercise increased caution worldwide. The renewed attacks followed Iran's alleged violation of a memorandum of understanding reached just days earlier.
Wilkie said the United States should press ahead with military operations rather than seek another agreement.
"I think it's time to finally finish them off," he said. "Because if we don't, we'll be right back here next year. They will continue to spread terror throughout the world, kill their own people, threaten the region, and this is something that has to end."
Asked what he meant by "finish them off," Wilkie said the objective should be to permanently cripple Iran's military capabilities.
"I mean destroy any capability that they have to wage aggressive war, destroy the remnants of their nuclear facilities and their nuclear ambition, and take out the fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh echelon of their leadership," he said. "If we leave with the regime intact and capable of terrorizing its neighbors, that will be a victory not just for the Iranians, but also for the Chinese and for the Russians, because they will view America as having stepped back from the brink."
Wilkie also criticized Democrats over their positions on Israel, saying the party has moved away from supporting one of Iran's primary adversaries.
"It's interesting to me that the Democratic Party has abandoned the chief victim of the Iranian regime," he said.
He also criticized New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani over reports that Mamdani would seek to arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visited New York for the United Nations General Assembly.
Wilkie dismissed the possibility, saying federal authorities would prevent such an action.
"He can't do it. That's the bottom line. This is grandstanding," Wilkie said. "If he tries, he will be met with a federal force. The Secret Service protects foreign leaders coming into this country. They won't let anything happen to the prime minister of Israel."
Wilkie also accused Mamdani and other Democrats of ignoring human rights abuses by Iran while singling out Israel.
"He's standing up for a regime that murdered 45,000 of its own people just in the month of January," Wilkie said. "That's who these people are standing with, and I think America has to wake up to it."
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