Clark also said that Iran is aware of the strategic value of the Strait of Hormuz in negotiations: “More useful than a nuclear weapon. And they’ve used it,” he said. “And they don’t believe we have an answer for it.”

He added, “They know we don’t want to commit ground troops. They know we don’t want to take losses. We don’t want to get our ships close enough to be hit by their missiles … so this is a real tough military problem. That’s unfortunate because that’s driving their stance in the negotiations.”