Iran Strike: What’s Next? | 6.23.25

Summary

Morning Wire Podcast Summary: "Iran Strike: What’s Next?" | June 23, 2025

Presented by The Daily Wire, hosted by John Bickley and Georgia Howe.

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Introduction

In this pivotal episode of Morning Wire, hosts John Bickley and Georgia Howe delve into the historic and consequential United States strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. Released on June 23, 2025, the episode provides an in-depth analysis of the events, expert opinions, and the potential ramifications on global politics and security.

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US Military Strike on Iran

John Bickley opens the discussion by detailing the recent military action:

John Bickley (00:09): "President Trump orders B2 bombers to strike Iran, crippling its nuclear ambitions."

The episode recounts President Trump's decisive move, deploying B2 stealth bombers from Whiteman Air Force Base to target Iran's nuclear infrastructure. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth commends the bravery of the military personnel involved:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (00:14): "I want to recognize the pilots who flew those bombers, who flew those fighters, who flew those refuelers. Warriors."

This strike was not an isolated event. John Bickley explains the strategic execution:

Victoria Coates (02:25): "At midnight Friday, a group of American B2 stealth bombers took off... dropped 14 bunker buster bombs on the Fordow and Natanz facilities... the Pentagon said those strikes inflicted, quote, extremely severe damage and that Iran's enrichment program was, quote, obliterated."

President Trump's National Address

Following the strike, President Trump addressed the nation, asserting the success of the mission and setting the tone for future relations with Iran:

President Trump (04:05) [00:31]: "The US Military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime. Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success."

He further emphasized the balance between achieving peace and preparing for potential retaliation:

President Trump (04:31): "There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days. Remember, there are many targets left."

Defense Secretary’s Stand Against Regime Change

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth clarified the administration's stance, distancing the strike from any intent of regime change:

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (05:01): "This mission was not and has not been about regime change. The President authorized a precision operation to neutralize the threats to our national interests posed by the Iranian nuclear program and the collective self-defense of our troops and our ally Israel."

He praised President Trump's strategic acumen:

Pete Hegseth (05:28): "Now we have a President who actually knows how to accomplish America's national security objectives."

Iran’s Response and Potential Retaliation

The podcast explores Iran's immediate reaction and the spectrum of possible retaliatory actions. Victoria Coates outlines Iran's official stance:

Victoria Coates (05:54): "The regime quickly issued a threat to America saying, 'the strikes will have everlasting consequences' and that Tehran, 'reserves all options to retaliate.'"

Cabot Phillips delves into expert opinions on potential Iranian responses:

Cabot Phillips (07:06): "It's anyone's guess what retaliation might look like, ranging from targeted missile attacks on US bases to broader regional conflict."

Binham Bin Taliblu, Senior Iran Program Director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, provides a sobering analysis:

Binham Bin Taliblu (14:56): "The regime has been working through transnational criminal syndicates... to target folks on US Soil. They have attempted to kill American figures by collaborating with Mexican drug cartels and Canadian biker gangs."

Impact on Global Oil Markets

The strike has also affected global oil dynamics. Victoria Coates reports Iran's strategic move to clamp down on oil exports:

Victoria Coates (07:13): "Iran's parliament voted to close the Strait of Hormuz, a critical passageway for a quarter of the world's oil. While the enforcement mechanism remains unclear, the impact on global oil prices could be significant."

Jonathan Schanzer, Senior Vice President for Research at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, shares insights on the economic repercussions:

Jonathan Schanzer (07:41): "The closure would primarily affect China, Iran's largest oil customer, and cause global commodity shocks. However, shutting the Strait would also deprive Iran and its allies financially, a move likened to 'cutting off your nose to spite your face.'"

International Reactions

The international community's response has been varied. Victoria Coates assesses the global stance:

Victoria Coates (08:54): "European responses have been tepid, with France expressing concern over potential escalation. Russia and China show a nervous reaction, with President Putin set to meet Iran's president, though tangible support remains limited."

An unnamed national security expert adds:

Unnamed Expert (08:54): "Russia and China are considering UN Security Council resolutions condemning the US action, yet their support for Iran is more symbolic than substantive."

Security Concerns and US Preparedness

Amidst escalating tensions, the podcast highlights heightened security measures within the United States:

Victoria Coates (09:35): "Authorities across major US cities are on high alert for potential terror attacks, with measures deployed to protect religious, cultural, and diplomatic sites."

Binham Bin Taliblu emphasizes the evolving nature of Iran's terrorist tactics:

Binham Bin Taliblu (14:56): "Iran leverages transnational criminal networks to execute attacks on US soil, making traditional defense mechanisms less effective."

Expert Insights and Analysis

Throughout the episode, several experts provide critical perspectives:

• Cabot Phillips ensures listeners are kept abreast of the latest developments and expert opinions.

• Victoria Coates offers comprehensive coverage of both governmental and expert analyses, ensuring a balanced view of the situation.

• Jonathan Schanzer and Binham Bin Taliblu provide nuanced takes on the geopolitical and security implications of the US strike and Iran’s potential responses.

Conclusion

The Morning Wire episode "Iran Strike: What’s Next?" delivers a thorough examination of the recent US military action against Iran, exploring the immediate outcomes, potential retaliations, and the broader implications for global security and economics. With contributions from key experts and real-time reporting, listeners gain a comprehensive understanding of this critical moment in international relations.

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For more updates and detailed analyses, tune into future episodes of Morning Wire by The Daily Wire.

Transcript

[President Trump]

Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.

[John Bickley]

President Trump orders B2 bombers to strike Iran, crippling its nuclear ambitions.

[Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth]

I want to recognize the pilots who flew those bombers, who flew those fighters, who flew those refuelers. Warriors. I want to recognize the sailors on those destroyers in those subs on those carriers.

[Georgia Howe]

Warriors.

[John Bickley]

I'm Daily Wire Executive Editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Monday, June 23rd, and this is Morning Wire.

[Cabot Phillips]

Will Russia and China come to Iran's defense and will the US Order boots on the ground?

[Jonathan Schanzer]

We want to see them stay as far away as possible. Let this one leg of the stool collapse.

[John Bickley]

And we speak to an expert on Iran's military who says it will be more motivated than ever to strike back against the West.

[Binham Bin Taliblu]

Make no mistake. Still want to wash away blood with blood.

[Cabot Phillips]

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

[Georgia Howe]

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[John Bickley]

In a historic move Saturday, the United States joined Israel's war against Iran bombing key nuclear facilities.

[Cabot Phillips]

Daily Wire senior editor Cabot Phillips has the details. So Cabot after an intense few days of speculation, President Trump did move to Intervene in Iran. What's the latest?

[Victoria Coates]

Yeah. Last we spoke, President Trump had said he'd make a final decision within two weeks. Clearly, he did not need that much time. At midnight Friday, a group of American B2 stealth bombers took off from the Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. A number of those planes were noticed flying over the Pacific towards Guam. But it turns out those planes were a decoy for the main group of seven B2s, which flew undetected 18 hours nonstop to Iran, refueling along the way. Once they entered Iranian airspace, they were then joined by American fighter jets to defend against any surface to air missiles or other Iranian planes. But none would come. Within minutes, Those bombers dropped 14 bunker buster bombs on the Fordow and Natanz facilities. Those are the crown jewels of the Iranian nuclear program. They were also buried deep underground. That's why those bunker buster bombs were needed. Moments later, a third nuclear site was bombarded with Tomahawk missiles launched from a US Submarine in the region. The Pentagon said those strikes inflicted, quote, extremely severe damage and that Iran's enrichment program was, quote, obliterated. But we are still waiting for final intel on just how much nuclear material may have been moved out of those facilities ahead of time and what the full assessment of the capabilities at those facilities will be.

[Cabot Phillips]

Well, President Trump addressed the nation on Saturday night shortly after this mission was carried out. What did he say?

[Victoria Coates]

Yeah. He gave a live address to the nation Saturday night from the White House. Flanked by VP Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, he called the operation a massive success.

[President Trump]

The US Military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime. Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success.

[Victoria Coates]

President Trump went on to make clear to the Ayatollah that he was prepared to launch further strikes if they retaliated against the US or did not agree to a peace deal.

[President Trump]

There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for Iran far greater than we have witnessed over the last eight days. Remember, there are many targets left.

[Victoria Coates]

Now, the administration may be celebrating the apparent success of these strikes, but they're making clear to the American people that they want to avoid a drawn out war like we saw in Iraq and Afghanistan. As part of that message, Defense Secretary Hegseth emphasized on Sunday that the administration was not only looking to avoid a drawn out war, but also a regime change.

[Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth]

This mission was not and has not been about regime change. The President authorized a precision operation to neutralize the threats to our national interests. Posed by the Iranian nuclear program and the collective self defense of our troops and our ally Israel.

[Victoria Coates]

For his part, Vice President Vance went a step further on Meet the Press, saying the United States was not at war with Iran, only Iran's nuclear program.

[Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth]

Now we have a President who actually knows how to accomplish America's national security objectives. So this is not going to be some long drawn out thing we've got in. We've done the job of setting their nuclear program back.

[Victoria Coates]

And according to Axios, the President told Prime Minister Netanyahu that he, quote, does not want to continue attacks on Iran. He is ready to do so if the Iranians react against American forces, but he wants peace.

[Cabot Phillips]

Now let's get to Iran's response. What have they said?

[Victoria Coates]

Well, as expected, the regime quickly issued a threat to America saying quote, the strikes will have everlasting consequences and that Tehran, quote, reserves all options to retaliate. Now as for what exactly that retaliation looks like, it's anyone's guess. But producing to be a few potential scenarios emerging. First, fearing further strikes from the U.S. iran could stand down and agree to new peace talks now that Trump has shown he's willing to hit them on their turf. Obviously that would be the best case scenario, but it seems unlikely. Second, it's possible the Ayatollah responds the way he did when Trump took out General Soleimani back in 2020. In that instance, Iran launched a few missiles at American bases in the Middle east, but ultimately did not inflict any casualties. Most experts viewed that response at the time as more of a face saving measure than a true attempt to retaliate. Iranian officials at the time called it a quote, slap at the US So they could take that approach again. Third, they could launch an all out barrage on American military bases in Iraq, Syria and Kuwait. While those missiles have largely been shot down by Israel, the concern is that our bases don't have the same sort of advanced air defense system. So that option could be devastating and obviously result in significant escalation.

[Cabot Phillips]

Now, beyond military retaliation, they have moved to clamp down on some of their oil exports. So what kind of effect will that have?

[Victoria Coates]

Yeah, hours after these strikes, Iran's parliament did vote to close the Strait of Hormuz. That's the narrow strip of water between Iran and Oman where a quarter of the world's oil passes through. Now, it's unclear whether the Iranians actually have a mechanism for enforcing such a closure, but if they did, it would have likely an enormous impact on global oil prices, including potentially those here in the US for more on that, we spoke with Jonathan Schanzer, senior Vice President for research at the foundation for the Defense of Democracies.

[Jonathan Schanzer]

The people who are the most unhappy about this right now are the Chinese. They are the ones that are counting on Iranian shipments of oil. They're the, I think, the largest customer for Iranian oil. And so they're unhappy. But, of course, this is a commodity. It's a global commodity, which means you're going to start to see shocks. And that's exactly what I would have expected from the Islamic Republic of Iran after attacks along the lines of what we saw last night by the United States. They want to try to make Americans feel pain at the pump. And absolutely, that's what we're likely to see for at least the short term. But you've got to remember that this is also the financial lifeline for the regime. So the more they shut off the straight, the more they're depriving themselves and their allies. That is not going to play well. This is a little bit like cutting off your nose to spite your face. And so. And by the way, that's consistent with everything that we've seen from the Islamic Republic. They could have stood down a long time ago and saved themselves this pain. And yet here we are.

[Victoria Coates]

We also talked with Victoria Coates, a national security expert at Heritage, for her take on the response that we've seen so far from our allies and adversaries.

[Unnamed National Security Expert]

There are sort of a range of responses. You have a typically kind of tepid European response, the French saying that they're concerned there could be an escalation. Nobody likes the Iranian nuclear program. You're having a little bit more, I think, of a nervous reaction out of Russia and China. There are reports that President Putin is going to meet with the president of Iran tomorrow, but they've really not been able to do anything to help. And then some of Iran's friends, like Pakistan and Russia and China, are considering United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the United States action. But at that point this point, rather, I considered that something of a badge of honor.

[Victoria Coates]

And with all this talk of retaliation, it must be mentioned there is concern that Iran could respond by activating terror cells around the world. Remember, they're the number one state sponsor of terror. It's also possible these strikes could motivate radicals unaffiliated with the regime. With that in mind, authorities in cities around the US Say they are on high alert for terror attacks. The nypd, for example, is deploying additional resources to, quote, religious, cultural, and diplomatic sites across the city. We saw similar statements from D.C. louisiana and elsewhere.

[Cabot Phillips]

Well, people have absolutely been on edge and have been for a few days now. Cab, thanks for reporting.

[Victoria Coates]

Absolutely.

[Georgia Howe]

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[Cabot Phillips]

The United States direct attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities has heightened concerns about Iran targeting Americans abroad and at home.

[John Bickley]

Joining us to discuss is Senior Iran Program Director and Senior Fellow at the foundation for Defense of Democracies, Binham Bin Taliblu. Binham, thank you so much for coming on.

[Binham Bin Taliblu]

Pleasure to be with you. Thanks for having me.

[John Bickley]

Look, there's a lot of trepidation about the potential threat posed by Iran in terms of its ability to target Americans, whether that be in bases in the Middle east or here at home. Let's start with how much damage these attacks by first Israel and now the US have actually done on Iran. How crippled are they?

[Binham Bin Taliblu]

Well, there's two different sets of attacks. There's Israel's larger strikes against Iran's military and missile infrastructure, which are significant, taking out almost two thirds of the regime's long range strike capabilities and launchers. We're waiting to see how many more ballistic missiles the Islamic Republic has in the tank, but thus far they're still fighting, they're still firing. And you have news of Israeli aerial operations going further into Iran's center and even into Iran's east to target the regime's long range strike capabilities. Now Israel has fracked many of Iran's nuclear facilities as well, but the US Came in, in a very historic strike went after three facilities, including the subterranean hardened underground Fordo fuel enrichment plant, which is under 300ft of concrete. We're still waiting for a proper battle damage assessment. You've had U.S. military officials say this was severely set back. That might be a conservative estimate, or it might be a more liberal estimate, depending on that battle damage assessment. But make no mistake, military force has been meaningfully introduced into the equation, some could say for the first time directly on Iranian territory when it comes to the US and stopping Iran's nuclear program. And politically that is impactful just as much as a massive ordinance penetrator.

[John Bickley]

Now, the US did take steps to fortify ourselves defensively over the last week. What actions do you know that we've actually already taken and what else do we need to do in terms of better fortifying our various strategic locations in the Middle East?

[Binham Bin Taliblu]

The US hasn't put much meat on the bone when it comes to saying explicitly what it did when it comes to these fortifications. The base hardening is a thing you've seen the US learn to do, particularly as Iran's long range strike capabilities evolve, get more precise, get to be more battlefield relevant. But most importantly, there is the introduction of missile and air defense assets into the region, making sure that anywhere, not just in the Middle east, but anywhere US persons are deployed, that they are protected with whatever tier air and missile defense that is required. I would say also prior to this crisis even being triggered, you saw the downsizing of some of the US diplomatic facilities in the region. Basically this is a logistical move designed to make sure that these facilities are less of a target that can be used by the regime to spill blood.

[John Bickley]

We've been watching closely to see how Russia and China would respond. What's the latest in terms of signs that they're taking any action to support Iran or not?

[Binham Bin Taliblu]

Thus far, the actions taken to support Iran are not meaningful. They really exist on paper. This could change in the coming days. Hopefully US is able to deter wider entry of other great powers and European competitors into this conflict thus far as it has been able to deter Iran from widening it. But make no mistake, even though Iran is part of this axis of aggressors or axis of authoritarians, these folks are not liberal democrats. They do not care for one another. They share the same goals of trying to revise the regional balance, of working towards a more anti American and illiberal world order. But they're not going to spend that much capital bailing another one of them out when they themselves are stuck in the mud.

[John Bickley]

There's a big fear of terrorist attacks targeting Americans, whether abroad or here at home. How realistic is that threat?

[Binham Bin Taliblu]

While the Islamic Republic does have a transnational terrorist apparatus on the US Homeland, this apparatus has been evolving. But in America for a little over a decade and a half, the Islamic Republic has been looking to work through cutouts, particularly transnational criminal syndicates that mask how and who it's working with to be able to use criminal networks and basically gangs to go after folks on US Soil. Remember, the Iranians have tried to kill on US Soil the Saudi ambassador by working with Mexican drug cartels, and they've tried to go after others by even using a Canadian biker gang. So the regime is looking to work with these transnational criminal networks.

[John Bickley]

Let's hope all this heightened vigilance will keep Americans safe. Benham, thank you so much for joining us.

[Georgia Howe]

Thanks for having me.

[Cabot Phillips]

Thanks for waking up with us. And if you're watching on YouTube, please like and subscribe. We'll be back later this evening with more news you need to know.