Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Green Light for Democrat Subpoena Lawfare 2026 plus Deal or Darkness for Iran’s Power Grid

Transcript

Green Light for Democrat Subpoena Lawfare 2026 plus Deal or Darkness for Iran’s Power Grid · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: All right.
0:00
Speaker 2: For years now, Democrats have made one thing crystal clear.
0:05
Speaker 2: They do not just oppose Donald Trump politically. They believe
0:09
Speaker 2: he represents a fundamental threat to the country itself. That's
0:13
Speaker 2: part of the reason why they've said over and over
0:16
Speaker 2: again that they want to put Donald Trump in prison. Well,
0:20
Speaker 2: now they're running off the issue we're now being told
0:23
Speaker 2: in the midterm elections. And by the way, this has
0:27
Speaker 2: been years in the making. Just remember what Kamala Harris said.
0:31
Speaker 2: She said that Donald Trump was an existential threat to
0:34
Speaker 2: the United States of America. Joe Biden and the Democratic
0:38
Speaker 2: Party have gone even further, describing Trump as an exidentral
0:41
Speaker 2: threat to all of us and again our democracy their
0:45
Speaker 2: favorite word. Now, when you think about wording existential threat,
0:50
Speaker 2: that means, in their view, not just wrong, but dangerous
0:54
Speaker 2: to the survival of the system itself. And that's true
0:57
Speaker 2: when it comes to the Democratic Party. Donald Trump is
1:01
Speaker 2: a threat to their system. Now, Democrats in the House,
1:05
Speaker 2: from beneath the top leadership, they've used even more blunt words.
1:09
Speaker 2: Alyssa Slogan warned in an official Democratic response, the democracy
1:15
Speaker 2: is at risk if Trump's actions go unchecked. At rallies
1:20
Speaker 2: across the country over the weekend, you know, the No
1:23
Speaker 2: King's rallies. You had prominent Democrats and activists echoing the
1:27
Speaker 2: same message, framing Trump is a danger to the republic
1:31
Speaker 2: and warning about authoritarianism and threats to again their favorite
1:35
Speaker 2: new word to love democracy. Well, now we're learning what
1:39
Speaker 2: they actually want to do when it comes to if
1:43
Speaker 2: they gain power back, if Democrats take the House. We
1:47
Speaker 2: learn now from the No King's rallies in their own words,
1:51
Speaker 2: that they are laying the groundwork for a law fare
1:55
Speaker 2: because if Trump is quote a threat to democracy, an
1:58
Speaker 2: existential threat, someone putting the system at risk, that in
2:03
Speaker 2: their minds, aggressive investigations aren't political, they're necessary. That's what
2:09
Speaker 2: they said over the weekend. What does that actually mean.
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Speaker 2: Number one, relentless investigations in a Donald Trump and the
2:17
Speaker 2: people around him, his inner circle now not just oversight,
2:22
Speaker 2: but their mission, they say, would be to dismantle and
2:25
Speaker 2: politically weaken what they view as a dangerous movement, meaning
2:30
Speaker 2: who the American people chose to be their president. The
2:34
Speaker 2: Democrats also said over the weekend very clearly that if
2:38
Speaker 2: they went back the House, they will expand their probes
2:41
Speaker 2: into federal agencies. They say especially around quote elections, the
2:47
Speaker 2: Department of Justice actions under Trump's leadership and executive authority,
2:52
Speaker 2: all because Democrats have already signaled concerns about democratic norms
2:56
Speaker 2: being undermined, even though they're the king pins of doing
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Speaker 2: massive amounts of executive orders when Joe Biden was president.
3:05
Speaker 2: Now we also have to talk about who they're going
3:07
Speaker 2: to target. Before I get to that, I want to
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Speaker 2: talk to you about the international Fellowship of Christians and
3:12
Speaker 2: Jews and the help that is so desperately and the
3:16
Speaker 2: help that is so desperately needed. Right now. In Israel,
3:20
Speaker 2: a sacred season is approaching Passover, when we remember God's deliverance,
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Speaker 2: the night he brought his people out of bondage and
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Speaker 2: into freedom. This year, many of God's people will observe
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Speaker 2: in darkness under the shadow of war across Israel. Red
3:36
Speaker 2: alert sirens pierced the air, Families run to shelters with
3:41
Speaker 2: seconds to spare. Elderly men and women fear they'll be
3:44
Speaker 2: left behind, and parents are comforting their frightened children as
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Speaker 2: explosions shake the night. Sleeplessness and uncertainty have become daily
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Speaker 2: life in Israel, and Passover reminds us that God hears
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Speaker 2: the cries of his people answers with love and compassion.
4:02
Speaker 2: And that's why the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews
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Speaker 2: is on the ground in Israel right now. They're providing
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Speaker 2: food and emergency supplies, equipping bomb shelters, and caring for
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Speaker 2: elderly Holocaust survivors. Just as is people once cried out
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Speaker 2: for deliverance. Vulnerable Israelis need your help today with your
4:23
Speaker 2: generous Passover gift. It shows you stand with God's people.
4:28
Speaker 2: And if you are ready to stand with the people
4:30
Speaker 2: of Israel, then stand with the IFCJ and help. You
4:34
Speaker 2: can call them eight eight eight four eight eight IFCJ
4:39
Speaker 2: that's eight eight eight four eight eight IFCJ to rush
4:44
Speaker 2: your gift right now, or you can give online at
4:47
Speaker 2: IFCJ dot org. That's IFCJ dot org. Now let's get
4:54
Speaker 2: back to targeting for a moment. We have now learned
4:57
Speaker 2: that Democrats aren't just going to target their political adversary.
5:00
Speaker 2: They want to target corporations and anyone they believe was
5:05
Speaker 2: an ally to President Donald Trump or conservatives. If they
5:09
Speaker 2: believe Trump's policies threatened democracy. They now say the companies
5:14
Speaker 2: tied to those policies will become part of their investigation.
5:19
Speaker 2: They also want to take they say big action towards
5:23
Speaker 2: big tech and AI. Their framing is protecting you from misinformation,
5:29
Speaker 2: election interference, and the algorithm influence. But in reality they
5:34
Speaker 2: want to go back to total control of AI and
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Speaker 2: social media, just like we witness under Joe Biden and
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Speaker 2: Barack Obama's time in office. You know when they were
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Speaker 2: sending lists of people they want to silence or shut
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Speaker 2: down on X, on Twitter, on Instagram, it was a
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Speaker 2: conservative hit list of anyone they wanted to silence. Now,
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Speaker 2: under the justification, of course, of combating threats to democracy,
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Speaker 2: they want social media to crack down even more on
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Speaker 2: individuals they say shouldn't have free speech and should have
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Speaker 2: their content moderated by these social media platforms. There's no
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Speaker 2: reason to believe, by the way, that big tech wouldn't
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Speaker 2: go back to exactly what they did before, going after
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Speaker 2: any person. The Democrat or a member of Congress or
6:19
Speaker 2: a governor sends them that there's a conservative that is
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Speaker 2: getting too big or too powerful online that they want
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Speaker 2: a silence.
6:27
Speaker 1: And here's the reality.
6:29
Speaker 2: When Democrats say Trump is just wrong, that's politics. When
6:33
Speaker 2: they say the threat to democracy. That is something entirely different,
6:38
Speaker 2: because once you cross that line, and they've crossed it,
6:42
Speaker 2: you are no longer debating policy. You are now justifying
6:46
Speaker 2: using government tools, government power, government legal systems to stop
6:53
Speaker 2: someone you believe is dangerous because you don't like them.
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Speaker 2: And that's why the sixteen election was so shocking for Democrats,
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Speaker 2: how quickly they decided to weaponize the government to go
7:06
Speaker 2: after Donald Trump, to overthrow the will of the people.
7:10
Speaker 2: The scary part is, in twenty twenty six, ten years later,
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Speaker 2: that's exactly the same playbook Democrats are going to use
7:18
Speaker 2: this time, because if the Democrats win, they won't just
7:22
Speaker 2: claim a mandate to govern. We now know they'll claim
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Speaker 2: a mandate to investigate, a mandate to subpoena, a mandate
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Speaker 2: to go after what they've already defined is a threat
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Speaker 2: to the country itself. So when you step back and
7:37
Speaker 2: look at everything we just laid out tonight, the rhetoric,
7:41
Speaker 2: the warnings, the language Democrats are using, you start to
7:46
Speaker 2: understand what's really at stake. This isn't just about oversight,
7:50
Speaker 2: this isn't about subpoenas, and this is definitely not just
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Speaker 2: about accountability. This is about the weaponization of our government,
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Speaker 2: putting it on aeroids what they did in twenty twenty,
8:02
Speaker 2: in twenty sixteen, And because when one party repeatedly tells
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Speaker 2: the American people that a former president and anyone that
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Speaker 2: supported him, anyone involved in the movement, anyone that supported
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Speaker 2: him on election day is a threat, an existential threat
8:17
Speaker 2: to democracy, that changes the entire ballgame. That's not just
8:22
Speaker 2: politics anymore. That's justification, justification for aggressive, overreaching investigations, something
8:31
Speaker 2: they've already done before. It's justification for endless subpoenas, something
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Speaker 2: they've already done before in the Democratic Party towards Donald
8:39
Speaker 2: Trump and anyone around him, the justification for dragging people
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Speaker 2: into hearings again, something that Democrats have already done before,
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Speaker 2: forcing testimony and putting targets on the backs of anyone
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Speaker 2: connected to an agenda or a person or an individual
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Speaker 2: they oppose. And history tells us something very important. When
9:00
Speaker 2: politicians convince themselves they are saving democracy, they will push
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Speaker 2: the limits of power to do it. So don't think
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Speaker 2: for a second that this would be a normal return
9:11
Speaker 2: to divide a government. I want to be clear. The
9:14
Speaker 2: No King's Rally proved one thing. It's this it won't be.
9:19
Speaker 2: It is a green light. That's what they're asking for.
9:23
Speaker 2: A green light for committee chairs to launch investigations and
9:27
Speaker 2: then more investigations, and then more investigations into any conservative,
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Speaker 2: Christian or Trump supporter. It's a green light to go
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Speaker 2: after every administration official. It's a greenlight to go after
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Speaker 2: private companies that donate to Donald Trump or that are
9:44
Speaker 2: conservative minded. It's a green light to go after tech
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Speaker 2: leaders and force them back into submission where they will
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Speaker 2: do whatever the Democratic Party says, including silencing Americans. And
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Speaker 2: it's a green light to go after political allies of
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Speaker 2: the President of the United States of America. I would
10:02
Speaker 2: be one of those. By the way, this screen light
10:05
Speaker 2: is to dominate the headlines with one goal in mind,
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Speaker 2: stop Trump, weaken the movement, reshape the political battlefield heading
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Speaker 2: into the presidential elections in twenty twenty eight. And here's
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Speaker 2: the part that matters most for every single person listening
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Speaker 2: right now. This doesn't stay in Washington because when government
10:24
Speaker 2: turns its focus towards investigations at this scale, it will
10:27
Speaker 2: impact the economy. It will impact the stability of multiple businesses,
10:32
Speaker 2: it will impact the future of innovation and the tone
10:37
Speaker 2: of political speech in this country as well, because when
10:40
Speaker 2: subpoenas start flying for no reason, when it's law fair,
10:44
Speaker 2: people don't just get questioned, they get cautious, they get quiet,
10:48
Speaker 2: and in some cases they get pushed out. So as
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Speaker 2: an American, the choice in twenty twenty six is actually
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Speaker 2: bigger than just control of the House. It's about what
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Speaker 2: kind of country we're going to be. Are we going
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Speaker 2: to be a country where elections settle debates or a
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Speaker 2: country where elections trigger investigations. Are we going to move
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Speaker 2: forward or are we going to spend years locked in
11:09
Speaker 2: political trench warfare where one side uses every tool it
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Speaker 2: can to go after the other. Because the Democrats, they
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Speaker 2: made it clear over the weekend, the warning signs are here.
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Speaker 2: They told us what they're going to do. Believe them.
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Speaker 2: They've told you what to fear. Believe them. And if
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Speaker 2: they win, they've told you exactly what they're prepared to
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Speaker 2: do to all of us. And that's exactly why it's
11:34
Speaker 2: so important that walking away from these No king rallies,
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Speaker 2: you understand exactly what they were calling for. Donald Trump
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Speaker 2: has come out talking about who he's talking to in Iran,
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Speaker 2: the new regime they are in place, and the President
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Speaker 2: also making it very clear if they do not agree
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Speaker 2: with the negotiations with America, we will blow up their
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Speaker 2: power infrastructure easily. They better make a deal. President Trump
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Speaker 2: suggesting in a message on Monday morning that a new
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Speaker 2: and more reasonable regime has taken over Iran and is
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Speaker 2: talking with washing DC. He warned yet again he is
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Speaker 2: willing to obliterate Iran's energy infrastructure his exact words, if
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Speaker 2: the talks do not lead to a durable agreement. Trump
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Speaker 2: made the declaration a message on his website True Social
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Speaker 2: What remains of the Iranian government after the elimination of
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Speaker 2: the Supreme Leader has repeatedly denied Trump's claim that it
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Speaker 2: is in conversations with the American government, while also stating
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Speaker 2: that it has responded to America's proposals, which would be
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Speaker 2: impossible without a conversation. President Trump smiling through that in
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Speaker 2: a statement saying that not only is America pursuing regime
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Speaker 2: change in Iran, but the regime change has already happened,
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Speaker 2: saying the United States America's in serious discussions with a
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Speaker 2: new and more reasonable regime to end our military operation
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Speaker 2: in Iran. He followed up that comment with a threat.
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Speaker 2: Great progress has been made, but if for any reason
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Speaker 2: a deal is not shortly reached, which it probably will be,
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Speaker 2: and if the Hormu Strait is not immediately open for business,
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Speaker 2: we will conclude our lovely state in Iran by blowing
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Speaker 2: up and completely obliterating all of their electric generating plants,
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Speaker 2: oil wells, and cargo island, and possibly all desalization plants,
13:30
Speaker 2: which we have purposely not yet touched, quote unquote. The
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Speaker 2: President went on to say, this will be in retribution
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Speaker 2: for our many soldiers and others that Iran has butchered
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Speaker 2: and killed over the regime's forty seven year reign of terror.
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Speaker 2: Thank you for your attention to this matter. Now, President
13:49
Speaker 2: Trump is seriously weighing also a military operation. We're being
13:53
Speaker 2: told to extract nearly one thousand pounds of highly enriched
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Speaker 2: uranium from Iran. And while they government has not responded
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Speaker 2: directly to Trump's statement at press time, the Foreign Ministry
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Speaker 2: spokesman confirmed on Monday that Iran had received and was
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Speaker 2: contemplating negotiation messages from the United States. At the same time,
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Speaker 2: that individual also dispaired the proposals as being unrealistic, illogical,
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Speaker 2: and excessive, but His statement nonetheless confirmed the existence of
14:25
Speaker 2: some form of communication between individuals and power in Iran
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Speaker 2: and the White House, specifically Donald Trump quote, our position
14:35
Speaker 2: is clear. We are under military aggression. Therefore, all our
14:39
Speaker 2: efforts and strengths are focused on defending ourselves, according to
14:44
Speaker 2: translation by the Saudi outlet there the government of also
14:48
Speaker 2: Pakistan claimed last week that it was mediating talks between
14:52
Speaker 2: America and Iran, handing Tehran a fifteen point proposal from
14:56
Speaker 2: the White House. Trump shortly thereafter claimed that Iran quote
15:00
Speaker 2: gave us most to the points, and that he would
15:03
Speaker 2: be asking for a couple of other things. The president
15:06
Speaker 2: also announced that he would not target any energy infrastructure
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Speaker 2: Iran through April the sixth, that would be Easter Sunday.
15:13
Speaker 2: Talks are ongoing and despite Erronea's statements to the contrary
15:17
Speaker 2: by the fake news media and others, they are going
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Speaker 2: very well. The President said, thank you for your attention
15:23
Speaker 2: to this matter. He also claimed that Iran was begging
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Speaker 2: for a deal, contrary to the declarations in Iranian state media,
15:32
Speaker 2: clearly to keep the people in Iran in line. Also
15:35
Speaker 2: indicating the existence of talks and those talks actually being
15:39
Speaker 2: very real, was the head of the International Atomic Energy
15:43
Speaker 2: Agency known as the IAEA, who told Italian media on
15:47
Speaker 2: Wednesday that talks about the Iran war would take place
15:51
Speaker 2: in Pakistan as early as this passed weekend. Another example
15:56
Speaker 2: of confirmation. Three weeks of war have left their march,
16:00
Speaker 2: which caused a lot of damage affected Iran's economic, energy
16:04
Speaker 2: and productive infrastructure. This will make the conversation quote a
16:08
Speaker 2: little bit different now. Pakistan did host talks on the
16:12
Speaker 2: Iran war this weekend, but reports indicated that neither Iran
16:17
Speaker 2: nor the United States of America quote participated. Instead, the
16:21
Speaker 2: event offered an opportunity for Pakistan to discuss the war
16:24
Speaker 2: with officials from Saudi Arabia and Turkey, as well as Egypt. Now,
16:29
Speaker 2: according to the Egyptian Foreign Minister, the objective of the
16:32
Speaker 2: talks is to de escalate tension and encouraging negotiating process
16:36
Speaker 2: between Iran the United States of America to spare the
16:39
Speaker 2: region comprehensive chaos. The Pakistani government also added that while
16:44
Speaker 2: Iran did not directly participate, Pakistani officials had a phone
16:49
Speaker 2: call with the Iranian Foreign minister to discuss Tehran's position. Now,
16:53
Speaker 2: most of Iran's response to the current hostilities by the
16:56
Speaker 2: United States has been to targets its neighboring country with
17:00
Speaker 2: missi and drone attacks, including Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Other
17:04
Speaker 2: countries Ariana's bond include Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE, Israel, Cyprus.
17:10
Speaker 2: Iranian officials have claimed the strikes are intended to target
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Speaker 2: American and Israeli sites, but in reality they are targeting
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Speaker 2: a variety of civilian sites instead, including energy facilities in
17:23
Speaker 2: many of the Gulf states, which brings us to a
17:26
Speaker 2: one on one interview done on Good Morning America on
17:29
Speaker 2: Monday morning with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. I think
17:33
Speaker 2: it's incredibly important you hear what Marco had to say.
17:36
Speaker 2: Take a listen to the interview.
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Speaker 3: Would be on mister secretary, thank you for joining us
17:40
Speaker 3: this morning. Let's talk about the president's comments overnight talking
17:43
Speaker 3: about taking the oil on carg Island. How would he
17:46
Speaker 3: do this? Why would he do this? Won't it take
17:48
Speaker 3: ground troops?
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Speaker 4: Well, first of all, it's important to remember the objectives
17:52
Speaker 4: of this operation from the very beginning, where we were
17:54
Speaker 4: going to We are destroying Iran's navy. We are destroying
17:58
Speaker 4: their ability to the missile launchers by a significant percentage.
18:01
Speaker 4: We're going to wipe out their defense industrial base, meaning
18:03
Speaker 4: their ability to make new missiles and new drones in
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Speaker 4: the future, because oppose a great threat to the region.
18:08
Speaker 4: This Iran that you're seeing now, this is Iran at
18:11
Speaker 4: its weakest point. Imagine them two years from now if
18:13
Speaker 4: they had thousands of more missiles, the thousands of more
18:16
Speaker 4: missile launchers and factories to make even more. That was
18:18
Speaker 4: an unacceptable risk. It needed to be addressed, and President
18:21
Speaker 4: Trump is addressing it now. They are making threats about
18:25
Speaker 4: controlling the Horrmue Straits and perpetuity, creating a tolling system
18:28
Speaker 4: and the like.
18:29
Speaker 1: That's not going to be allowed to happen.
18:31
Speaker 4: And the President has a number of options available to
18:33
Speaker 4: him if he so chooses to prevent that from happening.
18:36
Speaker 1: It happening. Obviously, I'm not.
18:37
Speaker 4: Going to discuss what those options are, and we're not
18:39
Speaker 4: going to discuss military tactics. The Department of War would
18:43
Speaker 4: be in charge of those things. I refer you to them,
18:45
Speaker 4: but obviously they're not going to discuss it with you either.
18:47
Speaker 4: But there is a way forward here to achieve our objectives.
18:50
Speaker 4: We are going to achieve our objectives in a matter
18:52
Speaker 4: of weeks, not months.
18:53
Speaker 3: Well, let's talk about taking the oil, because the President
18:56
Speaker 3: laid out that objective last night, and taking the oil
18:59
Speaker 3: will take ground true want.
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Speaker 4: It well again, the Iranians are threatening that they're going
19:05
Speaker 4: to set up some permanent system in the Straits of
19:07
Speaker 4: Hormones where they get to decide who goes through international waterways.
19:10
Speaker 1: That will never be allowed to happen.
19:11
Speaker 4: By the way, the rest of the world should take
19:13
Speaker 4: note of that they have more at stake there than
19:15
Speaker 4: we do. We get very little of our energy in
19:17
Speaker 4: this country coming through the Straits of Hormones.
19:19
Speaker 1: The rest of the world gets a lot more.
19:21
Speaker 4: That said, the President has several options at his disposal,
19:24
Speaker 4: and the Department of War is preparing optionality for the
19:27
Speaker 4: President for this and various other contingencies that might arise.
19:30
Speaker 4: That's what always needs to happen situations like this. But
19:33
Speaker 4: what I want the American people and the people watching
19:35
Speaker 4: this broadcast to know is that fundamentally what this is
19:38
Speaker 4: about is the destruction of their air force, which has
19:40
Speaker 4: been largely achieved, the destruction of their navy, which.
19:43
Speaker 1: Has been largely achieved.
19:45
Speaker 4: The destruction of their factories that they make all these
19:47
Speaker 4: weapons with which is we're well on our way to achieving,
19:50
Speaker 4: and a substantial reduction in the number of missile launchers
19:53
Speaker 4: that they have so that they cannot continue to threaten
19:55
Speaker 4: their neighbors in the future.
19:57
Speaker 1: All of those objectives.
19:58
Speaker 4: Are being met ahead honor ahead schedule, and should be
20:02
Speaker 4: able to achieve in a matter of weeks.
20:04
Speaker 3: As you're speaking, though, the President is expanding the objectives.
20:07
Speaker 3: Just a couple of minutes ago, he put out his
20:09
Speaker 3: post on True Social saying that we're in discussions now
20:12
Speaker 3: with a new and more reasonable regime in Irom. But
20:15
Speaker 3: he also added that if those discussions don't yield fruit,
20:19
Speaker 3: the United States will blow up and completely abliterate all
20:22
Speaker 3: of their electric generating plants, all their oil wells and
20:25
Speaker 3: carg island, and possibly all desalinization plants which we have
20:28
Speaker 3: purposely not yet touched, is what he said. That's a
20:30
Speaker 3: great expansion of the objectives.
20:32
Speaker 4: Well, well, I think the first point the President makes
20:35
Speaker 4: is he prefers diplomacy.
20:37
Speaker 1: As I said, those efforts are nascent.
20:38
Speaker 4: There is messages being re laid back and forth, some
20:41
Speaker 4: conversations going on, including through intermediaries, and he always prefers
20:44
Speaker 4: that Look, if the Iranian regime had come forward at
20:47
Speaker 4: any point in the past and said, we're going to
20:49
Speaker 4: walk away from our nuclear ambitions, We're going to do
20:52
Speaker 4: nuclear energy the way every other country in the world,
20:54
Speaker 4: primarily almost every other country in the world does it,
20:57
Speaker 4: and that is through a peaceful means in which you
20:58
Speaker 4: bring in the fuel and it's supervised and so forth.
21:01
Speaker 4: We're going to stop supporting terrorist groups across the region.
21:04
Speaker 1: Look at this region.
21:06
Speaker 4: Every single terrorist group in this region has a link
21:08
Speaker 4: to the Iranian regime. Every single one the houthis hesbolah Hamas,
21:13
Speaker 4: the Shia militias that are attacking everyone out of a rock,
21:15
Speaker 4: every single one of these groups and all the destabilization
21:18
Speaker 4: in this region tracks directly back to the Iranian regime.
21:22
Speaker 1: Those things have to be addressed.
21:23
Speaker 4: And if Ron had been willing to address to us
21:25
Speaker 4: in the past, we wouldn't be having this interview on
21:27
Speaker 4: this topic right now. Their refusal to do so, and
21:30
Speaker 4: they're continuing move towards one day acquiring a nuclear capability.
21:33
Speaker 4: These people are lunatics, They are insane, They are religious
21:37
Speaker 4: zelots who can never be allowed to possess a nuclear
21:39
Speaker 4: weapon because they have an apocalyptic vision of the future.
21:42
Speaker 4: And all of their neighbors know that, by the way,
21:44
Speaker 4: which is why all of their neighbors have been supportive
21:46
Speaker 4: of the efforts.
21:47
Speaker 3: You call them lunatics with the President just had this
21:49
Speaker 3: post where he says, we're in discussions with a new
21:51
Speaker 3: and more reasonable regime. Let me try to pin you
21:53
Speaker 3: down on that. Who is this new and more reasonable
21:56
Speaker 3: regime is the United States is in direct contact with them?
22:00
Speaker 4: Well, I'm not going to disclose to you who those
22:02
Speaker 4: people are because it probably would get them in trouble
22:04
Speaker 4: with some other groups of people inside of Iran. Look,
22:06
Speaker 4: there's some fractures going on there internally, and at the
22:09
Speaker 4: end of the day, I think that if there are
22:10
Speaker 4: people in Iran who now, given everything that's happened, are
22:13
Speaker 4: willing to move in a different direction for their country,
22:16
Speaker 4: that would be great. Imagine in Iran that and instead
22:18
Speaker 4: of spending their wealth billions of dollars supporting terrorist or weapons,
22:22
Speaker 4: had spent that money helping the people of Iran.
22:24
Speaker 1: You have a much different country. So we are always.
22:27
Speaker 4: Hopeful that that would exist over there. It's unfortunate. The
22:29
Speaker 4: people of Iran are incredible people. The people who lead
22:32
Speaker 4: them this clerical regime that is the problem. And if
22:35
Speaker 4: there are new people now in charge who have a
22:37
Speaker 4: more reasonable vision of the future, that would be good
22:39
Speaker 4: news for us.
22:40
Speaker 1: For them, for the entire world.
22:41
Speaker 4: But we also have to be prepared for the possibility,
22:44
Speaker 4: maybe even the probability that that is not the case.
22:47
Speaker 3: But the person says they are. Is that the case
22:49
Speaker 3: or is it not. I'm just trying to get some
22:51
Speaker 3: clarity on that.
22:52
Speaker 4: Well, what I mean is, yeah, look, so you have
22:54
Speaker 4: people that are saying some of the right things privately.
22:56
Speaker 4: Obviously they're not going to put it out in press releases,
22:58
Speaker 4: and what they say to you or put out for
23:00
Speaker 4: the world doesn't necessarily reflect what they're saying in our conversations.
23:04
Speaker 4: But at the end of the day, we have to
23:05
Speaker 4: see that these people end up being the ones in charge.
23:07
Speaker 4: Seeing if they're the ones that have the power to deliver.
23:09
Speaker 4: We're going to test it. We are hopeful that that's
23:11
Speaker 4: the case. There are clearly people they are talking to
23:13
Speaker 4: us in ways that previous people in charge in Iran
23:17
Speaker 4: have not spoken to us in the past. Some of
23:19
Speaker 4: the things they're willing to do, some of the things
23:21
Speaker 4: they're saying, they're willing to do.
23:22
Speaker 1: Obviously, they have to go do it.
23:23
Speaker 4: We're going to test that proposition very strongly because we
23:26
Speaker 4: always prefer to settle things through negotiation and diplomacy. But
23:30
Speaker 4: we also have to be prepared for the fact that
23:32
Speaker 4: that effort might fail. That we are dealing with a
23:34
Speaker 4: forty seven year old regime that still has a lot
23:37
Speaker 4: of people involved in it who aren't necessarily big fans
23:40
Speaker 4: of diplomacy or peace.
23:41
Speaker 3: And if it fails, the war expands. What's that, I'm sorry,
23:45
Speaker 3: if it fails, the war expands, Well.
23:48
Speaker 4: That the war is about this operation, okay, And that's
23:51
Speaker 4: what this is. It's about very specific objectives. The President
23:54
Speaker 4: laid them out on the first night of the operation.
23:56
Speaker 4: I'll repeat them to you now because I hear a
23:58
Speaker 4: lot of talk about we don't know what the clear
23:59
Speaker 4: objectives are. Here they are, you should write them down.
24:01
Speaker 4: Number one, the destruction of their air force. Number two,
24:04
Speaker 4: the destruction of their navy, number three, the severe diminishing
24:08
Speaker 4: of their missile launching capability, and number four, the destruction
24:12
Speaker 4: of their factory so they can't make more missiles and
24:14
Speaker 4: more drones to threaten us.
24:15
Speaker 1: In the future.
24:16
Speaker 4: All of this so that they can never hide behind
24:19
Speaker 4: it to acquire a nuclear weapon. That was our objective
24:22
Speaker 4: from the beginning, that remains our objective.
24:24
Speaker 2: Now.
24:24
Speaker 4: We are on pace and in fact the head of
24:26
Speaker 4: schedule in some of those things, and we are going
24:28
Speaker 4: to achieve those things in a number of weeks, not
24:30
Speaker 4: in a number of months.
24:31
Speaker 3: Mister check Jury, thanks for time this morning.
24:34
Speaker 2: It's really interesting to see how much the media is
24:36
Speaker 2: willing to change, alter, and lie to you to try
24:40
Speaker 2: to make you think that somehow what we're doing in
24:42
Speaker 2: Iran is a failure when clearly, in reality it's a
24:45
Speaker 2: massive success already, and the Secretary of State making it
24:49
Speaker 2: very clear the Trump doctrine is working. Every day Americans
24:54
Speaker 2: make choices that shape our country's future, right down to
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Speaker 2: ferguson or nine seven to two Patriot to make the
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Speaker 2: switch today. The big question hanging over Washington, the White House,
26:28
Speaker 2: and the Middle East right now is whether President Donald
26:31
Speaker 2: Trump is seriously wang what would be one of the
26:35
Speaker 2: boldest military options of this entire conflict, sending in US
26:41
Speaker 2: troops into a near Iranian territory to secure Iran stockpile
26:47
Speaker 2: of highly enriched uranium before that material can ever be
26:50
Speaker 2: turned into a nuclear weapon. Now, there are multiple reports
26:54
Speaker 2: that say the President is looking at all options and
26:57
Speaker 2: is actively discussing inside the administration as the military build
27:02
Speaker 2: up in the region continues to intensify. Reuters reported on
27:07
Speaker 2: Monday that thousands of soldiers from the eighty second Airborne
27:11
Speaker 2: Division have started arriving in the Middle East, joining additional Marines, sailors,
27:16
Speaker 2: and special operation forces that are already there, and that
27:21
Speaker 2: one of the potential missions under discussion is using ground
27:25
Speaker 2: forces inside Iran to extract highly enriched uranium buried deep underground.
27:32
Speaker 5: Now.
27:32
Speaker 2: Reuters also reported that for now, no decision has been
27:36
Speaker 2: made to send troops into Iran, even as the build
27:39
Speaker 2: up increases Trump's military options Now. The President was asked
27:44
Speaker 2: about Iran as he was flying back to Washington, d c.
27:48
Speaker 2: And in just twenty seconds, the President had this to say.
27:52
Speaker 5: They are decimated right now. They're going to give up
27:55
Speaker 5: nuclear weapons. They're going to give us the nuclear dust.
27:58
Speaker 5: They're going to do everything that we wanted, and you
28:01
Speaker 5: know what, they're going to go on and maybe have
28:02
Speaker 5: a great country again. But if they don't do that,
28:07
Speaker 5: they're not going to have a country. They're not even
28:10
Speaker 5: going to have a country. So she's softer in that issue,
28:13
Speaker 5: but to have other people not too many.
28:15
Speaker 2: You notice the President used a very clear term there.
28:18
Speaker 2: They're going to give us the nuclear dust. They're going
28:20
Speaker 2: to do everything that we want them to do. Now,
28:23
Speaker 2: the Democrats are seizing on this moment as well as
28:27
Speaker 2: the media, saying why would the president even consider something
28:31
Speaker 2: quote this dangerous? Well, because the uranium issue is at
28:35
Speaker 2: the center of this war. The International Atomic Energy Agency
28:39
Speaker 2: director said earlier this month that almost half of Iran's
28:43
Speaker 2: enriched uranium is up to sixty percent purity. Now that's
28:49
Speaker 2: an important number for you to understand. That's just a
28:52
Speaker 2: very short technical step from weapons grade, and it was
28:56
Speaker 2: stored in a tunnel complex and is probably still there,
29:01
Speaker 2: we now believe.
29:03
Speaker 1: Reuters also reported.
29:04
Speaker 2: That the iaeaight estimate that Iran had four hundred and
29:09
Speaker 2: forty kilograms of sixty percent in rich uranium before the attacks,
29:14
Speaker 2: which the IEA said could provide the explosive material for
29:19
Speaker 2: roughly ten nuclear weapons if enrich further. The leader there
29:25
Speaker 2: also said the agency has not seen evidence that the
29:28
Speaker 2: stockpile was moved and still does not know the status
29:32
Speaker 2: of parts of the underground complex because inspectors have not
29:36
Speaker 2: been able to get in. That is a strategic logic
29:41
Speaker 2: behind this debate. If you are the Trump administration, you
29:44
Speaker 2: can bomb facilities, you can cripple on sites, you can
29:48
Speaker 2: destroy the air defenses, you can hit naval assets. But
29:53
Speaker 2: if a large stockpile of near bomb grade uranium survives underground,
29:59
Speaker 2: then the is not fully gone at all. That is
30:03
Speaker 2: why this is being discussed not just as a military problem,
30:07
Speaker 2: but as a nuclear security problem worldwide. Reuters also reported
30:13
Speaker 2: that internal discussions have included the possibility of sending forces
30:17
Speaker 2: deeper inside Iran for longer periods of time, specifically because
30:22
Speaker 2: the material may be buried underground and also very difficult
30:26
Speaker 2: to reach. That means this is not some simple raid
30:30
Speaker 2: and leave scenario like we saw in Venezuela. It could
30:34
Speaker 2: require excavation, site security, logistics, air cover, and protection against
30:41
Speaker 2: Iranian retaliation while that work is being done. President Trump
30:47
Speaker 2: himself has been crystal clear on the core objective, even
30:52
Speaker 2: if he has not publicly laid out a specific uranium
30:55
Speaker 2: seizure plan. As I mentioned, speaking aboard Air Force One,
30:59
Speaker 2: Trump said, I'm very strong on the fact that I
31:02
Speaker 2: don't want Iran to have a nuclear weapon, because if
31:06
Speaker 2: they had a nuclear weapon, they'd use it immediately now.
31:11
Speaker 2: Trump also said that the United States was talking to
31:14
Speaker 2: what he described as a more reasonable regime in Iran
31:17
Speaker 2: right now, while again warning Tehran to reopen the strain
31:20
Speaker 2: of our moves or face US attacks on oil wells
31:24
Speaker 2: as well as their power supply plans. And the White
31:28
Speaker 2: House has formally stated that President Trump has never wavered
31:31
Speaker 2: in his stance that Iran cannot be allowed to have
31:35
Speaker 2: a nuclear weapon. So when you put all of that together,
31:39
Speaker 2: the message from the White House really does seem to
31:42
Speaker 2: be unmistakable. Trump's position is that Iran cannot be allowed
31:46
Speaker 2: to keep that kind of material that puts it near
31:49
Speaker 2: a bomb. Whether that is achieved through diplomacy, surrender of
31:53
Speaker 2: the stockpile, or military force remains the open question. Reuters
31:59
Speaker 2: also reported on Friday the Trump's broader peace demands to
32:03
Speaker 2: Iran included dismantling its nuclear program, and the White House
32:08
Speaker 2: official said the President is willing to listen, but if
32:12
Speaker 2: Iran fails to accept the reality of the current moment,
32:17
Speaker 2: they will be hit harder than ever before. At the
32:20
Speaker 2: same time, that same Reuters report said Trump has no
32:24
Speaker 2: plans to send ground troops anywhere at this time, but
32:28
Speaker 2: he is keeping all options on the table. In other words,
32:32
Speaker 2: the Trump doctrine is deliberately holding strategic ambiguity, publicly signaling
32:38
Speaker 2: strength and privately preparing contingencies. Now, as for the Pentagon,
32:44
Speaker 2: or as some call it, the Department of War, the
32:47
Speaker 2: public message has been more about capability and pressure than
32:52
Speaker 2: about confirming any single operation. The Pentagon build up now
32:57
Speaker 2: includes the arrival of the eighty second Airborne true about
33:00
Speaker 2: twenty five hundred marines over the weekend, and other forces
33:04
Speaker 2: already in theater, all of which expand the presence operational menu.
33:10
Speaker 2: That is again something the president wants. The White House
33:14
Speaker 2: is March's first statement announcing Operation Epic. Fury said Trump
33:19
Speaker 2: authorized what he called a precise, overwhelming military campaign to
33:24
Speaker 2: eliminate what it described at the time as the Iranian
33:27
Speaker 2: nuclear threat, destroy ballistic missile capability and capacity, degrade proxy networks,
33:34
Speaker 2: and cripple Iran's naval forces. That matters because it shows
33:39
Speaker 2: the administration's framework. This is not being described as a
33:43
Speaker 2: limited symbolic campaign, but as a war effort aimed at
33:48
Speaker 2: ending the nuclear threat decisively. Now Here is the danger,
33:52
Speaker 2: and it's enormous. A mission to seize uranium is far
33:56
Speaker 2: riskier than airstrikes. That is something the present is having
33:59
Speaker 2: to deal with, and any use of US ground troops,
34:02
Speaker 2: even for a limited mission, carries major political and military
34:06
Speaker 2: risks as well. Troops could face Iranian missiles, their drones,
34:10
Speaker 2: their minds, ambushes, booby traps, and prolonged exposure inside hostile territory.
34:16
Speaker 2: That is something the present has to weigh as well.
34:19
Speaker 2: And Reuters also report that the uranium extraction option could
34:23
Speaker 2: require US personnel to stay inside Iran longer than other
34:27
Speaker 2: scenarios because the material is believed to be deep underground.
34:31
Speaker 2: That means higher risk of casualties, higher risk of escalation,
34:36
Speaker 2: and higher risk that a targeted mission turns into a
34:39
Speaker 2: broader ground conflict, exactly the kind of Middle East entanglement
34:43
Speaker 2: that Trump campaigned against. Again, this is all of the
34:47
Speaker 2: things the president has to think about, and that is
34:50
Speaker 2: why you're hearing about other options in parallel. We also
34:54
Speaker 2: know that there's another report that the administration has weighed
34:57
Speaker 2: seizing cart Island, which about ninety percent of Iran's oil
35:02
Speaker 2: exports and has discussed operations tied to securing maritime passage
35:07
Speaker 2: near the Strait of Hormuz. Those are different missions, obviously,
35:11
Speaker 2: but they point to the same reality. The US build
35:14
Speaker 2: up is not one dimensional. It is creating leverage for
35:18
Speaker 2: multiple possible in games, squeezing i RAN economically force open
35:24
Speaker 2: shipping lanes, or if all else fails, move to physically
35:28
Speaker 2: secure the nuclear material itself. So where does that leave
35:32
Speaker 2: us right now? The fact is the President wants multiple options,
35:37
Speaker 2: and what we do know is that the IAEA says
35:40
Speaker 2: a significant amount of RAN sixty percent rich uranium, likely
35:45
Speaker 2: remains underground at its site. President Trump's own words showy
35:49
Speaker 2: view denying a RAN a nuclear weapon a non negotiable.
35:54
Speaker 2: And fourth, the administration is still signaling that diplomacy is
35:58
Speaker 2: possible even while preparing for harder options. I wanted to
36:03
Speaker 2: keep you updated on this because I think it's important,
36:05
Speaker 2: and obviously a lot's happening quickly. One thing is for sure.
36:09
Speaker 2: The President wants to figure out what he's gonna do
36:11
Speaker 2: as fast as possible. He wants us to get out
36:14
Speaker 2: as quickly as possible as well, and he wants to
36:17
Speaker 2: have a world where RAN doesn't have a nuclear weapon. Well,
36:21
Speaker 2: keep following this story. I can promise you that we've
36:24
Speaker 2: got a lot more that's going to happen the days ahead,
36:26
Speaker 2: So make sure you don't forget. Grab our podcast, the
36:29
Speaker 2: Ben Ferguson Podcast wherever you get your podcasts as well
36:33
Speaker 2: hit that subscriber on or download button so you don't
36:36
Speaker 2: miss any of the breaking news.