Even Obama Official Gives Trump ‘High Marks’ For Handling Of Iran Crisis

Former Biden National Security Council (NSC) Coordinator Brett McGurk appeared Monday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360″and gave President Donald Trump and his NSC “extremely high marks” for how they handled the Iran conflict.

Trump announced Monday that a “total ceasefire” had been agreed upon between Israel and Iran, adding that Iran would “start the ceasefire” with Israel beginning theirs “upon the 12th hour.” In response, McGurk told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that the beginning stages of receding conflict had begun.

“I said this crisis is now in the stage of beginning to recede. Let me say two things. Number one, we spoke last night about turns, the escalation ladder that we had been on. The American strike was turn one,” McGurk said.

“We were waiting for a turn two from Iran. You want to try to cabin it, put a ceiling on it there. That’s exactly what happened today,” McGurk added. “This turn from the Iranians, the response was not a real response. It was choreographed, telegraphed. Most of the missiles were defeated by both Qatari defenses, interestingly, and U.S. defenses.”

Tensions between Israel and Iran escalated on June 12 after Israel launched a preemptive strike against Iran, killing top military officials and hitting nuclear weapons program sites. With questions rising over potential U.S. involvement, Trump warned Iran that the U.S. could eventually step in. (RELATED: Megyn Kelly Guest Spells Out ‘Most Difficult’ Factor For Americans On Iran Showdown)

WATCH:

As counterstrikes between Israel and Iran continued, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said Thursday that Trump would decide within two weeks whether the U.S. would get involved. However, by Saturday evening, Trump took to Truth Social to announce a “very successful attack on the three nuclear sites in Iran.”

McGurk said that a “flurry of backchannel diplomacy” had led to the U.S. ordering the strike on Iran. Predicting Israel will “continue to patrol Iranian airspace,” McGurk said that negotiations with Iran face a “deadline,” with Europeans prepared to “snap back all international sanctions between now and October.”

“Look, bottom line, this is about the best place we can be. I give extremely high marks to this national security team and President Trump for managing this crisis and giving where we are, but now let’s follow through,” McGurk said.

“There’s a chance for diplomacy here, not only on the Iran side, but also in Gaza. Those talks are also going on backchannel. In Cairo, there’s a Hamas delegation there. Try to get that ceasefire in place, and you can come out of this in a place that is far better than we would have anticipated 10 nights ago,” McGurk said.

Just two days after Trump announced the U.S. strike against Iran, the foreign country launched an attack on the Al Udeid U.S. Air Base in Qatar. Trump later confirmed and thanked Iran for warning the U.S. ahead of the strike, noting there had been no U.S. casualties.

Following Trump’s announcement, Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on X that their military operations would continue “until the very last minute, at 4 a.m.” Shortly after the 4 a.m. deadline passed, the Israel Defense Forces posted on X that sirens were “sounding in Israel due to a missile launch from Iran.”

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.