Former National Security Council Director for Countering Iran, Rich Goldberg, has criticized what he described as a missed strategic opportunity during the ongoing conflict with Iran, arguing that senior leaders of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) should not have been allowed to move freely at a critical moment.
Speaking during an interview on Fox News on Tuesday, July 21, 2026, Goldberg said it was a mistake for key figures within Iran’s military leadership, including IRGC commander Ahmad Vahidi, to be seen moving freely during the funeral of Iran’s Supreme Leader while the conflict between Tehran and Washington continued.
Goldberg made the remarks as he discussed the broader U.S. military campaign against Iran and the steps he believes are necessary to weaken the country’s military command structure. According to him, senior IRGC officials remain central to Iran’s ability to coordinate military operations, project power across the Middle East, and sustain threats against U.S. interests and international shipping.
The former NSC official suggested that high-profile public events, such as the funeral attended by senior Iranian officials, could provide valuable intelligence opportunities for tracking the movements of key military figures. He said such moments should be used to strengthen efforts aimed at degrading the command structure of the IRGC if it is assessed that those individuals continue to play a direct role in threatening regional security.
Goldberg maintained that the broader objective of the U.S. campaign should remain restoring freedom of navigation through the Strait of Hormuz and preventing Iran from developing a nuclear weapons capability. However, he argued that achieving those goals may require more direct pressure on the individuals responsible for carrying out the regime’s military policies.
He added that if senior IRGC commanders remain the principal obstacle to securing maritime routes and reducing Iran’s military threat, they should be considered among the highest-priority targets in any future escalation.
In his words “It was a mistake to allow people like Ahmad Vahidi, the head of the IRGC, to be walking freely during the funeral of the Supreme Leader. Hopefully they have tracked his movements and other leaders as well. If they’re the key impediments to getting the Strait of Hormuz moving, you have to imagine that’s part of the escalation options in front of us…See_More
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