← The Josh Hammer Show
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In times like these, we all need a word of encouragement. From pastor and bestselling author Max Lucado comes the Max Lucado Encouraging Word podcast. With over 40 years of ministry and more than 145 million books sold in 50 languages, Max shares the greatest story ever told. The living savior who brings hope for a lifetime. Through rich biblical insight, heartfelt storytelling, you'll be reminded that God is always near, always for you, and always in you. Listen to the Max Lucado Encouraging Word Podcast where hope meets your day. Subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts.
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I'm Josh Hammer, and this is the Josh Hammer Show. Operation Epic Fury, the American military operation against the Islamic Republic of Iran, now well into its second week, there continues to be staggering military success. The big question now is exactly what happens next and what is the state of play exactly on the ground when it comes to the possibility of the baton, proverbially speaking, being passed from the United States to the Iranian people? A lot to unpack there. Eli Kohanem joined us later on the show to discuss all that. But for now, we begin with this. There's a lot happening on the domestic front. It's easy, given the current news cycle, to focus solely on what is happening over in Iran. And we are absolutely not trying to downplay what is happening over in Iran. It is extraordinarily big deal. These are truly historical times that we are living in. Because it is so historical, because it is of such grand significance in the annals of 21st century history, it is easy to not pay attention to what is actually happening here. On the home front. Well, on the home front, Donald Trump is really, really adamant about a particular bill. It was initially it was called the Save Act. Now it is being referred to as the Save America Act. It's essentially been re codified a little bit there. Donald Trump is really, really, really hands on and really, really enthus about the Save America Act. So this particular legislation is first worth discussing just a little bit more about what it is, if you are particularly online, if you are on social media, you probably have heard at least a little bit about that. So the, the Save act, which, which again is now being referred to as the Save America act, essentially is a universal voter ID requirement. It is a universal requirement when it comes to proof of citizenship for voting elections. It is the Republican Party's main election integrity electoral security bill that the Republican Party is now gung ho on and is now pushing. It was initially introduced in the House by, among others, Chip Roy, one of my absolute favorite congressmen. He's been a lead proponent of it. Mike Lee, center of Utah, has been probably the number one tip of the spear of this legislation over on the Senate side. So the Save act cleared the House back in February just, just last month on a essentially near party line, 218 to 213 vote. It is stalled in the Senate and that is where we currently pick up our tale. It's been stalling in the Senate now for weeks. And the main reason that it has been stalling in the Senate for weeks is that Senate Republican leadership is not being honest with you. They are lying to you. John Thune in particular, who is the Senate majority leader from South Dakota, is lying to his fellow caucus members. He is lying to be the people. He is lying to his own party. And frankly, now he's actually lying also to President Donald J. Trump himself. Donald Trump, in case you missed it over this past weekend, doubled down like he hadn't ever done before on the crucial imperative, dare I say, even indispensable imperative from Trump's perspective of passing the Save America Act. He actually put on Truth Social on Sunday. He wrote, quote, I as president will not sign other bills until this is passed and not the watered down version. Go for the gold, must show voter ID and proof of citizenship, no mail in ballots except for military illness, disability. The president wrote this was on Truth Social on Sunday. Now on Monday, earlier this week in Doral, the House Republican caucus had their grand caucus meeting. President Trump actually doubling down as well, speaking to the entire caucus there. This is in Doral, Florida. Earlier this week, Trump telling House Senate Republicans, excuse me, he said this will guarantee, this will guarantee the midterms. If you don't get it, then it's big trouble. So he was speaking there to the House Republican retreat, but really effectively speaking to Senate Republicans because again, this thing's already passed. The House is currently just stalling in the Senate. Now, Mike Johnson, this week of the House has not been particularly outspoken on this standoff. And yes, it is a standoff at this point between Donald Trump and between John Thune. The issue, as we had on Rachel Bovard a few weeks ago to discuss, is that John Thune is not acknowledging the fact that there is actually a way to potentially get this legislation passed. To wit, there are two specific mechanisms of breaking a filibuster. There is no filibuster in the House. The House is a might makes rights majoritarian chamber. It's the lower legislative House. And a bare 50 plus one majority gets it across the finish line. Not so much in the Senate. True, there is a reconciliation bill at least once a year. There are some procedural arcane ways to get it twice a year through the reconciliation bill. If the parliamentarian descent deems that the bill has the effect of reducing the budget deficit, then there potentially is a way to get it passed with a 50 plus 1 majority. But generally speaking, you have to pass a filibuster, which means that you have to invoke cloture, means that you have to actually get 60 senders. So there are two ways, wrote our friend Rachel Bovard at the Federalist a few weeks ago. There are two traditional ways to break a filibuster. First is the mechanical way, what I just described, which is invoking cloture, which means 60 votes. But there is a second way to do this, and this is where John Thune is lying to you. The second way of doing this, which has existed within the rules of the United States Senate since the inception, since the origins of the rules for the United States Senate, is by actually making senators talk, the so called talking filibuster. Think about the old Jimmy Stewart film Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. There's if you essentially, in this particular case, if John Thune and Senate Republican leadership were to make Democrats talk and talk and talk and eventually they stop talking, guess what? The filibuster's cleared. That's it. Then the bill essentially passes at that. John Thune, though, is just saying that the votes aren't there. For instance, we probably should listen to the man before we go on criticizing him even further. Let's play clip one of Jonathan explaining his position.
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We don't have the votes either to proceed get on a talking filibuster nor to sustain one if we got on it. But that's just that is just a function of math and there isn't anything I can do about that. I mean, I understand the President's got a passion to see this issue addressed as we all do.
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Does he understand that, though?
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Well, we've conveyed that to him. But we will continue to make that argument because I think it's important that everybody understand that this really is about it's about the votes, it's about the math. And for better or worse, I'm the one who has to be the clear eyed realist about what we can achieve here. And so we'll continue to convey that. And I think that we're going to have the fight on the floor. We're going to vote on this, we're going to put it up and we'll give the Democrats the opportunity to cast their vote on whether or not they think non citizens ought to vote in American elections.
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Well, I'm pretty sure that it is about the math, Senator Thune. And the math is such that your caucus has a 53 to 47 majority. So the actual math means that if you were to actually utilize one of the two tools to break a filibuster at your disposal, you probably could get this thing passed. Here's more though. Let's play clip two from John Thune. President Trump told me yesterday that it would take Democratic votes to pass the Save America Act. Do you think the MAGA base has an unrealistic expectation of passing that legislation without Democrats?
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I think there are a lot of, there are a lot of optimistic views about what Democrats may or may not do. We all know because we deal with them every day, that the Democrats are not all of a sudden going to decide that this is something they want to be for. So yeah, again, I mean, I think you have a lot of optimists out there and I appreciate that and a lot of passion and energy behind getting an outcome here. But getting an outcome would require Democrat votes. And you know, we'll give them a chance. Like I said, they'll have that opportunity to vote one way or the other on this. But I would be very, very surprised.
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Pure uni party failure theater from Jonathan. Perhaps you thought the MAGA era when it came to long time nostalgia figures like Jonathan, maybe you thought the MAGA era would actually galvanize them and it actually has for some. We'll get to that in just a moment actually. But for now, just a word from one of our sponsors for today's show, Balance of Nature. You know, I think nutrition has gotten way too complicated. Every week there is a new powder, a new lab created formula, some new breakthrough. But here's the truth we've been told since we were kids to eat our fruits and vegetables. Nobody really explained why when you eat whole foods, you're getting phytonutrients, those natural compounds your body uses to adjust, repair and respond every single day. That's not hype. That's how we were designed. That's why I take Balance of Nature. They use a tailored vacuum cold process that stabilizes the phytonutrition in fruits and veggies. So you're getting real whole food nutrition, not synthetic substitutes. Their whole health system includes fruits and veggies plus fiber and spice. 47 ingredients in one simple RO. I take it myself, if you want to fight the good fight, go to bounceofnature.com to subscribe and save today join hundreds of thousands of customers in one simple routine that's changing the world. Again, folks, that is bounceofnature.com so I mentioned that Senate Republican leadership actually is kind of sort of reading the tea leaves a little bit on this. And that's because the number two Republican in that chamber, John Corn of Texas, has actually flipped. He's flipped on a dime. A brand new op ed actually, in the New York Post just this morning from Senator John Corn of Texas. Why the SAVE act matters more than the filibuster. He talks about the talking filibuster, and he's essentially issuing a direct challenge to John Thune. Now, why is John Cornyn doing this? Well, it's called politics, folks. There is now a runoff in the state of Texas for who's going to be the Republican nominee for U.S. senate, John Cornyn, who is a longtime establishment figure. I'm not particularly a big fan of the guy. Full cards on the table. He's facing a spirited challenge from the controversial Attorney General of Texas, Ken Paxton. And it was essentially a dead heat. That's why they're heading to what would be a runoff coming up in May. But Ken Paxton, in a fairly magnanimous gesture last week said after the primary election, said the Save America act is the most important bill the US Senate could ever pass. I'm committed to helping President Trump get it done. I would consider dropping out of this race if Senate leadership agrees to filibuster and passes the Safe America Act. So he tweeted that out six days ago last Thursday. And now John Cornyn, who Paxton called a coward who refused to support abolishing the filibuster in that tweet. Now Cornyn has his brand new op ed at the New York Post calling on John Thune to do the talking filibuster. John Thune of Wordsworth has responded. He is not budging now. So, first of all, really funny how that works, right? How a primary challenge actually can push people to do the right thing. Who would have thought we probably should frankly see way more primary challenge out there when it comes to a lot of these milquetoast establishments. Senators, congressmen, John Cornyn really kind of being the quintessence of that. But you have a situation now where the top two Republicans in the Senate, John Corn of Texas and John Thune of South Dakota, are just not on the same page. This is not a good look. Not a good look. While Mike Johnson over in the House has successfully shepherded this bill through while Donald Trump is saying that he is not going to do anything, do anything whatsoever, anything, until this bill passes. John Thune, stop lying to us. We are not as stupid as you apparently think we are. The base wants this bill. The people want this bill. Get this done and stop gaslighting us. For your sake, for our sake, and for the sake of election integrity, election security in these United States.
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So hopefully John Thune, the Senate majority leader for the Republican caucus, hopefully he comes around to the John Cornyn position. John Corn actually catching lightning in a bott again thanks to this Ken Paxton tweet. So thank you for your service. And this is about Ken Paxton. You actually have done a tremendous public service, frankly there. But the underlying issues here, voter id, proof of citizenship, overwhelmingly popular stuff, Overwhelmingly popular stuff. As even cnn, they run these wonderful segments from our pal Harry Entin showing some of the data on this. The data is just absolutely overwhelming here when it comes to this. So according to Pew Research Center, 83% of Americans favor requiring all voters to show government issued ID. Gallup has that number at 84%. NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Lamas said that voter ID rules do have wide public support. So even the left wing corporate media is conceding it. This is highly, highly, highly popular stuff. And yet there continues to be just all sorts of horrific gaslighting on this. John Thune, get this done for the sake of the American people. Speaking of things that are getting done for the sake of the American people, Donald Trump is continuing the fight against the Islamic Republic of Iran. We are now well into our second week of Operation Epic Fury. Much to discuss on that front. But before we do so, just a quick word from our other sponsor for today's show, which is the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Iran has unleashed missile attacks on Israel and across the Holy Land. Today. Children are watching the skies for rockets. Mothers and fathers are listening for the piercing sound of a red alert siren, a siren that gives you just 15 seconds to reach the nearest bomb shelter. Barely enough time to get your family to safety. The situation is serious. The threat is real. Every moment brings uncertainty and fear. Right now, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is on the ground preparing large scale distributions of life saving food, first aid, emergency essentials for civilian security personnel, and ensuring hospitals, emergency rooms and shelters are fully stocked with critical and life saving medical supplies aid is all focused on protecting Israel's most vulnerable people, the sick, the elderly, children and families in great need. But the fellowship needs your most generous gift today to make this work possible. Now is your time to stand with Israel's most vulnerable. To rush your gifts. Call 1-888-488-IFCJ. That's 888-488-IFCJ or go online at ifcj.org, ifcj.org, folks, I can tell you just on a personal note, my mother in law has actually been over in Israel for probably like a month and a half. She's been there for a very long time for some family related reasons. She was supposed to fly back a while ago, had to delay because of the outbreak of the war. Anecdotally, they were essentially in the bomb shelter pretty much all night last night. So it does seem that the actual volume of missiles and drones being fired by Iran towards Israel, towards the uae, towards other Arab Gulf states, the actual daily volume is definitely going down, but it's also very much still happening. On the other hand, Donald Trump telling Axios that, quote, there's practically nothing left to target when it comes to bombing inside Iran. Some of my own sources actually corroborate that and say that that's true. On the other hand, it is something of a paradox when it comes to the notion that, as I just said, there still are missiles and drones that are flying all across the region, whether it's to Israel, the UAE or to elsewhere as well. And one of the things that it seems like sustained air power campaign could at least continue to do is to continue to cripple the mullahs, the irgc, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the regime. More generally speaking there I'm sure that there are no that there are very few remaining targets when it comes to actual maritime vessels. For instance, the United States has now sunk over 60 boats. The Iranian navy is not really floating at this point on the seas of the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. They're now at the bottom of the ocean, frankly there. The Iranian air force has similarly been pummeled, but there are any number of high ranking individuals who remain at large. One of them is the guy who is the alleged new supreme leader of Iran. This is the son of the now deceased, praise be to God, former quote, unquote Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The new son is named Mosheba Khamenei. The latest intelligence indicates that he is very badly injured, but he is still functioning Day to day, there have been all sorts of rumors about this. Some folks say that he had his leg amputated because he was so horrifically crippled in that initial blast that killed his father, Ali Khamenei. But regardless of just how badly injured he is, he's still alive. Whether he's in a coma or whatever, we don't actually know. But he's still alive to this day. And unless until you start taking out more of these targets, whether it's the irgc, whether it's the mullahs, whether it's the Nazi esque paramilitary, the Basij, which is essentially an Iranian Islamist version of the old Nazi, Gestapo, ss, these people roaming the streets with guns, trying to hunt down and murder innocent civilians, unless you start taking out more and more of them. To me, it is an open question as to where exactly this operation goes from here. Well, one of the issues that I have been struggling with now for a few days is indeed trying to figure out exactly where this goes from here. In terms of the Iranian people. The American Israeli air campaign has been overwhelmingly successful. There's no doubt about that. The question at this point is can the Iranian people, not for lack of courage, definitely not for lack of courage, can they feasibly or even remotely practically actually marshal whatever limited resource they have or acquire resources somehow some way to actually make a play at this regime? They're getting no shortage of folks from the outside who are telling them to do that. So the Israeli Prime Minister's office had a tweet thread yesterday essentially saying, we are your best friends, we are taking out the regime. We are doing exactly what you want us to do for decades. Which is true. That's absolutely true. And then there's some rhetoric at the end of the story, basically saying now is your moment to try to seize freedom. The exiled crown parents Reza Pahlavi, who is the son of the exiled Shah, who's been living in Maryland, United States for the past few decades. There he has a brand new video message essentially saying the exact same thing. Let's go ahead and play this clip from the exiled Crown Prince of Iran, Reza Pahlavi. So for those watching us on YouTube or the Salem News Channel, you were able to see the subtitles. For those of you listening, you just heard this man speaking in Farsi. He basically says, we're now at the decisive stage of our final struggle. I urge you to secure your essential provisions as soon as possible for your own safety. Withdraw from the streets, remain in your homes. To the military and law enforcement forces, this is Your last chance to break from the oppressive forces and join your people. Await my final call. And one thing that I'm wondering is what exactly that final call is going to be. Again. What I'm hearing from the US And Israeli militaries, my sources, both first and second hand in both militaries is that they say that they are indeed running out of targets to bomb. At the same time, the missile and drones are continuing this crisis in the Strait of Hormuz, this choke point by which 20% of the world's oil supply flows. This crisis continues, most recently Secretary of War Pete Hexseth announcing that the United States is now taking out lots and lots of mine layers. These are Iranian vessels simply trying to lay down sea mines for the purposes of obstructing the flow of oil, natural gas there at the Strait of Hormuz. So we're engaged in new operations there. So we're definitely still involved in operations. No doubt about that whatsoever. By the way, Iran came perilously close actually to hitting Dubai International Airport, one of the region's busiest, not the busiest airport. They came perilously close to hitting it. Just, just yesterday they took out a residential building in Amanama, the capital of Bahrain, by which at least 100 people were killed. That was earlier this week there. So the violence is definitely continuing there. And surely, surely this mission cannot possibly cease unless and until the threat is neutralized, which is the definition of victory that we've been trying to explain now for the past week or so here on the program. But as far as how to actually make that next step happen, look, this is a tyrannize people that have been on the Jakarta tyranny for 47 years. They just watched tens and tens and tens of thousands, 10, 10,000 of their own people be brutally massacred by the regime in December and January. They have very little to no arms, none. The CIA is arming some of the Kurds in western Iran. The normal day to day Persian doesn't really have access to arms in Tehran, Ishvahan, the various other cities there are. I'm hoping that there is more here that I don't know if there is a plan and I suspect there probably is. But if there is a plan, we probably won't actually see it until the moment it comes. I think that Donald Trump beat Hegseth know a little more here than meets the eye. Ultimately, of course, proof will be in the pudding. We will find out, God willing, sooner rather than later. Folks, stay with us through a quick break. ILI Kohanem joins and decide to break it all down. Stay with us. We'll be right back.
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Welcome back. So as we continue our coverage about Operation Epic Fury and the binational American Israeli military operations against the Islamic Republic of Iran, there's really no one better to bring on to continue our conversation. And then someone who was actually born over in Tehran, that is our friend Eli Kohanam. So Eli Khanem is the former US Deputy envoy to Combat Anti Semitism. She's also the host of America Unfiltered over on Al Arabiya, also just a wonderful person. So we always appreciate that about Ellie as well. So, Ellie, thank you very much for taking some time out of your day to join the Josh Hammer Show. We really appreciate it. I want to begin there on the biographical, actually. So your family fled Iran and when the revolution happened in 1979 there. This is deeply personal to you. So before we kind of get into some of the substance there, I would love for you to just reflect a little bit on all that has gone down from a very personal perspective perhaps over the past week and a half when it comes to this war against the Iranian regime.
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Josh, it's so good to be with you and I really appreciate the question. You're right, I was born in Iran. And the era that I was born in under the shah's leadership, Iran was Western oriented, had full diplomatic relations with the United States and Israel. My family's Jewish, ethnic minorities, religious minorities, women, all had rights. And it was really a golden era for the country. And what happened was that the Shah was accused, believe it or not, by Western countries and our own democrat president at the time, James Carter, of not being, you know, not giving enough human rights to. What he was fighting at the time was these very same terrorists who took over in 1979. And he was considered to be too brutal and too repressive. And so this regime takes power in 1979, and for 47 years they have now terrorized the country, the region and the world. And the reason I raise that issue, Josh, is that a lot of people today are saying what comes next in Iran could be worse than what we've had. But you know what? That failed experiment is the failed experiment of the last 47 years.
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You can follow Eli Kohanam on X. Eli Cohan Look, Ellie, when we talk about regimes and regime change has become something of a bugaboo in many political conversations, what I've been saying for months here on the show is that it should be objectively true that from an America First, American national interest perspective, there are some regimes that act in a manner that redounds to our national interests. There are some regimes that act in a manner that is demonstrably hostile and, frankly, inimical to the American national interests. And it'll be very difficult to think of a regime that has more consistently done the latter and not the former than the Iranian regime over the past 47 years and counting. So this is really historic stuff. We are truly living through historic times. What is the next step exactly of this operation? Another thing that we've been discussing in the past week is exactly how victory is achieved here. What are the metrics to define victory? One thing that I think many of us are looking out for, certainly I'm looking out for. I've been trying to see whether or not there are going to be any defections when it comes to the Iranian military, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the irgc. Is anyone going to take Donald Trump up on his offer to get immunity? Is it going to be some sort of domestic uprising? There's a lot of moving parts here, Ellie. So what is the next step in this process?
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Well, Josh, as you know, the US Military and Israel's IDF have their military objectives, and we all know what those are. But while we were accomplishing that, and it's not getting a lot of reporting, the US And Israel are also striking the repression infrastructure of the Islamic Republic. And so what I believe is happening is that they are kind of softening the ground and they're laying the groundwork so that the Iranian people can rise up and take back their government, as President Trump has asked the Iranian people to do. So what they've done is they've struck Basij and police stations. They have done things like hack television. I believe it's the Israelis and the Americans who've done that. Just today we saw strikes on Iran's banking system, the bank that actually pays the IRGC forces, and that's going to cause them quite a scramble and a while until they're able to pay the irgc, all of these kinds of pressures. I think, Josh, again lay the groundwork that that when we are ready for the Iranian people to take out on the streets this time when they do, and hopefully in the millions again, as they did on January 8th and 9th they are no longer mowed down with military grade equipment and killed by the tens of thousands. So I think that's partially a hope of what comes next. There is also, like you referenced, the possibility that somebody might flip. Now, my theory is that that somebody would come out of the conventional military forces in Iran because the regime, as you know, has redundant forces. They've got the irgc, which is very ideological and very loyal, and then they've got the traditional military. And so my belief is if anyone would flip, more naturally would seem the military, because they're more, less ideological and just kind of like more normal and perhaps less crazy than the ideologues of the irgc.
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So it's very helpful. Thank you for that answer. One sticking point that I had been kind of hung up on is the fact that these horribly repressed people just watched tens and tens of thousands of their fellow countrymen be mowed down in brutal, horrific fashion. Really Pulpo, Stalin esque mass killings happening right here in late December and in January. It's a largely unarmed population. And the besieged, the paramilitary. While the US And Israel are definitely striking a lot of targets, they still have something of a monopoly on the weapons. So I'm trying to figure out, Elie, how we can potentially get weapons into these people's hands. Is that feasible? Isn't it something that the folks in power are talking about behind the scenes? Or do you think that the goal here, more is to just so brutally, brutally damage the regime that even a barely armed populace can essentially attempt to break the yokes of tyranny and try to be free?
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Josh, My sense is that because the US Is so traumatized from the Iraq experience, where in Iraq the pop was armed previously and what happened with the fall of Hussein was that they started to turn the guns internally on each other. There was a lot of sectarian fighting. And so I think the United States looks at that and says they're not so sure they want to arm anyone. I do believe intelligence agencies could get arms through Iran's various borders. They've got the border with Iraq, they've got the border with Azerbaijan. There's so many different. The Baloch areas, there's areas where they could get arms in. I'm not sure that they want to do that, and perhaps maybe not yet at this point. That's why when there was rumors of the Kurds getting involved, I was personally excited about that because they are armed and trained and they're warriors and maybe there will be a role for them eventually.
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Finally, Eli and again, folks, if you haven't been paying attention yet, we're chatting with Ellie Kohanim. She's the former US Deputy envoy to Combat Anti Semitism, also the host of America Unfiltered over at Alex Arabia. Elliot, before I let you go, just about a minute and a half left or so here, I want your thoughts on the exiled crown Prince himself, Reza Pahlavi. So he has this brand new video here, a short video that he uploaded to social media. It's getting a lot of traction where he says to the Iranian people, we're now at the decisive stage of our final struggle. And he's kind of teasing, await my final call. What exactly is he getting at? And I would love your email. Your brief assessment as to the feasibility of Reza Pahlavi coming actually in here as a legitimate transition figure if, God willing, the regime actually is taken down.
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Reza Pahlavi, the son of the late shah, is the only figure that Iranians trust because he's clearly not associated with the regime. He's been in the United States in exile these last 47 years. That's the biggest strike against him because the United States cannot assess if he has enough support on the ground and from a security perspective. And does he have any forces and is there anyone who's armed who could support him? That is the big question around Pahlavi, on the other hand, he's the one who called on Iranians to come out and protest on January 8th and 9th, and millions responded to him. So he's proven that the Iranian people see him as leader and they chant his name on the streets. He's published a transition plan. I think for Pahlavi, the way that he can become a real option is if, in fact, he receives international support, that security support that he needs around him. But he can be without a doubt a political leader who can help transition. I think the question again is if we're looking at the Venezuela model as our preference, then that again goes back to would somebody internally flip to the American side, bend to the US Will, and that person comes already with infrastructure and armed personnel and so on. My guess is that the Trump administration prefers that scenario. I just don't know if that that exists.
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Great information as always. I'm also not sure if it exists. And frankly, I've been waiting on pins and needles to see some signs of it happening. Thus far, we haven't really seen that, but perhaps we'll see. Ellie. These things have a tendency to change very much rapidly, in fact, in real time, folks. Follow Ellie Kohanim on X Ellie Kohanim. Check out her show America Unfiltered on Al Arabia. Ellie, you are wonderful. We appreciate you. God bless you. Thanks for all you do my friend.
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D
Thanks for having me. Josh, great to be with you.
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So the energy markets around the world continue to be rattled as one of the highly predictable repercussions of this particular war invol involving one of the world's largest oil producers, that being the Zonic Republic of Iran. The price of oil dipping dramatically over its high that was reached this past Sunday into Monday there and it's relatively stable for now. But for now this continues to be a certainly a topic of debate and a lot of folks are saying, oh my God, how do you not see this coming there midterm election year price of oil. Surely you know better than to try to spike the price of oil. Well, no crap, but you're not really thinking this through. Do you really want to give a regime like this nuclear weapons? Would you prefer that a nuclear armed Iran, a ballistic missile, intercontinental ballistic missile capable Iran, that they be capable of shutting down the Strait of Hormuz, thereby choking off 20% of the world's oil, natural gas? Are you kidding me? In what world does that make sense? Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum is actually speaking quite clearly on this very point. Let's go ahead and play this clip
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from Doug Burgum Terrorist regime began 47 years ago by literally taking US hostages. And then here they are 47 years later slaughtering their own people in the streets and then holding the entire world hostage economically by threatening to close the strait. And of course, President Trump has made it very clear the consequences if they try to do that. And there's a lot of lot of options between ourselves and our allies in the region, including our Arab friends in the region to make sure that those straits keep open and that energy keeps flowing for the global economy. And again, goal here, eliminate this terrorist regime that as Caroline said in the opening piece there, everything she said 100% accurate, will bring prices down permanently. With peace and stability in the world, President Trump's going to make sure that happens.
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B
So the key point is that Iran already has the ability to hold the world's energy markets hostage via its control of the strip of Hormuz. The way to counter that is to deprive this regime from getting even more powerful where you definitely cannot take them on and they definitely, definitely, definitely can hold the world hostage. That's point one. Point two, you actually can stand up to them. And what Bergam said is that the US Is doing that. That's why Pete Hexthead said that we're now taking out a lot of the mine laying ships of the Iranian navy. That's why we more generally speaking are having U.S. navy escorts as need be to make sure that the share of Hormuz remains open for the free flow of oil and natural gas. Now one of the other aspects here of this ongoing war campaign has been the media. The media just, just, just continues to just, just epically botch this. Mark Penn, who is a longstanding old school Clinton era Democrat advisor who has had something of a red pilling experience it seems based on his Twitter feed over the past couple of years. There had this great post on X on Tuesday where he was saying how the media headlines are things like the Iranian regime is doing well, they're in control. Trump is under pressure to end the war. Khomeini's son is just as top as his father. The US Is responsible for the missile on the school. And the actual headlines, when you live in reality and not in MSM disinformation gaslighting world, the actual headlines are something close to this. Per mark pen, 60 Iranian ships have sunk. Iranian military assets destroyed. Leadership tries to put on good showing. Despite internal chaos, the war plan progresses unprecedented fashion. I mean, this has been a staggering success, folks. And it seems to me that there are a lot of folks that are frankly just rooting for the United States to lose this war. I actually think deep down it's that simple. Why? Because on the radical fringe, they say it the Columbia University apartheid divest, the freaks there are rooting, they're showing images of Iranian missiles and saying they're clapping like seals. Like yeah, it's disgusting, Disgusting, disgusting, disgusting stuff. Awful. Carolyn Levitt actually at a White House press conference was talking about how Democrats with their media allies are being just totally disingenuous about the boots on the ground equation too. There's a lot of disingenuousness out there, folks. Let's go ahead and listen to this from Caroline Levitt, the White House press secretary.
- [37:24]
D
Look, I would say that Democrats on Capitol Hill are clearly being quite disingenuous. Three years ago, not a single Democrat voted for the against the resolution condemning Iran as the world's leading state sponsor of terror. Yet now with President Trump as commander in Chief finally taking the action that so many Democrats have called on the commander in chief to do for many, many years to work wipe out the threat of a rogue Iranian terrorist regime. Now all of a sudden Democrats are playing politics with this long standing bipartisan policy of the United states and they 53 of them in the House recently voted against the resolution condemning Iran as the world's state sponsor of terror.
- [38:04]
B
Okay, so a lot of media disingenuousness all around the spectrum. CNN actually is probably top of the pile. Cnn, in case you missed it, had not just a post on X, but also a corresponding article about this lone wolf ISIS inspired attempts to blow people up outside Gracie Mansion in New York City by these two ISIS inspired teenagers this past weekend. So this is not irony, it is apparently not satire. We think CNN actually wrote about the incident whereby these two teenagers tried to kill a bunch of conservative protesters outside Zoram Donny's mansion on the Upper east side of Manhattan. CNN actually wrote this. Two Pennsylvania teenagers cross into New York City Saturday morning for what could have been a normal day, join the city during abnormally warm weather. But in less than an hour their lives would drastically change as the pair would be arrested for throwing homemade bombs during an anti Muslim protest outside of Mayor Zormandamni's home. I mean, what, what you know, as the Babylon Bee put it, and the Bee is just so part of this stuff they said in a actual satirical post, not a should be satirical post. The Bee wrote, quote, CNN reports on Japanese teenagers who came to Hawaii for what could have been a beautiful day at the beach and turns out it was Pearl Harbor. You get it? Just unbelievable stuff. The media bias folks here about all this stuff is just absolutely, absolutely, positively dripping. And frankly, we hope that's why you choose to cut through the fog when it comes to your destination for where you get your information, what kind of media you consume and so forth there. And we're just honor and privilege that you've chosen us here on the Josh Hammer show with Newsweek and Salem Media to be one of the outlets for your viewing and for your information on hopefully a daily basis there. And that kind of leads me to my final point for today's show, which is the notion of a daily basis at all. I've actually been thinking a lot about this recently. So my wife and I are on the precipice of closing on our first home. We are going to be moving fairly shortly. So if our, if our home set up here looks slightly different in the not so distant future, then you probably know what happened, though. We'll do our best to make it look similar. Of course, there. And there's just a lot happening. Our daughter is now. Oh, gosh, she's 15 months literally this week. I mean, where did it all go? That's just absolutely staggering. She's barely even crawling anymore. She's just walking everywhere and walking quite quickly, actually. I took her to the park yesterday and I could barely keep up with her. It kind of reminds me, I was watching a video this morning. There's a wonderful website out there called Torah Anytime, which is exactly what it sounds like is a 247 tool to try to get just a little Torah, a little Bible in your life. They have these daily videos that I get on their WhatsApp feed. And I was watching the video this morning, and the video was about. It was actually very timely. Pun very much intended. Because the video this morning was about the value of time. And just this timeless notion. Again, double pun intended. This timeless notion, this timeless bit of advice that you shouldn't waste your time with all these life milestones just of the past few years. In 2022, I got engaged. 2023, I got married. 2024, we had our first kid, born 2025 or 2026, I guess is the year. Now we're about to close our first home. More children, God willing, sooner rather than later. So there's a lot happening in rapid succession. And I've been thinking a lot about the value of time. Each and every single day is an opportunity for you to choose how you devote your time. I've gotten into the habit recently of waking up earlier than I have in my entire life so that I can be in synagogue very early, so I can spend an hour very early in the morning, essentially just communicating directly to God. And then I get home and I spend time with my family and I get on with my workday. And I do the best I can when it comes to balancing all my various responsibilities and duties and obligations that come with the day in, day out. But the order prioritization matters. Don't focus on that which doesn't matter. There is meaning. There is purpose. And by choosing each and every day to think about how you can structure your day, you will be a happier person, you'll be a more fulfilled person. And ultimately, really, when all is said and done, you will look back and say, that was worth it, folks. Have a great rest of your evening. Josh Hammer signing off. We'll be right back. Tomorrow.
- [42:50]
A
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