Ret. Brig. Gen. Blaine Holt told Newsmax on Friday that Iran's plan to station warships in the Panama Canal is an "escalation" of the country's global position.
"This is a huge, huge escalation in the Iranian posture globally. They are projecting forces into the Pacific Ocean in Panama on ships," Holt said on "Wake Up America." "This is very, very dangerous, and these ships are ships that the United States taxpayer paid for. If you recall, the JCPOA [Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action] or the nuclear agreement under the Obama administration came with $1.34 billion into their accounts."
Holt added: "So now the Iranians have Hezbollah running around on the ground with their great Venezuelan relationship and they're putting ships there. If they get nuclear weapons, what is the likelihood that they're going to fit those ships out differently? This is unacceptable and we have to address it now."
When asked how the U.S. can protect itself, Holt said: "We've got to secure our southern border. If ever there was a national security crisis for our country, it's our own sovereignty. So right now Hezbollah can freely walk into our country and out of our country.
"The Chinese … [have] a base in the Bahamas … they're buying up ports. They want to drag a new ditch or a new canal through Nicaragua. These are threats that we've been asleep at the switch on — ever since the fall of Kabul. We have been talking about projecting weakness and what it brings us. And these are the fruits of that."