3/25/26: Trump Begs For Ceasefire With Iran, Israel Pushes To Conquer Lebanon

Summary

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Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar

Date: March 25, 2026
Episode Theme: Trump Begs For Ceasefire With Iran, Israel Pushes To Conquer Lebanon

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Overview

In this episode, Ryan Grim and Emily Jashinsky (guest-hosting for Krystal and Saagar) dive deep into rapid developments in U.S.-Iran ceasefire negotiations, Israel's aggressive moves into Lebanon, and escalating regional tensions. The discussion critically assesses the Trump administration’s latest overtures for de-escalation amid war, Israeli military plans in southern Lebanon, changing U.S. public opinion, media narratives, and the unraveling crisis in the Middle East. The hosts also contextualize these events within domestic politics, polling, Congressional responses, and the humanitarian fallout across the region.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Ceasefire Negotiations: U.S. and Iran

Timestamps: 10:33–19:18, 21:04–25:02

• Current Status: The U.S. (via negotiator Brett Witkoff) has formally sent a 30-day ceasefire proposal to Iran, but Iran has yet to formally respond. Communications are happening through indirect channels, often via WhatsApp.

  • Ryan Grim: “Witkoff has been left on these two blue checks for more than a week now...he just sends an entire ceasefire proposal that Iran has not formally responded to yet.” (10:47)
  • Israeli and U.S. media are leaking and possibly shading the terms; Iranian skepticism is high after past U.S. betrayals (e.g., targeting negotiators during talks).
  • Details include lifting sanctions, dismantling nuclear sites, Iran vowing never to seek nuclear weapons, and more—many terms echo prior deadlocked diplomacy.

• Skepticism about Press Reports:

  • Ryan and Emily caution listeners that details reported in U.S./Israeli outlets may not fully reflect the real position of Iran or the substance of the backchannel talks.
  • Emily: "How legitimate is this Wall Street Journal summary of the Iranian 'demands'? ... The Journal's sources in general tend to be on the American and Israeli side." (17:04–17:15)

• Iran’s Perspective:

  • Iran reportedly wants U.S. base closures in the Gulf, reparations, lifting of all sanctions, and shipping fees for Hormuz passage.
  • Ryan: “They feel we did not do anything to you to deserve this. You did this. You're now losing—pay us.” (18:30)

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2. Trump’s Public Comments on the Iran War

Timestamps: 19:07–22:20, 26:25–27:31

• Trump’s Oval Office Remarks:

  • Trump claimed an unspecified "present" (oil/gas related) given by Iran signaled the right negotiating partners.
    • Trump: “It wasn’t nuclear related. It was oil and gas related. And it was a very nice thing they did…but what it showed me is that we're dealing with the right people.” (19:18)
  • Trump described the administration’s decision to hold off bombing an Iranian electric generation plant, framing it as restrained negotiating, not bluster.
    • “We held off based on the fact we’re negotiating…” (21:04)

• Hosts’ Reaction:

  • Ryan and Emily oscillate between humor and alarm at Trump’s cavalier tone and tendency to publicly telegraph sensitive military operations.
    • Emily: "Here Trump, freelancing at a DHS swearing-in ceremony...says today we're going to have the privilege of shooting down a very big electric generation plant, ostensibly before it happened." (21:57)
    • Ryan: "Taco in this case implies that he was going to do something and then he chickened out. I'm not convinced that's true. I think it was market manipulation beginning to end." (22:46)

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3. U.S. and Israeli Military Escalation

Timestamps: 14:14–25:00, 31:33–34:49, 41:44–46:51

• Use of Force as Negotiating Tactic:

  • Secretary of War Pete Hegseth: “We negotiate with bombs. ... As we loiter over the top of Tehran, as the President talked about, about your future, the president has made it clear that you will not have a nuclear weapon.” (25:00)
  • The hosts criticize the normalization and PR spin of U.S./Israeli air campaigns.

• Iranian Retaliation and U.S. Vulnerabilities:

  • 101 missiles fired at the USS Abraham Lincoln; Trump claims all intercepted, but the event suggests increasing risk to U.S. naval assets.
  • Ryan: “It shows how vulnerable the carrier group is, how scary the situation is. ... We can't keep our carrier groups close to Iran even. It's amazing.” (28:42–29:32)

• Escalation Dynamics:

  • New U.S. reinforcement orders: the 82nd Airborne and multiple infantry brigades are being sent to the region, signaling preparation for a possible ground operation in Iran.

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4. Public Opinion and Political Dynamics

Timestamps: 34:54–38:24, 46:51–49:47

• American Misconceptions:

  • Polls show 25% of Americans believe Iran already possesses nuclear weapons (false), and 45% think they have an active program (also false).
  • “92% of Americans want to end the conflict as quickly as possible.” (35:34)

• Contradictions in Public Attitudes:

  • The public wants both to end the war and “permanently stop Iran’s nuclear programs,” illustrating competing desires for peace and security through force.

• Congressional Maneuvers:

  • A House vote on the Iran War Powers Resolution is imminent; passage would put Congressional opposition to the war on record. Party leadership appears to be stalling.
    • Ryan: “Democrats secretly want this war because they think it hurts Trump. ... All Democrats want Trump hurt. This is obviously hurting Trump.” (47:14)
  • Emily: "I like the Massey idea—introduce a declaration of war and see exactly who’s going to vote for it." (49:37)

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5. Israel’s Invasion of Lebanon

Timestamps: 52:04–56:09

• Incursion Details:

  • Israeli Defense Minister openly confirmed military plans to occupy southern Lebanon up to the Litani River—"the first clear statement of intent to seize the territory." (52:45)
  • Ryan highlights that ‘Greater Israel’ ideology has always included this territory, and challenges the world’s deference to Israeli expansion: “Does Lebanon have a right to exist? ... Israel, unique among all other countries, has a right to exist. And the rest of your existence is negotiable.” (52:45–53:59)

• Local Resistance:

  • Reports of Christians in southern Lebanon joining with Hezbollah against the Israeli incursion—sectarian lines are blurring in opposition to occupation.
  • “Christians and...Muslims in Lebanon...even if you’re Shia, Lebanese Christian, you have a little…friction with Hezbollah…well, guess what happens when these attacks start ratcheting up? You risk driving people closer to Hezbollah—and, as an effect of that, closer to Iran.” (54:15)

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6. Humanitarian Fallout, Prison Deaths & Reporting Risks

Timestamps: 56:09–62:14

• Prison Abuse and Death in Israeli Custody:

  • Haaretz confirms the death of Waleed Ahmad, a Palestinian minor likely starved in Israeli prison—case closed with little recourse.
    • Ryan: “A guard then arrived and dragged Waleed’s motionless body across the floor by his hair…he was never charged with a crime…his body has still not been returned to his family.” (57:21)
  • Emily: “And the case was closed and the judge says we don’t have enough evidence here. It likely looks like he was starved to death…” (60:54)

• Targeting of Journalists:

  • Memorial for Hasam Shabbat, a young journalist assassinated by Israeli forces: “They hunted him…dropped an explosive device on him…23 years old. He had his whole life ahead of him.” (62:14)

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Ryan Grim on U.S. duplicity:
  “Classic U.S.—‘Did we say ceasefire? We meant you ceasefire at us so that we can leave the base, and then we kill you.’…I think duplicity contributed to the broader Iraqi government saying, you know what, go ahead. You want to hit these creeps? Hit them.” (46:51)

• Emily Jashinsky on American attitudes and policy double standards:
  “We are constantly told Israel has a right to exist... Does Lebanon have a right to exist?” (52:45)

• Emily on politicization of the war:
  "Democrats are okay with that because they might pick up an extra couple seats in the midterms. What are they going to do with those seats? Nothing." (49:32)

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Important Timestamps

• Ceasefire proposal details and skepticism: 10:33–14:49
• Trump’s “present” from Iran / comments on military restraint: 19:07–22:20
• U.S. airstrike, Iran missile retaliation, carrier vulnerability: 26:25–29:32
• Public opinion and polling contradictions: 34:54–36:53
• Congressional maneuvers and War Powers vote: 46:51–49:47
• Israeli invasion plans in Lebanon: 52:04–56:09
• Humanitarian stories: prison starvation/death, journalist killed: 56:09–62:14

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Tone & Style

The discussion is lively and sharp, blending grave analysis of military and humanitarian issues with moments of dark wit and exasperated humor. Both hosts frequently cite leaks, media narratives, and figures they’ve spoken to—offering skeptical, anti-establishment analysis and direct criticism of both U.S./Israeli policy and mainstream reporting.

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This summary provides a comprehensive, structured account of key themes, moments, and context from the episode—allowing newcomers to grasp the major developments, political dynamics, and critical perspectives discussed.

Transcript

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[Krystal Ball]

Sager and Crystal here.

[Saagar Enjeti]

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[Ryan Grim]

all right, good morning. Welcome to Breaking Points. Back here in the land of the free.

[Emily Jashinsky]

I was going to say Ryan is back from Cuba and we have a whole block prepared. We're going to Go through some of the pictures and reporting that Ryan. Pictures took, but also reporting Ryan did in an interview actually with what, the top. The third top official in Cuba with a big scoop.

[Ryan Grim]

Yes. And so. And what you guys don't know is that back before the Internet and Instagram, when people would come back from trips overseas, they would invite all their neighbors over to literally watch a kind of slideshow they'd put up on the wall of their house or something.

[Emily Jashinsky]

I still do that for my parents.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah. So that's what you guys are gonna have to suffer through today.

[Emily Jashinsky]

There you go. But it's actually, it's not gonna be suffering through. It's super interesting. And Ryan was on Newsmax last night, got into a fun tussle with the host. So we're going to break that down more immediately though. New updates, actually recent updates from both US Negotiators and Iranian negotiators towards a potential cease fire peace deal over there. We are going to break all of that down and there's a lot to get to. Donald Trump was making remarks in the Oval Office yesterday saying all kinds of crazy stuff. Did you watch this presser?

[Ryan Grim]

I watched a lot of it. It was Trump in normal form and Hegseth. Hegseth. Oh, my God.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Keeping. We're on the throttle.

[Ryan Grim]

And Trump giving him the eyebrow raise when he's talking about the hard throttle.

[Donald Trump (clip)]

Yeah.

[Ryan Grim]

Trump stilled Michael Scott. That's what she said. As like his war secretary is talking.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Basically.

[Ryan Grim]

Trump is so kind of amused and confused by Hegseth, but kind of loves him.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Yeah. Because you're right. It's sort of. I think it was similar with Kristi Noem until it wasn't. It can happen quickly.

[Ryan Grim]

If Trump wasn't bringing so much death, destruction and despair to the world, we could just sit back and kind of laugh at his antics. And he, he really another thing I hate him for is depriving us of that joy. Because you can't. It's with what he's doing, you can't even laugh at him. And it's like that was the best thing about him is just how funny he is.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Yeah. Now we're at war with Iran and.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah. And like just trying to strangle Cuba and doing. It's like we're.

[Krystal Ball]

Come on.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Well, we also get back to the jokes. I'm not optimistic that'll happen anytime soon. We also have updates from Lebanon where we're looking at some significant, significant incursions from Israel.

[Ryan Grim]

New updates from what the New York Times get hammered for calling it what did they say? New York Times said something like Israel may decide to continue to control some of the territory that it has grabbed.

[Sarah Spain]

What?

[Ryan Grim]

Yes. Invading and occupying Lebanon is the word you're looking for.

[Emily Jashinsky]

They should have just went with Trump. I believe I'll have the honor of

[Ryan Grim]

taking it sooner, of taking Lebanon, which does not have a right to exist.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Yes, we should have just went with that. Apparently from the New York Times, lots, lots of stuff on Cuba because that's moving very quickly. Ryan, you can tell us more about this, but this is what the government calls Operation Total Extermination. That's the Pentagon title for Western Hemisphere.

[Ryan Grim]

That's not great. When you're in the Western Hemisphere and you find out that the operation directed at you is called say it again, Total Extermination. Yeah, that's not good.

[Emily Jashinsky]

No, not great. But Ryan is going to tell us what's really happening on the ground and what we could see happening very soon. Democrats, I mean, we have new Gavin Newsom footage here. Democrats are squirming over aipac. Some are sort of that we could use that as an intro for every show. But some are apparently leaning into saying I'm not taking any money from aipac, as though it's a badge of honor. But we'll see how what that actually means at the end of the day, whose money they will and will not take. But there's some new clips. Gavin Newsom, Cory Booker, this is him saying we don't have a clip of this, but he said he's not taking APAC money. So lots to get to on that front. And Ryan's the guy for it because he's been reporting on this for years.

[Ryan Grim]

Indeed. Unfortunately, I didn't. It's not even the thing I wanted to report on. I was just reporting on like progressive campaigns and all of a sudden there's $100 million from this outside group in these campaigns. Like I thought this was about like where you are on the Green New Deal.

[Emily Jashinsky]

No, no, it never is. All right. Also, AI blackouts possibly coming in the future. Not possibly, probably coming in the future. New reporting on college graduates, the plight of college graduates this spring. Many of you are probably experiencing that right now and I'm sure you'll let us know in the comments. It's bad. It's bleak. And Jensen Wang says we've reached AGI new clip of him on Lex Friedman. Finally, Ryan, we have a guest to go through some horrible economic updates, looking really rough. Christopher Robb.

[Ryan Grim]

Yes. He's a state legislator in Pennsylvania. Recently, after we Booked him, was endorsed by Justice Democrats. Maybe they knew we were booking him. They're like, let's get in before he's on. Gets the Breaking Points bump.

[Donald Trump (clip)]

Yep.

[Ryan Grim]

He's running for an open congressional seat which would represent, you know, most of most of Philadelphia.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Interesting.

[Ryan Grim]

So we'll talk, we'll talk to him about, you know, this, the state of the national and Pennsylvania economy and how that's playing into the race.

[Emily Jashinsky]

There you go. All right. And as a reminder, breakingpoints.com that's where you can go to get a premium subscription. We appreciate your support. So many new members of the Breaking Points premium family. That gets you the second half of the Friday shows. As a reminder, those are totally paywall we're toying around with. You missed this last week. A potential new name for the second half of the Friday shows.

[Ryan Grim]

Like, why do we just make it free?

[Emily Jashinsky]

Like, typical, Typical. I'm pretending I'm a newsmax host.

[Ryan Grim]

And sorry if you paid for it because you're like, what I really want is the second half of the Friday show. So that's going to be the thing that puts me over the top. I think we should just give it to everybody. It's too good. It's too good to keep from the public.

[Emily Jashinsky]

But the thing that you do get, you get if you're a premium member, is the show right to your inbox and every single day with no credit.

[Ryan Grim]

That's for 10 bucks.

[Emily Jashinsky]

That's really how the show's meant to be watched. Yes. So how am I going to afford

[Ryan Grim]

these luxury hotels in Cuba?

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That's right. That keep the power on. On top of that, we should add you also support our independent journalism. Like sending Ryan to Cuba. Helping send Ryan to Cuba.

[Ryan Grim]

Exactly.

[Emily Jashinsky]

We spent you, like on a milk carton or something. Sponsor this.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah. Sponsor this. Journalist. Yep.

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[Emily Jashinsky]

get into the show. New updates in negotiations that apparently are happening according to the US Government.

[Ryan Grim]

Well, let's be clear, negotiations require two parties and require one party to respond to the.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Exactly.

[Ryan Grim]

Iran to this day has still not responded to the U.S. so there's a lot of WhatsApp being used for these communications. If you use WhatsApp, you know, you get those two little blue checks if it's been received and you're just like, okay, they got it, like are they going to respond here? And so Witkoff has been left on these two blue checks for like more than more than a week now. Now he has just sent, he's like effort and he just sends like an entire ceasefire proposal that Iran has not formally responded to yet.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Although the Wall Street Journal has a story about Iran's response.

[Ryan Grim]

Well, yeah, this is literally developing as we talk. Let's get into the so the reporting from now it's important to understand that the reporting first emerged out of Israel and from Israeli media. And I was talking to my colleague Jeremy Scahill this morning. He was saying that we should take the specifics with a grain of salt, according to his sources in Tehran. But it is indeed true. And actually we can just, we can put up with Jeremy's post here. It is indeed true that the US has sent, has sent an offer sheet basically for a 30 day ceasefire. Iran is reviewing it. Iran is extraordinarily skeptical of the seriousness of the United States because twice they have entered into negotiations and killed the negotiators and then launched wars with Iran. They killed Hamas negotiators after delivering a peace deal to Hamas. Like this was the Trump peace deal. They met to discuss it.

[Emily Jashinsky]

It's not a good omen.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah. So they're like. Yeah. So until they're reviewing it and there's been no formal response yet, according to Jeremy's sources. And until then, the retaliatory strikes will continue. The war is on until it's off. Like there's no, there's no pausing on the assumption that this is, that this is serious. But it's still worth us going through the terms. Just, just understand that some of the details are probably shaded a little bit that, that were, you know, released out of Israeli media.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Yeah. So let's put them up on the screen. Screen. This is a zero.

[Ryan Grim]

The 15 want to go through these since you have better eyes.

[Emily Jashinsky]

I remember my glasses, although I don't always. From as Ryan said, Israeli media. This is really channel 12 being cited. 115 clauses here. One, automatically cancel the threat of reimposition of sanctions.

[Ryan Grim]

Incredible. By the way. Let's just. That's opening bid from the US I

[Emily Jashinsky]

had to think about that one twice.

[Ryan Grim]

Like lifting Iran gets its sanctions lifted. Like incredible. Okay, that's.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Yeah. To dismantling Iran's existing nuclear capabilities.

[Ryan Grim]

They already agreed to that in February.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Three, agreement with Iran. Iran vows never seek nuclear weapons.

[Ryan Grim]

Agreed to that in February.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Preventing the enrichment of any nuclear material on Iranian territory.

[Ryan Grim]

That is probably a mis. Misreporting or misinformation from, from Israel. I would suspect that the details are not that tight.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Yeah. Okay. Interesting sticking point.

[Ryan Grim]

There be a total prevention 5 delivery

[Emily Jashinsky]

of enriched uranium to the IAEA.

[Ryan Grim]

Iran basically agreed to some version of that. They even agreed to allow US Companies to operate the Iranian program in February. So just because Iran, by the way, agreed to this in these things in February doesn't mean they will now. They're in a better position than they were ironically in February. Anyway. Go ahead.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Delivery Oh, I just did that one. 6. Decommissioning and destroying the sites of Natanz, Isfahan and Fordeau 7.

[Ryan Grim]

That's probably, that's probably a little bit not exactly how it reads.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Well, that's, that's an interesting one too because we basically have claimed to destroy tons of stuff.

[Ryan Grim]

No, we already did that.

[Emily Jashinsky]

That was Midnight Hammer.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah. Check. Okay.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Grant the IAEA full access to all information.

[Ryan Grim]

Check.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Iran abandons proxies approach.

[Ryan Grim]

Well, that's interesting. Maybe this is the kind of thing Iran agrees to and then just doesn't live up to like, which is a very Israeli slash Middle east thing to

[Emily Jashinsky]

do, sometimes stopping funding and arming militias in the region. So similar. Yep. Keeping the Strait of Hormuz open without any closure.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah, I don't, I don't think they're going to open as long as you pay them.

[Emily Jashinsky]

I was going to say they've learned postponement of decision on ballistic missile program.

[Ryan Grim]

In other words. Cool. Yeah. Get off our jock about the missiles.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Get off our jock. A few more here. Ballistic missiles are only used for defense.

[Ryan Grim]

According to them, that's all that they're used for. And actually they have never, as far as I'm aware of, and correct me if I'm wrong out there in the comments, I'm not aware of them ever launching a ballistic missile strike against any country where they weren't hit first.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Lifting all sanctions on Iran.

[Ryan Grim]

Incredible. From the U.S. yeah.

[Emily Jashinsky]

This is, again, this is the summary.

[Ryan Grim]

This is a real blow to the Trump is winning the war crowd. We're going to lift all sanctions in order to end this war, but we're definitely winning it.

[Emily Jashinsky]

And we're going to tell you to destroy the sites that we said we basically destroyed. All right, last one or two more. Support for the development of a civilian nuclear program automatically canceled the threat.

[Ryan Grim]

They agreed to that basically in February, but the US Refused it.

[Emily Jashinsky]

And the last one is just automatically canceled the threat of reimposition of sanctions.

[Ryan Grim]

Same thing as number one. Like. So you're promising multiple times that you won't sanction them.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Right. In different ways. Let's then, Ryan, talk about the story that broke overnight from the Wall Street Journal. And again, this is pretty new. According to the Politico summary, their peace proposal demands include, quote, the closure of all American bases in the Gulf, the payment of reparations for missile attacks on Iran, plus the lifting of all existing sanctions. They want to collect fees for ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz. To the point you just made an end to Israeli attacks on Hezbollah and permission to start its missile building program without limits. Ryan. The question though is how legitimate is this Wall Street Journal summary of the Iranian peace proposal?

[Ryan Grim]

According to Jeremy's sources, this is. They have not formally responded.

[Emily Jashinsky]

So it got leaked to the Journal. Or someone is manipulating the Journal with a fake piece.

[Ryan Grim]

The Journal's sources in general tend to be on the American and Israeli side. And so typically throughout this conflict, if your sources have been on the American and Israeli side, you're more likely to get incorrect information. There may be some kind of informal back and forth that's happening and that the US or Israel gleaned from that back and forth that this is what they want. I can say for sure that Iran's position is that it is a very high priority of theirs that the US Bases be dismantled in the region. And they have said from day one that they want reparations. Like, I don't think people and people might laugh at that. We know that it is a horrific war crime, that we started the war by killing at least 165 little girls. We know that intellectually and a lot of us kind of feel it in our bones. It happened to Iranian girls. Like it is that much more real to the Iranians. They're getting pummeled in a way that Israel, the UAE, Kuwait, etc. Are not even getting pummeled. Like they're getting hit really ruthlessly. You saw the images of the black smoke that could cause cancer among the Tehran population for decades. They feel like they've been wronged, that they did not start the war. They've been pummeled and they deserve reparations for this. Whether they actually get that and what form that takes, we'll see. But I'm just my point here, it's strengthened the results and they are serious. Like they feel we did not do anything to you to deserve this. You did this. You're now losing pay us.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Listen to the Commander in Chief, Donald Trump in the Oval Office at this was the swearing in for Mark wayne Mullen at DHS yesterday. He had a couple of interesting moments.

[Donald Trump (clip)]

A1 because they're going to make a deal. They're going to make a deal. They did something yesterday that was amazing, actually. They gave us a present and the President arrived today and it was a very big present worth a tremendous amount of money. And I'm not going to tell you what that president is, but it was a very significant prize and they gave it to us and they said they were going to give it. So that meant One thing to me, we're dealing with the right people. No, it wasn't nuclear related. It was oil and gas related. And it was a very nice thing they did. But what it showed me is that we're dealing with the right people.

[Emily Jashinsky]

So a couple more clips that we're just gonna.

[Ryan Grim]

Well, we gotta speculate first about what it was. Well, Menaker said it was a large wooden horse. Possible.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Great tweet.

[Ryan Grim]

My sources say that Trump got an email from somebody who said that they were the Ayatollah's nephew and that he had access to trillions of dollars in reserves, but he needed just a few thousand dollars in Bitcoin to unlock those reserves. And they're going back and forth right now. Trump accidentally is now apparently locked out of his devices. So they're trying to figure out, because once they can get those trillion dollars in reserves, it's going to be smooth sailing. He's going to give checks to every American. It's going to be incredible.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Did you see the moment in Bill Clinton's Epstein deposition where he was asked about sending emails?

[Ryan Grim]

No.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Oh, I'm going to send it to you. It's amazing. He Boomer maxes. I think that's probably where Trump is on emailing, too. You got to text it to him in probably, like, really big font. But he continued. He continued. We learned about his plans for an electric plant. A2.

[Donald Trump (clip)]

You know, if you read the papers, you think we're tied. You think we're in a tough battle. We are roaming free over Tehran, the city Tehran, as opposed to Iran. We're roaming free. We can do whatever we want. And as you know, today we were going to have the privilege of shooting down a very big electric generation plant, one of the biggest in the world. And one shot to the right location ends the plant, it collapses. And we held off based on the fact that we're negotiating so much to

[Emily Jashinsky]

unpack Tehran, not Iran. I like sometimes how he gives insight into how his brain works. You see Tehran, you think Iran, but no, it's the city Tehran.

[Ryan Grim]

Love to be there. The first time he learned that the capital of Iran was Tehran.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Yes.

[Ryan Grim]

Blew his mind.

[Emily Jashinsky]

It's clever now, also.

[Ryan Grim]

And then there's Esfahan.

[Emily Jashinsky]

One of his criticisms of Barack Obama and many people on the rights is they were often telegraphing plans, military plans. Here Trump freelancing at a DHS swearing in ceremony in the Oval Office, says today we're going to have the privilege of shooting down a very big electric generation plant, ostensibly before it happened. Ryan.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah, except he didn't end up doing that because Iran threatened to escalate if he did that and they and he backed down.

[Emily Jashinsky]

So is it a taco or is it him negotiate like actual question. Because I think this is one thing that people get wrong about Trump is that it's sometimes called a taco. And it's like I see where you think it's called the taco. And he takes a lot of Ls on these things, rightfully so. Other times he's clearly just negotiating in public and wants to set the parameters in a certain direction.

[Ryan Grim]

Taco in this case implies that he was going to do something and then he chickened out.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Right.

[Ryan Grim]

I'm not convinced that's true. I think it was market manipulation beginning to end that the front end threat was market manipulation and the back end fake chickening out was more market manipulation. And if anybody's watching, by the way, there is a lot to subpoena in 2027 when Democrats are probably gonna take the House. They should have subpoena power. So we need to write down all the things we want to know because we're gonna forget because there's so many things so we need like2027 subpoenas.org or something like that and put on the list who are these investors, these Nostradamus like traders. I'd love to know who went in

[Emily Jashinsky]

and

[Ryan Grim]

bought made the perfect oil trade right before he came out with his were actually in fake negotiations with Iran and who bought all of these S and P futures. Because there are a couple of traders that are making these massive trades that are perfectly timed with Trump's fake moves.

[Emily Jashinsky]

The Monday was.

[Ryan Grim]

So we need to put it on the subpoena list for 2027.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Absolutely put it on the subpoena list for 2027. Speaking of our negotiations, here's Secretary of war Pete Hegseth A3.

[Pete Hegseth (clip)]

The air campaign that we've conducted, that Israel's conducted alongside us was one for the history books, truly. And it's because we have a President United States that when he sends his war fighters out to fight, he unties their hands to actually go out and close with and destroy the enemy as viciously as possible from moment one. And that's why we see ourselves as part of this negotiation as well. We negotiate with bombs. You have a choice. As we loiter over the top of Tehran, as the President talked about about your future, the president has made it clear that you will not have a nuclear weapon. The War Department agrees our job is to ensure that and so we're keeping our hand on that throttle as long as it's hard as is necessary to ensure the interest of the United States of America are achieved on that battlefield.

[Emily Jashinsky]

We negotiate with bombs, just.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah.

[Emily Jashinsky]

As we are also negotiating apparently peace plan point by point by point.

[Ryan Grim]

If you have a second and you're like a juvenile, like roll back and watch Trump's eyebrow raise.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Yeah, that's pretty good there.

[Ryan Grim]

Also, if you are the guy that started the war killing 165 plus little girls, would you really keep celebrating how Trump untied your hands? Like he keeps talking about how there were all of these stupid political rules of engagement that kept the US from waging war the way that Pete Hagseth thinks that we should wage war. And the first chance he gets to put those rules into place, he double taps in elementary school.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Well, I mean, he would probably say successful Venezuela operation, civilian harm mitigated.

[Ryan Grim]

All right. The first time he has a. First time he has a war against an actual war, a Middle Eastern country. Yeah. He, that was a raid that. Who knows, you know what, what happened politically behind that.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Yeah. Truly, we don't know.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah. So, yes, he did not double tap in elementary school in Venezuela, I will give him that.

[Emily Jashinsky]

There it is. Yes. A very high bar for our war department. Here's Donald Trump talking about maybe the right word for this is cavalierly talking about a launch of missiles at a US Aircraft carrier.

[Donald Trump (clip)]

Next thought, with our great Patriot missiles. Think of it. They shot 100 missiles at one of our aircraft carriers, the Abraham Lincoln, one of the biggest ships in the world, actually. And out of 101 missiles shot, every single one of them was knocked down in the sea. Think of that. Think of what that means. 101 missiles, highly sophisticated, very fast missiles shot at about 101. All 101 were shot down. And now for the most part lie at the bottom of the sea. Pretty amazing, right? Pretty amazing. Our military is amazing. Pete, you know the attack I'm talking about recently, 101 shot. I said, wow, I saw that. You can see we have sort of pretty good equipment that we see. It's called the red line. Those red lines were thick, right. I said, that's a lot. And then we saw them one by one just get shot. And these guys that do the shooting, the coolest cucumbers ever. You know, most people, you don't have a lot of time when a missile's going at 2,500 miles an hour.

[Emily Jashinsky]

He also just did the Shane Gillis bit there. Ryan Where Gillis Trump impersonation. He explains by saying I walked into a room. I said, wow, what a beautiful room. He literally just did that in the middle of a conversation about war.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah. And this is the kind of information that the Department of War keeps under a very tight lid. They do not let the public in on the amount of volleys sent at the Lincoln carrier group. The fact that they had to expand and they're not Patriot missiles. They've. They have other missile defenses on ships. But whatever. I get details wrong too. Me and Trump, it's fine. But for him to reveal that is very interesting. We did not know that. And now people are speculating. Oh. That. That might explain why we're seeing the Lincoln carrier group kind of shading further and further away from Iran which makes it more. More difficult for us to project power back. And so if. Okay, great. Good. I'm glad for the sailors that they shot down the 101 missiles. But it shows how vulnerable the carrier

[Emily Jashinsky]

group is, how scary the situation is.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah. And in a way that the US is not used to. Like the US and Israel are used to just flying over Gaza and dropping whatever bombs they want and then just landing. No stress at all. Nobody's shooting back at them. We're now getting shot at and we are kind of retreating in significant ways. The Ford carrier group, they're like cooked. They're done. This supposed somebody didn't clean the lint drawer and there was a big fire in the dryer area. And now that whole carrier group is out of commission for a trillion dollars a year. We can't keep our carrier groups close to Iran even. It's amazing.

[Sarah Spain]

This is Sarah Spain from Good Game with Sarah Spain, brought to you in part by Vital Farms. Let's talk eggs. Vital Farms pasture raised eggs to be exact. My favorites. The only kind I've got in my fridge. No joke. And here's why. These aren't your average eggs. The hens live on open pastures with fresh air and sunshine all year long. They forage on local grasses and stretch their wings. They're living their best life. That care really shows in the taste. I love mine scrambled with a little butter or whipped up into a fancy frittata. And here's something most people don't know. You could trace your eggs back to the farm they came from. Seriously. Side of the carton. You'll find the farm name. Type it [e-mail] farm and you'll get a 360 degree peek at the pasture. Plus Vital Farms is a certified B corporation, which means they're committed to improving the lives of people, animals and the planet through food eggs you could feel good about. So next time you're in the store, look for the black carton in the egg aisle and visit vitalfarms.com to learn more. Vital Farms Good eggs no shortcuts from coast to coast.

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[Emily Jashinsky]

Meanwhile, let's put up the next element. This is a five Centcom told Stars and Stripes yesterday that a total of 290 service members have been wounded so far in Operation Epic Fury. The majority of those 255 have returned to duty. The number of seriously injured remains 10. We also then should go to the next element from Barack Ravid, who reported Yesterday, a senior U.S. official tells me the 82nd Airborne Division headquarters has received an order from the Pentagon to deploy to the Middle east along with several infantry brigades of thousands of soldiers. Rafeed says why it matters this is a significant additional reinforcement to the US Force structure in the region ahead of a possible ground operation in Iran. Ryan when you look at the news, this is the escalation spiral in action that you go back 10 years from now, 10 months from now and do an autopsy. You know, we'll see the military analysts go back 10 months from now and autopsy what just transpired or was transpiring at the moment. And they'll say these are the precipitating factors of escalation. We're watching it happen.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah, and I can confirm that we heard the same yesterday that the 82nd Airborne is being dispatched from Fort Bragg. There are, I'm sure, all sorts of plans being drawn up for Delta Force and these special operations types. The Kharg island, which is this island that Trump keeps getting pushed to seize and plays a very crucial role in Iran's oil production and shipping, is constantly kind of on the target list. And there was this incredible, I think it was in a paragraph in the Washington Post that said Defense Department officials are game planning out what it would take and they believe that they could seize Carg Island. Probably true. We have the most impressive special Ops and Delta Force guys and they're all hopped up on, as Seth Harb has written, the best drugs that they can ship into our country. So they could take it. But then they had a line that said for as long as they're there, they would have to fend off a relentless volley of drones and missiles. It's like, yeah. Yes.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Like in perpetuity.

[Ryan Grim]

That's right. Like, guys. So you're going to put a whole bunch of guys on an island right next to Iran. Which part of Iran? And what are they going to do about the missiles and drones raining down on them? Like, what do you. How are you going to fend those off? You can be the baddest special operator on the planet. You can't just get rained on by drones and missiles in perpetuity.

[Emily Jashinsky]

You need to get resupplied constantly. Like, that's again, it's escalation spiral.

[Ryan Grim]

You have to not get blown up, which is hard when you're getting missiles rained on you constantly. So it's just not, it's not a thing that you can do unless. Unless you completely, like just vaporize Iran. Like as long as Iran exists and can fire off drones.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Yeah, right.

[Ryan Grim]

Those. Then those troops are. Can't hold Carg Island.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Yeah. A couple polls to get to here. This one is actually. People started picking up on it.

[Ryan Grim]

How you feel about this?

[Emily Jashinsky]

Will people start picking up on this one? Yesterday it was actually a YouGov poll that was done in mid February. We can put the next element up on the screen. This was just looking at a real news article pulled out by Adam Johnson who said a new YouGov poll shows 25% of Americans falsely believe Iran possesses nuclear weapons and 45% believe the also false claim Iran has an active nuclear weapons program. And I went back and followed the poll. It was taken in mid February. I'm sure you would get very, very similar results if you conducted it today. Meanwhile though, even with that. So just keep that in your brain. Let's go to the next poll.

[Ryan Grim]

A8.

[Emily Jashinsky]

This is genuinely a new poll, CBS News taken March 17th through 20th. 92% of Americans want to end the conflict as quickly as possible. 80% say they want to make sure Iran's people are safe and free. 73% say permanently stop Iran's nuclear programs. And 68% say stop Iran from threatening other countries. Predictable results, but 92% saying end the conflict as quickly as possible.

[Ryan Grim]

Ryan. Yeah, I remember in our poll there were some interesting kind of contradictory thoughts. You know, people, people desperately wanted the war to end. So I find that to be a very credible number people. Also in our poll we asked about the ballistic missile program. The overwhelmingly American people do not want Iran to have a ballistic missile program. I'd like to try to square some of that for people like, okay, well what are you willing to do? Like how much war are you willing to engage in? Do you want to engage in to make sure just as a should this country that we believe is scary have a ballistic missile program? I can imagine, of course most Americans be like no, why would we want a dangerous country to have dangerous weapons? But then it's like, well, okay, the only way we're gonna stop them from that is forever war.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Well, so I wanna stop on this point just briefly, cuz it's been driving me insane. We remember when Diego Garcia was hit or was they fired at Diego Garcia several days ago. There were people all over X from the right taking dubs being like, you're telling me Iran doesn't pose a quote imminent threat? Look at what they just did. Their missile range is double what we thought it was. If you go and look at the countries that have full icm, we're not even talking about nuclear weapons. If you look at just ICBMs, how many countries can cover the entire globe with their missiles? Do we think that we should be going to war with North Korea? Because if you're using your justification that this is an anti American death cult and it needs to be taken care of because they have a ballistic missiles program that can hit much of Europe and it's true, they do, that's absolutely accurate. North Korea's is bigger. North Korea's range is bigger than Iran's. So if that is your justification. Now I'm not saying it's everybody's only justification, but the glibness that was being projected after the Diego Garcia incident was mind boggling because it's a justification to go to war with other countries, but particularly with North Korea. And if you want to put that idea in Donald Trump's head and have America first, Donald Trump, then after he finds some type of peace, he's already said that we won the war. Go on and say we're going to win a war with North Korea. Enjoy that.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah. Now they've got nuclear tips on those ICBMs, which also plays, plays into our how we're like, you know what we're going to pick on? We're going to go pick on Cuba. I think actually Cuba's the problem.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Yeah. Total extermination. That's the name of the operation. We'll get to that in just a moment. Ren Pakistan getting increasingly involved in this particular conflict. Go ahead, throw the next element up on screen. This is Pakistan's prime minister saying this just yesterday. Pakistan welcomes and fully supports ongoing efforts to pursue dialogue to end the war in the Middle east in the interest of peace and stability in the region. Beyond subject to concurrence by the US And Iran, Pakistan stands ready and honored to be the host to facilitate meaningful and conclusive talks for comprehensive settlement of the ongoing conflict. We roughly already knew that, Ryan, but can you maybe, since you've covered Pakistan pretty closely in the last several years, explain to us the significance?

[Ryan Grim]

According to our reporting, Witkoff has been there in Islamabad for two days, kind of. They weren't returning his text messages. So he's like, maybe if I go to Islamabad, they'll just meet me at the bar. They haven't yet. And so Pakistan is trying to become the new Oman here. The Iranians are quite skeptical of moving the brokering from Oman over to Pakistan. Pakistani generals are, and the Pakistani military in general are known like internationally as in a world of untrustworthy people, like the least trustworthy people. So if you were trying to pick a trusted intermediary to negotiate these talks with an adversary who is already not trustworthy because they have gone to war with you twice in the middle of negotiations, Pakistan doesn't raise your confidence level that this is on the up and up. So we'll see if Iran is like, whatever, fine. Wyckoff's already there. Osama is beautiful this time of year, Pakistan apparently is almost out of lng. Like the this and I think the Arab Spring and other. Like there was this wave of protests in the early 2010s around the world. A significant and misunderstood or understood role in those protests was the spiking of energy and commodity costs that flew out of the great financial crisis of 2007 and 8. And it made bread and fuel very expensive for people around the world. And they went out to the streets. I think, I think we're going to see a lot of that in the next couple of years. And Pakistan is a place you could very easily see it like this place that's always just kind of on the brink, getting pushed, getting pushed over it. So anyway, yeah, so we'll see if that maybe, maybe they'll allow Pakistan to be the place.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Let's talk about Iraq. This was drop site reporting yesterday. Baghdad clears pmf. So the popular mobilization forces to defend themselves after a deadly strike on militia headquarters. This decision you all wrote follows airstrikes on a PMF command headquarters.

[Ryan Grim]

Let's put up a 15 for the context. Sorry to jump around.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Yeah, Control rooms in Anbar province. Yes.

[Ryan Grim]

So a 15. Yeah. So this was yesterday or two days. This is Monday. Airstrikes in Iraq on Iran backed paramilitary alliance kill at least 15 fighters. So this is. The US is basically at open war with these Iranian allied Iraqi militias. But these militias are not just freelance militias. They are a part of the security service, the actual government security service. We can go back to a 10. As Emily was saying, Iraq's National Security Council said, as Emily said, they're now authorizing these military, these militias to strike U.S. forces. So that's state sanctioning of Iraqi aggression. Not aggression. They would call it defense because like they were just, 15 of them were just killed. It was always disproportionate when you look at the numbers of people killed and wounded on the other side versus us. But yeah, so the Green Zone is completely evacuated. We need Iraqi airspace. We invaded Iraq and spent trillions of dollars to like control it. I didn't think, I knew this. Maz was telling me all of the oil proceeds from Iraq live in the New York Federal Reserve. And we just send them pallets of cash basically if we approve their budget. Total colonial structure there. Yet despite that, they're shooting at us.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Yeah, despite all of the American troops that died over the years, they're shooting at us. And now speaking of which, task and purpose A11 is reporting, reporting that the army's enlistment age has been raised to 42. They also eased marijuana restrictions.

[Ryan Grim]

So that's huge. Like how are you going to find somebody that's going to pass that test? Yeah.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Now I will say people are just like, does it, does it sound like Ukraine A little bit. I will say the age limit for recruits being bumped from 35 to 42 in 2026. That actually might be long overdue just given how much healthier people are able to stay into their 40s. I don't know if it's related to a recruitment crisis because of this ongoing war. It may well be.

[Pete Hegseth (clip)]

We'll learn more about it.

[Emily Jashinsky]

But it also, like people are staying much more healthy into their, their 40s thanks to all kinds of different things.

[Ryan Grim]

Manosphere, keeping people fit.

[Emily Jashinsky]

That's right.

[Ryan Grim]

Service.

[Emily Jashinsky]

It's. Yep, that's right. It's all. It's all the bros. And let's do it.

[Ryan Grim]

Let's jump to a 13 real quick because that relates to this Iraq conflict, the Iraq US conflict. It's a VO. So you can just roll a 13. This is an FPV first person view drone that is attacking Camp Victory, which is the US based right off of the Baghdad airport. And what's unique about this one is that it identifies this extremely expensive radar attacks it destroys it and then keeps going. So hits, so hits that. Or I guess gets footage of. It's like there's. I guess there's two of them and one of them gets footage and then, then they go, they're like, all right, what else should we blow up while we're here? This is mostly evacuated base. And so there they find a helicopter and boom, there goes like an extremely expensive helicopter. Notice that they blurred that out. Apparently what they blurred out is I guess maybe they realized in post production they had blown up a medical evac helicopter, which is less cool for them. They're still happy to destroy any military hardware that we have, but I think they would prefer to get one of those helicopter gunships. And then probably somebody was as they're like editing the video, like, oh, shoot, I think this is a evac medical evac helicopter. But either way, point is the Iraqis are just making mincemeat of our hardware that we've left behind because there was a ceasefire that was agreed to with the militias so that we could evacuate these bases of personnel. And then. Right. I don't even know if we announced that we were ending the ceasefire. That's when we bombed these officials in Anbar province. Classic us, this like, oh, cease fire. Did we say ceasefire? We meant you cease fire at us so that we can leave the base and then we kill you. And so that's that. I think duplicity contributed to the broader Iraqi government saying, you know what, go ahead. You want to hit these creeps? Hit them.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Let's wrap on this news. This is going to be a 14 senior House Democrats telling Axios that the Iran War Powers Resolution is set to pass. Quote, most, if not all of the four defectors are expected to flip and vote for the measure this time because they were, quote, subject to intense criticism from the party's grassroots. What do you make of that?

[Ryan Grim]

So I think that means that Breaking Points viewers have basically bullied these, these Democrats who are pro war into supporting this War Powers Resolution. And the way you know that it very likely has the votes to pass in the House is that Jeffries and Gregory Meeks are now saying that they want to postpone it. And as I've been reporting from the very beginning, Democrats secretly like this war because they think it hurts Trump. And they think it, you know, that helps their ideological project of helping Israel and degrading Iran. Like a lot of Democrats support that ideological and imperial project. And all Democrats want Trump hurt. This is obviously hurting Trump. And so now that the House is on the precipice of a historic War Powers Resolution vote, that looks like it would now pass on the floor and put real restrictions on Trump. Now, what the Senate does and whether Trump abides by it is a different question. But having the House go on record against the war would be a consequential act. Now that we're on the cusp of that happening, Meeks and Jeffries are like, you know what, maybe we'll pause this and come back in like mid April and put it on the floor in like three weeks because there's a recess coming up. So Meeks has basically today and tomorrow to man up and put this thing on the floor. Otherwise, you have no choice but to believe what I've been telling you, that Democrats secretly want this war to continue. And what does that mean? That means not only are they fine with the Iranian, Iraqi, Kurdish, like all Israeli, all the people who are dying as a result of it, all of the pain that you're suffering and will suffer economically as a result of it. Now, in the weeks ahead, months ahead and years ahead, Democrats are okay with that because they might pick up an extra couple seats in the midterms. What are they going to do with those seats? Nothing. Like

[Emily Jashinsky]

vote to go to war.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah, they've already taken the House, probably.

[Emily Jashinsky]

I like the Massey idea of introducing a declaration of war and seeing exactly who's going to vote for it. I would love that to happen.

[Ryan Grim]

That would be nice.

[Emily Jashinsky]

That would be like Kryptonite. That would be the worst possible.

[Ryan Grim]

Don't think that would pass.

[Sarah Spain]

Yeah, this is Sarah Spain from Good Game with Sarah. Spain brought to you in part by Vital Farms Let's Talk Eggs Vital Farms Pasture raised eggs to be exact. My favorites. The only kind I've got in my fridge. No joke. And here' these aren't your average eggs. The hens live on open pastures with fresh air and sunshine all year long. They forage on local grasses and stretch their wings. They're living their best life. That care really shows in the taste. I love mine scrambled with a little butter or whipped up into a fancy frittata. And here's something most people don't know. You could trace your eggs back to the farm they came from. Seriously. Side of the carton you'll find the farm name. Type it [e-mail] farm and you'll get a 360 degree peek at the pasture. Plus Vitalpharms is a certified B corporation which means they're committed to improving the lives of people, animals and the planet through food. Eggs you could feel good about. So next time you're in the store, look for the black carton in the egg aisle and visit vitalfarms.com to learn more. Vital Farms Good eggs no shortcuts Find

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Are you kidding me?

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[Emily Jashinsky]

and let's move on to Lebanon Ryan because new developments we can start rolling B1 this is one footage from Tire and Man. We're looking at civilian neighborhoods here. If you're listening to this you're just seeing smoke rise from what does clearly

[Ryan Grim]

appear to be 5,000 year old city.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Yeah, it does clearly appear to be a civilian neighborhood right in the middle of what just looks like houses and office buildings and the like. Well, what we learned yesterday, B2, is that Israel's defense minister said the military will occupy southern Lebanon up to the Litany river, marking the first clear statement of intent to seize the territory, Reuters reported. Ryan, what does that mean? What are we looking at here as the Iran operation continues? Lebanon being in the shadow of that, I suppose Israel feels as though the time is ripe to move in.

[Ryan Grim]

Well, quote, unquote, Greater Israel has always included, at a bare minimum, all of this Lebanese land up to the Litany River. And for many, you know, much beyond that as well. It is, you know, it's just Preposterous. Like it's 2026. Like the world has kind of moved, we thought beyond this kind of thing where you just, you know, take what you can. We are constantly told Israel has a right to exist. Don't you believe Israel has a right to exist? Does Lebanon have a right to exist? Does it, like Syria have a right to exist? It's not just that Israel, like every other country, has a right to exist. Israel, unique among all other countries, has a right to exist. And the rest of your existence is negotiable based on Israeli impulses. Now, the problem, we can put up B3 here, the problem for Israel is people don't want them there. The Lebanese are still resisting them. So this quote that was circulating, how can we as Christians in this area not be with Hezbollah?

[Emily Jashinsky]

Yeah. This was from the Telegraph had this. The Telegraph had an article that was actually titled Christians in Hezbollah Unite against, quote, Epstein empire. And southern Lebanon is mostly Shia territory. Right, Ryan.

[Ryan Grim]

Epstein empire. That's even better than Epstein class.

[Emily Jashinsky]

Well, they're taking straight from Iran, the Epstein empire. Epstein class, Epstein propaganda. Although this one is sort of a gimme. Yeah, sort of a gimme as far as propaganda goes. But Christians and I mean. Well, actually, I'm sure it's true of a lot of Muslims in Lebanon as well. There's previously this tension, or not previously, but kind of always the simmering tension where even if you're Shia, you're Lebanese Christian, you have a little, like, there's friction with Hezbollah among a lot of Lebanese who say you're being controlled by Iran, you're a puppet of Iran. Well, guess what happens when these attacks start ratcheting up? You once again risk driving people closer to Hezbollah and I guess as an effect of that, closer to Iran. To the extent that Hezbollah and Iran are connected.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah. And so far, the Israelis have found southern Israel a little bit more difficult to take. Southern Lebanon, I'm sorry, southern Lebanon, northern Israel as they would like to see it, a little more difficult to take than they thought. They thought that they had completely annihilated Hezbollah. It's one more blow to their strategic approach that suggests that they're just one round of bombing and one round of assassinations away from a paradise of peace in which they are able to just seize other countries territory and just keep it indefinitely. Turns out people are pretty attached to the land that they've been living on for many thousands of years. And so that's going to be a problem for them because they have so far not been able to dislodge Hezbollah.

[Emily Jashinsky]

And Ryan, there's this Haaretz report that we want to talk about as well, before the starvation case. So the headline from Haaretz is Palestinian minor who died in Israeli prison was quote, likely starved but the case was closed. This just happened yesterday.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah. And I wanted to highlight this because Jasper, Nathaniel had written about this boy who was in prison, in detention, not charged with anything, and his roommate was the American child who Jasper had been reporting on relentlessly to get him and eventually got him released. He was accused of throwing stones, if you remember that kid's case. And that kid is now free. But he told Jasper the story of his roommate who was in horrific condition and died in prison without ever being charged or any explanation of why he was even in prison. And now this judge has said that that likely is what happened. And reading what, reading what happened to this boy in prison, I think

[Donald Trump (clip)]

we

[Ryan Grim]

shouldn't let his life pass without recognition of it. So Muhammad Ibrahim was, He was the 16 year old American that was with him. We can put this next element up on the screen. This is 17 year old Walid Ahmad, who was his kind of cellmate. And so he writes here, one of his cellmates, 17 year old Waleed Ahmad, whom he quickly grew close to, was visibly sicker and weaker than the others when Muhammad arrived. Skin and bones. Mohammed told me he had severe diarrhea, couldn't keep food down and shivered constantly. His skin was covered in scabies which was ripping through the prison, leaving all the boys infested and scratching themselves raw. The boys worried about Waleed, begged the guards to let him see a doctor. They refused. On March 22, 12 days after Muhammad arrived at the prison, Waleed collapsed during their daily trip outside the cell, falling face first and splitting open the bridge of his nose. A pool of blood formed around him. The boys rushed to help and were pepper sprayed. Boys went to help this boy who'd fallen on his face and were pepper sprayed. Which means Waleed, with whatever consciousness he still had left, was also pepper sprayed. He goes on. A pool of blood formed around him. Muhammad said Waleed remained conscious for about two minutes, looking around, scared, before losing consciousness again. A guard then arrived and dragged Waleed's motionless body across the floor by his hair. So this is a. They saw a 17 year old child smash his face on the pavement due to malnutrition that they were forcing on him, pepper sprayed him and then dragged him away by his hair. And then. So Jasper goes on, if we can put the next one up. Four days later, the boys learned that Waleed, who was never charged with a crime, was dead back home. This is in the U.S. mohammed's family heard that a teenage boy had died in Megiddo and spent an entire unbearable day trying to determine whether it was him. Instead, they learned it was a boy from a neighboring town. An Israeli surgeon who observed Waleed's autopsy reported that the 17 year old showed signs of prolonged starvation, extreme weight loss and muscle wasting, along with untreated colitis and scabies. A prison medical report also revealed that he had complained to the prison about inadequate food. Since at least December, his body has still not been returned to his family. That's from Jasper Nathaniel's substack a while ago. The news now in Haaretz is that a judge is basically confirming all of this, that this is all accurate and according to Haaretz, Israel is still keeping the body. Remember that Israel kept bombing Gaza and had refused to move to the next phase of the ceasefire because there was one remain of an IDF soldier that they had not been able to find and that Hamas said they weren't looking for because Hamas was like, we think he's over there, you control that area. They went weeks without even looking for it because they didn't want that body back, because they wanted to continue the attacks. But the point is the priority that they placed on getting those remains back, setting aside all of the depravity,

[Emily Jashinsky]

reasonable

[Ryan Grim]

case from beginning to end here, they still won't even give his body back.

[Emily Jashinsky]

And the case was closed and the

[Ryan Grim]

judge says we don't have enough evidence here. It likely looks like he was starved to death, but the autopsy is not definitive enough. So we're going to close the case.

[Emily Jashinsky]

I mean, it's, we covered. What was it just last week? The rape case that was dropped. The rape case. And there also wasn't enough evidence. There was CCTV footage that was, you know, you watch that, you pretty much know what's going on there. And a medical examination.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah, and before we departed this segment, I did want we can put up B5. I did want to just pay our respects to Hasam Shabbat, our drop site colleague who 1 year ago yesterday was assassinated by the Israelis. I remember we were actually on the show together around the time he was killed. And when I left the studio getting the news that he'd been killed, they targeted him. They put his picture up. They said they were going to kill him. They hunted him, they flew a drone over top of him, dropped a explosive device on him, split his body apart.

[Emily Jashinsky]

23 years old.

[Ryan Grim]

Yeah, he had his whole life ahead of him. Extremely talented journalist. We collected his stories onto one page that you can go check over at over at Dropsite. So didn't want that. Didn't want his anniversary of his assassination to go without without remarking on that.

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[Danielle Robay]

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[Sarah Spain]

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