Scott Horton Show - Just the Interviews 3/19/26 Larry Johnson on the Ongoing and Coming Failures in the US and Israel’s War with Iran
13 snips
Mar 23, 2026 Larry Johnson, former CIA officer and counterterrorism planner now at Sonar21, returns to dissect US and Israeli failures in the war with Iran. He breaks down air defense and radar losses. He explores Iran’s underground resilience, missile production limits, economic fallout on oil and food, and who really shaped the decision to strike.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Premeditated US Decision Despite Intelligence Warnings
- Trump ignored multiple senior warnings and set up Crisis Action Teams before the strikes, signaling premeditated military action.
- Larry Johnson says Pentagon and intelligence analysts warned Trump but he proceeded anyway, canceling exercises and staffing 24/7 CAT shifts.
2006 JSOC Exercise Targeted Deep Iranian Sites
- Johnson recounts a 2006 JSOC field exercise targeting a hardened Iranian deep-buried site to recover enriched uranium.
- The lesson from that exercise and CIA Iran Task Force work was clear: attempting regime removal or such raids would be a strategic mess.
Underground Iran Means No Quick Military Victory
- Iran's underground missile and production infrastructure prevents quick military defeat and complicates invasion plans.
- Johnson cites miles-long subterranean facilities and limited US troop capacity to secure or destroy deeply buried targets.
