Vance says Iran war is in "new phase"

What has been true over the last couple of weeks is they felt a lot more pressure than we have. We're going to keep that going because we think that's the best way to ultimately accomplish the final objective here.

Well, yesterday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the new US policy of maximum economic pressure on Iran makes a large-scale war less likely.

For more on this, let's bring in CBS News national security analyst and host of the School of Warpodcast, Aaron McClain. Always appreciate when you join. What do you think this new phase of the war with Iran really looks like? Because, I mean, I can't imagine-- we've already sanctioned Iran so much. And, really, how much more can we do to Tehran in terms of this economic warfare? Hey, good morning, guys. Well, as the vice president said, the objective here is to make them feel more economic pain than the United States and the world does as a consequence of their slowing down the amount of oil getting out of the Strait of Hormuz. And the way to increase the pressure at this point, directly to your question, would be to pressure other countries that are doing business, in some fashion or another, with Iran to scale that back, whether that's Gulf countries who still may have financial links or, very significantly, countries like China, which have substantial economic relationships. How much pressure is the Trump administration willing to impose? How much economic pain is it willing to sustain as a part of that exercise? These are the opening questions as this comes together. So, Aaron, the other thing we talked about earlier on CBS Mornings,we are learning that the US Army is planning to phase out this drone battalion, which is newly created, I think just in the last year or so. The idea was to ensure that the United States can keep up with the ever-changing battlefield as we've seen it in Iran, in the war with Iran, and the war between Russia and Ukraine, where drones have become a significant part of the ever-changing battlefield. And now we're doing away with this program. Yeah, it's really an extraordinary story, Vlad. As you point out, this is a new initiative, a year old or so at this point. The unit was set up in Europe to learn the lessons directly from Ukraine about the cutting edge of drone warfare and to incorporate those into the Army. It's being shut down now, the Army says officially, so that that unit can return to its, quote, "core warfighting tasks of being airborne infantry." But what CBS News has learned is that apparently a great deal of interpersonal tension between the current acting chief of staff of the Army and the officers who set up this unit is actually playing the major role here. Apparently, the current acting chief of staff bears those officers some ill will for things that happened in the past, and this is, in some ways, a consequence of that ill will.

How does the US military compare with other nations when it comes to drone warfare? Because I remember that exercise with Ukraine. We didn't really fare so well. Kelly, we are behind. So what that exercise showed was that our more traditional ways of operating with some light incorporation of drone technology here and there couldn't stand up to the kinds of tactics and procedures that Ukrainian soldiers have developed to survive on the battlefield these last few years of war with Russia. There's a difference between theoretically accepting that drones are important on the battlefield, which pretty much everyone in the US military has done at this point, and then doing the hard work to actually change the way you operate day to day, minute to minute in order to survive and thrive, and that's the work that still needs to be done. I don't think anybody thinks we are where we need to be.

All right, Aaron, always appreciate your expertise and analysis. Thanks, guys. Good morning.