Former Trump Defense Secretary Esper calls Iran's demands 'ridiculous'

Esper said the U.S. should reject Iran's terms "out of hand."

Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper on Sunday called the latest Iranian criteria for reopening the Strait of Hormuz a "ridiculous" set of demands that will prevent the negotiation process from moving forward.

"They've put forward demands of the United States, which, frankly, are ridiculous and should be rejected out of hand, Esper, who served as secretary of Defense during President Donald Trump's first term, told ABC News' "This Week" co-anchor Jonathan Karl. "Demands such as the withdrawal of all U.S. forces from the region, reimbursement for the costs of the war, the fact that we would end our blockade, we would end sanctions. So it's gone beyond the pale."

Esper said the new set of requirements Iran has outlined to reopen the critical waterway and allow the resumption to prewar levels of shipping shows that Iranian leadership is confident in their negotiating position and the leverage they hold by controlling the strait.

"It shows that they believe that they have the upper hand, they believe they are winning, and they are already. So that's what we're up against right now," Esper said.

"These demands they've now raised last night show that they are emboldened, that they feel confident about their position in the world, and at the same time they are flexing their muscles by using their proxies."

Esper also commented on the severity of the U.S. shortage of some munitions amid the ongoing war in Iran and the administration's efforts to ramp up production to reduce the impact of the shortage.

"The administration is trying hard in multiple ways," Esper said, "but when you're talking about taking two years to build a Patriot missile, whatever we do now is not going to help in the short term, but nonetheless needs to be done for strategic reasons."

A U.S. official, who would not discuss numerical estimates, told ABC News last week that the U.S. stockpiles of ballistic missile interceptors "are extremely low." Those reduced stockpiles are one constraint as Trump has weighed different military options in the conflict.

Trump on Thursday acknowledged that "we need more all the time" but "we have certain types of munitions that are very powerful [of which] we have unlimited, virtually unlimited supply."

"We have others where it's a little bit tighter, and we're getting them in on a daily basis," the president said.

It was unclear which munitions Trump was referring to.

Esper said the problem goes back decades and was exacerbated by Trump's predecessor, Joe Biden.

"It is a serious situation that goes back to the end of the Cold War and the decisions we made between then, and then with the onset of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars," Esper said, "and frankly, it accelerated during the Biden administration when we were expending munitions or giving munitions to Ukraine."

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