
Episode 5183: Next Steps With The War In Iran ...
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Steve Bannon
Iranian regime armed with long range missiles and nuclear weapons would be an intolerable threat to the Middle east, but also to the American people. Our country itself would be under threat. And it was very nearly under threat. I was very proud to have knocked out the Iran nuclear deal by President Barack Hussein Obama. That was a horrible, horrible, dangerous, dangerous document. They would have had nuclear weapons.
Brian Glenn
We're just getting this information from the Israeli military right now. They say that they have hit their words dozens of targets belonging to the Iranian regime and its intelligence services in Tehran. So they're putting that out there. Now. We've seen evidence, right, As I mentioned, Colonel, we've seen some of the images, but they're now saying specifically dozens and they're giving a bit more detail as I'm speaking here. They're saying that those dozens of strikes specifically targeted headquarters, bases and regional command centers of, and I'm quoting them, the Iranian terrorist regime's internal security bodies. Now, that's coming from a statement that the IDF has just put out.
Pete Hegseth
He never talked about the goal being getting rid of just the ruler, Ali Khamenei. He talked about the regime. Regime. He mentioned it nine times. He called for members of the Revolutionary Guard and the army and all of the police to lay down their weapons or face certain death. And he called for the Iranian people to take over your government. That is regime change. This morning Pete Hegseth says this isn't about regime change. And then the president at the Medal of Honor ceremonies, you just played, he's saying, oh, this is about reducing their ballistic missile capabilities, their nuclear things, and they sort of exaggerated the missile capabilities. So it's all very confusing. And then in the middle of those two events on Sunday, the president spoke with the New York Times and talked about how the Venezuela situation, which was just the ruler Maduro and his wife being ousted, how that was a perfect solution. So it's all very jumbled at this point.
Steve Bannon
This is a discussion that has not been had because he bypassed Congress.
Pete Hegseth
The accountability.
Brian Glenn
A president has the right to take military action for 60 days if there's an imminent threat.
Steve Bannon
And there is no imminent threat.
Marco Rubio
Let me.
Brian Glenn
That might be your opinion. That's your opinion.
Steve Bannon
I sit on the Armed Services and the Intelligence Committee. If there are imminent threats, they have an obligation to tell us about it.
Pete Hegseth
I have seen no imminent threat.
Steve Bannon
And even people within the administration have
Jan Jekielek
denied that there's an imminent threat.
Pete Hegseth
So listen, do you think eventually there
Jan Jekielek
will be a need for boots on the ground?
Military Analyst
I would not exclude it for those reasons or Other, but we have to see how it goes forward.
Brian Glenn
And will that include Israeli boots on the ground, do you think?
Military Analyst
I exclude nothing. We've been waiting for 47 years and we came to a point with every, every necessary means should be taken in
General Raisin Kane
order to achieve our goals.
Brian Glenn
Yet it certainly appeared, at least from what we understand from the reporting, that the human intelligence so central to the initial strike here actually came from possibly a CIA intelligence agent on the ground, as opposed to Israeli, which, which we know obviously they have a deep network within Iran. But that that was a CIA specifically.
Steve Bannon
Well, let's take two of the objectives off the table. That would be regime change and Iranian
Pete Hegseth
support for militias around the region.
Steve Bannon
That leaves three goals which is their nuclear program, their missile capabilities and their navy. And to destroy all the targets associated
General Raisin Kane
with those three areas I think would
Steve Bannon
take four to six weeks at a minimum. And, and then of course we'll have to get the battle damage assessment and re engage those that either we missed or that new targets pop up. But it's going to be an extensive campaign. This is not going to be over in a matter of days. This is the primal scream of a dying regime. Pray for our enemies because we're going medieval on these people. There's not got a free shot.
Commercial Announcer
All these networks lying about the people.
Steve Bannon
The people had a belly full of it. I know you don't like hearing that. I know you try to do everything in the world to stop that, but you're not going to stop it. It's going to happen. And where do people like that go
Marco Rubio
to share the big lie?
General Raisin Kane
MAGA MEDIA I wish in my soul,
Steve Bannon
I wish that any of these people had a conscience. Ask yourself, what is my task and
Commercial Announcer
what is my purpose?
Steve Bannon
If that answer is to save my country, this country will be saved.
General Raisin Kane
WAR ROOM here's your host, Stephen K. Ban.
Steve Bannon
It's Monday the 2nd of March in the year of our Lord 2026. We are in, we're in it now as this war starts to spread or this military operation starts to spread into other parts of the Middle East. We've had many of the Gulf states start to participate in this and I understand that there's real anger from some of the Gulf states about the Persians hitting them during Ramadan. So this in fact is a bunch of pieces up, some reporting done that the Saudis are talking to the Americans right now, talking to us about actually doing their own independent strikes. There's so much going on here today. Two things. First of all, I had President Trump first time actually live to address this at the Medal of Honor ceremony in the East Room, said some very powerful stuff about what drove him to do it and what we should look for. Also this morning at 8 o', clock, we covered it here live in rail. Merkel's voice but we didn't have time to play the package. We showed Pete Hexseth in the morning show. We didn't have chance to show a package on General Raisin Cain. Remember, General Kaine, just to put it in perspective, the ISIS campaign in President Trump's first term in 2017, that was so successful. Remember, President Obama has said it would be a generational effort to take down isis. When I talk about isis, I mean the caliphate, the physical caliphate of ISIS that was, I don't know, a third of Iraq and 50% of Syria, it seemed like at the time, but it was quite large, had oil revenues, was recruiting 10,000 people a month, individual a month, principally from Europe, from the mass migrations in Europe and other converts President Trump committed on the campaign trail he was going to destroy isis. I think it took four or five months. Now, Jim Mattis, Mad Dog Mattis, or Chaos as his call sign was, was the Secretary of Defense. But it was really raising Cain. General Kaine that ran the operations, that's where President Trump first met him. And he was so impressed with General Kaine during the ISIS campaign of the first term that he brought him back as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. General Kaine has done the expeditionary hit that ended the 12 day war with total obliteration, at least at that time, their assessment was total obliteration of Iran's nuclear program. And then he led the expeditionary effort, this magnificent expeditionary effort to essentially decapitate Madur and his wife as the head of the regime there. They made a deal with the existing regiment and seem to have at least built a working relationship. President Trump and President Trump likes optionality in a range of alternatives that he's not boxed in, that he can maneuver. I think he's been talking about optionality. He says, hey, this thing could take four or five weeks. I don't know. He's not going to put a time on it. He's also talked to Bret Baier. His paradigm here is Venezuela and he believes he's already done Venezuela also. They have not, I think for operational security and other reasons. Given the in depth briefing, which my understanding is maybe the Navy commander of the naval forces may give that tomorrow or the next day of how lethal some of this action has been, my understanding is that they've gone down to very, very deep with the Revolutionary Guard, even down to the battalion level to decapitate not just the mullahs, not the ayatollah and the mullahs. And the next in line, President Trump is pretty upfront, says, hey, we had two or three guys that were supposed to be in line we thought we could deal with, but guess what? They're all dead. So there's been a, I think, a deeper strike into their, into their. Into the command structure. I want to play Raisin Cane. Can we go ahead and play? We got raising cane and we have Marco Ruby. I want to break them both down. We don't have raising cane. Terrific. I tell you, let me go into the next hangar for Ruby for a second. We can break that in pieces, I take it. Thank you, sir. Marco Rubio gave a, I think, I wouldn't say impromptu, he was at the sticks, but he gave about a 12 or 13 minute, I think was one of the best explanations that we've had so far of what's going on. General Kane gave a terrific briefing earlier today with Pete. He took a, Took a question or two from the, from the audience, from the reporters. It was not Norman Schwarzkopf. I think that the Pentagon may eventually go to that. I think maybe the Navy admiral, maybe General Kane, where you're going to see some video once they're confident about the operational security. I think you'll see some video. I think you'll see some maps, some charts. Maybe they have a ruler and point up at it and walk you through it. Remember, if you're old enough to remember, I think you have to be a boomer to be that. General Norman Schopf in the Gulf War, really became an expert in these presentations. It kind of galvanized the nations, made him a national hero and garnered, I think, tremendous support for the military effort over there because people could understand it. Also, a couple of things. Housekeeping, number one, gold finished at what, 53, 40? It's not the price of gold, it's the process that drives it. We've talked a lot about financial risk, the risk of the dollar, these massive deficits under Biden, the drop in the purchasing power of the dollar that was going to get the BRICS nations going, the central banks buying gold. We said, we'll lay that out for you. You have to make your own decisions, but we want to make you as smart as possible. Also, that geopolitics, a fancy term for, I don't know, war and peace, was also because the business community, financial community, markets like stability and obviously when the balloon is up and people are shooting at each other, particularly in a region like the Gulf where so much of the world's ore. I think 20% of the world's oil goes through the straits or moves today, particularly to Asia, into parts of Europe, that that leads to instability. And that's why gold has been a hedge. When I say a hedge, it's something that can protect you against times of financial turbulence. Birchgold.com, promo code Bannon. End of the dollar empire. Make sure you get that cane or Rubio. Okay, fine. Let's go ahead and play. I tell you what. Go to Birchgold, you get all the. And Birch Gold's got a website. They put tons of information. Philip Patrick. I think Philip Patrick's gonna be with us tomorrow. Natalie Winters are gonna also join us tomorrow. She's got an amazing piece up about open borders and going after Iran. The price you might have to pay. Nina Rodriguez is going to be with us in the 6 o' clock hour. Like I said, Nina really broke that story yesterday. But for Operation Security reason we didn't talk about it because had not been totally confirmed by the FBI. Let's go ahead and play a couple minutes of General Kaine and then I'll come back after the break. Let's go and let it rip.
General Raisin Kane
On Saturday, 28th, February at 01.15 Eastern Standard Time, 9:45am local, Tehran time, on the orders of the President of The United States U.S. central Command under the command of United States Navy Admiral Brad Cooper commenced Operation Epic Fury. As I said, I'm going to walk you through the initial phases of the operation. But first I want to express my deep condolences and the condolences of the Joint Force to the Department of War personnel killed and wounded in action thus far. As the Secretary said, they're heroes and represent the best of our nation has to offer. They're true examples of what selfless service means. Our deepest and heartfelt condolences are with their families, their friends and their units. We grieve with you and we will never forget you. Additionally, I stand here before you today grateful for each service member, planner, logistician, operator across our Joint Force. For our Department of War civilians, our intelligence community teammates, our interagency teammates who continue to stand in harm's way alongside us. I am proud of all of you as you take the fight to the enemy and we are the best in the world at integrating, period. I want to extend my personal gratitude to the dedicated commanders and senior enlisted leaders and the enlisted members of the Joint Force who are fighting this fight across the CENTCOM aor. In addition to Admiral Cooper and Fleet Master Chief Compton, I want to highlight a few today U.S. army Central Command commander Lt. Gen. Pat Frank, who along with his team are fighting the counter missile and counter drone fight. United States Navy Central Command Commander Vice Admiral Kurt Renshaw and his team who are engaged with the Iranian Navy and projecting American naval combat power from the seas and United States Air Force Central Command Commander Lieutenant General Derek France and his leadership team who are crushing Iranian targets from the air. I want to highlight the support to the CENTCOM fight from other combatant commands who are directly involved with this effort to include US spacecom, US Cybercom and usucom. I also want to specifically call out United States Transportation Command and U.S. stratCom for their contributions to this fight. We cannot project American combat power at the time and place of our choosing without both. And finally, I want to express how deeply thankful I am for the continued service and sacrifice of the entire Joint Force and their families. Their unwavering commitment and dedication are the cornerstones of this effort.
Steve Bannon
Okay, we're going to take a short break and we're going to come back after a commercial break and continue on with General Kaine. As I said, the President holds him in the highest regard and you see right there he talks about the unified command and power projection. Also as an update, six members of the United States military are now killed in action. 18 wounded, 18 casualties. Will return after a short commercial break to the war.
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General Raisin Kane
War room here's your host, Stephen K. Bannon. Okay.
Commercial Announcer
Welcome back.
Steve Bannon
Brian Glenn's going to join me right now. Brian, thank you for coming, for stepping in here. I want to break down this game film. We did Pete Hexit this morning. And I want to do, I want to break down for the audience General Raisin Cain, who is really the chief, obviously the chief military advisor. But I would tell you someone that President Trump puts a lot of trust in, given his track record against ISIS, his track record against the 12 in the 12 day war, and also in the Venezuelan situation. Let's go and play the rest of his briefing. And I think he also throws in a question. Let's go and hear it.
General Raisin Kane
So let me start with a few details. First, to be clear, as the secretary said, this is not a single overnight operation. The military objectives that CENTCOM and the Joint Force have been tasked with will take some time to achieve and in some cases will be difficult and gritty work. We expect to take additional losses and as always, we will work to minimize US Losses. But as the secretary said, this is major combat operations. So let me talk about the preparation and the planning. On February 28, the full strength of America's armed forces came together in a unified purpose against a capable and determined adversary. The United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force, Coast Guard and our reserve components integrated our cross our combatant commands and began coordinated operations with the Israeli armed forces of an unprecedented scale. As the secretary laid out, our military objectives are clear. Our mission is to protect and defend ourselves and together with our regional partners, prevent Iran from the ability to project power outside of its borders and be ready for follow on actions as appropriate. Across every domain, land, air, sea, cyber, the US Joint Force delivered synchronized and layered effects designed to disrupt, degrade, deny and destroy Iran's ability to conduct and sustain combat operations. On the US Side, this marked the culmination of months and in some cases years of deliberate planning and refinement against this particular target set. From precision strikes against key military infrastructure to persistent intelligence and targeting integration, to the close coordination of the components across vast distances, this operation again demonstrated America's reach, readiness and professionalism and that of our joint United Force. It was historic, not only in the operational scope but in the level of joint integration displayed across every element of the Joint Force. And as I said earlier, this work is just beginning and will continue. So now to talk a little bit about setting the force and setting the theater on the order of the Secretary of War. Over the last 30 days to reinforce deterrence and provide the President with credible options should action be required, the Joint Force began to systematically reposition assets and personnel across the region. These movements ensured that US Forces remained postured, protected and ready to respond decisively for any emerging threat. This deployment included thousands of service members from all branches, hundreds of advanced fourth and fifth generation fighters, dozens of refueling tankers, the Lincoln and Ford carrier strike group and their embarked air wings, sustained flow of munitions, fuel supplies, all supported with command and control, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance network. And the flow of forces continues today. In fact, Admiral Cooper will receive additional forces even today. This rapid buildup of forces demonstrated the Joint forces ability to adapt and project power at the time and place of our nation's choosing.
Steve Bannon
So Brian Glenn there you saw, and that was a very big overview of, of what they set in place. It was not a Schwarzkopf type briefing with, you know, grainy gun, camera, video, blowing up, some stuff. Not. You don't have big maps of where the deployments are, don't have charts. They've been very limited in what they've given reporters because of Operation Security. Do you think it's some time to get the American people more to understand what's going on? The briefings and they talk about, Admiral, cooperation. AOR means area of responsibility. That's kind of the combatant commander. I think the naval forces are under or under Admiral Cooper. Maybe he does it tomorrow, the next day. Do you think we're getting on the clock that we've got to cut to the chase and make sure people understand what's going on?
Military Analyst
Yes, sir. Steve, I think we really do need to update the American people, not only why we're doing this, but, but a little bit of the thought process in building up to this. I do believe, and he said it, that this has been planned for months, if not years. And I'll go back and maybe this is going down a rabbit hole here, but I think when we changed it from Secretary of Defense to Secretary of War, Department of defense, Department of War, that was proactively getting the American mindset in the, in the right frame of mind, rather that we are going to be proactive in defending this, this country. We're going to go to war. So maybe, maybe there's nothing there, I don't know. But I do think, however, this was planned for months. I think the negotiation obviously was still being, you know, in the process, they still wanted to maybe find an alternative to taking kinetic action. But I think today's press conference and Secretary of War Pete Hetseff did an amazing job as well. Look, he's very articulate, he's a good looking guy. He's charismatic, comes from Fox News. He is the point person you want in the Department of War to convey messages to the media. I think he's perfect with that. And then I think General Raisin Kane is the perfect person to explain just what he laid out kind of strategically what's going to happen next. This needs to happen more than often right now because, Steve, when you get on social media, and I know social media a lot of time is not the real world, but right now it's not good as far as getting the public to support what we just.
Commercial Announcer
Yeah, I think, I think you got
Steve Bannon
to explain, you just got to put a little more detail on this and explain to folks what's going on, what the target package was, all that I'm sure that's going to be in the next 20, 24 hours. Rubio took a crack at this. A little bit about the effort here, the focus, the objective. So let's go and we're going to break it down twice as we go to commercial break. Let's go and do Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Brian Glenn will come back in drones
Marco Rubio
that they also have. They've been doing this for a very long time. And by the way, they've been doing it under sanction. You see the attacks they're conducting right now, they're attacking airports, they're attacking hotels. They're hitting not just military bases, they're attacking our embassies directly. They're attacking facilities that have nothing to do with war or with military. And that's a weakened Iran. That's in Iran despite years of sanction. Imagine a year from now or a year and a half from now, the capabilities they would have to inflict damage on us. It's an unacceptable risk, especially in the hands of a regime that's run by radical clerics. The ayatollah is a radical, was a radical cleric. That entire regime is led by radical clerics who don't make geopolitical decisions. They make decisions on the basis of theology, their view of theology, which is an apocalyptic one that has to be taken very seriously as well. So that was the purpose for what this operation is all about. That's what it's focused on. As the president said earlier today, it is on or ahead of schedule I will defer to the Department of War to discuss the progress being made at a tactical level. But it was the right decision and an important decision for the safety and security of the world.
Brian Glenn
Does Congress have to weigh in? Is the President declaring war and does Congress have to weigh in?
Marco Rubio
And is there an imminent threat?
Brian Glenn
Did you tell lawmakers that there was an imminent.
Marco Rubio
There absolutely was an imminent threat. And the imminent threat was that we knew that if Iran was attacked and we believed they would be attacked, that they would immediately come after us. And we were not going to sit there and absorb a blow before we responded because the Department of War assessed that if we did that, if we waited for them to hit us first after they were attacked by someone else, Israel attacked them, they hit us first, and we waited for them to hit us, we would suffer more casualties and more deaths. We went proactively in a defensive way to prevent them from inflicting higher damage. Had we not done so, there would have been hearings on Capitol Hill about how we knew that this was going to happen and we didn't act preemptively to prevent more casualties and more loss of life.
Steve Bannon
Was forced to strike because of an impending Israeli action?
Marco Rubio
No. First. Well, I mean, two things I would say. Number one is no matter what, ultimately this operation needed to happen. That's the question of why now. But this operation needed to happen because Iran, in about a year or a year and a half, would cross the line of immunity, meaning they would have so many short range missiles, so many drones that no one could do anything about it because they could hold the whole world hostage. Look at the damage they're doing now. And this is a weakened Iran. Imagine a year from now, now.
Steve Bannon
So that had to happen.
Marco Rubio
Obviously, we were aware of Israeli intentions and understood what that would mean for us, and we had to be prepared to act as a result of it. But this had to happen no matter what.
Brian Glenn
Secretary Secretary President Trump said overnight that his top choices to now run Iran were killed in the strikes. Does the United States have a firm plan for how they intend to handle this power vacuum in Iran to ensure that an iron hardliner disappear?
Marco Rubio
So two things, and two things can be true. Number one is our mission and our focus is the destruction of their ballistic missile capabilities and their ability to manufacture them, as well as the threat posed by their navy to global shipping. That's the objective. That said, we would not mind, we would not be heartbroken, and we hope that the Iranian people can overthrow this government and establish a new future for that country. We would love for that to be possible. But the objective of this mission is the destruction of their ballistic missile capabilities and of their naval capabilities.
Steve Bannon
So are you saying based on that,
Jan Jekielek
are you saying that there is no responsibility?
Steve Bannon
Okay, I'm going to come back to that. Now I'm kind of confused. Is Brian Glenn now it's the destruction of the ballistic missile and their naval capabilities. And I think he said Israel is going to be first mover. It's, it's fine. But I think there has to be a sense of consistency here and kind of lining everything up because they've got many enemies on Capitol Hill that are coming for him with the knives out. That's these Democrats. Of course we have huge primaries tomorrow in Texas and North Carolina. Brian Glenn, give me 30 seconds before we go to break.
Military Analyst
Well, I think Marco Rubio laid it out that if we didn't proactively do it now, I heard someone say, can you imagine, you know, five, six, seven years from now when we God forbid get a really liberal left leaning president and get a congressional and Senate and that then if Iran was to all of a sudden think they've got the military needs to do it, they go make an attack and we're sitting on our heels. I like being proactive. I like being on offense.
Commercial Announcer
You're a Department of warrior, I like that. Stick right there.
Steve Bannon
Brian Glenn, we're going to play the rest of Secretary of State, National Security Advisor.
Commercial Announcer
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Steve Bannon
Do it today.
General Raisin Kane
Here's your host, Stephen K. Bannon.
Steve Bannon
Take your phone out. Text Bannon. B A N N O N 989-898 get the ultimate guide for investing in gold and precious metals in the Age of Trump. When you read this, no obligation, it's totally free. But understand the geopolitical turmoil we have right now. I don't think was considered, but you'll learn about what a hedge is and why gold is on fire again. Remember, it's not the price, it's the process that drives the value. That's what you have to understand. If you learn that, you'll go a long way to understand how you get financial stability in your life. Birchgold.com, talk to Philip Patrony. Phillip's going to obviously, it's crazy today with the markets where they are. Philip's going to join us tomorrow. Natalie's going to join us tomorrow. She's written a brilliant piece on her substack about open borders and Iranian terrorists. David Rodriguez is going to be on Warham, Texas. Like I told you, he really broke that story yesterday, but we decided to tamp it down because we didn't have all the verification we needed. But David Rodriguez was on it. About the situation in Austin, Texas, I want to go back to the beginning and play this. Maybe we'll do the whole thing tomorrow. But this is so important. I got Brian Glenn. Let's go ahead and play it from
Marco Rubio
the top drones that they also have. They've been doing this for a very long time. And by the way, they've been doing it under sanction. You see the attacks they're conducting right now, they're attacking airports, they're attacking hotels. They're hitting not just military bases, they're attacking our embassies directly. They're attacking facilities that have nothing to do with war or with military. And that's a weekend Iran. That's in Iran despite years of sanction. Imagine a year from now or a year and a half from now, the capabilities they would have to inflict damage on us. It's an unacceptable risk, especially in the hands of a regime that's run by radical clerics. The ayatollah is a radical, was a radical cleric. That entire regime is led by radical clerics who don't make geopolitical decisions. They make decisions on the basis of theology. Their view of theology, which is an apocalyptic one that has to be taken very Seriously as well. So that was the purpose for what this operation. That's what it's focused on. As the President said earlier today, it is on or ahead of schedule. I will defer to the Department of War to discuss the progress being made at a tactical level. But it was the right decision and an important decision for the safety and security of the world.
Brian Glenn
Does Congress have to weigh in? Does Congress have to weigh in? Is the President declared and does Congress,
Marco Rubio
and was there an imminent threat?
Brian Glenn
Did you tell lawmakers that there was an imminent threat?
Marco Rubio
There absolutely was an imminent threat. And the imminent threat was that we knew that if Iran was attacked and we believed they would be attacked that they would immediately come after us. And we were not going to sit there and absorb a blow before we responded because the Department of War assessed that if we did that, if we waited for them to hit us first after they were attacked by someone else. Israel attacked them, they hit us.
Steve Bannon
If Iran was attacked, then we would be attacked. Does that mean if Israel, Israel is going to attack but that they're supposed to be allies, they're just going to attack and that not coordinate with us? And that makes no sense at all. That just doesn't make any sense. I don't understand that. This is why they're the greatest ally. I don't understand that. If we knew they were going to, that Iran was going to be attacked and they would attack us. Is there no coordination in this? I think that has to be explained. I think it has, that has to be explained. Brian Glenn, I think that one has to be explained. I don't understand that. What, that's the first we've heard of that. I don't think that just be up at the sticks, just toss it out there. I think that has to be explained.
Commercial Announcer
Sir.
Military Analyst
Yeah, I agree. Who's talking to who? Don't you think if we should all be on the same page with this and I do like the proactive approach, approach to this though, and he makes a good point. They're, they're attacking all of these sites now as a weakened Iran and imagine what they would do if they actually had more ballistic missiles, they had more, more firepower there. They would maybe take it a little bit further. So, but I, I, I do think that needs to be further explained. And, and like I said in the previous segment, the American people want to hear this stuff. They want to, they want to be explained why we are taking these steps and why we have lost six servicemember and maybe 18 or 19 injured, seriously injured right now. They need to do more of this explanation on what's happening right now because this kind of started, you know, middle of the night there. True social post. Next time you wake up and we've got bombs flying and I think the American.
Steve Bannon
But I don't know. I don't know if, look, this is a very serious military operation. And we understand, particularly in the opening salvos, people's lives at risk. We now understand, I think the six service members that died were in Kuwait trying to stand up some sort of either radar installation or something. But they were hit and they didn't. There was no warning. There was no, you know, they didn't hear anything. Of course, the New York Post is breaking. That I think is an exclusive. We'll drill down on that more. But when you put American prestige, you put American honor and particularly put the most precious resource we have, which are our servicemen and women, in harm's way, it's got to be really thought through. I find that that has to be explained. I just don't understand that we knew Israel was going to hit and that the Iranians would hit us. Well, hang over a second. They were going to hit without us saying, okay, we're all ready to go, that they were just going to take it on their own. If you're an ally, I don't think Allah, particularly if you're. And I say they're a protectorate, because we provide the air defense, principally, we're providing the offense here, principally. We provided the intelligence. My understanding is we provided the CIA provide the targeting package for the ayatollah. I think things just have to get sorted here. And I think that has to be explained in detail to the American people so the American people fully understand. It's like in the Iraq war, you know, the, the Iraq war, the first couple of days everybody's cheerleading at Fox News, is glazing everybody and got the pom poms out. Well, these are serious and these take a while. And of course, the American public opinion, which is very important here to support these operations, has to be fully informed. Even people of your, not your political party have to be informed of exactly what went on because you need the support of the American people, make sure these operations are successful. And let me add again, especially when you have service members in harm's way and we're in a shooting war now. And so I think this has to be explained. And to Secretary Ruby to throw that out there. No, I don't understand that. I just don't. That has to be. I got a couple of Three questions, I think, about that one, and I think a lot of people ought to have questions about that, particularly with everything on the Internet, you know, who controls who. If you want to put that to bed, you have to come out and make a case for exactly what was going on here, exactly what the thinking was and what's going on. Then Rubio went into, I thought it was great. He said, hey, we're going to take out their naval assets. And President Trump said today, I believe we've taken 11 of their combatants, their vessels, and they're now at the bottom, either the North Arabian Sea or the Persian Gulf. And I believe we've taken out their air defense or their air assets. And to get air superiority in their naval assets, I think we've done a overwhelming job of. But that's more of the operational and tactical. I think we need a full understanding of the strategic. Brian Glenn, the White House. Here's what's interesting. Rubio really came out, he had Pete in a very limited situation. General Kane in a very limited situation. Marco really went up and took all questions. Are they going to start, you think, being more aggressive on the, what I call the information warfare sides here? Because they've been very silent over the weekend. Nobody did the Sunday shows yesterday. It's pretty obvious Scott Besant was not out on Squawk Box or talking about oil or the capital markets, although I don't think the capital markets were in horrible turmoil as some people predicted. Do you think the White House is going to get more proactive on the messaging side?
Military Analyst
They should, and I think that they will, because right now all you have is some of those ultra MAGA social media accounts that you see on X and Getter just going hard in the paint. You know, it's America. It's like, yeah. And all of a sudden the reality comes in that this is a war and we have had casualties and this is a little bit more involved than what we thought it would be. I heard some pundits, the commentary class, as I like to call them, before this started, saying it's going to be very precise, very precision. We're going to go in there, we're going to carve it out. It's going to be just like Operation Midnight Hammer. I said, you got to be kidding me. Look at all the assets are putting in that area. This is going to take a while. So as long as they communicate this, Steve, to the American people on why they're there, what's going on, and be truthful with them, I think the American people could take it because no one wants the Iranian regime to exist. We do, I think, what evil people out of power, but at what bad guys.
Steve Bannon
But I do go back to President Trump saying, hey, we're going to decay. We're going to go and decapitate and let the Iranian people, as I've been saying, hey, no offense, they brought the Islamic Republic on, right? I realize this is their parents and their grandparents, most of them, but they wanted the Islamic Republic. They kicked the shot, they kicked us out. They brought it on them and now they don't want it. That's fine. Then step up. Like President Trump's been saying, step up and take it out. Brian Glenn, social media we'll get you back on tomorrow because there's a lot going. I agree with you. I do think they're doing systematic takedown of air and naval assets and Revolutionary Guard. I think they've done a lot deeper in the command structure than they've let on. But we'll see all that, I'm sure, the next couple of days. Where do people get you, Brian Glenn?
Military Analyst
Steve, you can follow me at Brian Glenn TV on Twitter, Brian Glenn on Instagram, at Bright on truth Social Getter I pray for this country, Steve. You know, this is war and I am, I am no expert by anybody by any means, but I do know the realities of losing men and women in the battlefield and what that means in this country. And I want us to make sure when this is all said and done that we put, we close a chapter on this, this whole narrative that we've got to stop the Iranian regime from getting a nuclear weapon. Let's put this to rest, Steve. I'm done with this crap. Let's put it to rest.
Steve Bannon
Brian Glenn, thank you so much, sir.
Military Analyst
Thank you.
Steve Bannon
Pray for our young men and women that are in harm's way right now. Jan Yekalik, my favorite Epic times, your great show, American Thought Leaders first. I'm going to get to the Chinese Communist Party in a second because they look like they're taking some heavy hits here, both in Venezuela and here. And you're an expert, but just your overall assessment with the information we're getting and where do you think we stand on this in the first couple of days of this war?
Jan Jekielek
Steve, I can't help but think about this from the broader geopolitical context. I saw this amazing commentary yesterday which has basically mirrored my exact thinking. How do we communicate with the Communist Chinese leaders? How do we communicate them? Well, the commentator said a horse's head in the bed is really the only way to do that. So as you pointed out, we've got Venezuela. This is what can happen, right? We've got Iran now. This is what can happen. And you can understand that Xi Jinping is getting a message, don't screw around with us. I think this is, you know, I don't know if this is the key reason for these, for these attacks. I don't think it's the only reason, but it's a very important, let's call it, side benefit to what has happened. Because the only thing they really understand is sheer exertion of force. Or as this commentator pointed out, it's kind of like a mafia message. Right? This is what's going to happen if you don't play with us. And then of course, we've got the tariffs on the other side restricting the one pillar of their economy that they have left, which is really their export. So
Steve Bannon
if they've taken, if they've taken it on, on, they've had two allies. They got a couple, three, but they got two big ones. Venezuela in the mullahs. Both of one's in American jail or American federal prison awaiting trial. The other is graveyard dead. How does Xi keep face there? He's purging the military every other week. How does he keep face among the power brokers in the Chinese Communist Party? Sir, we got about a minute.
Jan Jekielek
He's not keeping face at all, I think. And he's actually, I think, very, very worried. And he's getting a lot of questions are being asked and he can't even really do his power play on Taiwan at the moment because he doesn't have the military capability to do so. And, you know, this is actually something that I, this whole concept of how the CCP actually operates at an, in a very extreme way. I document this very well. And thank you for carrying Kill to order and having me on about this. This is my new book. But it's not just about this forced or shocking forced organ harvesting industry. It's how it's the perfect lens to understand how the CCP actually operates. We get into all this stuff in the book explaining that, or we're going
Steve Bannon
to take a short break, we're going to get into it. If, you know, you can see Maduro, the mullahs, the ayatollah and the heads of the Chinese Communist Party. Bad, bad, bad actors. But as bad as the mullahs and maduras, what Yan exposes with the Chinese Communist Party will rock your world. We're gonna take a short commercial break. We're gonna return in the war room in just a moment. We will fight till they're all gone. We rejoice when there's no more. Let's take down the ccp.
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General Raisin Kane
Here's your host, Stephen K. Band.
Steve Bannon
I do believe that President Trump's overall strategic, strategic thrust is to make sure the Chinese Communist Party, our greatest existential threat, understands that, hey, we can do with your allies what we want to do with them and you got nothing to say about it. That's why I'm taking the under on whether there's going to be a state visit in April. Now, they could still surprise me. I just don't see it right now. Jan, talk to the audience about what your book and your 20 years of research that you're finally able to bring forward shows what monsters these people are.
Jan Jekielek
Well, the book talks about killed to order, which is this forced organ harvesting industry kind of unique in the world and evil yet to be seen on this planet planet described by one of the researchers, David Matis. And I go into exactly how it works and how it's different than your basically your typical run of the mill, also horrible organ trafficking. But more importantly, actually now to the topic of today is that it actually is a lens into understanding how communist China actually works at a Deeper level. Right. The stuff in this book will shock you to the core. It shocked me as I was doing the research. And actually, over the years, you know, what I've learned is kind of like, is actually really, really mind blowing because for normal people, like, we kind of always assume that we're dealing with a normal government or the kind of normal people on the other side that you can negotiate. This is why I was talking about this horse's head communication as being kind of one. One of the ways to do it. But another thing, you know, the. Another thing that I talk about in the book is the utilitarianism being a function of the Chinese Communist Party and how it deals with everybody. In fact, it's been using Iran the same way it's been. Aside from being an ally. Right. It's been this massive source of distraction and instability in the Middle East. So the American gaze, so to speak, keeps being focused in another direction and not where. The biggest adversary. Subtitle of my book, the True Nature of America's Biggest Adversary. That's Communist China. And so, you know, right now, if. If this is successful, which. Which I certainly hope it is, this operation and so forth, America can actually focus on dealing with its massive threat across the Pacific.
Steve Bannon
Okay, I want everybody to know, here's what we're doing. This is through the good offices of Tony Lyons and War Room, many people. We're gonna have a very special event with you. What's the date? It's one of the last events, I believe, in the Trump Kennedy center before it shuts down. I think it's shutting down this spring. So it's gonna be the Trump Kennedy Center.
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What night?
Steve Bannon
And how do people get tickets?
Jan Jekielek
It's actually incredible. So the Trump Kennedy senator has decided to have an official event as part of its Millennium Stage Series, thanks to Tony Lyons. What I thought initially was a crazy idea, but they're actually running this. You can actually reach the RSVP for it at killedtoorderevent.com killedtoorderevent.com It's March 16, and it's a conversation between Rob Schneider, who's someone who's gotten behind this issue, and in a massive way. God bless you, Rob. Thank you so much for that. And, you know, we're going to talk about some really hard questions and a little bit of dark humor. We're still figuring that out because this is such a dark, extreme issue. But it's going to be an incredible evening to remember. And we're also. There's also a VIP event afterwards for people that may want to participate in that as well. But basically we can get more than 1,000 people in the door and the first thousand people that come in will actually get a book. There's a really generous donor who decided to kind of again support this issue. There's so many people that are getting behind this. I'm really touched and thank you for your support. Steve.
Steve Bannon
No, where do people go? One more time. Where they go get the book.
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Where they go.
Steve Bannon
For anybody in the greater Washington D.C. area, it's really going to be a very special night. So where do folks go?
Jan Jekielek
Well, the book, if you want to get it killedtoorder.com that's the direct to the Amazon link. We're trying to create a movement, you know, get this book, share it with people, raise the level of awareness. This explains how the Communist Party operates to people and not enough Americans know. But for the event, it's killtoorderevent.com and that's for that March 16 event. 6pm Trump Kennedy Center. It's going to be incredible.
Steve Bannon
You and Rob Schneider is coming and Rob has really gotten it back of this, by the way. Very, very smart guy talked at Turning Point, you know, really smart guy. If you want to understand the monsters that control so much power on this earth, get this book. Yan Social media. Where do people get you? The Epoch Times and war Rumor, the tip of the spear and taking down the Chinese Communist Party. Where do people go to get all your writings? And over at the Epoch Times.
Jan Jekielek
Well go to theepoctimes.com that's our main website. There's always good stuff on China there. Right now, of course we have the war at the top of the page. And for myself on X, Yanya Kellek on truth the same way, please follow me on my social media. And I'm actually covering all of this stuff as we speak and of course different aspects of the book. And we just had Gordon Chang on about Iran, China, digging into this geopolitical aspect massively. That's on American Thought leaders, that's on YouTube. Check it out. It's actually going viral. He really knows what he's talking about.
Steve Bannon
No, Gordon's the best. Thank you, Jan. Fantastic book.
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Harrowing.
Steve Bannon
That's why we so we're so strongly in back of this. And I want to thank everybody who's associated with this Kennedy Center. If you're in the greater Washington area, you do not want to miss it. Gonna be a great night and you get to see the Trump Kennedy Center. One of the last times I Think before it goes into refurbishment for a year or two. Mike Lindell. Okay, we're gonna bifurcate this. Mike, we had a lot to talk about about the executive order and you know, we had about, we had Brian Kennedy on Today, his magnificent piece about what we have to do to make sure the elections are secure in 2026. President Trump just put up on true social free. Tina Peters. So it's never far from his mind. We're gonna get to that and the war in Texas is gonna follow us. Richard Barras gonna join us. David Nino and Rodriguez right now, sir, on what's been a very tough Monday on the eve of the Texas primary, what the Warren posse wants to know about is what deal you got for us? Lindell.
Mike Lindell
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Steve Bannon
Okay, stick around. War of Texas is not as next. Mike Lindell is going to stick around. Richard Barris going to join us about the numbers. Nino Rodriguez about Austin next.
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Episode 5183: Next Steps With The War In Iran
Date: March 3, 2026
Host: Steve Bannon (WarRoom.org)
Main Guests: Brian Glenn, Pete Hegseth, General Raisin Kane, Marco Rubio, Jan Jekielek (with commentary from various military and political analysts)
This episode of Bannon’s War Room dives into the rapidly escalating U.S.-Iran conflict, covering the nature of current military operations, goals, intelligence, and messaging from the administration. The show features strategic commentary, key updates on military strikes, in-depth analysis of White House goals and messaging, and discussion of the broader geopolitical implications, particularly with respect to Israel, China, and the U.S.'s aims in the Middle East.
“Iranian regime armed with long range missiles and nuclear weapons would be an intolerable threat ... I was very proud to have knocked out the Iran nuclear deal.” (00:00)
“They say that they have hit … dozens of targets belonging to the Iranian regime and its intelligence services in Tehran … targeting headquarters, bases and regional command centers…” (00:29)
“He never talked about the goal being getting rid of just the ruler, Ali Khamenei. He talked about the regime… That is regime change... So it's all very confusing.” (01:07)
Steve Bannon: “There is no imminent threat.” (02:10)
Brian Glenn: “That might be your opinion.” (02:12)
Pete Hegseth and Jan Jekielek both noted they’d seen no evidence of such a threat (02:20).
“To destroy all the targets … would take four to six weeks at a minimum…” (03:26)
“Pray for our enemies because we're going medieval on these people.” (03:31)
“This is not a single overnight operation. The military objectives … will take some time to achieve and in some cases will be difficult and gritty work.” (17:00)
"There absolutely was an imminent threat ... we were not going to sit there and absorb a blow before we responded..." (24:58, 32:25)
“Was forced to strike because of an impending Israeli action?” (25:41 - Bannon) Rubio: “...no matter what, ultimately this operation needed to happen…” (25:44)
Rubio: “We hope that the Iranian people can overthrow this government ... But the objective of this mission is the destruction of their ballistic missile capabilities and of their naval capabilities.” (26:32)
“...the only way to communicate with Communist Chinese leaders ... is a horse’s head in the bed ... we've got Venezuela. This is what can happen, right? We've got Iran now. This is what can happen.” (41:06)
Steve Bannon:
“This is the primal scream of a dying regime. Pray for our enemies because we're going medieval on these people.” (03:31)
General Raisin Kane:
“The full strength of America's armed forces came together in a unified purpose against a capable and determined adversary… This is major combat operations.” (11:34–20:38, multiple references)
Marco Rubio:
“There absolutely was an imminent threat ... We went proactively in a defensive way to prevent them from inflicting higher damage.” (24:58, 32:25)
Jan Jekielek:
“How do we communicate with the Communist Chinese leaders? ... a horse’s head in the bed is the only way to do that.” (41:06)
Panel Reflection on Public Communication:
“When you put American prestige, you put American honor and particularly … servicemen and women, in harm's way, it's got to be really thought through.” (34:30 - Bannon)
| Segment | Timestamp | |---------------------------------------------|--------------| | Opening Framing by Bannon | 00:00 | | Israeli Strike News | 00:29 | | White House and Goal Confusion Discussion | 01:07 | | War Powers & Imminent Threat Debate | 02:03–02:25 | | Boots on the Ground? | 02:28–02:50 | | U.S. Military Objective Prioritization | 03:08–03:31 | | Raisin Kane’s Operational Briefing Pt. 1 | 11:34–13:00 | | Casualty Update and Historical Perspective | 14:29 | | Raisin Kane’s Operational Briefing Pt. 2 | 17:00–20:38 | | Need for Administrative Transparency | 23:14–23:36 | | Rubio on Threat and War Authorization | 24:54–25:41 | | The Israel Coordination Debate | 25:41–26:08, 32:48–34:30 | | Geopolitical Context—China Message | 41:06–42:37 | | Jekielek on CCP's Organ Harvesting | 45:54–47:30 |