THE WAR ROOM WITH STEPHEN K. BANNON (EP.5184)

Summary

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Podcast Summary: The War Room with Stephen K. Bannon (Ep. 5184)

Podcast: Real America’s Voice (iHeartPodcasts)
Host: Steve Bannon
Air Date: March 3, 2026

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Overview

This episode dives into the explosive and rapidly escalating U.S.–Iran conflict initiated after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran, unpacks the political and strategic consequences across the Middle East and beyond, and discusses the domestic backdrop of the Texas primaries. Bannon and his guests dissect the reasoning, military strategy, intelligence issues, and potential fallout—both military and electoral—while emphasizing grassroots conservative and MAGA movement perspectives. The tone is urgent, deeply critical of establishment decision-making, and focused on the repercussions for American power, security, and elections.

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Key Themes & Insights

1. The New U.S.–Iran War: Trigger, Escalation, and Fallout

• The episode opens with headlines and reports on the outbreak of war between the U.S. (under President Trump) and Iran, highlighting:
  • The alleged lack of imminent threat from Iran in U.S. intelligence assessments.
  • Influence from Israel and Saudi Arabia in pressing for military action.
  • Quick expansion of the conflict to involve multiple countries and significant U.S. military casualties.
  • Closure of the Strait of Hormuz and global energy disruptions.

“Just 72 hours after the US and Israel began bombing Iran, the war has already consumed nearly the entire Middle east, reached the gates of Europe and raised new fears of attacks on American soil.” — Narrator/Reporter [00:53]

2. Objectives & Strategy: Clarity or Chaos?

• Critical Scrutiny of Objectives:
  An interviewer presses General Jack Keane for clarity about the U.S.'s objectives—is it regime change, or merely degrading Iran's capabilities?

“Do we understand the objectives? ... Degrading their missile capability requires a different investment and then regime change.” — Interviewer [03:04]

• General Jack Keane responds:
  The strategy is to degrade both the Iranian government's ability to function and its military assets, aiming to destabilize the regime and “set the conditions for its collapse,” as also desired by Israel.

“We're going to strip away all of that will ... take down the ballistic missile systems, the drones capability ... we're going to take that down as well.” — General Jack Keane [04:00]

3. Historical Parallels & Skepticism

• Comparisons to Iraq War:
  Analysts draw ominous parallels to the 2003 U.S. invasion of Iraq, warning of “years and years of chaos and violence and terrorism”—including the rise of ISIS—as potential outcomes of another large-scale Middle East intervention.

“Now we're going ahead and carrying out this major attack against a very large country, Iran, which is much larger than Iraq. ... This is such a tragic, tragic, senseless and needless loss of life.” — Political Analyst [05:48]

4. Domestic Political Ramifications

• Texas Primaries as a Battleground:
  The war’s shadow looms over political contests at home, especially in Texas, where fierce Republican Senate and AG primaries are underway, and the conservative grassroots are mobilized against both early voting and establishment candidates.

• Trump Using War as Electoral Justification:
  Democracy Docket writer Marcolias highlights Trump's social media statements linking military strikes to conspiracy theories on election fraud, warning that the war is being primed to rationalize restrictions on voting in the 2026 midterms.

“Trump is setting the stage to claim extraordinary powers ... banning mail in voting ... all of this will be justified on the grounds of national security.” — Marcolias [08:02]

5. International Dynamics: Allies, Adversaries, and Energy

• Saudi–Iranian Tensions:
  Sam Fattah details how long-standing sectarian tensions (Sunni vs. Shia) are erupting, with Saudi Arabia moving troops into Bahrain to suppress Shia unrest, and the Persian Gulf region teetering.

“You've taken the lid off of 1500 years of animosity. So there is a lot of potential here for this to add fuel to the fire.” — Sam Fattah [17:02]

• Operational & Intelligence Concerns:
  Bannon and Fattah argue that U.S. strategy is too reliant on Israeli intelligence, possibly overestimating the likelihood of regime collapse and underestimating Iranian resilience and adaptability.

“We are way too dependent upon intelligence ... from the Israelis ... they put a spin on this, that we were going to schwack these guys … and then somehow, magically, the regime would topple.” — Sam Fattah [31:43]

• Military Supply & Escalation:
  Brandon Weichert warns that U.S. missile defense and weapon stockpiles are being dangerously depleted, causing concern in Asian allies (notably South Korea and Japan), and raising the risk of unfinished objectives in Iran and exposure to China in the Indo-Pacific.

“We're draining centcom's stockpiles ... then pivot and pull whatever we can from Indopacom ... which ... leaves a gigantic gaping hole for the Chinese in Taiwan or the South China Sea.” — Brandon Weichert [24:09]

6. Prospects for Regime Change

• Skepticism on Internal Uprising:
  Both Weichert and Fattah are clear: expectations that the Iranian public will overthrow the regime are probably unfounded, especially after heavy-handed repression and the killing of protest leaders.

“If there is any prospect for regime change, it'll come from some guys at senior levels effectively staging a coup ... I think it's going to get even uglier.” — Sam Fattah [39:09]

7. Grassroots MAGA & Populist Organization

• Grassroots Motivation:
  Bannon spotlights the organizational backbone of the MAGA movement in battleground states like Pennsylvania (Bucks County), noting its diverse demographic energy and its role in driving local anti-establishment actions such as Proposition 10 (anti-Sharia law).

“The MAGA movement, I was down there every other day in the run up to the election. So you have incredible energy in this movement.” — Sam Fattah [46:10]

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Memorable Quotes & Notable Moments

• General Jack Keane’s Strategic Breakdown [04:00]
  "We're going to strip away all of that will ... take down the ballistic missile systems, the drones capability ... the infrastructure that supports and sustains that on the governance side as well as on the military and police side ... the Israelis ... are attempting to set conditions to put this regime on a pathway for its collapse."

• Sam Fattah on Intelligence Failures [31:43]
  "We are way too dependent upon intelligence ... from the Israelis ... they put a spin on this, that we were going to schwack these guys ... and then somehow, magically, the regime would topple."

• Brandon Weichert on Military Overreach [24:09]
  “[The] plan is to drain the CENTCOM AOR and then pivot and pull whatever we can from Indopacom ... which ... leaves a gigantic gaping hole for the Chinese in Taiwan or the South China Sea or the East China Sea to really have some real victories over us.”

• Marcolias on Domestic Authoritarian Drift [08:02] “Donald Trump is planning to use his attack on Iran to justify a power grab over voting in the 2026 midterms ... citing foreign interference as the motivation or justification for unilateral executive action.”

• Steve Bannon’s Call to Action [12:19] “This is the primal scream of a dying regime. Pray for our enemies because we're going medieval on these people.”

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Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | Highlights | |-----------|---------|------------| | 00:00–02:43 | Opening News Recap | Outbreak of U.S.–Iran conflict, casualties, energy crisis | | 02:43–05:48 | General Jack Keane Q&A | Debate on U.S. objectives; regime change vs. capability degradation | | 06:51–08:02 | Texas Primaries | Context on Republican infighting, importance of grassroots | | 08:02–09:14 | Marcolias: Election Security | Trump’s rhetoric linking war and election legitimacy | | 12:11–12:53 | Bannon & Commentary | Apocalyptic framing, populist defiance | | 17:02–20:54 | Fattah on Sectarian Dynamics | Saudi moves in Bahrain, Sunni–Shia tensions | | 22:41–24:09 | Weichert: Logistics Crisis | Ally concerns, military drawdown, global risk | | 31:43–34:39 | Fattah & Weichert: Intelligence | Doubts on Israeli/U.S. planning, supply rates | | 38:09–39:09 | Regime Change Prospects | Sober assessment: popular uprising unlikely | | 40:08–41:10 | Grassroots Shoutout | Bucks County, MAGA base energy | | 46:10–47:46 | PA Movement Diversity | Grassroots transcending demographic lines |

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Additional Observations

• The episode is highly critical of the apparent strategic drift in U.S. war planning, U.S. subordination to Israeli and Saudi interests, and the risk of a drawn-out, destabilizing quagmire.
• The guests warn of a dangerous mix of overconfidence (“regime will fall like a house of cards”) and supply shortages that could have ripple effects on U.S. military readiness globally.
• The hosts and guests view domestic populist energy in the conservative grassroots as both a vehicle for political renewal and a bulwark against what they see as establishment failures and external threats.

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Conclusion

This episode offers a wide-ranging, sometimes chaotic, yet deeply informative look at the new U.S.–Iran war. Bannon and his expert guests dissect the origins, objectives, intelligence controversies, and likely consequences, both abroad and on the home front. The show ends with a rallying call for populist vigilance—both in war and in the defense of electoral integrity—warning of establishment miscalculation and the importance of grassroots mobilization.

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Transcript

[Steve Bannon]

This is an iHeart podcast. Guaranteed Human.

[Narrator/Reporter]

We don't know why Donald Trump just started this war in Iran. Washington Post reported this weekend. And the New York Times reported today that Trump did it basically as a favor, that there was no US Intelligence that Iran posed any imminent threat to us. But Saudi Arabia and Israel told Trump to do it. And, and so he did it because, hey, you know, America first strongman. We're just going to put our military at the disposal of other countries because they can tell Trump what to do with it. Quote, the attack came despite U.S. intelligence assessments that Iran's forces were unlikely to pose an immediate threat to the US Mainland within the next decade. But he did it anyway because Israel and Saudi Arabia told him to, and he apparently does what they say. And now six American service members are known to have been killed and many more injured. There's also new reporting tonight that the US Embassy in Riyadh in Saudi Arabia has been hit by two drones. The Washington Post is now also reporting that two Defense Department employees, U.S. defense Department employees have been wounded in an Iranian drone attack on a hotel in Bahrain. And I mean, in terms of what we are heading into and the kind of risk we're heading into, these are the sort of headlines that we're seeing tonight. Quote, earthquake in the Gulf. Iran war expands to a dozen countries in 72 hours. Just 72 hours after the US and Israel began bombing Iran, the war has already consumed nearly the entire Middle east, reached the gates of Europe and raised new fears of attacks on American soil. This is the front page of the New York Times that we woke up to today. U.S. troops kill this blast jolt Mideast fear of wider war after Iran's response. Reuters. Dueling headlines here. Iran conflict widens to Lebanon. Kuwait mistakenly downs US Jets. That's there right next to Iran. Says Strait of Hormuz closed. Warns it will attack ships trying to pass. And indeed, just on the global energy front, we have seen natural gas prices spike by 50% in Europe. One of the world's largest exporters of natural gas is Qatar. Qatar now says they have stopped all production of natural gas. And indeed, Iran says it has closed the Strait of Hormuz, through which passes 30% of the world's oil and 20% of the world's natural gas. They say it is closed 100%.

[Interviewer]

Clear to me, General. And that's not to suggest that I don't support 100% what is happening, nor that I 100% offer my support. I just think I want to ask a couple of critical Questions. And I hope you know how much respect I have for your service. And I think it goes without saying to anybody watching how much respect I have for the men making these decisions.

[General Jack Keane]

You don't have to patronize me. Just ask the question. Go ahead, come on, ask it.

[Interviewer]

To be clear, General, I'm not patronizing you. I'm trying to have a very serious conversation in front of the American people. The men making these decisions have my utmost respect. This is less about you than everybody making these decisions. And this is about the American people understanding the investment that lies before them. Do we understand the objectives? We've seen the price in the past of having unclear objectives. And maybe you do and maybe the Secretary of War does. But I think the American people also need to understand. And when you lay out the way that Iran has behaved towards the United States is a justification, but it's a justification for regime change. And I just heard something different from the Secretary of State. The reason I think this is a point of clarification that I need and I think that a lot of the American people need is because degrading their missile capability requires a different investment and then regime change. So what I want to be clear about is what level investment are we looking at here?

[General Jack Keane]

I thought it's pretty clear. I mean what we're trying to do is take down what sustains this regime and keeps it be able to function. That is their governance system with leadership, the irgc, the Basel Militia and the police that are repressing the people and strip away all of that capability. And what I'm talking about is US and Israeli objectives here because this is a combined operation that is critical to success here. And then it becomes what are we doing about their capabilities to attack us. And that has been pretty clear. We're going to strip away all of that will. We're going to take down the ballistic missile systems, the drones capability and whatever they. They made the decision to recover their nuclear weapons, but they haven't done much about it. And whatever that not done much about it is we're going to take that down as well. So we're going to have a regime that is veryis going to be challenged to govern it, stripped away its leadership capability to do it. The infrastructure that supports and sustains that on the governance side as well as on the military and police side and people that are repression, repressing the people and then take down all the weapons. That is very clear. And then when you bring in the Israelis, they are attempting to set conditions to put this regime on A pathway for its collapse. They're not saying they're going to force its collapse. They're saying they're setting the conditions for its collapse. I think those objectives are pretty clear in terms of what we're trying to do here.

[Political Analyst/Commentator]

Well, Michael, I think this is the second time this century that the United States has made a drastically bad mistake in terms of engaging in conflict in the Middle East. The first one was in 2003 when we invaded Iraq. And that ushered in then years and years of chaos and violence and terrorism. It gave birth to ISIS. And we're just getting over 20 years of that confusion and chaos. Now we're going ahead and carrying out this major attack against a very large country, Iran, which is much larger than Iraq. And there's a lot of history here, obviously in the region and so on. But what we've seen in the past several days is devastating attacks against Iran and the Iranian government. The Iranian regime is not relenting at this point. And that's why they're throwing everything they have at nearby targets, whether it be US Bases or the Gulf, Arab states, whatever. This is such a tragic, tragic, senseless and needless loss of life that we're seeing right now.

[Reporter/Announcer]

Voters have already arrived here to a polling side in Dallas as they are preparing to cast their votes in two increasingly competitive primaries in this race for U.S. senate. On the Republican side, you have Senator John Cornyn, who is fighting for political survivor survival as he is facing a challenge from the state's conservative Attorney General Ken Paxton and Congressman Wesley Hunt. Now, this has been one of the most closely watched races of this cycle so far, and it's already drawn in a lot of money. The GOP and the Democratic primaries here in Texas amount to the most expensive senate primaries in U.S. history. Now, Cornyn has tried to argue that some of the political baggage surrounding Ken Paxton, relating to his past legal and personal scandals, that that would be detrimental to Republicans here in Texas in November if he is nominated. But Paxton so far has maintained a lot of support with a conservative base here in Texas. Now, polling has shown this three way contest incredibly tight. And if no Republican receives a 50% majority, this will head to a late May runoff.

[Marcolias (Democracy Docket writer)]

We've been covering the varying explanations offered by Donald Trump and his cabinet for the war Iran. Well, hours after launching the war in Iran, Donald Trump took to social media and seemed to link the military strikes to conspiracy theories that Iran was somehow responsible for his defeat in the 2020 presidential election. Those claims could be dismissed as wackadoo or bogus but our next guest warns that it is actually a sign of what Donald Trump will try to do in our upcoming elections. Marcolias writes in Democracy Docket this quote, donald Trump is planning to use his attack on Iran to justify a power power grab over voting in the 2026 midterms. He adds that Trump's posts about Iran in the immediate aftermath of the strikes are, quote, just the latest instance of Trump citing foreign interference as the motivation or justification for unilateral executive action. Trump is setting the stage to claim extraordinary powers to take over the 2026 elections, from banning mail in voting to imposing new obstacles to voting registration. All of this will be justified on the grounds of national security, an area where presidents enjoy their broadest powers and typically receive the greatest deference from the courts.

[Political Analyst/Commentator]

What's clear to me is that Benjamin Netanyahu, who has long wanted to have this type of military operation against Iran, he was able to bring Trump along and got him to engage in something like this. The rationale that Marco Rupio gave today, well, they were going to get hit. So we knew that they were going to lash back and that's why we had to hit them. We could have said to the Israelis, you do not go forward because we're not going to help you. Don't we have leverage over Israel? You would think, yes. But going ahead and with these types of strikes, when we were engaged in negotiations with Iran for the second time in a year and for the second time in a year while negotiations are underway, they get hit. So clearly there's been deception to the Iranians. And my view is that Donald Trump, irrespective of the intelligence, irrespective of the fact that the nuclear program has been damaged and hubbled significantly as a result of last year's attacks, they are making things, things up about what the Iranians are doing. And when they say that, you know, the regime is, you know, tottering, it's not. Yes, there are a lot of Iranian people who despise the regime and hated Khamenei and are glad that he's dead. But also the regime and Khamenei and the theocracy have a lot of people who supported them. It's a country of over 92 million people. And so they have their equivalent of, in the rural areas, conservative areas, sort of the MAGA equivalent in Iran that really has seen what the United States is doing now as just one example of the United States carrying out violent attacks inside of the Middle east and directed against Iran.

[Political Commentator]

Oh, very serious stuff. Because he's going to package all of this up for two audiences. The first is his aggrievement audience, the people who want a permission structure to deny the outcome of elections that they lost. And then the second is, as I point out in the piece, the courts, because the courts are most deferential, like two presidents when it comes to foreign policy and national security. Like that's a real thing. And we have seen a lot of damage be done. Look at the migrants who are shipped to the Gulag in El Salvador. You know, until that unraveled, there was a lot of damage done to those people. So I don't think this is going to be a smooth process. I'm optimistic that in the end we will, we will fight this back and we will win in court as we did in, in, in the aftermath of 2020. But everybody needs to keep in mind that, you know, there were moments of touch and go in 2020, and there were moments of touch and go in the post election in 2020. And ultimately, when Donald Trump didn't prevail in court, he incited a violent mob to storm the Capitol to try to overturn a free and fair election. So, you know, I'm optimistic, but I'm also realistic. And we need, Nicole, we need to make sure that all of their institutions and all of our leaders have their spines steel. Like they are not driven to pessimism, they're not driven to hopelessness, but they're also not blinded to what is in front of them and the challenges we're going to face.

[Steve Bannon]

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

[Political Commentator]

medieval on these people.

[Steve Bannon]

You're just not going to free shot all these networks lying about the people. The people have had a belly full of it. I know you don't like hearing that. I know you try to do everything in the world to stop that, but

[Political Commentator]

you're not going to stop it.

[Steve Bannon]

It's going to happen.

[Political Analyst/Commentator]

And where do people like that go to share the big lie? MAGA MEDIA I wish in my soul, I wish that any of these people had a conscience.

[Political Commentator]

Ask yourself, what is my task and what is my purpose?

[Steve Bannon]

If that answer is to save my country, this, this country will be saved.

[General Jack Keane]

War ROOM here's your host, Stephen K. Banner.

[Steve Bannon]

It's Tuesday 3rd March, year of alert 2026. It's game day in Texas. This all important Texas primary and we're gonna have a lot of coverage throughout the day on Real America's Voices and special coverage tonight. Grant Stitchfield and I will be co hosting the Texas coverage. Grant from from his Dallas from the Dallas studio and I will be north of Dallas. So a lot going on as people go to the polls. They remember those early voting numbers. They don't look great but a big part of the war and posse, a big part of the MAGA base just refuses. They do not do early voting here. They don't trust it. So we'll be monitoring the turnout throughout the day. Also, the war in Iran expands not just to the Gulf, to capital markets and to Asia. We're going to have reports on Japan and Korea, all of it, and how this war is expanding, particularly the logistics chain capital markets which was very commie I thought relatively calm yesterday because of the the Revolutionary Guard saying they closed the Straits of Hormuz and Qatar announcing I think they can't ship they're not going to be able to ship at least gas for a while. Equity markets throughout the world hit gold. People are rushing to the dollar. The dollar's getting stronger as they're looking at that as a safe haven also. So there's a lot going on today. We're going to break it all down to you and give you a range of perspectives because no, the Warren posse wants to weigh and measure this itself, as it should. Short commercial break Natasha Owens takes us out. Take your phone out, text BAN and B A N N O N at 989-898. Get the ultimate guide. This is not as deep as End of the Dollar empire but it's a quick and dirty study just set up for you. No obligation, totally free. Get talked to Philip, Patrick and the team and you can get access to the Patriots edition, the hard copy edition of the End of the Dollar Empire.

[Reporter/Announcer]

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[Sam Fattah]

What do you hear a donkey?

[Reporter/Announcer]

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[Narrator/Reporter]

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[Steve Bannon]

Toyota let's Go places war room.

[General Jack Keane]

Here's your host, Stephen K. Vam.

[Steve Bannon]

Welcome back. Like I said, today's a good day to go to birchgold birchgold.com promo code Bannon End of the Dollar Empire the eighth free installments coming out specifically about a strong dollar, what it would take and what that would mean and what the opposite means also. But the other seven free installments are there online Birchcold.com, promo code Bannon, talk to Philip Petri and the team. Particularly today when the geopolitical risk. Can we put the Financial Times headline up Front page of the Financial Times. Sam, you spent your career in this neighborhood. Did you ever think you'd see the day where, because it has taken people back that spent a lot of time there, that you actually saw the Sunnis and the Shiites? I mean, they went at it in the Iraq, Iran war, but I would argue that wasn't about religion, that was about hardcore geopolitics and just two nations living next to each other for thousands of years that hated each other. And of course, what a third of Iraq, the Vatican of Shiite, I think, is in the job. Right. Which is, you know, in, in Iraq. But this is different. I mean, did you ever see, think you'd see the day where the Persians are unloading on the Saudis and the Saudis reportedly are asking the United States for permission to actually go, you know, go it alone and start, start doing their own sorties, Sir

[Sam Fattah]

Well, I think, Steve, all of us that have worked in the area always hoped we would not see that day. Right. You've taken the lid off of 1500 years of animosity. So there is a lot of potential here for this to add fuel to the fire. I understand that in Bahrain, which is run by a Sunni monarchy, but is roughly 75, 80% Shia, the Saudis have now sent troops into Bahrain to help them quell the unrest in the Shia population there. There's one bridge into Bahrain, which is an island nation, and it is from Saudi Arabia. And the primary reason it exists is so the Saudis can do this when they need to. They did it about, what, a little over a decade ago. So they've, they've already sent forces in to back up the Bahrainis. I don't know that they're directly engaged yet, but that's, that's kind of the loud signal when they thump the table and say, okay, enough of this nonsense. Either you take care of it yourself or we will.

[Steve Bannon]

Bob Rain's also where the Fifth Fleet is. It's also, also been the pressure relief valve in the Gulf. Right. The rules there were not as. They were not as austere as in UAE or in, or in Saudi Arabia. Right. In the Fifth. This is the reason that the British first and then we put the Fifth Fleet there. Sir.

[Sam Fattah]

Yeah, 100%. I should say the bridge exists for two reasons. One is so the Saudi military can roll in. The second is so all the Saudis around Daran can drive across the bridge to drink and party at. At the end of the day. So you come across the bridge to Bahrain and the rules are totally different. Then you go back and return to being devout when you return to Saudi.

[Steve Bannon]

John Brennan was. Was it John Brennan? I know he's an analyst, but he did that merger when he ran ca merging the analysts with the guys like you, the operatives, the House of Lords, the House of Commons together, and I guess the House of Commons end up. He wanted the House of Commons to run things, not. Not the operators. But wasn't he station chief? Correct. Wasn't he station chief in. In Riyadh? Wasn't he station chief to The Saudis?

[Sam Fattah]

Yeah, 100%. Even though he was a DI analyst. Look, he's been sympathetic to the enemies of the United States forever and did his very best to destroy the capability of the CIA to do its job. And unfortunately, many of the things that he did still have not been undone. He subjected the Directorate of Operations to control by a coup. A corporate operating officer bringing that straight from the corporate model. And actually, the first guy he appointed to be coup wasn't even a CIA officer of any kind. He literally just plucked him out of the corporate world and made everybody, including operations, subordinate to this guy who'd never done the job. Give you an idea of how thoroughly he just destroyed the capability of the organization.

[Steve Bannon]

It's fascinating. Brennan and other guys like this, you see him in the media, you see him in his opinion pieces, you see him on podcasts and these talk shows, they're. I don't want to say fanning the flames, but they look like they're all down for an expanded war. So President Trump is obviously controlling this right now, but these are the type of things in the law of unintended consequences, which is what war is all about. This could metastasize. And one of the reasons that you've got guys now for these Gulf Emirates in these states, and of course MBZ is a guy that likes to get it on too. But this could really start to particularly as people are pushed and they're pushed by Western advisors that have worked for them, have been consultants of them for years, and not even associated currently with the Trump administration or the US Government. Sir.

[Sam Fattah]

Yeah, well, Steve, look, I think it's crystal clear there's a bunch of people here, I mean, a bunch of people outside of Iran who want us to lose, however you define that, they want this thing to get ugly and bad and for us to take losses and, and they are cheering, cheering for the enemy. I mean, I know note that, you know, the People's Forum, which is the so called revolutionary incubator in the heart of Manhattan, and it's all funded by this guy, Neville Roy Singham, who's a CCP asset and operates out of Shanghai. I mean, from, from moment one, these guys and you know, code pink and all of these folks have been out in the streets in fully funded, foreign connected efforts to undermine our war effort. They are 100% on the, on the other side. There are major players here that want us to lose.

[Steve Bannon]

Hang on for a second, Sam. I want to stay on this intelligent thing in a second. Brandon Weichert, updates. You've been, you've had your hand on the pulse here, particularly logistics, chain and weapon systems and actual what you have to deliver because they are going through the military under Kaine and President Trump is going through a pretty methodical takedown of degradation first and leading to destruction. But some of our best allies like the Koreans and the Japanese are noticing, hey, we're putting a call on folks to ship Thads, patriots, et cetera, into the region. And they're sitting there going, well, hang on for a second. The main thing is Captain Fennell says the Chinese Communist Party is right. Maybe we shouldn't do that. Your thoughts on all of first off, what's happening in region and then let's expand it out.

[Brandon Weichert]

Well, in region, as you point out, you know, the, the US Military has with the Israel, well, primarily the Israelis, as we're finding out, with US support, we have degraded a lot of capabilities. Obviously we assassinated many of their leaders. We got the Ayatollah. To me, that's mission accomplished, we can come home. But this thing's continuing. That gets us into the bad. The bad is clearly we are depleting our stockp in the CENTCOM AOR a lot faster than even what was originally warned by General Kane last week.

[Steve Bannon]

Because I was told, let me, let's go to Jack Keane. You know, Jack and Will Kane had that. Yeah, but, hey, but, but, but if you go back and look at Jack and he knows the President very well, I mean, quite frankly, he was a guy we offered a very senior job to. He really wanted him more than Mattis to be Secretary of Defense or National Security Advisor. But for, I think his wife's illness, he couldn't do it in the first term. He's a guy the President really thinks the world of and he's obviously a real neocon and been in the region forever. But when you talk about degradation, what Fennell and Kaine are talking about is a systematic stripping that he says they can never come back from this, that they'll be essentially militarily fairly sophisticated, David, in the Stone Age, when you finish with them. And that President Trump seems like with raising Kane, they're going up the escalatory ladder to field strip this so they can never rebuild it.

[Brandon Weichert]

Well, that, I think, is their plan, and I think we've been effective in some ways. But just to be clear, the objective was regime change. The regime is holding on. And we're finding out now with these missile strikes, they've been able to expand and do even more complex strikes on targets, not just in Israel or against the US in the region, but they're expanding it now to an entirely regional war that's now even roping in the French and the British, as we're finding out. So this. This really could be a world, you know, quote, unquote, world war, because of all the powers involved. So, to me, we have degraded the regime, absolutely. We've scored some key victories, like I said, with killing the ayatollah. But the command and control structure, while it may be degraded, is decentralized and hardened enough where they are still able to not only continue fighting, but we are seeing them expand. Tel Aviv, my understanding is, was pounded for eight hours last night. Eight hours. They were pounded by increasingly sophisticated and lethal missiles fired by these Iranian units. So to me, we haven't gotten the kill shot in. The Iranians are still fighting, and they're upping the ante every single day. So this is why we are having to pull on those stockpiles now. We're draining centcom's stockpiles, I think faster than even was anticipated. And now we're pivoting and going to the Asians and saying, we need our stuff back. And as I noted to you before we started, the South Korean press is running this quote from a South Korean political leader saying that we feel betrayed by the Americans. And now the Japanese are getting skittish because they're worried after South Korea gives over those systems, it's not going to be enough. And the Americans are going to come knocking at Japan next, saying, hey, give us your stuff. So clearly, the plan is to drain the CENTCOM AOR and then pivot and pull whatever we can from Indopacom, which, as you know, then leaves a gigantic gaping hole for the Chinese in Taiwan or the South China Sea or the East China Sea to really have some real victories over us, because we don't have. Let me ask you anymore to shoot.

[Steve Bannon]

Let me ask you. The pounding of Tel Aviv last night also the first wave to me looked like they were kind of random, I shouldn't say random, but kind of pop shots. The hit on Bahrain and in some of the Gulf remedies last night look more systematic, do you agree, than what

[Brandon Weichert]

I think happened was just like the 12 Day War, only it happened in a shorter time frame. So what happened was I think we did a lot of EM interference and I think we did a lot of suppression of enemy air defenses and we were in their sort of electromagnetic, you know, OODA loop there and we really stymied the Iranians again, but they adapted. And this is the whole thing with the Iranians, and you have to give them credit is they have been Preparing for basically 47 years for something like this. So they have had the time to harden and to disaggregate their capabilities enough so they are survivable for round two, three, four and five. And you're seeing that now. And they've now, I think, adapted to the environment and they are now getting more operationally complex. And these guys have thousands and thousands of sophisticated long range missiles buried deep inside missile cities.

[Steve Bannon]

Let's hang on for a second because I think people thought that was degraded by beforehand. But we're going to take a short commercial break. We're going to return with the expanding nature of this war. President Trump says you haven't seen anything yet. The big wave is yet to come. We'll discuss that all next in the War room.

[General Jack Keane]

Here's your host, Stephen K. Ban.

[Steve Bannon]

So, Brandon, there's this, there's footage out there. People have to be, particularly now people are being inundated with artificial intelligence, etc, so it takes a while to go through it. But it looks like Tel Aviv was pounded overnight. And again today is some of that artificial intelligence. Are you confident talking to your sources? Because I've talked to people too, said they are getting pounded. But I just want to make sure

[Brandon Weichert]

that, yeah, I think we're talking to some of the same people in some cases too. But I'm not even talking about the videos that I'm seeing on Twitter. I'm talking about people that I know in the region or who are part of the year in the region and have a lot of ties. That is not being reported officially, obviously, because the Israelis won't let that out. But there are people who are living in Tel Aviv who are, who are sharing things that they probably shouldn't be about. What's going on in the streets and whatnot. And it is very brutal. And I don't think Netanyahu even believed it would be this bad. But here we are.

[Steve Bannon]

We do know too, from the 12 Day War. I mean, President Trump, this is one of the reasons for the big move beforehand was that Tel Aviv was. Tel Aviv was hit and hit and hit very hard in those last couple days before they brought the 12 day war to an end. Also explain to people the OODA loop. What is the OODA loop? Why is it so important militarily to get inside that, sir?

[Brandon Weichert]

Yeah. So what we found in modern warfare, this was a theory, it's an acronym created by John Boyd, who was an Air Force general, real visionary. Then he went on and had a long career in business, and he came up with this theory called the OODA Loop. Observe, orient, decide, act. And for him, it started. He started observing this phenomenon when he was in combat flying jet planes. And I don't remember which war he was in, but he was flying jet planes. And he realized warfare happens very quickly today. And you have to be able to observe quickly, orient your plane, decide to attack, and then attack without any hesitation. And you've got to do it faster than the other guy. And so he took that idea and he applied it to thinking and to thinking about leadership and things like that, and systems management and things like that. And he applied it for the military, then he applied it in private sector. But in today's world, speed kills. And you've got to not only be fast with the OODA loop, your own OODA loop, you have to be able to be so fast that you can disrupt the OODA loop of the other guy. And that's what you're seeing in modern warfare today. You're seeing us. You know, we got the Iranians in the first day. We got them very stymied. But the longer the war has gone on, as I warned you on day one, the Iranians are adaptive and they are starting to adapt. Now, ultimately, my hope is that we can break them in the long run. But right now, they're not broken. They're damaged, but they're not broken. And they are starting to adapt and hit back hard.

[Steve Bannon]

Hang on for one second, by the way, to show that the graybeards in our group, the Sam Fattuses and the Captain Fennells, that I'm actually older, I remember getting the John Boyd briefing in the Pentagon, I think, in 1981, 82, where he had that. I don't know, Sam, you've seen it. The briefing was like this thick because he was kind of a madman, but he was absolutely brilliant. It was really maneuver warfare, the OODA loop. I mean, he changed so much thinking in the Pentagon. And the way we fight. Sam, the intelligence here is all important, right? With your assessment of how do you think, and I realize you have limited access to data declassified, et cetera, with keeping this non classified, your assessment of how we're doing both on strategic intelligence, operational intelligence, how do you think we're doing? Because I believe some of the responses have caught people by surprise, particularly the way the Persians went after the Gulf states during Ramadan and how the Gulf states aren't shy about, about hitting back and hitting back quickly and asking the United States, hey, we need to come off the chain here because we may do something on our own.

[Sam Fattah]

Well, Steve, I think, you know, intelligence is only as good as. I mean, you got to have good intelligence, but you also have to have people that are willing to listen to the intelligence. I think the reality is that we are way too dependent upon intelligence has been provided to us from the Israelis. And look, I don't fault the Israelis for pursuing their own national interests because that's what every country is supposed to do. But I think they. My personal opinion is they put a spin on this, that we were going to schwack these guys, hit them real hard, bomb them for a while, and then somehow, magically, the regime would topple and everything would be great. And as you know, I'm very skeptical of that from the outset. Skeptical of it. And so now we're into the realm of the Iranians decided to think for themselves. The enemy gets a vote, and they have improvised and adapted. So as Brandon was saying, you know, we've only got X number of interceptors, so you fire the ones that are your missiles that are most easily intercepted first and burn up our defensive capability, and then you actually shift into shots also. They are the kill shots. And they are also now expanding the war. They have had the audacity to decide that they get to choose where this is fought and how it's fought. So increasingly they're hitting energy facilities all throughout the region, obviously with the intent of taking oil and natural gas from the region completely off the market, which at least temporarily, they seem to have succeeded in doing. Just because people are, are cautious, they'll. They'll continue. They'll continue to do that. The Greeks just arrested a guy in Athens airport. He had been down in Crete surveilling Suda or Suda Bay the NATO base there. And then he was back in Athens and I think they were afraid he was going to skip town and they grabbed him. In retrospect, it appears he was getting ready to meet additional assets coming in, all of these guys for the Iranians surveilling our base in Crete, obviously preparatory to attacks. And in fact, we've caught the Iranians doing that lots of times in the past.

[Steve Bannon]

Brandon, the drafting off that Sam said President Trump has been pretty adamant. Hey, this planning was for five weeks. So in the first 24, 48 hours, right. They are going to degrade it somewhat, but he's at least the initial plan put forward, they're prepared to stay here five weeks. Now, President Trump's always going to leave himself alternatives and be able to do the unpredictable. But do you see that we have the wherewithal to pound at this level for five weeks?

[Brandon Weichert]

No, no, I think this is one of the worst planned operations I've seen. Now I think the president, they may have been telling him, yes, we're planning for contingency for five weeks. But Rem, there was a lot of off ramps built into that five week plan. Jack Posobic was on the first day this war started talking about they had these planned pauses. We haven't had any pause yet. You know, we are very much in an, a very high tempo conflict. And I think that the President and Netanyahu really believed, and I think the President was following Netanyahu's lead on this, that, hey, if you kill, if you whack Khomeini, the whole regime will fall like a house of cards because that's what the Israelis think. The Israelis have this assassination mindset. They're, they're crazy about assassinations. And when it works, it works. But when it doesn't, you now have a situation where you've kicked over the hornet's nest and all the hornets are coming after you and your friends and it turns out you don't have enough stuff to whack them down. And so I think that I'm hopeful the Americans will adapt like the Iranians have done in the next iteration. But right now I think this is a very badly planned operation. And I think that the President should declare victory now and come home and say, hey, I took care of the problem. It's over. Because if this goes on longer, the Iranians have a, they are an asymmetrical power. They have unconventional capabilities that are global. A Saudi official told me in 2018 that Iran was a paper tiger with steel claws. Those steel claws Today, Steve, are extended and they're slashing hard at our people and our friends in the region. And our friends are getting angry at us because they think we started this thing. Well, we kind of did. So I just. Not well planned.

[Steve Bannon]

You heard. Well, you heard some last week, some leaks from the Pentagon. It was put down immediately, but that even general reason Kane was saying, hey,

[Brandon Weichert]

Steve, they had to fire Fred Kocher because he had the balls to go out and say, hey, my boss is warning the President, and the president's not listening. So Kocher got. Got hosed. And I'm talking to people at the Pentagon saying that was not Kocher acting alone, that Dan Cain asked him to do that for him. So there's a lot of problems from the uniform military side and they're afraid to say it publicly or to the president. So they're doing this leak thing that Colin Powell used to do during the Iraq war. And, you know, this is. This is where we are right now. The uniform military leadership is not on board with this.

[Steve Bannon]

If you.

[Brandon Weichert]

Not as it's going on, not as it's executed.

[Steve Bannon]

I should say, if you still have the big wave to come, because we've been, you know, Rubio said this. I think Pete Hegseth has said it.

[Marcolias (Democracy Docket writer)]

It.

[Steve Bannon]

The president's definitely said it. A big wave. If you do have this big wave that comes in the next 24, 48 hours and you begin to see the uprising of the Persian people, because the one thing we haven't seen is a mass uprising against the regime in the streets. Now, part of that is 30,000 of them or 20,000 of them were killed four weeks ago. I'm sure a lot of their leaders of that. But also people took that as an example that, hey, these guys are gonna play hardball now, their backs to the wall. Because I think the regime and regime elements understand that the forces are right against them. The Americans, the Israelis, now Saudi Arabia, uae, they want them graveyard dead. So they're kind of backed into a corner. But do you think that part of it is to come in with this massive wave and see if you get the uprising that President Trump has warned over and over again, hey, guys, it's your mission to overthrow these guys at the end. We can't do it and won't do it. Your thoughts?

[Brandon Weichert]

Yeah, I'm gonna have to bounce after, but I think that's the hope. And I don't think that it's going to work according to plan. I hope it does, but I don't think it will. But I Got to bounce now, Brandon,

[Steve Bannon]

where do people go to get your book on the Persians, and where do they go to get all your books?

[Brandon Weichert]

Anywhere books are sold. Anywhere books are sold. And you can also check me out. Natsetguyemerld tv.

[Steve Bannon]

Thank you, brother. Appreciate you.

[Brandon Weichert]

Thank you, sir. Bye bye.

[Steve Bannon]

Sam Fatta, same question. Was the intelligence good enough? About what? Because President Trump, from the very first time he said it, now comes your hour of liberation. Right. I do believe people thought that the Khomeini taking out the Ayatollah might have had a bigger impact. But do you see anything in the streets, given the fact that you used to live there? Do you see anything in the streets of Tehran that would lead you to believe there's going to be a popular uprising right now, that the Persian people are going to take this in their hands and overthrow this Islamic Republic overlords?

[Sam Fattah]

Steve, I'm going to echo Brandon's sentiment and say up front, I hope I am wrong, but, no, I don't see any indication that is happening. And I have never thought that that was a realistic prospect. As I said to you the other day, if there is any prospect for regime change, it'll come from some guys at senior levels effectively staging a coup and saying, we're not riding this thing to the ground. But there's no guarantee at all that that's going to happen either. I think a number of guests have said over the last few days we ought to stop talking about regime change, make this about degrading capabilities and taking things off the table, and be prepared to, at some point, effectively declare victory and go home. If we're going to ride this idea of regime change, I think it's going to get even uglier.

[Steve Bannon]

Sam, I want to give a shout out to the Bucks county thing. How did that go on those folks down there, the Patriots? That's one of the building blocks of taking our country back. How'd this Sunday speech go?

[Sam Fattah]

I went down to talk to write for Bucks right outside of Philadelphia. These guys are like the. The commandos of the MAGA movement in Pennsylvania. They are. They are the frontline troops. The. The really hardcore folks. From the second I walked in, you know, God's honest truth, everybody had been watching your show. Everybody heard you give them a shout out, and they were all over me about how fantastic that was. It was a shot in the arm. They asked me to say thank you to you. They were really receptive. Look, I. I spoke, and then to show you how motivated these people are, I then spent another three hours after I spoke, standing there talking to people individually outside of the the ballroom as they came up one after another, just hungry for information.

[Steve Bannon]

Hang on Sam, can you just hang out this break? I want to talk about that for a second because that, that is the most important thing of all. Short commercial break Sam Fat is also going to go to Texas. Brian Kennedy is also going to talk to us. I want to get him back on about this Blaze article about exactly what we're talking about, this emergency in the 2026 election.

[General Jack Keane]

Here's your host, Stephen K. Band.

[Steve Bannon]

Patriot Mode's election. It's game day in Texas. We're going to be out throughout the day and into the evening. Grant Stitchfield and I will take over the coverage. Special Texas primary coverage also include obviously North Carolina and Arkansas. Tonight, 8:30 Eastern Standard Time we'll take it over and go to the conclusion. Grant Stitchfield from Dallas and myself from north of Dallas. So we're going to have and Berquhm is going to be at the Paxton headquarters. So we'll be wall to wall coverage on all this. I want to thank patriot mobile. 972 patriot is a Christian company, supports your Christian values in trying to save the Judeo Christian west and our civilization. Just spectacular people. 972 Patriot. You'll talk to someone with the East Texas accent about all the company has to offer. The best mobile company out there. Sam Fetus, I just want to say if you give us a minute on your expertise here because when you come on, particularly something like this morning, people I know from the region and people that is a huge expatriate expat community of Persians, particularly in Los Angeles. I knew a lot of these folks when I lived there, New York City, all throughout the country. You know, they always say Sam Fatis is 100% thousand percent correct. What's your background? You know, this region, this is not something you just read in a couple of books or and you've never been a pundit. You come on and just give us the facts. What's your expertise in this area?

[Sam Fattah]

Well, I mean I ran ops in this area for decades and obviously those operations, in other words human source operations and covert action and in addition to a variety of other targets, a huge percentage of that was against the Iranians. So Iran from a variety of countries and in a variety of countries operated against The Iranians, the IRGC MOIS, their Intel service, etc. For many years and worked with a lot of really great, very brave Iranian patriots, I mean guys who were out of the country who would go back inside Tehran into the heart of the beast on our behalf to get US Intelligence and do the things we needed done. And I'm, you know, thank God never lost a source to the Iranians, brought them all home safe. But a lot of other guys lost many. A lot of people paid very heavily to get us what we needed.

[Steve Bannon]

And so you understand and you have, you know how hard the Revolutionary Guard is, the mullahs, this whole aspect, this whole apparatus, they're not Johnny Kumble. It's an ancient civilization. And quite frankly, the bureaucratic nature of, of the administration of the civilization has been passed down in an unbroken chain, generation after generation. It's one of the reasons they're so hard to negotiate with. Right. As President Trump found out. But you understand, they're not just bad. The folks that run the Islamic Republic are not just bad hombres. They're tough and smart bad hombres.

[Sam Fattah]

Correct. Yeah. They are brutal in a way that most Americans, thank God, cannot comprehend because they've never been face to face with them. They are also really efficient and detail oriented and squared away. And if you don't have your act together when you operate against them, well, you know, somebody's, somebody's dying on, on our side. So you cannot absolutely, you don't dismiss them. They are not going to fall apart, you know, take out a layer of command. They already thought about that, just as we would, we would not lose a general and think, well, what do we do now? I mean, first thing they teach you in the US Military in training is, okay, this guy's dead. Who's in charge now? And we can't skip a beat. Got to keep moving.

[Steve Bannon]

You've also, since you've come back, you've been one of the leaders in Pennsylvania, the grassroots and the MAGA movement. Talk to me about, the audience needs to hear about the Bucks county people because now we're seeing this in Texas. It's fallen back once again on the grassroots to turn this is. The grassroots has driven this Prop 10 to prohibit Sharia law. They're the ones and given a permission structure, they have risen to the occasion. But there are very dark forces and outside money that are all over Texas. They see Texas as the jewel in the crown. But the way that we're going to win this is through those patriots in Bucks County. Tell us about them.

[Sam Fattah]

Well, look, right for Bucks has, has been literally on the forefront of, of the fight, the MAGA fight in Pennsylvania now for years. And these guys are relentless. There are a whole bunch of groups like that in Pennsylvania. I mean, you know, people up in Erie come to to mind who went into a blue, you know, dark blue city that had been Democratic forever. And you know, who are out there and they're not just, you know, this is not just a white rural Pennsylvania phenomenon. I mean, you're talking about blacks, Hispanics. I mean, good Lord, Hazleton, which is 3/4 Dominican right now. Precincts up there went 75% for Trump in the last election. And the MAGA movement, I was down there every other day in the run up to the election. So you have incredible energy in this movement. Now if, if the GOP understood that and accepted that and rode that and really fielded MAGA candidates, I think we would sweep the field. If there's a disconnect, it's you get down to that level in Pennsylvania, you still got way too many establishment rhino types being fielded. And then folks wondering, well, why aren't the MAGA voters showing up for them? Well, because, because you're dismissing them or you expect them to show up, but you don't actually listen to them.

[Steve Bannon]

Sam Magnificent. Where do people get and magazine, I think you're getting even a bigger fan base than you've had. People want to know where to go. I also want to highlight all the great and magazine articles. Read the American Tet because I think you've nailed the color revolution and what's happening in this country. And I can tell you from Texas, it is expanding throughout the country. Don't think this is a Manhattan or Minneapolis or Michigan problem. This problem is throughout this nation and the forces are right against this country, this republic. They know it. And they're going to put unlimited foreign money in back of the same where they go. For all your writing and commentary, we're

[Sam Fattah]

on substack and magazine.substack.com a n d magazine.substack.com thank you, brother.

[Steve Bannon]

Appreciate you.

[Sam Fattah]

Thank you.

[Steve Bannon]

Short commercial break we're going to pivot now. We're going to have Terry Schilling. I got Chris Kobach. We're going to Brian Kennedy about this executive order. We're going to obviously get back to work coverage. We've got a lot going on here in the war room. It's game day in Texas. All of you that didn't want to early vote, get out and vote today. Massive primary in the Senate race in the Republican side, most expensive in history. I saw last night $122 million may have been spent so far. Also for Agriculture Commission, all the representatives in the Texas House. Also House of Representatives is huge in the Senate and the Attorney General Huge race. Hometitlelock.com promo code Steve 90% of your net worth is tied up in that home. Every dream you've ever had don't have a turn into a nightmare. Hometitlec.com promo code Steve get the 14 day free 1 million dollar triple lock protection today. This is an I heart podcast. Guaranteed human.