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Equal Housing Lender President Trump is the most courageous commander in chief in modern American history. There is no question about this. What he just did is the bravest move by a President of the United States of my lifetime, bar none. Without a doubt. And today I'm going to go through exactly why he did what he did, why he did it, when he did it. We're going to go through many of the objections to what he is doing. We're going to go through what's happening on the ground. We're going to talk with people who are affected by it. Let's begin with this. The President of the United States made the unbelievably brave decision, and it was a brave decision to move to end the threat against America and her allies in the Middle east. The core threat, the Iranian regime that has been percolating, militating, killing Americans and American allies since 1979. That is the first thing to recognize about what President Trump did. President Trump is doing so because he understands what it means for America to get rid of long standing enemies. Because he understands that the use of force is a necessary component when it comes to America's geopolitical position in the world. He is doing so because he understands better than any American president of my lifetime that America does not need to get bogged down in a long, prolonged hundreds of thousands of troops on the ground wars, that America needs to flex her power while when necessary and do the thing that is right when necessary in order to protect her core interests. One of the things you're hearing tonight from critics of the President is that there was no direct attack on the United States, therefore no sort of military action ought to have been undertaken with regard to Iran. First of all, historically speaking, that's not true. The Iranian government has been responsible for the death of hundreds, if not thousands of Americans over the course of time, ranging from the 1983 barracks bombing to in Lebanon via its proxy Hezbollah to the death of hundreds of American soldiers in Iraq during the Iraq War. The Iranian regime has also been responsible for the murder of people abroad, ranging from Europe to South America to obviously, the Middle east, where it has activated its proxies against American allies, not just Israel, but also including Saudi Arabia, UAE and other countries in the region. The Iranian government is the leading sponsor of terrorism on planet Earth. It has been for decades. The President decided to end that threat earlier this morning. So first of all, the idea, again, that America has never suffered direct attack or has not recently suffered direct attack from Iran is not true. But people say, okay, well, it wasn't a direct attack. Right now, Iran didn't attack a tower in New York. That's true. But that is not the only reason why you take out a regime, why you go after the leadership. And let's be clear. As of right now, it is becoming increasingly clear that the United States, along with Israel in these airstrikes. For those who have been up on the news today, some of you may be ahead of the news where I am, because again, I'm drinking from a fire hose just having come off of the Sabbath. Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Iran, is apparently dead. That is according to the President of the United States. According to Israel, Ali Shamkhani, the head of the National Defense Council, who is the head of legitimately the entire defense apparatus in Iran, also dead. Mohammad Pakpour, commander in chief of the irgc. That's the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. That's not the Iranian army. It's a different thing. The Iranian army is responsible for protecting the borders of Iran and doing kind of normal army things. The IRGC is responsible for quashing dissent, for spreading terrorism throughout the region. It is essentially the praetorian guardian for the leadership of Iran. All the political leadership, people like Massoud Pesheki and the president, totally irrelevant. The ayatollahs select. The supreme Leader of Iran, selects the people who are capable of running and the people who are capable of serving in those temporary political positions. The IRGC is his militant wing. Mohammed Pakpour is dead. Amir Nassar is dead. The Defense Minister is dead. So what the United States is doing right here is recognizing that there was a unique opportunity presented by the situation on the ground in Iran for a change of direction in Iran, which will totally upend the politics of the Middle east and of the world in a tremendous, tremendous way. Let's start with the geopolitics here. What's the geopolitical reason for the United States to be involved because geopolitics affects Americans. It does. Geopolitics affects Americans. America takes action abroad in order to affect its geopolitical position. This, for example, is why. If, for example, China were to threaten Taiwan, that would affect Americans, because Americans, we get semiconductors from Taiwan. Also, if China continues to expand its footprints, then that means that America's economic interests and military interests are threatened. Pretty obviously. Iran acts as a linkage. The current regime acts as a linkage between China and Russia. It provides enormous amounts of oil to the Chinese machine. It gives the Russian war machine its shahed drones. And of course, it acts as a check and balance against the United States in the Middle East. That is what Iran historically has done. In order to understand what President Trump is doing geopolitically, you have to understand the consequences in if he didn't do it. If President Trump had left the Iranian regime in place after it murdered 32,000 of its own citizens in violation of the president of the United States red line, if the Iranian regime continued to rebuild all of its military and nuclear facilities, which is what it was doing, if it continued to do that and President Trump did nothing, the geopolitical consequences for the United States would have been disastrous. Why? Because China looks at that, and maybe they make that move on Taiwan. Russia looks at that, and maybe they really up the ante in Ukraine. President Trump is the president who will not allow under any circumstances, the threat of force to go away. He understands better than anyone that the credible threat of American military force, he doesn't like using it. He doesn't want to use it. But the credible threat of American military force is the thing that keeps America in the driver's seat globally. That is what he was doing. He is pushing China off the ball with regard to Taiwan. He is pushing Russia off the ball with regard to Ukraine. And yes, of course, he is getting rid of the cancerous regime in Tehran, which has spread its terror tentacles all over the world, predominantly in the Middle East. But yes, also in Europe, where it has pursued terrorist attacks. Yes, in South America. Yes. In Latin America. There is no question that were the Iranian regime to go away, which absolutely could happen here. Even just the defenestration of the ayatollahs, by the way, means regime change. Definitionally, it means that a regime change has already been effectuated because that guy's been in charge, the ayatollah, Ayatollah Khamenei, he's been in charge of Iran since 1989 in the same way that it was effectively a regime Change for the United States to take Nicolas Maduro out of Venezuela, even if it meant that one of his deputies ended up in power and the United States just squeezed Venezuela so as to push them away from our enemies and control what they are doing in our hemisphere. Changing out the top of the regime in Iran will have massive repercussions. Massive repercussions. So geopolitically, excellent move by the President of the United States. There is unique opportunity. Unique opportunity here is important. I know there are a lot of people who think that in order for the United States to justify any military action, again, we are not talking about a military action involving hundreds of thousands of American boots on the ground. That'd be a different thing. The notion that in order to justify any military action at all, a threat must either be exactly imminent. Meaning like they're going to blow up a building in New York right now, or that there has to have been a direct attack is asinine. By that standard, Ronald Reagan never should have gone to Brandenburg Gate and called for the fall of the Soviet Union. Because while the Soviet Union had nuclear missiles pointed at the United States, they were not on the verge of using those nuclear missiles against the United States. They were simply a geopolitical threat to the United States. Opportunities that are blown, historically speaking, lead to significantly worse after effects, historically speaking, not sometimes. Every single time. Bill Clinton failing to kill Osama Bin Laden in the late 1990s when he had him in the crosshairs, the consequence was the USS Cole in 9 11. The unwillingness of the west to to topple the Bolshevik regime in its earliest iterations in Russia failing to sufficiently support the whites against the Reds in Russia led to a full century of Soviet sponsorship of mass murder. The United States unwillingness to help Shanghai Shek fight back against the Communists in China has led to the rise of the Chinese Communist Party, responsible for not only the deaths of tens of millions of its own citizens, but the main geopolitical threat facing America today. In other words, when you have an opportunity to effectuate serious change at relatively low cost, you do it. You do it. And the United States has complete air superiority. Why? Because after the 12 day war last year, in which Israel essentially defenestrated the air defense systems in Iran, the United States had essentially a clear airway to go and take out huge numbers of Iranian regime targets. The opportunity was, was there. Not only that, that opportunity had become even greater because the Iranian people were tired of living under this regime. The Iranian rial right now is so dirt cheap, it would take 1 million Iranian Riyals to amount to 75 United States cents. And so the Iranian people were tired of that, which is why they rose up in December of last year and started mass protesting in the streets. So the opportunity is for the people to take charge of their future with the help of the United States from above. And that's what President Trump is saying. He's saying, we're not going to put hundreds of thousands of troops on the ground and just effectuate a regime change. We are going to take out the people who are most threatening to you. Now go do the thing. Now go take control of your own country. That's what he was doing in that magnificent speech earlier today, the best speech, in my opinion, of President Trump's presidency. Truly presidential stuff from the president. So you have an incredible opportunity, a unique opportunity. Geopolitically, you have a necessity to do this, because if you do not do this, China takes the lead. And this is also true with regard to, for example, Afghanistan. The reason that Vladimir Putin decided to invade Ukraine is because the United States withdrew like ignominious cowards from Afghanistan under the pusillanimous President Joe Biden. Donald Trump does not play like that. He does not play like that. President Trump is a uniquely testosterone filled president, there's no question about this. The President of the United States has. That is a dude with cojones, for sure. And what he is doing here is transformational. Transformational. If you understand the entire politics of the Middle Eastern region and you understand the linkage between China, Iran, Russia, and you also understand Iran's sponsorship of every major terrorist group in the region, essentially, from the Houthis down in Yemen to Hezbollah in Lebanon to Shia militias in Iraq to rebellious forces in Jordan to rebellious forces pretty much everywhere else in the Middle east, you understand that a once in a lifetime opportunity to end the regime is on the table. And so what we've seen from this ballsy president over the course of the last few months are a change of regime in Venezuela, effectively. Because if you're squeezing them so hard that they squeak and they're basically under America's control, that is a regime change. You are seeing that attempted now in Iran. You are seeing that probably going to happen in Cuba. You're watching America remake the world in its own interest. In its interest, because it is good for America. When terrorist regimes that oppose America and shout death to America and sponsor terrorist groups that are anti American and try to develop nuclear weapons and try to develop ICBMs and try to develop massive terror exporting and then work hand in glove with all of our enemies to provide them oil and provide them drones. It turns out it's really great for America when that goes away. So as I said, there are a bunch of objections that have sort of been put forth here. People claiming this is not America First. Now again, I'm a little confused how it would not be America first for our chief enemy in the Middle east to go away. You're gonna have to explain that one to me. If we were talking about millions, hundreds of thousands, tens of thousands of American boots on the ground fighting house to house in Tehran the way that the United States did in Baghdad, then you'd have to make a stronger case. And I will by way of side point here, make a point made by my friend Ben Domenech, who's now over working with us here at Daily Wire. Ben Domenech made a great point a little bit earlier this evening to me. He said, here's the thing about American foreign policy. You can explain until you're blue in the face why things are good for Americans. If they end well, Americans like it and if they end poorly, Americans hate it. Americans knew precisely why we went into Afghanistan. Because AL Qaeda murdered 3,000American citizens. That war went poorly and Americans turned against it. And you can fail to explain properly why Americans make a foreign policy action. And if it ends well, Americans are basically okay with it or triumphal about it. Americans like victory and they do not like losing. The president has no intention of losing here. This bizarre notion that the President of the United States who campaigned against the Iraq war, who is by nature hesitant to get America involved in long term war, making that somehow he is going to be a redux of George W. Bush's Iraq war is asinine on its face. So why exactly is this America First? Well, as I say, because it is in America's interest for our big enemies to be changed to go away. Would it be America first if America were able to, with minimal loss of even American resources, topple, say the Chinese regime? The answer there is, of course it would be if we could snap our fingers and that regime changed into a friendly regime, would that be a good. Of course it would be unique opportunity, a geopolitics that favors the move, a President who is willing to do the hard thing. That's what is happening in Iran right now. So a lot of people are trying to cite George Washington suggesting that that this is all about a permanent alliance, that permanent alliances are bad and we shouldn't go abroad in search of enemies. To destroy the world is a lot smaller than when George Washington was President of the United States. And we should note that even shortly after George Washington was President of the United States, the Americans went to war with the Barbary pirates off the coast of Africa because they were threatening our sailors. This is not about long standing alliances, although it turns out that allies who are strong and capable and helpful because it turns out the iaf, the Israeli Air Force was also flying sorties over Iran and providing intelligence on targets and apparently involved in the blowing away of Ayatollah Khamenei. It turns out that that's actually quite useful to the United States. You know, it's not useful bad allies, allies who don't actually pull their weight, who don't have military wherewithal. Say for example, allies like Qatar, where you have a gigantic Al Udaid air base that they prevented the United States from using. What are we paying for? Exactly. So when people talk about George Washington and how somehow Washington's perspective that we shouldn't have permanent allies, that America's interests always come first, somehow that's in conflict with this. Of course it's not in conflict with this. It is directly in line with this. I mean, George Washington as a general was allied with the French in order to defeat the British. And then the United States turned around during Washington's administration and Adams administration and said, well, I guess we're gonna have to ally a little bit with the British because we do not like the French Revolution either, or at least stay neutral. Those are all based on America's interest. So the question is right now, is this in America's interest? The case for no is pretty weak. What is the thing that is not in America's interest? Irani. Iran's regime changing. How is that? Please explain. That's, that's the question that critics need to answer here. How is it not in America's interest for Iran's regime to change? Please explain in detail. Please explain, because that is the, that's the question that needs to be asked because I'm being told that it's not in America's interest by some people. So please explain why it's not in America's interest. I just explained why it is in America's interest. Please explain to me why it's not in America's interest for the United States to pursue this action against the Iranian regime, which has been again a five decade threat to America's interests abroad, ranging from threats to Gulf shipping which resulted in the United States blowing away the entire Iranian Navy. In 1988 to the building of nuclear weapons, which again, they were rebuilding. And one of the sort of bizarre arguments that's been made here is that they weren't rebuilding. There's no evidence they were rebuilding. I mean, here is a picture, this is from like two weeks ago, of facilities that were being rebuilt in Iran. Because it turns out that President Trump was right. America's midnight hammer operation did do significant and heavy damage to the Iranian nuclear facilities. But they immediately started rebuilding, hardening. They immediately started upping the ante. Here you can see the rebuilding of facilities. You can see the difference between the original picture and then the rebuilding of the buildings. Right. Buildings don't exist on the left side. They do exist on the right side. Here you can see actual building activity happening on the ground, rebuilding of the building. Iran was moving toward a thing. So the question was, how imminent was it? I have a question. Why do you have to wait until the murderer is in your living room in order to stop him? Is that a moral obligation? It seems to me stupidity. If you have the opportunity to stop him now, stop him now. President Trump saw the opportunity not only because of the protests in the streets, which provide the possibility of a true alternative in Iran for the first time in half a century, but also because again, Israel and the United States did extraordinary damage to Iran's forward capacity in last year's 12 Day War. That extraordinary damage, by the way, is why so far Iran's response has been pretty feeble. And it has been. They fired some hundreds of missiles at Israel. A couple of got through, hit in Tel Aviv, one hit in Jerusalem, I believe, one death so far. Iran has also apparently struck targets across the Middle east, but in truly ineffective ways. Not a gigantic shock. They struck a target in Kuwait. They hit a couple of targets in Jordan, apparently they hit in Bahrain. They tried to hit a navy base in Bahrain. They hit a hotel in Dubai. They struck Al Udaid in Qatar. None of these did truly significant damage. No one was. The number of deaths on the other side have been minimal. Minimal. And one of the things that has happened in the modern age is the sort of bizarre notion that war is totally cost free. Of course it is not. But America's military is just that damned good. And by the way, our American military, my God, they're unbelievable at what they do. My God, truly extraordinary at what they do. They kick ass beyond all recognition. President Trump is at the head of a military that is world dominant. It is an extraordinary military. The bravery of the men and women of the armed forces and by the way, not just their bravery, their unbelievable capacity, how good are they at this? Can we just stop for a second and marvel at that? If you put aside the bitching for a second, can we just stop for a second and say that are men and women the military? I know that sometimes in our, in our sort of conversations about the military, they are treated as though they are China dolls or victims, as though they're in the military to never do anything and that they are never to take a risk. Okay? These people are brave. They sign up for it and they kick ass beyond all recognition. It's insane. It's insane. Okay, I want to point out here, just take a. Take a moment. We can only provide you. We've been covering this all day. We can only provide you coverage of this because you subscribe over at Daily Wires. You absolutely should. We've been covering breaking news at Wired and Live with Cabot. We have editorial coverage and we're going to keep covering this all the time. It is the thing we do. We also couldn't be able to cover this sort of stuff without the support of our sponsors. One of our favorite sponsors is Preborn. They save the lives of the preborn. Obviously. Right now, thousands of women are being told the same heartbreaking lie. That abortion is their only choice, that they're on their own, that there's no way forward. That, of course, is not true. Everything shifts. The moment an expectant mom walks into a Preborn Network clinic and sees her baby on the ultrasound. In that instant, her chance of choosing life doubles. Listen, ultrasound is magical. We are pregnant with our fifth. It totally changes the way you see your own baby. If you're a mom trying to decide whether to keep your baby, please stop by Preborn. They do amazing, amazing work. This is what preborn does. You give to them. They help women get ultrasounds. Babies get saved. That's what it's about. One preborn donor put put it beautifully. She said, my mother chose life. That's the only reason I'm here. That's why I give to preborn. A donation of 28 bucks provides one ultrasound that could save a life and impact generations to come. Let's make this the biggest life saving year we've ever seen. Call £250. Say the word baby. That's £250 baby. Or visit preborn.comBen donate securely today. Again, that's preborn.comBen. preborn.comBen alrighty. So again, some of the other objections that have been pointed out put out there is that Somehow Iran was a paper tiger, post Soleimani. So back in, during the first Trump administration, the United States struck Qasem Soleimani. This is January of 2020. January 2020, just before he left office, he struck President Trump, Qasem Soleimani, the head of the IRGC Quds Force, in a drone strike and killed him. An amazing move by the President at that time. Okay, so yes, he's been gone. Yes, the 12 day war damaged the Iranians. And so people are saying, well, you know, if they were a paper tiger, why are we doing this? Because they're a paper tiger. That's when you do it. What are you supposed to wait until they're not a paper tiger? That seems kind of stupid to me. Again, do you have to wait until the guy who you know is going to rob your house goes out and purchases a bevy of weapons and works out at the gym for six months? And then you say, well, now he's a threat. Now he's really a threat. His intention's been the same the entire time. But I'm gonna wait until he's super duper dangerous and then I'm gonna do it. Opportunity, opportunity, that's what this is about. President Trump recognizes like a hawk, opportunity. And what he is doing right now is striking when the opportunity is available. You can see it by the way. You know, you want to know how things are lining up. The people who are protesting and the people who are happy today internationally, who's happy? Iranians and Persians globally, very, very happy. CCP not so happy. The Chinese, not so happy. Now, there have been questions raised about the legality of this action. Let us be clear about military action. My favorite is when people start citing the war making power of Congress under the Constitution. Cool beans, guys. You know, in the last actually declared war of the United States was like full scale declared war of the United States. It was World War II. The that is not the way that war has been done in the United States for a very long time because the opportunity is simply too quick. You gotta move fast. And so there is something called the War Powers Resolution. It requires the executive branch to go justify its action before Congress within 60 days of military action beginning. If you think this operation is lasting two months, you're outta your mind. I would be absolutely shocked if there is ongoing this type, this level of military action happening two months from now. Listen, I'd be a little surprised if it's happening two weeks from now, to be honest with you. Given the overwhelming air power of the United States now, of course, there are people who are very concerned about civilian casualties. On the other side, there is apparently a missile that hit an Iranian school. It is totally unclear whether that missile was a misfire from the Iranians, which has happened a lot, or whether it happened from a mistake, a mistaken target. War is horrible. Military action is horrible. It is not clean. It is not meant to be clean. Okay, but obviously every civilian life lost in Iran is regrettable. That is certainly not what the administration or the Israelis are attempting to do. Clearly, they're launching some of the most strategic military strikes in the history of humanity right now. Again, because of the unbelievable technological prowess and skill of the United States military and also our allies in the Middle East. Every life lost is a tragedy. I've noticed that many of the people, nay, virtually all of the people who are placing extraordinary focus on the Iranian school that was horrifically struck today didn't give two bleeps about the 32,000 protesters moaned down by the Iranian regime. So they're perfectly Happy to let 88 million people live under the tyranny of the Ayatollahs, mowing down tens of thousands of people at a time that they have no problem with. No protest, nothing. But if in taking out the Ayatollahs, a mistake is made and an Iranian school gets hit, I guess it's all game over. I mean, we have to stop. That's nonsense. It's absolute nonsense. Okay, finally, a lot of people talking about the electoral consequences. This is somehow going to stop people from voting for Republicans in 2026. Okay, here's the deal. If America succeeds, it won't. If it turns into a prolonged war, then it will. Pretty simple. Americans like winning and they don't like losing. Americans like short wars and they don't like long wars. This kind of bizarre notion that, let's say it is currently February, let's say that this thing is over by April. Whatever has happened has happened by May. The election is in November. Is your theory that if the Iranian regime falls, which is the goal here, that if the Iranian regime is replaced with something friendlier or more usable, or even if there's an ongoing chaotic multi multiplayer battle inside Iran for control, in which, by the way, the Iranians are trying to take control of their country? And also you don't have a centralized power shooting its own people and developing nuclear weapons, are you saying that that is going to be the thing that convinces people not to vote Republican? That's the thing that, like, of all the things, it's not going to be inflation. It's not going to be the idiocy of people on the Republican side of the aisle pursuing every dumb ass conspiracy theory and nonsensical rabbit hole they can find. It's not going to be the groiper juxtaposed stupidity of high ranking members of the commentary. No, what's really going to do it is that America killed Ayatollah Khamenei. That's really what's going to off Americans. Yeah, sure. All right, I'm gonna have to see the data on that one. And then finally, people saying that Trump is going back on no new wars. Well, again, Trump pledged no new Iraq wars or Afghanistan. If your definition, the definition of war has kind of changed, don't you think it's changed a little bit? I've seen some people today saying that if this proceeds and we lose one American soldier that it wasn't worth it. And I just have a question, I just have a question. By what standard is any military action then worth it? Any it is not possible to have a military action that is worth it by that standard. Which I think is kind of the point from some folks are joining us online is Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas. He of course is a military veteran himself and has been quite outspoken on the need to do something about the Iranian regime. Senator Cotton, thanks so much for your time. Really appreciate it.
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C
Thank you, Ben.
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B
So why don't we begin with what the end goals here are. Obviously the President spoke out today. He talked about the Iranian people taking back their country. It appears that Ayatollah Khamenei, after decades long tyrannical running of his tyrannical government is dead. What do you make of the goals here? What should American people be looking forward to? What should they expect here?
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C
Well, Ben, first I just want to stress what a danger Iran has been to the United States for 47 years. One of their first acts after the revolution was to seize our embassy and hold our fellow citizens hostage for over 400 days. They blew up the Beirut Marine barracks. They blew up the Khobar Towers. You mentioned my service in the army. By the time I was In Iraq in 2006, our armor could protect against most roadside bombs, except for extremely dangerous ones from Iran that killed or maimed thousands of Americans. That's the kind of radical revolutionary theocrats we're dealing with here. And that's why we can't have them let them have the worst possible weapons. And I thought the president laid it out, the objectives out very well and the actions necessary to achieve those Objectives first, we can never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. We blew up their nuclear facilities last year. There's clear evidence that they still have nuclear ambitions. They're trying to reconstitute their program. We're going to hit those facilities. Two, and more immediate, they have a vast missile arsenal, far more missiles than we have missile defenses between the United States and Israel combined. And it gets worse every single month. We cannot allow that kind of imbalance. Israel certainly can't. So we're going to target their missiles, we're going to target their launchers, we're going to target their missile manufacturing capabilities as well. Third, they've been supporting terrorists like Hamas and Hezbollah rebels in Yemen for 47 years. And we're going to strike at the pillars of the regime that have been supporting those terrorists like the Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Quds Force, the shock troops that have been training and funding terrorists around the world. Those are the three objectives. Those are the means that we're going to use to achieve those objectives.
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B
So, Senator Cotton, one of the questions that people are asking is, well, if the Iranians were so weakened by the 12 Day War last year and then Operation Midnight Hammer, what is the urgency here? And the point that I've been making is that obviously you don't wait until threats are completely imminent in order to do this sort of stuff. If you have a unique opportunity, and right now is a unique opportunity to you, take it. And so I wanted to ask you about the unique opportunity that was presented by this timeframe, because people are asking about the timeframe. And second, what this means geopolitically for pushing, for example, China off the ball, that when you show weakness in the geopolitical sphere, say for example, a cowardly pullout from Afghanistan, it turns out that people notice and then maybe invade Ukraine. So those are the two questions. Was there a unique opportunity here? And also geopolitically, what would this kind of change mean?
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C
But not just a unique opportunity, but a unique and gathering danger. The opportunity is that, as you say, that Iran was badly weakened last summer. They've been badly weakened since the October 7, 2023 atrocity of Hamas against Israel. Israel has helped destroy much of its so called ring of Fire. You might say it's a ring of smoke now, the smoking ruins of Iran's strategy in the Middle East. Their military was exposed and badly degraded last summer as well. But there is still a unique danger. It's that missile arsenal I mention. Thousands and thousands of missiles, far more than we have in missile defenses. And if you look at the rates of productions that they have of missiles and the United States and Israel have a missile defenses. It gets worse every single month. I don't think we can live with that. Iran can already reach our bases from as far as Western Europe to the Indian Ocean. They're trying to develop missiles that can hit us in the United States. I know Israel can't live with that missile imbalance. So it's both a unique opportunity and a unique danger that is gathering on the horizon that, as you said earlier, we shouldn't wait until that danger arrives. We should knock it out now. And if Iran, if the regime in Iran falls, if Iran is replaced just with some kind of normal government that is not exporting revolutionary violence and terror, it would be a monumental achievement by President Trump and it would send a message to China in certain tangible ways because Iran still gets more oil from China than almost any other nation. And in intangible ways that once again, America is gonna be strong, confident and resolute in the defense of our interests around the world.
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B
Senator Cotton, you mentioned Israel, obviously. I think a lot of people who are critical of the President's mission here have suggested that America is only sort of doing Israel's dirty work here. I find that sort of odd since it was the President of the United States who suggested that help would be on the way to Iran. And he said that to the protesters, to tens of thousands of whom had been shot in the street. Make the argument for people who don't quite understand why this really is about American interests and not say Israel's interests.
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C
Well, let's just recall that Iran calls us the Great Satan. They call Israel the little Satan. It may be smaller than we are and it may be closer than we are. So the danger may be more immediate to Israel than it is to the United States. But ultimately Iran sees us as their main enemy. Ben. They have what they call it, the space launch program. I don't know about you, but I haven't seen any Iranian astronauts in space lately. That space launch program is flimsy cover for a ballistic missile program that would be able to hit us here in the United States. The President has been totally clear about this, as has Marco Rubio, and that's to say nothing again of their 47 year history of terrorizing, maiming and killing Americans. We cannot allow a regime like that to develop the weapons that are capable of threatening not just our troops in the region, but our friends and ultimately our own homeland. When we have this moment of opportunity, when we can finish the job. President Trump is right to take it.
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B
Senator Cotton, finally, I want to get your notes as a, as a veteran on the extraordinary performance of the American military, the armed forces here. One of the things that I find greatly annoying is the sort of bizarre treatment by members of the left and then some members of what I've called the horseshoe right. To treat members of the military as though they are China dolls or as though they are victims of their own decisions and being in the military, when in reality we're talking about the most heroic people that America has to offer and also, by the way, the most competent people that America has to offer. What do you make of the performance thus far?
- [34:41]
C
Well, incredible skill and bravery, Ben, not just in this operation, but in operations going back the last year. The great precision strikes from around the world on Operation Midnight Hammer on Iran's nuclear facilities last June, the raid against Nicolas Maduro where we apprehended him and brought him to justice. We saw one of the heroes of that operation, Chief Warrant Officer 5 Eric Slover, he got the Medal of Honor. He was the pilot of the lead helicopter. He shot multiple times in the leg. Yet he was able to land the helicopter safely and get his troops off there so they could continue on to the mission. Our military is capable of operations that no other military in the world can pull off, certainly not Russia and the China's. And I think anytime they do, as they are right now in Iran, our enemies sit up and take notice.
- [35:26]
B
Senator Cotton, one more question for you. The new Middle east is going to be a very different place obviously if the Iranian regime falls. So Iran obviously has been the chief sponsor of terrorism, not just in the Middle east, but globally. But with Iran not there to sort of spread its cancerous poison throughout the Middle east, it does solidify regimes allied to the United States ranging from Israel to Jordan to, to Saudi Arabia to Bahrain to uae. I mean, it really is an astonishing change in the nature of the possible future of the Middle East. One of the things that I think is worth noting here is that Saudi and uae, for example, who one moment ago were fighting each other tooth and nail, are suddenly on the same side of this conflict. What does the future of the Middle east look like if there were to be an actual regime change in Iran?
- [36:10]
C
Ben, it's a future of incredible promise of stability, peace and prosperity. There's still going to be disputes. Obviously. Nations have differences, commercial differences, border disputes, water rights, what have you that is normal affairs in international politics. What is not normal is to have a revolutionary Islamic regime in Iran that has been exporting chaos and violence and terror for 47 years. If Iran were again simply a normal nation with normal disputes with countries in its region, the Middle east would be much safer. It would be more stable. It would be peaceful. It would be more prosperous. And frankly, it would allow us to spend a little more time focusing on our own backyard fighting against drug cartels in Latin America and confronting China. So this would be a huge accomplishment for President Trump and a great advance for the sake of peace and prosperity
- [37:06]
B
for Americans, an unbelievably brave and courageous move by the presidents of the United States. And obviously, our prayers are with all of the men and women of the fighting forces of the United States abroad. Senator Cotton, thanks so much for the time. Really appreciate it.
- [37:19]
C
Thank you again.
- [37:22]
B
All right. Well, again, President Trump earlier today confirmed the ayatollah's death. Ali Khamenei, he put it up on Truth Social and in his own inimitable style, he said, Khamenei, one of the most evil people in history is dead. This is not only justice for the people of Iran, but but for all great Americans and those people from many countries throughout the world that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty thugs. He was unable to avoid our intelligence and highly sophisticated tracking systems. And working closely with Israel, there's not a thing he or the other leaders that have been killed along with him could do. This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their country. We are hearing that many of their irgc, military and other security and police forces no longer want to fight and are looking for immunity from us. As I said last night, now they can have immunity. Later, they get only death. Hopefully, the IRGC and police will peacefully merge with the Iranian patriots and work together as a unit to bring back the country to the greatness it deserves. That process should soon be starting in that not only the death of Khomeini, but the country has been, in only one day, very much destroyed and even obliterated. The heavy and pinpoint bombing, however, will continue uninterrupted throughout the week or as long as necessary to achieve our objective of peace throughout the Middle east and indeed the world. Thank you for your attention to this matter, President Donald J. Trump. Now, the Iranians immediately denied this. They pretended that he was still fine. This is very typical stuff from the Iranians and their proxies and their allies. When Israel killed Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah tried to claim that he was alive for a Significant period of time. Mohammed Da', if, who's the military leader of Hamas. The Hamas next tried to claim that he was alive for literally months after he was already dead. So not a giant shock that they tried to claim that Khamenei was alive. Details of that operation are beginning to become clearer. Apparently the Israelis who provided the intelligence and performed the strike, actually, the basic idea was that they did this. I will tell you the truth, when I saw that they had killed Khamenei in the opening rounds. And again, as we sort of brought up to date on this, immediately after Sabbath, when I saw this, my security been giving me kind of little updates throughout the day. When I saw this, I was shocked that they actually were able to accomplish this. The thing that shocked me, I went to bed last night relatively early, and I thought there was no shot that America was going to go. And the reason was because, typically speaking, America only goes during the nighttime hours if you're going to launch an attack, typically launch an attack at nighttime because, of course, visibility is significantly lower. The fact that the attack took place at effectively 9:00am in the morning, in broad daylight was the reason, apparently, that the attack was successful. So extraordinary intelligence gathering, the amazing work of the combined military efforts of the United States and Israel as well, truly, truly astonishing stuff. And the goals for the President of the United States are to end Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons and the expanding ballistic missiles program and stop its development of ICBMs. And we should also point out right there that you. You wouldn't have to have full regime change in order for that to occur. Theoretically, the new leadership could do that. Theoretically, even a battle over the leadership would achieve those objectives. Because if everybody is fighting each other, they don't have time to build ICBMs or resources to do that or to support terrorism abroad. So the nature of the attack itself has already been extremely successful. So again, there are also reports from Jonathan Martin over at Politico that while Tehran was being pounded, its top diplomat dialed Moscow looking for help from the Russians. And the Russians gave them the high five. Drowning meme. Good job, guys. Yeah, it turns out that alliance with Russia is not all that it's cracked up to be. And we can only bring you live coverage like this because of our sponsors. And so I want to thank our sponsor for tonight because we are live streaming because of them. Balance of nature. Balance of nature makes sure that you are healthier and every single day. Let's be clear, most of us don't know what phytonutrients actually are. That's why Balance of Nature makes getting them in your diet so simple. Here's the thing about phytonutrients. 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Whether you're on the fence for a long time or it's the first time you're hearing about Balance of Nature. Head over to balanceofnature.com right now. Order the whole health system supplements as a preferred customer today. And while I'm at it, you should go subscribe over at Daily Wire plus so we can keep bringing you live updates as we have been doing all day long. This coverage only happens because of our subscribers. Head on over to Daily Wire plus right now. Well, again, the President's decision here is extraordinary. It's known as Operation Epic Fury, which I gotta say is just awesome. The operation names from the administration, top notch. Midnight Hammer was great last year. Operation Epic Fury. Yeah man, Epic Fury. The Israeli operation is known as Operation Roaring Lion. That is because the operation last year was known as Operation Rising Lion. As a brief update, apparently joint Israeli and American strikes on Iran began around 1:30 in the morning. On the east coast, fighter aircraft, Tomahawk cruise missiles, one way attack drones were deployed. And again the initial Israeli decapitation strike. It was an Israeli strike that took out the entirety basically of the supreme leadership, supreme leader, President, Defense Minister, IRGC Chief of Staff, huge array of strikes on ballistic missiles, which is why again, the retaliatory strikes have been so weak. Iran tried to retaliate with ballistic missile and drone strikes against pretty much everybody. Israel, Qatar, uae, Kuwait, Bahrain. There have been a bunch of injuries, but very few killed. Complete air Superiority over Iran has already been achieved effectively. Well, joining us online to discuss is Mark Dubowitz from the foundation for the Defense of Democracy. They've been covering this in detail for years on end. Obviously. Mark, thanks so much for the time. Appreciate it.
- [43:41]
D
Thanks, man. Honored to be on your show.
- [43:44]
B
So, Mark, obviously courageous move by the President of the United States. The big question here, I think in most Americans mind, is what does the next week, next couple of weeks look like? What is the end goal here?
- [43:56]
D
So I think the president was very clear in articulating that end goal. And that end goal is the elimination of Iran's reconstituting nuclear and missile programs and also to prevent Iran from further developing its intercontinental ballistic missile program, which has only one address, which is the American homeland. And the president has also said that, you know, Iranians now have a once in a generation opportunity to take to the streets and take their country back. I think the Israelis are also looking to degrade those missile and nuclear capabilities. But it's the Israelis who are really going after leadership targets. And it's the Israelis who are responsible for eliminating Ali Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader today, who's been ruling that country with an iron fist and is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans and Iranians and Israelis and others over the years.
- [44:46]
B
So, Mark, you know, when we look at how the next couple of weeks unfold, obviously it's an aerial campaign. The question I think a lot of people have in mind is how much damage can they do? What are the chief targets? Obviously, they're going after ballistic missile launchers. There are a lot of missile launchers that are mobile. Iran has been having trouble, it appears, getting its ballistic missiles in the air because it takes time to charge them up as they charge up, because of the superiority of both the American Air Force and the Israeli Air Force, they've been taking out a lot of those missile launchers. What should we expect over the course of the next week?
- [45:16]
D
So, Ben, I think we can continue to see that the United States and Israel will try to neutralize those dangerous capabilities. I mean, Iran has a pretty significant arsenal of ballistic missiles, maybe 2,000 missiles. They're certainly husbanding some of them. They're not going to fire them all at once. But I think if the regime starts to see that there is an existential threat to it, and then it potentially could be going down, then I think you will see the firepower of the Islamic Republic unleashed. They also have sleeper cells around the world, including the United States. And it's concerning to say this, but it could be terrorist attacks targeting Americans and Israelis, soft targets like Jewish community centers and synagogues. So I think we have to be prepared for all these contingencies because the Islamic Republic is truly on its knees. And if America and Israel take it on its back, then it's gonna come, it's gonna go down fighting.
- [46:12]
B
So when it comes to the possibility of regime change, obviously the leadership has been destroyed. There are people who are sort of set up as possible heirs. That would include the head of the judiciary or Khamenei's chief of staff or another cleric. Basically, my understanding is that the way this works, that anyone else who becomes the supreme leader has to be a senior Shia cleric. So basically just ensuring the line of succession through radical Shia Islam, how would that work? Are those people that can expect to be targeted?
- [46:46]
D
So we think that the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, has already designated a successor and that is his son Mojtaba, who, believe it or not, Ben is more psychotic, more vicious than his father. So I think that the United States, particularly the Israelis, is going to try to find Mostaba and also neutralize him. And then I think President Trump made it very clear in his eight minute speech announcing military operations that he's giving the IRGC and senior leadership a choice. They can either lay down their weapons and keep their money and keep their positions, or President Trump is going to eliminate them. And he certainly has followed through on those threats now on three separate occasions. So anybody who thinks that he's bluffing is. Is foolish.
- [47:32]
B
So one of the questions here that people are asking is what a transition to a different regime looks like. If, for example, the President suggested IRGC should hand over its arms, they should lay them down, to whom would they hand over their arms? How would that happen? Who would be sort of next in power? There's been talk about Reza Pahlavi, the son of the former Shah. There's been talk about sort of other measures to be taken. Who are sort of the possibilities, who are not inside the regime.
- [47:59]
D
Well, on the optimistic side, you mentioned Reza Pahlavi, the son of the Shah. I mean, he certainly seems to be very popular inside Iran. Iranians have been on the streets in the massive protests in January and now calling out his name. Many Iranians are under the age of 30 and they see photos and videos of life under his father. And Iran was a secular and moderately religious state where people enjoyed a really high quality of life. So they harken back to those days. I think Pahlavi is a serious contender at least to lead Ben a transition. And he said that he doesn't want to rule as an autocrat, he doesn't want to be the next shah, but he wants to lead a democratic transition and build a constitution and have elections. And one can imagine him being the Persian King Charles, a constitutional monarchy ruling over a democracy. And Iran, by the way, pre Islamic Republic has quite a bit of experience with representative democracy. So it's not unusual for Iran to go back to a more democratic and liberal tradition.
- [49:06]
B
Well, that is Mark Dubowitz from the foundation for Defense of Democracy. Thanks so much for the time, Mark, and thank you for the insight, as always.
- [49:13]
D
Thanks so much, Ben. Appreciate it.
- [49:16]
B
So we've gone through many of the reasons behind why President Trump is doing what President Trump is doing and some of the objections that the timeline of America's relations with Iran begin really in its modern form in 1979. In 1979, of course, is when the American ally Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi fled Iran under pressure from protesters February through April. That is when Ayatollah Khomeini, who is the predecessor to Khamenei, two different guys, not related Khomeini, returned from exile and established the Islamic Republic. By November, students were seizing the US Embassy in Tehran and of course, taking Americans hostage. Those Americans remained hostage, but for well over a year in the 1980s, the Iranians were backing proxy terrorist groups throughout the region. As I mentioned early on, that includes Hezbollah. Hezbollah, of course, bombed the Marine barracks in Lebanon in 1983, killing hundreds of Americans. Gulf shipping was harassed by the Iranians, culminating in Operation praying Mantis in 1988, in which Reagan ordered the sinking of basically the entire Iranian Navy. In the 1990s, the United States pursued what was called a dual containment policy with Iran to and Iraq. The idea was that both countries, one led by Saddam Hussein, one by the ayatollahs, were dangerous. The idea was basically keep them contained, do not let them expand their power beyond their borders. During the 90s, Iran ramped up its support for terrorism, including, as the president mentioned in his speech, likely support for the 1999 bombing of the USS Cole. In the 2000s, Iran intervened in Iraq against the United States via its Shia proxies. Basically, it saw an opportunity and it took it. It poured money and forces across the border into Iraq, where at least 600Americans were killed by Iranian Shia proxy groups. During the same period, Iran continued to develop nuclear weapons openly spoke about developing nuclear weapons and using them on Israel. Constant chance of death to America, death to Israel and all the rest. In the 2010s, President Trump then tried to negotiate the JCPOA, which effectively was a surrender to the Iranians. He basically gave them a 10 year green path toward a nuclear weapon, well, while getting rid of a series of sanctions that had been set up by the United States Congress. When President Trump was elected, he pulled the United States out of the jcpoa, properly recognizing it as essentially a way for Iran to arm up in nuclear fashion while simultaneously being able to fund itself with flow of dollars. In January of 2020, as mentioned, the United States killed Qasem Soleimani, the head of the IRGC Quds Force, in a drone strike. A truly seminal event in Middle Eastern history under President Trump. And then of course, as soon as President Trump was out of office, the incompetent buffoon Joe Biden took over and he promptly proceeded to reinvigorate Iran's growth. He alienated the Saudi government, he alienated the Israeli government. Iran began to expand its enrichment again. Iranian backed proxies attacked Israel on October 7, most obviously launched all of their proxies from Yemen to Lebanon to Iraq, and then directly against Israel. In June 2025, after Israel had already basically cut off all the arms of the Iranian octopus, Israel launched the 12 day war against Iran. And then on the back of that, President Trump launched Operation Midnight Hammer, taking out the nuclear facilities in Fordo. Iran immediately began rebuilding at the same time because Iran's economy was effectively dead because they'd been cut off by the sanctions, and also because they alienated themselves from the world economy other than China and Russia, The Iranian people began to protest in late December. That is the timeline of how he got here. It is an unbroken chain of Iranian harassment of Western interests since then. 1979. Again, Jimmy Carter ought to be blamed for an enormous amount of this, frankly, because he was the guy who allowed the shot of fall in 1979. And it's been an unending string of fail ever since. Until President Donald J. Trump again, the single gutsiest president of my lifetime. Not close, bar none. Incredible, incredible. So that is where things currently stand. Now again you are seeing all the Democrats come out and say this is just terrible. It's just so Kamala Harris, coward that she is, she put out a statement. Donald Trump is dragging the United States into a war the American people do not want. Let me be clear. I'm opposed to a regime changed war in Iran and our troops are being put in harm's way for the sake of Trump's War by choice. Well, I mean, that's strange because you served under administration that similarly believe that Iran could never have a nuclear weapon and under which Iran launched a multi front proxy war against America's ally Israel. Pretty, pretty incredible stuff there from Kamala Harris. She says this is a dangerous and unnecessary gamble with American lives that also jeopardizes stability in the region and our standing in the world. This is where she's totally off the rails. I mean, totally off the rails. You want to say you wouldn't have done it? Fine. You want to say that this jeopardizes stability in the region. You mean getting rid of the most destabilizing force in the region and maybe on planet Earth is somehow destabilizing? That's Kamala Harris's idiot. Take this dullard with two brain cells to rub together who somehow lucked her way and affirmative actioned her way into a vice presidential slot and then a presidential run. Truly, our standing in the world, right. Our standing in the world has somehow been crippled by going after a terrorist regime that is responsible for the death of thousands of Americans and Western allies. She says it's recklessness dressed up as resolve. I know the threat Iran poses. They must never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon, but this is not the way to dismantle that threat. Apparently the way to dismantle the Iranian nuclear threat was to kiss their ass under Joe Biden. Apparently the way to dismantle the Iranian nuclear threat was to alienate America's chief allies in the region in order to pursue a JCPOA 2. Pathetic stuff there from Kamala Harris, but I would expect nothing less. And she is, in fact, a pathetic politician, Ilhan Omar, who has never found a terrorist regime she can't defend. She also put out a statement ripping into President Trump because obviously it was a great immigration decision to bring her here. She put out a statement, president Trump is unilaterally dragging this nation into an illegal and unjustified war with Iran without congressional authorization, without a clear objective, and without any imminent threat to the United States. Okay, we discussed all of the legality here. And as far as the imminent threat to the United States, again, imminent how? Like, how imminent do we have to be here? If you have a target of opportunity and they are weak and prone, why would you wait until they are actually full scale imminent? And then Ilhan Omar says, as someone who has survived the horrors of war, I know that bombs do not build peace or create stability. Oh, good Lord. You're a survivor of the horrors of war because we, in the goodness of our American hearts, took your family in, despite the fact that your family was kind of involved in the horrors of war. As it turns out, military strikes will not make us safer. They will inflame tensions and push the region further into chaos. Says Ilhan Omar, not particularly crypto terror supporter. When we abandon diplomacy, we choose to. I can't even read her. I mean, she's so ridiculous. She is ridiculous intellectually, she's ridiculous morally. The fact that this woman sits in the United States Congress is disgrace. It's. It's a disgrace to the American people. It's a disgrace to the United States Congress. She is a joke, she is a liar and she is devastatingly anti American. My goodness. My goodness. From Ilhan Omar. No shock there. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who left Congress rather than be held accountable for her own idiocy, put out a statement. I did not campaign for this. I did not donate money for this. I did not vote for this in elections or Congress. Well, guess what? I did campaign for this. I did donate money for this. And I did vote for this. Because Donald J. Trump is the dude. He's the man. Donald J. Trump is the one who's making this happen. I've been letting him cook for two full terms here and this is ridiculous. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Marjorie Taylor Greene. This is heartbreaking and tragic. She says how many more innocents will die? She didn't give any bleeps at all when 32,000 innocents were shot in the streets of Iran. She. She couldn't muster any sympathy when Israel was getting slammed with Iranian terror proxies. How many innocent Americans have been murdered over the years by Iranians and their proxies? What about our own military? Our own military is kicking ass, lady, and you're sitting there caterwauling. This is not we thought what MAGA was supposed to be. I don't know about you, this is exactly what I thought a MAGA was. This exactly what I thought MAGA was. She is the saddest sack. Ridiculous. What again? So many disgraces in Congress. Well, she used to be in Congress. To be fair. To be fair, she is no longer in Congress. Now she's wandering the wilds of left wing media proclaiming that she is true maga. You know who's Trumaga? The guy who invented it. That's true maga. You know who Trumaga is? Donald J. Trump is true maga. You know who isn't true maga? This lady who is so busy stupping her gym instructor that she couldn't put together a single basic policy position that didn't involve Jewish space lasers. These are ideological thought leaders gang. Get better thought leaders. See, in order to, in order to be a thought leader, I think you probably ought to have a thought or the capacity for. For a thought. How about that? Elizabeth Warren, straight from the reservation, put out a statement as well. Quote, Donald Trump's single handedly starting another war with Iran is dangerous and illegal. I mean, what would he be doing it double handedly? And he's the commander in chief of the armed forces. What's he supposed to do, go to you for permission? By the way, the gang of eight was apparently in the Senate, was apparently informed beforehand. America first doesn't mean dragging the United States into another forever war built on lies while ignoring the needs of Americans here at home. Says the open border socialist. All right, Gavin Newsom for his part, played both sides as he is fond of doing. Again, I say he's the best Democrat because he's better than these schmucks. The corrupt and repressive Iranian regime, he says, must never have nuclear weapons. The leadership of Iran must go. But that does not justify the President of the United States engaging in an illegal, dangerous war that will risk the lives of our American service members and our friends without justification to the American people. See, here's the thing. The first two sentences were the justification, schmucko. The first two sentences right there. So the third sentence is that there's no justification, but he literally just gave the justification and then he tried to claim that this is because Trump is unpopular at home. It's a wag the dog scenario. Yes, I'm sure that President Trump is launching a ballsy but controversial military action against the Iranian regime to distract from what precisely? Speaking of people with nonfunctional prefrontal cortexes, AOC put out a statement. So fresh, so face, so brainless. I definitely need her Middle Eastern expertise. I do. I mean, after she went on a show with Margaret Hoover and proceeded to not know where anything is in the Middle East, a lady who does not know anything about China. And I need her expertise. Quote, just this week, Iran and the United States were negotiating key measures that could have staved off war. The President walked away from these discussions and chose war instead. This is deliberate choice of aggression when diplomacy and security were within reach. Stop lying to the American people. Violence begets violence. Violence begets violence. Well, you know what's, you know what also begets violence? Lying there while people pummel you. That begets violence. As it turns Out. Weakness begets violence. Violence begets fear in your enemies, if properly applied. And by the way, what does AOC know about the negotiations that were happening in Geneva? Was she in the room. Again? Bartending was a better career for her. Zara Momdani, of course, all of his, all of his friends are under attack right now. So he's upset. He put out a statement that it's a catastrophic escalation, bombing cities, killing civilians, opening a new theater of war. You know, again, it's very amazing that so far, according to the New York Times, in this action, the number of Iranian civilians who have been killed and all of that, sad, because the United States does not want to kill civilians because they tried to stop the killing of civilians. The number of civilians who have been killed, according to the New York times, is about 133. In Iran, 32,000 civilians were murdered by the Iranian regime, according to the president. And Zormandani? Nothing. Don't talk about it. My favorite part is when he says, I want to speak directly to Iranian New Yorkers. You are part of the fabric of the city. You are our neighbor, small business. They're on Trump's side. Iranians living in the United States want him to do this. They're the most enthusiastic people. Honestly, Trump is lucky in his opponents because they are some of the most benighted people on planet, are truly, truly benighted. Jasmine Crockett, who wants to be the Texas Senate candidate for the Democrats, she threw on some new nails and started cosplaying as Middle Eastern policy expert. So here she was on Ms. Now,
- [62:49]
E
he has a history of doing this right on the weekend when we're not in, when we can't ask questions immediately and demand a briefing immediately. And so it is understandable that people have whatever issues that they have with Maduro, just like you've stated, people have whatever issues they have with the regime that is in control over in the Middle East. But the problem that we have is that you are not false following the law. Like, that's the issue. If you feel as if you have everything that you need to actually engage in these types of actions, then why is it that you aren't coming to Congress? That is the big question. And my argument is that because you know it's not, you know that you don't have the legal authority, when you go out on your social media platform and you say things like, well, they interfered with the election. That is not a reason to go and drop bombs and kill people and risk the lives of the people that have sworn an oath to protect this country.
- [63:46]
B
Okay. Again, I'm just amazed at these. These people, suddenly they want to revivify the power of Congress. You know, when there's actual Article 2 presidential power at stake here, that's what, that's when Jasmine Crockett signs into chat. Oh, the hypocrisy. Oh, that box. Well, joining us on the line to discuss all this is Admiral Robert Harward, retired U.S. navy. He also is of the Iran Policy Project at a group called ginsa, and he is in Abu Dhabi right now. So it's the middle of the night over there. Really appreciate it, Admiral. Thanks for taking the time.
- [64:18]
F
Good to be with you, Ben. It's five in the morning, Ben. A nice quiet night, fortunately, here in Abu Dhabi.
- [64:26]
B
So give us the sort of situation on the ground over there. Obviously, the Iranians have been firing off some of their arsenal at a variety of American allies. What's it like in Abu Dhabi right now?
- [64:37]
F
Pretty good alert system here, I think when they track something on their radar, they put out a notice. So you hear on all the phones, in fact, so it's a great network. You get warnings. So last night, about 10 o' clock at night, there were almost constant alarms, I guess because of inbound threats. But then throughout the night it was pretty quiet. So there were some strikes yesterday. I don't know the injuries or anything, but relatively quiet throughout the night.
- [65:11]
B
So let's talk about the United States agenda here. What is the situation inside Iran? The supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei has been killed. Apparently a couple of his top defense leaders, including the head of the irgc, have been killed. Amazing intelligence operation once again by the Israelis. I mean hall of fame stuff. There again, allowing for the taking out of a room full of top leadership of the Iranian regime, what comes next in Iran? What should we be looking forward to?
- [65:36]
F
Well, I think two things. One, ensure that they cannot continue fire missiles, continue to strike at any that present themselves inventory of missiles and the launchers themselves. And then as they did in that strike you just mentioned, then going after the leadership. And so I think you're going to see an indicator of how successful they are, will be how many missiles are still coming out and how many hits continue to happen. And you're going to see a tipping point, I believe, where you're going to see members of the IRGC and the regime focus on survival as opposed to projecting power. So that's the point. I think we can really expect a change on the ground in the country. And so I think we may be close to that based on how quiet it was here last night. I haven't heard the reports, reports of how else it's going in the GCC or on American bases or our forces. But at the end of the day, I think that's when we'll know that tipping point's going on.
- [66:36]
B
So you grew up in Iran. You know, the Iranian people. What do you think the Iranian people are thinking right now? Obviously, there are a lot of factions inside Iran, a lot of different opinions. What do you think the overwhelming sense in Iran, however, is tonight, given the situation that has now been unleashed by the United States military as well as the Israeli Air Force.
- [66:54]
F
Praise Allah or thank God, someone's finally coming to their assistance. Look, they for years have wanted to get rid of this regime, and it's broken the bank for them. It's tough to pay your bills, tough to feed your family. They're fed up with these guys because they failed them as a governance. So I believe that's what's going on. I have friends I'm in contact with. I'm getting notes from them. Hey, help us on the way. You guys have answered. Let us be a part of what's coming next. So I think there's a great satisfaction to see someone actually come to their assistance and help instigate this regime collapse and this transition to a government who is responsive to the people looking after their welfare.
- [67:41]
B
Now, obviously, the IRGC remains a very large force on the actual ground. Even if they lose some of their forward capacity or all of their forward capacity to strike other nations, they still are going to be shooting people in the streets. You would assume there are reports out of Tehran already that there are people who are celebrating the death of Khamenei and the IRGC was basically seeking them out to kill them. What do you think the next sort of situation on the ground is going to be? Because the United States is highly unlikely to put actual assets on the ground. The United States is going to fight an air war. Israel is likely to do the same. What's it going to take inside Iran for there to be an actual change of regime?
- [68:14]
F
I think there's going to be that tipping point that allows them to move. I think there's coordination. And as you talked about, the intelligence, not just from Israel, but the United States and their network and connectivity inside the country is going to be critical at this point. Reaching out to the opposition, using those ties to empower them, give them support, and more importantly, go after those factions. That can be solved or saved. The artish, for instance, which is the professional armed forces, the army, about 350 to 400,000. Can they turn? Will they turn against the IRGC? And the more we strike, the more we decapitate the irgc, the more they're empowered. So I think those contacts will be reaching out through the Iranian partners and say, hey guys, there's a chance for you to be part of this future. You can be the backbone of what's coming, the future of Iran, not the past. You don't have blood on your hands. Be part of the solution. Because that's exactly what happened in 1979. Shah was using his army to put down the revolution or the protests at that time. And we sent a delegation, Carter did at the time, military and political team into Iran to to make sure the Shah knew if he used the army that we would consider a human rights violation. And we pulled out. And that really was the tipping point when the army turned with the people against the Shah fell. I see the same dynamics at play here. Can we get those factions who have not been part of the genocide in Iran to turn and act against the irgc? I think that tips the favor of armed armed forces in support of the people of Iran that will lead to a future government.
- [70:09]
B
So, you know, given the situation right now, looking at the complete air dominance demonstrate, I mean, this attack originally took place in the middle of the morning, which is just extraordinary. I mean, really unthinkable dominance by the United States military and the Israeli Air Force as well. You know, given that state, how long would you think this lasts? This seems to me like an operation that we are talking weeks, not months.
- [70:33]
F
I don't think so, Ben. I think this can go much quicker. It's how much targeting we can now do of the irgc, how well that communication is and how well we can compel those who stand against the regime to act. So I'm not as pessimistic of the timeline. I'm more optimistic that this thing can actually go quicker than p It's all a matter of now what our targeting assets is. Listen, and they're learning too. Hey, we got the leadership in one of their primary meetings where they thought they were in a safe spot and we decapitated them. So they're going to be on the run. And so how much of that and how many of those people are going to be focused on command and control again? Out the word to the forces continue to strike, to launch missiles are how many are really just going to go into a survival mode. So the more we can provide targeting directly and indirectly, cut their communications with their command and control their forces, that's good to stabilize them and really lead to the lack of confidence that they can survive any of this. And I'm not talking about regime leaders. I'm talking about the bulk of IRGC cutting them off from communicating with their subordinates, coordinates cutting them off from resources, striking them where we can. And so all those components I think are underway now will bear fruit as soon as possible. So I'm more optimistic that we could get through this in a matter of weeks, if not shorter.
- [72:09]
B
Well, it's Admiral Robert Harvard, retired of the US Navy. He's at the Iran Policy Project at Jinsa. Thanks so much for your time and see if you can get some sleep.
- [72:19]
F
Ben, thanks. Good to be with you
- [72:23]
B
again. We are talking about the extraordinarily courageous move by the President of the United States to fulfill promises that were decades in the making here. The United States has too many times allowed opportunity, slipped through its fingers, has allowed the continuation of a terror regime in the Middle east to threaten America and her allies again. What the President is doing here is a targeted of piece pinpoint attack. When you decapitate the leadership in the very first strike, that is saying a hell of a lot. And yes, this is in America's interest. It is in our geopolitical interest. Do you like the American dollar as the reserve currency? You know, it allows for that. America's geopolitical dominance of everything from shipping lanes to oil supply. And a credible threat of American force is the thing that stands behind that thing. And if you're backed off the ball by a dirt poor, unbelievably weak Iranian regime that is simultaneously lashing out at everyone around it trying to build nuclear weapons and ballistic missile facilities. If you're backed off of that and you're the most powerful global military force in world history, you look like a pansy. And you can't do that. It is in America's geopolitical interest to be dominant. It is doesn't mean we have to take over every country. It does mean that when we have a target of opportunity and this was a unique opportunity, you got to take it. And President Trump is, he is cooking. Let the man cook. Let the man cook. A lot of people have ripped down the so called pannikins. It seems to me that a lot of panikins. As the United States military whomps the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps after the defenestration of its half century of ayatollah leadership. It's an extraordinary thing that we are observing here. It's an extraordinary act of bravery by the President of the United States. You're gonna have to explain to me why it's not in America's interest for, for the Iranian, Iranian regime to go away at the cost of American materiel. Because that's what we are talking about right now and that's what we will be talking about. America. Again, our armed forces, our prayers are with them and nothing but extraordinary admiration for them. Because what you are watching right now is one of the great performances by any military force in world history. Our military, the men and women of our military are not only brave, they, they are unbelievably skilled. And they are kicking ass and taking names and sometimes taking names and then kicking their ass. So they're doing a bunch of those things. This notion that America's about to be involved in World War three, nonsense. This notion that America is about to be involved in a long scale boots on the ground war, absolute nonsense. This notion that America should have let this opportunity slide by, nonsense. Explain to me why it's not in America's interest because it clearly is. And as far as the objections that it's illegal for President Trump to do this, America launches military strikes on a routine basis. If you are talking about the need for congressional authorization of war, just as a legal matter, again, putting on my constitutional law hat, this has not been done since World War II. We have a wide variety of uses that have been authorized for force by Congress. Also, even under the War Powers Resolution, the president has 60 days to get it together. This thing is going to be over long before 60 days. So President Trump, again, it cannot be said enough that what? That this is a unique human being, that President Trump is a unique man, not just because of his affect, but because of the gutsy, ballsy decisions this guy makes on a regular basis. Just amazing stuff from the Commander in Chief of the Armed forces and the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump. God bless our allies. God bless the United States of America. God bless President Trump and God bless the men and women of the American armed services who are absolutely wrecking America's enemies right now. May it only continue onward and upward to just more strength. Thanks so much. We'll see you here soon.
- [76:11]
G
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