Episode 5269: US Fighter Plane Downed In Iran

Summary

Podcast Summary: Bannon's War Room

Episode 5269: US Fighter Plane Downed In Iran
Date: April 3, 2026
Host: Stephen K. Bannon
Main Guests: Brandon Weickert, Dr. Bradley Thayer, Todd Blanche, Pamela
(Includes additional commentary from John, Mark, unnamed analysts, and military experts)

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Episode Overview

This episode centers on breaking news that a U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle fighter jet has been downed over Iranian territory during active hostilities as part of "Operation Epic Fury." The panel discusses the tactical, strategic, and political dimensions of the ongoing Iran war, U.S. military operations, and the broader context of Middle Eastern geopolitics. Additional political commentary examines the Trump administration’s handling of the Department of Justice and current and future political appointments, with ongoing references to domestic issues (e.g., DoJ politicization, U.S. economy).

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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1. Politicization at the Department of Justice

[00:00–03:48]

• Pam Bondi's Legacy:

  • Pamela criticizes Bondi for politicizing the DOJ: "She was willing to open criminal investigations and pursue political investigations [...] turning the Department of Justice [...] into a tool of the vote suppressors." (Pamela, 00:00)
  • Difficult to “unring the bell” regarding lost trust in the DOJ.

• Future Appointments & Risks:

  • Discussion of potential appointments (Senator Mike Lee, Ken Paxton) and what each would signal about the administration’s priorities for prosecuting political opponents (Mark, 01:06; Todd Blanche, 02:30).
  • Bondi considered an "election denier" but also a traditional prosecutor; others on the prospective list could be "much more cold blooded in their willingness to overturn the results of free and fair elections" (Pamela, 03:48).

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2. ICE at Polling Stations and Civil Rights Concerns

[03:29–05:09]

• ICE at Polls:

  • Mark and Bannon question the objection to ICE at polls, arguing "Illegals can't vote. It doesn't make any sense" (Bannon, 03:32).
  • Pamela pushes back, reminding the panel of numerous instances where U.S. citizens have faced unjust violence and harassment at the hands of law enforcement.

• Wider Implications:

  • Concerns over voter suppression and the expanded use of law enforcement in election-related activities.

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3. Iran’s Military Resilience & U.S. Strategy

[05:09–09:00]

• Iran's Capabilities:

  • Despite 12,000 U.S. and Israeli strikes, Iran retains ~50% of launchers and a significant drone and missile inventory (John, 05:09).
  • Mobile and underground storage make targeting difficult.
  • U.S. military assessments contradict White House claims that Iran's missile capability was "dramatically destroyed."

• Strategic Failure & Escalation Risks:

  • Unnamed analyst frames the situation as "Operation Epic Failure": "Donald Trump is going to be the only president in American history to single handedly start and lose a war." (Unnamed Analyst, 06:59)
  • Warns of the dangers of escalation to boots-on-the-ground quagmire: "If this President deploys these Marines or paratroopers to seize these islands... we are in a boots on the ground quagmire for the third time in the 21st century." (Unnamed Analyst, 09:00)

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4. Economic Update

[10:07–11:04]

• Jobs Report:
  • Bannon highlights the significant jobs number: "178,000. When was the last time we had a number that strong? We have to go all the way back to Dec. 24, 237,000. So it's still a very solid number." (Bannon, 10:07)

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5. War Rhetoric & Populist Themes

[11:04–11:46]

• Populist War Language:
  • Bannon: "This is the primal scream of a dying regime. Pray for our enemies because we're going medieval on these people." (Bannon, 11:04)
  • Emphasizes that the political momentum for the populist right "is going to happen." (Bannon, 11:24)
  • Ends segment with a call to patriotism: "Ask yourself, what is my task and what is my purpose? If that answer is to save my country, this country will be saved." (Bannon, 11:36)

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6. Breaking News: U.S. Fighter Downed Over Iran

[16:31–30:59]

• Incident Details:

  • F-15E reportedly downed near Khuzestan, southwestern Iran, close to the Iraq border.
  • Immediate SAR (search and rescue) operations underway using Blackhawks and a C-130 gunship (Weickert, 17:15).

• Challenges & Dangers:

  • Local Iranian civilians reportedly encouraged via state media to capture U.S. pilots and hand them over to the IRGC (Weickert, 17:15).
  • Reports suggest the pilots ejected, survived the crash, and are evading, aided by advanced survival training (Bannon, 21:24).
  • Parallel report of a Blackhawk hit but making it safe back to base in Iraq (Weickert, 30:10).

• Military Context:

  • ~12,000 combat sorties since the start of the campaign.
  • U.S. force activity described as "incredibly intense," focused on "defanging and decline" of Iranian military (Bannon, 18:44, 20:06).

Memorable Quote:

"These, these are not just fly boys. These, these guys are designed to evade and withstand a lot if they are shot down. So it's a, it's a matter of time. Now it's a race to the to the finish. Our guys get them or God forbid the Iranians find them."
— Brandon Weickert (20:40)

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7. Historical Parallels: Iran-Iraq War

[23:43–41:32]

• Brutality & Mindset:

  • Recap of Iran-Iraq war (1980–1988): over a million casualties, human wave tactics, use of child soldiers, Iraq’s use of chemical weapons.
  • The war’s psychological impact on today’s Iranian leaders and their resistance mentality.
  • Comparison to Soviet "Great Patriotic War" rhetoric (Weickert, 23:43).

• Lessons for U.S. Policy:

  • Underestimation of Iranian nationalism and ideological fervor is dangerous.
  • Bannon and Weickert caution against assuming the Iranian regime or public will quickly cave to military pressure or infrastructure strikes.

Memorable Quote:

"The Iranian people, the Persians, how do they... They don't know any of this. And we're not even sure what the leadership is because they're so dispersed, but the Internet's totally shut down. All they see is that they're bombing first military targets or communications. The next thing you know, you're taking out bridges and taking out the basic functions of life."
— Stephen K. Bannon (35:31)

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8. U.S. Strategy: Escalation & Psychological Warfare

[33:23–37:43]

• Signaling to Iran:
  • Moves to civilian infrastructure (bridges, oil, water facilities) signal escalation capability.
  • Point is to pressure Iran to "come to some type of an agreement," but there are risks of unintended escalation and regional instability (Thayer, 37:43).

Memorable Quote:

"So there's the threat of escalation... which is what President Trump wants. All of this should be expected, as President Trump has identified. And this is going to be going on for weeks, Right? We're going to have two or three weeks more, of course, in the conflict."
— Dr. Bradley Thayer (37:43)

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9. Media, Information Control, and the "Epic Failure" Narrative

[41:32–53:12]

• CNN and Mainstream Coverage:

  • Cautious but increasingly credible reports of the F-15 downing; CENTCOM not officially confirming.
  • Video and images indicate low-flying U.S. aircraft, refueling operations, and local hostility.
  • Ongoing Iranian missile capabilities despite heavy bombardment; not as reduced as U.S. officials claim (John, 47:14).

• Operational Realities:

  • F-15s are not stealth and are vulnerable to Iranian anti-aircraft fire (Military Analyst, 50:04).
  • Search-and-rescue missions seen as even riskier than the combat sorties themselves.

Memorable Quote:

"After I think 11,000 or 12,000 combat sorties... if this is true, CENTCOM has not confirmed it, but it's been a remarkable record so far. But these type of things happen when you're in a shooting war. You're going to have pilots shot down, you're going to have planes shot down, you're going to have search and rescue. And the danger of search and rescue is orders of magnitude even more than the pilots going in the first time."
— Stephen K. Bannon (50:49)

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Notable Quotes by Timestamp

• “She was willing to open criminal investigations and pursue political investigations... it will be her use of the Department of Justice... into a tool of the vote suppressors and the people who want to overturn minority voting rights.”
  — Pamela [00:00]

• “It's really hard to say in this kind of circumstance because Trump has been so unconventional all around in his handling of all matters related to the Justice Department, including the leadership.”
  — Todd Blanche [02:30]

• “Anonymous sources desperately want to attack President Trump and demean the incredible work of our United States military… We should note that this is a US Military assessment that has found that continuing Iranian capability.”
  — White House Spokesperson Anna Kelly, via John [05:09]

• “Donald Trump is going to be the only president in American history to single handedly start and lose a war.”
  — Unnamed Analyst [06:59]

• “Ask yourself, what is my task and what is my purpose? If that answer is to save my country, this country will be saved.”
  — Stephen K. Bannon [11:36]

• “So much for this being a people's revolution. Also unconfirmed reporting that might be connected to whatever the plane was doing that was shot down...”
  — Brandon Weickert [17:15]

• “Our guys get them or God forbid the Iranians find them.”
  — Brandon Weickert [20:40]

• “History is the lived history... And as now we have a search and rescue attempt in a province near the Tiger, Tigris and Euphrates river, right down there on the Iraq border.”
  — Stephen K. Bannon [41:57]

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Key Timestamps for Major Topics

• DOJ politicization / Bondi legacy discussion: [00:00–03:48]
• ICE at polling stations / civil rights concerns: [03:29–05:09]
• Iranian missile capability & Operation Epic Fury assessment: [05:09–09:00]
• U.S. jobs report & economic ‘primal scream’ themes: [10:07–11:46]
• BREAKING: F-15E downed in Iran—emerging details: [16:31–20:40]
• Iran-Iraq war parallels, history, and Iranian mindset: [23:43–41:32]
• Strategy of escalation and signaling to Iran: [33:23–37:43]
• Media coverage of downed jet and ongoing operations: [41:32–53:12]

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Conclusion

This episode provides a tense, real-time discussion of a downed U.S. fighter jet over Iran, placing it within a complex military and historical context. The conversation explores the dangers of escalation, the persistence of Iranian military capabilities, and the broader legacy of U.S. actions in the Middle East. At the same time, there are sharp domestic political takes on the future of the Justice Department, controversial appointments, and warnings against further politicization. The episode is rich in both granular military details and sweeping historical analysis, reflecting the urgency and high stakes of current global affairs.

Transcript

[Pamela]

Yeah, I think the legacy of Pam Bondi is going to begin with her politicization of the Department of Justice to go after Donald Trump's political opponents. So I think that's like top line, right? The fact that she was willing to open criminal investigations and pursue political investigations, it will be the biggest legacy. It's going to be her use of the Department of Justice not just to gut enforcement of the civil rights laws, but to actually reverse them, to actually turn the Department of Justice for the first time under either Democratic or Republican presidents into a tool of the vote suppressors and the people who want to overturn minority voting rights. And, and that is a dark legacy that unfortunately, like the first one, is going to be really hard to shake. I mean, it's going to be hard to unring the bell about the political, the politicization of the Department of Justice. It is also going to be hard to unring the bell about all the damage that has been done by having an election in ire, not just in the White House, but an election denier running the Department of Justice willing to do anything to undermine the rule of law, the constit and the voting rights of Americans.

[Unidentified Political Commentator]

Notice notes that some senators are pushing for Senator Mike Lee. Hmm. Wonder why some senators are pushing the White House to appoint Senator Mike Lee as Attorney General and plan to pitch Trump directly on the idea, according to two sources with knowledge of the matter, largely because they like him out of the Senate because he'd been making folks uncomfortable there for some reason. The other, which is another interesting one from the flashback. The Texas Tribune Donald Trump at the time noting, I would actually. Trump said Saturday when asked by KDFW TV if he would consider Paxton for National Post. Quote, he's very, very talented. I mean, we have a lot of people that I want that want that one and will be very good at it. But he's a very talented guy and there's a, a little bit of noise to promote him, largely because he got a Texas problem right now with Paxton and Cornyn running for that U.S. senate seat. How do you see this thing landing from your experience inside the building? Looking out, looking back into it now, who do you think the president would likely lean on if the goal here is to prosecute his political opponents?

[Legal/Justice Analyst]

It's really hard to say in this kind of circumstance because Trump has been so unconventional all around in his handling of all matters related to the Justice Department, including the leadership. Pam Bondi is coming into doj. She came into DOJ without any experience working in that organization whatsoever. Which is very unusual for an Attorney General. And if he's willing to bring in somebody who's never been in DOJ before, that really opens up the field to potentially many, many. And I think that it really is anyone's guess right now who it will be. But I'm not sure that who is serving that sort of figurehead role that Bondi served is actually the person we really need to be worried about. It's Todd Blanche, who's been, who's been running the day to day operations of DOJ behind the scenes under Bondi's leadership. He's now been elevated to the number one position, but he's already been playing a very important role behind the scenes that in many ways has been more important and more impactful than what Bondi has been doing in front the cameras.

[Military Analyst 1]

Why is there objection to sending ICE

[Conservative Commentator 1]

officers to polling places? Illegals can't vote. It doesn't make any sense.

[Steve Bannon]

Mark, to ask a rhetorical question.

[Legal/Justice Analyst]

Is the DOJ any safer in the hands of anyone whose name is currently on the President's shortlist?

[Pamela]

No. In fact, I think it could get quite worse. I mean, the thing about Bambondi is she was, you know, she was of the election denier movement, but, but she also fashioned herself to be a, you know, a prosecutor. You know, this is the reason why some people early on when she was first nominated, I think were taken in by her. I never was, but there were people who were because they said, look, she had been an Attorney General. There are a lot of people that can be put forward who are much worse, who are just straight up election deniers and are just, you know, are much more cold blooded in their willingness to overturn the results of free and fair elections. And there are a lot of those names that are familiar. There are some of those names that would less familiar to people. But just to answer Todd Blanche's question, you know, the two, the two people who were most famously gunned down and killed in the streets of Minneapolis were both US Citizens. The people who we see were had their windows broken in their cars and dragged out and their seatbelts cut off. Those were U.S. citizens. The people who were harassed and tear gassed for simply standing and holding up a cell phone to, to record what was happening. Those were US citizens. So, so why should US CIT be worried about ICE at the polls? I can name dozens and hundreds and thousands of tragic incidents in which US citizens were victimized. So those are just some of the reasons why they should be worried.

[Military Analyst 1]

Myself and my colleagues and that is that despite close to five weeks of war now that Iran maintains, as you said, John, significant 50% of its launchers, 50% of its one way attack drones, a significant percentage of its coastal defense missiles, as well as large inventories of both medium and long range missiles. One problem we're hearing is that Iran has maintained a capability to move those missiles around with mobile missile launchers and hide them underground, which has made it difficult for the US And Israel to take out all of them, despite more than 12,000 targets hit since the start of this war. And I'll tell you, that continued capability explains what we've been experiencing quite consistently in Tel Aviv, John, over recent days, which is consistent incoming fire from Iran yesterday, one of the busiest days since the start of the war. And of course this contradicts what you've heard from President Trump last night, but also the Pentagon, that missile capability has been dramatically destroyed, reduced maybe, but not eliminated. And some of the sources telling us that Iran may be holding back some of those capabilities, which explains some of the reduction in fire in recent days. I should note here was the White House response to the story. White House spokesperson Anna Kelly saying, quote, anonymous sources desperately want to attack President Trump and demean the incredible work of our United States military in achieving the goals of Operation Epic Fury. We should note that this is a US Military assessment that has found that continuing Iranian capability.

[Military Analyst 2]

Iran is undeterred and China is more powerful, Russia is richer, NATO is weaker and Americans are less safe and more isolated. This has been Operation Epic Failure and this president owns it in entirety. There have been presidents in the past, John, that have started wars that they've had to hand off to their successors. There have been presidents in the past that have had to end ingloriously wars that were not working. But Donald Trump is going to be the only president in American history to single handedly start and lose a war.

[Legal/Justice Analyst]

And this is what the President's getting briefed on.

[Military Strategist]

I mean, what would you say to him?

[Legal/Justice Analyst]

How would you put it to him, given what he's also considering and the exit and how that works?

[Military Strategist]

I would say the thing that I'm saying to you, and that is you have to be really clear about your purpose and your end state. There are lots of different options you can choose. We have fewer now than we did at the beginning, notwithstanding the fact that we have certainly degraded a malign regime, we have certainly destabilized it. But the idea that an air and maritime assault would overthrow a regime or leave a nation of that hefty without action still to play is just is not realistic. So my question would be here's the situation on the ground, here's what we assess, what are we going to do now? And the other thing I'd just say is people don't intend to escalate. They tend to escalate because they will think it will lead to deterrence. And so I think that's one of the soundtracks you're hearing by both the President and by Iran. Is there doing this thing of can I make a threat, can I escalate? And where we've left ourselves is words won't be enough to achieve the outcomes that we probably require.

[Military Analyst 2]

Is trying to cover his tracks on a strategic failure, claiming that there is regime change because we've replaced an 86 year old terrorist hardliner with a 56 year old terrorist hardliner claiming that somehow Iran has been deterred from ballistic or nuclear power projection. Meanwhile, he's frantically dialing 911 in the form of paratroopers and the Marine Expeditionary Units. And what Congress needs to do in the face of this strategic incompetence is prevent the deployment of ground forces on any of the islands or the shoreline around the Strait of Hormuz. Because if this President deploys these marines or paratroopers to seize these islands, they'll take them. But then after 15 to 30 days they're going to need reinforcement and resupply. And we are in a boots on the ground quagmire for the third time in the 21st century. The American public is exhausted by these failed forever wars. They don't want them. They want us investing here in the United States. They want us working with our allies. And instead this President is berating NATO, making it weaker. And he's strengthening our adversaries in China, Russia and Iran.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Job, job, jobs report expecting 65,000. We are significantly stronger. 178,000. However, there's a pretty big revision in the rear view mirror. If we look at the -92,000 it becomes -133,000. So the two month revision ends up actually if you look at the previous month only minus 7,000. So not as bad. 178,000. When was the last time we had a number that strong? We have to go on the way back machine all the way to May of 23 when we are, excuse me, June of 23, we're 225,000. This is a big number. Excuse me, excuse me. We have to go back to decent 24, Joe. 237,000. So it's still a very solid number going in the Wayback Machine.

[Conservative Commentator 1]

This is the primal scream of a dying regime. Pray for our enemies because we're going

[Steve Bannon]

medieval on these people.

[Conservative Commentator 1]

There's not got a free shot. All these networks lying about the people, the people have 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

[Pamela]

you're not going to stop it.

[Conservative Commentator 1]

It's going to happen.

[Steve Bannon]

And where do people like that go to share the big lie?

[Military Analyst 1]

MAGA MEDIA I wish in my soul,

[Steve Bannon]

I wish that any of these people had a conscience.

[Conservative Commentator 1]

Ask yourself, what is my task and what is my purpose? If that answer is to save my

[Steve Bannon]

country, this country will be saved.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

War Room here's your host, Stephen K.

[Steve Bannon]

Band it is Good Friday, the 3rd of April, in the year of our Lord 2026, the most solemn day in the Christian calendar. Good Friday. We'll have our programming today plus special program tomorrow on Holy Saturday and then Easter Sunday. I'll talk more about that in a little while as we come on the air. I think, and I don't, I'm not sure we've gotten confirmation from centcom, but I believe there's, there's at least enough reporting out there that a, a F15E Strike Eagle has been shot down or as the pilots have ejected in Iranian territory. We got Dr. Bradley Thayer is going to join us in a moment and Brandon Weickert is going to join us and we're going to talk through everything about the escalatory trap, what's happened in the last 24 hours as the the war intensifies. We said President Trump in looking for a not an off ramp, but are looking to roll this thing up in two or three weeks. He said he was going to if they didn't look like he was going to get a deal, he was going to escalate. I think they kind of escalated a little early. They took out bridges and infrastructure. Bibi Netanyahu has been on Israeli TV talking about the infrastructure and other aspects of Iranian civil life that the Israelis are pounding. So last night, another intense bombing campaign. We're also going to have we're going to talk about Pam Bondi, this entire situation. There's so much going on, particularly in the state of Texas. Julie Pickren and others are going to join us to talk about this this Texas school board meeting on Tuesday. We need people lined up today by 5pm Central Daylight Time. We need you to sign up to if you're going to address the Texas Education Board. We need to do it by today. And that's what I'm going to have on. It's a whole lot going on. Birch Gold. We have the. Philip Patrick is going to join me for a couple of segments tomorrow morning. We're going to walk through everything in the global capital markets and commodity markets, particularly precious metals. Now more than ever, we put out series number eight, the eighth installment at the end of the dollar empire. You can get it by going to birchgold.com promo code war room. Excuse me. Promo code Bannon. I think I would know that by now. Promo code Bannon. You get the eighth free installment here. We very much focus on the current status of the dollar, which is under assault from both deficits here. The BRICS nations on the shoulder of the dollar rests so much of financial stability of this planet. So we get into it in great detail. Installment number eight, birchgold.com promo code bandit. But most importantly, you get to talk to the experts, Philip Patrick and the team. So make sure you do that today, maybe over this holiday weekend or on Easter Monday as people get back to work, or maybe the day after. I think the Easter egg hunt was Monday.

[Conservative Commentator 1]

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[Steve Bannon]

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[Stephen K. Bannon]

Here's your host, Stephen K. Bannon.

[Steve Bannon]

Okay, so this is very, very, very sketchy. But we'll report to you. Let's. We've got Dr. Thayer and Brandon Weickert. Brandon, I think they're reporting in the near the town of Isis in Khuzestan, which I believe is near the Iraq border and it's where a lot of the horrific Iraq Iran war took place. Give us what we know so far. I think there's an F15E that's down in the Americas. We have sent in, it looked like forces Strike Eagle. We've sent in Blackhawks and others, C130 gunship to retrieve the pilots. Give us what you know.

[Brandon Weickert]

Yeah, it looks like there's a search and rescue SAR operation going on. And one of these videos that you were showing I saw earlier because they apparently the locals are shooting at our Blackhawks and the C130. They were apparently midair refueling and they were flying low and people on the bridge started shooting at our planes. But they are looking for the pilots. It's a two seater. So my assumption is that our guys got out. We've got some pretty great ejection systems. So I'm sure that our guys survived and hopefully they are, you know, laying low the locals. There's a local news report in that district of Iran in which the, the anchor of the news there is encouraging all the locals to go out and arrest the pilot pilots and hand them over to the irgc. So so much for this being a people's revolution. Also unconfirmed reporting that might be connected to whatever the plane was doing that was shot down. I am hearing that there is a, uh, 60 blackhawk that was. That crashed in southern Iraq right across the border. So there's no further reporting on that. CENTCOM hasn't even commented on this one. But, but clearly the operational tempo, as you noted, Steve, is increasing after the President's speech a couple days ago.

[Steve Bannon]

Yeah, I think that people shouldn't think that in the winding down he's going to keep the pressure on. I mean the last, last night or since the President talked has been pretty intense, Dr. Thayer. And of course this is what's going to happen in war. You're going to get people particularly running these many combat sorties. I think the combat sorties have been now almost 12,000. So that op tempo of naval air and also our Air Force assets in the region have been incredibly intense. And this is about the defanging and decline. I mean the way that you take down this regime's conventional forces is you just pound. The President said that's going to happen. Any updates that you've got on this situation, Dr. Thayer, other than to what

[Dr. Bradley Thayer]

Brandon provided that it was. It seemed to be about 50km inside or that is north of the Persian of the Persian Gulf. So it looks like southwestern Iran in terms of the location. And I hadn't seen Brandon mentioned a 60 down and I hadn't seen that but obviously that's. We obviously pray for the crews of both the 660 if it went down and then of course of the F15.

[Steve Bannon]

Well what, what people should take heart that you know you've got American search and rescue. Looks like you got a C130 and a bunch of Blackhawks in there trying to get the pilots. I understand that it appears and I think this is why they weren't on local media to have locals go and search for the pilots that they're both. It looks like the ejection seats were hit. I mean were used and so the pilot use the pilots look like they've at least made it out of the plane before it crashed.

[Brandon Weickert]

That is what it looks like. And obviously if the locals are are putting out these, these news so called news reports encouraging their tribesmen to go out and hunt these these pilots down, obviously they have very good reason to believe that the US pilots are alive. Now these pilots as you know Steve are trained in evasion tactics. They actually my understanding is I think they go through sear training as well. So the, these are, these are not just fly boys. These, these guys are designed to, to evade and withstand a lot if they are shot down. So it's a, it's a matter of time. Now it's a race to the to the finish. Our guys get them or God forbid the Iranians find them.

[Steve Bannon]

I'm sure it's the Air Force also, but the Navy, every pilot, my kid brother's a lamps helicopter pilot who was in the Gulf during the tanker wars of 86 and 87. You had to go to Sears school and Sear school was very intense. So the training for the pilots to evade and to stay alive until they're rescued is almost as intense as their pilot training, which is the best in the world. Brandon, I want to go because you know both of you guys are authors of amazing books. It's one of the reasons I think you're both you guys, although you kind of take different views of the world are such good observers and analysts because you've done deep research into the topics you have your book on Iran I think is spectacular. Just this part of the of Iran where they are people People forget. But you know, after the failed, you know, after the Shah fell and they took the. In 79 and they took the. They then took the embassy in early November. And that's when my ship deployed from the Pacific Fleet. We sent carrier battle groups, which we had never done before. The fifth Fleet at that time was, you know, a couple of ships I think were painted white like the British fleet in Bahrain. It was very small. But ever since that time the Americans have really. The North Arabian Sea has been. Back then it was Camel Station and Gonzo Station where the two battle groups were. But a lot of people don't remember probably outside of World War II, one of the most horrific wars of the 20th century took place shortly thereafter between Iraq and Iran. And remember, in our fiasco in Iraq, a big part of Iraq today is, is basically controlled by the Shiites because the Vatican of the. Of the Shiite religion happens to be. Geographically, I think it's in Najaf, right where we had that during the, during our movie, the last 600 meters. We showed, we showed the assault on that. In fact, if you look at Moulton, the congressman, who's a left wing congressman now, he was the kind of heroic Marine captain that led that assault for a couple of weeks. Talk to people about this ten year war. Cause right now it looks like our pilots are down in that region that was so intensely faulted. People don't. I think there was a million casualties, am I correct? Yeah, between both sides.

[Brandon Weickert]

It was the. I think it was the. I think it was one of the bloodiest wars of the 20th century. And it was very similar to World War I where you had sort of, you initiated with a war of maneuver and then it just became this locked in trench warfare struggle for 10 years in which the US nominally backed Saddam Hussein's Iraq. We even gave them precursors for chemical weapons, sarin gas and whatnot, which they then promptly used on the Iranian front lines. And then the Iranians who were still sort of rebuilding from the revolution that overthrew the Shah just a few years before the war began, they started conducting human wave attacks where they basically would round up people as young as nine years old, give them a Quran, give them a green bandana the color of Islam and tell them run at the. The Iraq, the Iraqi front, run at the, the foxholes. And of course the Iraqis were well armed, but they were not as numerically superior. Uh, and ultimately the, the green wave is what it was called. And that was how the, the Iranians pushed the Iraqis back and if you listen to the rhetoric ever since then of the regime in Iran, they speak about the Iran Iraq war in much the same way the Russians and the Soviets talk about the, quote, great Patriotic War. In fact, there was a lot of similarities between the Eastern Front between the Soviet UN Nazis of World War II and the Iran Iraq war. The Iraqis had technology, they had our support, they had a lot of advantages, but they weren't able to overcome the will, the ideological will of the Persians and the Islamists of Persia and the fear today. I talked with Matt Bracken, a former Navy SEAL on my show a couple weeks ago. He said his fear is that the United States is essentially on a grander scale, possibly replicating the Iraqi, basically failure in the Iran Iraq war. And we don't understand the Persian mindset and we certainly don't appreciate the ideological fervor with which the Islamic Republic rules Iran. And if they're shooting at our search and rescue birds, as you see in those videos, that indicates to me that the Shiite resistance mentality going back to the, the breakdown of the Sunni Shiite split, you know, hundreds of years ago, I think that's, that's now informing their, their response to us. They're not pro overthrow, they're not pro regime change. They are very much what even, even,

[Steve Bannon]

even, even the ones, you know, you get a combination of Persian nationalism because these are very proud people. It's an ancient civilization and it's fought the west, it's fought the Roman Empire from the beginning. I want to go back to this time, though, because I think it's important to think about the other day, Brandon, then Dr. Thayer bringing in. The other day, there was a report coming out of Tehran that the, the ideological masters of Iran, this theocracy, were saying and going to round up, I think kids as young as. They were talking about children, kids as young as 10, 11, 12 to 12 to augment and, and, and, and people. When it first came out, people were saying, well, these guys are horrible. That will never happen. This is how they broke the Iraqis. They just used cannon fodder. They had no concern whatsoever if these kids, they weren't even armed. I mean, they had no concern at all whether these kids lived or died. I mean, it was just. You're going to head. It's like the, the Chinese in, in Korea, right? In North Korea, when we fought in the Korean War, you just hit wave after wave. Most of them don't even have weapons. It's just, it's just a human wave.

[Brandon Weickert]

Well, they were told to pick up the weapon.

[Steve Bannon]

Yeah. Yep. Yeah, yeah, go ahead. Hang on for one second. I'll bring you back through the break. Human life to these people means nothing, means absolutely nothing is a totally different and complete mindset. I'm not saying the Persian mentality, this is the, this is the theocracy that is now in charge. And like I said, I think we've got a hard, harder core people. So the Iran Iraq war is still a living thing to many of these people, particularly because they think it was one of the great victories, if not the greatest victory besides overthrowing the Shah and running the Americans out of their regime. Short commercial break Search and rescue for an American American pilots right now in the Iran war. Back in a moment.

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[Steve Bannon]

and join the team today.

[Stephen K. Bannon]

Here's your host, Stephen K. Bannon.

[Steve Bannon]

Brandon, we got an Update on the uh60. Can you give us an update?

[Brandon Weickert]

One of the, one of the OSINT people that I, I deal with told me that it was a Special Forces uh 60 Blackhawk. It was hit, did not crash in Southern made it made it across the border to safety in southern Iraq and apparently it has returned to base. That is what I'm being told. So yeah. And there's that video there. They're shooting from this bridge. The people on the ground in Iran These are just ordinary people are shooting at our. Our birds there that are conducting search and rescue operations for that F15 Strike Eagle. The two pilots that were. The pilot and the wizzo, uh, that are, uh, that are down in Iran somewhere. So this is a, um, developing situation. But. But the Blackhawk is fine, I am told. So.

[Steve Bannon]

Yeah. And look, CENTCOM obviously has preparation for all this, but I will tell you that it looks like pretty barren territory. You see what our kids. So keep telling folks, this is like the freaking moon when you're over there, right? So, once again, the heroism and valor and training, they're trained for this. This is why these pilots can go in under enemy fire and, and do this. Also, you might note one of the things we did say. Dr. Thayer, let me get you in the conversation here. We kept saying that the. The expeditionary operation in late June to totally obliterate the nuclear weapons program. Then the Venezuelan. In the Venezuelan heroic. I mean, a special forces. And they took. They took a. You know, they almost lost the helicopter that went in if it was not for the incredible airmanship and bravery of the pilot who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for that by President Trump. Here you're going in and, you know, they talk about air supremacy, air superiority. Those are kind of military terms and mathematical equations, but you've got resistance. I mean, these people are resisting. The Iranians are going to put up a fight. And like we said, they've shifted the center of gravity of the battle to the Persian Gulf, and they've shifted it to the. And in many respects, they've taken the initiative. It shouldn't be lost on people that this search and rescue area is down close to the Persian Gulf, close to the Tigris and the Euphrates, close to Iraqi territory. So it's closer to there. It's hundreds, not thousands of miles away from a Tehran. You had been. One of you had been very. Not adamant, but you say, hey, look, I don't think President Trump's gotten into an escalatory trap. Right. I think that he's really thinking this thing through and he's trying to avoid that. Can you give us your update on that? As you see, because last night was a quite intense. And I think what surprised some people, they said he started to take out, particularly the bridges. They took out some bridges where one would say, well, hang on, I thought we weren't gonna. I thought we were gonna wait. If you couldn't get a deal, you know, in a week or two, you're gonna do that. Looks like it Came up pretty early in the, in the punch list or target list for centcom. Your thoughts?

[Dr. Bradley Thayer]

Well, my thoughts are two, Steve. First, we wanna remember that Saddam Hussein attacked Iran in 1980 because he thought the Iranians were gonna be a pushover. He thought that revolutionary Iran was weak and that he could just slice off a province of Iran, the southwestern province, and occupy it, and the Iranian regime would yield to that. So he was thinking he had a limited aim, strategy, was going to fight a limited war. And that turned in immediately, almost immediately, to total war that lasted eight years. So we always want to bear in mind, of course, the Persians, that Iran is not going to be a pushover, that the regime and the Iranian people, the Persian people are formidable, of course. And we're seeing that as we're looking at the videos that you're showing today. Second point to keep in mind. So Saddam Hussein thought he was going to get a quick and easy victory, and it turned out that he got a hellish conflict that rivaled World War I, as we referenced earlier. Secondly, with respect to the target set, so President Trump said, of course, in his address that he was thinking, considering expanding the target set from the military targets and the objectives that Secretary Rubio laid out and that President Trump laid out to infrastructure, right. To the oil, to water and other aspects of civilian infrastructure. And you did see with that bridge hit, obviously, a taste. I see what President Trump is doing is conveying to the Iranians, of course, that we can escalate, we can broaden the target set, and that was an indication that we could do so. If they don't yield, more is to come, right? So that there would be additional attacks, leaving aside what Israel would do, but from the US Perspective, there would be additional attacks.

[Steve Bannon]

How is that. But how is that civilian infrastructure? Hang on, how is that? And I want to get to Weickert in a second about this, because I think delving into the Iraq, Iran war is quite important here for people to understand, because these folks in the Middle East, I mean, they think they got vendettas from a thousand years ago, right? They got a vendetta from the Crusades. It's not like in America where people. Right? Most people, not the war room audience, because you guys were more up to speed on this, but you go on a CNN or MSNBC or some of these youth groups and they're going, Iran, Iraq fought. What are you talking about? I didn't know that. The Iranian people, the Persians, how do they. They don't know any of this. And we're not even sure what the leadership is because they're so dispersed. But the Internet's totally shut down. All they see is that they're bombing first military targets or communications. The next thing you know, you're taking out bridges and taking out the basic functions of life. It was like the Israelis bombing the oil, you know, the old depots on Saturday night and causing a firestorm like Dresden a couple of Saturday nights ago, and then coming back a couple days later and bombing the week later and bombing the gas fields. The Iranian people are completely blacked out, right? There's, there's no starlink, there's no Internet. One of the reasons we took out command and control. So how is this signaling? Is this going? Just who we hope the, the Iranian, whatever's left of the Iranian guard. And all this dispersion and still we can't get, we can't get face to face negotiations. We're going through some of the most nefarious people in the world, the Pakistanis or the Turks or. I mean, this is kind of what I'm not saying upsets me. But in this region of the world, starting in Israel and going to Saudi Arabia and going to UAE and going to Pakistan, you can't trust any of them. You can't trust any of them. None of them have America's interest in hearts. And so, Dr. Thayer, when you're sending this bombing, how is that what is being communicated to the Persians?

[Dr. Bradley Thayer]

What's being communicated, of course, is that we can escalate and that we could go after additional targets, an economic target set that would greatly hurt the Iranian economy. We haven't done that yet. Our objectives as they've been laid out don't require that, but it's something that we could do likewise. The threat is present from the 82nd and from the Marines that the United States could take Carg island, as has been discussed many times, or other parts of Iran. So there's the threat of escalation to attempt to coerce clearly the Iranian government to come to some type of an agreement, which is what President Trump wants. All of this should be expected, as President Trump has identified. And this is going to be going on for weeks, right? We're going to have two or three weeks more, of course, in the conflict.

[Steve Bannon]

But you believe now is going to go more than two weeks. But hang on a second. I'm going to come back to you. I want to go back to the surround war because one of the engine room, one of our engine room personnel just brings to mind and says, hey, look at the time that this war took place, people got to remember what it was like back then. The Persians under the Shah, they were. It was a different Middle East. Israel wasn't our big ally. Our big ally was Iran.

[Brandon Weickert]

Shah.

[Steve Bannon]

The Shah, yeah. They had the most sophisticated weapon systems. In fact, one of the reasons that it got so big and intense is that the weapons industry had a customer, another customer besides the US Government. And particularly with the wind down of the Vietnam War, they're always looking for new markets. They were, they were loaded up. When I went to officer candidate school in Newport, I think we had a couple hundred midshipmen go through every class. You know, we're 90 day wonders. There were 500 Iranians. They would all send them to Newport, Rhode island for their first training and then they would disperse them out to go get air down to Texas or Pensacola to learn how to fly or they go to other aspects for military preparedness. We were, my point in that time in the all volunteer force post Vietnam, we were training as many Persians over here as we were training people to go. Because at that time we didn't have Reagan's 600 ship Navy. You had 200. I think we had 250 ships. The Navy was quite small when I got in and we were training as many as Iranians when the Shah fell, that was the strategic ally of the United States. And we pumped in the most sophisticated weapons systems in the world. When we were thrown out unceremoniously, right in 79, when the Shah left and then when they seized the embassy. Brandon Weicker, in your book, what Sodom was saying, because he's always the cleverest guy, right? It wasn't just taking a province. He was going for a deep strike to take the oil. He thought, hey, these guys are all messed up. You got this crazy guy from Paris. They're all their officers are dead. All the leaders of the Iranian military, they don't know how to use this equipment. And I just want people to understand something. When they had their. Because you see President Trump telling the Europeans, hey, Hormuz is precious. You just go in and seize the oil. The last time someone tried to seize their oil, they sent nine year old kids and they took a million casualties. You know why? Because they don't care, okay? They don't care. They sent nine year old kids to beat Saddam Hussein. You know what they did? They fought him to a standoff. And I would actually say, I think they kind of, in their mind, they beat him.

[Brandon Weickert]

BRANDON WHITE well, if I can just build off that, I would argue that the straight line from the end of the Iran Iraq war to desert storm to 2003 collapse of Saddam Hussein, it all goes back to the Iran Iraq war. Had Saddam never done that, I don't think there would have ever been any problems with Iraq and Kuwait or Iraq and us. That was all a downstream unintended consequence of the Iran Iraq war because.

[Steve Bannon]

Hang on, you're sticking around. Hang on. Okay, people, don't. Okay, 1979, three things happen that changed. And this was the most important geopolitical year post World War II. They, the Shah fell this, you know, the Islamic revolution, because up until then, most of these guys were Arab nationalists. It was kind of secular. The Shah was obviously very secular, but the Arabs were secular. The Muslim Brotherhood was getting in there in both Egypt and, you know, where Nasser had been. And in Syria, you had the fall of the Shah. In 1979, you had the siege of the Great Mosque, which they never talk about it anymore. They sieged the Great Mosque. Right. And the Saudis, this was the beginning. And then you had the Russians going to Afghanistan. Yep. Of which the Americans, obviously, we funded the mujahideen to beat them back. And so all of this from 1979 is all in a shirky linked to today. And those people, don't forget that history, that history is as alive to them today as it just happened to us. You mentioned 1979. People go, well, oh, you know, what was the rock music that was number one? Or didn't the Yankees win the World Series? No, they. They don't think like that. They think very differently. History is the lived history of that of today, of today's lived experience is informed by their history. And as now we have a search and rescue attempt in a province near the Tigers, Tigris and Euphrates river, right down there on the Iraq border. Keep that in mind. Keep that in mind as you pray today on Good Friday for our American pilots and the search and rescue teams that are there to retrieve them. Short break, back in a moment.

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I'm serious.

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[Steve Bannon]

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[Stephen K. Bannon]

Here's your host, Stephen K. Banner.

[Steve Bannon]

So I don't think the networks are confirming this, but CNN's had somewhere pointing up. Let's play CNN. Jack Posobuk is going to join Brandon Weickert. And before we go to that real quickly, Brandon, about the Iran Iraq war. Remember you mentioned sarin gas and the gas that was used later when he used it because he was outnumbered and he had these nine year old kids coming in, not all nine years, but, but young people coming in waves. He did use sarin gas. He did use on the Kurds. Of course, that was used against him years later in his weapons of mass destruction. The same people on Fox cheerleading this war right now with the same exact crowd, Lindsey Graham and that crowd cheering, you know, Bill Kristol, we're going to be, you know, they're going to be throwing roses in front of the US Marines as they go to Baghdad. Those guys are the guys that were saying Saddam Hussein is the biggest monster in the world. Right. Because he used, he used gas. Didn't the United States, didn't we make it? Memory serves me correctly. They made, didn't we make a deal to provide that to him?

[Brandon Weickert]

Yes, we claimed it was to provide pesticides. It was the precursor for pesticides. But in fact, it was the precursor for sarin gas. And it was the young Don Rumsfeld who became George W. Bush's secretary of Defense during the Iraq war. Young Don Rumsfeld was the front man for that deal in the 1980s between Saddam and the U.S.

[Steve Bannon]

hang on one second. Let's play CNN's reporting of this and we're Bringing Jack Posobic to join us.

[Legal/Justice Analyst]

Tell us more about what you're learning about these claims from Iran that its forces downed a US Fighter jet.

[Military Analyst 1]

Pamela, I'm going to be very careful because, because the information we have at this point is incomplete. But here's what we know. Iranian state media is reporting that search and rescue operations are underway in southwestern Iran by the US for downed pilots. As you noted, they previously claimed today that they had shot down a US Aircraft. There are videos that have been circulating online which appear to show a refueling operation, operation in the air and aircraft refueling to helicopters, which would at least be consistent with a search and rescue operation. Earlier, as you noted, there were pictures posted and shared by Iranian state media which appear to show a piece of a piece of wreckage from a US aircraft consistent with an F15. CNN has repeatedly reached out out to Central Command, US Central Command and has not yet received comment on whether a jet was indeed shot down and whether search and rescue operations are underway. We continue to seek comment from them. I don't have to tell you, Pamela or Wolf the seriousness of this. If it is confirmed that a jet has been shot down and that those pilots are on the ground, either been captured or that Iranian and authorities are now looking for them. But again, we're treating this with caution because the information is incomplete. At this hour, our reporting from CNN regards a U.S. military assessment that has found that even after close to a month of war now and the US striking more than 12,000 targets in Iran, that Iran maintains a missile capability, that it still has 50% of its missile launchers, 50% of its one way attack drones, as well as a significant percentage of its coastal defense missiles. Those particularly important because it allows Iran to project power over the Persian Gulf in the Strait of Hormuz to threaten shipping there, not just shipping of oil, fertilizer containers, etc. But also potentially US warships operating in that area. We're told that according to the assessment, while the US has had great success striking multiple ballistic missile targets, launchers, missile storage facilities, that it has been more difficult to strike mobile missile launchers and to strike both launchers and missiles that are stored underground. The response has been to try to strike the entrances to those underground storage facilities to block them in. And it seems that they've had some success there. But at a minimum, Iran maintains what I think you could call remarkable capability a month into the war. And that helps explain the fire, the continuing incoming fire we've seen here in Tel Aviv. In fact, just a few minutes ago we were back in the shelter here in Tel Aviv. Once again, it looks like it's real.

[Lindsey Graham]

Unfortunately. And you know, based on the pictures that we've seen so far, it is consistent with an F15, not an F35 as the Iranians have said, but an F15. So one of the key things about this is the F15 is not a stealth fighter. It's a, you know, older generation aircraft. It is designed for multiple missions, but mainly air superiority type missions. And it is vulnerable to the kind of anti aircraft fire that the Iranians are capable of conducting. So you know, in, in conjunction with the reporting from the US intelligence community that says that the Iranians still have major capabilities, this is one more evidence, piece of evidence that they have those capabilities. And it's dangerous still for, for our

[Steve Bannon]

pilots, especially if the pilots, you know, Jack Posoba gets pretty amazing after I think 11,000 or 12,000 combat sorties. They finally, if this is true, CENTCOM has not confirmed it, but it's been a remarkable record so far. But these type of things happen when you're in a shooting war. You're going to have pilots shot down, you're going to have planes shot down, you're going to have search and rescue. And the danger of search and rescue is orders of magnitude even more than the pilots going in the first time. Your thoughts, sir?

[Military Analyst 3]

Well, Steve, that's absolutely right. And I would remind everyone that it was that friendly fire incident over Kuwait where It was again three of the F15 Eagles that were shot down in that friendly fire incident. But in that incident all of the pilots and crew, the wizzo, the weapons officers were able to eject and were safely recovered. So there are indications that we've seen this already in Operation Epic Fury where there's been ejections and recovery. Now of course not over Indian territory. Indian country like this is here in Iran. And that's why those CESAR missions are out there the way that they are. But it seems to be that every indication is that with them flying low and slow the way they are, that they do perhaps have indications that an ejection did take place so the pilots can be recovered. Of course we're also monitoring Iranian channels on Telegram and other places to see if locals attempt to pick up the pilot. We saw that in Kuwait a number of times, so we will see what happens there. And Steve, I just gotta say man, Jim Sciudo, seriously, this guy is the, he like never served a day in his life. He is the best, biggest wannabe over at CNN sitting over there in Tel Aviv. Look at me.

[Steve Bannon]

Look.

[Military Analyst 3]

He's an Obama staffer, all right? This guy was an Obama staffer. They stuck him over with Gary Locke in the US Embassy in Beijing, and he's running around, look at me, look at me. Like he served. He's the biggest joke every time I see him. Unconstituted. Russia, gator. All of it,

[Steve Bannon]

real quickly. CENTCOM has not confirmed any of this. Correct. It's been total lockdown on. On any, any confirmation.

[Military Analyst 3]

Well, I saw at one point that CENTCOM was actually denying, I think that they were denying that an F35 had been shot down. And yet we are getting Axio CNN and, and the reports are beginning to come out, but no official word yet.

[Steve Bannon]

Okay, hang on for a second. Short commercial break. Back in the warm with the entire team in a moment.

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[Steve Bannon]

You move.