A prominent business figure and former presidential candidate has urged the United States to intensify efforts to remove Iran's government, calling free passage through the Strait of Hormuz a non-negotiable national interest.
The comments came as U.S. strikes on Iranian targets entered a ninth consecutive day, increasing pressure on Tehran.
Speaking at a Las Vegas conference, the chairman and editor-in-chief of a major business media company argued that freedom of the seas has been a core U.S. foreign policy principle since the Thomas Jefferson era.
He noted that the defense of navigation rights helped trigger the War of 1812 and stressed that the Strait of Hormuz, like the South China Sea, is an international waterway that must remain open.
He called for unrestricted commercial passage without tolls or restrictions, stating that no ships should be molested in transit.
On military strategy, he said air power alone could suffice but should not rule out ground forces, citing the early 1800s Barbary Wars as a precedent for defending maritime freedom through direct engagement.
He expressed confidence that combined U.S. and Israeli military strength could collapse the Iranian regime and embolden reform-minded elements within Iran's armed forces.
The central warning was that failing to enforce navigation rights risks losing them, a principle he attributed to the need for each generation to actively preserve liberty.
He declared that the window for diplomacy with Tehran had closed and pressed the administration to abandon ceasefires in favor of sustained pressure.
He also voiced support for approving Patriot missile transfers to Ukraine, predicting the move would yield positive outcomes in that conflict.
