militarily. if they have to respond military, it will be measured and limited. they don't want to walk up the ladder of escalation that leaves you to a potential conflict. that's a losing hand. >> trace: what i hear you saying, general, desperate countries do desperate things. you think right now iran is desperate straights. >> yeah, it's affecting their judgment. you can see one thing after the other. one was the six tankers and they got caught at it. we evidence of it. they had an attack commander shoot down our drone and didn't have the authority of the national leadership to do that. the president did not respond in kind, which gave him leverage with our allies, particularly the europeans. you have the guy in new york city talking about we may put