Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) offered a blunt assessment of Iran’s condition this week, saying the country is being held together by little more than “duct tape and spit” after months of intensified U.S. economic and military pressure.
Asked what advice he would give President Donald Trump on handling Iran, Kennedy did not mince words about the regime’s leadership.
“The leadership in Iran is nutty as a fruitcake. You can’t take their word for anything. That’s why we took action. We have degraded their country to the point that they are being held together by duct tape and spit.”
Kennedy compared Iran’s leaders to “a wild bunch of howler monkeys,” arguing that even sincere commitments from Tehran can’t be trusted to last. “Even if they mean it today, they may think God spoke to them overnight, and they’ll change their mind tomorrow,” he said.
He said Iran’s own conduct was the reason the U.S. intervened in the first place, and that the country has since been “totally degraded” to the point where American objectives have effectively been met.
On the question of Iran restarting its nuclear program, Kennedy said any such move would be detected almost immediately. “We’d know in about five seconds and can bomb ’em again because they have no air defenses,” he said, describing the prevention of a nuclear-armed Iran as the central goal of the campaign against the regime.
Economic pressure mounts
The comments come as the Treasury Department, under Secretary Scott Bessent, presses forward with Operation Economic Outcast, an effort targeting Iranian government money and property held around the world. The Iranian currency and broader economy have been in sharp decline, inflation has surged, and reports indicate the regime is struggling to pay its own military.
At the G20 meeting on Tuesday, Bessent signaled that U.S. officials have identified the location of Iranian assets abroad and intend to pursue them.
Iran has also continued to threaten shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a key artery for global oil traffic. But that leverage appears to have weakened as well, with shipping resuming and oil moving through the strait with U.S. assistance despite Iranian missile and drone activity and claims about mines in the waterway.
Kennedy suggested Iran’s leadership faces a stark choice going forward — reform or risk being overtaken by internal unrest.
“The regime is on the edge; even their leaders have admitted they’re in trouble. It’s just a question of whether they want to save themselves or jump off that edge. Or if the people will revolt first and take them down.”
He added that he sees little indication the regime is capable of correcting course. “They haven’t shown a lot of sense so far, so I don’t see them saving themselves unless something in the leadership drastically changes,” he said.
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