“The U.S.-Iran war could drag on for years, putting America at risk of overlooking China’s rise to power, according to President Donald Trump’s former defense secretary,” CNBC reports.“Mark Esper said on Thursday he saw the conflict continuing ‘well into 2027,’ with a possibility that it could be handed to the next U.S. administration in three years’ time.”Said Esper: “At some point, we will reach a point where maybe both sides are willing to come to the table and find a negotiated settlement, but the challenge for president Trump will be he’s going to have to get a deal that returns the Strait of Hormuz to the status quo, which is going to be really hard, and is a deal that’s better than what Barack Obama got out of the JCPOA, and I think that’s going to be very difficult too.”