B (3:29)

Exactly.

A (3:31)

As anyone's watched this show, you know, just. I'm just a fan of history. I will always wish that I knew more. So I think the best way really to start this story is how did, before we get to your story, the story of Iran, how did Iran get to, to where it's at because it wasn't always like that.

B (3:54)

No, no it wasn't. So in order for the audience to really understand how we got here, I need to go back and really start at the beginning and spend a little bit of time on the progression of Persia or Iran as we know it today. So the Persian Empire goes back 2,500 years with Cyrus the Great. And at the time the Persian Empire was the superpower of the world and it was the hub of the culture, science, arts. And one of the biggest things that we're going to come to later the relationship between Iran and Israel was Cyrus the Great freed the Jews from Babylon and that was in 539 BC when he conquered the Babylon and he freed the Jews from slavery and he allowed and he actually helped them to go back to Jerusalem and help them build their temples and moving forward throughout the history. And you know, we get right to a point that in around 7th century when there Islamic conquest happened, the Islamic Caliphate took over Persia. And right at that point you'll start seeing the decline and downfall of the Persian Empire as we know it. And we get right up to about the Qajar dynasty was between 1797 and 1925. We had the, in, in that 200 period, we had a period of bunch of incompetent idiot kings that just ruined the country. And by the time 1925 when King Reza Pahlavi took over, that basically there was nothing left of Iran. It was, it was taken over by famine, disease. Each providence had had its own warlord. So it was a torn up country. So when King Rahvi, he was a colonel in the Kazakh brigade, he actually came to Tehran and, and he took over and toppled the, the Gajar dynasty. And what he wanted to do was go back to our national identity. Now during this entire time after the the Islamic conquest, the Ayatollahs and the Mollahs had a lot of influence in all the governments in history. So Iran lost a lot of territory, Iran lost a lot of land, they lost a lot of wars that they shouldn't have got into. So he wanted to push back on that and really get back to our roots. Because at our roots Persians are, were never Muslims, right? Persians were Zoroastrians. And Islam was forced on Iran. As a matter of fact, there was a 200 period, 200 year period that Persians were not allowed to speak Farsi. It was bad because they wanted to wipe our culture and that's what they did with Egypt. Like if you look at every country that they took over. If you ask Egyptians today what they are, what do you think they tell you? They tell you they're Arabs, right? They are not Arabs. Egyptians were Egyptians. But because they were taken over and they're. They. They did the same thing to Egyptians. They're, they, they language became, became Arabic. They identity, lost their identity. They identify themselves as, as Arabs even though they're not Arabs, right? So they tried to do the same thing with Iran, but Iranian people didn't let it happen. As a matter of fact, we have this great poet. His name is Ferdowsi. He wrote this very famous epic poem book. It took him 30 years to write that book. It's called the Book of Kings. It has over 50,000 verses that saved our language. He preserved our language through that Book of Kings. And he's revered in, in, in our culture. And he, that's. We credit him by, we credit him for saving our language and our culture. So King Reza Pahlavi wanted to get back to our national roots. And what he did was push back and took power from the ayatollahs and the mullahs. He really wanted them to go back to the mosques and do their religious duties and don't get involved with government, don't get involved into politics. And he really pushed them back. And what he did was, for the time, was extremely progressive. He started rebuilding the country. He started building the national university. He started with a huge project with building the Enter Content, Enter Iran railroads. He abolished hijab. That was a huge thing that the, the religious fanatics went crazy at the time. And he actually brought his own wife and two daughters. The day that the law went into effect, he brought his own wife and daughter. And his wife was very religious, by the way. And we're, we're going to get to that, how that influenced the next king. And he came out with, with all of them, without the hijab, telling the Iranian woman that you don't need to do this anymore.

A (10:01)

You.

B (10:01)

You are free.

A (10:02)

What, what a concept. Separation of church and state. He was, he was a pioneer. Exactly that aspect.

B (10:09)

Yes.

A (10:09)

You know what, what some people might say and, and just to delineate the difference between the two. So the problem with Islam has, has really been this. They've been conquerors from the beginning. They really, we did a whole episode of it that it's not, it's not a religion of peace, it's a religion of war. And of course, we got, we got pushback on that from people's ideas, but we didn't get any factual pushback or historical pushback on that. And people could say the same thing about Christianity to some degree. And, and they'd be right because some people throughout history have perversed and used religion as a tool of war. But that's, that's not necessarily a hit on religion as a whole. That's a hit on humanity as a whole. But you can look at these different religions and see how the human input has used them for war and violence and control. But historically, until now, when you look at Islam, it hasn't changed. That's the way it's been a religion of war, a religion of conquering, a religion of taking over and trying to remove people's identities, remove people's history and rule with an iron fist. And they, they did it to Persia and they will do it to the UK if the UK lets them. They will do it to France. It has been consistent.

B (12:03)

They did it to Spain.

A (12:05)

They, they, They've done it everywhere they've gone.

B (12:09)

Yes. I mean, their influence in Spain is, is so huge. I'm sure. How do you say hi in Spanish?

A (12:16)

Hola.

B (12:17)

What does that sound like? Allah.

A (12:21)

Oh, gosh.

B (12:23)

And most Spaniards don't know that. That's, that happened after the Islamic conquest. To this day, they name a lot of their daughters. Fatima is a, is a very prevalent name in, in Spain. And Fatima was Muhammad's daughter. So that's what they do.

A (12:41)

Wow.

B (12:41)

They conquer and they push their ideology and they try to wipe out your culture, like you said.

A (12:49)

Right. It's. And again, what's crazy is the people who profess to be intelligent to. Profess to, to know history have this, this case laid out before them and they look at it with a blind eye because they want, they want, they want history to line up with their ideology rather than history forming their ideology.

B (13:16)

Exactly.

A (13:17)

It's, it's, it's a shame. We, and, and we're not, we're not immune to it either. It's happening right here in, in this, in this country as we, as if anyone recognizes Donnie from, from the live that we just did. We covered that. We covered a video on that. Just proving it. I could have pulled up 30 more videos on that, but keep, keep going. One didn't want to derail it too much. Want to talk about that for a little bit?

B (13:43)

Absolutely. So he did all this in, in a short 16 year period that he was in power, but unfortunately, during the time World War II started. Okay. And Iran declared neutrality, but because of the geopolitical area that they were in the ally needed Iran to get supplies to Russia.

A (14:08)

Okay?

B (14:08)

So Iran was invaded by the British from the south, from the Persian Gulf and by the Russians from the north. And they basically told him that you either abdicate to your 21 year old son, which is King Muhammad, or we're gonna annex Iran. So he was a very patriotic man and he loved his country and he loved his people and he abdicated to his son. Now, talking about his son, our last king, King Muhammad Reza, he was sent to Switzerland from the age of 13 because remember I told you his father was a very progressive man and he wanted his son to be educated. He was training him to be the next king. That's why when, when you see some of his old interviews, this guy spoke four languages perfectly. He spoke English, he spoke French, he spoke German and he spoke Italian, and he was a fighter pilot. He was a very educated man. And when he took over at age of 21 again, Iran was conquered by two foreign forces. The country was unshambled. That's when they had that conference in Tehran between Franklin Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin. Okay. And it was during that conference that he had a private meeting with President Roosevelt. And President Roosevelt told him that he would help him get back on track and, and after the war is over, he would help Iran get back on track. So at the very beginning, he became very good friends with the American administration because the Americans were the only ones that actually try to help Iran. Stalin always tried to force his will on Iran and he never really had a good relationship with the British because he blamed the British for, for, you know, exiling his father.

A (16:20)

Right.

B (16:21)

So his relationship was more with the Americans. So slowly he started continuing his, his father's work. He continued with the progress and what he achieved in the short 30, 35 to 40 years that he was in power was absolutely just nothing short of amazing. Right? He had a huge economic growth year over year, and Iran was quickly becoming one of the world's powerful and influential countries in the world. Brett, do you have those numbers?

A (16:57)

Yes, I do. The per capita GDP in Iran, this is, these are just, they line up obviously with exactly what you're saying, but it really shows Iran was ahead of schedule. They were doing very well with what he was implementing. So in 1977, the per capita GDP of Iran was $7,500. The world average was just just north of 5,000. So they were 50% higher than the rest of the world, above average. Iran was doing good. You fast Forward to just three years in 1980. The rest of the world continued to climb to about $5,500 per capita GDP and Iran plummets to $2,500 from 50% ahead of the rest of the world on average to 50% behind. That's crazy.

B (18:04)

Exactly. So because he was experiencing such a huge economic growth and development, he decided that he needs to send a lot of young Iranians abroad to get educated. So he, he, he nationalized education basically all the way from kindergarten all the way up to as high as you want it to go. Education was free in Iran, and he would pay you your tuition and everything, all the costs for you to go to the best universities in the world to get educated. But what, what started happening was a lot of these students, when they went to countries like France and, you know, some countries in Europe, they started getting familiar with the Marxist and communist ideas.

A (18:56)

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B (19:51)

Now, if we go back and look at history, it was very fashionable during the 60s and 70s to be a Marxist or communist. Everybody had this romantic notion about Chegwara and the Fidel Castro and that whole movement. So it was very fashionable. And that had a lot of impression on these students. And he thought that he was sending all these guys to get educated, but in reality, they were all getting brainwashed with all these communist ideas.

A (20:26)

Same things happen in America today.

B (20:27)

We're gonna talk about that? Yes, we're gonna talk about that. And so when these students came back, the, the religious fanatics or the ayatollahs, they realized, wow, these Marxist ideas, they really align with ours. Right? Because what does, what does the political Islam believe? They believe their main enemy is capitalism. Right? And so does The Marxist idea, they believe you, you have to take from the rich and give to the poor. They believe in handouts, you know, give them free, free water, free gas, free transportation. So they saw they have this, this in common. So they started using these students that they already had that communist and Marxist notion and they started bombarding them with the Islamic version of it and they started making them more fanatic. And as years went by, they started revolting against the king, even though he was doing everything in his power to make the country great. So he actually warned about this. He called it the unholy alliance of red and black. He, he, he, he warned the world that there's going to come a time when the Marxist and the Islamist will see that they have so much in common. They will unite and they will ruin the world. And nobody took them seriously at the time. And he called it the unholy alliance of red and black. He called the Marxist red and black, the, the Islamic right, the Islamic fanatics. Yeah.

A (22:32)

Builds up.

B (22:33)

Yeah. How's this now?

A (22:39)

Good.

B (22:39)

Okay.

A (22:41)

Yeah. He couldn't have been any more right about that. He just, he couldn't have been.

B (22:50)

And the crazy thing is he started being pressured by a lot of the democratic presidents from the United States about human rights in Iran. And there is a video that I want to show people that what Iran was 50 years ago. And I'll get back to my point.

A (23:11)

Okay.

B (24:24)

So at the beginning that shows his coronation in the 70s. Now he, he became king in 1941 when he was 21 years old. But he didn't want to be coronated because he said I will not put that crown on my head until I have done something for my country and I'm worthy of that crown. So he waited till 1970 when Iran became the fifth most powerful nation in the world. Economic, economically.

A (24:51)

Wow.

B (24:51)

He built the fifth strongest military in the world. To this day, Iran is the only country that had the F14s Tomcats. And he, he was basically the superpower of Asia. And, and he was, we got to a point that Iran actually started loaning billions of dollars to countries like France and England. And, and he was very influential internationally. There are phone calls between him and US Presidents when they call him for advice when it comes to matter of Middle East. So he was, he was a very well respected person internationally. Very influential, very influential. So. But they kept telling him that you need to pay attention to human rights. Well, what they were talking about was there they didn't have political parties in Iran at the time. And what he was Saying was, we're going to get there one day. But what you guys are asking me to do, remember where Iran was 40 years ago at the end of Qajar dynasty, where we were nothing but famine, less than 10% literacy, disease, and we're not there yet. And he, he made a perfect example. He said, you guys are asking me to give a key, a Ferrari key, to a kid that just got his driver's license, right? He said, we'll get there. We'll have political freedom and we'll have parties. But our, our society has to be ready for that. We have to. And look what happened when they gave freedom. What did the people choose at the time? They chose the Islamic Republic. Why? Because they weren't ready for that.

A (26:47)

And I'm just going to frame it a little bit differently, but you tell me the answer. Did the people choose the Islamic. There's three options here. Did the people choose Islam? Did Islam choose the people, if that makes sense, or did Islam sell the people a bill of goods that wasn't who they really were and then changed the kind of three options. I see that could have happened. What do you think happened?

B (27:24)

What happened was the people of Iran were duped and lied to more.

A (27:29)

The third.

B (27:30)

The third. Yeah, because they were told that we're going to give you everything for free because they were accusing the king of being an American puppet. And they were. They were telling people, look, we're a rich country and we have so much oil that we can make everything free in Iran. If you look at Ayatollah Khomeini's speech when he returns to Iran, he says one of the first thing he says, he says, I'm going to give you free gas, I'm going to give you free transportation. I'm going to give a free house to every Iranian. All of that was a lie. All of that was a lie. And, and unfortunately, that generation of Iranians bought into that crap.

A (28:18)

Right?

B (28:19)

And that was because a lot of the influence. Remember, though, I told you, those students that went abroad and came back, most of them were brainwashed by the Marx ideology.

A (28:28)

And here, here's the, here's the fallacy of that. And the answer is right in front of their face the whole time. But they just can't put two and two together. That always briefs well. It always briefs well. Yet throughout history, it ends up falling on its face every time. And of course, their answer to that is, oh, well, it's never been properly executed. Well, maybe because of the human element. It does. It breathes well but maybe because of the human element of it, it's impossible to execute well. And just like economically when we went back through history, at the end of the king's reign before they asked him to leave because he wasn't doing a good job, they were 50% ahead of the world per capita. And as soon as these Marxist ideas and Islam takes over, what, what was sold to them is, you'll. Life will be better. You'll get free this, you'll get free that. They plummet into poverty.

B (29:39)

Exactly.

A (29:39)

It's a sad story really, except that I can't give them a full pass because all they have to do is look at history. History will tell it to you, but we're no better. New York. New York City's about to find out the hard way that same exact lesson learned.

B (29:55)

Thank you, Mom.

A (29:56)

Bringing that up, Mom, Donnie's gonna, gonna, gonna ruin that place.

B (29:59)

Thank you for bringing that up because I was gonna say something. I challenge every single audience that's watching this, watching this program right now. I want you to guys to go and look at Mom. Donnie's speech when he becomes the mayor of his acceptance speech and Ayatollah Khomeini's speech when he takes over when he comes back to Iran. It's almost identical word for word, almost identical. And Mamdani is a Shiite Muslim and his idol was Ayatollah Khomeini. And I just cannot believe that people of New york forgot about 9, 11 and who these people are. And they elected this guy and I just can't believe it.

A (30:46)

Well, this is why history is important. And I'm so glad you're coming on here telling the history, because with history we should be able to look at things that Mamdani says or any politician says and say, hey, has this worked out before? No, it hasn't. Let's other things have worked out. Let's. Let's stick with what works. Capitalism for the United States works.

B (31:15)

Exactly. So going back to my point.

A (31:20)

Oh, I'm sorry to interrupt you just because I don't want to forget. And you may, you may are going to cover it here in a little bit. So why did, why did, why did the King end up leaving?

B (31:31)

I'm getting there. Okay? I'm getting there. So. They started putting pressure on him about the human rights and they, they, the Western media, just like they are today, the BBC's of the world. And there was no CNN back then, but there was BBC. All the leftist media started accusing him of being a tyrant and a dictator, which he wasn't right. Looking at the history and looking at the actual facts, all you see was this was a man that deeply cared for his country, deeply cared for his people, and just wanted all the best for the people. And I gave Drew a couple of examples last night at when we were talking in the garage. You tell me if this man can be a dictator. He had two life attempts. They try to assassinate him twice. The first one was a 19 or 20 year old guy that shot him as he was coming out of the Iranian Senate and obviously he survived. They arrested the guy and the Iranian courts tried him and they gave him the death sentence. While he was waiting on that death sentence, they told the king that there is this old lady that every day comes to the palace door and she just stands there all day crying and requesting for an audience. When civil bring her up, let's see what she has to say. So they bring her up and she said, how can I help you? The lady says, I'm the mother of the guy that just tried to assassinate you. So he sits down and has a, an hour conversation with her because he, he's tried to understand why your son tried to kill me. What, what, what was his problem? And he said, well, it's not because he's a Islamic fanatic or anything. He just, you know, he just saw the crown prince at a vacation and you saw like, you know, he's having fun with jet skis or whatever. And he looked at himself and he said, why, why am I so poor and the crown prince is so rich? So he said, so basically he wanted to kill me because he was poor and he, he wants a better life. She says, yes, she's okay, I could solve that problem. So he orders right away, he, he pardons, he give him a royal pardon and he tells his minister, buy him a store, buy him a storefront, give him couple of million tumas, which was a lot of money at that time, let him start a business and that guy ends up being one of the millionaires of Iran. Now does that sound like a dictator to you? And I have another example. They try to kidnap his, his son and his wife and they try to assassinate him again and again. He pardoned those guys and he had a conversation because he really wanted to know why. And they said, well, you know, we think that you, you know, your, your, your cabinet is doing these things wrong and we can't, we can't get our voice heard. He said, well, if you want change, you can't make change through violence. You know, run for Office. It was. It was, you know, joint. Join the government and try to bring your ideas and change within. And he said, well, how can we do that? You know, we're. We're on a death row. He said, no, I'll forgive you. And he gives. He gave him government jobs, and he brought them into the government, and he allowed them to voice their opinion and try to. Try to bring change. Does that sound like a dictator to you? But what he did say during an interview, he actually had an interview with Dan Rather, and Dan Rather asked him about that. He said, yeah, but you did execute a few people. He said, yes, but there is a big difference. When they made an attempt against my life or my family, I can forgive that, because that's a personal thing. But when they do acts of treason against Iran, I cannot forgive that because that's not up to me. Yeah, I can forgive my life. I can forgive my son's life. Attempt on my son's life, but I cannot forgive treasonous acts against Iran. So those were the. Those were. And. And when we talked about mek during life, the mujahideen, those were the same people that murdered two American colonels that were in Iran in the 70s, acting as military advisors, and they. They would just burn down banks, they would do bombings. They would kill innocent people. And those were the people that he was arresting and executing and who wouldn't do that. We have a death penalty here in America. Right?

A (36:48)

Right.

B (36:48)

Treasonous acts against country anywhere in the world is punishable by death. But they painted this picture of him, that he was this huge dictator, and again, that just snowballed. And by the time we come to the end of the 70s, with the pressure of the Ayatollah Khomeini, and I've always said, where did this uneducated caveman of a man, where did he get all this support and money to do all this stuff? Because every. Every week, they were bringing pallets and pallets of his propaganda newsletters and they were disseminating in Iran. BBC was broadcasting his nightly speeches to the people of Iran on a shortwave radio. So he had the support of the West. And come to find out when the. When they declassified some CIA documents just recently, we came to find out that Carter administration was behind this whole thing the whole time. They actually have a video of it where the crown prince explains it on. On one of the podcasts, if you can bring that up. He's gonna say, why the Carter administration was behind Khomeini and was trying to topple the shot the only individual in that administration who understood what could be the consequences of such a regime taking over was Zbigniew Brzezensky. In fact, I remember the discussion I had with him because I happened to be at the White House on my birthday. October 31, 1978. Wow, you're at the White House.

A (38:37)

October 31, 1978.

B (38:39)

I flew up from Reese Air Force Base. You know, that's where I was training. I came to Washington. I had a short meeting with President Carter. We had a longer discussion at the time with our ambassador at the time, Aldi Shirzedi. And we were together with Zbigniew Brzezinski, the rest of Cyrus Vance, Gary Sick, Clark, all of those guys worked completely on this premise of let's create a religious belt to contain communism from spreading into the area. That was the theory of the Carter administration. So backing Khomeini, creating a religious belt like a dam, to protect the region from the communism, to gain influence in the area, namely the Soviet Union. Little did they know that at the time, the KGB had over 40,000 Iranians, many of them dressed as mullahs, leading prayers in Mashhad and Isfan and other countries. They already had their influence. They were already there. Did you get.

A (39:43)

Did your father know? Did he already know or no?

B (39:46)

Didn't he warn so many governments that if I go, Iran will become Iranistan was not less than a year after he left that the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. We can stop it. I mean, look.

A (39:58)

Wow. So Jimmy Carter's got to go down as one of the worst presidents ever. Yeah, he does.

B (40:07)

So Jimmy Carter meets with the French president, I believe it was Jean Carter, Stan. I'm not sure about the name, but they. It's a famous conference, it's called the Guadalupe Conference, where he meets with the French president, a couple of other Germany and couple of other. And they decide, okay, the Shah is too powerful. We have this idea of this religious belt. We need to back Khomeini. The Shah has to go. So at the time, Shaw was. Was fighting cancer and he had a stage 4 pancreatitis cancer. So he tells the shah, look, take a couple of months break. And at the time people were already protesting on the streets, right? And one of the things that I want to mention, I just remembered one of the Iranian generals goes to the king and tells them, says uranus, give me two weeks and I'll crush all this uprising. He said, what do you mean you're going to crush it? He said, well, you're going to leave because Carter told you to go take a vacation. And you're not going to be blamed for this. I'll just kill a few thousand of them and I'll just crush it. And when you come back, everything's going to be fine. And he looked at him and he said, you want me to kill my own people and sit on a throne that's tainted with blood of Persian people? He said, I will never do that. I'd rather leave than kill. If they don't want me, if they can't see what I have done for them, if that's what they want, then I'll leave. So he leaves the country and Carter sends General Heiser. He was the Chief of Staff. He was the. What do we call the Chief of Staff? The. The military? The joint.

A (42:03)

Joint Staff.

B (42:04)

He was the Joint Chiefs of Staff. As soon as the. The Shah leaves, he sends General Heiser to Iran to meet with all the heads of the four. Four branches of the military in Iran. And he tells them that you guys need to declare neutrality, right? So don't back the Shah. Just. Just sign this thing and announce it on the radio that the Iranian military is neutral and whatever the people want, that's what we want. So as soon as the Shah left, Carter pulls the rug from under him and the rest is history. And the way this man was treated, it's. It's too long to talk about on this podcast. He wouldn't even allow him to come to New York to get an operation for his. For. For his pancreatic cancer. And he was actually gonna send. He. When he was in Panama, he was making a deal with the Iranian regime to send the King back. And the only one that stopped it was Ambar Sadat, which was King's best friend, Egypt's President. He called Carter, he told them, jimmy, this is on record, this. I'm not making any of this up. You guys can look it up. It's all part of his. He said, jimmy, do not do that to him. Said, you don't want him in America, fine. Send him back here and I will take care of him. So Egypt was the only country that they took him back and he. He died a couple of months later and they had the huge honor for him, Military parade, and to this day, he's buried in Egypt. And the only US President that showed up to his. To his funeral procession was Richard Nixon, which was one of his best friends. So that's how we got here. And look what happened as soon as he left. If we look at the region, the Middle East, Region beside the six day war between the Israelis and the Arabs. Can anyone name one instability or these endless wars before 1979? After World War II and before 1979 there was this period of peace and prosperity in Middle east because the Shah, the King was keeping that area in check. And as soon as he left, what happened? Russia invades Afghanistan. Our our diplomats gets taken hostage in Iran. We have the Beirut bombing, barrack bombings and it.

A (44:38)

And Iraq.

B (44:39)

Iraq, Iraq, Iraq invades Iran, which I live there. During the entire eight year war. I remember missiles and bombs raining on Tehran every night.

A (44:49)

You know, you know, you said there were. There were no major conflicts outside the six day war before that. And you'd be right. But there were signs of violence in the 70s and it wasn't large scale, but it was the hint of something to come. And that's when terrorism started rearing its ugly head. And all of that terrorism came from one place. That's Islam.

B (45:27)

Absolutely.

A (45:28)

So we had indicators that the more power this particular religion got, I believe it'd be a easy reasoning and easy deduction to say, well, if this is where it starts, if we get more of Islam, will we get more terrorism?

B (45:54)

Right.

A (45:55)

And the answer is yes.

B (46:00)

Now this is in 1974 or 1975. Were 60 Minutes interviews the Shah, let's see what he has to say about the Palestinians and terrorism.

A (46:13)

Okay.

B (46:17)

He turned to the Palestinians. The Palestinians obviously had the sympathy of many, many people. Many, almost all the countries in the world prosecuted people, stateless people looking for a home or something. You know, exactly like the sympathy that the Jews had when they were searching for a home. Right. But our good Palestinian friends must know that there is only a limit to where they can go and bully the world. Bully the world? Yes, by terrorism and, and blackmailing and this and that. You know perfectly well, your majesty, that the leaders of the Arab world find the Palestinians as much a problem almost

A (47:04)

as the Israelis do.

B (47:05)

Isn't that a fact? What I can say is that they should really open their eyes, reassert their situation. And if there is a hierarchy and someone there in command of the Palestinians. You mean of the Palestinians. To start a new policy because the actual one is going to lead them nowhere. With whom do they really have understanding? With Assad?

A (47:34)

With Sadat?

B (47:35)

With Hussein? That's a very good question. They have none with any of these leaders? Not to my knowledge. And they seem to be out of control. It seems so today. And what about the Arab leader who supports the Palestinians, the terrorists with his oil? So this man is already Warning about Palestinians and terrorism in 1976.

A (48:01)

Well, the, I spent some time in Jordan and there's a ton of Palestinians in Jordan and I wouldn't have known this if it wasn't for my time there. But it's not, it, it's not hidden by any means. In 1970 or 71. Yeah, he's talking about the, the Palestinians had no land. Well, yeah, because they, they tried to have land. They tried to take Jordan's land. They had a civil war with Jordan and tried to steal their land. So this interview is, is being conducted just a few years on the heel of that when the Middle east knew they were a problem. Because they've been a problem everywhere they've been and no one else in the Middle east wanted to have a relationship with them. Because, because when Jordan did, they tried to steal Jordan from them. They've been a problem the whole time. But again, people forget about history, I suppose.

B (49:08)

Yes. And you know, a lot of people don't realize there are a lot of Arab Israelis that live in Israel peacefully. They're actually part of their government. They can run for office.

A (49:24)

That's correct.

B (49:25)

And all they have to do is join and live in peace and live in a democracy. But they don't want to do that.

A (49:36)

So you're bringing up the point that Arabs and Muslims, Arab Muslims can, Palestinian, Arab Muslims can be a part of the Israeli government. Is that what you're saying?

B (49:50)

They already are correct.

A (49:51)

That's what you're saying. Because it's a fact. I just, I just want to give a counter to that to prove a point. Do you know how many, do you know how many Jews are represented within the Palestinian government? Can you give an exact number?

B (50:11)

Zero.

A (50:11)

You know the exact number? Yes. You're a, you're a well educated man. I, I mean, I'm not saying that that's not my, that's not my end all, be all argument.

B (50:24)

Right.

A (50:24)

But man, that's a good indicator. You can start there and, and branch out to see who we're really dealing with here.

B (50:34)

Look, I'm not, I'm not here and I've, I've heard you talk about it. We're not here to be an apologist or be a propaganda for Israel. You know, I call it out when, when they've done messed up things, you know, I call it out. But if, if the Palestinians even want the, their land and a two state solution, they've had multiple opportunities to do that. To have multiple, to have their own piece of land and, and try to, you Know, live under their own flag and have their own country, but they don't want to do that. All they talk about is from, from the mountain to the sea. What does that mean? That means completely wiping Israel off the map and push all the Jews to the sea.

A (51:25)

Right. From the river to the sea.

B (51:26)

From the river to the sea, yeah.

A (51:28)

So in their time, from the Jordanian river.

B (51:30)

Right.

A (51:31)

All the way to the sea. That's theirs and no one else's. Which is why they won't sign any peace, agree, peace treaty or agreement. Because they want it all. It's all or nothing to them.

B (51:41)

Right.

A (51:43)

Because they're a problem. The historical piece of this, the answers are there in the history. Nothing has really changed. This is very recent history and there's been no large deviations to say, well, that was then and this is now. We've the, the, the flight path has, has continued. So the glide path, if you will, has continued. And so the history and the recent history maintains a very good lesson learned into what we have for us in the future.

B (52:19)

Absolutely. And you know, one of the main slogans of this revolution, they call it the, they call it the, the, the sun, the Iranian flag, the lion and the sun revolution because of the Iran, the real Iranian flag, not this crap that, they call it a flag. Now, one of the main slogans that people in Iran, I'm going to say it in Farsi and then I'll translate it in English.

A (52:44)

Okay.

B (52:44)

They say Iran. They say no, no to Gaza, no to Lebanon. I will give my life for Iran. So they're telling the Iranian government, forget about Lebanon, forget about Gaza and Palestine. That has nothing to do with us. That's their fight. That's their problem with Israel. Now stay out of it. Do something for us.

A (53:10)

Yeah. If you've ever been to any of my tactical training classes, then you know how adamant I am about the use of white light and the importance of a quality high powered tactical light. That's why I use cloud defensive tac lights. You can't hit what you can't see and neither can the bad guys. Clearly identify your target and simultaneously overwhelm his vision with hundreds of and even thousands of lumens. Get serious about defending yourself and your family. Go to clouddefensive.com and use promo code tier one to get 30% off your order. That's right, 30%. You won't find a better light than this and you won't find a better deal than this. The first thing that that pops in my head from that is I've I've traveled the world and there's, there's two things that, that always jump out to me is how different cultures can be. Yet the same thing I'm about to say is the opposite of that and still true. How at the end of the day, how, how everyone's kind of the same at, at the same time. So the dichotomy of that is, is, is always unique. But what you just said isn't anything different than what we're asking for in America right now. No, we're trying to say, hey, America first. Let's do things that are in America's interest. Let's take care of our problems before everything else. I know what they're going to say is, well, then how can you be for this Iranian war? You just said, hey, let's take care of our problems and we'll get to this in a little bit. But Iran has become and has been ever since the new regime took over of the ayatollahs, running the country has been an America problem. So we are taking care of America problems. I just don't think, hey, people aren't going to like this, don't care. I don't think Ukraine's our problem. I don't mind helping them to a degree. I, I would. And for people who, who say, oh, man, Brent took the 7k and that think that I'm just blindly pro Israel, I'm actually not. I just call it like I see it. They just don't. They just cherry pick my points of views. Do I think we should be sending Israel as much money and support as we do? I don't. And I'm, I'm consistent about that. As a country now, I don't mind protecting people every now and again from, from thugs. That's also just part of being good people. But if you can't stand on your own as a country, then maybe you shouldn't be a country. So, you know, there are things to talk about. But back to the point, they're asking for the same things that we're asking for here. You know, people, at the end of the day, good people are cut from the same cloth.

B (56:12)

Exactly, exactly. So that's, that's basically in a nutshell, how we got here to where we're at today.

A (56:23)

I got a question for you. For, for we get to, we're here today because I don't know much about it. The Iraq, Iranian war.

B (56:32)

Yes.

A (56:33)

What started that?

B (56:35)

What started was, because it's at the

A (56:39)

time, it's two an idea. I mean, I have Some insight into it. But it's two Islamic nations, fundamentally Islamic nations, if you will, fighting each other. And it's supposed to be a religion of peace. So how can two nations who. Who believe the same thing? I know we're gonna get into Sunni, Shia thing.

B (57:08)

Yeah.

A (57:08)

But you know, how can you go to war together? It's. To me, it's kind of like. And maybe this is a bad comparison, but if you want to call it a sect, right. Christianity has sects, but I could never imagine in the 80s, Baptist going to war with Lutherans. You know what I mean? Just because we see a few things different historically. But that's. That was the question I had for you about the Iraq Iranian war.

B (57:39)

The answer to that question is actually two main reasons beside the fact that Iraq, Saddam Hussein was a Sunni and the Iranian ayatollahs are Shiites.

A (57:55)

Right?

B (57:56)

And throughout history, they've hated each other and they've always fought. Right. But that was not the main reason for the Iran Iraq war because Iraq

A (58:05)

is also a majority Shia.

B (58:06)

Majority Shia.

A (58:07)

It's just that the Sunnis are in control.

B (58:09)

They were in control. Right. But they are now. Their current regime is a Shiite regime backed by Iran.

A (58:17)

Okay?

B (58:17)

So the reason the Iran and Iraq war started was one. In 1976, there is a river that runs across the border between Iran and Iraq. And it's called. They call it Shatto Arab, we call it Iran route. And the Iraqis were saying that that is ours. Every ship that comes there needs to pay our taxes and put our flag on. And the king was saying, no, based on international law, the deepest part of the river is the border. And whatever ship that comes for you guys will put your flag on and pay your taxes, whatever. So basically, they were about to go to war with that. And the king put Saddam place in his plate, in his place and basically forced them to agree to that. So Saddam Hussein had already had this hatred for the year because he was humiliated in an international community. That happened in Algeria, and it happened in front of the world where he had to kind of get up from his seat and come to the king and kiss him on his shoulder. And he kind of. King kind of humiliated him. So that was already back of his mind. And then after the revolution, what is this idiot ayatollah do? He starts immediately trying to export the revolution, and he starts provoking Iraq by saying the Iraqi regime should rise up against Saddam just like the Iranian people did, and rise up against Saddam and kick him out. And the Shiite is. We have More Shiites in Iraq that Sunnis Shiites need to take over. So Saddam's like, wait a minute, dude, you haven't even been in power in two minutes. Are you already trying to export your revolution to my country? And right now, because you killed all of your generals, because you thought the generals were, were still. How do I want to say this? Loyal. Yeah, we're still loyal to the king. So the first thing that I told is that they, they killed the head of the, the head of the Iranian military. From Colonel Up. They either killed them or most of them ran away because. So Saddam's like, okay, this is a perfect opportunity. I was humiliated in 1976, and now this idiot is trying to provoke my military against me.

A (60:49)

Right.

B (60:50)

Their military is at the weakest point. It's a perfect time to go and take it over.

A (60:55)

Yeah. And you had already brought this point up. They are at their weakest point because one point under the king, they're the fifth most powerful country militarily.

B (61:05)

Yes.

A (61:05)

If this had happened under the king, which is why it didn't. Another reason why it didn't, because Iran would have wiped the floor with them.

B (61:11)

Yes. It already happened in 1971. That it was, it was a day and a half war. Nobody talks about it, but we can, we can look it up. This is all historically historic facts. They attacked Iran while the Shah was. He was either on vacation or he was at a conference. And within six hours, the Iranian military took over Basra and they were on their way to Baghdad when the king gets the phone call from his chief of staff and he tells him, your Highness, this is what happened this morning. We already pushed back. We're already past Basra. Yeah, we'll be in Baghdad by tonight. The king's like, stop. Look, we're not trying to invade our neighbors. Yeah, okay, you, you, they, they attack. You put them in this. You put them in their place. That's enough. We're not trying to take, you know, take our neighbors over.

A (62:10)

I've never heard that story.

B (62:11)

So we can look it up. Yeah, okay. And another thing. In the Omanis, they, they love the king because again, in 19, early 1970s, there was a fraction of the Omani communists in Jafar. Jafar region was actually toppling King Kabus, which was the Omani king at the time.

A (62:35)

Okay.

B (62:36)

It was like a huge civil war. It got out of hand. They couldn't control it. His. His kingdom was about to be toppled. He asked Iraq, he asked King Muhammad result for help. And he went there. And within couple of Months completely crushed the communist uprising and gave the power back to King Rapus. And to this day the Omani royal family see themselves in debt to Iranians because he saved them. So he was, he was a very powerful man, but he was very pragmatic.

A (63:08)

I love it. Yeah. Again, the, I love the, the, the history aspect of it. So that brings us up to again the history of Iran and now your personal experience within this regime. Because you're not Muslim.

B (63:32)

No, I'm not.

A (63:33)

And that is a problem in Iran. And your country experience hardships for no other crime than just not being Muslim.

B (63:46)

Yes.

A (63:47)

Tell us about that.

B (63:49)

Okay, so before I answer that question and we get to it, Sure. I, I hate the victim mentality. I'm not here to make myself sound like a victim or family. As a victim. As a victim. But I just, I'm a. Me and my family are one of the millions of examples of what these monsters did to families. And I'm just here to testify as a truth something that happened to me and my family. Yeah. So I'm not here bitching and crying as a victim. That's not what it's about. It's about testifying and telling the people the truth. So when I was about seven or eight years old, we grew. I, I was born and raised in a non Muslim. We're a religious minority in Iran. One of our neighbors actually sold us out to the irgc. Well, actually, let me be factual because you said people are going to nitpick at everything. Okay. Back then it wasn't really IRGC yet. It was called comite, which is. Comes from committee. And later on they became irgc, but at the time they were called comitech. And IRGC stands for Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.

A (65:08)

Yep.

B (65:08)

They were created because the Islamic Islamic Republic did not trust the regular Iranian military because they thought they will always be loyal to the Shah. So they created this parallel military force that was loyal only to the regime. Even, even in their organizational constitution, it doesn't say a single thing about Iran. Their primary job is protecting the regime, but the military's thing is protecting the land and the country and the people. Right. So they created this parallel force. So back to.

A (65:46)

And in terms of this war, when, when people see that a lot of our strikes have been against irgc.

B (65:53)

Exactly.

A (65:54)

Now, now you understand why.

B (65:56)

Exactly.

A (65:56)

And IRGC now understands why you don't mess with America.

B (66:01)

Exactly.

A (66:01)

But that's, that's later on.

B (66:04)

Right. So one of our, one of our neighbors sold us out and they, they stormed our house and they Took my father and they took my brother, who was 16, 17 year old at the time, and they took him away for two months. And during that two months they tortured both my father and brother. And to, at one point they brought my dad in, tied him to a chair, and they brought my brother in and slid my brother's wrist in front of my father. To this day, I can facetime my brother right now and I can show you his wrist. He still has the big scar on his wrist 35 years later. They were telling my father, just convert to Islam and your son will live. And my father told me the story later. He said he got the inspiration from my brother because my brother was sitting right across from him bleeding and telling my father, dad, do not do it.

A (67:25)

I know all I can think about is my son and having to watch that. Sorry guys, that's completely understandable.

B (67:34)

So he, he was telling my father, dad, don't, don't give him the satisfaction. Don't do it. And my father refused.

A (67:44)

And your brother was quite a man at a young age.

B (67:47)

Yeah. And we'll get, we'll get to what kind of man he is in a little bit. And his interrogator was just telling him, look, dude, you don't even have to believe it. Just, just say you're a Muslim and declare it in a newspaper and that's it, I'll let you go. But they both refused. So they were tortured for two months. When they came home, I remember this is vivid. I can see it as clear as day when my dad and my brother walked in the house two months later. Two months later.

A (68:21)

Two hours, not two days.

B (68:22)

Two months later.

A (68:23)

Two months later.

B (68:24)

Tortured every day. I could barely recognize my dad's face.

A (68:30)

It's unbelievable.

B (68:31)

I remember the bruises on my brother's body. They were tortured every day for two months trying to get them to convert to Islam. So that was in the end of it. They took everything from our family. I wasn't born in a rich family, but we were in an upper middle class family. My dad had worked really hard all his life. And we had, we had a property in north of Iran by Caspian Sea. And we had a couple of other lands that was inherited by my grandfather. And they took everything because according to Islamic law, because we are considered infidels, we don't get inheritance. The property goes to the government. So they took everything away from us. And my sister at the time, who's the oldest child of the family, was becoming of age that she, she was, she had to go to college and My brother was couple of years behind her. And we knew that there is. We're not allowed to be. To continue with higher education because when in Iranian application, whatever you want to do, you want to go to college, you want to apply for a passport, you want to apply for a job. On the application is your first name, last name. The very next question is your religious affiliation. And if you check anything other than Islam, there's going to be problems. So at that point, my parents decided that there was no future for any of us.

A (70:14)

This is. I just have to. This. It just. It gets me going. It really does. And you lived it.

B (70:24)

Yeah.

A (70:24)

You know, so I could only imagine what it does for you. Just the point I have to make as you're telling this story. You guys can go back to our episode about Islam. Drew sat there in that chair right there and told the audience what the Quran says and told the audience what the Hadith say. And then the half people in the comment section say, no, you're absolutely wrong. They don't do any of that. That's not true. People who have no idea, who have never truly lived under Sharia law and an Islamic regime, have no idea what they do. But you do. And you lived it. That's why I'm so grateful for you to come on this show because again, these are. These guys will apologize for Islam, they'll defend them. And yet they have. Yet they have no knowledge. They've never looked into it. They've never asked someone who's actually lived there and says this.

B (71:30)

True.

A (71:31)

They just have their opinions and they believe it. But here you are. You lived it.

B (71:36)

Yes.

A (71:38)

It's unbelievable.

B (71:40)

Unfortunately. Yeah. So at that time, my mom and dad sent my older brother and sister. We paid smugglers because obviously we couldn't get a passport and leave the country legally. So my. My mom sold her gold and whatever we. Whatever she had and we paid the human smugglers and we sent my brother and sister to Turkey through the northern border, through the mountains, where, you know, you kind of have to watch out for both border patrols before, because if, even if we. Once you make it to Turkey, you have to make it to the UN headquarters in Ankara. Yeah. If you get caught by any Turkish police before that, they deport you back. And then that's a death sentence once you go back to Iran and that's it, you're done. So they. They had to hide in the train. And, you know, that's a crazy story by itself. They finally make it to Ankara, to the UN headquarters, where you go in you declare yourself a religious minority and a refugee, and they give you a temporary paperwork which prevents the Turkish authorities from deporting you. Okay. While they're investigating your case to make sure you are telling the truth, you are who you say you are. Okay. And then you go interview with different countries, consulates to see who's going to accept you.

A (73:14)

Okay.

B (73:14)

And because we already had a lot of families, we had all my aunts and uncles already leaving the United States. Our destination was always United States.

A (73:27)

I'll tell you, that's. That's, that's an amazing story. And again, I said it on the live. I'll say it again here, for people that live in this country not to understand that we're the greatest country in the world and that we've never been anti immigrant. You're an immigrant. You're sitting right here in this chair with me. And people would say that I'm very right. Extremist and anti immigration and anti immigrant and. Yeah, anti. Yep. We're. We're getting along just fine. And I'm proud to have you in my country. It's just. Again, it's just. It's lies and propaganda because they don't really want to understand the. The other side. And I don't know why. It's a. I just. I don't know. I don't know how we got here. That's a whole nother rabbit hole. I don't really want to go down right now because it's going to take away from your story. Do you remember who all they interviewed with?

B (74:38)

It was always United States because you have to fill out the paperwork and give your choice.

A (74:42)

Okay.

B (74:43)

But because we had our aunts and uncle here and you have to fill out a financial affidavit.

A (74:47)

Okay.

B (74:48)

So we already had.

A (74:49)

Yeah, there's family here.

B (74:50)

There's family here. There's ties. So I. Then they sent me a year later while. While they're waiting for an interview, so I had to go through the same thing.

A (75:01)

Right, by yourself?

B (75:02)

By myself. I was 12. Well, from my family. By myself. But when the human smugglers. There was a couple of other families that I didn't know because they smuggled with groups.

A (75:12)

Right, right, right. But. So, but yeah, yeah. But I mean, your dad's not with you.

B (75:17)

No. You know, your.

A (75:19)

Your big brother's already gone.

B (75:20)

Right.

A (75:20)

I mean, you. For all intents and purposes, it. You are by yourself.

B (75:26)

Yes.

A (75:26)

You know, you're responsible for yourself.

B (75:29)

And I remember the day I left. I remember thinking that this is the last time I'm going to see my parents. This is the last time I'm going to see my younger brother because he was three years old at the time, so he was too young to live to, to leave.

A (75:46)

Yeah.

B (75:47)

So when I hugged my mom, I really thought, okay, this is it. I'm never going to see them again. I might, I, I started crying. My dad pulled me aside and he said, son, we have to do this. We'll be together again one day in this life or after. But you need to go and make something out of yourself. And be a good man.

A (76:21)

Okay? I can't. I'm, you know, my son's that age. My son's that age. I, I, I'm trying to put myself in, in those shoes as a, as a father. Your father was a great man for doing that.

B (76:41)

We had no choice because we had no future. We had to leave.

A (76:45)

I couldn't put, I couldn't put my little boy and some stranger's control and say, hey, it'd be the equivalent of me saying Goodbye to my 11 year old son right now and be like, you're getting in a van with these smugglers and you're going to Canada. I'll see you again one day.

B (77:03)

Yeah.

A (77:06)

I don't think people really understand. This is part, this is part of the, this is part of the reason that pisses me off that people don't love this country so much. Because there's not a person that hates this country that will ever have to make the decision that your family had to make, yet they will hate this country and call it the worst country in the world. That's what it's like living in the worst country in the world.

B (77:33)

Yes.

A (77:33)

It was the worst country in the world to you guys.

B (77:35)

Absolutely.

A (77:36)

At the time. Absolutely making real decisions.

B (77:39)

Right.

A (77:40)

And I hope to never fully understand that part of your story.

B (77:45)

And I won't wish it on anybody.

A (77:47)

Yeah.

B (77:47)

You know, so I joined my brother and sister in Turkey and we went through the whole thing, you know, walking in the mountains and hiding during the day and walking at night. So finally get there and the entire process takes about a year. We do everything legally, all the paperwork, we wait. And it was difficult living there, you know, it was really, really difficult because, you know, my father couldn't send any money. He, every now and then he would, whoever was coming to Turkey, he would send a few hundred dollars or whatever. So for about, I remember for about eight months we were living on pasta and potatoes. Right. It was really difficult, but there was a, there was light at the end of the tunnel, because we knew we were coming to United States, right? So finally all the paperwork gets approved. We get approved to have a refugee status. And I never forget the day we left Istanbul, Turkey, and our first port of entry was in New York. And when that plane made the bank to come into LaGuardia. You can see the Statue of Liberty right there.

A (79:05)

I love it, man. You're going to get me all emotional, dude.

B (79:08)

That was. That was like, dude, you know, we made it. Yeah, we're free, Man. I. I didn't. I didn't want to get emotional like this. I don't know where this is.

A (79:27)

How can you not? How can you not?

B (79:29)

Because I have. I haven't talked about this in 30 years to anybody, right? So. So anyways, we come in and right away, now none of us speak a word of English, right? My sister spoke a little bit, but me and my brother, nothing. As a matter of fact, I remember when I was sitting in a plane when the stewardess came asking, what do you want to eat? I didn't understand what she was saying, so the only thing I knew how to say in English was Pepsi. So during that, during that 11 hour flight from Istanbul to Turkey, like, because my, me and my brother had a seat and my sister was sitting in a different spot. And, you know, a couple of times that they came by asking for food, you know, my sister was sleep or my brother was sleep, and I didn't want to wake him up. So all I knew how to say, because she was asking, like, what do you want? Chicken or whatever. Pepsi, you know, So I, I drank Pepsi all the way.

A (80:36)

Yeah. Showing up to America with cavities. Yeah.

B (80:41)

So we get to New York. As soon as we come out the plane, there was somebody from United States and he had our name on a plaque, and he was in charge to make sure we get to our final destination, which was Los Angeles. And I'm here thinking I was like 12 years old at the time. I'm like, man, in my own country, they were treating us, they were calling us dogs, right? They were. They. We were sub humans over there. And yet here we are not even two minutes in this country and somebody that doesn't even know us is taking care of us already, you know, like he's, he's trying to make sure that we get to our destination. And, you know, so right off the bat, that was. I'm like, man, there is a reason United States is a beacon of hope for the world. You know, like, this is what it's all about. So we get to Los Angeles. We live with my aunt and my cousins for a couple of months. By the way, my aunt and my cousin, they tried the same thing. Couple of years before my brother and sister left and my aunt was shot in the back and the bullet came right under. And to this day she has breathing problems. And my Ray, yeah, Ray was five or six years old. He got shot in the calf when, when in the one side and came out the other side. They shot him with the AK47. And I remember when, when they were released to us, we went and picked them up. We had to bandage his leg every day. And I remember my mom cleaning and bandaging this. And Ray, I mean seven year old kid, man, like he was screaming in pain, you know. And I remember all those memories. So that's who we live with for the first couple of months.

A (82:40)

Why were they shot?

B (82:41)

Because they were, they were escaping Iran

A (82:43)

during, during the evasion.

B (82:45)

During the invasion. Yeah. The Iranian border patrol shot shot at them and, and the only thing that saved their life, that they weren't executed is when they were brought back to the hospital. The, the soldier that was on duty went to my aunt and said I'm sorry, I thought you guys were drug smugglers. I didn't know you guys were a family. And my, my aunt were, were married to an Armenian. Armenian. He was a great man too. And she always had a cross necklace, like real gold, right. Expensive stuff. She took her while she was in a hospital bed. She took off her necklace and gave it to him. Says, I forgive you. So he felt so bad that he smuggled them out of the hospitals and my mom and dad went and picked them up because they weren't supposed to be released and we had to hide them. That's why my mom had to bandage, raise leg every day because we couldn't take them to any hospitals or clinics. Like we had to go buy the bandage and do all this stuff. Right. So. But they eventually made it out. They, they imagine the bravery. As soon as they got better, they tried it again. And the second time, the second time they made it.

A (84:14)

Amazing stories.

B (84:15)

Yeah. So. So we came here, we lived with them for a couple of months and then eventually we got our own little apartment. The. I'm telling you, Brent, I'm not kidding you. Our entire one bedroom apartment was the size of this. Maybe even a little bit smaller. We had enough, just enough room to put three beds side by side.

A (84:37)

Yeah.

B (84:37)

And just have a little living room. Right. But I remember my brother was 21 or 22 at the time. And he was trying so hard to get his class A driver's license.

A (84:54)

Okay.

B (84:54)

But remember, we didn't speak English. Right. So he was. There was no Internet back then.

A (85:01)

Yeah.

B (85:01)

So he went and got the driver's handbook from the dmv and he. Word by. For word by word, he was going into the dictionary and trying to learn it. Right.

A (85:11)

Okay.

B (85:13)

At the same time he was delivering pizzas. Right. So I remember one time we went to a supermarket to do a little bit of shopping. And when we went to the cash register, my sister took out this little booklet that looked like coupons, but it was actually food stamps. Right.

A (85:29)

Okay.

B (85:30)

So she was about to pay with that. And my brother's like, what's that? She said, these are food stamps. Like, what is food stamps? That. Well, this is the assistant the government gives us until we can back get back on our feet. I remember my brother turning red. He snatched that thing out of her hand. He said, we didn't come here to become big. So God, he said, I'm working now with the money I make. We will get whatever we can afford or we don't eat. So don't ever use that again. We didn't come here to become beggars. He said, I'm going to get my class A license soon and things will be better. And imagine a 22 year old dude, you know, at the height of his youth.

A (86:29)

Yeah.

B (86:29)

He's supposed to be out there having fun and thing, but I know he spent his life on the road. Yeah. Trying to take care of me and my sister. You talk about a tier one dude, you know, that's a tier one dude.

A (86:47)

He was, he was a tier one dude when he was 16 or 17 and didn't break in front of his dad being tortured. He was a tier one man for. He was a tier one man from the get go. Yeah.

B (87:04)

So, man, I don't know where all this is coming from. Jesus Christ.

A (87:10)

I think anyone listening to this, it'll be. It'll be evident where it's coming from.

B (87:16)

Sorry, Donnie.

A (87:17)

You're making us all cry, buddy.

B (87:18)

Sorry, man. Take a drink.

A (87:20)

Make sure you take a drink. I'm trying to fight back the tears. I'm. No one makes me cry on my own show. I'm losing.

B (87:31)

So. My sister made all kinds of sacrifices too. I mean she was, she was a really, really beautiful. I mean she was stunning. And she had all kinds of suitors, like Persian doctors, lawyers. And her, her condition was that he. She had to take care of me. Like she couldn't Leave me. And nobody wanted that. Right. You know, who wants to get married and have a back. So she sacrificed her youth and everything trying to take care of me. So both of them, while my parents were not here, sacrifice their. They're basically their adult younghood for me. And luckily five years later, right before, right after I graduated high school and right before I joined the Navy, my parents were able to escape Iran same way. You know they smugglers come to Turkey and the whole story. So they joined us five years later. And the reason I joined the Navy, and I'm. I'm not saying this to. This is from the heart, man. You know, when I saw what this country did for me and my family, I owed it. I could never repay back this country. I can never repay back what this country has done for me and my family. So I felt that I had the obligation, it was my duty to somehow serve. So it wasn't even a question in my mind. And when I had this conversation with my father and brother, not only they didn't discourage me, they actually encouraged it because my brother was the only source of income. You know, he was a truck driver. He was taking care of, you know, my mom and dad, my sister.

A (89:59)

He did get his class A.

B (90:00)

He did because. Yeah, yeah, he did get his class

A (90:02)

A. I love that.

B (90:04)

So I'm telling you man, he was 22 years old and he hit the road and you know, he worked so hard. He made sure that we always had the best. He made sure that my sister drove a brand new car. I don't you guys remember those purple Honda Civics? That was the trend. Yeah, right. That's the first thing he bought her. He always made sure I had the best clothes and. And this dude,

A (90:34)

fuck,

B (90:36)

he wouldn't buy himself a shirt. Spring is here and the shopping list is long time to make a Lowe's run Buy three bags get three free of stay green one cubic foot garden soil plus right now members can earn four times the points on an eligible purchase. Start spring off strong with these deals and more. Our best lineup is here at Lowe's. Valid to 325 while supplies last soil offer excludes Alaska and Hawaii loyalty program subject to terms and conditions cloes.com terms for details subject to change point boosters subject to exclusions and More terms apply 1 time only offer. Give me a minute.

A (91:22)

Yeah man, you got it.

B (91:23)

We got a timeout.

A (91:30)

We have 21 year old what should be men who their their biggest bragging right is I'm just a big kid. Yeah. And they're proud of that at 21, we got 30 year old men that love to brag like, oh, I'm just a big kid. I'm just, I never grew up. I'm just a big kid. Yeah, I can't think of a worse thing. Yeah, I can't think of a worse thing to say.

B (91:54)

It's, it's so sad to see that man being supported by their mother who's

A (91:59)

working full time, sometimes two jobs.

B (92:01)

Yeah.

A (92:01)

Yeah.

B (92:02)

So like I was saying, man, I, I watched that. I'm like, man, this guy, he, he wore the same shirt and same pairs, a couple of jeans that he had. He would, he wouldn't spend the dime on himself because he was taking care of us. So when I saw that I was 13 years old, I'm like, man, he's already working so hard. How can I, you know, how can I ask for money, you know, because I wanted to go out with my friends. I wanted pocket money and all that, but I wouldn't dare, you know, asking him because I, I felt ashamed. It's not like he wouldn't give it to me, but I remember it. And this is another life changing moment in my life. I was 13 years old. There was a Persian restaurant like, couple of, couple of streets over. And I used to go to that Persian restaurant every day, bugging the hell out of this guy. So you need to give me a job. And he kept telling me, dude, we have laws in this country. You can't work until you're 15. I can get in trouble. So for two weeks I used to go there every day. So he finally said, you know what? I'm tired of you. He said, he said, what I can do? Come in here on Friday and I'm gonna give you a bunch of flyers and go pass out the flyers and, and I'll give you. I don't know what it was like five, ten bucks, whatever it was at the time. So I said, okay. So I went there on Friday morning and I, I remember giving me a big old bag of flyers and I started walking from where his restaurant was and just going from house to house, apartment to apartment, and I ended up in Glendale College.

A (93:45)

Okay.

B (93:45)

And it's, it's like 10, 15 miles away. It's, it's far, dude. Right? And at that time, I don't know if you guys had Payless shoes here in Florida. Oh, yeah, So I had those cheap ass Payless shoes, tennis shoes, they were all ripped up.

A (94:02)

That's where me and Drew got our shoes at. So we're Aware of it every time. Yeah, every time.

B (94:06)

So. So. So you guys know? So you guys know. So by the time I went to Glendale College and passed out and came back, I had blisters on my foot that was bleeding, like, bad. So when I got back and the guy was like, okay. He was about to pay me my money and the owner showed up. The owner of the restaurant showed up. The guy that gave me the flyers was the manager. He's like, who's this kid? He's like, oh, yeah, this is this kid that come here for three. For three weeks, wouldn't leave me alone. So I gave him the flyers to go pass it out. And he's like, you fool. You really think he went and passed it out? He probably went across the thing, dumped it in a garbage can and went home. And, dude, I remember the fury that came out of me, right? I'm like, you know, I. My. I wanted to show him, but, you know, I was proud. Like, I didn't want to. And guess what happened as he was saying that? Two students from Glendale College showed up with that flyer in their hat. Right.

A (95:09)

Love it. Yeah.

B (95:10)

So they walked in and the guy was like, what did you guys. Is like, did he give you that flyer? Like, yeah, we remember this kid. He was running around the college and actually the security chased him out was. So I. I saw the shame in his eyes, right? So he's like, yeah, okay, man, give him his money and. And give him whatever food he wants. I said, no, no, no, I'm not a beggar. Yeah, give me my money. I'm gonna go sit at a table, you're gonna serve me, and I'll pay with the money I got. I don't want. I don't want free food. So from that day on, he gave me a job, but he had to hide me in a kitchen.

A (95:50)

Yeah.

B (95:50)

Because I was in 50 yet.

A (95:51)

That's right. He's gonna have to give you the five dollar under menu, though.

B (95:54)

Yeah. So. And a Pepsi. So why do I say that? So what do I say? That was a life defining moment in my life. It was that moment that I realized that if you work hard and you're an honest man and do what you're supposed to do.

A (96:12)

Yeah.

B (96:14)

The divine intervention of whatever, whatever you guys believe in will repay you for your hard work and your dedication. And be honest. Always work hard and be honest.

A (96:26)

I love that.

B (96:26)

God, I love that.

A (96:28)

Let's talk about your Navy service for just a little bit. And when you said you wanted to repay this country because. And the listeners would have known too, because it was at the beginning, 22 years, no one would have faulted you. In fact, they'd have, they'd have continued to praise your story. If you're like, I, I owe this country something, let me give it the minimum four years and let me go back to doing something I want to do. But you didn't do that. No, you, you didn't even, you didn't even stop at 20. No, you gave this country 22 years of your life.

B (97:04)

Yes.

A (97:05)

And I, I love that story.

B (97:07)

I do.

A (97:08)

What was, what was the job that you had in the, in the Navy?

B (97:12)

Well, I joined the Navy as an undesignated fireman because remember I told you my English wasn't that good yet. Right. It's still not good, but. So when I took the asvab, I did really well in math because, you know, math is international. Right, right. I did well in math and I did well in other stuff, but I got a low score because, you know,

A (97:42)

holistically.

B (97:43)

Right. So I qualified for a bunch of engineering jobs because I did well on math. So my recruiter at the time told me, look, you can qualify for an engineman, you can qualify for this, you can qualify for that, but the best way to do it is go undesignated. That means you go in with no rate. Okay. And then you spend six months to a year in a fleet and then you get to see what your job, what jobs are available to you and then you can, you can strike for one of those jobs. Okay, well that's a bunch of bull because when I became, we came a recruiter later, a few years later, myself, that's what you do to, to people with low asvabs. You send them a non designated and then, you know, okay, so, but so when I went, when I went to boot camp and then I went to, they send you to like a little two weeks on designate bay. Basically they, they tell, they teach you what valve is. Very, very basic stuff, right. So when you go to the fleet, I was stationed on USS John F. Kennedy, a CV67. And right away they assigned me to two main machinery room, where is the heart of the ship, where the boilers are, where all the turbines are, and that's where the propulsion of the ship is. That's what drives the ship and that's, that's where I was. So when you're down in the engine room, you're either on the boiler technician side or, or you're in the machinist made side. So I was, I Became a boiler technician. And I remember there were two chiefs at the time that had the most effect in my Navy career. And they both retired as Master Chief. Master Chief Ivan Puig and Master Chief Duffy.

A (99:35)

Okay.

B (99:36)

They both took me under their wing because I'm not bragging, but I was a hard worker dude because I realized I had a chip on my shoulder because I always remember what my father said, said, go make something out of yourself. So whatever I did, they. They tell me, they. They would tell me to dive in a bilge. I would be in that build for seven hours. It'll be the cleanest build you ever seen in your life, you know, so whatever they told me, so they saw that. So they kind of took me under their wing and, and, and Ivan Puig pulled me aside. He said, listen, said, you want to be a powerful man? You got is through knowledge is like, learn as much as you can because knowledge is power.

A (100:26)

Right?

B (100:26)

Is it hit the books. Hit your. Hit your job manual and start learning. And when I did that, I became the youngest boiler technician of the watch on an aircraft carrier. That's usually reserved for a second class.

A (100:45)

Okay.

B (100:45)

Or above, which is a E5 or above. But as a E3, I became a. The top watch of. Of that. That was, that was like unheard of. But I went through every watch station and made my way up there.

A (101:00)

Right.

B (101:01)

And that was another validation that if you work hard and dedication, you can do whatever you want to do.

A (101:07)

Yeah, that's a pretty important job. Carriers usually like to keep the engines running.

B (101:10)

Oh, yeah. And then, and then you can't, you can't launch aircraft without steam because all those catapults is, Is operated by steam. So it not only drives the ship or provides propulsion to the ship, it also provides the catapult for the, for the aircraft.

A (101:26)

Right. And you were telling me the. Generally speaking, our ships are fueled three different ways.

B (101:34)

Correct?

A (101:34)

Correct. What ways are those?

B (101:35)

Well, you have the, you have the nuclear power.

A (101:38)

Right.

B (101:38)

And then you have the gas turbines. The gas turbines are for smaller ships like destroyers and frigates and cruisers. And then you have the steamships for like the, the LHDs and the big deck amphibious like, like the helicopter carriers. They're a little bit smaller, but those are, those are usually boiler driven. But nuclear and boilers are very similar in essence, that the only difference is this. The source of heat to make that water into steam.

A (102:12)

Yeah, yeah.

B (102:14)

One, one is nuclear through nuclear fission.

A (102:17)

Right.

B (102:18)

And the other one is through conventional boiler when you burn gas and you know.

A (102:23)

Yeah.

B (102:24)

So but they're Basically the same, right?

A (102:26)

Yeah, it makes sense.

B (102:27)

Right. And then you have your gas turbine, which is basically a little mini jet engine.

A (102:31)

Right.

B (102:31)

So those are the three ways that we propel our ships.

A (102:34)

And like I said, even on the bigger ones, like the, the carrier that you're on, which was probably nuclear, I

B (102:41)

was, I was on a Kennedy, and that was one of the last conventional carriers that we actually had boiler driven. We didn't.

A (102:49)

Oh, it still was.

B (102:50)

Yeah. So Kennedy and Kitty Hawk was the only two carriers left that were boiler. And boy, at the time, I, I hated it because it was hard because that, you know, it was old, it was, it was falling apart and we had to keep it all together. But because of that, I learned so much. Now that I look at it, I owe my advancement in my career to that ship. Because if I had gone to a brand new ship, I wouldn't learn half of this stuff that I learned because when you're out to sea, you're on your own, man. Whatever that goes on, you have to fix it.

A (103:33)

Right.

B (103:33)

So I learned so much by being on that ship that it helped me immensely throughout my career. So that was the. And. But they're both decommissioned now, so.

A (103:42)

Yeah.

B (103:43)

All the other aircraft carriers that are coming out, they're all nuclear now.

A (103:46)

I love it. Your story. I just, You. Your whole story, holistically, is, Is really. It's probably. We've had. We've had some amazing men sit in that chair and each one has a unique story for. And it's not taking away from anyone that's been in there, but it just as a. Again, in its, in its uniqueness, this is, this is probably the. I can't keep on saying the word unique. I don't know another word to use. It's such a great story from, from beginning to end. It's not, it's not a happy story.

B (104:32)

No.

A (104:32)

But you know what? If there's, if there's one thread that I feel like we mention every episode, but it's worth mentioning because it's so easy to forget these, these, these life lessons when things go wrong. It's so easy to forget and just get in this woe is me and, and so it has to be ingrained into people. It's not about bad things happening to your life. Bad things happen to everyone's life. I'll go out on a limb and say, I don't think any of our listeners have ever had to deal with the lows that your family has had to deal with, but it's inspirational because Even with the lows, the lowest of lows that your family's had to deal with. It's not about bad times. It's about how you deal with them. I feel like you guys are in a pretty. Pretty good spot. You guys could have done nothing. You could have done nothing about your situation. Your dad made some hard decisions. Your brother made some hard decisions. You've made hard decisions. Your sisters made. Your whole family's made hard decisions. I'll ask you this because you're the only one that can answer it. Life got tough. You guys made hard decisions. Was it worth it?

B (106:02)

100%. I wouldn't change a thing.

A (106:05)

You wouldn't change any of the bad to get to where you're at now?

B (106:08)

No, because I am who I am today. Because of all of it.

A (106:11)

I love that answer. I love that answer. I think we'll probably. It's probably best place to. To wrap this up at. That's. That's. That's what I want people to remember, outside of one thing. This is punishment for making me and Drew cry and probably part of the audience. We can't. We can't leave them like that. Give us a funny story.

B (106:37)

Okay. So I mentioned recruiting, right?

A (106:41)

Yeah.

B (106:42)

So I'm thinking the statue of limitation has run out.

A (106:47)

I like how it starts. Go ahead.

B (106:49)

It's already good so I can share this story. So when I was in recruiting, I went back to my hometown, Glendale, and my recruiting buddies, they're still. We're all still very good friends. They can attest to this. I was a very good recruiter. I was an excellent salesman. And whenever we had people in a delayed entry program, sometimes they get cold feet and they didn't want to go.

A (107:13)

Okay.

B (107:14)

Right. So even. Even if that particular guy wasn't my applicant, they usually bring me in to. To talk him back into. Because usually they would tell you, like, two days or a day before they're supposed to ship out to boot camp. Yeah. They get cold feet. Yeah. So on one occasion, I remember this guy. Everybody's talking to him, and he. He's just like, man, I'm not going. So our chief, my buddy, Chief Lira. Herman Lira, he's probably watching this. He pulled me aside. He's like, donnie, dude. He's like, we gotta send this guy. Or. Or we're not. Our station's not gonna make it this month. Right? He's like, go, do your thing. I'm like, okay. Give me. Give me a couple of things.

A (108:01)

Right?

B (108:01)

Like, what is. What is his thing? He's like, dude, his friends talked to him. They said, man, you're gonna be stuck on a ship forever. And he keeps saying, well, there's. You know, if I want to go to McDonald's and get something to eat, there's no McDonald's. I'm like, so that's his concern. Like, comfort. And I'm like, okay. I'm like, I got this. I'm like, you guys just sit back. Let me talk to him. So he comes in, I let him talk, and I said, who told you there is no McDonald's on the ships? And he gets. He gets this look on his face. He's like, you guys have McDonald's? I'm like, absolutely. And I see my chief. He gets his wide eye. I'm like, so you have made. I'm like, yeah, you can have all the burgers you want made by McDonald's on the ship. And I talked to him a little bit more, and he said, oh, man. You promise? I'm like, I promise you There is McDonald's on the ship. So he leaves. He leaves the office, and he shifts the next day. And as soon as he leaves, Chief Lira comes up to me. Donnie, what the fuck, dude? We don't have McDonald's on the ship. I said, yes, we do. How? So we call our Cooks CS's culinary specialist. I said, on my last command, I served with a CS1 McDonald. And he flipped burgers just as the best of them. And I'm sure we have CS1 McDonald's in the Navy somewhere. So I didn't lie to him.

A (109:48)

That's right.

B (109:48)

We have burgers made by McDonald's.

A (109:52)

Just. Creative problems require creative solutions. If you don't ask more questions, you know, Should have done better in school. Donnie, I can't thank you enough for coming out. Donnie flew in. Pleasure. All the way from. From California to. To Florida on short notice because we wanted to get that story out. And he did that. Thank you for us.

B (110:21)

Now, before we wrap up, just. I just wanted to say one more thing, because you said you decided to stay for 20 years, actually. I want. My dream was to become a cop, and I was going to do my four years in the Navy and get out. But the day that we were. I. We were leaving to go to St. Martin and St. Thomas. That was my last ride with the ship. I was supposed to fly back home. Okay. Because I would. My terminal leave papers were all signed. I was done. I had already interviewed with Glendale pd. I had gone through the interview process. I actually had an academy date right that morning I was on watch as the BTW boiler technician of the watch when the 911 happened. And our captain came over to one MC, which is the ship's PA system. And I never forget where he was talking. He was shaking. Is that. Gentlemen, our country's at war.

A (111:24)

No way.

B (111:25)

And that night, it usually takes us a few days to make it to New York.

A (111:31)

Okay.

B (111:33)

I've never seen that ship move so fast. We broke so many engineering rules, all that. All the SOPs went out the window. Yeah, we just balls to the walls made. We made it. We left Jacksonville, Florida at 8 o' clock in the morning. We were in New York harbor by like 6:30 in the afternoon, like 32 knots.

A (111:57)

Getting it.

B (111:58)

Getting it. Because he said we're the only aircraft carrier on the eastern seaboard. We gotta go to New York. So that night we had. Oh, you guys were never on the ships. We had those payphones on the ships that they charge you five bucks a minute. You get, yeah, you get the, you get the calling card from the ship store.

A (112:20)

Okay.

B (112:20)

I called my dad and my brother. I said, listen, I have my terminal papers and I need your advice. And they already knew. I was accepted to Glendale pd. My, my report date was November to go to the police academy. I said, dad, what do I do here? And I asked my brother, I said, look, I'm out, right? When I go to St. Martin, they're going to fly me back. And I never forget what my dad said. He said, son, they trained you for four years. They fed you for four years. Now that they need you, you're gonna leave.

A (113:05)

Talk about the guilt trip of a lifetime. Wow. But, but, but he's not wrong. Yeah, well, you know what? That's an Iranian man. Yeah, that's an Iranian man. That's, that is, that is one way to look at it. And that's the right way to look at it. That's how a man should look at it. We have so many parasites in this country that would say no, they trained you because you earned it. They fed you because they you earned it. They owed you that. And if we don't get back to a mindset of, of it's not ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. That was a Democrat, by the way. If we don't get back to that mindset. Yeah, we're not. So we want to continue our greatness.

B (113:56)

When I hung up that phone, my mind was already made. The very next morning, done. As soon as the personal office open I went and told them, give me my per. Give me my terminal leave. I ripped it up. I said, I'm realistic. And then the rest is history.

A (114:13)

Love that. It's so crazy how just would. When you think you know what you're gonna do in life, you have no idea. Even the day before, you think within days. Within days or the next day, you're done with the Navy, and you go from, I'm gonna be. I know what I'm gonna do with my life. I'm gonna go be a cop. I'm turning the chapter to spending 18 more years and Navy, we. We have no idea what this life has in store for us. We have no idea about God's plan for us. But if we do the right thing, it's a hell of a ride.

B (114:57)

Absolutely. Absolutely. And last thing I want to say is, regardless of what's going on in this country, whether you're on the right or on the left, there is no greater country than United States. However you feel right now, this is still the best country in the world. And I just wish that this division, that. I don't know how we got here, but please, please, people, don't take your freedoms for granted. Don't take America for granted. This is the best country in the world that I'm willing to give my life for because I've seen firsthand what it can do for people. And I can't thank Americans enough. I can't thank the United States enough because it literally gave my family a second chance in life. And I could never, never repay it back no matter what I do. But those 85 million Iranians, they. They need our help. And just like Brett said, it's not. It's. This is an America first mission. It's not just, let's go help those 85 million people. That's the cherry on top. It is in our national best, national best interest to get rid of this cancer in that area. But at the same time, we are freeing 85 million honorable and good people that will be United States best friends and will be thankful for the rest of the history to America.

A (116:59)

I love it. Couldn't say it better myself. That's how we'll end it. Thank you, Donnie.

B (117:04)

Thank you, sir.

A (117:11)

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