Tensions between the United States and Iran are reaching a boiling point, and there doesn't seem to be much cohesion in the upper echelons of the U.S. government, according to MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace.

On the Monday episode of her show "Deadline: White House," Wallace interviewed retired Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, who served in the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations. The three-star general heaped criticism on the administration over its conflicting reports on the effectiveness of the strikes that President Donald Trump carried out over the weekend on Iranian nuclear targets. Hertling opined that Trump's use of the term "obliterated" was "hyperbole" and not factual.

"Whenever you're doing bomb damage assessment — the so-called BDA — you underplay it until you have more facts," Hertling said. "...Truthfully, you know, as an inexperienced commander, I would never say something like it's been obliterated. I wouldn't even say it was defeated or destroyed until you had evidence of that happening."

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Wallace went on to observe that while Trump has expressed an openness to help Israel accomplish "regime change" in Iran, Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State (and National Security Advisor) Marco Rubio have publicly emphasized that the U.S. is not looking to topple Iran's government. She added that "it wasn't clear to me what the facts were" as events were developing on Saturday night.

"Let me ask you one more factual question," Wallace began. "Do you understand, or do you believe the military understands what the objective of the raids were? Because even since it happened, trump and his own VP seem to be on different pages about regime change."

Hertling responded that it was unlikely that military officers have given orders to depose Iranian leaders, and said that any official mandate to do so would be an inappropriate ask of the U.S. military. And he noted that while the military is capable of defeating enemy troops in combat or neutralizing a high-value target, they "certainly can't do it with a bombing campaign."

"I'm sure the mission set that was passed through CENTCOM [U.S. Central Command, which oversees Middle Eastern operations) to the U.S., to the Air Force and the Navy was hit these specific targets," he said. "...But that has nothing to do with the changing dynamic from striking a nuclear facility all the way to the next day, talking about regime change. Because, you know, I got to tell you, the military don't do regime change, and we certainly don't do it very well. Sorry for my grammar there."

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