Latest / The Ben Ferguson Podcast / Day 5 at War: Israel Wins Major Victories over Iran, but Serious Risks Remain

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Day 5 at War: Israel Wins Major Victories over Iran, but Serious Risks Remain · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:01
Speaker 1: Good Monday morning, and as Verdict with Center, Ted Kruz,
0:03
Speaker 1: Ben Ferguson with you and Centator, We've got a lot
0:06
Speaker 1: to chat about, especially when it deals with what's happening
0:09
Speaker 1: with Israel and Iran.
0:11
Speaker 2: It is day five of Israel's war with Iran, and
0:14
Speaker 2: the entire world is watching with bated breath. Israel is
0:18
Speaker 2: scoring major victories, taking out senior Iranian military leadership, doing
0:24
Speaker 2: massive damage to Iran's nuclear facilities. We're going to break
0:28
Speaker 2: down exactly what has happened. We're going to talk also
0:31
Speaker 2: about the missiles that are flying back into Israel, about
0:35
Speaker 2: the Israeli civilians who are being wounded, who are being
0:39
Speaker 2: killed as a price for this war. We're going to
0:42
Speaker 2: talk about the risks that American servicemen and women are
0:45
Speaker 2: facing in the Middle East, and the risk all of
0:47
Speaker 2: us are facing here at home, of the potential for
0:50
Speaker 2: Iranian terrorism, and the question everyone is asking, what's next?
0:54
Speaker 2: Where does this go? More than once I've had teenagers
0:58
Speaker 2: at home ask is this World War III? The short
1:02
Speaker 2: answer is no. But we're going to break down why
1:05
Speaker 2: all of that on today's Verdict.
1:07
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a really important show.
1:08
Speaker 1: I want to also make sure you guys, remember hit
1:11
Speaker 1: that subscribe auto download button and share this podcast on
1:15
Speaker 1: your social media wherever you're listening right now. We've also
1:18
Speaker 1: had so many of you that have asked the question,
1:20
Speaker 1: how can I help people in Israel? And we've been
1:23
Speaker 1: telling you about the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews
1:25
Speaker 1: and the work they are doing is incredible. They are
1:28
Speaker 1: deploying bomb shelters as we speak to help keep people
1:32
Speaker 1: safe in Israel. When things get bad, that is when
1:36
Speaker 1: they step up and protect families and loved ones. And
1:40
Speaker 1: if you want to get involved and stand with the
1:42
Speaker 1: people in Israel right now, you can do it by
1:45
Speaker 1: giving food and shelter to Jewish families that are under threat.
1:49
Speaker 1: As I said, they're building bomb shelters for children, They're
1:52
Speaker 1: helping survivors of the attacks that we're witnessing right now,
1:56
Speaker 1: and they are doing it daily. Your gift of only
2:00
Speaker 1: forty five dollars will help support life saving work by
2:03
Speaker 1: providing food, shelter, and so much more. I was speaking
2:07
Speaker 1: with the CEO of IFCJ and she was talking about
2:11
Speaker 1: just how hard it is for so many families in
2:13
Speaker 1: Israel right now and what they're doing on the ground
2:16
Speaker 1: and the bomb shelters that are needed. And she said,
2:19
Speaker 1: very simply, if you can help stand with the people
2:22
Speaker 1: in Israel that are under attack, they are doing everything
2:25
Speaker 1: they can to support them and to give the bomb
2:27
Speaker 1: shelters that are needed. So step up and help right
2:31
Speaker 1: now if you can at all eight eight eight four
2:34
Speaker 1: eight eight IFCJ that's eight eight eight four eight eight
2:38
Speaker 1: four three two five. You can also give online at
2:41
Speaker 1: IFCJ dot org. Every dollar helps, don't wait be the
2:47
Speaker 1: difference IFCJ dot org or eight eight eight four eight
2:51
Speaker 1: eight IFCJ. So senat her, this started, as you mentioned,
2:55
Speaker 1: five days ago, and let's go back to what caused
2:59
Speaker 1: this to have happen and remind people how we got here.
3:03
Speaker 2: Well, in many ways, I think this was inevitable. It
3:06
Speaker 2: is inevitable because the Iyatola has set out a clear
3:09
Speaker 2: objective of acquiring a nuclear weapon. President Trump had given
3:13
Speaker 2: the Iyatola a sixty day deadline, a sixty day deadline
3:16
Speaker 2: to cut a deal, and the deal that the President
3:19
Speaker 2: was demanding was complete. Dismantlement I led a letter of
3:23
Speaker 2: fifty two Republican senators saying, we agree with President Trump
3:27
Speaker 2: that the only acceptable outcome is complete and total dismantlement,
3:31
Speaker 2: every Iranian centrifuge being dismantled. Why because the Iranians have
3:36
Speaker 2: proved they are liars, and if they keep enriching uraniums,
3:40
Speaker 2: they will use that to try to develop a nuclear weapon.
3:43
Speaker 2: And given that these are theocratic lunatics who chant death
3:47
Speaker 2: to America and death to Israel, I believe they want
3:50
Speaker 2: a nuclear weapon because they want the ability to use
3:53
Speaker 2: a nuclear weapon. And so on day sixty one, Iran
3:58
Speaker 2: announced we will not dismt even a single centrifuge, and
4:02
Speaker 2: we're going to build more. We're going to keep enriching,
4:04
Speaker 2: which was essentially a gigantic middle finger to President Trump,
4:09
Speaker 2: but it was also telling Israel, hey hit us now,
4:13
Speaker 2: because we're going to keep going until we get a nuke.
4:15
Speaker 4: And Israel did not need to be asked twice.
4:19
Speaker 2: This attack was launched on the sixty first day, the
4:22
Speaker 2: day after the expiration of President Trump's deadline. And listen,
4:27
Speaker 2: what we've seen in the last five days has been
4:29
Speaker 2: a massive attack from Israel that is highly targeted. As
4:34
Speaker 2: of June fifteenth, Israel had struck more than seven hundred
4:39
Speaker 2: and twenty military targets in Iran. These air strikes are
4:44
Speaker 2: largely intelligence driven. Their precision strikes on infrastructure, on military leaders,
4:51
Speaker 2: on mobile military targets. And part of the reason Israel's
4:56
Speaker 2: able to do so is that Israel has almost complete
4:59
Speaker 2: dominant of the airspace because they've degraded Iran's air defenses.
5:03
Speaker 2: And so in the last five days, who have they
5:06
Speaker 2: taken out? Well, Israel has taken out Major General Hossein Salami,
5:12
Speaker 2: who was the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
5:15
Speaker 2: the IRGC. They've taken out Major General Mohammad Bagheri, who
5:19
Speaker 2: was the chief of Staff of the Armed Forces. They've
5:23
Speaker 2: taken out Major General Golam Ali Rashid, who was the
5:26
Speaker 2: head of the katam al Anbia Central Headquarters. They've taken
5:31
Speaker 2: out Brigadier General Amir Ali haja Zades, commander of the
5:36
Speaker 2: IRGC Air Force. They've taken out Ali Shamkhani, who's a
5:41
Speaker 2: close aid to the Supreme Leader and the former Iranian
5:45
Speaker 2: Navy commander. They have taken out Amir Ali hajid Adeh,
5:51
Speaker 2: commander of the IRGC Airspace Units oversaw ballistic missiles. They've
5:56
Speaker 2: taken out Brigadier General Kosrav Hasani, the IRGC Intelligence Airspace
6:02
Speaker 2: Force chief deputy. They've taken out Mohammed Mehdi Taranji, who's
6:08
Speaker 2: a physicist and president of the Islamic Azad University in Tehran.
6:13
Speaker 2: And they've taken out Fari dun Abbasi, former head of
6:17
Speaker 2: the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran. This is massive. This
6:22
Speaker 2: is decapitation of the senior military leaders in Iran. They've
6:27
Speaker 2: also had targeted strikes on bases, and we're going to
6:29
Speaker 2: go through that in a minute. But the effect of it,
6:32
Speaker 2: the leaders that Iran would turn to to say wage
6:36
Speaker 2: war against Israel, they're all taken out and it was
6:41
Speaker 2: almost instantaneous. Now, the other thing that has the Iranians
6:45
Speaker 2: completely freaked out is the intel Israel knew where each
6:51
Speaker 2: of those leaders were. They took them all out within
6:54
Speaker 2: hours of each other. I mean, it was almost instantaneous. Now,
6:57
Speaker 2: you got to note the Iranian their leaders were all
6:59
Speaker 2: set around in predictable places on the sixty first day.
7:03
Speaker 2: They did not think Israel was going to act. That
7:05
Speaker 2: that was a wrong prediction. And you combine that with
7:11
Speaker 2: massive degradation of the air defenses and and multiple attacks
7:15
Speaker 2: on basis nuclear facilities and also missile launch sites and
7:20
Speaker 2: Israel's opening salvos of this attack have been incredibly effective.
7:26
Speaker 1: You look at the effectiveness of this, and I do
7:28
Speaker 1: have to just say, honestly, wow, the intelligence work that
7:34
Speaker 1: they'd just been sitting on, as you mentioned, Israel is
7:37
Speaker 1: truly mind blowing.
7:39
Speaker 3: But there's also I think.
7:40
Speaker 1: A debt of gratitude the world owes Israel for stepping
7:44
Speaker 1: up and doing what needed to be done.
7:46
Speaker 2: Would you agree, absolutely yes, and listen, Iran wants a
7:54
Speaker 2: nuclear weapon. The Iyatola refers to Israel as the little Satan.
8:00
Speaker 2: He refers to America as the great Satan. And I
8:05
Speaker 2: got to say, as an American, I think Americans should
8:07
Speaker 2: be grateful that Israel is taking out not just these leaders.
8:12
Speaker 2: And mind you, the IRGC are the same people who've
8:15
Speaker 2: taken out two different hits on President Trump. Have hired
8:19
Speaker 2: assassins to try to murder President Trump. They've hired assassins
8:23
Speaker 2: to try to murder Trump's former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
8:26
Speaker 2: They've hired assassins to try to murder Trump's former national
8:30
Speaker 2: security advisor John Bolton. And these nuclear weapons, it is
8:35
Speaker 2: a massive favor to the United States to take out
8:38
Speaker 2: the facility, So, for example, the Natan's facility, which is
8:42
Speaker 2: the main uranium enrichment facility. The United Nations Nuclear Chief
8:46
Speaker 2: Raphael Grossi told the Security Council that the above ground
8:50
Speaker 2: section of Theaton's facility was totally destroyed. He said all
8:54
Speaker 2: the electrical infrastructured, emergency power generators were destroyed, and he
8:58
Speaker 2: said the section of the facility where uranium was enriched
9:01
Speaker 2: up to sixty percent, that was destroyed. Satellite imagery confirms
9:06
Speaker 2: that the pilot fuel enrichment plant was destroyed and buildings
9:10
Speaker 2: across the facility were damaged. There also reports that electricity
9:14
Speaker 2: is down into Tons's lower levels, which is where centrifuged
9:18
Speaker 2: centrifuge is used to enrich uranium are stored. That was
9:23
Speaker 2: massively effective. And you know one thing I want to say,
9:26
Speaker 2: so on Twitter, look, most people, certainly people who are
9:29
Speaker 2: focused on protecting America's national security, are celebrating what's happening here.
9:33
Speaker 2: But I will say there's some voices on Twitter who
9:36
Speaker 2: have decided that what America First means is that we
9:40
Speaker 2: retreat from the world and we don't actually stand up
9:43
Speaker 2: to our enemies. And I'm here to tell you that
9:46
Speaker 2: is not America first. Listen, I am someone who is
9:50
Speaker 2: reluctant to put US servicemen and women in harm's way.
9:53
Speaker 2: And by the way, President Trump is also in his
9:56
Speaker 2: first term, he did not invade foreign countries. Indeed, he
9:59
Speaker 2: ended two wars. But at the same time, it is
10:02
Speaker 2: worth remembering Donald Trump has never been an isolationist. In
10:06
Speaker 2: his first term, Donald Trump inherited from Barack Obama. ISIS
10:11
Speaker 2: had to caliphate the size of the state of Indiana,
10:14
Speaker 2: and Trump utterly decimated that caliphate. He destroyed ISIS. Trump
10:18
Speaker 2: took out General Solimani, the former head of the ira GC,
10:22
Speaker 2: and he also took out al Baghdadi. Trump's actions were
10:26
Speaker 2: never those of an isolation or said. I will say,
10:29
Speaker 2: some of the folks who are throwing rocks attacking the president,
10:33
Speaker 2: attacking the president saying President Trump is not America first,
10:37
Speaker 2: because he's supporting Israel and standing up and stopping Iran
10:40
Speaker 2: from getting nuclear weapons, I will say. The President had
10:44
Speaker 2: an interview in The Atlantic where here's what he said.
10:47
Speaker 4: Quote.
10:48
Speaker 2: Well, considering that I'm the one that developed America first,
10:52
Speaker 2: and considering that the term wasn't used until I came along,
10:55
Speaker 2: I think I'm the one that decides that for those
10:58
Speaker 2: people who say they want peace, you can't have peace
11:01
Speaker 2: if Iran has a nuclear weapon. So for all those
11:04
Speaker 2: wonderful people who don't want to do anything about Iran
11:07
Speaker 2: having a nuclear weapon, that's not peace. I got to
11:10
Speaker 2: say I agree with President Trump. He is exactly right,
11:14
Speaker 2: and America first means peace through strength and stopping Iran
11:18
Speaker 2: from getting a nuclear weapon keeps us out of war.
11:22
Speaker 1: How close do you think we really were? And that's
11:24
Speaker 1: one of the questions I've been asked. If I've been
11:26
Speaker 1: asked at once, it's a hundred times to dealing with
11:29
Speaker 1: the real possibility of a nuclear Iran or an Iran
11:34
Speaker 1: that was willing to go after Israel the way that
11:37
Speaker 1: Israel has described it, it was way closer than it
11:39
Speaker 1: should have ever been.
11:40
Speaker 4: Well, that's right, and I'll tell you what you should
11:43
Speaker 4: listen to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Att and Yahoo when
11:47
Speaker 4: he explains what their intelligence showed here, give a listen.
11:50
Speaker 5: You know, I just want to press you on the
11:52
Speaker 5: intel on the nuclear part. Less than two months ago,
11:55
Speaker 5: the new Director of National Intelligence, Tulsa Gabbert, testified on
11:58
Speaker 5: Capitol Hill, saying that everything had been suspended since two
12:02
Speaker 5: thousand and three and had not restarted. That the nuclear
12:06
Speaker 5: program had not been restarted by the Iranians. So did
12:08
Speaker 5: something change from end of March until this week? Was
12:12
Speaker 5: the US intel wrong?
12:14
Speaker 6: The intel we got and we shared with the United
12:16
Speaker 6: States was absolutely clear, was absolutely clear that they were
12:21
Speaker 6: working in a secret plan to weaponize the uranium. They
12:26
Speaker 6: were marching very quickly. They would achieve a test device
12:30
Speaker 6: and possibly an initial device within months and certainly less
12:34
Speaker 6: than a year. That was the intel we shared with
12:36
Speaker 6: the United States. I think we have excellent intel in Iran.
12:40
Speaker 6: I think we've proven that, and that is something that
12:42
Speaker 6: we couldn't possibly accept, whether it would be six months
12:46
Speaker 6: or twelve months or thirteen months as immateial. Once they'd
12:49
Speaker 6: go that route, it's too late, and we will not
12:52
Speaker 6: have a second holocaust, a nuclear holocaust. We already had
12:56
Speaker 6: one in the previous century. The Jewish state is not
12:59
Speaker 6: going to have the Locaust admitted on the Jewish people.
13:01
Speaker 6: It's not going to happen. It's never again, is now,
13:04
Speaker 6: and we have to act now.
13:06
Speaker 3: Senator.
13:06
Speaker 1: The idea of a nuclear holocaust the way that he
13:09
Speaker 1: just described it is one that I think everyone should
13:12
Speaker 1: just step back and really think about. And then there's
13:16
Speaker 1: this second aspect of this, which is, if there's any
13:20
Speaker 1: foreign policy doctrine that has been very clear in the world,
13:25
Speaker 1: it is Iran saying that they want to destroy Israel
13:28
Speaker 1: from the river the sea, death to Israel. It is
13:31
Speaker 1: their foreign policy. It is clear. They're not lying about it.
13:36
Speaker 1: Believe them when they say they want to annihilate Israel.
13:40
Speaker 4: Well, and look the Ayatola.
13:43
Speaker 2: The Islamic result revolution in Iran succeeded in nineteen seventy nine,
13:47
Speaker 2: and the Iranian regime since that time has been the
13:50
Speaker 2: number one state sponsor of terrorism in the world. The
13:54
Speaker 2: Ayatola has paid for Hamas provides. Iran provide over ninety
14:01
Speaker 2: percent of the funding for AMAS, over ninety percent of
14:03
Speaker 2: the funding for Hespola. They fund terrorists who murder Israelis.
14:06
Speaker 2: They found terrorists who murder Americans. General Solimani, who Trump
14:10
Speaker 2: took out in the first term, was directly responsible for
14:14
Speaker 2: the murder of over six hundred American service men and women.
14:18
Speaker 2: And to give you a sense of the level of
14:22
Speaker 2: hatred from from the Iranian radicals, and I want to
14:27
Speaker 2: draw a distinction between the theocratic zealots. That that is
14:32
Speaker 2: is the Ayatola and the Malas versus the Iranian people. Look,
14:36
Speaker 2: the people of Iran before the revolution, Iran was a
14:39
Speaker 2: relatively secular country. They were an ally of America. That
14:43
Speaker 2: they were in many senses pro America. And it was
14:46
Speaker 2: the radical Jihadis that took it over, that that twisted it.
14:50
Speaker 2: And they've been horrible to the people of Iran. And
14:52
Speaker 2: so I think there are a great many people in
14:54
Speaker 2: Iran who yearn to be free from from these theocratic
14:57
Speaker 2: lunatics who've dominated the and who engage in torture and
15:02
Speaker 2: murder and suppression of their own citizens. But the former
15:06
Speaker 2: here's an amazing fact, the former head of the Iranian
15:12
Speaker 2: nuclear program, who has some time ago gone to meet
15:17
Speaker 2: his maker, and many say at the hands of the Massad,
15:22
Speaker 2: the Israeli intelligence services. He had written in his last
15:27
Speaker 2: will and testament that he wanted the following words written
15:31
Speaker 2: on his tombstone. Here lies a man who sought to
15:36
Speaker 2: annihilate Israel. Now, Ben, what kind of level of bilious
15:42
Speaker 2: hate do you have when the only thing you want
15:46
Speaker 2: to be remembered for is I am a bigot and
15:49
Speaker 2: an anti Semite. And I want to murder as many
15:52
Speaker 2: Jews as possible. That's the sum total of my life.
15:55
Speaker 2: And listen, this is where a lot of Democrats and
15:59
Speaker 2: and and a lot of folks who are isolationists, they say, well,
16:05
Speaker 2: what business is it of ours if Iran has a
16:07
Speaker 2: nuclear weapon. I believe if the Ayatola had a nuclear weapon,
16:13
Speaker 2: the odds are unacceptably high that he would use that
16:17
Speaker 2: nuclear weapon. And I want to draw contrast to North Korea. Look,
16:21
Speaker 2: Kim Jong un, dictator of North Korea, has a significant
16:24
Speaker 2: nuclear arsenal that was a result of catastrophic policy mistakes,
16:29
Speaker 2: most notably by Bill Clinton. Bill Clinton went to Kim
16:33
Speaker 2: Jong UN's father, Kim Jong Il, and said, hey, let's
16:36
Speaker 2: cut a deal with you. We'll flow tens of billions
16:39
Speaker 2: of dollars for you in exchange for you promising not
16:42
Speaker 2: to make nuclear weapons. And Kim Jong il said, hey,
16:44
Speaker 2: great idea. I'll take your deal. And he took the
16:47
Speaker 2: tens of billions of dollars and he used them to
16:48
Speaker 2: develop nuclear weapons. And so now we've got a crackpok
16:52
Speaker 2: dictator on the Korean peninsula with nuclear weapons that periodically
16:56
Speaker 2: goes off and threatens to fire the nuclear weapons at America.
17:01
Speaker 2: You know, Trump famously calls calls Kim Jong un rocketman.
17:06
Speaker 2: The one thing that that is a very dangerous part
17:09
Speaker 2: of the world because Kim Jong un is megale maniacal,
17:13
Speaker 2: He's unpredictable. But but there is one thing we know,
17:18
Speaker 2: which is that he values staying in power, and he
17:21
Speaker 2: knows if God forbid, he ever used a nuclear weapon
17:24
Speaker 2: that day his regime would be over. So hopefully you
17:28
Speaker 2: can have some modicum of rational deterrence. Uh with Kim
17:34
Speaker 2: Jong un. The problem with the Ayatola is he is
17:37
Speaker 2: a theocratic zealot. He glories in death and suicide, and
17:44
Speaker 2: so the Iyatola knows if he detonated a nuclear weapon.
17:48
Speaker 2: He knows that that that his regime would instantly fall,
17:51
Speaker 2: that massive Iranian deaths would would result. The problem is
17:56
Speaker 2: if if he was able to murder millions of Jews
17:59
Speaker 2: or millions of Americans, he just might be willing to
18:02
Speaker 2: take that trade with religious zelotry. The ordinary cost benefit
18:09
Speaker 2: analysis does not work, and so I think if he
18:11
Speaker 2: had a nuclear weapon, we could find out for sure
18:15
Speaker 2: with a mushroom cloud over Tel Aviv or New York
18:19
Speaker 2: or Los Angeles.
18:20
Speaker 1: There's Also another aspect of this, Iran is excellent at
18:24
Speaker 1: using terrorist organizations. Yes, fund them, they give them, weaponry,
18:29
Speaker 1: they train them. I mean, there are countless examples of
18:33
Speaker 1: Iran using extremist groups. If they also got this technology,
18:39
Speaker 1: there's what's the guarantee they wouldn't hand it over to
18:42
Speaker 1: somebody like that.
18:43
Speaker 2: Yeah, and look that's the problem. Do they have a
18:46
Speaker 2: reliable ICBM that could carry a nuclear weapon from Iran
18:51
Speaker 2: to Manhattan?
18:53
Speaker 4: Probably not, although they're trying to develop them.
18:55
Speaker 2: They have an ICBM program, and it's worth noting you
18:59
Speaker 2: do not need an ICBM to get to Israel from Iran.
19:02
Speaker 2: A ballistic missile is sufficient. An intercontinental ballistic missile is
19:06
Speaker 2: designed to travel much further. One hundred percent of the
19:11
Speaker 2: reason Iran has an ICBM program is to carry a
19:15
Speaker 2: nuclear warhead to America. Israel's not the target of their ICBMs.
19:20
Speaker 2: America is But I would note also they would not
19:24
Speaker 2: need an ICBM to do it if they could get
19:27
Speaker 2: it on a ship or a container and detonate it
19:30
Speaker 2: in a port anywhere in America, or I'll tell you
19:32
Speaker 2: one enormous risk, they could put it in a satellite
19:35
Speaker 2: that is orbiting over say, the Eastern Seaboard and detonate
19:38
Speaker 2: a nuclear weapon, which would set off an EMP and
19:42
Speaker 2: take down the electrical grid. I'll tell you, I've seen
19:45
Speaker 2: the projections. An EMP that took down the electrical grid
19:49
Speaker 2: could result in, over time, millions of deaths in America.
19:53
Speaker 2: That's the kind of vulnerability we're facing. And so my view,
19:57
Speaker 2: President Trump is exactly right when he he says that's
20:00
Speaker 2: not peace. We're not going to find out what a
20:03
Speaker 2: world with an Iranian nuke is like. And I'll tell
20:07
Speaker 2: you I spoke with President Trump this weekend and I
20:11
Speaker 2: told him I thought he was doing a fantastic job,
20:15
Speaker 2: and he was agreeing. He said, look, he gave I
20:17
Speaker 2: ran every option to avoid this, and they didn't want to.
20:21
Speaker 2: They wouldn't take a deal, they wouldn't agree to give
20:23
Speaker 2: up their centrifuges. And I'll tell you what I told
20:26
Speaker 2: the President.
20:27
Speaker 3: I'm going to ask you.
20:27
Speaker 1: Said you talked to him this weekend, before this is
20:30
Speaker 1: before and enduring, this is all this is happening.
20:33
Speaker 3: Correct?
20:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, No, no, I talked to him. You and I are
20:36
Speaker 2: talking right now. It is twelve twenty five am Sunday night,
20:41
Speaker 2: Monday morning. I talked to him about two o'clock Sunday afternoon.
20:45
Speaker 1: All right, so you said that he said that he
20:47
Speaker 1: offered him a deal. That's being just either just completely
20:51
Speaker 1: disregarded by the media. Are severely underreported that he was
20:55
Speaker 1: trying to get a deal done and they refused to
20:58
Speaker 1: do it.
20:58
Speaker 2: That's what the sixty day deadline was. He gave him
21:00
Speaker 2: sixty days to cut a deal, and the deal had
21:03
Speaker 2: to be complete dismantlement. And they basically told him go
21:05
Speaker 2: jump in a lake. We don't want a deal, we
21:07
Speaker 2: want a nuclear weapon. And so you know, Trump said,
21:11
Speaker 2: all right, And I will say there were some early
21:14
Speaker 2: reports from the administration that the administration didn't know anything
21:17
Speaker 2: about it, and Trump very quickly corrected that and stead,
21:20
Speaker 2: of course we do about it, which is exactly right.
21:24
Speaker 2: And listen asking where does this go from here. I
21:29
Speaker 2: don't see any outcome that results in American boots on
21:32
Speaker 2: the ground. I don't see any outcome that results in
21:35
Speaker 2: American soldiers fighting in Iran. What we're doing right now,
21:39
Speaker 2: we're assisting the Israelis. We're assisting the Israelis in intel,
21:43
Speaker 2: We're assisting the Israelis in surveillance. Israel Is engaged in
21:48
Speaker 2: targeted military strikes within Iran. Iran is responding by firing
21:53
Speaker 2: a barrage of ballistic missiles at Israel aimed at civilian targets.
21:57
Speaker 2: So they're landing missiles in Tel Aviv. And I will say,
22:01
Speaker 2: in terms of escalation, I'm worried that we will see
22:05
Speaker 2: very significant casualties in Israel. I was speaking with a
22:08
Speaker 2: friend of mine this evening whose mom is in Jerusalem
22:11
Speaker 2: right now, and he said his mom, in five days
22:14
Speaker 2: has gotten very little sleep because every night at two
22:16
Speaker 2: at three in the morning, the sirens go off and
22:19
Speaker 2: they have to rush to a bomb shelter. So he said,
22:21
Speaker 2: she has not slept, slept very much for five days.
22:24
Speaker 2: Because that's constantly happening. There is a real risk of
22:27
Speaker 2: there've already been significant casualties, but they could be much higher.
22:31
Speaker 2: And listen, the government of Israel knows that. But the
22:34
Speaker 2: casualties from these missile strikes are are are relatively small
22:40
Speaker 2: compared to the millions of Israelis who could die with
22:43
Speaker 2: an Iranian nuclear attack. And and and so that's why
22:46
Speaker 2: the government is acting to stop that. But I'll tell
22:49
Speaker 2: you what I also said to the president. I said,
22:51
Speaker 2: thank you in particular for making absolutely clear to Iran
22:56
Speaker 2: the overwhelming consequences if they attack American servicemen and women.
23:01
Speaker 1: And yeah, that note that he put out there was
23:05
Speaker 1: very clear because he's saying, hey, hey, we weren't involved
23:08
Speaker 1: in this, and we're going to.
23:10
Speaker 3: State that clearly. This is Israel doing their thing.
23:13
Speaker 1: But if you think for a moment that you can
23:16
Speaker 1: use us to justify attacking Americans anywhere in the world,
23:19
Speaker 1: there will be hell to pay if you do that.
23:22
Speaker 6: Yeah.
23:23
Speaker 2: Look, I think if Iran carries out a significant strike
23:27
Speaker 2: on American servicemen and women, then I think America, if
23:31
Speaker 2: they think the bombs coming from Israel are bad, I
23:33
Speaker 2: think they will face massive retaliation. And then that's called deterrence.
23:38
Speaker 2: We want them not to strike our servicemen and women.
23:41
Speaker 2: And by the way, that's the difference between Joe Biden,
23:44
Speaker 2: who was so weak he couldn't deter anything. It helps
23:48
Speaker 2: that our enemies are afraid of the commander in chief.
23:51
Speaker 2: That's where actually in the debates about foreign policy, those
23:56
Speaker 2: who argue for isolationism get it wrong, because if you're
24:01
Speaker 2: so terrified to engage with your enemies that then you
24:05
Speaker 2: end up causing more war.
24:07
Speaker 4: I think Reagan was right.
24:08
Speaker 2: I think Trump is right that when you're strong, when
24:11
Speaker 2: you tell your enemies, if you attack and kill Americans,
24:14
Speaker 2: your military leaders are going to die. What happens is
24:17
Speaker 2: most of the time they say, you know what, We're
24:19
Speaker 2: just not going to attack, and you end up avoiding
24:21
Speaker 2: war because they're scared of the commander in chief.
24:26
Speaker 3: So where does this go from here?
24:28
Speaker 1: And this is where everybody's saying, Hey, look, we want
24:31
Speaker 1: an off ramp, right, like, that's something we do want.
24:34
Speaker 1: We want this, we want to protect lives. But at
24:37
Speaker 1: the same time, Israel is I think making it very
24:39
Speaker 1: clear we have no choice but to do this, and
24:42
Speaker 1: we're doing the world a huge service by doing it.
24:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, So the Israeli government is talking on a time
24:50
Speaker 2: frame that this could last another week or two. They're
24:54
Speaker 2: engaged in massive bombings and at some point, you know,
24:58
Speaker 2: at some point the question is how much ordinance do
25:01
Speaker 2: they have, how much capacity do they have to keep bombing,
25:03
Speaker 2: and how many targets do they have.
25:06
Speaker 4: I will say also.
25:08
Speaker 2: One of the most significant sites is Fordau. Now Fordau
25:14
Speaker 2: is a nuclear bunker that is built into the side
25:18
Speaker 2: of a mountain and it's built deliberately to make it
25:22
Speaker 2: very difficult to strike, to carry out an airstrike, and
25:25
Speaker 2: it's where much of their nuclear research is being conducted. Now,
25:29
Speaker 2: there were reports on Sunday that Israel carried out a
25:32
Speaker 2: strike at FORDAU, but at least based on publicly reported material,
25:38
Speaker 2: Israel does not have sufficiently effective bunker buster bombs to
25:43
Speaker 2: be able to take out the deep underground laboratories at FORDAU.
25:47
Speaker 2: And so one of the open questions is, to the
25:51
Speaker 2: best of my knowledge, the only military that has those
25:53
Speaker 2: bombs is the United States. We have really big bunker
25:56
Speaker 2: busters that are made to take out deep, deep underground
26:00
Speaker 2: facilities like the ford Ale nuclear facilities, and so one
26:03
Speaker 2: open question I have for a long time called for
26:07
Speaker 2: the United States to make those bunker busters available to Israel.
26:12
Speaker 2: I think taking out ford Ale makes a lot of sense.
26:15
Speaker 2: I think if Israel does it. And by the way,
26:17
Speaker 2: I'll point out, look, Israel is a small country. Israel
26:21
Speaker 2: is about the size of the state of New Jersey.
26:23
Speaker 2: And they are fighting against our enemies, our enemies who
26:28
Speaker 2: a pledge they want to murder us, and they're doing
26:30
Speaker 2: so at great risk to themselves. But but and so
26:34
Speaker 2: that is something to be grateful for but understand they're
26:37
Speaker 2: taking out Around's nuclear capabilities is very very good for
26:41
Speaker 2: America because it makes America safer. And I think if
26:45
Speaker 2: Israel finishes the job of taking out their nuclear capability,
26:49
Speaker 2: I think this these attacks likely end within the next
26:54
Speaker 2: couple of weeks.
26:56
Speaker 1: You look at Donald Trump saying we can probably get
26:59
Speaker 1: a deal done. Is that after we accomplish the mission.
27:02
Speaker 1: If you're reading between the lines here, I mean you've
27:04
Speaker 1: spoken with them. Is this a that we got to
27:06
Speaker 1: allow our ally Israel to do what they need to
27:09
Speaker 1: do in that timeframe as well?
27:12
Speaker 2: So listen, I'm skeptical that Iran will ever ever cut
27:15
Speaker 2: a real deal. I don't think you can negotiate with
27:19
Speaker 2: crazy and I think these people are crazy.
27:21
Speaker 4: And and so.
27:24
Speaker 2: I think one of the things that would enhance American
27:27
Speaker 2: security massively is to see the Iyatola fall and to
27:31
Speaker 2: see the Mullas lose power, to see different leadership come
27:36
Speaker 2: to come to Iran. I think that would make Israel
27:38
Speaker 2: much much safer. I think that would make America much safer,
27:42
Speaker 2: and I think that would make the Iranian people better off. Now,
27:44
Speaker 2: let me be clear, I'm not advocating that we send
27:47
Speaker 2: in a bunch of American soldiers to make that happen.
27:50
Speaker 2: I am advocating that we use maximum pressure and economic
27:53
Speaker 2: sanctions to pressure the regime in a way that might
27:57
Speaker 2: encourage this regime to fall, because I think that they
28:00
Speaker 2: have demonstrated that they are are homicidal and murderously directing
28:08
Speaker 2: their urges towards killing Americans, and so removing people from
28:12
Speaker 2: power who are trying to kill Americans makes America safer.
28:15
Speaker 1: Well me also go back to something you mentioned earlier,
28:17
Speaker 1: and this seems to clearly be part of Israel's strategy,
28:20
Speaker 1: which is you go after and take out people that
28:24
Speaker 1: are in essence holding down the people and silencing the
28:28
Speaker 1: people in Iran in the leadership roles. That's part of
28:31
Speaker 1: who they seem to be going after. That could be
28:34
Speaker 1: huge for allowing what you just described actually happen a
28:38
Speaker 1: revolution within Israel, or I should say within Iran.
28:41
Speaker 4: Well and listen.
28:42
Speaker 2: One of the conscious choices that it appears that Israel
28:45
Speaker 2: made was not to target the Iatola himself. And I
28:50
Speaker 2: don't have I have no classify information any way. Yeah, wow,
28:53
Speaker 2: so I's that out of curacy, So I don't know
28:56
Speaker 2: for sure. I have no classified information on this. But
28:58
Speaker 2: I can give an educator guess, which is that taking
29:02
Speaker 2: out the leader of a country through military force is
29:07
Speaker 2: a significant step. Now, mind you, the Iyatola is perfectly
29:11
Speaker 2: fine hiring Hittman to try to murder Donald Trump. So
29:13
Speaker 2: the Iyatola has no problem doing it. And I have
29:16
Speaker 2: no doubt that if the Iatola could could murder Prime
29:19
Speaker 2: Minister net and Yahoo, he would do so in the
29:21
Speaker 2: blink of an eye.
29:23
Speaker 4: He has not been able to do so.
29:25
Speaker 2: But I think the Israelis, given their success and taking
29:29
Speaker 2: out everyone else, I think it's reasonable to assume that
29:32
Speaker 2: they would have had a real prospect of taking the
29:34
Speaker 2: Iatola out had they chosen to do so. My guess
29:38
Speaker 2: is that they made a decision that taking out the
29:40
Speaker 2: leader of the country could backfire, especially given that he
29:43
Speaker 2: is also a religious leader, and you run into a
29:46
Speaker 2: danger of potentially making him a martyr, and and and
29:51
Speaker 2: it is not clear if you toppled him in those
29:53
Speaker 2: circumstances you might get a younger, theocratic lunatic takeover instead.
29:59
Speaker 4: Uh.
30:00
Speaker 2: And so I think it is a reasonable decision for
30:02
Speaker 2: Israel to say, rather than target the Ayatola directly, let's
30:07
Speaker 2: take out every one of their top military officers that
30:10
Speaker 2: they would use to prosecute a war. And by the way,
30:13
Speaker 2: those are the same people they use to push down
30:16
Speaker 2: and uprising to oppress their people and so degrading their capabilities.
30:22
Speaker 2: It's what they've done with HESBLA, They've taken out their
30:24
Speaker 2: top leadership.
30:25
Speaker 4: It's what they've done. It's what they've done with Hamas.
30:29
Speaker 4: And I'll tell you.
30:29
Speaker 2: On Saturday, Israel conducted a strike in Yemen, killing the
30:35
Speaker 2: Huthi Chief of Staff Muhammad Abdul Karim al Gamari, who
30:41
Speaker 2: was responsible for overseeing Huthi military operations and directing the
30:47
Speaker 2: procurement and deployment of a number of weapons systems for them.
30:50
Speaker 2: The Huthis are another arm of Iran, and so what
30:53
Speaker 2: Israel has done is weakened Iran on every front, and
30:57
Speaker 2: that oppressive infrastructure, their ability to wage war, their ability
31:02
Speaker 2: to kill Israelis, their ability to kill Americans, their ability
31:05
Speaker 2: to fund terrorism, and their ability to suppress their people,
31:10
Speaker 2: all of those are substantially weakened.
31:12
Speaker 4: That's a very good thing.
31:14
Speaker 1: Final question for you on this as we move forward
31:17
Speaker 1: through this week. I think it's pretty obvious the media's
31:20
Speaker 1: obsessed with Donald Trump, somehow not standing with Israel or
31:25
Speaker 1: trying to drive a wedge. Do you think there's any
31:28
Speaker 1: chance at all that can happen, because in the early
31:31
Speaker 1: questions it was almost like, you guys are idiots.
31:33
Speaker 3: Come on.
31:34
Speaker 2: I think President Trump has been the strongest pro Israel
31:37
Speaker 2: president in the history of America. It's an exact contrast
31:41
Speaker 2: with Joe Biden. Joe Biden was the most anti Israel
31:44
Speaker 2: president in the history of America. The fact that they
31:47
Speaker 2: occurred back and back, you want to talk about about whiplash.
31:51
Speaker 2: You'll recall we did this podcast on when Bbe came
31:55
Speaker 2: to Washington and I met with him for about two hours.
31:57
Speaker 4: He is a good friend.
31:59
Speaker 2: I have not spoken to bb since this war broke out,
32:02
Speaker 2: although I did speak with the Israeli ambassador to the
32:05
Speaker 2: United States on Thursday night, the night the war began.
32:09
Speaker 4: Uh and and and listen.
32:11
Speaker 2: Their successes are significant, but but they they have the
32:16
Speaker 2: complete backing of of of the Trump administration, and that
32:19
Speaker 2: is important. I do think that there are some voices
32:23
Speaker 2: within the administration that are pressing back and and and
32:27
Speaker 2: part of the reason I talked to to President Trump
32:30
Speaker 2: today was to say, what you're doing is exactly right.
32:33
Speaker 2: You're making America safer by allowing Israel to take out
32:37
Speaker 2: Iran's nukes, and you're also protecting American servicemen and women.
32:41
Speaker 2: Keep doing it, and and and he he agreed emphatically.
32:45
Speaker 3: Don't forget.
32:45
Speaker 1: We did a show Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Hit that
32:47
Speaker 1: subscribe or auto download button so you do not miss
32:50
Speaker 1: an episode as we take you behind the scenes, even
32:53
Speaker 1: these conversations with President Trump as well. Uh so make
32:56
Speaker 1: sure you do that. Please share this podcast on social
32:58
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33:01
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33:03
Speaker 1: subscribe to our YouTube channel and the Center.
33:05
Speaker 3: I will see you back here on Wednesday morning.