Interview with Wes J. Bryant, a former Pentagon analyst and combat veteran.
Interview with Wes J. Bryant, a former Pentagon analyst and combat veteran.
By Yunus Emre Özgün
The “rules-based international order” is dead. It has not been dismantled by foreign adversaries, but systemically destroyed by its self-proclaimed architects.
As the Middle East teeters on the edge of a regional conflagration sparked by Israeli strikes on Iran’s South Pars gas field and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz, Washington finds itself cornered. In an exclusive interview with Uwidata, Wes J. Bryant, a former Pentagon analyst and combat veteran with 20 years of experience in coalition operations, dismantled the official Washington narrative.
From the total collapse of legal deterrence to the catastrophic economic trap closing around US allies, Bryant offered an unvarnished, insider critique of a military-industrial complex and a political leadership blinded by imperial hubris.
The Death of International Law and the Normalization of War Crimes
The geopolitical hypocrisy has reached a fever pitch. While the US and Israel violate international law with absolute impunity, targeting civilian infrastructure and diplomatic missions, the US Treasury is now quietly floating the idea of lifting sanctions on Iranian oil to curb the domestic gas prices skyrocketing after the Hormuz closure.
When asked how much this double standard is eroding US global authority, Bryant’s assessment was blunt.
“International law right now just does not exist,” Bryant stated. “The only law that exists is what the strongest players say exists: Trump and Netanyahu.”
Bryant pointed to a disturbing normalization of civilian casualties and a clear dehumanization of target populations, a tactic imported directly from the Israeli campaigns in Gaza and Lebanon into the current US-Israeli joint campaign against Iran. He highlighted the recklessness of these operations, including a completely negligent US strike on a school in southern Iran that killed nearly 200 young girls, an atrocity the US Defense Secretary has yet to acknowledge.
“The US owns all civilian casualties that occur out of this war,” Bryant warned. The targeting of essential civilian services, such as power grids and water plants, crosses a dark threshold. “These are war crimes, mind you. Trump and this entire regime purely want submission by everyone, by whatever means possible. When we carry out and threaten war crimes… don’t be surprised when our adversary threatens war crimes in return. We’re truly on the brink of World War III.”
The Economic Trap and the Delusion of a ‘Quick War’
The tactical escalation driven by Tel Aviv is dragging Washington into a severe strategic overextension. Following the strike on South Pars, the closure of the Strait of Hormuz has essentially choked off 20% of the world’s oil supply. President Trump’s erratic 48-hour ultimatum to bomb Iranian power plants only accelerates an economic trap that is directly threatening US allies -specifically Europe, Japan, and India – who rely heavily on those energy arteries.
According to Bryant, this crisis exposes Trump’s profound ignorance regarding the realities of warfare, combined with an aggressive, resource-driven imperialism reminiscent of his threats toward Venezuela and Cuba.
“I truly believe he thought he could do a weekend of strikes against Iran and the regime would just lay down and surrender,” Bryant noted. “He has a very obvious lust and a need for power, a need for anyone to get on their knees in front of him.”
Despite Washington’s propagandistic claims of decimating Iran’s military capabilities, the reality on the ground tells a different story. “They are claiming victory… yet still can’t control the strait. There’s this massive and growing regional, and now global, economic crisis that’s all caused by Trump’s and Netanyahu’s illegal war. And they’re scrambling to figure out how to fix it.”
As a veteran who spent two decades fighting insurgencies, Bryant views this hubris as a fatal flaw. “None of those insurgencies were or are as strong as the Iranian regime or its military.”
The MAGA Pivot: From Isolationism to Tyranny
The current escalation completely shatters the core promise of the “Make America Great Again” movement, which originally campaigned on withdrawing US troops from endless Middle Eastern wars and focusing on domestic industrial revival. Instead, the administration has rapidly pivoted toward what Bryant describes as outright tyranny.
“If you look at the history of imperialism and all authoritarians and tyrants, the wars that they waged were often justified per their national security,” he explained. While a segment of the American public blindly supports the administration, Bryant believes a majority are horrified by the global and domestic actions of a leadership he categorizes as “maniacal, fascist, and authoritarian.”
Regarding the potential for a ground invasion, specifically the deployment of Marines to seize Iran’s Kharg Island, Bryant highlighted Trump’s unpredictable nature. While the deployment of amphibious readiness groups signals preparation, Trump typically prefers strike campaigns to avoid the political blowback of a long-term troop footprint and frontline combat deaths. However, in an administration operating without strategic guardrails, a sudden escalation remains a highly volatile possibility.
False Flags, Iranian Calculation, and the Information War
During the interview, we raised critical questions regarding the bizarre narrative surrounding alleged Iranian missile strikes toward Turkish and Azerbaijani territories, as well as the theoretical capability of Iran striking the distant US/UK base in Diego Garcia. Given Iran’s strategic positioning, hitting regional allies or escalating a direct front with the UK (which did not support the US in this specific war) defies military logic, pointing heavily toward Mossad-engineered false flag operations designed to manipulate international public opinion and drag reluctant actors into the fray.
Bryant agreed that such scenarios make little sense for Tehran. Unlike the impulsive strikes of the US-Israeli axis, he noted that Iran’s military command operates with a high degree of strategic patience.
“To be effective at war, you have to know your enemy and understand your enemy. You also have to respect their capabilities and strengths… Trump doesn’t give credit for that,” Bryant stated.
Contrary to Western media hysteria, Bryant pointed out that Iran’s operational behavior has been highly calculated. “It’s actually objectively somewhat impressive on some level, how measured the Iranian response has been. Most of their targets… have been against military infrastructure in the region.” He contrasted this with the reckless use of munitions by the US and Israel that actively destroy civilian life.
However, he issued a grim warning about the limits of this restraint. If the US-Israeli bombardment of civilian infrastructure continues unabated, the region will face a catastrophic lash-out.
The US-Israeli axis is currently operating in an echo chamber of its own design, mistaking military destruction for strategic victory. As the global South watches the last remnants of the so-called “rules-based order” burn, Washington is rapidly alienating its allies, destroying its own deterrence, and walking blindfolded into a multi-front war it cannot afford to wage.