Mehek Cooke, senior national security and legal analyst at The Daily Signal, warned that Iran is betting on fear as the United States escalates military pressure—an approach she says exposes Tehran’s strategic weakness. Appearing on “Fox News @ Night” Monday, Cooke said, “Iran is betting everything on fear because they don’t have a military.” “They don’t have an air force, and they definitely don’t have a navy,” she said. Cooke pointed to recent U.S. military action targeting Iranian vessels, noting that the Strait of Hormuz—once Tehran’s primary economic leverage—no longer holds the same power. “We just saw the United States take out seven of their ships,” she said. “That shows you the Strait of Hormuz is no longer decisive.” On Monday, U.S. forces struck Iranian fast boats in the Strait of Hormuz after Iran reportedly launched missiles and drones against commercial shipping and U.S. naval assets. President Donald Trump said the U.S. would guide commercial vessels through the strait, one of the world’s most important energy chokepoints, and said he would not allow Tehran to hold global energy markets hostage. Iran is attempting to push the U.S. to the edge of escalation while avoiding a full confrontation, Cooke said. “They’re trying to operate in a gray zone,” she said. “But we called them out immediately. We stopped them.” Cooke said Trump remains open to negotiations if Iranian leaders, including elements of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, are willing to change course. But she emphasized that continued defiance would come with severe consequences. “He made a threat, and he meant it,” she said, warning that the U.S. can focus on additional pressure points beyond conducting military strikes, including targeting nuclear infrastructure and critical economic hubs such as Kharg Island. Cooke also argued that Gulf states have a stake in confronting Iran’s aggression, noting they too have been targeted and must play a role in demanding change. Later in the program, Cooke discussed what she described as another national crisis receiving far less attention: massive fraud across federal welfare and health care systems. Reacting to revelations of widespread hospice and home health care fraud, Cooke said the problem is systemic and bipartisan, affecting red and blue states alike. Drawing on her experience investigating fraud, she said government complacency has allowed abuse to grow into the billions of dollars. “This isn’t just blue states,” Cooke said. “It’s in states like Ohio.” She pointed to cases involving dozens of home healthcare centers receiving millions of dollars while basic oversight was absent. “You knock on doors, most of the individuals don’t speak English. Many of the individuals aren’t there and many don’t even know how home healthcare works.” Cooke cited examples in which a disproportionate share of Medicaid funding was concentrated in just two zip codes, calling it a red flag that should have triggered immediate scrutiny. Drawing on years of oversight work, she said fraud plagues programs in both red and blue states, including Ohio. “Government is complacent,” Cooke said. “They rubber-stamp fraud because it’s not their money.” Without serious accountability, she warned, taxpayers will continue to bear the cost of systemic neglect.