On right now’s installment of ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos, a most popular media narrative was laid waste in actual time. A retired Navy admiral uncovered the ridiculousness of the notion, pushed closely throughout the Elitist Media, that navy planners someway did not plan for contingencies alongside the Strait of Hormuz.
Watch as former Fifth Fleet Commander Kevin Donegan (VADM, USN-RET) tells ABC’s Martha Raddatz that such contingencies have been “constructed into it from the start”:
“BUILT INTO IT FROM THE BEGINNING”: Watch as former Fifth Fleet commander VADM Kevin Donegan (USN-RET) shuts down the media’s ridiculous “did not plan for the Hormuz Strait” narrative, as put forth by ABC’s Martha Raddatz.
MARTHA RADDATZ: However– but- you say we knew about their… pic.twitter.com/tixeW55uCo
— Jorge Bonilla (@BonillaJL) March 15, 2026
MARTHA RADDATZ: However– but- you say we knew about their capabilities. And positively within the Strait. Are you stunned that we did not do extra or have an even bigger plan for- for- in opposition to that?
KEVIN DONEGAN: I’d say that in case you take a look at the marketing campaign CENTCOM initiated, this was constructed into it from the start. And when you consider it when it comes to the issues that- that the Chairman mentioned and the issues that Admiral Cooper mentioned his mission was, one of many issues in there was- was to go after the (Iranian) Navy. And what they actually meant was Iran’s functionality to regulate the Straits when that is over, as a result of we do not need them to have energy projection functionality. We additionally don’t need them to have this leverage over this web. You recognize, this- such an essential chokehold so this effort that that that is being executed and being waged by CENTCOM is particularly to get at their cruise missile risk, their skill to launch drones at boats, put mines within the water, all these issues that when that is over you need then NOT to have, if that makes any sense.
From whence did this asinine narrative emerge? Who’s pushing it? You hear it principally from Elitist Media reporters citing unnamed Pentagon or administration sources. However seldom do you hear it from precise military- particularly those that served within the area as Vice Admiral Donegan did.
The narrative crumbles upon easy examination. The Strait of Hormuz has been an intermittent situation for a very long time. In the course of the Gulf Warfare Period, American vessels transiting the Strait needed to submit mine watches when transiting the Strait- a lingering aftereffect of the Iran-Iraq Warfare.
Vice Admiral Donegan calmly and clearly laid out what a Hormuz contingency regarded like. Raddatz shifted to Navy escorts within the Strait. And similar to that, a story crumbled.
Click on “broaden” to view the complete transcript of the aforementioned interview as aired on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos on Sunday, March fifteenth, 2026:
MARTHA RADDATZ: And I’m joined now in studio by retired Admiral Kevin Donegan, who commanded the Navy’s Fifth Fleet within the Center East throughout President Trump’s first time period.
It’s superb to see you this morning, Admiral.
You’re deeply conscious of what’s occurring within the strait, and you’ve got a deep understanding of that. Are you alarmed by what’s occurring?
KEVIN DONEGAN: Nicely, I’m not stunned by what’s occurred. And I suppose the very first thing that I’ll say, you already know, we’ve been this downside set for a very long time, a long time, to be trustworthy. And so, we knew that if we have been going to be concerned in one thing in Iran from an offensive state — functionality, that the Iranians would, in some unspecified time in the future, leverage the, you already know, some — or attempt to try not directly to regulate the straits and put the strain on the worldwide neighborhood.
RADDATZ: So, are you stunned by the response from the administration, by the Pentagon? Secretary Hegseth says, principally, don’t fear about this. However we’ve seen what’s occurring. It’s successfully shut down.
DONEGAN: It’s — it’s successfully shut down, the straits. We knew once we — if we might go into battle, that de facto visitors move would cease by the straits. You recognize, as you already know higher than anyone else, in battle, when missiles are flying overhead forwards and backwards, the visitors by the Straits of Hormuz goes to — goes to come back to a cease as a result of there are tankers, liquid pure gasoline carriers, container ships, et cetera, they’re going to decelerate. And so, we understood that.
Nicely, what I feel that stunned me greater than something on this, what’s happening, is Iran’s retaliation. And I mentioned from the start, to grasp the effectiveness of the marketing campaign that we’re waging, we should always take a look at how Iran — to not a field retailer, however take a look at, you already know, Iran’s functionality to retaliate. And —
RADDATZ: However you say we knew about their capabilities.
DONEGAN: Certain.
RADDATZ: And positively within the Strait. Are you stunned that we did not do extra or have an even bigger plan for- for- in opposition to that?
DONEGAN: I’d say that in case you take a look at the marketing campaign CENTCOM initiated, this was constructed into it from the start. And when you consider it when it comes to the issues that- that the Chairman mentioned and the issues that Admiral Cooper mentioned his mission was, one of many issues in there was- was to go after the (Iranian) Navy. And what they actually meant was Iran’s functionality to regulate the Straits when that is over, as a result of we do not need them to have energy projection functionality. We additionally don’t need them to have this leverage over this web. You recognize, this- such an essential chokehold so this effort that that that is being executed and being waged by CENTCOM is particularly to get at their cruise missile risk, their skill to launch drones at boats, put mines within the water, all these issues that when that is over you need then NOT to have, if that makes any sense.
RADDATZ: And you’ve got heard Secretary Wright and others say the Navy could go in there and escort tankers, how would that work? How difficult is that? Do they want air cowl in the event that they’re in there? What number of boats can they escort?
DONEGAN: We noticed a bit little bit of this once we noticed the Houthis, you already know, shut the strait — I imply shut the Pink Sea down, proper, and we noticed that it doesn’t take loads to cease visitors. However ultimately, you already know, the Pink Sea, you already know, issues move — finally move. Right here we had — we had a extremely huge downside if we have been going to do that and this operation hadn’t began, as a result of you then would have had an Iran that had — we used to name it a layered risk. They might come and put missiles on convoys that have been shifting, they might put cruise — you already know, ballistic missiles, they might put cruise missiles, they might put drones, they might put mines within the water, they might swarm it with boats, proper? That was the risk to shifting convoys earlier than.
What you may have now’s a special start line as a result of numerous the cruise missile risk has been taken out, the ballistic missile threats taken out. In the long run, although, it’s not going to be simple to escort convoys, however we follow it. And we don’t follow it alone. Yearly we do an train with 30 plus different nations in that very same area. The final one is in February, simply to rehearse, not simply with ourselves, however with worldwide companions on how we might do escorting and the way we might maintain the strait open if Iran really, you already know, adopted by on attempting to both management it or shut it.
RADDATZ: And we’ll see if we are able to get thirty nations to affix.
We respect you coming on this morning, Admiral.
DONEGAN: Thanks, Martha.
