Hour 1 - Israel Strikes Iran

Summary

Summary of "The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show" Episode: Hour 1 — Israel Strikes Iran

Podcast Information:

• Title: The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
• Host/Author: iHeartPodcasts
• Description: Clay Travis and Buck Sexton delve into major news stories, politics, and current events with intelligence and humor, navigating topics from the border crisis to cancel culture and beyond.
• Episode: Hour 1 - Israel Strikes Iran
• Release Date: June 13, 2025

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1. Breaking News: Israel's Decisive Strike on Iran

Timestamp: [02:32] - [05:10]

The episode opens with Molly Roberts announcing a major geopolitical event: Israel has launched a significant airstrike against Iran, targeting its nuclear capabilities. She highlights the timing of the attack, coinciding with Buck Sexton’s return from Miami and their recent visit to the White House.

Notable Quote:

"Israel attacks Iran and goes once and for all for a knockout blow when it comes to Iran's ability to get nuclear weapons." — Molly Roberts [02:35]

2. Insights from the Oval Office Meeting

Timestamp: [05:10] - [09:36]

Buck Sexton shares his firsthand experience from a recent White House visit, where he and Clay Travis met with President Trump and senior officials. He emphasizes the strategic nature of the Israeli strike and the collaboration between the U.S. and Israel in executing the operation.

Notable Quotes:

"From everything we have seen on the reporting of this strike, the Israelis may have pulled off the most impressive tactical aerial strike ever." — Buck Sexton [05:10]

"President Trump Keep what works. Don't repeal energy tax credits." — Ad segment with Buck Sexton [02:25]

3. Analyzing the Tactical Brilliance

Timestamp: [09:36] - [17:11]

Buck delves deeper into the military precision of the Israeli operation, praising the specificity and minimal collateral damage achieved. He discusses the long-standing tensions and failures of diplomatic efforts with Iran, attributing the strike to Israel’s accumulated frustration and strategic planning.

Notable Quote:

"This is really unprecedented... they have been able to accomplish in these 24 hours." — Buck Sexton [05:50]

4. On-the-Ground Report: Interview with Josh Hammer

Timestamp: [17:11] - [38:15]

Buck introduces Josh Hammer, Senior Editor at Newsweek and author of "Israel and Civilization," who provides an on-the-ground perspective from Israel. Josh describes the immediate aftermath of the strike, including public reactions, security measures, and the overall atmosphere in Tel Aviv and other affected areas.

Key Points:

• Public Sentiment: There is overwhelming support for the strike among Jewish Israelis, transcending political divisions.
• Security Precautions: Mass sirens and bomb shelters are active, highlighting heightened security.
• Economic Impact: Similar to hurricane conditions, with businesses affected and supply lines disrupted.

Notable Quotes:

"On the ground, it's very eerily quiet. There are virtually no cars here on the road." — Josh Hammer [17:35]

"Iran is not a contentious issue... Jewish Israelis across the entire political spectrum understand that Iran is the existential threat." — Josh Hammer [19:17]

5. Geopolitical Implications and Regional Reactions

Timestamp: [38:15] - [39:26]

The discussion shifts to the broader geopolitical landscape, examining the reactions of neighboring Middle Eastern countries. Buck and Molly debate the public versus private stances of nations like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, suggesting covert support for Israel’s actions against Iran despite public diplomatic rhetoric.

Notable Quotes:

"Privately, Mohammad bin Salman is definitely smiling ear to ear in Riyadh right now." — Josh Hammer [23:57]

"This is always a very powerful counter narrative to the jihadists... We actually want these countries to be stable and prosperous." — Buck Sexton [36:39]

6. Future Projections and Strategic Outcomes

Timestamp: [39:26] - [43:38]

Buck offers his analysis on the potential aftermath of the strike, dismissing fears of a broader conflict involving major powers like Russia and China. He underscores the dismantling of Iran’s military leadership and weaponry, projecting a weakened Iranian regime unable to retaliate effectively.

Notable Quotes:

"People are saying World War Three, that's insane. That's crazy. They are just wrong because Russia and China don't care that Iran just got its nose bloodied in this way." — Buck Sexton [38:15]

"Israel has taken out so much of their leadership and weaponry. Even when they did respond and sent 100 missiles... Israel shot down everything." — Buck Sexton [39:11]

7. Conclusion: Assessing the Strategic Victory

Timestamp: [43:38] - [44:36]

Molly and Buck conclude the discussion by reiterating the effectiveness of Israel’s strike and its implications for Middle Eastern stability. They commend the Trump administration’s handling of intelligence and support for Israel, emphasizing the long-term benefits of curbing Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

Notable Quote:

"This strikes may be the most impressive tactical military strike... it's going to make them regret it." — Buck Sexton [36:39]

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Final Thoughts: This episode of "The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show" provides a comprehensive analysis of Israel’s strategic strike against Iran, blending firsthand accounts with geopolitical insights. Through engaging discussions and expert interviews, listeners gain a nuanced understanding of the event’s significance and its potential ramifications for the Middle East and global politics.

Notable Overall Quote:

"Israel's Strike so far may be the most impressive tactical military strike. It's certainly the 21st century." — Buck Sexton [38:15]

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Note: The summary excludes advertisements, promotional content, and non-relevant sections to focus solely on the core discussions and analyses presented in the episode.

Transcript

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[Molly Roberts]

Paid for by Built for America. Welcome to today's edition of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton show podcast. Welcome in. What a day we are destined for here on a Friday rolling into Father's Day weekend. Major news breaking yesterday evening, as we suggested might well be the case based on our read of the situation. Israel attacks Iran and goes once and for all for a knockout blow when it comes to Iran's ability to get nuclear weapons. Buck made the travel back. I believe he was in the air when the attack started on his way back to Miami. I am still in Washington D.C. city of D.C. really much of a mess right now for many reasons, as it always is, but in particular huge parade tomorrow for the 250th anniversary of the army and all of that underway streets being shut down. The timing on this very interesting. But Buck, speaking of interesting, I was able to get in, had the passport. They let me in to the White House yesterday. You and I had the opportunity on like any day you get to go meet with the President in the Oval Office and have a chat is a pretty big day. But in conjunction with the fact that the attack happened a few hours after we left, there are for those of you inclined that like pictures. There are tons of pictures of us with President Trump, with J.D. vance, with Caroline Levitt. All of that is up on social media. You guys can track it out. We had a great conversation with President Trump. He wanted to let all of you know how much he appreciates you. Oval Office meeting. Met also with security related officials in the, in the Oval Office and in the West Wing area. Trying to tiptoe up to exactly what I can say. But Buck, I think it's fair. You have the CIA background. We also were at Langley this week. You and I had a very clear sense that the moment of truth for Iran was at hand. And I was not surprised when attacks happened last night. I think they did a really good job of pretending that they didn't know. But when they withdrew a lot of the families from the Middle east, it was a sign that they expected things to happen. What's your take? Based on your background in the CIA and, and based on the evidence that continues to unspool about these attacks. Yeah.

[Buck Sexton]

So the timing was remarkable. Let me just first say that from everything we have seen on the reporting of this strike, the Israelis may have pulled off the most impressive tactical aerial strike ever. I don't know if anything could compare to what they have been able to accomplish in this 24 hours. I'm talking from a purely military perspective from A target set and assessing collateral damage, assessing the specificity of the targets. This is, this is really unprecedented. Now, the Israelis have world class military hardware in part because of the United States, in large part, I think, because of the collaborations that we have with them. But what they pulled off here, Clay, is nothing short of remarkable, however one feels about the strike. I'm merely looking at this right now from the practitioner and tactical perspective. Now, the run up to this was particularly interesting for Clay and me. Obviously, the run up to this was decades of Iran funding terror, playing all kinds of games with the, with the inspectors and with the deals. And the Israelis had finally just had enough. Trump opened the door for them and tried to say, look, Iran, you really want to do a deal because we're not messing around anymore. And they, they messed around and they found out on this one. Now, Clay, we were there, we were in the Oval Office with the President, as you mentioned, spoke to and spent time with all the West Wing staff, Caroline Levitt, Stephen Miller, all the superstars we talk about on this show. And we just wanted to be there to get some time with them, talk to them about how things are going. But we did particularly have a national security component of our time there. And I'm telling you about this all for a reason. One is Clay had never been to Langley. As you know, my old stomping ground really did bring back a lot of memories. I did not make Clay turn on the James Bond theme music when we drove in, but I thought about it. But we had, we had a very good talk and the contents were off the record, but we did ask everybody we met with, are we allowed to say that we met with you? Are you comfortable with that? And they all, we all, we got approval and all that. So Deputy Director, CIA, other senior CIA staffers, I won't get into all their titles. Deputy Director, National Intelligence, Director of National Intelligence, talked to everybody. The one thing that was really interesting, Clyde, was they were eager to speak to us, particularly about the DOGE and restructuring components of, of government, things like that.

[Josh Hammer]

Right.

[Buck Sexton]

The thing, what you would assume we would talk about and you know, again, I won't get into the specifics, but we could talk about the. In the broadest terms, the moment you or I asked a question about Iran, you could just feel that the ever. Ever in the room got a little tense.

[Molly Roberts]

Yes.

[Buck Sexton]

And didn't want to talk. Now when you're talking to us about the other things that were under discussion and then you discuss Iran and all of a sudden this was to the Point where I texted my brothers the night before the strikes and I said, guys, I think they're going. I think they're going in. I didn't want to say this publicly because I didn't know. No one told me. And two, you know, you don't want to be wrong on something like this. And also, I didn't want anyone to get ahead of it. Right. I mean, you want the Israelis to have the benefit of surprise. But I had a very strong feeling that I only shared with Clay and immediate family. I said, okay, I this is happening. President Trump brought us into the Oval and was in full Trump mode now. He knew the strike was about to happen. And Susie Wiles, who is the White House chief of staff, we wanted to go by and just to say thank you, Susie, do an amazing job. And, you know, this White House and all heartfelt, by the way, you know, what we say to you on this show on the air, which is our public record. Right. Is what we wanted to say to them in person about how this is going. I don't have criticisms of this administration so far. You know, maybe some suggestions, but no criticisms. Susie Wiles was, we found out from just somebody passing by in the Situation Room. And Clay and I were sitting there going, hmm, the situation. That's an interesting place for the White House chief of staff to be right in this moment. And then we had talked to our friends on the secretary of defense's staff and the secretary of state staffs about meeting up, and we kept having meetings moved around. Anyway, long story short, we've known for the last 24 hours or so that this was coming. And it was interesting to be by the decision makers here. Now, it wasn't an American strike, of course, but they all knew that this was going to happen. And Trump's poker face, I would not want to sit across the table from him in a poker game, Clay.

[Molly Roberts]

I think it was masterfully played. And we're going to go to Israel and talk to a variety of different people. Josh Hammer up next. So we're going to break here in a couple of minutes. Just so you know, Scott Jennings is going to join us. CNN's chief pugnacious pundit when it comes to defending sanity on network, is actually in Israel as well. Yell Eckstein, who obviously many of you know from the ifcj, her flight was turned back en route to Israel. She is still in the United States. And we're going to talk with Ben Shapiro of the Daily Wire. So a lot of different people we're going to talk about. We got a lot of guests reacting to what is a monumental day. I thought Trump, Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, JD Vance, Susie Wiles, everybody that was involved here played it masterfully. In particular, the Trump press conference that he had right before we went in for our meeting buck. I mean, we're hanging out with him in the, in the middle of the afternoon as the final preparations for the attack are going. But he said publicly that we were still effectively negotiating with Iran when he knew that Israel's attack was coming. And in the side of Israel, they actually leaked that Netanyahu was going to be having to attend one of his children's weddings to make the Iranians think nothing was ominous or about to happen. And it was a little bit like.

[Buck Sexton]

Michael Corleone at the christening. And then all the bosses got whacked, you know, settling all accounts, settling all family business. It was a bit of that.

[Molly Roberts]

And to your point, I mean, Trump continued, he also, he had his meeting with us. He had the Senate and House leadership coming to the, coming to the event. I just think they knew exactly what was coming, but they did not leak any of it. They kept it extremely close to the vest. And as a result, I think this was 100% the right call. Now, I was over in Israel in December, and in some of my meetings with top Israeli officials, they said now is the time to make the move. Now they said it a little bit. I think we had the speaker of the House, speaker of the Knesset over there on this program letting it be known. I think that basically he thought the time to attack Iran was now. And they waited. Trump tried to get Iran to agree to peace. And this seems to have been an incredibly strategic, successful, decapitation style attack. We will continue to break all of that out for you, but we're going to Israel with Josh Hammer. He's the senior editor at large at Newsweek, author of Israel and Civilization. He is in Israel right now. We come back, we'll see what it sounds like on the ground there. Tomorrow marks a major milestone. 250th anniversary of the U.S. army. Also President Trump's 79th birthday. Our sponsor, Pure Talk. Founded by a veteran. This month PeerTalk is giving a thousand men and women who've served our country and an American flag from Allegiance Flag. When you switch your cell phone service to Pure Talk, you're contributing to that. Pure Talk team believes every service member who's faithfully served this country deserves to proudly fly an American flag, one made in America. Just switch your cell phone service to Pure Talk this month and a portion of your monthly rate will go to provide the flags to deserving veterans. With plans from just 25 bucks a month for unlimited talk text, plenty of data, you can enjoy America's most dependable 5G network while cutting your cell phone bill in half. Just dial pound2.50, say the keywords clay and buck. Pure Talks US Customer Service will get you switched hassle free in as little as 10 minutes. Again, £2.50, say Clay and Buck to support veterans to switch to America's wireless company. That's £250, say Clay and Buck. Save $1,000 and support America's heroes at Pur.

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[Colby Ekowitz]

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[Buck Sexton]

Our friend Josh Hammer joins us now from the outskirts of Tel Aviv. He's the author of Israel and Civilization, senior Editor at Large for Newsweek. Hammer, glad to hear you're safe and things are going okay so far. Tell us, bring us as much as you can into the on the ground story. How are the Israeli people feeling? What are the security precautions? Tell us what's going on around you.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Yeah, Bob, thanks for having me. It's been a heck of a week. So far things have not exactly gone according to plan, to put it mildly. So the first thing happened a couple of nights ago. We were at a dinner in Calavera on the sea. Nice sushi dinner, you know, hoping for a romantic evening that was quickly interrupted by citywide sirens for a Houthi ballistic missile attack. So we ran with the baby stroller to the bomb shelter before finishing our dinners. That was kind of just a preview of things to come. So we woke up this morning at 3:00am local time to massive sirens all throughout the country. We ran to the bomb shelter. So I've been off buck since 3am local time and you know, it's been a heck of A day. I guess what I can tell you is that on the ground it's very eerily quiet. There are virtually no cars here on the road. The folks who I'm staying with here in the house where I'm at, who went to the supermarket to get goods for the Sabbath, the Shabbat and the weekend is over there apparently waiting in line at the market for two hours. So it's kind of like a hurricane. I mean I've ridden out hurricanes before. I mean if you've ever been to the supermarket on the eve of a massive storm, you know that all the produce is totally sold out there, the bread is sold out, the line around the corner. Apparently it's hurricane like conditions here. Million dollar question obviously is what is Iran now going to do? But the Israeli people are tough, they're resilient and frankly bugging. Kind of a weird way. I'm actually really happy to be here at the Sun.

[Molly Roberts]

Josh, what would you assess? And I know it's hard because Israel has a lot of people, but what kind of approval ratings do you think as you sit there 12 hours after the attack, 16 hours after the attack started, do you think there is in Israel for attacking Iran right now?

[Colby Ekowitz]

Oh, here in Israel. Clay, Iran is not a contentious issue. This is a very important point to get across. There are a lot of contentious issues here in the Israeli political spectrum. So there's a lot of disagreement about the Palestinian Arabs. What do you do with them? Two state solution, one state solution, all that. There's a huge dispute here when it comes to the issue of the draft exemptions into the military for the Haredim, the so called ultra orthodox. There are definitely contentious issues here in Israel. Iran is not one of them. I actually have this memory of chatting with a far left member of the knesset back in 2016. This guy was so far left, a literal self described Marxist who's actually a supporter of Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign. That's when I was chatting with him nine years ago. And I say that because even this guy who was such a looney tunes far left guy, even he was pretty hawkish when it comes to Iran. So if you are a Jewish Israeli, I think Arab Israelis studied different conversation. But Jewish Israelis here, across the entire political spectrum term, understand that Iran is the existential threat and that if the IDF's mantra of never again means never again, if that actually is to be taken seriously, then an operation likes which we saw last night simply had to happen at some point.

[Buck Sexton]

Do you have any sense, Josh, of surprise at the Lack of military or effective military response from the Iranian side of the equation. As we begin to dig in more to this, and we will, over the course of the show today, the mapping of targets, the ability to hit simultaneously the ballistic missiles program, along with the Natanz nuclear facility and other nuclear facilities, along with senior leadership, along with, I mean, it's a stunning array of targets, hundreds of planes that hit, you know, over 100 sites. But how much worry is there that there will be a major military strike versus the terrorist cells dispersed? That has always been a concern with Iran.

[Colby Ekowitz]

So we saw a preview of this last year, right? So twice last year, in both April and October, Iran launched a massive ballistic missile barrage at Israel. So the higher one was October was like 183 ballistic missiles or something like that. And Israel's missile defense system held up. Not a single Israeli was harmed. Not a single hair of a single Israeli was harmed, which is pretty remarkable in its own right. So we'll see if Iran is able to do more than that, I suppose. Color me skeptical for at least two reasons. One is on the Israeli north, you have their top proxy, Hezbollah, which has been completely decimated at this point. They are a total shell of what they once were. And Hezbollah was very much Iran's insurance policy there. This kind of sword of Damocles hovering over Israel, essentially trying to prevent Israel from striking. So Hezbollah has been taken care of. And then the literal actual people buck on the ground in Iran, like the actual IRGC top generals, the physical people who would actually get on the phone and call the shots are mostly dead at this point. So I'm skeptical as to what could happen. But having said that, we're not taking any precautions. My wife and I, we were supposed to go to Jerusalem this weekend, spend the Sabbath there. I was supposed to have a talk my book in Jerusalem Sunday night. We essentially canceled all that. We're just, we're buckling down here in the safe house. We've got a nice big bunker, bomb shelter rooms. So we're not taking any chances. Certainly not taking any chances, especially as a new father. But on the other hand, I'm pretty skeptical that Iran can do anything of much significance, to be honest.

[Molly Roberts]

I think this is important and we're going to dive into it more, Josh. And we appreciate you joining us from Israel. Book, by the way, is Israel and Civilization. There is actually a great deal of support for Israel's attacks from other Middle Eastern countries, Muslim countries. They also wanted Iran not to have nuclear weapons. That's an important part of this, and I don't know that it gets widely discussed, but Iran was seen as a pariah state by many Muslim countries as well.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Oh, 1,000%. Now look, the Saudis and the Emiratis have put out condemnatory statements, but that's just what the Arab countries do play as, you know, I mean, they're basically very cowardly when it comes to their public facing statements there. But privately, I mean, Mohammed bin Salman is definitely smiling ear to ear in Riyadh right now. There is no doubt about that. With the exception probably of the emir and Doha, Qatar, Qatar being Iran's closest Sunni Arab ally. And maybe some of these rogue northern African Muslim Brotherhood adjacent rogue states like Algeria, Tunisia, both are pretty radical governments. But the vast majority of the Arab world that matters, Saudi Arabia, the uae, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, countries like that, we.

[Molly Roberts]

Gotta leave it there.

[Buck Sexton]

Stay safe, buddy.

[Molly Roberts]

Thank you.

[Buck Sexton]

Go get Israel civilization.

[Molly Roberts]

Thank you so much. Yes, stay safe. If you have a family, you have a responsibility to think about their welfare long after you're gone. You need a will, maybe both a will and a trust. You know, only a third of Americans have a will. Not expensive or burdensome. Now though, to write one, thanks to trustandwill.com make sure you have out a legal document that spells out exactly how you want things to go when you're no longer around. Writing a will, infinitely easier thanks to trustandwill.com simple, affordable result will give you peace of mind. Not to mention your families will have clarity after you pass, hopefully keeping them from continuing to battle over the things that you leave behind. Trustandwill.com don't put it off. Trustandwill.com do it. Today, obviously, major breaking news, biggest, maybe the most consequential shift in dynamics in the Middle east, certainly since October 7th. But Buck, you said something that I think is important and I was tweeting some about this last night. We've talked about it before. I went over in December and one of the things that I just, I couldn't stop thinking about is, and you well know this motivation, why do people do the things that they did? And I was looking as I walked around at all these kibbutzes as I went to the Nova Music Festival and I saw these innocent people who were murdered in cold blood, 1200 of them. The decision to go in by Hamas on October 7, it seems to have been motivated in some way on a fear that through the Abraham Accords, Saudi Arabia was going to normalize relationships with Israel and that would undercut Iranian power in the Region, but you mentioned it in the open of the show. And I think this is important to think in the larger context here, the fallout since October 7th is a tremendous miscalculation. Hamas, to a large extent, has been wiped off the face of the earth. And many of the people who supported Hamas in any way have had their homes destroyed. I mean, the entire Gaza region is a shell of what it was.

[Buck Sexton]

I see so much of this, Clay, through the lens of what we used to call the jiwat, the global war on terror, which was a fight of civilization against jihadism. Hamas and the mullahs in Tehran, they are very much of the same belief, of the same approach. The similarities are extensive. And they're also jihadists, so you start with that. And one thing that I always feel doesn't get enough attention is that especially when they did the document exploitation and they looked in the aftermath of the bin Laden raid, Bin Laden was surprised by the skill and ferocity of the American response to 9 11. Now, I understand people say, oh, but Afghanistan ended up in the Taliban's hands, you know, 20 years later, and Iraq got very messy and they were okay. Yeah, that's all true. But it can also be true that we killed Al Qaeda guys all over the world.

[Molly Roberts]

Yes.

[Buck Sexton]

What happened to us on September 11, for those who actually understand where the g. What was, and this is important context was supposed to happen over and over again. They were planning those kinds of mass casualty plots. And now there were some that were pulled off the London, you know, the London two bombings, the Madrid bombings, but there were so many more that were disrupted. And when you look at Al Qaeda leadership, the Al Qaeda figures that were taken out over the years, it was hollowed out. A lot of it through drone strikes, but a lot of it also through capture, kill operations on the battlefields that we had. So, Clay, I think the Iranians and I think that their client terrorist regimes in either Lebanon with Hezbollah or Hamas in Gaza, I think they misjudged the both ferocity and capability of the Israeli response here. And this is a new era in.

[Molly Roberts]

The Middle east as a result, totally Hamas decapitated. Interesting choice of words, both figuratively and sometimes literally. Unfortunately for them, Hezbollah and Syria. And I think we deserve. I think again, the Trump team deserves a lot of credit here in Trump 1.0. What happened all the time, Buck leaks. So many times. Whatever the Trump team was gonna do, New York Times put it on the front page. There was opposition to it. They did not move quickly and they did not protect sourcing. Trump had A press conference today, yesterday, where he basically equivocated on both sides. I was texting with our producer Ali because she sent me a clip. And it's like, hey, Trump saying, hey, we can still work on this. And then Trump saying, maybe we can't work on this. But he essentially let it be known that he was still publicly negotiating. Hegseth went to a baseball game last night with his kids right before the attack started. This is, I think, the ability to hide the fact that we had knowledge of this. Even the initial statement of Rubio, hey, this is an Israeli attack. We were not involved. It is a incredible accomplishment by Israeli intelligence. And it reminds me, Buck, remember when they had all the pagers blowing up for Hezboll Hezbollah and they had been working for years to be able to have that moment arise. Israel has been working for years on their plans to attack Iran, take out their leadership and keep them from being able to respond in kind. I mean, I know Iran keeps saying, hey, we're going to respond. And let me say this, if you're out and about in the United States, I would say keep your head on a swivel because a lone wolf response, unfortunately from a terrorist could happen. But the ability, I think of Iran to respond in kind is almost non existent because Israel has taken out so much of their leadership and so much of their weaponry. And even when they did respond and sent 100 missiles in or whatever the Golden Dome or whatever it's called in Israel shot down everything ours.

[Buck Sexton]

Ours is golden. Theirs is iron.

[Molly Roberts]

Okay, we've got the Golden Dome, they've got the Iron Dome. The Iron Dome worked really well in Israel and there were some people out there on the right even who were saying, oh, we had no knowledge of. You think Israel's gonna attack Iran? And Trump's not gonna know that they have decided to go. Now, whether we use our own ships and our own missiles and our own planes is different.

[Buck Sexton]

Well, this is the statement from Secretary of State Marco Rubio that came out right around the first hour or so of the attack. This is what he put out tonight. Israel took unilateral action against Iran. We are not involved in strikes against Iran and our top priority is protecting American forces in the region. Israel advised us they believe this action was necessary for self defense. President Trump and the administration have taken all necessary steps to protect our forces and remain in close contact with our regional partners. Let me be clear. Iran should not target U.S. interests or personnel. So that was from the Secretary of State. I think that's a statement to just make it very well. Like he says at the bottom. Let me be clear that this is, is this is Israel taking the action. I'm sure we gave intelligence support and, and moral support to this from the administration once the decision was made by Netanyahu and the IDF to go. But this was Israeli forces, just like, you know, Ukraine is fighting Russia. We may be giving Ukraine a lot of help, and we are. But Ukrainians are fighting Russia. We are not fighting Russia. And Israelis are, are striking Iran. We are not striking Iran. And if Iran were very foolishly to try to expand that into attacks on US Interests, the response will be something that will make them regret it. I can assure any Iranian IRGC who happens to pick up this show, probably pretty unlikely. But you do not, you do not want to test the Trump administration in this moment by attacking US Interests. To your point, some maniac somewhere who gets his hands on not just a gun, but on, you know, a vehicle. I mean, we know the kind of jihadist attacks. That's a threat. But keep in mind, that's been a threat all along as well. Just based on what's going on in Gaza and just based on the fact that these maniacs hate us no matter what we do. So don't, don't ever forget that. That threat level is a constant.

[Molly Roberts]

Let me play this because I also think this is important. You touched on it. They may put out, or I think Josh Hammer said it, they may put out statements that say, oh, my goodness, we are so outraged. Right. Some of these different Middle Eastern countries about Israel attacking Iran. But the leadership is saying different things behind closed doors. Muhammad MBS Mohammed bin Salman actually went on back in 2018. I believe this was 60 Minutes. I don't have the effective location here, but it is 60 Minutes. And he said that the Ayatollah was very much like Adolf Hitler. Now, I know Hitler. Combinations are, comparisons are common. I'm not sure you hear them made very often.

[Buck Sexton]

Common and usually usually overblown.

[Molly Roberts]

Correct. But also, I'm not sure you usually hear one Muslim country leader calling another Muslim country leader Hitler. But this kind of gives you a little bit of a window into MBS and what the Saudis are telling the Americans behind closed doors. Remember, Trump was just in Saudi Arabia last month. Listen to cut six.

[Ryan Seacrest]

I've seen that you called the Ayatollah Khamenei the new Hitler of the Middle East.

[Wayne Ivey]

Absolutely.

[Buck Sexton]

Why?

[Josh Hammer]

Because he wants to expand. He wants to create his own project.

[Buck Sexton]

In the Middle East.

[Molly Roberts]

Very much like Hitler who wanted to Expand. At the time, many countries around the.

[Josh Hammer]

World and in Europe did not realize how dangerous Hitler was until what happened, happened.

[Molly Roberts]

I don't want to see the same events happening in the Middle East.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Does Saudi Arabia need nuclear weapons to counter Iran?

[Molly Roberts]

Saudi Arabia does not want to acquire any nuclear bomb. But without a doubt, if Iran developed.

[Josh Hammer]

A nuclear bomb, we will follow suit.

[Molly Roberts]

As soon as possible. Okay, I think that's important. Again, that is what, seven years ago, but that is what he was saying publicly. So for people out there who think, and there are people who are very prominent in arguing this, this is gonna be World War Three. Everybody in the Arab world is gonna line up behind Iran. Actually, privately, and sometimes you say things differently privately as the leader of a country than you might say publicly. I know some struggle to understand that privately, many of these country leaderships are saying the same thing, and it didn't get a lot of attention at the time. But let me rephrase and go back to this. When we normalized relations with Syria, it went a long way towards creating space for Iran to be able to attack like this. Because we gave to the Arabs in the Middle East. That was considered to be an incredible gesture of goodwill by the United States on behalf of a new government that frankly, we don't know how it's going to go there. But we normalized relations with them, legitimize them, and that then creates space to allow, I think this attack.

[Buck Sexton]

This is always a very powerful counter narrative to the jihadists, whether they're Sunni or Shia. And it is, they want to believe. And this goes back, like I said, bin Laden or Hamas or they, or the, the ayatollahs, they want to tell their people that they have to do the things they're doing because we insist on, on oppressing them and making their lives miserable and killing them for no reason, essentially. I mean, that's, that's a very baseline version of their worldview. And the truth is, whether it's Israel or America, we actually want these countries to be stable and prosperous and happy and, you know, and successful. That's better for everybody. This is what, this is why Trump actually, as the ultra capitalist, has a special diplomatic secret weapon or secret power fuel, which is. He's like, look, I want to get rich. I want you to get rich. I want everybody getting rich at the nation state level. You know, I want company. I want countries to be building companies and selling us stuff, and we sell them stuff. You know, there are so many countries around the world, Clay. We don't think about we don't have any problems with them. We hope things are going great there.

[Molly Roberts]

Right.

[Buck Sexton]

And they don't lose a night's sleep about us. Syria is in a position now to choose what do you want. You want to be, you want to be Jordan, where, you know, there's basically no crime and, you know, people go to school and they're happy and they play soccer and there's a. Or do you want to be some third world hellhole? And it's going to be up to Syria at some level. And, you know, Gaza made their choice and Israel tried numerous times to, hey, guys, if Gaza had stopped firing rockets and had wanted to act like a responsible nation state, there were the basis there was wide open for. I know we make, we make jokes about this, but for it to become like a, you know, Trump a lago on the Mediterranean, right? I mean, a new development site, they chose and they chose poorly. And this is a very powerful counter narrative to the jihadists. And it's true of Israel, it's true of us. We want peaceful, stable, prosperous neighbors. And if people are willing to play that game, let's do that. Iran, let's see what the future of the Iranian regime is. This is obviously very destabilizing for the mullahs because they oppress everyone with the. Oh, but we're the lions in this fight on your behalf, not so much.

[Molly Roberts]

You can't claim you're a lion and go out like a lamb, which is what Iran is doing right now. And they took all of this money, billions and billions of their people's money, and for two generations, they claimed they were going to wipe Israel off the face of the earth. And instead Israel just wiped them to a large extent. So far their leadership out and they can't even respond despite two generations to get ready.

[Buck Sexton]

Look, and I hope, and you know, I'm. One of my big things in life is don't celebrate early. And, and I know that there's a lot that can still happen here. I'm just going to say this, though. People are saying World War Three, there's. That's insane. That's crazy. They're just wrong because Russia and China don't care that Iran just got its nose bloodied in this way. They just don't care. They don't care about it. They don't care about their own people. Trust me. They don't care about Iran. They're not going to war over Iran. That is looney Tunes talk. So just put that aside for a minute. I think that the Israeli Strike so far may be the most impressive tactical military strike. It's certainly the 21st century. And I think that you'd have to go back to when Saddam's, you know, half of his army was lined up on the highway leaving Kuwait and going back into Iraq and it was just target practice for our aviators. I mean that's what ended up happening for something like this to be so one sided.

[Molly Roberts]

Remember when we killed Soleimani, speaking of your point. And World War three trended, but Israel just took out his replacement, General Ismail Gayani, that is officially announced the head of the irgc.

[Buck Sexton]

The is, you know, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

[Molly Roberts]

So he is down. They have wiped out a lot. We'll talk about this and more. By the way, we're going to go back to Israel where our friend Scott Jennings from CNN happens to be at the top of the next hour and see what it's like for an American who is in the media that happens to be in that country right now while this is going on. In the meantime, summer time of year, a lot of us take on home repairs while the weather's good outside and but man, you know, there's a ton going on when it comes to thunderstorms. In fact, Leaffilter, America's number one gutter protection company will go the distance to make sure your gutters won't be clogged by leaves, branches, wiffle, balls, who knows what else. When your gutters fog, downpours can cause overflows that lead to costly damage. Expense comes in the form of repairing your walls, foundation footing, sizable renovation work. Protect your home right now with Leaffilter, America's number one gutter gutter protection company, you can get 30% off your entire order right now. Go to leaffilter.com clay to get started. Leaffilters trusted pros will clean out, realign, seal your gutters and install award winning patented technology that's been trusted by over a million homeowners. Great. Last minute Father's day gift reminder. Father's Day is Sunday for those of you who have not prepared. Give dad the gift of not having to do more chores. Go to leaffilter.com Clay Schedule your free inspection. 30% off your entire purchase. Leaf filter.com Clay that's L E A F filter.com Clay See your representative for warranty details.

[Teen Advocate]

Use of flavored tobacco by teens is a crisis. Tobacco companies use flavors like cotton candy, watermelon ice and cool mint to hook kids like me. They seem harmless, but they aren't. Addiction to Nicotine sets us up for a lifetime of health problems. Organ legislators can do something about it. Passing Senate Bill 702A will keep flavored tobacco away from kids. But there are just a few short weeks left for lawmaker makers to act. Take action to protect kids like me@ flavorshookorgankids.org paid for by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids Action Fund.

[Ryan Seacrest]

And here we have a specimen from the early 2000s, a legacy investing platform.

[Molly Roberts]

Please don't touch the exhibit folks. It could crash.

[Ryan Seacrest]

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[Molly Roberts]

I'm Molly Roberts. And I'm Drew Goins. Each Friday on Impromptu we talk through the questions we can't stop thinking about.

[Teen Advocate]

Do we need to rethink how much we drink?

[Molly Roberts]

Why are companies really asking workers to come back to the office?

[Teen Advocate]

Does boycotting a business actually work?

[Molly Roberts]

Should we quit social media?

[Teen Advocate]

We're here when the news gets personal.

[Ryan Seacrest]

And the headlines hit home.

[Molly Roberts]

Join Molly and me every Friday on impromptu from Washington Post Opinions.

[Teen Advocate]

Find impromptu wherever you get your podcasts.

[Josh Hammer]

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[Wayne Ivey]

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[Molly Roberts]

Obviously, big news, the attack of Israel on Iran. We're going to continue to discuss that. Going to talk with Scott Jennings from CNN at the top of the next hour. But I did want to play this quickly for all of you. This is Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey. I love everything he said about protesters. Cut 13.

[Buck Sexton]

Listen, if you resist lawful orders, you're going to jail. Let me be very clear about that. If you block an intersection or a roadway in Brevard county, you are going to jail. If you flee arrest, you're going to go to jail tired because we are going to run you down and put you in jail. If you try to mob rule a car in Brevard county, gathering around it, refusing to let the driver leave in our county, you're most likely going to get run over and dragged across the street. If you spit on us, you're going to the hospital and in jail. If you hit one of us, you're going to the hospital and jail and most likely get bitten by one of our big, beautiful dogs that we have here. If you throw a brick, a firebomb, or point a gun at one of our dead deputies, we will be notifying your family where to collect your remains at because we will kill you graveyard dead.

[Molly Roberts]

We're not gonna play I love this guy, Buck. That is what I love to hear from our police down in your state of Florida.

[Buck Sexton]

So proud of Florida, baby. Florida.

[Teen Advocate]

Nearly 90% of kids who vape say.

[Josh Hammer]

Flavors are why they do it.

[Teen Advocate]

A lot of the flavors that I've heard are like peach, mango, watermelon. It makes it seem like more childlike and innocent. Oh, if I try this once, it won't be that much of a problem. But then eventually it becomes a problem.

[Josh Hammer]

It's time to restrict the sale of.

[Teen Advocate]

Flavored tobacco products in Oregon and protect our kids from nicotine addiction. Urge lawmakers to pass Pass Senate Bill 702A. Take action at flavorshookoregonkids.org paid for by the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids Action Fund.

[Ryan Seacrest]

You know what's great about your investment account? With the big guys? It's actually a time machine. Log in and zoom. Welcome back to 1999. It's time for an upgrade. At public.com you can invest in almost everything. Stocks, bonds, options and more. You can even put your cash to work at an industry leading 4.1% APY. Leave your clunky, outdated platform behind at public.com go to public.com and fund your account in five minutes or less. Pay for by Public Investing Inc. Member FINRA and SIPC. Full [e-mail] disclosures.

[Teen Advocate]

I'm Molly Roberts.

[Molly Roberts]

And I'm Drew Goins. Each Friday on Impromptu, we talk through the questions we can't stop thinking about.

[Teen Advocate]

Do we need to rethink how much we drink?

[Molly Roberts]

Why are companies really asking workers to come back to the office?

[Teen Advocate]

Does boycotting a business actually work?

[Molly Roberts]

Should we quit social media?

[Teen Advocate]

We're here when the news gets personal and the headlines hit home.

[Molly Roberts]

Join Molly and me every Friday on Impromptu from Washington Post Opinions Find Impromptu.

[Teen Advocate]

Wherever you get your podcasts.

[Molly Roberts]

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[Colby Ekowitz]

Showing immense bravery and sacrifice in the.

[Molly Roberts]

Name of something much bigger than themselves.

[Buck Sexton]

This medal is for the men who.

[Molly Roberts]

Went down that day on Medal of.

[Colby Ekowitz]

Honor Stories of Courage.

[Molly Roberts]

You'll hear about these heroes and what their stories tell us about the nature of bravery. Listen to Medal of Honor on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Teen Advocate]

This is an iHeart podcast.