Harris Faulkner: This was a POWERFUL blow

Iran's brutal, radical Islamic regime is. lashing out with new military attacks. This follows the US dealt a powerful. blow against Iran's oil industry. Dramatic video from Central Command on. screen now showing US forces destroying. five tankers linked to the Revolutionary. Guard. Those strikes came in response to. Iran targeting our American Navy. warship. Central Command says that ship.

was not hit. Hours later, IRGC fired. missiles at US forces in Jordan and. attacked several ships in the Straight. of Hormuz. It's one of the most serious. escalations since the conflict began 6. months ago. Here is the former commander. of the USS Cole. >> President Trump is doing a proportional. response right now. At some point, however, if Iran keeps ratcheting it up. and attempting to shoot our ships, shoot. our bases, take on other allies within. the region, the United States has no.

choice but to then go after the. leadership of the IRGC again and take. them out. >> Chief international correspondent Steve. Harrian reporting from Tel Aviv. Steve. >> Harris, Iran certainly paying a heavy. price for lashing out against US. warships. Five Iranian oil tankers hit. and destroyed by US forces on Tuesday. Four in the Gulf of Oman, one near Carg. Island. These attacks by the US were in. response by failed Iranian attempts to.

target and attack US warships. Here's. Secretary of State Rubio. >> Iran continues to try to hit US naval. ships. And uh for every time they do. that or try to do that, they're going to. lose tankers. And I think you'll see. that again today. Iran also trying to hit US forces on the. ground, firing a surge of ballistic. missiles at US positions inside of. Jordan. Jordan says they intercepted 18. of those ballistic missiles. Two fell.

harmlessly in the desert. In all this. time, the US blockade of all Iranian. ports continues and it is wreaking havoc. on Iran's economy. >> Donald Trump is after complete. surrender. He's after bringing the. Iranian people to their knees. >> Because of that blockade, no Iranian oil. has been able to get through it to. market now for six weeks. Harris, back. to you, >> Steve. Thank you very much. In focus. with me now, retired US Marine Corps.

Colonel Mike Jernigan. He served as an. Iraqi invasion commander and former lead. strategist for US Pacific Command. He's. also a visiting fellow at the Heritage. Foundation. Great to see you today, Colonel. Look, uh, it's been widely. reported that we did so much damage to. the IRGC and Iranian military. How is it. possible that they're still able to. execute military missions against us and. others? They didn't hit our naval ship, but how are they even able to do what. they did?

>> Hey, good morning, Harris. Yeah, there's. a couple reasons to that. Uh, one is at. the very beginning, the the Iranians. gave out uh dis uh associated control. They've let individual commanders take. options to shoot their targets they. want. Now they're have an inability to. control those same local commanders. So. they're running out of their missile. supplies. They're running out of their. drones, but there's still going to be. some attacks on the margins. But the. important thing is that they are. insignificant. Uh Steve was just telling. us that they shot 20 missiles into. Jordan. 18 were intercepted. That's an.

amazing rate. The two that were not. intercepted were allowed to land. harmlessly in the desert because we know. exactly when they launch and where. they're going to land. And that's an. amazing capability. So the Iranians are. not able to shoot any missiles and hit. anything. When they go to land targets. in Jordan and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, they're being intercepted by US Patriot. interceptors. And then when they shoot. US ships, we have even more capability. to protect our ships. And what's. interesting to me, Harris, is we took.

out three ships the last time. This time. we took out five. I'm not a smart guy, but that number is going up. And the. Iranians are beginning to painfully. realize that the military connection to. economic sanctions. >> and I respect all that and and I get how. talented our men and women are. My. grandmother used to say though, every. squirrel gets a nut. That sooner or. later somebody with a little bit of luck. or in our instance would be unlucky can. fire one off. Um are we doing enough to. make sure they're not getting any help? >> Yeah. Uh I think we absolutely are and.

you make such a great point to remind. the viewers that one might get through. Uh and and remaining in the United. States military is a dangerous and risky. business that we are immensely trading. for. Now I do think that the the. Iranians are getting help from the. Russians and the People's Republic of. China because they're getting some. imagery uh from satellites about where. bases and ships are and uh Iranian. doesn't have any satellites. So, somebody is selling them information and. believe me, I bet we know and I bet.

there's going to be a payback for that. in the future. >> That is some good information from the. colonel there. Ahead of Iran's latest. strikes, Treasury Secretary Scott. Bessant announced a new series of. sanctions aiming to further isolate Iran. economically. Well, they're hurting now. That sounds like But wow, that'll. decimate them. 36 aviation in entitles. were targeted entities were targeted. 27. of those Iranian airlines, nine of them. foreign entities as well tied to the.

industry. Bessant wrote this. We promise. severe circ consequences for those. providing financial lifelines to the. Iranian regime. Let this be a warning to. anyone doing business with Iran's. remaining airlines, all of which we. sanctioned today. You are at risk of. being cut off from the global financial. system. What does this effectively do? This is really cutting out the ability. for the Iranians to use the American. dollar. Strongest currency in the world.

We're very thankful for it. We have a. lot of smart people working to protect. it and use it. And now because the. Iranians can't get money from their. airlines, but it's also going to affect. their ability to get into. cryptocurrency, their ability to get. into gold reserves, their ability to. resupply their shipping organization. So, I think that this is a tremendously. uh leveraging economic impact that's. going to affect the Iranians. significantly. >> All right, one last question and it has. to do with kind of the timetable here. Uh working our way 55 days out from the.

midterm elections, the president talking. about and he's proven this already by. the way. Yeah, he's not letting politics. decide what he needs to do around the. world. However, it would be different if. Iran folds before the midterm elections. you you may not cause that to happen, but but that could happen. >> Yeah, I think that's what a lot of. people are watching is is when does this. economic uh strangulation as as as. Secretary Besset has called it, when. does this really come to full effect? It.

may take eight or nine months. The thing. about economic sanctions is Iran is dead. man walking economically and they may. not know it yet and then one day. everything is going to collapse. That's. the thing about, you know, they say. about bankruptcy as first is it goes. very slow and then it happens really. fast. And so I think that's what we're. seeing. And the other interesting thing. about timing that I point out is that. there's a lot of uh uh noise in the. media about how few ships are getting. through the Straits of Hormuz right now. And I offer that perhaps there's another. reason that all the ships that are not.

tied to Iran have already gotten. through. And the only ships that are. getting through now are the ones that. had Iranian cargo. Ah, perhaps I had. dates going to Mosamb beek, but I dump. them because they spoiled from six. months old. But I also have uh cement. dust from Kuwait going to Mosamb beek. So I dump my spoiled dates. I tell the. Iran I don't have any of their cargo. They say, "Sure, but you can count as. going through." And then uh we they get. inspected by Sentcom and they're allowed. to go on to Mosamb beek to deliver. cement dust for Kuwait. So I think. that's something that's also important.

to look at. >> Yeah, that's critical. That's a lot of. strategy that you're talking about. there, Colonel Jernigan. It's always. great to have you in focus. Thank you. >> Brand new SNCOM video. The US military. sinking an Iranian oil tanker near Carg. Island in the Gulf of Oman. Look at. right there. One of the five Iranian. tankers hit yesterday in response to a. series of failed attacks targeting US. warships. Iran hitting back targeting. American assets in Jordan. Jordan's. military intercepting 18 missiles. reporting no casualties. Kurt Leold is a. former commander of the USS Cole. He.

joins us now. Thank you for being here. sir. I want to play show you this post. from the Iranian foreign minister about. sanctions. He said, "After 47 years of. sanctions, the US went to war with Iran. on behalf of Israel. The fallout has. been disastrous for America, including. its standing worldwide. After failing to. achieve its aims through sanctions of. war or war, Washington's novel solution. is more sanctions." Seriously? Mark. And. yet it appears that these sanctions are.

starting to have a real bite. Uh, sorry Kurt, I should have asked you. a question on that. Do you agree that. Secretary Besson has had an effect here, especially when I heard yesterday, I. read yesterday, that two of the IRGC. leaders, they do not have enough money. to pay their mortgages in London. I I think what you're seeing, Dana, is. the actual this time the sanctions are. working. Unlike in the past where people.

have always kind of cut corners, our. allies around the world have not exactly. embraced them. This time you are. actually seeing the squeeze occur across. the board, not only in the Middle East, but globally. The two notable exceptions. are Russia and China who are continuing. to try and support Iran. And I think. that in the end you're going to see the. collapse of the e the Iranian regime and. their economy. The IRGC is going to be a. power out of power because they control. everything now. The government, the.

military, the economy. They alone are. going to be held responsible by the. Iranian people for the disaster that's. unfolding. >> Sir, why would they concede and give in. to what they have considered the great. Satan? I. >> I think what you're saying is they're. not going to necessarily concede. They're going to be defeated, Bill, because what you are actually watching. is Iran is very much aware of what is. going on in the elections right now. The. midterm elections are driving their. reaction. They want to try and hang on. as long as possible. They're going to.

continue to create circumstances. The. United States has to react. President. Trump is doing a proportional response. right now. They take and target ships. that are trying to get out through the. straight of Hormuz or US military ships. We react by taking out their tankers, part of that critical infrastructure. that their economy needs. At some point, however, if Iran keeps ratcheting it up. and attempting to shoot our ships, shoot. our bases, take on other allies within. the region, the United States has no.

choice but to then go after the. leadership of the IRGC again and take. them out. And hopefully that will happen. before the midterm elections. One of the. things of course is the oil that is. getting through the straight of Hormuz. or not especially on Iranian's case we. have this chart here that shows that. before um earlier in the spring from. January to April they were able to get. out a lot of oil and then in the last 3. months not so much and that also is. having an effect and how many tankers. would they even have left?

Uh, it's hard to say, Dana, because they. are actually looking at all this gray. tankers that work. They're unfl flagged. They're around the world. They're. continuing to be supplied, supplying. China, supplying Russia. And at the end. of the day, those tankers are slowly. being identified one by one. They're. being intercepted around the world by. the United States Navy and other allies, and they're being stopped. So, the. economy continues to be squeezed. Iran. is going to be held accountable. Obviously, the ultimate goal is to. prevent the IRGC from obtaining a.

nuclear weapon. And while they may lash. out, the United States still still. possesses the ability along with our. allies in the in the Middle East to be. able to react to them, keep people safe, but at the end of the day, this regime. must be stopped and taken down because. the alternative is going to be a regime. that is going to continue to pursue a. nuclear weapon which the world cannot. afford. And I think the American people. truly understand the end goal without. really engaging in what they call the.

forever war. >> Commander, one last question here. Uh. it's extraordinary to think that you. were in charge of the USS Cole. >> And I mean for a lot of us, you know, 26. years ago, that was like. that that was the first shot fired. And. what we saw a year later was 911. I. think that that's that's been October of. 2000 now. Um, we've talked a lot about. Russia and China helping Iran. Wall. Street Journal puts it this way today. Iran would still need to know the. approximate location of US warships when.

attacks began, raising concerns that. China and Russia could be helping Iran. track the locations of American. warships. I think that's a very real. thing. Um, and the targeting they're. getting on behalf of Moscow and Beijing. could be significant. How significant is. for you? And could they do this without. them? >> I don't think that Iran would be able to. do it, Bill. What you are actually. seeing is China especially is providing. Iran with the engines for all of their.

drones. They are providing targeting. information for US bases and US forces. at sea because they have the capability. to do that and they are continuing to. try and prop up their economy. So what. you are seeing is where Iran used proxy. forces throughout the Middle East, Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthi rebels, China. is using Iran in a proxy war against the. United States today. China is no longer. a competitor or an adversary. They need. to be through viewed through the lens of.

what they are doing, which is an enemy. So when President Trump sits down with. President Z on the 25th of September, he. needs to show him the intelligence that. proves that China is in fact engaged in. conflict with the United States and it. needs to stop now. >> Okay, Commander, thank you so much. Kirk. Lipple, we'll spike uh speak again very. soon. >> In the Middle East, US forces delivering. a powerful response to the latest act of. Iranian aggression. The military taking. out five oil tankers in response to an.

attempted attack on US warships. Steve. Harrian is live in Tel Aviv with the. latest. Hey Steve. Angley. Iranian forces continue to try. and fail to take out US military ships. in the region and they are paying a. heavy price for doing so. Sentcom just. posted no US Navy warship has been. struck. All IRGC attempted attacks. failed. Meanwhile, US forces have. successfully destroyed 10 Iranian. tankers in just the last week. These.

vessels were part of a multi-billion. dollar shadow network that funds the. IRGC and Iran cannot defend them. Now, right after the US destroyed those five. Iranian tankers, uh Iran tried once. again to hit US forces inside of Jordan. They launched a ballistic missile. attack. Jordan says 18 of those missiles. were intercepted. Two of them fell. harmlessly in an uninhabited area. And. as all this goes on, the US blockade of. all Iranian ports continues. No Iranian. oil has gotten the market through that.

blockade all the way back to mid July. Hinsley, back to you. >> Okay, good deal. Thank you so much, Steve. And reported strikes near Iran's. largest oil terminal in Car Island might. prove to be a tipping point in the war. as the keyhub processes 90% of the. regime's oil exports, nearly 100 million. barrels a year. So, what could this mean. for the oil markets and gas prices? Fox. Business contributor and oil trader Phil. Flynn joins us now. Phil, what could.

this mean for America? >> Well, hopefully it means that the spike. in prices, which hit the highest level. since the war, is nearing an end. And. and we know this is very strategic for. uh the Trump administration in this war. because we basically hit Iran's cash. register. You know, when you talk about. Kahar Island, this is where they get. their money. Uh so, not only is this. sending a message to them to end the war. quickly, it's also showing how they.

can't really respond. And when you look. at people in Iran, they're struggling. right now. You know, when it takes 2. million realals to get $1, you know, the. economic pain is really starting to to. squeeze them. >> Yeah. There are reports now that the. IRGC has been called up to stop all the. unrest in grocery stores and in banks. And there was a an article in the New. York Post a month ago, August 6, that. talked about Iranians stealing bread and. cheese and meats and butters and cakes. And then reports this week that some.

people, some experts don't think the. regime will even make it to the midterms. because we're thinking they might hold. out till the midterms. Are they going to. be able to last? >> I doubt it. You know, I'm amazed they've. lasted this long. You know, the only way. they've stayed in power is by brute. force, right? Anytime people complain, they rise up. They kill them. And and. that's a sad part of the story. You. know, but it's, you know, Treasury. Secretary Ben said, you know, this is. going to end, you know, when the people. that are, you know, rising up against. their own people say, "No, we're not.

going to kill our own people. It's time. for the regime to go." And that's going. to be like the fall of the Berlin Wall. And we hopefully that will happen soon. >> Yeah. I know you're an oil expert. You. talked about um some of the gas prices. Last year they were 319, last month 401, and now they're 422. Will this help us. become more energy independent? >> It sure has. I mean, we are the energy. supplier to the world right now. We're. keeping Europe's lights on. You know, we're exporting a record amount of.

diesel. So, this is going to be. transformational. You're going to see. the end of OPEC as we know it. Uh the. United States is now going to be much. more powerful than OPEC with Venezuela. and you name it. And you know, we've. been talking a lot about Iran, you know, getting a peace deal with um Russian. Ukraine or ceasefire that's going to. bring down diesel prices because you. know, we keep talking about Iran, but. the attacks on the Russian refiners are. another reasons why these prices are so. high. >> Phil, if if the president were watching. right now, is there anything you would. do differently? Is there anything you.

would tell him advice for that area for. Iran? keep up the pressure. You know, they're. going to give. And I'll tell you what, he's done an amazing job. People don't. give him enough credit for how he's kept. gasoline prices under control. Yes, I. know they're high. I know they're at the. highest level they've been at Labor Day, but, you know, people were saying we. should have been at $10 a gallon, you. know, or $15 a gallon. None of that's. happened. I think we're very close to. the peak. Let's hope I'm right, and I'm. sure the president believes I'm right. >> You were great. Thanks so much, Phil.

>> Thank you, Ansley. You're welcome. Be. sure to like and subscribe for all the. Fox News latest on YouTube and catch. full shows streaming now on Fox One.