WASHINGTON (Dispatches) -- Former Pentagon chief Leon Panetta has warned that Washington’s war against Iran is on course to become another failed U.S. military adventure in West Asia, similar to Iraq and Afghanistan, as the United States struggles to break a stalemate and is increasingly seen by its adversaries as weak.
Panetta said Washington’s inability to bring the war to an end, combined with turmoil inside the Pentagon and its command structure, is undermining US credibility and raising questions about its ability to effectively use its military power.
In an interview with the Guardian, Panetta said the war, launched by U.S. President Donald Trump against Iran more than six months ago, risks becoming another “forever war” in the region, with no clear end in sight.
“It’s no mystery that the United States and Iran are caught in a terrible stalemate, in which there really are very few options available to bring this war to an end,” said Panetta, who also served as CIA director under former President Barack Obama, suggesting the war is on course to become “another failed war” in West Asia “like Iraq and Afghanistan”.
“I think the likelihood is this war is going to continue for another six months without being resolved,” he added.
Panetta’s warning comes as Washington faces growing questions over its ability to sustain the war. He spoke days after U.S. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll abruptly resigned amid reports of tensions with Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth over a series of dismissals.
Panetta, who served as Pentagon chief from 2011 to 2013, said U.S. troops “are going to war at a time when there’s tremendous turmoil at the Pentagon, in the command structure, which really creates a sense that there’s nobody in charge.”
“And I just think that, whether it’s Iran, or whether it’s our adversaries, they’re now looking at the United States, and see weakness in terms of our ability to be able to really implement our military capability of defending our country,” he added.
Panetta said he was particularly concerned that the United States was sending a message of weakness to its main adversaries at a time of growing global tensions.
“My biggest concern right now is we live in a very dangerous world, with the primary threats coming from China, from Russia, from North Korea, and yes, from Iran as well. But what I’m concerned about is that we’re sending a message of weakness to our primary adversaries,” he said.
“And while they continue to meet and support each other in this axis that’s been created, I think they look at the United States as being particularly weak right now, and that’s a horrible message to send at a time when we’re facing those kinds of threats.”
In March, just three weeks after the U.S. and Israel launched their terrorist war against Iran, Panetta told the Guardian he believed Trump was stuck between a “rock and a hard place” as he weighed whether to expand the war or “just simply walk away and declare victory”, despite the risk of perceived failure.
Earlier this week, Panetta said 
he “absolutely” believed Trump remains in that position. “He’s boxed himself in,” he said.
The former Pentagon chief outlined three possible paths forward for the U.S. president.
The first, he said, would be to walk away from the war and “admit that it’s a failed war”.
The second would involve maintaining the current “stalemate, with periodic attacks going back and forth, tit for tat”, with both sides attempting to “avoid the startup of a more dangerous war” while refusing to negotiate or surrender.
Panetta warned that such an approach could produce “what all parties feared”: another protracted war in West Asia.
The third option, he said, would be for the United States to make clear that “the primary objective by the United States at this point in time, is to reopen the Strait of Hormuz”.
Panetta also said Trump has undermined his own credibility through repeated claims that an agreement to end the war is close and that the strategic waterway remains open.
“So the real question is, is he going to make a decision to actually deliver?” Panetta asked. “For a lot of reasons, right now, he’s caught in the worst of every world because not only does he not have credibility, but any threats he makes are totally ignored.”
Earlier this week, Vice-President JD Vance told reporters that he would not describe the current US military aggression with Iran as a “war”.
Asked whether he expected the war to be over by November’s U.S. midterm elections, Vance replied: “I think the reality is I don’t know the answer to that question. You would have to ask the Iranians.”
According to Panetta, many Americans have lost confidence in Trump’s “ability to handle this war”, citing polling that he said showed a majority of Americans believe the war with Iran is a mistake and oppose its continuation.
The former Pentagon chief also pointed to the record deployment of the USS Abraham Lincoln, which recently arrived in Thailand after spending more than 260 days supporting US military aggression against Iran without a port visit, amid reports of deteriorating living conditions and mental health aboard.
“Bottom line is, you do not deploy people endlessly into a war zone without making some kind of plans for rotation,” Panetta said.
“So it’s not just that the war is going badly – I think there’s also kind of a lack of trust in our military as to whether or not they are properly supporting our men and women who are putting their lives on the line,” he said.