Ep. 2378 - BREAKING: Trump DEVASTATES Iranian Defenses, Iran Attacks EVERYONE

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Well, we are in day three of President Trump's military operation in Iran. It's the most courageous military decision of my lifetime, and we are kicking ass. The United States military, the Israeli military working in tandem are kicking the hell out of the Iranian government. How are they planning on Planning on fighting back well. They have friends. They're counting on pathetic muling Europeans. The ridiculous sad sack Democrats just hate Trump.

and don't care about America winning. And most of all they're counting on vicious, parasitical, horseshoe right wing isolationists to somehow whine the President into leaving the battlefield. If you wish to follow a movement led by closeted and not so closeted homosexuals, then I guess you could do that. Or perhaps these people are maybe worth ignoring because President Trump's strength here has truly exposed the peddlers of horse.

on all sides. Now, folks, we've been covering this live all weekend long. We're bringing you soup to nuts coverage, the experts, the analysis you want, all of it. You need to go to dailywire.com right now and subscribe so we can continue to do that sort of stuff and bring you the content you love. DailyWire.com. Thanks for your help. And I want to start by just reiterating why we are doing this in the first place. The President has made that very clear, but

There are a bunch of reasons why we are doing this. Typically, there are a few reasons why you end up pursuing military action directed at the top of a regime. One is that there's a direct attack from that regime upon you. Now, did Iran attack us? The answer is that since 1979, the number of American deaths that have been caused by Iran and by its proxy terrorist groups, at least 1,000 dead, plus A couple of atta attempted assassinations on the president of the United States.

We are talking military personnel. We are talking diplomats. If you are including Afghanistan, where Iran was shipping IEDs into Afghanistan to help the Taliban, you're talking about at least fifteen hundred deaths. But if you go all the way back to nineteen seventy-nine when the Ayatollahs

took over during the Iranian Revolution. You'll remember the first thing that students did is they proceeded to take American hostages at the embassy and hold them for over four hundred days. Then in nineteen eighty three, Kizbollah, which was the Iranian backed Lebanese terror group. Hezbollah attacked the US Embassy. They attacked also the marine barracks in Lebanon. The total dead in those two attacks alone.

two hundred and fifty eight. That's just in nineteen eighty three, going all the way back. Then you move forward to nineteen eighty eight and harassment of shipping. in the waterways around Iran of American shipping led the United States and Operation Praying Mantis to sink the entire Iranian Navy. Then throughout the nineteen nineties, Iran pursued a nuclear weapon. They started their pursuit back then.

They were unsuccessful in actually obtaining one, but they were starting at that pursuit at that time and they were spreading their terror tentacles all over the Middle East. They were building up their terror proxy groups all over the Middle East. The United States at that point.

had a dual containment policy toward Iran and Iraq, because Iraq, of course, was run by the tyrant Saddam Hussein, and Iran was being run by the Ayatollahs. And the basic idea was they hated one another. They'd engaged in a decade-long war in the nineteen eighties, in which Hundreds of thousands of people were killed. The United States' policy was try to keep both of those contained. It was only semi successful.

In nineteen ninety six, the Kobar Towers bombing by the Iranian supported Kizbolah in Saudi Arabia killed nineteen Americans. In two thousand, the bombing of the USS coal off of Yemen. By Al Qaeda, supported largely by Iran, seventeen killed.

And then, of course, from 2003 to 2011, after the breakdown of the Iraqi government, after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, Iranian-backed militias took over large swaths of Iraq, or at least resisted American rule of Iraq and killed somewhere between 600 and 1100 American soldiers. And then of course, this whole time Iran was seeking nuclear weapons, spreading its terror tentacles to Lebanon, to Syria, to Gaza.

Which culminated on October seventh, when of course Hamas, an Iranian-sponsored terror group, killed twelve hundred Israeli citizens and took two hundred and fifty hostage. and prompted a seven front war on Israel, which ended with Israel basically destroying many of the proxy arms of the Iranian government. All of that finally culminated in President Trump.

in two thousand and twenty five. You'll recall the twelve day war just last year, When there was a direct attack by the Israelis on the Iranians following multiple rounds of missiles shot by Iran directly at Israel. Israel went in to try to take out their nuclear facilities as well as their ballistic missile facilities, and in twelve days established air dominance, destroyed pretty much the entire air system, air defense system for Iran. And then at the very end, President Trump authorized

Operation Midnight Hammer to strike the Fordo nuclear facility and take out their nuclear weapons. Why why exactly did all of that happen again? Because Iran has been unendingly, unceasingly antagonistic toward the United States. Since 1979, as well as the allies of the United States, not limited, of course, to Israel, but also including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain.

And you can see that in what has been going on over the course of the first couple of days of this war, where Iran has fired off materiel at a wide variety of countries, pretty much every country in the Middle East, actually, because it turns out that Iran is a threat to the Middle East. This is a point that President Trump made. He made a speech yesterday morning, on Sunday morning, where he explained that Iran has waged war on civilization.

We pray for the full recovery of the wounded and send our immense love and eternal gratitude to the families of the fallen. And sadly, there will likely be more. before it ends, that's the way it is. Likely be more, but we'll do everything possible. where that won't be the case. But America will avenge their deaths and deliver the most punishing blow to the terrorists who have waged war against basically civilization. They have waged war against civilization itself.

The President of the United States is not wrong about this. So, what is the purpose? What is the goal of this war? So, really, it's a two step. Step one basically has been achieved already. Yeah, really, in the first three days and certainly by the end of this week, step one will have been largely achieved. One, destroying the ability of the Iranian regime to pose an ex an external threat, a threat to other countries.

And to American interests abroad, and to spread its terror tentacles into South America, into Latin America, into Europe. Right that that is the goal. The goal number one, destroy the ability of Iran to project power. So that came in two steps. First, decapitate the regime. That was the very first thing that the United States, along with Israel, did. An extraordinary feat of intelligence and military might.

The United States, apparently the CIA, working in coordination with the Israeli Air Force. found the place and time at which Ayatollah Khameni was meeting with a bevy of his top generals, including the chief of staff of the IRGC, that's the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. That's basically the Praetorian Guard for the regime.

So there's the Iranian army, which is kind of a normal army. And then you have the Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is the terrorist apparatus. You'll remember that the head of the IRGC. The terror sponsor of the IRGC, Kassem Soleimani, was killed by President Trump at the very tail end of his first term in office. Well, this strike basically decapitated the top levels of the regime. So successful there. And that decapitation goes on. Top members of the IRGC are being targeted.

Top members of the Iranian government are being targeted, including former top members of the Iranian government. I don't know where Columbia University is gonna go to get speakers anymore because Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was killed in the first couple of days.

of this war. You'll remember the former Iranian president who had threatened to wipe Israel off the map and then welcome to Columbia University to speak. Well, unfortunately Colombia is gonna have to look to other Speakers Bureau other than the Tehran Speakers Bureau. Secondarily.

After decapitating the regime or while doing so, destroying the Ford capacity for Iran to make war, that is the other thing that the Trump administration is pursuing, and that means targeting not only its nuclear facilities and its possible future nuclear development, but also its ballistic missile facilities.

And its possibility of firing ballistic missiles capable of hitting a large part of the Middle East. One of the most amazing things, and we'll go through the operation as the as the show goes on. One of the most incredible things is the lack of full scale capacity by Iran to retaliate en masse. Realistically speaking, what we are watching right now is one of the most competent military operations in all of human history, truly.

Because Iran had literally thousands of missiles, it had hundreds of ballistic missiles. And in the opening salvo, the Israeli Air Force, the American Air Force, working jointly, destroyed a huge swath up to fifty percent of all ballistic missile capacity in Iran. In fact, the the air dominance is a very important thing.

in the Middle East by the Americans and the Israelis over Iran right now is so complete that it's very difficult for the Iranians to even fire up their ballistic missile launchers. It takes a moment for them to heat up. And you can see the heat signature. And before those things are heating up, the Americans are blowing them out of the water. It's absolutely incredible.

So destroying the Iranians' forward capacity to make war, that is a massive, massive feat. Now again, that had really started in the aftermath of October 7th, when the Israeli military took it to Hezbollah in Lebanon, took it to Hamas in the Gaza Strip. And then during the twelve day war took it to Iran directly. But remember, it it's been a Yemeni Iranian backed Houthi terror group that has been harassing shipping in the Suez Canal. Destroying Iran's forward capacity?

will greatly move the entire region toward prosperity and peace.

So we're gonna get into everything that's currently going on on the ground. Plus we're gonna talk about what Iran is doing to try to counter the United States. The answer is they're counting on some very specific Americans. We'll get to all that in a moment first. If you're trying to protect yourself when it comes to your data, there's only one choice: ExpressVPN. I use ExpressVPN all the time. It's literally on my phone, it's on my computer. It means.

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My fans can use my special link and get four extra months of ExpressVPN at expressvpn.com slash Ben. That's E X P-R-E-SS VPN.com slash Ben for four extra months of service. President Trump announced Kameini's death.

Iran's formerly supreme leader. Are you told uh Homene is dead. This wretched and vile man had the blood of hundreds and even thousands of Americans on his hands and was responsible for the slaughter of Countless thousands of innocent people all across many countries. Last night, all over Iran, the voices of the Iranian people could be heard cheering and celebrating in the streets when his death was announced.

The entire military command is gone as well, and many of them want to surrender into saving their lives. They want immunity. They're calling by the thousands. Combat operations continue at this time in full force and they will continue until all of our objectives are achieved. We have very strong objectives. They could have done something two weeks ago, but they just couldn't get there.

Okay, well what he says right now, President Trump, many people are asking, why attack now? Why why do it now? And the answer is opportunity. The fact is the Iranians were apparently rapidly rescaling their ballistic missile capacity. Now, a lot of people talk about the Iranians getting a nuclear weapon. Obviously, that would have been disastrous, not just because Iran has made clear its intent to use nuclear weapons against the Jewish state.

But also because once you have a nuclear weapon, as we now notice with North Korea, it is almost impossible to take forward action to stop the militants of a regime, particularly a regime as poisonous as the Iranian regime. And once you have a nuclear weapon, basically, you can now say to all of your terrorist groups, go to town, because any retaliation, and you can threaten a nuclear fire.

This has been one of the big problems, for example, in the Russia Ukraine war, is the fear that if we go too hard against Russia, Russia will fire a nukes. The best you can hope for is a standstill, never a victory, because of the destruction of the of the air defense systems provided by Russia and China in the twelve day war. Well this was a unique opportunity. And that unique opportunity became even more unique after

The mass protest began in December by the Iranian people against the regime. President Trump saw a window of opportunity. And again, I'm I'm sort of astonished by folks who are arguing that the best policy when you see a window of opportunity is to sleep, is to go to sleep.

You know, the one one of the beautiful things about being an isolationist is that you always get the counterfactual on your side. You always get to say a military intervention went wrong. But it turns out there are lots of counterfactuals in which actual preemptive war making might have force forsworn, might have stopped true genocidal intent.

There's so many instances of this throughout history, it boggles the mind. Whether you're talking about the rise of the Russian revolutionaries in the aftermath of the fall of the Tsar, In nineteen seventeen. What would have happened if the West had had the stones enough to actually stop the rise of the Bolsheviks in Russia? Totally different map for an entire an entire century, essentially. Probably World War II doesn't happen. What would have happened?

If the West had had the strength to actually stop the rearmament of Hitler, what would have actually happened if the West had, for example, taken out Osama bin Laden in the aftermath of the USS Cole instead of jacking around? It turns out that coherent, solid action. We're not talking here gigantic wars. We are talking about operations like this one, targeted action. Can provide.

serious upside and limited downside. And that's what we are talking about right here. That is the counterfactual that we should be looking at right now. Turns out the only counterfactual is not Iraq or Vietnam. Sometimes there are other counterfactuals to examine as well. And that is what President Trump was saying. Yesterday he said that the goal here is to ensure security for generations. That is indeed the burden of the United States.

We're undertaking this massive operation not merely to ensure security for our own time and place, but for our children and their children just as our ancestors have done for us. Many, many years ago. This is the duty and the burden of a free people. These actions are right and they are necessary to ensure that Americans will never have to face a radical, bloodthirsty terrorist regime armed with nuclear weapons and lots of threats.

For almost fifty years these wicked extremists have been attacking the United States while chanting the slogan Death to America or Death to Israel or both. They are the world's number one state sponsor of terror. We are the world's greatest and most powerful nation, so we can do something about what they do.

I mean, can't say it better than that. The president of the United States spot on again. What he is doing right now is the most courageous thing I have ever seen a president do. He is stepping into the breach. He is Smartly recognizing opportunity when it arises, and he is taking strong steps to protect America's future.

And not only the future of our allies, but the future of the globe. Because let's also be real. Wanna talk counterfactuals? If the United States does nothing after the president draws a red line, if Iran continues to rebuild its facilities, if Iran continues to act as the linkage.

both in terms of oil and weaponry between China and Russia. If that happens, the chances that America's enemies go on the offensive are so much higher than when they look at America and realize, you don't screw around with the President of the United States. That was the point the president was making when he said to the IRGC, listen, it's time for you guys to surrender or die. Those would be your choices.

I once again urge the Revolutionary Guard, the Iranian military and police to lay down your arms and receive full immunity or face certain death. It will be certain death. Won't be pretty. I call upon all Iranian patriots who yearn for freedom To seize this moment, to be brave, be bold, be heroic, and take back your country. America is with you. I made a promise to you, and I fulfilled that promise. The rest will be up to you.

Alrighty, so that brings us to step two. Okay, so step one was prevent the external threats from the regime. Turns out decapitating the regime is a great way to do that, and so is destroying its forward capacity to make war. And then you get to the second step, the replacement of the regime.

Right. So replacement of the regime, what's going to happen next? Right. That's the big question everybody has. What comes next? Okay, well, first of all, as Pete Hegsath, the Secretary of War, said this morning, he said, listen, this is not an endless war. It it boggles my mind that we are talking about endless war right now. Can I just say that people who are saying that this is an endless war and we are three days in, stop being children. Stop being children. Three days? Three days.

From this administration. Now listen, I don't think anyone has an obligation to quote unquote trust Trump or trust the president or anything like that. We're citizens, we're not subjects. With that said, If you look at President Trump's record of military interventionism, do you truly believe that this president is going to get sucked into a war involving hundreds of thousands of American troops on the ground? If you do, you are a moron or a liar. That is the reality.

If there is one thing above all this president does not want, that is an endless war. Let's let's face it. Iran has been waging an endless war on the United States for some five decades, but the United States basically did very little. Four or five decades, President Trump is changing that. The notion that we are talking endless war three days in. My God, the the puerile are we there yet of the online chattering class. Insane. Insane. Here's Pete Hegseth bashing people over this correctly.

To the media outlets and political left screaming endless wars, stop. This is not Iraq. This is not endless. I was there for both. Our generation knows better, and so does this president. He called the last 20 years of nation-building wars dumb, and he's right. This is the opposite. This operation is a clear, devastating, decisive mission. Destroy the missile threat, destroy the Navy, no news.

Israel has clear missions as well, for which we are grateful. Capable partners, as we've said since the beginning, capable partners are good partners. Unlike so many of our traditional allies who wring their hands and clutch their pearls, hemming and hawing about the use of force. That's right.

That's Secretary of War Pete Heggseth saying it right on the mark. So what does that look like? First of all, prevent the consolidation of a force to stop a people's revolution. So One of the big things that drove all of this, you'll recall if you own a calendar, is that at the end of December, mass protests broke out across Iran because Iran's economy has been totally shellacked by the Trump sanctions and also by the fact that You know, they are an Islamist hellhole run by radical Shia clerics.

And so because of that, the Iranian Rial was worthless. When you're talking about wheelbarrow money, like a wheelbarrow filled with the Iranian real would not buy you a toilet paper roll.

I mean that that's how bad it was over there. So people were out in the streets protesting the regime. And so one of the goals here is to prevent the consolidation of a force or reconsolidation of a force that would stop a people's uprising. And so what you are seeing militarily from both the American Air Force as well as the Israeli Air Force is strikes directed at IRGC facilities that would allow for consolidation points.

So that they could go out and shoot protesters in the street en masse again. That that would be one of the goals. And that, of course, involves step B, hitting the leadership over and over and over and over again. Prevent that consolidation. And by the way, the Iranians are already admitting that it's been effective. The Iranian foreign minister went on national TV and basically said that they have lost control of large swathes of their own military. The foreign minister, Abbasar Ahi.

Here he was saying that the military is effectively independent and isolated. Here he was talking to Al Jazeera, which of course Al Jazeera is itself an Islamist outlet. What happened in Oman was not our choice. We have already told our armed forces to be careful about the targets that they choose.

Um as a matter of fact, you know our uh uh you know militaries uh military units are now in fact uh independent and somehow isolated and they are acting based on instructions, uh general instructions given to them in advance. That that is a tacit admission that the entire line of communication with the top levels is gone because the top level is gone. As President Trump said, you know, the people who he thought we would be negotiating with, those people are also dead.

That is not him lamenting that um somehow the wrong people were killed. That's him saying that three layers deep, the Iranian government is in serious trouble. And so basically the IRGC has been relegated to a series of of regional state level actors at this point, meaning not federal and consolidated under the domain of a centralized commanding presence, but instead it's basically a bunch of independent military forces roaming around.

I mean, the when when they're admitting that and they are two days into the war, two and a half days into the war, that is a pretty shocking admission. And as Lindsey Graham, Senator from South Carolina, said on NBC, it is not the job of the United States to pick the next Iranian government. It's up to Iran to pick your leader. It's not my job, it's not President Trump's job. We're not gonna occupy the country.

We're gonna give the people of Iran a chance to do something they've never had before, chart their own destiny. We're gonna take away from any future regime the ability, any future government the ability to have a ballistic missile program, a nuclear program or support

Terrorism. Well, that brings us to the current status of the operations. General Dan Razin Kane. He gave a presser a little bit earlier today with Pete Hagsett, the Secretary of War. And here's what he had to say about where we are right now. This operation was highly classified so that at H hour, uh, the enemy would see one thing, speed, surprise, and violence of action.

The first movers were U.S. Cybercom and US Spacecom, layering non-kinetic effects disrupting and degrading and blinding Iran's ability to see, communicate, and respond. at H hour, the beginning of major combat operations. 0115 local Eastern Daylight Time, 945 local A.M. Tehran time, as dawn crept up across the Central Command AOR, the skies surged to life.

More than one hundred aircraft launched from land, sea, fighters, tankers, airborne early warning, electronic attack, bombers from the states and unmanned platforms, forming a single synchronized wave. This was a daylight strike based on a trigger event conducted by the Israeli Defense Forces enabled by the US intelligence community.

The first shooters at sea were Tomahawks unleashed by the United States Navy, closed in on Iranian naval forces and began to tr conduct strikes across the southern flank in Iran. On the ground, forces fired precision, standoff weapons, measured, deliberate, precise, and lethal. This was a massive, overwhelming attack across all domains of warfare, striking more than a thousand targets in the first twenty-four hours.

Now, obviously, we have seen some American casualties thus far. We have seen four Americans who were killed in a missile falling in Kuwait, shot by the Iranians, of course. There are another four American soldiers who were injured in that fall. Obviously, our thoughts and prayers go out.

to the families of the wounded and to the the families of those killed in action. These are the best among us. These are the heroes who are there to do the dirty work. They are heroes. And the the attempt by some to turn the brave fighting men and women of the armed services into victims.

of some sort, like victims of America or victims of bad decision making, or that's not what they are. They are heroes who are willing to do the hard things no one else is willing to do. And not only did do they deserve obviously the full measure of our support, but

They they deserve the full measure of our respect and and honor. Because they're doing something that that I didn't do, that that a huge percentage of Americans did not do. They're the ones who are doing the thing. Here's President Trump paying homage to them. But the only reason we enjoy the quality of life that we do and the freedom and security is we have Done things that others are unable to do.

But it's because of warriors who are willing to lay down their lives to do battle with our enemies. And they do battle better than Anybody? An Iranian regime armed with long range missiles? and nuclear weapons would be a dire threat to every American. We cannot allow a nation that raises terrorist armies to possess such weapons would allow them to extort the world. to their evil will. Not gonna let it happen. We're not happening to us and we're not gonna let it happen to others.

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Now, meanwhile, three American F fifteens were shot down, but not by the Iranians. They were shot down by mistake by the air defense system in Kuwait, all of the pilots. are fine. There is footage of these jets sort of almost floating down from the sky. You can you can sort of see them as the as they fall down from the sky. The pilots did eject. The pilots are okay. Again, that's a friendly fire incident.

As it is worth noting, friendly fire incidents unfortunately are a common theme of war. They do happen fairly frequently. It is it also happens to be true that in terms of the military campaign that is currently being waged.

If anyone had suggested that the United States would have established complete air dominance over Iran and taken out the entire top echelon of the Iranian military, as well as Ayatollah Khameini, that the United States would have been completely dominant in terms of destroying pretty much All the ballistic missile launchers available, ballistic missile facilities, nuclear facilities.

And that the total casualty list for the United States would be four dead and four wounded. That would have been an astonishing success of a military operation. Now, undoubtedly, this is gonna be a longer operation. Certainly, I'd be shocked.

If more soldiers are not wounded or killed, because that's the nature of military operations, they're inherently dangerous. But that's exactly why we ought to be paying them homage. That's exactly why we ought to be honoring the men and women of the armed services who are doing the hard work that needs to be done. By the way, here is a map since February twenty eighth of strikes on Iran. Pretty astonishing stuff here.

You can see these strikes on Iran all over the country, all over the country. The vast population of Iran tends to be in its west, not in its east, which is why you're seeing fewer attacks toward that portion of Iran. Now, the more important map in terms of what Iran is trying to do is where they're firing in retaliation. And the answer's pretty much everywhere. They're desperate, and you can see they're desperate. They're attacking Dubai, UAE, Qatar Bahrain, Kuwait.

Riyadh, Tel Aviv, they attacked in Jordan, infrared missiles in Cyprus. They're basically trying desperately, desperately, desperately. to get someone to tell the combined forces of the United States and Israel and its allies to stop. That's really the strategy here. When it when it comes to what comes next, I know everyone wants to know what comes next. First of all, again, let the president cook. We're three days in.

That's first of all. But Neil Ferguson, the historian, has a great piece over at the free press today, in which he says, contrary to the criticism already being aired on both the left and the right, Trump is not reverting to George W. Bush and Dick Cheney's regime change playbook. Regime alteration is the practical consequence of the approach laid out in Trump's national security strategy published late last year.

The strategy rules out the deployment of American ground forces other than special forces. It requires a short time frame for military operations. It will disappoint those who want to fast track Venezuela and Iran to democracy, but the lesson of Iraq has not been lost on Trump.

That's why it misses the point to say Trump claims to be an isolationist and he's starting another forever war. One thing, says Neil Ferguson, I can confidently promise about the US Israeli war against the Islamic Republic, it will not last long. That of course is exactly right. That's exactly right.

President Trump says, by the way, he told the Atlantic that there's still conversations ongoing. Of course, the idea is that he needs to find somebody to negotiate with, and that person has to have authority so as to surrender. That is basically what needs to happen. The president says people have wanted to do it for forty seven years. They've killed people for forty seven years. Now it's reversed on them. Now, one of the concerns here is about the munitions, obviously.

Now the United States has a limited supply of certain munitions. The Wall Street Journal has a piece on this today. But the point they're making is that actually, again, when I say opportunity arrived, Iran's capacity was greatly diminished by the twelve day war last year, which means that the United States is having to expend less materiel, particularly when it comes to

antipatriots and and fads than it normally would have to do. The Wall Street Journal points out Iran's retaliation on Saturday has been more ragged than in the twelve day war when it for fired more than five hundred missiles and many more attack drones. Israel's announcement that Iran's Supreme Leader Aitola Ali Khameni was killed in an airstrike could also hasten an end to the conflict. Hẹn gặp lại các bạn trong những video tiếp theo.

W all this unfolding in real time. Iran, meanwhile, has announced a three-member transitional council. It turns out that their meetings are getting kind of small. No one wants to come to the in-person meetings because a bomb might fall on their head. So they've announced a formation, according to Al Jazeera, of a three member transitional council to handle state duties following Ayatollah Khamenei's death, Ayatollah Ali Reza Arafi.

Member of a powerful constitutional watchdog according to Al Jazeer was appointed on Sunday to the temporary council. Two other members are President Masood Pazesh Gyan, who you remember from his warm interview with Tucker Carlson and Supreme Court Justice. Cholam Hossein Mohseni Ahey. So what exactly is Iran's strategy? We talked about what the US is doing. What's Iran's strategy?

The answer is they are desperately trying to get someone to call off the dogs. That's what they are doing. They're trying to attack everyone as far as they can see to try to get them to whine to President Trump to stop. That's what this is.

They don't want to crawl they don't want to cry uncle, so they're calling for mommy. They're hoping that mommy stops daddy from doing the thing. That's what's happening right now, which is why they have not just attacked Israel, right, which of course launched the joint attack with the United States. They attacked Saudi, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Jordan, Iraq, Bahrain, Oman, which was the negotiating center, Syria, and Cyprus.

And on Cyprus, they're attacking not just the resources of the United States, they're attacking the resources of France, Italy, and the UK. What they are counting on is that the world will be stupid enough to take the side of the Iranian regime and say, no, this all must stop. It all must end.

Because again, international law is written by the most easily of international institutions, a wretched hive of scum and villainy led by some of the worst people on earth, including the UN chief Antonio Gutierrez, who condemned the attack. Truly amazing. The UN, which can't bring itself to condemn pretty much anything that Islamic terrorists and radicals do.

They they they came out full scale and condemned this. Who gives that who gives that honestly, I hope that as one of President Trump's actions over the course of the next three years, defund the damned organization. The UN is a trash heap. It should be defunded. We should kick those assholes off American soil. Just tell them they can take their diplomatic immunity and shove it. And take over that very, very

Wealthy ter you you know what? Fine. Give it to Zoran Mondani and build affordable housing where the UN currently stands. I don't even care. Just get those what a trash organization this is. Here's Antonio Gutierrez representing this trash organization. National law and international humanitarian law must always be respected. That is why since this morning I have condemned the massive military strikes by the United States and Israel against Iran.

Okay, uh uh wow, wow, w with that condemnation, can I also get five dollars and a cup of coffee? Who cares? Who cares? I know President Trump doesn't care. So the Iranians are also counting on the Europeans, who are such pansies. I mean, honest to God. Thank God for President Trump. Seriously. The only thing that has injected any spine in them at all is President Trump telling them that they need to man up when it comes to Ukraine. Because I mean, the spineless codfish that is Kirst Armer.

Mean that, dude! That dude is a soggy, wet sponge of a human being, Kiris Starmer. What a pathetic specimen he is, the Prime Minister of the UK. So British resources are being attacked in the Mediterranean by the Iranians. And Stormers like we don't like that. We don't like that they're attacking us, but we also don't like that it's an attack taking place. But also

We had told the Americans they can't use our bases, but now we think that maybe the Americans can use our bases, but we'll but we'll yell at them a little while they do it, and we won't give them tea. We won't give them any tea, and there'll be no crumpets. Here's the UK's pathetic Kirstarmer, who can't be out of office soon enough. I want to be very clear. We all remember the mistakes of Iraq, and we have learned those lessons. But Iran is pursuing a scorched earth strategy.

So we are supporting the collective self-defense of our allies and our people in the region. So we won't allow the United States to use our bases to strike at missile centers in Iran, but we'll allow them to shoot down stuff coming the other way. We won't hit the actual place they're firing from, which is in Iran. We'll just stand here and wait for it to be fired at us, because that's what bravery requires.

What a what a doof that one is. Oh, but don't worry. They're still the French. So the French, you can count on them to be very French. Their tanks have four gears, three in reverse and one for forward motion in case they're attacked from the rear. Emmanuel McCron put out a statement.

The outbreak of war between the United States, Israel, and Iran carries grave consequences for international peace and security. At this decisive moment, every measure is being taken to ensure the security of our national territory, our citizens, and our interests in the Middle East. France also stands ready to deploy the necessary resources to protect its closest partners should they request it. The ongoing escalation is dangerous for all, it must stop.

The Iranian regime must understand it now has no other option but to engage in good faith in negotiations to end its nuclear and ballistic program, as well as its regional destabilization activities. This is absolutely necessary for the security of all in the Middle East. So in other words, the very last paragraph.

of that, he says, and then he he adds, the Iranian people must also be able to freely build their future. The massacres committed by the Islamic regime disqualify it and demand the voice be returned to the people. The sooner the better. What a path what a sad sack bag of horse crap he is. My goodness. So what is he calling for? Iran to come to the table on ballistics and nuclear and to stop its terrorism support and also for the people to be free.

But we don't want anyone to do anything to Iran. It would increase the chances of international instability. They th this is what the Iranians are ca they can always count on the cowardice of the French and the British. They ser great stuff happening there.

Unbelievably enough, truly unbelievably enough, the people who are the most committed to the war here are the Arab countries in the Middle East. You understand what's happening, how transformational what's happening right now is? On one side you have Iran. On the other side you have the United States. Israel, Saudi, UAE.

That's astonishing. Can you just recall back in history, back to the first Gulf War, you'll recall that in the first Gulf War, the strategy of Saddam Hussein to escape the wrath of the United States and its allies was fire scud missiles at Israel. My wife was in Israel at the time when she was a small child.

She remembers having to put on gas masks to await the missiles coming. And H. W. Bush told the Israelis, do not fire back. Because if you fire back, then it might break up the coalition. The Saudis might say, Hey, we're not gonna fight alongside the Israelis in an anti Saddam coalition.

It was a bad move by HW. He should have forced it. But that's not what's happening right now. What's happening right now is that an American-Israeli-led expedition to end the threat of Iran is being joined by the Arab countries.

According to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, quote, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia condemns and denounces in strongest terms the blatant Iranian aggression and flagrant violation of the sovereignty of the UAE, Kingdom of Bahrain, State of Qatar, State of Kuwait, Hasha and Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

The kingdom affirms its full solidarity with an unwavering support for the brotherly countries, its readiness to place all its cap capabilities at their disposal in support of any measures they may undertake. Any measures. So if they decide to go offensive, they're behind it.

So again, the strategy here was what if they fire at the Saudis and the Saudis go to America and they yell at President Trump or whine to President Trump and he stopped Ain't happening. UAE ain't happening. Bahrain ain't happening. Cots are they can try, but no one's listening to them since they're half Iranian proxy anyway. Remember that time they were our greatest ally in the Middle East and then we couldn't use their air bases to launch attacks into Iran? Yeah, I remember that too.

Okay, so what is the final Iranian strategy in the end? The final Iranian strategy in the end is count on the American left and the horseshoe right to join and mirror the principles of the Iranians. Which is why Ali Larijani who is seen by many as the sort of temporary leader of Iran, is now taking to X to tweet, quote, Trump has betrayed America first to adopt Israel first. Who is that addressed at? Who's that addressed at? It's not addressed at Iranians. It's not addressed to Saudis.

It's addressed at Americans and particularly the American horseshoe right. He is hoping that Tucker Carlson and all of his ridiculous cohorts go to the president and claim that it's not America first who take out America's top enemy. in the Middle East for the last five decades, who've tried to assassinate the president. That's what in the end

There's only one ally that the Iranian regime can count on, and it's the American left and the horseshoe right. That is their true ally. Those are the people they are truly counting on. Which presumably is why Cenk Wieger put out one of the most insane tweets of all time.

Truly, quote, I criticized Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khameini a thousand times. He was oppressing his own people and preventing democracy. But there's one thing you can't take away from him. He died on his own two feet instead of kneeling to Israel. That took courage. He didn't bow. I mean, we're now doing the like actual ex joke, right? We're we're just doing memes now.

You gotta hand it to Hitler. Like that that's where we are now with Cchenk Uyghur. Sure, he was a horrific human being who murdered tens of thousands of his own citizens and reduced them to poverty and spread terrorism all over the region against Arabs, Jews, and Christians alike. But he did hate Jews an awful lot. Chenqu by the way, how many times had Chank Uyghur ever tweeted about Ali Khamenei? Ever? Zero.

Meanwhile, again, they know that they can count on the New York Times the New York Times obituary. The New York Times obituary for Ali Khameini honestly, the obituaries for Scott Adams from these publications are so much harsher than the obituaries for, you know, like the mass murdering terror leader, quote. With his spectacles, Palestinian Khafiah, long robes, and silver beard, Ayatollah Khameni cast himself as a religious scholar as well as a writer and translator of works on Islam.

He affected an avuncular and magnanimous aloofness, running the country from a perch above the jousting of daily politics. Wow. But don't worry, the the Washington Post obituary, way worse. You ready? It turns out Ayatollah Khomeini is Santa. He's gonna come down at your chimney with a Kalishnikov, quote, with his bushy white beard and easy smile. Wow. Bushy white beard and easy smile. And like

And his sexy dad bod. I mean this is like what what the what what the hell is wrong with you, Washington Post? His his bushy white beard and easy smile. What is that Tinder description? Ayatollah Khameni cut a more avuncular figure in public and his perpetually scowling but much more revered mentor. He was known to be fond of Persian poetry, classic Western novels, especially Victor Hugo's Late Mistra Ab, as well as long walks on the beach.

And what the what the hell what the hell what is wrong with you people? What is wrong with you? And count on the left wing media to do the work of the Ayatollahs. piece of human shit that I've ever I mean truly amazing stuff there from the Washington Post. Well done, OBIT Writers. Wow. Wow. Lysky i din hermerse. Du plattade allet utan värmesed. What's wrong with you? Upp till 25% på räddande hårvård hos LIKO. Your Beauty Playground.

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Yeah, Adam Schiff, the senator from California, also helping out. He jumps in. He says, Don't worry, the I told opposed no imminent threat. No imminent threat. Okay, so I'm just gonna point out again. The Ayatollah spread terrorism all over the world. The Ayatollah was not just an imminent threat to Israel, it's an imminent threat to Saudi Arabia, to Jordan, to Lebanon.

I I love that imminent threat now comes to mean that basically unless that that's ba everything has to be a an episode of twenty four. That unless the Ayatollah has planted a bomb at the base of the Empire State Building and Kiefer Sutherland's gonna charge in yes five seconds to d to Stop the detonation. There's no imminent threat. Adam Schiff, how this guy failed up into the Senate? Well, California's California.

No. You're right about the Ayatollah he was a brutal dictator, this is a murderous regime. But at the same time it posed no imminent threat of attack to the United States. Uh he was br I I'm so tired of Democrats with this nonsense. He was brutal, he was terrible, but you know, it's sad that he's gone. Get over it, guys. Get over it. But don't worry, it's not just of course the left. It is of course the horseshoe right. Don't worry. Tucker Carlson

A true, true coward. True coward. Because he won't go directly up against President Trump ever. He goes and he pretends to be his friend, and he sits across from him in the Oval Office, and he and he tries to wheedle him. And then he goes out and he just undercuts every aspect of his foreign policy and rips on him basically as a tool of the Jews. And that that's essentially what Tucker Carlson is doing.

Jonathan Carrell reported yesterday, quote, He told me the president's decision is, quote, absolutely disgusting and evil. Well, at least I know um maybe maybe the president will figure out which side Tucker Carlson is on. It turns out it is not the side of the Trump administration. And given his proclivities with uh other countries, I hope he enjoys his home in Qatar.

Marjorie Taylor Green came out and said, Maybe this is all a ploy to cancel the midterms. Again, why we pretend that this is a human with anything relevant to say is beyond me. Truly beyond me. She came to This is a problem on the right. It's really a problem on the right.

Here's how the right anytime the left responds to a person purportedly on the right by criticizing that person, the right immediately valorizes that person and tries to turn that person into a hero. So the left i originally pointed out that Marjorie Taylor Green's a moron. Because she's a moron. But also because she wasn't left wing. And the right went, well, if they're calling her a moron, she must be a genius. Nope. Nope. She's just a moron.

But at least, you know, she'll have more time to go to the gym. That's the most important thing. Tucker Carlson guest list complete, with many people very upset with the president of the United States. Andrew Tate. The alleged rapist and sex trafficker, who was treated to a very warm episode on Tucker's show, tweeted out, Nobody wants this war. W why do we care what you have to say, my dude? Like okay?

I mean it turns out the Iranian people want the Iranian regime to go away. It turns out that many people around the Middle East would like it to stop. It turns out that many Americans actually would like for the Iranian regime to stop being a threat to the United States and our citizens.

Or maybe you're just Milo Yanopoulos, another Tucker Carlson guest, an ambulatory psychotic, who put out a tweet in Arabic, saying, quote, O Allah, preserve Ayatollah Khamenii. Oh Allah, indeed we place you in their throats and we seek refuge in you, refuge in you from their evils. Milo, who is a long time flamboyantly gay man, is cosplaying right now as a as a newfound Christian while tweeting to Allah for the health of Ayatollah Khameini.

The clown show Horseshoe Right Man. And of course, no horseshoe right would be complete without Nazi lover Nick Fuentes. Here he was calling for open resistance to President Trump. We need in twenty twenty six for this administration to be shut the f Down. What does this administration do other than cover up the Epstein files, embezzle money through government contracts, and bring us to war for Israel? This administration needs to be shut down immediately.

Do not vote in the midterms. And if you do, vote for Democrats. This Well, you know, if you wish to follow a movement led by people who are escapees from a psych ward and or closeted and not so closeted homosexuals, then I guess you could do that. I guess that could be or perhaps these people are maybe worth ignoring, perhaps.

Now, part of the Iranian strategy obviously is to threaten Americans with the possibility of terrorism. There was a shooting attack on American soil that happened over the weekend. A Senegalese national and naturalized US citizen living in Flugerville, Texas.

shot up a bar. He killed two Americans, he wounded thirteen others. He was wearing a sweatshirt that said Property of Allah and a shirt underneath with an Iranian flag theme. That is what we know at this point. He did have multiple posts defending People like Candace Owens on his ex account, not a gigantic shock. And of course, he's very upset with what was going on in Iran, presumably.

Which speaks to the fact that we really should not let people like this in our country, and we are idiots for having done so in the first place. But yes, obviously, when we talk about the spread of Islamic radicalism and terrorism, it turns out that Iran exporting its ideology all over the world has not been a boon for the globe.

Joining me on the line is Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. Senator Cruz, of course, is a big supporter of the president's, particularly when it comes to the current policy with regard to Iran. Senator Cruz, thanks so much for the time. Really appreciate it. Ben, good to be with you. So you are being briefed obviously on the situation on the ground in Iran. How is the operation going so far? Well, we're just over fifty hours into it. So far it has been a a spectacular success.

Tragically, four service members, American service members have lost their lives. Four others have been s seriously injured. Uh we grieve for that. We we pray for their families and and and and the loss of life. But but this action was taken. The president ordered this strike because Iran for forty seven years has been the leading state sponsor of terrorism. They have been the number one funder, ninety percent of the funding from Hamas.

Comes from Iran. Ninety percent of the funding of Hezbollah comes from Iran. Ninety percent of the funding of the Houthis come from Iran. Over the last forty seven years. The Iranian regime is responsible for murdering nearly one thousand Americans. And so President Trump made a clear-eyed decision as commander in chief that this ongoing threat

For decades Iran has been actively trying to acquire nuclear weapons. I believe they were trying to acquire nuclear weapons because they intended to use nuclear weapons. Last year the president acted decisively. to take out Iran's nuclear weapons facilities, but this is now The next stage, which is removing the threat in the opening minutes of this conflict, the Ayatollah lost his life.

And we have seen systematically the senior military leadership of the Iranian regime removed. I think America is already safer today. And when we see a a government in Iran that is not controlled by radical Islamists, that does not have as its begiding principle death to America. That will be a much better outcome for the people of Iran, for the Middle East, but most especially for the United States of America.

Yeah, Senator Cruz, I've heard two chief criticisms that have been leveled against the the operation thus far. One I think is absolutely nonsensical as you say we are fifty hours into a war and you're already hearing people scream forever war. I'm not sure what their definition of forever is, but it usually does not constitute

what is three days into a major military operation that the president has suggested will last no longer than a month. And if current rates of victory as they are piling up continue on the battlefield, my guess is it will be a lot shorter than that. Well, what do you make of the the criticism that that we are about to engage in a forever war in the Middle East? Also, we should mention here that Iran has been engaged in a fifty year forever war with the United States.

Well, look, I I I think it's nonsense and and there is a fringe of isolationists, but it is a very small part of the right. It is a very small part of conservatives or the Republican Party. There are some loudmouths. Uh you and I have both engaged uh with Tucker Carlson, who I think is is the loudest of the loudman. uh who is right now relentlessly attacking president trump, vilifying president Trump. He has spent this entire past year, year plus of the of President Trump's second term.

attacking the president's foreign policy relentlessly. Now he's too much of a coward to actually say President Trump's name, so so he attacks the policy instead. But what is amazing is Tucker Carlson's foreign policy Is identical to Barack Obama's and Kamala Harris. All three of them believe in weakness, they believe in impeasement. All three of them put out statements lamenting how horrible it was that Iran.

That that the Ayatolla is no longer with us. I for one am glad the Ayatollah has gone to meet his seventy two virgins. It couldn't have happened a a a second too soon. And and I don't know, I take it kinda personally when psychopaths chant death to Israel and death to America and then they follow through. Look, this Ayatollah hired hitmen trying to murder Donald J. Trump. And President Trump takes it seriously when when hostile regimes are killing Americans. And and and the isolationist fringe.

Tucker Carlson et al. They are a small slice of America. President Trump never campaigned as an isolationist. He is not. Let's take, for example, Nicholas Maduro in Venezuela. Nicholas Nicholas Maduro led a communist regime in Venezuela, oppressed his people, brought misery to his people, but was one of the biggest narco traffickers in the world.

He trafficked tons of deadly drugs into the United States that killed thousands and thousands of Americans. And and Kamala Harris, just like Barack Obama, just like Tucker Carlson, all wanted to roll over. And say we should continue to let Nicholas Maduro murder Americans. President Trump is not interested in that weakness or appeasement, so he sent in the Delta Force.

He arrested Maduro and Maduro will now die in a federal prison. Now, that is not an endless war. That entire operation took just over two hours. But it is decisive leadership from the commander in chief. The same thing is happening in Iran. This is gonna take longer than two hours, but we're not gonna see sustained ground presence over years. We're not gonna see hundreds of thousands of troops, we're not gonna see continually escalating.

casualties, what we will see is very directed force at an objective which is removing the threat that is killing Americans. Donald Trump puts protecting Americans as his number one priority as commander in chief. He is exactly right. You know, Ben, the day President Trump ordered this attack was on Friday.

I spent that entire day with President Trump. I was on Air Force One with him, flying from DC to Texas. I was then in the beast with him one-on-one. He he and I were the only two in the car. We spent the entire time. discussing Iran. He was asking my view, and my view was you should act now. You should act decisively. The regime is weaker than it has ever been. And if we miss this opportunity.

America will be less safe. And and I I'm proud I think the president is be behaving as a strong and effective commander in chief, and that's exactly what he should be doing.

Yeah, Senator Cruz, I I've said it's the most courageous political decision probably I've ever seen on foreign policy in my lifetime, what what the president is doing right now. The left, of course, is opposing him wholeheartedly. It's amazing to watch so many of them lament the the operation while simultaneously saying that they're not big fans of the Ayatollah, they're they're glad he's dead, but you know

This is really quite terrible. So well, I I think that in order to get to the Ayatollah is dead, you probably are going to have to actually do the kinds of things that President Trump is doing rather than doing as Barack Obama did and try to hand him pallets of cash and a promise that in ten years he could go nuclear. Uh you're exactly right and and and understand the the the

Misguided worldview of the left metastasized. So Barack Obama flew over$1.7 billion in midnight pallets of cash. That was horrific. But I gotta say Joe Biden and Kamala Harris took it to the next level. They took it from$1.7 billion to under Biden and Harris, they flowed over$100 billion. to Iran. They quite literally funded the Ayatollah. That money in turn went directly to Hamas. Ninety percent of their funding c came from Iran.

And it quite literally funded October seventh. It funded the death squads, the Biden Harris administration, by the way. w with the acquiescence, if not support, of just about every single Democrat in Congress, they flooded cash to the Ayatollah. You know what? You don't get to say, I abhor the Ayatollah while you're sending him a hundred billion dollars in cash.

Actions speak louder than words. There is a reason why uh most serious national security and foreign policy analysts who look at at the Middle East describe Iran as the head of the snake. Because it is Iran that is spreading their malign poison and to give a sense of the reach of it. One of the reasons we took out Maduro is Maduro opened up Venezuela to Iran and Hezbollah to terror cells here in the Western Hemisphere. And tragically we saw late Saturday night, early Sunday morning in Austin.

uh the kind of risks we have. What appears to be a terrorist attack, it's still being investigated, but two p two people in Austin shot at a bar, thirteen people wounded, two people killed, thirteen people wounded, by an immigrant from Senegal. wearing a sweater that said property of Allah, wearing a shirt with an Iranian flag on it, with a Quran in his car. It certainly appears to be a terrorist act. And and that threat

That's what President Trump is taking seriously. I spoke yesterday to Cash Patel, the director of the FBI, and they're going through all of the communications, all the social media, they're se searching his residents and and they are on guard for more terrorism. By the way, I will say It is particularly shocking.

That at a time when we know there's an enhanced risk for terrorist attack in the United States, the Democrats have continued to shut down the Department of Homeland Security, the department that is charged with stopping terrorist attacks. I assume we're gonna vote again this week on funding the Department of Homeland Security. And my prediction is the Democrats party line will say, no, we are not gonna pay the salary

Of the of the agents and officers charged with stopping terror attacks, instead we're gonna lament the loss of the Ayatollah. That that really is a sign uh of an ideology that has lost its way. So Senator Cruz, the other big critique that's been leveled at the operation has been the sort of what comes after critique. And the president has made clear that what comes after is up to the Iranian people. Uh I think that

Yeah, whenever you go into a conflict in which the top of the regime is decapitated, which is what's happening right now, no one knows sort of the answer as to what comes next. But I think one of the big points here is that whatever comes next is going to be better than the consolidated control of the worst regime on planet Earth.

And and even were things to devolve, unfortunately, to some sort of civil conflict inside of Iran that would certainly hamper the Iranians' ability as a as a totality, as a government, to threaten surrounding actors. With with w weapons nuclear, biological or otherwise. Well look, that is a very reasonable question to ask and it's a reasonable concern to to have what comes next, because i i it is not gonna be rosy and simple. We know that from experience and and part of that question

Comes from America's experience in Iraq. I was not a fan of the Iraq war. If you if you go back and look at the 2016 presidential campaign. Of the sixteen remaining Republicans on that stage, there were only two, Donald Trump and me, who opposed the Iraq war. I think the Iraq war was a mistake. Why? Because we took Saddam Hussein, who was who was a tyrant and dictator, but he was killing terrorists. He was not attacking America, he was killing terrorists, and we toppled him.

And in his place the terrorists took over and began killing Americans. And so I think that objectively made America less safe. I think we did the same thing in Libya. Qaddafi again was a monster. We came in and toppled him and again the terrorists took over and began killing Americans. My test

for whether it is a good national security step or bad one, is does it protect Americans or does it put Americans in greater danger? The reason this is justified and different, I believe, from Iraq, different from Libya. is the Ayatollah was actively murdering Americans and trying to murder Americans each and every day, and he was using the resources of a nation state to do so. And that threat I think is intolerable.

The objective, we just saw a Pentagon press briefing in which they focused on m many of the military objectives, like taking out missiles, like taking out uh anti aircraft weaponry. I think all of those are important. But I think the broader objective should be remove the threat. And the threat is a government led by radical Islamists whose objective

is death to America. Now what comes next, I don't know. I I would hope we would see uh an election and a and a leader elected in Iran who wants to be friends with America. That would be a great outcome. That is certainly not guaranteed. You know that There are competing uh groups among diaspora groups in terms of who would lead Iran, some internally in Iran, some external to Iran.

My view, that's a decision for the people of Iran. I I don't wanna see America with a long term presence in Iran. I don't wanna see us try to be the government of Iran. Our objective should be focused on, as President Trump puts it, America first, removing the threat. removing the governmental leaders who are trying to murder Americans. And once we do so, as President Trump has said, it's up to the people of Iran to figure out their leadership and to go forward from there.

Senator Ted Cruz, I know you have a busy day. Senator, really appreciate the time and the insight. Thank you, Ben. Alrighty guys, coming up, we will be joined by Amit Segal from Israel to report on the situation there and what the goals of Israel are in this war. Remember, in order to watch, you have to be a member. If you're not a member, become a member, use code Shapiro. Check out for two months free on all annual plans. Click that link in the description and join us.

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