You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Zimmy Hobbs here with you from twelve to two. It is a huge news day.
Huge.
I think that's even underscoring the severity of the situation, just how big this situation is. And this station, KFI knows how to pivot and cover the biggest news not only locally, but of course globally. And I'm talking about this US strike that happened last night on three Iranian nuclear sites just after five pm hour time, around one thirty am Iranian time. And wherever there's conflict, whenever there's a big issue, there are what protests, or at least.
Rumors of protests.
At this point, kfi's Michael Monks is in downtown LA for what is supposed to be a very big and tai war protest, and he's gonna tell us everything he sees or what he's not seeing. Apparently, Michael Monks, are you.
There, I'm here, Tiffany. Good afternoon to you, Yester. Covering everything that's happening downtown as it unfolds today looks to be in the very early stages of what you described an anti war protest outside of La City, Hall, sort of inclusive of Gloria Molina Grand Park outside the County Building as well here on Spring Street. So what we're seeing right now is the setup phase. This was supposed
to start at twelve, going till about two o'clock. A very small group of people right now with anti war signs and a little sidewalk chalk art work against war being placed on the sidewalks here. They're setting up a makeshift stage on the back of a truck. Got some speakers being set up. We got a guy selling anti war t shirts, burning some stage to clean out the air. It looks like all not a lot of activity though, so it is an early stage protest. Again, it's supposed
to go until two. Now later this afternoon, we've got word that we're expecting a different demonstration at three o'clock outside the Federal Building on Alameda Street, and that has been the site of some of the more let's say, raucous protests that have taken place in recent weeks against immigration enforcement. So, Tiffany, as you know, we've got a lot going on, and LA does not seem to suffer
a protest fatigue. So whether it's against action against Palestine or whether it's against immigration enforcement and now military action against Iran. Folks are expected to come out in force today. So far, not a large scene, maybe a couple dozen people so far between the two blocks setting up looking like they're ready to protest in favor of peace and no war in Iran. Again, at three o'clock, we're expecting some folks outside that federal building.
It could potentially shift.
Let me ask you this, did people just take their anti ice shirts and put tape or marker over them and turn them into anti war because it feels.
Like we're going from one situation.
It's very fluid with these protests.
Yeah, I suppose it would be efficient to have some sort of dell Crow anti messaging on your shirt, so you can just rip off whatever you're against at this point, whether it's against Disrael.
Or it's a really good operation.
Enforcement or against military invention intervention in Iran. But that's right now. It looks like everything is made originally for this particular message, though a lot of messages involving Iran specifically. Obviously, last night we saw military action against Iran. The President talked about it. You and I both covered it on our Saturday night program. We did, and now the public response is for me.
I think you just gave someone out there, at least a few people, a good money grabbing idea with that bell crow t shirt. I think that's what I'm spending the rest of my Sunday making. Definitely a market for that. How'd you hear about this protest? I know you live downtown. There's no shortage of information, perhaps on the ground, but how did you hear about this one specifically?
And who's putting it together?
There's social media posts promoting these things. I didn't see any specific groups attached to those flyers, but later tracked it down to fifty to fifty one, which is a group that has become known as organizing pro Democrat demonstrations, and they were the ones that were heavily responsible for the No Kings rallies across the United States, including the
significantly large one here in downtown Los Angeles. So it looks like they've got their hands in this, at least according to their social media and their local chapters, both national and local, have posted about various demonstrations across the country, again including right here outside Los Angeles City Hall, so they appear to be behind this one. That was again supposed to start at twelve and go until two o'clock.
Now at three o'clock we are seeing a different demonstration outside the Federal Building and that may be a different group organizing that and not entirely clear on the messaging for that one.
Yet.
You got to get home, Michael and get those bell crow shirts ready so you can just hand those out to the three pm group. There's a whole thing here, we're wasting time.
Yeah, you're gonna need like a little satchel or something, a little bag because you've got to find you know, there's got to be a storage component to keep all of the different you know, finge you're against.
Well, I know you're going to hang out with us for the rest of the show until two pm and check back in with us and definitely comment on everything that's going on as we continue to give updates about the situation in Iran, about the development since that strike at five pm hour time, one thirty their time.
So I'll be coming.
Back to you intermittently and you break in if there's anything you need to share. But right now, it seems like the protests in downtown LA where Michael Monks is are just starting to set up, and it seems to be that the group fifty one fifty, who also was responsible for the No King's protest last weekend, is the group behind this anti war protest in downtown LA at
Gloria Molina Park and in the surrounding area. So we'll stay tuned for more updates about that, and of course again Michael break in if there's anything you need to share. It's KFI AM six forty live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app. Tiffany Hobbes and Michael Monks of course sitting in here from twelve to two today with all things current about the situation in Iran.
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Tiffany Hobbs here with you until two, and of course we have kfi's own Michael Monks in downtown LA closely monitoring what seems to be the starting up the setting up of an anti war protest put on by the organization fifty fifty one. They are responsible for the No Kings protest of last weekend and we saw how massive that got. Well, they are meeting the moment, as you might say, and responding to these the strikes on the
nuclear facilities in Iran. Last night happened around five pm hour time, about one point thirty am in Iranian time. And here's what we know so far. The US, of course attacked three key nuclear facilities, including facilities in Foridoh and Foordo. Seemed to be the most prominent, the most serious, the most significant of those facilities, and this operation was
deemed Operation Midnight Hammer. Operation Midnight Hammer. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseith claimed that Iran's or Iran's nuclear ambitions were obliterated, although there's a full assessment that is currently ongoing. Last night, President Donald Trump addressed the nation to let the nation know about out the developments out of that nuclear strike. I want to make sure that you hear that. In his own words, Robin, you ready for.
Time ago, the US military carried out massive precision strikes on the three key nuclear facilities in the Iranian regime for doau Ntance and s Fahan. Everybody heard those names for years as they built this horribly destructive enterprise. Our objective was the destruction of irans nuclear enrichment capacity and a stop to the nuclear threat posed by the world's number one state sponsor of terror. Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes were a spectacular military success.
Iran's key nuclear and Richmond facilities have been completely and totally obliterated. Rand the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks would be far.
Greater and a lot easier.
For forty years, Iran has been saying death to America, death to Israel. They have been killing our people, blowing off their arms, blowing off their legs with roadside bombs, that was their specialty. We lost over a thousand people, and hundreds of thousands throughout the Middle East and around the world have died as a direct result of their hate. In particular, so many were killed by their general Cassem SOLMANI. I decided a long time ago that I would not let this happen.
It will not continue.
I want to thank and congratulate Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu. We worked as a team like perhaps no team has ever worked before, and we've gone a long way to erasing this horrible threat to Israel. I want to thank the Israeli military for the wonderful job they've done, and most important, I want to congratulate the great American patriots who flew those magnificent machines tonight, and all of the United States military on an operation the likes of which
the world is not seen in many, many decades. Hopefully we will no longer need their services and this capacity. I hope that's so. I also want to congratulate the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Raisin Kane, spectacular general, and all of the brilliant military minds involved in this attack. With all of that being said, this cannot continue. There will be either peace or there will be tragedy for a ran far greater than we have
witnessed over the last eight days. Remember, there are many targets left.
The night's was the most.
Difficult of them all by far, and perhaps the most lethal. But if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed, and skill. Most of them can be taken out in a matter of minutes. There's no military in the world that could have done what we did tonight, not even close. There has never been a military that could do what took place just
a little while ago. Tomorrow, General Kane, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth will have a press conference at eight am at the Pentagon, and I want to just thank everybody, and in particular God, I want to just say, we love you God, and we love our great military. Protect them. God bless the Middle East, God bless Israel, and God bless America.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
So that was President Trump yesterday at the Address to the Nation, detailing in explicit detail, of course, what the strikes on these three nuclear sites in Iran actually entailed, and just to just revise and kind of add some more detail to that, the strikes involved more than one hundred and twenty five aircraft. This was a massive operation, Operation Midnight Hammer is the name of it, including some B two bombers that actually served as decoys. That's according
to US officials. Other B two bombers dropped more than a dozen massive bunker buster bombs on Fordau and n Tans those nuclear facilities, and there were Tomahawk missiles that struck Isfahan.
Again.
Florida is called the most significant of those three sites. And I have more information to share with you about Florida and whether or not it actually was obliterated actually coming up, as well as audio from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and when we come back, we're going to hear directly from Iran's foreign minister about whether or not their facilities
were obliterated. That word is being used, and the foreign minister definitely shed light on what Iran is aiming to do in retaliation, if anything, and some very very harsh thoughts on diplomacy and whether or not Iran is interested in diplomacy at this level now into this inclusion of the US in the aggression between Israel and Iran.
So when we come back, we'll do all of that and more.
We're covering what's happening in Iran, all this developing information, and we're closely monitoring what's going on in downtown LA with kfi's own Michael Monks, who's there for the setting up phase of the fifty fifty one anti war protest in Gloria Molina Parks. So we'll break in if anything should happen, and we'll get thoughts from Michael Monks on the other side of the break.
You're listening to KFI AM six forty on demand.
Jimmy Hobbs here with you two, and we have Michael Monks on standby in downtown La.
Monks, Are you there, I'm here.
If you can hear me, I can hear you.
It sounds a little louder behind you since the last time we checked in what's the news?
What's the sitch?
Well, I'm certainly not going to attempt to disparage the crowd. It is louder, but I don't know that the volume necessarily matches the size of the crowd. There are some loud speakers here and some chanting. There's some loud music going as well, but right now it's about a crowd of twenty twenty five people on the steps of La City Hall, repeating the chant you know, against war in Iran, repeating chants against President Trump. A lot of signage here
against war. This seems to be the signature message here is that they don't want war with Iran. A lady holding an American flag upside gown traditional sign of distress. But otherwise this is a pretty small demonstration. And if this was organized as it appears by the same group who did the No Kings march, it looks like the rapid turnaround time is not effective enough in getting the crowd.
Supposed to start at.
Twelve o'clock go until about two o'clock. This is the same group that drew tens of thousands of people to this very spot, yeah, just a week ago. So right now, it doesn't look like as many people have come out for this very specific message against war with Iran.
Now, let me ask you this, of the protests that you've attended, and there have been many in downtown LA in recent weeks, are you seeing kind of a slow starting of the crowd? Is this kind of typical or are you in fact saying this is a typical in comparison to what you've experienced previously.
This one seems a bit atypical because even though the protests grow in size over the course of their lifespan, whether it's a couple hours, three hours, or they're broken up by the police, they tend to start a little bit larger than this one has. So right now, again, about twenty five people here in the steps of downtown LA. And if the event is only going to go until two, I'm not sure what kind of crowd they can expect. Now,
this was a swift turnaround. We are, you know what, not even twenty four hours removed from President Trump's announcement that the US military has struck Iran nuclear sites, so this rapid response is not as rapid perhaps as they would like.
It to be.
We are expecting a different rally at around three o'clock outside the Federal building on Alameda Street, and that may have a variety of different messages, including against war with Iran, against you know, action against the Gaza and Palestine and Hamas, and also against the immigration enforcement. So we're keeping an eye on that as well. That's just a few blocks away, so we'll monitor that situation.
Too, okay, And protests of that magnitude when they get to be into the hundreds, the thousands and tens of thousands, often the organizers set out to get permits, of course, to make sure that law enforcement is aware of boundaries, or that they're given bound and everything is kept as lawful and calm and peaceful as possible within the boundaries
of law. When it comes to this organization, the same one that put on the No King's protests last week, for them to have such a quick turnaround, does that lead you to believe or think, surmise, hypothesize that perhaps they were planning another protests today for something else, and then it was changed, they pivoted to this anti war narrative.
I think what I've seen on their social media is that they are expecting to have events on July four and July seventeen, so they are planning a little bit farther in advance. But do seem to want to keep a steady drum beat a large scale demonstrations against the Trump administration. They must like my shirt, I'm not sure of a Kafi mic flag. You are seeing a lot of people drive by and honk in support, but you're not seeing a lot of direct participation in this so
support of honks. The traffic is moving through here, of course, because this isn't like some of the other more recent protests which are large and take over the streets, including last week's No King's protest put on by this very organization. I think law enforcement is I should say I know law enforcement is well aware that this is taking place. They're also well aware that something is possibly planned at
three o'clock outside the Federal Building on Alameda Street. But you don't see any police officers here right now, no need for any crowd control, not expecting any flash bangs or anything like that, because this is just a small demonstration against potential war with Iran.
Okay, so law enforcement presence seems to be pretty minimal right now. What does security look like? Is it just regular building security? What's going on with that?
Don't see?
Oh yeah, there's one guy outside LA City Hall. Might be an ID officer. I think that is an LAPED officer, probably on the regular city hall beat on a Sunday. The building is typically closed and it is closed today, so I'm not sure if he has just been assigned for this protest or if he's on city hall duty on Sunday. But there's no need at this point for any large scale police presence. This is not a crew
that looks like they want to cause any trouble. Just speak their minds, and right now it's just a series of chants, some homemade signs, peace not war, bombs, don't make peace, hashtag resist, no war with Iran. They're calling it the Big Beautiful War, and reference to Donald Trump's signature budget legislation, the Big Beautiful Bill, as he calls it.
So it's a lot of that messaging. There are a lot of American flags here, though one is being held upside down, the traditional signal of distress.
Okay, these folks.
Just showing their version of patriotism and their message against potential war.
You know, last news break we heard that airlines are encouraging travel for Fourth of July holiday, which is coming up rapidly. They want people to take to the skies, And I was thinking, I don't know if that's the right time right now. I don't know if I want to be on a plane. What about you, Michael Monks? Would you take a flight anywhere right now in this climate?
Well, I don't want to suggest that you know, there are active terror threats on the airlines. I'm sure that we'd be alerted if if we need to be. You also never know in this day and age, where you're safe anywhere?
Yeah, I mean, you know, the idea, the event, the idea fear mongering is rooted in fear. There's still fear. You know, are on the ground, there are are you hearing people talk about fear and being afraid of what could happen.
Not so much in the way of any potential retaliation from Iran right now, this seems to be singularly focused against direct action against Iran. We've already as a country taken that last night per the President himself talking about how we've obliterated three key nuclear sites there. I guess technically that's not an all out war, but you know, there was an active conflict going on between Israel and Iran.
The United States has now taken part in that. So there is height and awareness by this group of people that the U has at least inched closer to participating in what would be defined as war.
Got it.
So Michael will continue, of course, to stay up to speed on what's going on downtown. If there are any traffic hazards or road closures, please jump in and let us know. I know you are there on the ground in downtown LA awaiting what was supposed to be a twelve pm start for this anti war protest. Seems to be slowly starting, maybe gaining speed towards the maybe after one.
We'll see.
We'll just continue to monitor that and of course see what happens in the three pm hour if they're starting to set up for that secondary protest as well.
Thank you, Michael Monks, you got it, Tippany awesome.
So what we're going to do before we go to break is I want you to hear one half of Iran's response. So we've been summarizing what the US strike in Iran on those three nuclear facilities entailed. But Iran has responded, and in fact, RAN's foreign minister had his own press conference today to detail the response that they say they are preparing. What that could possibly include, ideas about diplomacy and everything else. So let's hear one half
of the audio. This is whether or not Iran it's interested in returning to diplomacy.
What would be your response to that, because right now the US is technically involved in this conflict.
Thank you well.
I think it is irre irrelevant to ask iron to return to diplomacy because we were in the middle of diplomacy. We were in the middle of talks with the United States when Israelis will do it up and again we were in the middle of talks and negotiations with Europeans. Happened only two days ago in Geneva, when this time Americans decided to blow it up. So viver In diplomacy were attacked militarily. So it was not Iran but the US who betrayed the diplomacy. They betrayed negotiations.
That's Iran's foreign minister speaking about ideas of diplomacy and whether or not the country is interested in returning to talks negotiations. When we come back, we're going to talk about the potential for retaliation by Iran after being hit in those in those missile strikes that may have obliterated three key nuclear facilities, including their big one in Foordoh. So we'll hear from Iranian's foreign minister about retaliation and whether or not we should be concerned.
Right here, you're listening to kfi am six forty on demand.
If he Hob's here with you.
And we just played a clip from the Iranian foreign minister about their thoughts as a country, as a government on diplomacy, and this foreign minister accused Washington, accused our administration of crossing a quote very big red line. And in that clip we also heard a lot of skepticism about potential diplomacy. Now we've heard from the Iranian foreign minister, We've not yet heard from Supreme Leader Ayatola Ali Kamuine, but President Trump has warned that the US could absolutely
launch more attacks if Iran does not make peace. What that leads is, what that leads to are quite a few questions about retaliation. I am not a war officionado. Most people may enjoy the movies or the entertainment of war when it comes to being removed from it as participants directly in it. Many of us do not know the inner workings of what it takes to involve a country in wartime activities. But the main question I imagine on most people's minds is what retaliation could potentially look like.
And we do have an.
Idea of what retaliation could involve from the Iranian foreign minister who spoke during this press conference today.
Let's hear that clip. What are the options?
Are you going to retaliate at a US basis in the region or are you going to considering to close the strait of FIRMUS? And one more question as well, two times at your while you are at your at the table of negotiation, Israel and US attacked your soils. So do you still have the same level of trust to Western diplomacy?
Thank you?
There are a variety of options available to us, and that's it. We never trusted Western country is when we negotiated them, and there are now even more reasons why we shouldn't trust them at all. Of course, the way for diplomacy should we always remain open. But as I said, we are not in the situation right now to decide how to engage in diplomacy once again and with whom. So let's wait for our response first, and when the aggression is ended, we decide how to engage in diplomacy once again.
So the Iranian Foreign Prime Minister said they have a variety of options available to them in terms of retaliation. None of us know what that is specifically, but it doesn't sound very good. A variety of options available in terms of retaliation. And when asked if Iran has ever trusted Western diplomacy, the Foreign Prime Minister said no, that they've in fact never trusted Western diplomacy. So that gives us a bit more insight into what these next few days, weeks,
even months could potentially entail. Let me tell you a bit about these three nuclear facilities that were hit in Operation Midnight Hammer. This again, where the three These are the three key nuclear facilities in Iran.
The first one FOURDOH.
You're hearing quite a bit of information about FOURDOH. That is the fuel enrichment plant. It's subterranean, built inside of a mountain, deep inside of a mountain to survive what they call bunker buster attacks like last night's attack, and this site, Florido, is heavily fortified. It's in the northern part of Iran. The second site, Natan's, is a nuclear facility.
Of course, it's.
Iran's main uranium enriched facility in central Iran. So we have a facility in the north, a facility in the center, and then lastly it's Fahan, which is a nuclear technology center. It's a key conversion and research facility to the south, which means that those one hundred and twenty five plus aircraft hit sites all along the Iranian region, from the north to the center part of the country and into the south. Now there's conflict about whether or not the
sites were in fact obliterated. More information is still coming out about that. Satellite images do show some damage from the strikes on the Fordh nuclear site, but there are officials within the Iranian government that are saying, no, not really that much damage. Well, I'll have more information about that, but before we do, let's hear from Defense Secretary Pete heg Seth, who had his own press conference this morning reviewing some of the effects of last night's strike.
Taran is certainly calculating the reality that planes flew from the middle of America and Missouri overnight completely undetected over three of their most highly sensitive sites, and we were able to.
Destroy nuclear capabilities.
And our boys in those bombers are on their way home right now. We believe that'll have a clear psychological impact on how they view the future, and we certainly hope they take the path of negotiated peace.
So Pete hag Seth there defend. Secretary Pete hagg Seth summarized more or less what happened last night and the potential effects. He went on to continue to give more information.
Go for it, Robin.
It was an incredible and overwhelming success. The order we received from our commander in chief was focused, it was powerful, and it was clear we devastated the Iranian nuclear program. But it's worth noting the operation did not target Iranian troops of the Iranian people. For the entirety of his time in office, President Trump has consistently stated for over ten years that Iran must not get a nuclear weapon
full stop. Thanks to President Trump's bold and visionary leadership and his commitment to peace through strength, Iran's nuclear ambitions have been obliterated. Many presidents have dreamed of delivering the final blow to Iran's nuclear program, and none could until President Trump. The operation President Trump planned was bold and it was brilliant, showing the world that American deterrence is back.
When this president speaks.
The world should listen, and the US military we can back it up. The most powerful military the world has ever known. No other country on planet Earth could have conducted the operation that the Chairman is going to outline this morning, not even close.
So that's Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth saying American deterren is back. American deterrence is back. He also praised President Trump's decision to take out those three key nuclear facilities, calling it an incredible and overwhelming success. He also made sure to point out that that strike did not target Iranian troops or the Iranian people. When we come back, we're going to talk about the implications that this strike has on California.
Let's take a local look at our state, our city, how our government as far as Governor Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass are responding to this strike with warnings for our area of the country.
All of that and a lot more.
As we continue to monitor this news out of Iran and any news out of downtown LA with Michael Monks, who's there for the anti war protest which is just starting to kick off.
That and more
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