Israel and Iran - Nuclear Enemies | Facts Ep. 20

Summary

Summary of "Israel and Iran - Nuclear Enemies | Facts Ep. 20" from The Ben Shapiro Show

Release Date: June 14, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode 20 of "The Ben Shapiro Show," hosted by The Daily Wire, the focus is on the escalating tensions between Israel and Iran, culminating in Israel's recent military operation, Operation Rising Lion. The episode delves deep into the historical roots of the conflict, Iran's nuclear ambitions, Israel's strategic responses, and the broader geopolitical implications for the Middle East and the global community.

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Historical Context: Decades of Conflict and Proxy Wars

Political Analyst (00:30):
Ben Shapiro introduces the long-standing antagonism between Israel and Iran, emphasizing that the current conflict is not spontaneous but the result of over four decades of Iranian aggression. He states, "Israel will not allow a genocidal regime that has announced its intention to destroy Israel to acquire nuclear weapons."

The analyst traces the origins of hostility back to Iran's revolutionary ideology post-1979, highlighting Iran's strategic use of proxy groups like Hezbollah and Hamas to wage war against Israel indirectly. This approach allowed Iran to extend its influence across the Middle East without engaging in direct confrontation.

Notable Quote:
"Iran has been at war with Israel through its proxies for decades." (00:30)

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Nuclear Ambitions and Preemptive Strikes

The discussion shifts to Iran's covert nuclear program, drawing parallels with Israel's historical preemptive actions. The analyst recounts Operation Opera (1981), where Israel decisively struck Iraq's Osirak nuclear reactor to prevent Saddam Hussein from acquiring nuclear capabilities. This operation set a precedent for Israel's doctrine of "peace through strength."

Notable Quote:
"This entire episode established what is now known in Israel as the Begin Doctrine." (04:15)

Transitioning to Iran, the analyst details Iran's clandestine efforts to develop nuclear weapons under the guise of civilian energy projects. Despite international alarms and intelligence reports indicating Iran's weaponization intentions, the global community remained largely ineffective in curbing their progress.

Notable Quote:
"The Iranian regime's strategy was to distribute the program across multiple hidden sites and bury it literally under mountains." (05:59)

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International Diplomacy and the JCPOA

The episode examines the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) signed in July 2015 under President Barack Obama. The agreement aimed to curb Iran's nuclear ambitions in exchange for sanctions relief. However, the analyst criticizes the deal for its lenient terms, noting significant loopholes that allowed Iran to continue its nuclear advancements covertly.

Notable Quote:
"The JCPOA allowed Iran to pursue its nuclear program without limitation beyond its 10-year timeline, which would have expired this year." (09:54)

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vehemently opposed the JCPOA, warning of its detrimental impact on the Middle East. His concerns were validated as Iran escalated its regional terror campaigns post-deal.

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Recent Escalations Leading to Operation Rising Lion

Under President Donald Trump's administration, the U.S. withdrew from the JCPOA, reimposing stringent sanctions on Iran and authorizing the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, Iran's top military commander. This move was portrayed as a reinforcement of deterrence.

Military Official (12:40):
"The United States military successfully executed a flawless precision strike that killed the number one terrorist anywhere in the world, Qasem Soleimani."

Following these tensions, the analyst recounts the October 7, 2023 attacks by the Iran-backed Hamas on Israel, resulting in significant Israeli casualties and hostages. This event marked a turning point, leading Israel to launch Operation Rising Lion on June 13, 2025, targeting over 100 nuclear and military sites within Iran.

Notable Quote:
"What we are witnessing right now is the consequence of decades of Iranian Islamist ambition colliding with immovable Israeli resolve." (16:00)

The operation successfully dismantled key components of Iran's nuclear infrastructure and eliminated top military leaders, signaling a significant blow to Iran's capabilities.

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Conclusion and Implications

Ben Shapiro underscores the moral and strategic righteousness of Israel's actions, asserting that sovereign nations have the right to defend themselves against existential threats. He emphasizes that Israel's decisive actions send a clear message to other authoritarian regimes worldwide about the consequences of aggression.

Notable Quote:
"Every authoritarian regime from Beijing to Moscow to Pyongyang is watching. If Israel succeeds in deterring Iran and dismantling its nuclear infrastructure, it reaffirms a basic principle, one President Trump has led with through two terms: peace through strength." (16:00)

Shapiro calls for the international community to recognize the gravity of Iran's threat and support Israel's right to neutralize it, warning against complacency and misplaced empathy that could lead to further destabilization.

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Key Takeaways

• Long-Standing Hostility: The Israel-Iran conflict is rooted in decades of proxy wars and ideological antagonism.
• Nuclear Proliferation: Iran's covert nuclear program posed an existential threat, prompting preemptive strikes by Israel.
• International Diplomacy Failures: The JCPOA failed to effectively curb Iran's nuclear ambitions due to its flawed terms and lack of enforcement.
• Recent Military Actions: Israel's Operation Rising Lion represents a culmination of years of strategic planning to neutralize Iran's nuclear and military capabilities.
• Global Implications: Israel's actions serve as a deterrent to other authoritarian regimes, reinforcing the principle of "peace through strength."

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This comprehensive analysis provides listeners with a detailed understanding of the intricate and tumultuous relationship between Israel and Iran, highlighting the critical moments that have shaped the current geopolitical landscape.

Transcript

[Narrator]

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[Political Analyst]

Didn'T wake up one morning and decide to start a war with Iran. What we are watching unfold right now is not the beginning of a conflict. It is the culmination of over four decades of aggression by the Islamic Republic of Iran and an outgrowth of one simple fact. Israel will not allow a genocidal regime that has announced its intention to destroy Israel to acquire nuclear weapons. The tensions that have undergirded geopolitics of the entire Middle east finally exploded into the open, and not in a backchanneled proxy war kind way. The State of Israel conducted Operation Rising lion, launching targeted strikes across Iran and taking out nearly all of their top military brass, hitting military bases, nuclear reactors and Iran's nuclear scientists. For decades, Iran has declared its intent to destroy Israel, what it calls the Little Satan, as well as America, the Big Satan, funding terrorist operations and paramilitary operations in the region, including the murder of hundreds of American troops in Lebanon and Iraq, the devastating October 7th attacks, attacks on Israel from Hezbollah in Lebanon, attacks by the Houthis in Yemen, and an attempted assassination of President Trump. In response to Iran's attacks, Israel first tamped down Iran's most noxious proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah. But recently, Israel carried out a direct preemptive attack, conducting surgical airstrikes deep inside Iran without apology. This was not a tit for tat. This was again the inevitable outcome of decades of calculated provocation, nuclear blackmail and terror financing by the Iranian regiment. Certain people and organizations like the UN will continue to hyperventilate about escalation and destabilization, as if what is currently happening came out of nowhere, or as if Israel started it. They would prefer to have Israel just sit there while a genocidal Islamist regime gears up to lob nuclear missiles at them. So let's be clear, Israel is not starting a war. Rather, Iran has been at war with Israel through its proxies for decades. The only difference is that now Israel is finally going straight to the source, cutting off the head of the octopus that has extended its terror tentacles across the Middle East. Everything happening right now, every missile, every airstrike makes logical, strategic and more importantly, moral sense. This is fact. Israel and Iran nuclear enemies. We begin not in Iran, but in Iraq. In June 1981, Israel launched Operation Opera, a bold preemptive airstrike that destroyed Saddam Hussein's Osirak nuclear reactor near Baghdad. At the time, Iraq had been pursuing nuclear technology under the guise of peaceful energy development. Familiar. But Israeli intelligence determined that the reactor, constructed with assistance from French engineers, ah, the French, and partially financed by Italian companies, was in fact intended to produce weapons grade plutonium. At the time, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Israeli intelligence feared that if Iraq acquired nuclear weapons, it would pose an existential threat to the Jewish state. With confirmation of Hussein's intentions, eight Israeli F16A fighter jets, each carrying a pair of 2,000 pound Mark 84 unguided bombs, took off from Etzion Air Base in the Sinai Peninsula. Accompanied by additional fighter jets providing cover, the pilots flew low to avoid radar detection, traveling more than 600 miles across Jordanian and Saudi airspace. Within 80 seconds, the Iraqi nuclear reactor was destroyed. The mission was a stunning success. Immediately after the world condemned Israel, the UN Security Council unanimously condemned the attack, including the American ambassador, Jean Kirkpatrick, who later explained how upset she was to do it. And the U.S. state Department under President Reagan also issued criticism. Though privately Reagan expressed concern and admitted that he understood the logic. It was only about a decade later, in 1991, when Prime Minister Begin's strategic foresight became clear. During the Gulf War, American troops confirmed that while Iraq's nuclear capacity had been diminished, Saddam Hussein did in fact intend to develop nuclear weapons. Because Israel had taken nuclear proliferation off the table a decade earlier, American troops were left only to deal with Scud missiles. This entire episode established what is now known in Israel as the Begin Doctrine. Israel would act unilaterally and preemptively to prevent their hostile enemies from acquiring nuclear weapons. The precedent for foreign policy had been set. Security and peace maintained through deterrence and preemptive aggression. It turns out that President Trump's present day peace through strength approach is not that much different. Meanwhile, Iran was watching all of this. The Islamic Republic, less than two years old at the time of the Osi Rock attack, absorbed a powerful message. If they wanted a nuclear weapon, they would have to build their program in deep fortified secrecy, underground, distributed, plausibly, deniable. While Israel had dealt with Iraq's nuclear ambitions decisively in 1981, by the early 1990s, the newly entrenched Islamic Republic of Iran emerged as Israel's biggest threat. The supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini and his successor Ali Khamenei, immediately popularized the phrase death to America and began pushing for Israel's annihilation. As a result, Iran turned its attention to nuclear technology, initially under the pretense of civilian energy production. But behind the scenes, Iranian leaders were covertly laying the groundwork for a weapons program. Under the supervision of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran and later the military linked Organization of Defensive Innovation and Research, Iran began developing secret nuclear infrastructure. Reports from Western intelligence agencies in the mid-90s pointed to undeclared enrichment facilities, a rapid increase in centrifuge procurement and possible weaponization research occurring in military labs outside Tehran. The Iranian regime relied on an international black market to obtain the sensitive technology they needed for proliferation. Through ties with Pakistani nuclear scientists, Iran acquired designed gray centrifuge and its component parts. Naturally, North Korea and Russia, strategic opponents of the United States, also provided technicians.

[IFCJ Representative]

Who offered know how in reactor components.

[Political Analyst]

The Iranian regime's strategy was distribute the program across multiple hidden sites and bury it literally under mountains. The most significant of the nuclear facilities is Natanz, the primary uranium enrichment center camouflaged by reinforced concrete and steel. But the regime also built a site in Arak, where a heavy water plant was capable of producing plutonium, and later also in Fordo, a deeply buried complex that would be allegedly immune from airstrikes. By the late 1990s, Iran was enriching and stockpiling uranium, as well as building out cascades of first generation centrifuges with the potential over airtime to reach weapons grade output. The international community rang the alarm bells in periodic reports, but Iran consistently denied officials access to its key sites. Western powers hesitated to Act. By 1998, the CIA publicly confirmed Iran's nuclear program was cause for deep concern. Iran's supreme leader publicly issued fatwas against nuclear weapons, but privately, military leaders and IRGC strategists were pursuing a dual track policy. Deny everything while racing toward weapons grade capacity. In short, the 1990s were a decade of deception for Iran. Iran played the long game, and the world, perhaps distracted by post Cold War optimism, mostly let them. By the mid-2000s, the Islamic Republic of Iran had transformed its foreign policy into a full fledged doctrine of proxy warfare. Fearing direct confrontation with Israel or the West, Iran equipped vanguard militias like Hezbollah in Lebanon. In July 2006, Hezbollah launched a 34 day war with Israel by ambushing a patrol near the Lebanese border, killing three soldiers and capturing two others. The provocation was not spontaneous. It had been planned with the direct coordination of IRGC and facilitated through a web of meetings with Syrian and Lebanese leadership. One of those meetings reportedly took place in Damascus, where senior Iranian officials, including commanders of the Quds Force, the IRGC's elite unit, met with Hezbollah's Hassan Nasrallah and Syrian President Bashar Al Assad. Their goal? To solidify the so called axis of resistance against Israel and the United States, Iran supplied not only the hardware, but also the training, funding and ideological guidance. Qasem Soleimani, who would later become infamous for orchestrating attacks across the region, was by this time already deeply involved in strategizing Hezbollah's war plan. Israel responded with the massive air campaign and ground incursion into southern Lebanon. Targeting launch sites, bunkers and Hezbollah command centers. The Israeli Air force struck over 7,000 targets. But Hezbollah's use of human shields, deep bunkers and dispersed rocket cells made its total eradication impossible. Even though the United States and President George W. Bush offered diplomatic cover to Israel in the early stages, pressure soon mounted for a ceasefire. By August 2006, UN Resolution 1701 brought the fighting to a close. Hezbollah claimed a divine victory. This trial served as a test run for the Iranian regime's new model of warfare tunnel guerrilla warfare. Through state sponsored militias, Tehran learned it could strike Israel without inviting direct retaliation. While gaining influence across capitals in the Arab world, this strategy would echo in Gaza, in Syria, in Yemen. Eventually it would reach Israel from Iran itself.

[IFCJ Representative]

In these uncertain days, Israel now faces imminent attacks. As war with Iran has already begun. Families across Israel are living in fear, wondering if the next siren will sound in their neighborhood. Israel just launched Operation Rising lion, targeting nuclear and military sites deep inside Iran to prevent an existential threat while bracing for possible retaliation that could endanger millions of innocent lives. But in the midst of crisis, hope endures. The international fellowship of Christians and Jews. IFCJ is on the ground delivering life saving aid where it's needed most. IFCJ provides emergency food shelter, trauma support and security upgrades, including bomb shelters and fortified hospital units. In the past year alone IFCJ has helped over 2 million people, supplying basic needs to the elderly, Holocaust survivors, new immigrants and children traumatized by war. As Israel's defenders stand ready, IFCJ stands with them, funding bulletproof ambulances, supporting first responders, offering comfort to those in the line of fire.

[Political Analyst]

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[IFCJ Representative]

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[Political Analyst]

Stop development of nuclear weapons by hostile neighbors continue to pace. In 2007, Israel launched Operation Outside the Box, an airstrike directed at a suspected Syrian nuclear facility. Naturally, the head of the IAEA condemned Israel. By the early 2000 and tens, international pressure on Iran's nuclear program began to reach a tipping point. Years of inspections, sanctions, cyberattacks had slowed but not stopped Iran's nuclear ambitions. Iran was enriching uranium up to 20%, building a stockpile that could be weaponized in a matter of months, according to Intelligence.

[President]

Preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States. So help you God. So help me God. Congratulations, Mr. President.

[Political Analyst]

Enter the Obama administration. In 2013, President Barack Obama began secret negotiations with Tehran, culminating in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, signed in July 2015. The deal was struck between the U.S. uK, France, Russia, China, and Germany, representing a massive shift in Western doctrine toward the Iranian regime in favor of concession, not coercion. Under the terms of the jcpoa, Iran agreed to limit uranium enrichment to levels suitable for civilian use, reduce its stockpile, and cap its number of centrifuges. In exchange, Iran essentially received big bags of cash. They were offered between 100 and $150 billion in sanctions relief and a green light for increased oil exports. The JCPOA also included provisions for international inspections, but with deadly limitations. International inspectors would not be permitted to enter military sites, which were widely believed to be the locations of COVID nuclear development. Snapback sanctions were included in theory, but proved politically unworkable in practice. The JCPOA also provided zero limits on Iranian use of funds for terrorism and ballistic missile development. And the JCPOA allowed Iran to pursue its nuclear program without limitation beyond its 10 year timeline, which would have expired this year. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu famously addressed a joint session of Congress in March 2015 to oppose the deal, warning, this deal will not change Iran for the better. It will only change the Middle east for the worse. He was right. Emboldened by newfound legitimacy, flush with cash, the Iranian regime doubled down on its regional terror war. Hezbollah expanded and deployed fighters to Syria. Hamas enjoyed renewed funding and dug tunnels beneath Gaza. The Houthis launched drone and missile attacks against Saudi Arabia. By 2017, signatories were quietly acknowledging that Iran was testing the boundaries of the deal, if not outright violating it. The jcpoa, as President Donald Trump said, was a disaster. It may have postponed Iran's direct confrontation with Israel, but guaranteed it would come later and under more deadly circumstances. In contrast, President Trump's business sense told him the JCPOA was a horrendously lopsided deal. His administration launched a maximum pressure campaign where the United States withdrew from the agreement, imposed crippling sanctions and carried out the assassination of Qasem Soleimani, the head of Iran's Quds military force.

[Military Official]

The United States military successfully executed a flawless precision strike that killed the number one terrorist anywhere in the world, Qasem Soleimani.

[Political Analyst]

Deterrence was reasserted, and then Joe Biden became president. He quickly created distance between the United States and allies like Saudi Arabia and Israel, while simultaneously reaching out to the Ayatollahs in an attempt to revive the jcpoa. The result was the most heinous attack on Jews since the Holocaust. On October 7, 2023, the Iran backed terrorist group Hamas carried out an unprecedented massacre of Israeli civilians, firing thousands of rockets while militants and Gazan civilians infiltrated Jewish communities, killing 1200 people, dragging 250 hostages back to Gaza. Intelligence quickly uncovered Iranian involvement. Funding estimates ranged from 10 million bucks all the way up to $500 million. And IRGC officials met with Hamas leadership just days before the attack. Meanwhile, the Qatari regime provided billions in support to Hamas. Qatar, of course, being a close ally of the Iranians October 7th was masterminded in part by Iran. Israel responded by invading Gaza, determined to retrieve its hostages and finish off Hamas. In April 2024, Iran launched drones and missiles directly at Israel. Israel intercepted all of them. In September 2024, Israel carried out the aptly nicknamed Operation Grim Beeper, cutting Hezbollah off at the knees. In October 2024, Iran launched even more drones at Israel. Israel responded by striking military infrastructure in Syria. The Hamas on the ropes. Hezbollah crippled. The Syrian regime collapsed completely in December 2024. Israel had effectively devastated nearly all of Iran's proxies sent to destroy it between October 7 and December 2024. But Iran kept building the nuclear weapons. In fact, according to the iaea, it accelerated its efforts. And despite President Trump's best efforts to negotiate a nuclear deal that would end Iran's nuclear development, the Ayatollahs continued to insist on precisely that development, while threatening both Israel and the United States. All of that built toward what happened yesterday. June 13, 2025. Israel carrying out Operation Rising lion, dispatching hundreds of fighter jets and drones to strike over 100 nuclear and military targets across Iran. The Natanz enrichment site was hit. The Isfahan conversion plant went up in smoke. The regime's top commanders, Hossein Salami, Mohammed Bagheri, Kalam Ali Rashid and most of its top nuclear scientists were all assassinated. And according to Prime Minister Netanyahu, the operation is just beginning. Let's be very clear again. What we are witnessing right now is the consequence of decades of Iranian Islamist ambition colliding with immovable Israeli resolve. Iran has pursued a clear strategy since 1979 undermine the west, destroy Israel, dominate the Middle east by any means necessary, whether through terror proxies, nuclear blackmail or open missile warfare. From the 1981 Operation Opera in Iraq to the Iranian regime's 1990s covert nuclear buildup, from the 2006 war in Lebanon to Obama's 2015 deal, from Trump's Soleimani strike to October 7, 2023, and now Operation Rising Lion. Israel has not wavered in its belief that it must act before it is too late. And yet the world keeps acting surprised. But here's the truth. Israel is doing what every sovereign nation has the right and the obligation to do. It is defending its citizens. It is preserving its future. And it is sending a message to the tyrants of death cults everywhere. You might threaten, plot, even launch an attack. But if you cross a line, there will be consequences. Every authoritarian regime from Beijing to Moscow to Pyongyang is watching. If Israel succeeds in deterring Iran and dismantling its nuclear infrastructure, it reaffirms a basic principle, one President Trump has led with through two terms peace through strength. The free world must have a spine. If the west succumbs to its suicidal empathy, if the international community continues to treat aggressors and defenders as moral equals, this conflict won't end in Iran. It will spread.

[Dr. Jordan B. Peterson]

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[Political Analyst]

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[Dr. Jordan B. Peterson]

Our 13 year old throws tantrums.

[President]

Her son turned to some substance abuse.

[Dr. Jordan B. Peterson]

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