Exclusive: U.S. lacks the "will" for Iran ground war, Anduril's Luckey says
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The U.S. lacks the "political will" and popular consensus to put boots on the ground in Iran after decades of "adventures" in the Middle East, Anduril Industries founder Palmer Luckey said on "The Axios Show."
Why it matters: Three weeks into the Iran war, the U.S. is sending thousands of Marines to the region, with growing uncertainty about what actually comes next.
Driving the news: "Our adventures in the Middle East of the last couple decades have robbed America of its ability to sustain a boots-on-the-ground campaign," said Luckey, whose $60 billion company builds everything from drones to missiles to electronic warfare tools.
- "Maybe I'll be eating my words in a week, but I don't think that we have it in us."
- "The Axios Show" is our series featuring top Axios reporters interviewing newsmakers shaping politics, business, tech, and culture.
The intrigue: Luckey — generally a critic of past U.S. wars in the Middle East but a supporter of President Trump's approach — said the commander-in-chief was waging a new kind of warfare "born of strategic realities."
- "I don't think that we're ready to go fight, let's say, World War II for the right reasons, much less reasons that not everyone agrees with," he said.
- "I think that we don't have another D-Day in us right now, and I think that's actually a bit of a problem."
- Luckey did not criticize the Trump administration's actions or decision-making in the ongoing conflict.
By the numbers: Recent polling suggests about three-quarters of Americans oppose sending ground troops into Iran.
What to watch: Luckey declined to detail what, exactly, Anduril has deployed in the region. He promised to discuss the matter when "things settle down."
- "I think that would be a fun time, to go through and say, 'Hey, here's what we did. Here's what worked. Here's what didn't.'"
Go deeper: The U.S. military can't quit the Middle East
