
Episode 5278: President Trump Delivers Another Ultimatum For Iran, Deadline April 7th At 8pm ...
Loading summary
A
To open it immediately. But there has to be a mechanism between centcom, the, the Revolutionary Guard, that, what's left, the Iranian government and President Trump's government to make sure that there's some sort of mechanism to work towards a full opening. It may not happen right away because this thing could take a week or so to actually do it, to actually get the strait open. But I think that has to be part of it. If not, you know, you've put, here's the thing, you've put a deadline like his president said. Like, let's not lose track of what he said. He said they asked, they asked for seven days. And I'm just going on what the President says. He says they asked for seven, I gave them 10. And by the way, since I didn't want to do anything on the day after Easter, I threw in another day, a Bonus Day. It's 11. That's enough. If you do more, I think you're sending a wrong signal. As much as, you know, people are looking for an off ramp here, you know, you may have to drop a hammer on these people because right now they believe, and I think Trita Parsley is right in their mind, they feel, they have the initiative. They feel they've shifted the center of gravity of this war to the Persian Gulf. You know, given the magnificent result we had on this operation to, to, to get the pilot back, I think the president now is in a situation that if they try to play games, he drops a hammer again and then we, and then we see where we are. Otherwise you just, this things are a drag out.
B
I'm going to throw it to you very quickly though. I was in the trading pits and when Gulf desert happened, I'll never forget right the day of Desert Storm, the night of oil had just run up from $25 to $40 a barrel in anticipation of a, a massive drawn out war with the Middle Eastern country producing country, oil producing country. By morning it had shot back down because we obliterated them in the air. And I think the point is this time's different, Steve, because this, we did the same thing. We took out their, we took out their defenses. But oil, the traders for whatever reason aren't seeing this as an opportunity to bring it back down yet. They need more. Steve, I'll, I'll let you go. Have a, have a great show.
A
Hang on, hang on real quickly. How, how was the afternoon? How was the afternoon? What's the market?
B
Tell us as we go into ominously quiet. It stated 112, which is wildly crazy. With what's going on. Stayed at 112 all day. The stock market was up a touch state it was. Everyone's holding their breath right now.
A
Okay, Eric, we'll see you in the morning on the morning show.
B
Always good.
A
I'll talk to you tonight afterwards, brother.
B
See you tomorrow.
A
Thank you, sir. Okay, we've got a quite intense cold open for this audience. Let's go ahead and play it. The show is packed for the next two hours. Let's go and let it rip.
C
We can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon. You know, we got regime change. We do. We're dealing with a much different regime than before. We're dealing with different people. They're smarter, I think they're sharper and far less radical. We have regime change. We didn't do this for regime change. We did it for the fact. And my, my view was very simple. I saw somebody said, oh, he doesn't have a plan. I have the best plan of all. But I'm not going to tell you what my plan is. You know, they want me to say, here's my plan. We're going to attack at 9:47 in the morning. And then we're going to do this, and then we're going to. And if you don't do that, they say, I have a plan. These people know what the plan is. Everybody here knows what the plan is. But it's very unfair to say we don't. Because I don't mind being insulted. I've been insulted for many years by the. By the fake news. But you can't. It's so bad for the people that are so proud. You just saw two great and John Ratcliffe, three unbelievable people. They have a plan. Every. Every single thing has been thought out by all of us. But I can't reveal the plan to the media. So you know his command.
A
America projects power with confidence and brings our people home with victory. And that continues today, by the way,
C
per the president's direction.
A
Today will be the largest volume of strikes since day one of this operation. Tomorrow, even more than today. And then Iran has a choice. Choose wisely because this president does not play around. You can ask Soleimani, you can ask Maduro, you can ask Khamenei.
C
The entire country can be taken out in one night. And that night might be tomorrow night.
D
You called the yesterday in your truth social. You called the Iranians crazy bastards.
E
True.
C
What is your response to critics who say that. I don't care about critics. What is your response to critics who
D
say that it is your mental health
A
that should perhaps be examined as this war continues.
C
I haven't heard that, but if that's the case, you're going to have to have more people like me because our country was being ripped off on trade, on everything for many years until I came along. So if that's the case, you're going to have to have more people. Dasha, go ahead.
A
To get into the objective area. During this engagement, one of the Sandy aircraft, the one primarily responsible for communicating with the downed pilot, was hit by enemy fire. This pilot continued to fight, continued the mission, and then upon exit flew his aircraft into another country and determined that the airplane was not landable. This was one of our A10 Sandy aircraft. The pilot then made the decision to eject over friendly territory and was quickly and safely recovered and is doing fine. After picking up dude 44 alpha. The HH60 Jolly Green fight was engaged by every single person in Iran who had a small arms weapon. And one of the aircraft, the trailing aircraft took several hits. The crew sustained minor injury and they are going to be fine. When he was finally able to activate his emergency transponder, his first message was simple and it was powerful. He sent a message, God is good. In that moment of isolation and danger, his faith and fighting spirit shone through. You see, shot down on a Friday, Good Friday, hidden in a cave, a crevice, all of Saturday and rescued on Sunday, flown out of Iran as the sun was rising on Easter Sunday, a pilot reborn. All home and accounted for. A nation rejoicing.
C
God is good. Go ahead, please.
D
Thank you. Mr. President, you said earlier today during
A
the egg roll that you would like to take Iran's oil, But Americans want US forces home.
C
Mr. Correct. What's that trade off? If I had my choice. If I had my choice, yeah, because I'm a businessman first. With Venezuela, as you know, the war was over in about 45 minutes and we have great people running Venezuela, very good people. I mean, the relationship is good and we are a partner with Venezuela and we've taken hundreds of millions of barrels, hundreds of millions. Over 100 million barrels already is in Houston. Refined and out and paid, paid for that war many, many times over. Many times, you know, the old days, to the victim, okay, you know that to the, to the winner belong the spoils. Go the spoils. And I've said, why don't we use it? To the victor go the spoils. And we don't have that. We haven't had that in this country probably in 100 years. Because even the Second World War. You look at the Second World War. We didn't have it with the second war. We helped rebuild all those countries. We rebuilt Germany. How about Germany telling us, Germany telling us that, well, it's not their war. We had nothing to do with getting. They wanted me to go and tell them everything I was doing. We didn't know anything about it. Well, if I would have told them, they would have leaked it and we wouldn't have been nearly as successful. Possibly. Right. But to the victor belonged the swells. So we haven't heard, we haven't heard that in, I think maybe hundreds of years.
A
Mr. President, are you allowed to or are you willing to end this conflict with Iran charging tolls for passage through the strait?
C
US Charging tolls?
A
Iran?
C
What about US charging tolls?
A
Is that something you're considering?
C
I'd rather do that than let them have them run. Why shouldn't we? We're the winner. We won, okay? They are militarily defeated. The only thing they have is the psychology of, oh, we're going to drop a couple of mines in the water. All right. No, we, I mean, we have a concept. We're will charged halls. Okay. I thought you meant your question. Your question would have, your question would have been more accurate if you said your messaging on the war has moved
A
from the war is coming to an
C
end to war going to be bombing
A
Iran to the Stone Ages. And we've heard a range of those kind of messages and so are you. So which is it? Are you winding this down? Are you escalating?
C
I can't tell you. I don't know. I can't. It depends what they do. This is a critical period. They have a period of, well, till tomorrow at 8 o'.
F
Clock.
C
I gave them an extension. They asked for an extension of seven days. Right? I said, Steve, give them 10 days. 10 days is up, actually, today. So I gave him 11, I guess indirectly. I thought it was inappropriate the day after Easter. I want to be a nice person. They have till tomorrow now. We'll see what happens. I can tell you they're negotiating, we think, in good faith. We're going to find out. We're getting the help of some incredible countries that want this to be ended because it affects them also. A lot of people are affected by this. But we're giving them, we're giving them till tomorrow, 8 o' clock Eastern time. And after that, they're going to have no bridges, they're going to have no power plants. Stone Ages. Yeah, Stone Ages.
A
We're, we're, we're post these trespasses, right?
B
So these things have already happened. People warned that they could happen during the election. People warned that Hegseth might not be
A
a good person to be on the
B
wall for the rule of law inside the military.
A
He's there anyway.
B
And Trump is now threatening to bomb
A
Iran to the Stone Ages.
B
And Pete Hegseth has said that in
A
his view, the theory of war in Iran is to give no quarter.
B
What does that mean inside the military?
A
General?
B
It means you use any means possible to kill people. You know, you're not going to let people escape. You're not going to take any prisoners. You're basically going to rape, pillage and pl taking it back to the 17th century. And Nicole, what we're talking about is behavior that modern societies have condemned and said we ought to at least pose provide guidelines for those who have to execute violence. Those are soldiers. And you know, I'm going to go back to something you said a minute ago, because I've trained for 40 years as a, as a soldier and as a commander. And when you're an officer in the United States army, loyal to a couple of things, you're primarily loyal to the Constitution. You are also loyal to your superiors if they give, as you said, lawful orders. When they start giving unlawful orders, you find a way to push back on them and to make sure they adjust their approach. But you also are loyal to the soldiers that are under your command. So those three loyalties sometimes are conflicting. So there, I'm sure there's a lot of military commanders right now, a lot of senior officers, officers who are saying to themselves, I can't obey an unlawful order. I can't do things that I know are absolutely wrong. But they also feel like they have to provide support for their soldiers who don't just get to quit. They have to stay in the military and potentially see an uprising in all of these things. So the senior military officers are in a real quandary on this one because they know they can't do some of the things that the president is asking them to do. They have a secretary of defense who is continually said lethality is better than legality or words to that effect. So it's really causing some, some dynamics within those who are thinking soldiers saying, how do I continue to serve my Constitution and live by the rules that are in law and still conduct these kind of actions, which are horribly immoral and illegal.
A
It is Easter Monday, the 6th of April, in the year of our Lord 2026, that you see what President Trump is up against. They're going, oh, these are all war crimes. They're not war crimes. It's ridiculous. And Pete is laying out what a battle strategy is. He's not saying to, you know, kill civilians. Look at the number of sorties. You can tell this there's some dispute whether it's 11,000 or 12,500. But there's a ton of combat missions and a ton of weapons that have been dropped in relatively few civilian casualties. It's kind of shocking how low the civilian casualties are because people have gone out of their way to make sure they're hitting military targets about the electric grid and the oil resources. They're inextricably linked with the war machine of the theocratic government. Like I said, we're in this thing now. You got to win it. The President of the United States has said, hey, they gave us a proposal. It's significant, but it's not there. It's not enough. And he doubled and tripled down today in the press conference with what he's going to do. I think you see the valor of our arms in this amazing evolution that took place, this mission that took place to retrieve the pilot. It ties in with what we did in the June 12day war, what we've done so far. The military is just doing an incredible job. Their valor is unbelievable. Their proficiency, their professionalism, all incredible. But now we're down to it. You know what, just over 24 hours away of whether we're going to ramp this thing up or not. We're going to break it all down for you. Plus a lot about artificial intelligence today. Short commercial break Back in a moment. The dollar's convertibility into gold ended in 1971. Gold was fixed at $35 an ounce. Well, fast forward to today, and the US dollar has lost over 85% of its purchasing power. Gold, on the other hand, is increased in value by over 12,000%. That's why Central banks are buying gold at record levels. That's why major firms like Vanguard and BlackRock hold significant positions in gold. And that's why I encourage you to consider diversifying your savings with physical gold from Birch Gold Group. But it starts with education. Birch Gold just announced their Learn and Earn Precious Metals event. This free online event rewards you for learning the basics of investing in precious metals. Sign up to get a free silver on your next purchase. Get even larger incentives as you go. The more you learn, the more you can earn. But you must act now, as this special event only runs through April 30th. The dollar lost its anchor in 1971. You don't have to lose yours. Text my name, Bannon B A N N O N to the number 989-898 to join Birchgold's Learn and Earn Precious Metals event by April 30th. Text Bannon B A N N O N to 989-898 and do it today.
C
Your host, Stephen K. Band.
A
We're doing a couple more cuts from the press conference afternoon, and Dr. Thayer is going to join us in a moment. But I want to get to something because I want to put it at top of mind here. Raul Alfonso joins us. And you're from the Watchdogs of Fort Meade. Is that correct? Is that your group, Raul?
F
Correct. Correct. Yes, it is.
A
And. And what are the watch, what are the Watchdogs of Fort Meade? It sounds like a classic war room posse group. What was Watchdogs of Fort Meade? What, who and what are you?
F
Well, we started as just a group of people that were trying to get information to our city commissioners and representatives because all they were hearing about hyperscale data centers was all the glorious things that the money was going to be able to bring to the city. And what we were seeing definitely showed a lot of negative sides that are being affected to every other data center and the areas that are being thrust upon by these things. And we needed to give the other side of what was happening a voice because right now all of our representatives are hearing and seeing is the money that they will be getting from tax dollars from this big development coming into our area. And they're not listening to the people of the area who are saying they don't want this here in our city limits.
A
Hang on for one second. When you say this, Fort Meade is in the greater, what would you call it, Tampa, St. Pete Garden find area? Correct.
F
We're right in the middle of the state. We're actually south of Lakeland. We're in a very rural area. We're south of Bartow.
A
So what will you, what would you say is the problem? What's, what's, what's the problem overall? You said there's other. Are there other in these in the center part of the state down south of Tampa? Are you saying that there a lot of these data centers that are coming up or going before town councils?
F
Now, there are smaller data centers that already exist in the area, but this hyperscale one is enormous, 4.4 million square feet, and we still haven't gotten anything nailed down on exactly what equipment they're going to be Putting in the way of generators and so forth, because as we understand it, they're going to have to build a power plant to support this in particular, so that all of the area grids don't have too much of a pull on them and it doesn't affect our prices of our electricity, as the commissioners seem to think. It won't happen.
A
So talk to us about this one specifically. When did they come to the community? I understand they try to do this earlier kind of. Kind of surreptitiously, not above board. Now you. For now, you forced them out to see it. So walk us through what the process has been here.
F
They were trying to slip this all through. They got a lot of the zoning changes done without the community really having a clue as to what was happening. But as soon as we started finding out about it and we started doing the research on how large this thing was and all the water usage and the power that it was going to be pulling and the noise it was going to be making, we've started putting up a little more of a fight. And more and more people will keep coming into the fight. And it got to the point where we had to organize formally because our representatives don't seem to be listening to us. All they're looking at is the money that they're going to get. They're actually going to be getting a loan from the developer when this is all approved for $10 million to improve the infrastructure of the city. So they're getting paid so they can make City hall bigger. It's not going to do much for the residents, job wise. We're not going to see any permanent jobs because the 50 or so people that are going to be working in this 4.4 million square foot area are going to be coming from other places because they're going to have to be specialists in the computer technologies, AI technology, the hardware that's. And even the construction jobs are specialty jobs. I was in highway construction for 20 years, and I can tell you that this is not going to be the local contractor that's going to come in here and lay the concrete for this. This is going to be specialists from all over the country that are building these things all over the country, bouncing in to do the work and bouncing back out with their help.
A
Well, at 4.4 million square feet, it's only 50 permanent jobs. Is that what's going to staff this?
F
50 to 75? They're claiming they're going to be 465 employees, but they will not give us a separation on how many employees are going to be off site employees? Because they can have somebody in the Philippines or India doing all of the data entry and programming and getting paid from this facility, but on site, none of these data centers have very many people manning them at all. As a matter of fact, the more technology that they come up with, the fewer jobs in the data centers themselves are available because they're using AI to take their own jobs.
A
So where does this stand now? I think you have a meeting of the town commission tomorrow. You believe your, your elected representatives have not stood up for the town? Is that one of your complaints is that these guys have, have been too accommodating to. And by the way, is this company, is this anthropic? Is this Elon Musk? Is it, is it Google, Is it meta? Who is actually the company that's building this?
F
That's a very good question. And we've put this question to the developers. The developers refused to tell us who's going to be running this facility. They have refused to confirm or deny that this may even be a Chinese group that buys it up and operates it. We had a large meeting where the developer did a nice little presentation and he was asked point blank if he could guarantee that it wouldn't be a foreign nation that bought and ran this hyperscale data center. And he would have refused. He just straight out refused. He won't say who's coming in. We don't know who's going to be running it.
A
So what happens tomorrow night and what is your group proposing? I take it you're going to get people to turn out for this. What is your, what is your policy on this?
F
Well, our plan is it's planning and zoning is the meeting tomorrow night and we'd like to convince that board that it doesn't fit in with our community. It shouldn't fit in with our community. With the way that our charters already written up, it should not fit in. And we, we're going to be speaking, trying to reach them because unlike our commissioners, will be spending the money that they get from the taxes that this will bring in. This board won't be enticed hopefully by that money that's going to be coming in. They won't let that blur their idea of what the plan for the future of our city is.
A
Is this going to be a vote tomorrow night by the Planning and Zone Planning and Zoning commissioner? They're actually going to vote, or is this just some sort of consulting where they just want to have a public hearing to hear what the public thinks. Are they going to vote at the end of it?
F
They're going to vote on changes to the agreements that they've already made for the changes on the planning, the pudding development zoning that they've given this. It's currently not set up for as industrial of the build that this will be, and they're making those changes. Our main fight's going to be on the 14th when the commission themselves are voting on the contract, the third contract they've been handed by the developers that I. I've gotten a look at the contract that they put in. In the agenda today for next week's meeting, and it doesn't say anything about what they're putting into this building. They've got a lot of contractual information, but no details on equipment or anything like that. And that's one of the selling point that the developers using our commissioners saying that they're using the newest technology that won't have any of the problems that other data centers are having.
A
Yeah, the promises. Where do people go, Raul, right now to find out more about what this fight's about and what phone number should they call if people want to weigh in here to one of these zoning officials.
F
Now, for us, we've got the watch. It's watchdogsoffortmead.com is an address to check out, and we also have a Facebook page. And the pinned post at the top of our page has details on our commissioners and who to speak with to give your opinion and voice your voice.
A
So you go to Watchdogs of Fort Meade dot com. That's your website?
F
Yes, yes.
A
And the Facebook page is. The Facebook page is also Watchdogs of Fort Meade.
F
The Facebook page is concerning the Fort Meade data center. Watchdogs of Fort Meaded from the. Concerning the Fort Meade data center page. We didn't plan on becoming a formal group until our representatives basically were blinded by the light of the money.
A
Yeah, you got blown off and you decide to fight back. We hear that a lot here in the war room. Trust me, people in the Commonwealth, Virginia, doing the same thing. Do you have social. Do you have social media of a personal Twitter account or where people can follow you?
F
I do not have Twitter, but they can find me on the Facebook there. I'm all over it.
A
At the same thing. Concerning. At the same Facebook. Yeah, okay, sir.
F
They'll send me on there.
A
Thank you. Thank you, Raul. Thank you so much. Look forward to being back on this tomorrow and see what happens tomorrow night. These data centers are a scourge in this country. A scourge. All of AI right now is a scourge. Just is devouring jobs, trying to devour your humanity. Joanna's going to join us on the wall. Short Commercial Break Dr. Thayer and I are going to break down the President's press conference and what it means about war and the rumors of war. Next in the war room, Everyone's focused on how the conflict in the Middle east is raising oil prices. But there's another grim reality to this contention. Oil isn't the only resource being constrained. About one third of global fertilizer trade happens through this region. And with spring planting season on top of us, American farmers are sounding the alarm with some saying they can't afford to plant their fields. When one piece of the supply chain gets hit this hard, you know what comes next? Higher food prices, reduced availability, maybe even panic buying. That's why having an emergency food supply at home makes so much sense. And that's where our friends at my Patriot Supply come in. Right now@preparedwithbannon.com that is preparewithbannon.com we've set up an entire just site for the war room posse. You go to prepare with Bannon.com. that's all one word. PreparewithBannon.com you get a three month emergency food supply. Don't include a free mega protein Upgrade, an incredible $200 bonus you don't want to miss. It's a simple way to protect your family from whatever comes next. Go to preparewithbannon.com that is preparewithbannon.com to get your emergency food supply today. That's preparewithband.com do it today. Go check it out.
C
A plan. Because of the power of our military, where every bridge in Iran will be decimated by 12 o' clock tomorrow night. Where every power plant in Iran will be out of business, burning, exploding, and never to be used again. I mean, complete demolition by 12 o' clock. And it'll happen over a period of four hours. If we wanted to, we don't want that to happen. We may even get involved with helping them rebuild their nation. And you know what? If that's the case, the last thing we want to do is start with power plants, which are among the most expensive thing. And bridges. You saw the bridge. The bridge went. We were very close to a deal. And then I got a call from Mr. Witkoff, Mr. Kushner and JD saying, I think they're breaking the deal. I said, tell them that's okay, don't worry about it, but tell them to look out their window. And watch. And within 45 minutes I gave the order to knock out the biggest bridge. I gave the order knock out the biggest bridge in I believe the Middle east, but the biggest bridge in Iran. And within 10 minutes after I gave that order, that bridge was, was over. So. So do I want to do that? No. Do I want to destroy their infrastructure? No. It will take them 100 years to rebuild right now. If we left today, it would take them 20 years to rebuild their country and it would never be as good as it was. And the only way, way they're going to be able to rebuild their country is to utilize the genius of the United States of America.
A
Let's leave the nation building for topic for a different day. Let's get through this, this ultimatum. Dr. Thayer, the we had Trita Parson a day and I, I do think that there are elements of the Republican Guard and I think a lot of the elements that are running the show right now that think they're winning. They think that the initiative has shifted ever since the Israelis bombed the gas field with the Qatar. And you can see that shifted the center of gravity of this war, this battle down to the Gulf made the Strait or Hormuz, a major strategic entity in this even more so than it normally would be. They think they've got the initiative, they think they're winning. And so the President's given an ultimatum and he's part of more forces in the area and his toll. And you see he's saying, hey, look, if he, if I don't feel that I've got at least the movement or some sort of deal that looks like it's real. And I think somebody to actually enforce the deal on your side starting 8:00 clock tomorrow, we're going to take this thing up a notch. Your thoughts?
D
Yeah. It was an important press conference, I think for several reasons. First, he illuminated the diplomatic track. So the diplomatic track is active. And Steve, we could see a breakthrough at some point in time. Right. You never want to box Trump in, of course. And surprise is something that goes hand in glove with President Trump. Second, the military track is proceeding exceptionally well ahead of schedule. Thirdly, he's broadening the target set tomorrow. Right. So we're going to go after the infrastructure target, economic and infrastructure targets explicitly. All three of those reinforce one another, the diplomatic track, the military track, and then broadening that target set to put more pain on the Iranians. You're right. There's certainly going to be a coterie of Iranians who believe that they're winning. This and that they need to stick through to the bitter end. And if they just endure more pain, endure another day, another week, et cetera, they're going to come out with a semblance of victory. The last point I would make again is that we should expect this to go on for weeks as Secretary Rubio and the President Trump and President Trump himself have said multiple times now that this is going to be going on for another two weeks or another four weeks, right through April at least. So unless there's a break on the diplomatic track, which could certainly happen, this is going to be going on for some time. More pain is going to be applied on the Iranians with the expectation that they do have a breaking point and that is going to be reached when the economic target set is similarly attributed the way the military target set is greatly attrited, obviously.
A
Dr. Thayer, hang on a second. So this whole initial idea of essentially state collapse because you're seeing from some of the top economic papers around the world that their economy, now a big part of it has gone to barter because they've been cut off on many different areas, although not totally cut off with getting money because I don't think Dubai has done that yet. If you're talking about state collapse, how much intent, I mean look, we've had 12,000, 13,000 sorties already on these people. How much do you think you continue to go to get actually? Because this gets beyond, I want people to understand this is beyond the original Captain Fennell and centcom, Admiral Cooper's presentation of defanging and declawing. You're basically saying we got through pretty much the defangling decline. Now we got to get, now we've got to make, these people aren't paying attention. The guys that run it. We've, we've got to get state collapse on top of them. And we do that by a, as you call it, different target set.
D
Right. So he's, he's gone after the military target set is, is getting near completed the 13,000 and we're, we're well into that obviously north of 11,000 targets hit. But those are going to be precision targets directed against, if you will, military command and control other military targets, the missiles, the Air force, the Navy, etc. The damage to the economic target set is going to become, is in a military sense, easier to inflict. They're softer targets, they're counter value targets. And the effect on the economy of course is explicit. Right? That's the point of targeting them. They're going to do great damage to the Iranian economy. And that's going to facilitate, as you said, perhaps it's going to generate instability in the regime. It's going to lengthen the time that Iran needs to rebuild and it's going to inflict more pain on the Iranian government as well. So the diplomatic track is moving, the military track is continuing. And now President Trump has said we're broadening on the economic target set. You're right. The Iranians are certainly again a group of them that are going to see this through, the bitter end. And it's a question of whether this pain, this is the application of pain after all, to coerce Iran to come around our way of seeing things, whether that's going to be sufficient or not. We should expect that Iran is still capable of complex military operations and surprise. So I go back to the Diego Garcia attack, right, with the IRBMS intermediate range ballistic missiles. We should expect that the Iranians are going to have some tricks up their sleeve and they're not. Anticipating that. Whether that's in the Gulf or elsewhere. Steve, I think is important to, to
A
bear in mind have, have, have strategic bombing. Look, you take three separate time frames. Japan and World War II, Vietnam in the Vietnam War in the 60s, early 70s, and the Persians today. Did we understand their cultures well enough? Because look, in Japan, I mean, we firebombed Tokyo. We firebombed virtually every industrial city in Japan, mainland Japan. We were getting ready for 4 million man invasion and we were looking at a million casualties before. And the people didn't, in the military, I don't think LeMay even knew about or wasn't very familiar with the atomic weapon. We dropped two atoms, remember, we had to drop two atomic weapons on them. The first one didn't get their attention enough. My point is that the strategic bombing in 1944 and 45 didn't break the Japanese. Vietnam, Vietnam. I, I was reading the other day, I think that it was something, I don't think I got this number wrong. It was 5 million sorties or something over the entire length of the war, right. And they still fought on to the end, the Persians. Here, it doesn't seem like, and here's the thing, I'm not saying they are winning, but you can tell their belief is that they're winning is this strategic bombing which we'll go to on not directly military targets, but the infrastructure, you know, the power grids, the oil, the things that provide the wherewithal for their military complex. So it's not a, it's certainly not a War crime. That's ridiculous. But do you think that brings them, do you think that gets their attention? Or are these folks in this asymmetric war they're fighting just going to hunker down more?
D
Yeah, I think that at this stage, Iran does have a breaking point, as Japan had a breaking point, as the North Vietnamese had a breaking point. And when we think about those campaigns, we recognize, of course, they're joint campaigns. It was the Navy blockade, the submarines had cut Japan off, the mining of Japanese ports. And then of course, between really March and July of 1945, Curtis LeMay had run out of Japanese cities to destroy. He was so effective at firebombing them. They put Japan in a position where the atomic bombs provided a shock, right, an external shock that gave the group within the Japanese government that wanted to surrender the excuse to surrender. And they were obviously able to get the Emperor on board despite resistance in the Japanese military. In Vietnam in 72, we want to remember that Operation Freedom Train and Linebacker one and then Linebacker two broke. Linebacker two in particular broke the North Vietnamese. Right. They had run out of sams. We were reaching air superiority. We had mined their harbors, we had destroyed the rail lines and the roads coming in from China, which meant that they couldn't resupply their surface to air missiles. So they were in a position of great vulnerability. So these joint operations can be extremely effective at bringing the Iranians to the point where they're going to concede. Right. Whether that's going to be limited concessions or total concessions, of course it's going to be a matter for diplomacy. But there are going to be just government.
A
Hang on, but hang on, but hang on. That's my point. It took two. Two atomic weapons, two atomic weapons to get Hirohito against the military. And by the way, the military junta, the military guys didn't want to surrender. After two, they're ready to say, drop them. We don't care. We don't care. Many civilians you kill. We'll kill the Americans. Americans will never take us over because we'll defeat them on the landing. The Vietnamese, we might have broken their back, but they fought on. In, in the August, the helicopters on the roof were the Americans taking the South Vietnamese out, Not. Not the Viet Cong or the North Vietnamese. So starting tomorrow night, President Trump has been pretty adamant. He's saying, hey, if I start at 8 o' clock with the target sets we got by midnight, they're finished. Your response to that?
D
Well, we want to keep in mind, of course, that what the military won in North Vietnam with those campaigns again, joint campaigns, the Navy, Army, Air Force working together. The Marines Henry Kissinger gave away in the accord. Right. He wanted out of Vietnam and put the North Vietnamese in a position where they were going to be able to Conquer South Vietnam two years later By March 73, of course, in April 75, North Vietnam conquers South Vietnam. So the military can win conflicts, but the civilians can give it away. Right. The diplomats can give it away. So they have to work hand in glove what the military is achieving in Iran. Right. The diplomats are going to have to secure.
A
Hang on one second. Hang on one second. We're taking a short break, Dr. Thayer. Joe Allen's up with us. Also Mark Beal. You heard about the data center. Joe's going to give us the bigger picture when he joins. A short break. The American health care system is broken. And for most Americans, nothing changes. There's still delays, denials, high cost insurance, roadblocks. So when I find people doing things differently, I talk about it all. Family Pharmacy is not your typical big chain pharmacy. This is an independent family owned pharmacy that gives you access to over 400 medications delivered straight to your door. They've got ivermectin, antibiotics, antivirals, NAD plus even your daily maintenance medications and so much more. If you already have a prescription, your doctor can send it directly. If you don't, their doctors handle it. As long as there is a medical necessity, they'll take care of you. And I'll tell you this, the feedback from people listening to this show and watching has been incredibly strong. People are using it, it's working for them and they're sticking with it. That's because it cuts out the delays, the middlemen and all the usual nonsense. This is about being ready before you need it. Go to allfamilypharmacy.com that's all one word, allfamilypharmacy.com Bannon and use code Bannon10 to save 10%. The health care system is broken. Your pharmacy doesn't have to be.
C
Here's your host, Stephen K. Bannon.
A
Yeah, I think it's going to take something pretty dramatic by the Iranians to get President Trump's attention on this. Otherwise, I think unless they're, unless they stop playing games and deal directly. I just, I see tomorrow night, being President Trump gave him 11 days and hey, we didn't get anything put together. Here we go. Dr. Thayer, you're going to be with me again tomorrow morning in the afternoon. Also, in the run up to this, where do people Go to get your content, sir.
D
Steven People can reach me at Brad Tharadx and Bradley Thayert getter and on truth. So I think very pleased to talk through this as we really look at the consequences of this war, how it's going to terminate and to recognize that as we go into that economic target set, the infrastructure economic targets. It's going to take Iran years to rebuild from this conceivably, and it's not going to be a threat to regional hegemony. If you recall, President Trump mentioned that near the outset of the war where he talked about one of our aims here was to ensure that Iran does not stand any chance of being a regional hegemon. Going after that economic target set is really going to damage the Iranian economy, clearly. Yeah.
A
And coupled with the destruction the defangi decline, they will not be a hegemon, regionally or otherwise for quite a while. Dr. Thay, we'll see you tomorrow. Thank you for your time and attention on this matter. As the president says, Joe, you're going to hold over until the next hour, but I got to ask you, you've done a magnificent job. Humans first. All these different groups we're working with to really, you know, we stop the AI amnesty. The first time in the big beautiful bill stop it the second time in the ndaa, the must pass NDA. They come up with a framework. The framework's kind of shattered right now. David Sacks has been relieved for cause he's gone no longer aizar. I feel like we're winning. But now we got Sam Altman and others that are stepping forward. Am I misreading this now? Coming forward and said, hey, we're the guys that can put this all together. We're the good guys. AI is coming faster than you think, harder than you think, bigger than you think. And you better embrace us. And you better embrace us today. Joe Allen
G
well, Steve, the fight is never ending. And today OpenAI released their industrial policy for the intelligence Age. They subtitle it Ideas to Keep People First. Basically, it's a very vague set of policy recommendations, everything from how to tax companies that are automating, redistribute the wealth, turn the entirety of the American society into cyborgs and mitigate the risks that they say are imminent of cyber attacks that are enabled by AI systems such as ChatGPT bioweapon production, which would be enabled by systems like ChatGPT and of course, loss of control. What happens if the AI that they create goes rogue? They suggest using government agencies to audit all AI companies. But I thought it interesting they focus in on Casey, the Center for AI Standards and Innovation, which is really very much kind of a nascent organization still in the Trump administration. It's very unclear exactly where it goes, but you can see that OpenAI is trying to position themselves as a partner with the Trump administration. And also the language about wealth redistribution makes me think that they are preparing perhaps for a change of guard after November. And it's much more, I think, Democrat friendly than Republican or Trump friendly. It's worth noting though, Steve, that the same day, actually hours before they released this and the Mike Allen interview on Axios with Sam Altman, Ronan Farrow at the New Yorker released a very long in depth article painting Sam Altman in the worst possible light through the eyes of his peers is crazy former executives at OpenAI. It's entitled Sam Altman May Control Our Future. Can he be Trusted? Interesting. That was a question that Mike Allen asked Sam Altman directly and of course he weaseled and waffled around it, as Sam Altman is want to do.
A
The answer is a resounding no. Joe, hang on. You're going to be back with me in the six o' clock hour. Mike Lindell, long tough day, this war. It's going to be a couple of tough days. Tomorrow night, President Trump's given a deadline. The entire nation and the world is looking at that. What the Warren posse needs at the end of the day is deals. What do you got for us?
E
Absolutely, Steve and I'm heading to Minnesota right now. So we're gonna have a good report this week from our new factory. But in the meantime, you guys, you know, we had over 20 semis of product that we're not moving into the factory that is going right into shipping right to you guys at the war rooms. Your front door. And this is our what we have is we have all these warehouse specials that we have this moving sale. We put they're up to 80% off, you guys. There's flannel sheets, sandals, the best sandals ever. You guys are getting them because we're actually going to close out our sandals, even though they're the best sandals ever. We have hoodies, PJs clothing, couch pillows, shams mattress protectors, have scarves, stuff that's seasonal. We have slippers that are that we're closing out all of our winter slippers, you guys, right now. So save up to 80%. But here's the big one for the war room. Exclusive free shipping on your entire order. Get as much as you can because you get free shipping right to your front door. And you guys, since we brought that back, I know of you that are out there thinking hey, why not get the mattresses and the mattress toppers, those are on sale. And now you're going to get because you were adding the free shipping carryover from Easter weekend here where we ran it. And there's another carryover. The Mypillow Giza Dream sheets. You guys, we have one more day of this. 6999 for the queen. 7999 for the king. The best sheets ever gives you that. It enhances your sleep like nothing no other thing does. It's amazing. And so There you go. MyPillow.com war room it's actually three different sales are combining. Free shipping right to your floor, front door. And you guys call 800-873-1062 if you like to talk to an operator directly. Those are my employees, my employee owned company. I can't wait to see you this week live from the factory and show you what an amazing job they did in getting the factory moved in time. And you guys are a big part of getting this product directly to you for the discounted prices and the free shipping with promo code 1 War Room
A
Mike Lindell most powerful promo code in the business. MyPillow.com promo code WAR ROOM we'll see you tomorrow morning in either the 10 or 11 o' clock hour, sir. Thank you from Minneapolis. Want to get, want to get you live from that floor. Want to see the semis? I want to see the factory floor. Birch Gold we're talking a lot of economics tomorrow because this war is obviously centered around the economics of oil, also the US dollar. End of the Dollar Empire promo code go to birchgold.com promo code Bannon the eighth free installment is totally free. It's about the pressure on the US Dollar right now. Go check it out. Short commercial break back in the 6 o' clock hour in a moment. Do you owe back taxes or you haven't filed your taxes in years? Now is the time to resolve your tax matters. With the national conversation around abolishing the income tax, the IRS is fighting back and proving it's here to stay by becoming more aggressive than ever before. They're sending out more collection notices, filing more tax liens and collecting billions more in recent years. If you owe, the IRS can garnish your wages, levy your bank accounts, seize your retirement and even your home if you owe or haven't filed. It's not a question of if the IRS will act. It's a question of when it will act. Right now, Tax Network USA is offering a completely free IRS research and discovery call to show you exactly where you stand and what they can stop before it's too late. Their powerful programs and strategies can save you thousands or even eliminate your debt entirely if you qualify. Don't make a costly mistake representing yourself or calling the IRS on your own waives your rights and cost you more money. They are not, and let me repeat, the IRS is not on your side. Get protected the right way with Tax Network USA and start the process of settling your tax matters once and for all.
B
All today.
A
Call 1-800-958-1000. That's 1-800-958-10000 or visit tnusa.com Bannon for your free discovery call with Tax Network USA. Let me repeat, 800-958-1000. Tell them Bannon sent you. Don't let the IRS be the first to act. Take advantage of first mover advantage. You move.
President Trump Delivers Another Ultimatum For Iran, Deadline April 7th At 8pm
Date: April 6, 2026
Host: Stephen K. Bannon
This episode focuses on the escalating standoff between the U.S. and Iran, with President Trump issuing a decisive ultimatum: Iran has until April 7th, 8pm (ET) to comply with specific U.S. demands or face overwhelming military strikes targeted at the country's infrastructure. The episode explores the diplomatic, military, and economic strategies deployed, the moral and legal dilemmas faced by U.S. military leadership, and features live reactions to Trump's press conference. The conversation also briefly addresses domestic concerns about data centers and the impact of artificial intelligence on American communities.
Trump’s Ultimatum: President Trump has granted Iran an 11-day extension to negotiate and open the Strait of Hormuz, stressing this is the absolute limit for patience. If there is no compliance by April 7th at 8pm ET, the U.S. pledges to expand its bombing campaign against critical Iranian infrastructure.
Diplomatic Track: There remain ongoing negotiations mediated by international partners, but Trump signals skepticism about Iranian sincerity.
Military Track: The episode highlights both current and planned U.S. strikes, noting the precision and intensity of recent operations, including a large mission to rescue a downed pilot.
Orders and Ethics: A robust discussion with military experts raises questions about the boundaries between lawful and unlawful orders, particularly when civilian infrastructure becomes a target.
Collateral Damage: Emphasis is placed on the surprisingly low civilian casualty numbers and the deliberate U.S. effort to focus on military and critical infrastructure, rather than indiscriminate bombing.
Secrecy as Strategy: Trump asserts that not publicizing his plan is part of the tactic, rebuffing accusations of lacking a strategy.
Ultimatum & Consequences: President Trump threatens to destroy bridges and power plants if Iran does not comply by the deadline, drawing historical parallels with WWII and Vietnam regarding the psychology of surrender.
War Aims and “Spoils”: Trump openly discusses the possibility of postwar spoils and oil control, referencing Venezuela as a case where the U.S. leveraged victory to secure resources.
Targeting the Economy: The U.S. strategy shifts to “economic target sets”—power grids, oil infrastructure—to expedite Iranian capitulation, acknowledging that the aim is now potentially complete state collapse.
Historical Analogy: The discussion draws on comparisons with the firebombing of Japan and bombing campaigns in Vietnam to question whether such strategies will break Iran’s will.
Data Center Controversy: A local activist, Raul Alfonso, discusses community resistance to a massive hyperscale data center planned for rural Florida, criticizing lack of transparency, environmental impact, and the threat of foreign ownership.
AI’s Impact on Jobs: The conversation connects the rise of data centers to the larger threat posed by AI—job loss and corporate secrecy.
AI Regulation: Joe Allen reports on OpenAI's new industrial policy, highlighting the debate over regulation, wealth redistribution, and fears of AI-enabled cyber attacks and runaway technology.
[00:36] “It may not happen right away because this thing could take a week or so... you may have to drop a hammer on these people because right now they believe...they have the initiative. They feel they've shifted the center of gravity of this war to the Persian Gulf.” — A
[03:55] “Today will be the largest volume of strikes since day one... Tomorrow, even more than today. And then Iran has a choice. Choose wisely because this president does not play around.” — A
[04:16] “The entire country can be taken out in one night. And that night might be tomorrow night.” — C
[09:20] “I gave them 11, I guess indirectly. I thought it was inappropriate the day after Easter. I want to be a nice person. They have till tomorrow now. We'll see what happens... after that, they're going to have no bridges, they're going to have no power plants. Stone Ages. Yeah, Stone Ages.” — C
[12:00 - 13:00] “When they start giving unlawful orders, you find a way to push back... So the senior military officers are in a real quandary on this one because they know they can't do some of the things that the president is asking them to do...” — B
[13:05] “Look at the number of sorties...it's kind of shocking how low the civilian casualties are because people have gone out of their way to make sure they're hitting military targets.” — A
[32:47] “So we're going to go after the infrastructure target, economic and infrastructure targets explicitly. All three of those reinforce one another, the diplomatic track, the military track, and then broadening that target set to put more pain on the Iranians.” — D
[40:06] “These joint operations can be extremely effective at bringing the Iranians to the point where they're going to concede... But there are going to be just government.” — D
[47:41] “OpenAI released their industrial policy for the intelligence Age. They subtitle it Ideas to Keep People First... a very vague set of policy recommendations...turn the entirety of the American society into cyborgs and mitigate the risks...that they say are imminent of cyber attacks...” — G
Episode 5278 of Bannon’s War Room provides an exhaustive, high-stakes analysis of the U.S.-Iran conflict as it approaches a dramatic deadline set by President Trump. The show foregrounds the interplay between open diplomacy and the threat of overwhelming force, probes the ethical quagmires for military leaders under extreme presidential pressure, and scrutinizes the broader global consequences—economic, legal, and technological—of both war and peace.
The commentary offers both hawkish advocacy and moments of ethical self-doubt—fused with Bannon’s signature populist lens—while highlighting the show’s dual focus on world-shaping geopolitics and local American resistance to the disruptive forces of AI and multinational corporations.