White House AI czar David Sacks said on Friday the US should “declare victory and get out” of its war on Iran, a rare instance of a prominent figure in Donald Trump’s administration calling for an exit from the Iran conflict.
In an appearance on the “All-In Podcast,” Sacks serves as the US president’s top AI and crypto advisor in the Trump administration, said: “This is a good time to declare victory and get out.”
He claimed that the US “had degraded Iran’s military capabilities.
Sacks said: “Israel’ is getting hit harder than they’ve ever been hit before in their history, and we’re only two weeks into this … If this war continues for weeks or months, then Israel could just be destroyed or very large parts of it.”
“Then you have to worry about Israel escalating the war by contemplating using a nuclear weapon, which would truly be catastrophic,” he added.
🚨 David Sacks Says the Risks of Continued Escalation in Iran Could Be ‘Catastrophic’
— Chief Nerd (@TheChiefNerd) March 13, 2026
“Israel is getting hit harder than they've ever been hit before in their history, and we're only two weeks into this … If this war continues for weeks or months, then Israel could just be… pic.twitter.com/RDpqw5w8Er
Sacks said financial markets would likely welcome such a move and argued that Washington should seek an off-ramp to avoid a prolonged regional conflict.
“If escalation doesn’t lead anywhere good, then you have to think about, well, how do you de-escalate? De-escalation, I think, involves reaching some sort of ceasefire agreement or some sort of negotiated settlement with Iran,” he added.
Sacks cautioned that some factions in Washington, particularly within the Republican Party, are advocating for further escalation against Iran. He warned that such an approach could trigger a cascade of dangerous consequences across the Middle East.
He outlined a scenario in which Iran retaliates by targeting Gulf state oil infrastructure, followed by attacks on desalination plants that supply drinking water across the region.
“I think it’s something like 100 million people on the Arabian Peninsula that get their water from desal,” Sacks said, warning that such attacks could create severe humanitarian and economic disruption.
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Source: Agencies (edited by Al-Manar)