Migrants Flood Spanish Border & Iran Gets Fact-Checked By CENTCOM | 7.31.26

Summary

Morning Wire Podcast Summary

Episode: Migrants Flood Spanish Border & Iran Gets Fact-Checked By CENTCOM
Date: July 31, 2026
Hosts: John Bickley (The Daily Wire), Georgia Howe
Guests: Bev Turner (GB News), Robert Peters (Heritage Foundation), Lyndon Blake (Daily Wire)

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Overview

This episode explores three major news stories:

• A dramatic surge of Moroccan migrants into Spain and Europe’s ongoing border challenges
• U.S.-Iran tensions amid military strikes and disinformation
• The WNBA's internal conflict over women’s sports, sparked by a team owner’s suspension

The discussion delves into the causes, political reactions, and broader implications of these current events, featuring perspectives from subject matter experts.

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1. Spanish Border Crisis: Mass Migrant Influx

Segment Start: [02:48]

Key Points

• Mass Arrival: Thousands of Moroccan and North African migrants have crossed into Spanish territory, utilizing a legal loophole that prevents immediate turnbacks if entry is by water.
• Legal Loophole: Due to a recent Spanish Supreme Court ruling, migrants arriving by sea must be processed as asylum seekers and cannot be summarily expelled, unlike those crossing land borders.
• Demographic: The migrants are largely young, healthy males – “These aren’t refugees who are on their last legs. … There’s a lot of six packs there.” — Bev Turner [03:25]
• Spain’s Response: Deployment of the military. Official stance is that it’s “not an emergency,” a reaction that Turner describes as “mind-blowing.”

  “Spanish government have said, no, it isn't an emergency. And that blows my mind as a European...” — Bev Turner [05:07]

• Morocco’s Position: Limited official response so far. Some cooperation to return migrants, but larger incentives are driving departures.

  “It isn't in Morocco's interest either to lose vast swathes of young working age people.” — Bev Turner [06:29]

• Public Opinion: Spain has remained generally more open to immigration compared to other EU nations, partly due to an aging populace and less history of terror attacks. However, Turner suggests this event could shift attitudes.

Notable Quotes

• Organized Migration:

  “The footage…amazing. Mostly young people that we're seeing here. The sheer number of this, clearly this is organized...” — John Bickley [04:52]

• Spain Bucking the Trends:

  “Spain does have an aging population. So they may be more open potentially to young, healthy people…But I'm not sure how happy they'll be feeling about this influx today.” — Bev Turner [05:57]

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2. Iran’s Claims vs. CENTCOM Reality

Segment Start: [07:16]

Key Points

• Recent Escalation: U.S. retaliates against Iran following a ballistic missile attack attempt. Iran claims to have downed U.S. F-35s and killed personnel — quickly denied by U.S. Central Command.

  “This claim by Iran that they've destroyed some F35s is just patently absurd.” — Robert Peters [08:04]

• Ongoing Campaign: The U.S. continues targeted strikes against IRGC commanders and military bases, especially near the Strait of Hormuz.
• Resource Strain: U.S. has used up a significant portion of its missile interceptors (about two-thirds of Patriot missiles) and is working to ramp up production to counterbalance the depletion.

  “We're getting pretty darn low on missile interceptors as well as some key long range fires such as jasms…” — Robert Peters [09:11]

• Challenges in Iran: The size, terrain, and underground facilities in Iran complicate military objectives.

  “Iran is the size of Western Europe, it's largely mountainous…and so many of them are underground.”

• Unreported Concern: The fate of 900 pounds of enriched uranium in Iran remains uncertain and could be pivotal.

  “Is the Iranian regime going to be allowed to hold onto it or are we going to forcibly seize it…” — Robert Peters [10:46]

• Budget Impact: Passage of a $1.15 trillion defense budget is expected to help replenish arsenals and rebuild the industrial base, though it will take time.

Notable Quotes

• On Targeting IRGC Leadership:

  “It's a relatively short term job. These guys…they get promoted and we smoke them again.” — Robert Peters [08:38]

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3. WNBA Owner Suspended Over Women’s Sports Debate

Segment Start: [11:41]

Key Points

• Incident: Celeste Keaton, co-owner of the Seattle Storm, is suspended and fined after berating young fans of WNBA star Sophie Cunningham, calling them “effing insane.”
• Background: The confrontation was rooted in Cunningham’s public stance: “men don’t belong in women’s sports.” Her position sparked heated responses during a game between the Seattle Storm and Indiana Fever.

  “You saw a grown man there, a Seattle Storm fan, causing a ruckus. Reports of other Seattle Storm fans trying to trip little girls…wearing Sophie Cunningham stuff.” — Lyndon Blake [13:17]

• League Response: The WNBA swiftly fined and suspended Keaton for her behavior, seen as necessary to avoid a PR crisis.

  “You cannot call anyone, but especially teenagers, younger fans effing insane and a person like in your position…” — Lyndon Blake [14:41]

• Broader Debate: The situation intensified public discussion over gender, fairness, and trans inclusion in women’s sports, particularly given Cunningham’s widely shared sentiment.
• Comparison: Blake notes the league’s selective enforcement, with no punishment for players suspected of betting on games.

Memorable Moments

• Sophie Cunningham’s Defense:

  “She says there's a place for everyone in this world. She simply does not think that men belong in women's sports. … That's something most of the country believes.” — Lyndon Blake [13:56]

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [02:48–07:14] — Spanish-Moroccan Migrant Surge, Legal Loopholes, EU Reactions
• [07:16–11:08] — Iran Conflict, Military Responses, Disinformation, U.S. Arsenal Concerns
• [11:41–15:27] — WNBA Ownership Suspension, Women's Sports Debate, Public Reactions

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Conclusion

The episode highlights contentious developments across global politics, security, and culture. Listeners are left with the sense that immigration, military readiness, and the definition of fairness in sports are all flashpoints facing significant public debate and rapidly evolving policy responses.

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For more details, listen to the full episode.

Transcript

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[John Bickley]

Spain sends in its military as a massive wave of thousands of Moroccans floods its shores.

[Bev Turner]

These migrants, under the tutelage of people traffickers, have found a loophole. If you come through the water, you can't be turned back.

[News Anchor]

What prompted the surge? And will Spain's government reverse course on its immigration policies?

[John Bickley]

I'm Daily Wire Executive editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Friday, July 31st. This is Morning Wire.

[News Anchor]

Centcom denies Iranian claims of downing F35s as the US ramps up strikes.

[WNBA Reporter]

We're going to be hitting them very

[Pray.com Narrator]

hard because it's our turn to hit them.

[John Bickley]

They know it's coming. And a WNBA owner is suspended while star Sophie Cunningham stands her ground on women's sports.

[News Anchor]

Thanks for waking up with MORNING wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know know

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[News Anchor]

Thousands of Moroccan migrants have surged onto the shores of Spain, prompting a response from the Spanish military as well as Morocco. The viral footage has sparked accusations of an invasion and follows Spain legalizing half a million immigrants just a few months ago.

[John Bickley]

Joining us now to discuss is Bev Turner, host of GB News, the Late Show Live. Bev, thanks for coming on.

[Bev Turner]

My pleasure, thank you.

[John Bickley]

So we've been tracking the migrant crisis in the UK and Europe with you and we've mentioned Spain before, but now we have this VI footage that has really shocked people across the globe. What are we witnessing right now in Spain?

[Bev Turner]

I mean, if you're shocked here in America, imagine what it feels like in the UK right now. These pictures are extraordinary. We're seeing thousands of Moroccans and North Africans basically going across this little patch of water. It's a Spanish territory because it's Spanish owned, effectively run. It's part of the eu. So because it's part of the eu, when these migrants arrive on the shores there, they have to be treated like a asylum seekers, which means they have to be assessed individually. They can't be turned back summarily. And one of the things which has changed, John, in recent times is there's been a Supreme Court ruling in Spain. And these migrants, under the tutelage of people traffickers, have found a loophole in the wording because effectively, if you come over a border, a hard border, a ground border, you can be turned almost straight back, but, but if you come through the water, you can't be turned back. And so what you're seeing are thousands of young people suddenly incentivized to swim. It's literally a swim. It can be as long as 45 minutes. The shortest part is about 3 to 400 meters of swimming. They have to do so. They're clearly, let's be honest, these aren't refugees who are on their last legs. As you can see the pictures of them running across the beaches. There's a lot of six packs there. These are people who go to the gym. They're very fit and healthy. They don't look like they're escap. Persecution.

[John Bickley]

Yeah, the, the footage again, like you said, amazing. Mostly young people that we're seeing here. The sheer number of this, clearly this is organized, you know, how has Spain responded so far to this very organized influx of migrants?

[Bev Turner]

Spanish government have said, no, it isn't an emergency. And that blows my mind as a European and I feel for the people who are living there. I mean, how, how terrified must you be? Not all of these men are going to cause any harm. Not all of them to be committing crime, but you just don't know who they are. You don't know what they're bringing with them to the island. You don't know what their intentions will be. But it's really genuinely a damning indictment on EU border control.

[News Anchor]

Now, something that's been kind of interesting is when you look at surveys across Europe, Spain has been an outlier when it comes to the population's attitude towards immigration. Other countries are really getting fed up with it. But Spaniards for some reason continue to have a modestly favorable opinion towards newcomers. Why do you think they're bucking the trend? And do you think that events like this are going to change that?

[Bev Turner]

Germany has seen a massive number of Islamist terror attacks. France has seen even more. Spain has actually managed to avoid some of that terrorism. And Spain does have an aging population. So they may be more open potentially to young, healthy people coming in to help prop up their economy. But I'm not sure how happy they'll be feeling about this influx today.

[John Bickley]

Now, we've heard about Spain's government's response. What about Morocco? Have we heard anything from their government?

[Bev Turner]

Not that I have seen, John, at this stage. I think Morocco apparently is working with the Spanish authorities to return some of these people. It isn't in Morocco's interest either to lose vast swathes of young working age people. That's a developing country. I've been to Morocco only on holiday and the comparisons between the beautiful five star resorts and the desperate poverty of the streets of Morocco, it is no surprise that some of those young people want to get into Europe. But knowing how attractive we are, we need to do better.

[John Bickley]

Well, there's certainly a sense that we're going to continue to see these major surges of migrants until there's a major shift in the approach to immigration in Europe. Beth, thank you so much for joining us.

[Bev Turner]

Thank you.

[News Anchor]

The US has retaliated with strikes against Iran after a failed surprise ballistic attack by the regime. It comes as other countries in the region are being pulled into the fighting.

[John Bickley]

Joining us now to discuss the Iran conflict is Robert Peters, Acting director of the Heritage foundation center for National Security. Great to have you on the show.

[Robert Peters]

Great to be here. Thanks.

[John Bickley]

So let's start with this sort of PR battle. Iran claimed yesterday that they had successfully taken out a few of our F35 fighters and killed some of our personnel. CENTCOM quickly refuted that statement, said, in fact, the strike on a base by Iran was thwarted. Once again, what have we seen in the last few days in terms of the reinvigoration of the conflict.

[Robert Peters]

Well, you're seeing a lot of strikes on Iran itself, primarily military targets. You're looking at taking out IRGC commanders as well as some key bases along the Strait of Hormuz itself. And so that's designed to degrade their ability to shut down the Strait of Hormuz as well as command and control of their forces. I will say this claim by Iran that they've destroyed some F35s is just patently absurd.

[John Bickley]

Yeah, and something we're used to seeing from them. Now you noted that we're targeting some IRGC leadership. How has that gone? Has that been a successful operation?

[Robert Peters]

Yeah, it's successful. I mean, we've taken down a lot of their commanders over the past six months. And this is basically the latest cadre. It's a relatively short term job. These guys have given the tempo at which we take them out, they get promoted and we smoke them again. So we've been highly successful on this type of campaign.

[John Bickley]

Now there are some concerns about our missile availability. We have depleted a lot of our arsenal. What is the latest on that front?

[Robert Peters]

So csis, another think tank across town put out some really great analysis in the last 24 hours in which they indicate we've expended roughly two thirds of our patriot missile interceptors. So, I mean, and those interceptors are great, they do a terrific job, but that's really a high demand, low density asset. And so we're getting pretty darn low on missile interceptors as well as some key long range fires such as jasms and so forth. We continue to degrade Iranian military capabilities and one may be forgiven to say, well, how come we haven't done that already? People should remember that Iran is the size of western Europe, it's largely mountainous and it has a population of around 90 million people. And so there's simply so many targets that the Iranians have and so many of them are underground. That's why it feels like we're on a merry go round that we can't get off is because there's simply so many of these capabilities that need to be serviced and destroyed.

[John Bickley]

We've just had the defense department budget successfully passed $1.15 trillion. Is that going to help with some of our arsenal?

[Robert Peters]

Yeah, it will. I mean, what that's going to do is enable private industry to expand production lines so we can build these things at scale. I mean, some of the missiles that we've expended, we're looking at quadrupling the production of these systems. But again, that's going to time and that's why such large defense budget is. We need to rebuild that defense industrial base.

[John Bickley]

Final question, anything you think is being underreported about the current standoff with Iran?

[Robert Peters]

I mean, the biggest thing to keep an eye on is those 900 pounds of enriched uranium that the Iranians have. What is the final disposition of that material? Is the Iranian regime going to be allowed to hold onto it or are we going to forcibly seize it from him? That's kind of the, the $64,000 question at this point.

[John Bickley]

Indeed. Well, thank you so much for joining us.

[Robert Peters]

Yeah, my pleasure. Thank you.

[WNBA Reporter]

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[John Bickley]

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[WNBA Reporter]

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[John Bickley]

A WNBA team owner has been suspended after berating young girls who are Sophie Cunningham's fans.

[News Anchor]

Joining us now is Daily Wire reporter Lyndon Blake. So, Lyndon, a lot of people won't know who Celeste Keaton is, but can you just describe her affiliation with the league and what happened earlier this week?

[WNBA Reporter]

She is a co owner of the Seattle Storm. Seattle Storm has caused a storm in WNBA headlines because of Sophie Cunningham's comments. The Fever went to Seattle on Tuesday night to play the Storm. And that's where you saw a clash of Seattle fans against people there that were just supporting Sophie Cunningham, all because she said that men don't belong in women's sports. No hate, nothing. Just saying in her opinion, there's no place for men and women's sports. Well, Ms. Celeste Keaton did not like that. And she literally called a couple of young Sophie Cunningham fans effing insane. She suspended for the Seattle Storm's next five home games and she also has to pay a fine. And Sophie was able to address that earlier this week. And she said what Celeste Keaton did was truly embarrassing. And I don't think you could have said it better yourself. That is embarrassing. But she wasn't the only one. You saw a grown man there, a Seattle store Storm fan causing a ruckus. There are also reports of other Seattle Storm fans trying to trip little girls that were there wearing Sophie Cunningham stuff. And there, there was this uproar because they're like, oh, there was this big rally. There was just a group of Sophie Cunningham fans outside the arena with signs that said like, thank you for speaking the truth, Sophie. Thank you for standing up for girls, Sophie. Families, little girls and the Seattle Storm fans apparently did not know how to handle it. And it's just another chapter in this war that seems to be breaking out if men belong in women's sports. It's an issue that so many people agree that men should not be in women's sports. But it is blown up this week because so rarely do you have a star like Sophie Cunningham say the truth and say that men don't belong in women's sports. You had a Seattle Storm player, Stephanie Dawson, wear this tank top that said trans rights are human rights as part of her game day fitness. That is a completely different issue. But they were saying it in response to Sophie's comments saying that men don't belong in women's sports. And the official Seattle Storm X account put it out with like the emojis that were screaming like shouting with that message. And to be clear, Sophie Cunningham has never said that she hates trans people. She says there's a place for everyone in this world. She simply does not think that men belong in women's sports. They have their own spaces for that and that's something most of the country believes. But again, when you have a star like her stand up for it, it causes an uproar for those that disagree.

[News Anchor]

Now is it a surprise that the league came down so hard on this owner rather than taking her side on this?

[WNBA Reporter]

I think some people consider that a shock because you have other situations in the WNBA right now like Paige Buckers and Angel Reese acting like they're betting on the All Star Game that just wrapped up, which is illegal by the way, but they are not going to have any punishment for that. So it seems like the WNBA sometimes will pick and choose what is punished. But they were, they moved rather quickly. It wasn't immediate, but moved rather quickly to find and suspend the co owner of the Seattle Storm. But talk about a PR nightmare. You cannot call anyone, but especially teenagers, younger fans effing insane and a person like in your position, it would have been a PR disaster for them. So the WNBA had to take action.

[News Anchor]

And it goes to show just how hot headed some people will get over this issue. Linden, thanks so much for reporting. Of course, thanks for waking up with us. The reporting that fuels this show is only possible because you tune in every day and because of our Daily Wire

[John Bickley]

subscribers to enjoy the show ad free and join our mission, become a [e-mail] we'll be back this evening with more news you need to know.

[Pray.com Narrator]

What if a few minutes with God could change the direction of your entire Day? With pray.com you can begin each morning with powerful daily prayers, inspiring Bible stories, and messages created to strengthen your faith. Whether you need peace, encouragement or a fresh start, pray.com helps you make prayer part of your everyday Life. Download the Pray.com app today.