'New kind of chess': George Conway mocks Lindsey Graham's Iran war 'checkmate' claim

Prominent Trump critic George Conway, on Tuesday, mocked Senator Lindsey Graham's claim that retaking the Strait of Hormuz would be 'checkmate' in the Iran war. Conway called it a bizarre game of chess, where victory means putting the pieces back to their original state. While 'Operation Freedom', launched to escort merchant ships out of the Strait, was praised by Graham, critics across political and expert circles questioned the move. The operation was paused days after its launch, as the Iran conflict entered its third month. 

In an interview on Fox News, the South Carolina senator praised Operation Freedom, claiming restoring freedom of navigation in the Hormuz Strait was vital for the U.S., and would devastate Iran's economy. "The Strait of Hormuz is the only thing left. This has been a brilliant campaign by President Trump and our military," Graham said. He added that Iran's nuclear programme had been destroyed, they are on "their knees economically," and "if we can take back control of the Strait of Hormuz—it is checkmate." Reacting to the comments, Conway shared a clip of the interview on X, writing, "Interesting. This must be a new kind of chess where you compete to put the pieces back where they were before you smacked them off the board."

This isn't the first time that Conway mocked Trump's handling of the Iran war. Previously, when President Donald Trump announced a complete blockade of Iranian ports and the strait, the former anti-Trump Republican called it "work of a pure genius" and that only Trump could think of "blockading a blockade." Despite the criticism, Trump launched Operation Freedom to escort allied ships out of the strait as Iran maintained a stronghold over the key global shipping lane. Graham backed the move, calling it a "masterclass" and a "consequential moment." Similar sentiment was shared by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and Joint Chiefs chairman Gen. Dan Caine, all of whom vowed the operation would ensure freedom of navigation. 

However, just a day after its launch, the operation was paused by the President. Trump said that a "mutual agreement" was reached with Tehran, with the U.S. making "great progress" toward making a deal. In a Truth Social post, Trump said that he had made the decision "based on the request of Pakistan," the intermediary between the U.S. and Iran, but he added that the blockade of Iranian ports will remain in place.

The announcement came as a surprise to many, as it undercut messaging from Rubio, Hegseth, and other proponents of the war. "We would prefer the path of peace. What the president would prefer is a deal," Rubio told reporters on Tuesday, after the announcement. The administration had stressed that Operation Freedom was a "separate and distinct" effort from the war, meant to pressure Iran economically. On the other hand, Iranian state media, according to a BBC report, characterised it as a victory, claiming Trump "retreated" after "continued failures" to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.