BREAKING: Netanyahu’s Terror Attack on Lebanon Destroys Trump’s Ceasefire. Tucker Reacts.

Last night at 6:32 Eastern time, right in  the middle of dinner, Donald Trump sent out. a truth post, his version of Twitter, in which he  announced a ceasefire with Iran. Here's exactly. what he said. This would be uh 1 hour and 28  minutes before the total destruction of Iran that. he had been promising. The use of the implied use  of nuclear weapons or some other weapon of mass.

destruction, a weapon powerful enough to eliminate  an entire country in one night as he said. So. that that's what people were expecting to see.  That's what he promised to deliver and instead. this statement subject to the Islamic Republic  of Iran agreeing to the complete immediate and. safe opening of the straight of Hormuz. I agree  to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a. period of 2 weeks. We've already met and exceeded  all military objectives and are very far along. with the definitive agreement concerning long-term  peace with Iran and peace in the Middle East.

We received a 10-point proposal from Iran and  believe it is a workable basis on which to. negotiate. Almost all the various points of past  contention have been agreed to between the US and. Iran. But a two-e period will allow the agreement  to be finalized and consummated. On behalf of the. United States of America as president and also  representing the countries of the Middle East, it's an honor to have this long-term  problem close to resolution. Well, amen. Cold water on a hot day. the nation,  the world breathed a sigh of relief. And.

particularly pleased were people who have fought  in previous wars. People in the Giwat generation, people who are conspicuously absent from the Fox  News analysis of this war, people who know what. it is to fight wars. Because one of the things  that people who fight wars, who see them up close, learn is that almost anything is better than war.  Even a step back or a step down, even giving up. something you want while bitter is better than  total war because there is nothing worse in this.

life than total war. And that's a generational  lesson. Every generation that experiences total. war learns that lesson. And some of the most  eloquent writing about why war is bad is written. by people who have seen it and experienced it.  Every big war produces a generation of writers. calling for no more wars. And then predictably,  inevitably, cyclally, the next generation forgets.

that lesson, maybe the key lesson of existence,  and the cycle of wars continues. So, last night. seemed like a victory for the United States, even  though it was strictly speaking probably a loss. Now, the president didn't explain what's in this  10-point plan, this proposed agreement that he'd. received from the government of Iran, but we know  roughly what was in it. There have been a bunch. of versions of it floating around. Are they real?  A 10point, 15 point, it's impossible to know, but.

the big picture points are known. And first among  them is the current government of Iran will stay. in power. That's the first point. So regime change  did not work. Everyone admits that now, including. the Israeli government with whom we're embarked  on this adventure. Everyone understands that. there is no way to dislodge the current government  short of nuclear weapons. And so when this ends, whenever it does, the regime, the Ayatollas,  the terror regime, as they say on Fox News,

will be in place. And that's not a win. That's a  loss. US military bases in the region have been. destroyed. Certainly badly damaged from some of  the military US military personnel have withdrawn, retreated. That's not good. That's not a display  of power. That's a display of weakness. So there's. there's no way to spend that. That that's a  loss. This war has cost hundreds of billions.

of dollars of US dollars, taxpayer dollars. That  money comes from debt, from selling our debt, our treasuries to other countries. Um, so that's  a loss. That's a big loss. Commodities prices have. risen, not as dramatically as they might if this  were to continue, but they've risen a lot. That's. a loss. That's a tax on people who buy things in  the United States. And then, of course, Americans. have been killed. It's not clear how many  because there's an awful lot of lying about it,

but it's a substantial number. More than a dozen  and maybe much more than that. We don't know yet. We will know at some point. So, Americans have  died. America's gotten poorer. America's become. weaker demonstrabably. We can't open the Strait  of Hormuz, which is the overriding objective of. this world. We can't do it by force. That's  been proven. and the regime that we described. as illegitimate, this crazed theocracy, these  stone age people are going to when this is all.

over remain in control of Iran. So again,  those are losses just objectively. And yet, and here's the point, a ceasefire would still be a  win for the United States because war, total war, is just that bad. It's so bad that even absorbing  some humiliation and some measurable losses is.

still better than that. And most people understand  that intuitively. You don't need to be ideological. or interested in geopolitics to understand that  Americans getting killed, the country going. bankrupt, commodity prices wrecking the global  economy, the uncertainty itself is a cost. You. don't know what the future holds, so you can't  plan for it. All of this is much worse than what. we'd be getting with an agreement that diminishes  us to some extent because it's very obvious we. could be still further diminished and further  wounded by this. So that was the state of play. At.

6:32 the president announces what is objectively  speaking not a win. And yet most reasonable people. accept it as a win because relatively speaking  that's a win. a ceasefire is a good thing. And. anyone who doesn't think it's a good thing has  to explain why it would be in America's interest, the tangible interest of the United States to  continue this. To what objective? What is the.

goal? No one has ever really explained what that  is. Degrade Iran, change the regime. What does. that mean? Open the straight of Hormuz. How? Tell  us how. There's not one person in the Pentagon who. can figure out how to do it. These people wage  war for a living. Not all of them are stupid. Some of them are pretty smart. They can't figure  out how to do it by force, so they would have. done it already. What's your plan? Well, there's  no plan, of course. So, anyone who opposes the. ceasefire is not an ally of the United States,  but an opponent of American interest, maybe.

even an enemy. So, with that in mind, it's worth  assessing what happened to the ceasefire. Well, it seemed to last a very, very short time. Now,  not in name. No one is saying there's no ceasefire. ceasefire but certainly in practice because very  shortly within hours of the president announcing. this Israel our unmentioned partner in this war  decided to bomb civilians in Beirut Lebanon.

Bomb civilians apartment blocks. That's not  anti-Israeli hyperbole. That's not blood. liel. That is measurably true because there's  video of it. A lot of it. Because Beirut is one. of the greatest and most civilized cities on the  planet. It's not Yemen. Lots of people have been.

to Beirut. Beirut is also, by the way, the capital  of the only country in the Middle East whose. president is a Christian. The president of Lebanon  has always been a Christian since the founding of. the country over a hundred years. So in some basic  sense, this is a Christian country. It's certainly. a Christian-led country and it's not a primitive  country. It's probably one of the top three most. beautiful places in the world, but it's also  one of the most civilized places in the world.

And for many years, the southern portions of  the country have been controlled or at least. influenced by a Shiite militia group which has  become in effect the government of those parts. of the country called Hezbollah. You've heard of  Hezbollah. I think the US Congress has declared. it a terror organization. No one's defending  Hezbollah, but Hezbollah's main the main thing.

to know about Hezbollah is that they are  sworn opponents of Israel and that's why. you know their name. That's why it's not just  a regional problem in the Levant for you. It is. an everpresent slogan that people are shadowing  you all the time. Hezbollah, they're bad. Well, why are they bad? Well, they're against Israel.  That's why they're also the people apparently who. perpetrated the 1983 barracks bombing against US  Marines and killed almost 300 American Marines. The United States was in Lebanon at the time.  Why was the US there? Well, because Israel had.

invaded Lebanon. And so the Reagan administration  in response to what Israel did decided to get. involved on behalf of our closest ally and almost  300 American Marines were murdered by Hezbollah. Not blaming Israel for that. Apparently, they had  advanced knowledge of it. That's pretty clear. It's been documented. But Hezbollah did it. They  did it, not Israel. But we were there because of. our alliance with Israel. Fact. So Hezbollah has  for many years been active in the southern parts.

of the country, south of the now famous Latani  River on the border of northern Israel. So it's. a concern for Israel. But Beirut is a separate  question. Beirut is a Mediterranean city that is. not controlled by Hezbollah. In fact, it's filled  with Christians. They define the life of Beirut. They may not be the majority, but they're in  charge. And they certainly have defined it.

culturally. And Israel is bombing apartment blocks  in Beirut, Lebanon. You know what the name of the. military operation was? Eternal Darkness. Israel  named this operation killing hundreds of civilians. in Lebanon, mostly in Beirut, eternal darkness,  cuz like why even pretend anymore? Eternal. darkness, by the way, is mentioned ex extensively  in the New Testament. It's a euphemism for.

hell. And that's exactly what Israel brought to  Christians in Lebanon today. Here's video of it.

looking a little bit like Gaza. And of  course, that's the point of operation. eternal darkness. But what does  it look like on the ground? Again, these are civilians who were murdered by the  Israeli military using American weapons and. American tax dollars to do it in order to stop  a ceasefire that the American president happily. announced to the great relief of the American  people. All of it stopped by Operation Eternal.

Darkness targeting civilians. But if you  were a civilian on the ground in Beirut, what did it look like? Well, we have  this video which is distressing. This is a little Lebanese girl walking out on  a sunny day with her father in a residential. neighborhood in Beirut when the Israelis come in  and level the city. Here's what it looked like.

What the [ __ ]. Operation Eternal Darkness, that's for sure. So,  the net effect was to end the ceasefire. Again, it hasn't been announced, but the straits for  moves are closed once again. Not not open, totally closed apparently. and the Israelis  are continuing to blow up Christians, murder.

Christians and other civilians uh in Lebanon.  So this afternoon, the administration announced, well, there's been some confusion here, an  agreement that Israel would stop destroying. Lebanon was not part of the agreement with Iran.  And so clearly they thought it was. They thought. somehow the United States would get Israel under  control as its patron. We never promised to do. that. So, this was all a mistake and we'd love  to negotiate the terms, but exclusive of Israel's.

behavior. Israel's going to do what it's going to  do. And, you know, they may kill more little girls. in Beirut, but that has nothing to do with the  bilateral we'd like to have with you. Well, it. raises a couple really interesting questions that  need to be resolved before we can fix this and fix. our country. And the first is why would you ever  go into a war with another country when you don't. have aligned interests? So when you don't have the  same goals, Israel is a whole separate goal from.

ours. Israel would like to leave Iran a husk, a  civil war between various ethnic groups, just a. bleeding wound and therefore permanently weakened.  They don't want a coherent nation state in Iran. because that wouldn't help them. The United States  of course doesn't want that because you can't open. the straits of Hormuz unless you have someone  in charge of the territory of Iran because then. pirates will close it. Any anyone with mines or  drones can close the straight. You need a central.

government in tyrron to keep the straight open.  And the United States being of course subject to. international commodity prices like everybody else  with a big economy doesn't want that. Doesn't want. the refugee crisis in Europe and the US that  will inevitably result if Israel gets its way. The United States went in there with goals that  weren't exactly clear. I don't know. Somehow. ending the nuclear program because it's such a  threat even though US intelligence had repeatedly. concluded that it was not an imminent threat. They  didn't have a nuclear weapon. They didn't have.

ICBMs. Just didn't exist. It's the WMD story from  2002. Redux. But the idea was to apparently push. brush them back a little bit and let them know  that you can't do anything crazy in the region. That's not Israel's goal. So the first mistake was  lashing ourselves to another country with separate. goals. But more immediately, the mistake would  be if you want to wrap this up with a ceasefire.

and a peace agreement, you would of course tell  Israel to get on board because Israel is a tiny. insignificant country with a infantestimally small  population and economy that only exists because. you protect it and pay for everything. Israel  is your client state. This is like taking orders. from your housekeeper, which you would never do.  Why would you do that if you had self-respect? So, the first thing you would do if you were  sitting down to come to terms with your opponent,

this big country, Iran, that you haven't been able  to beat militarily, would be to tell Israel, "Hey, we're suing for peace. We're going to get this  done. You knock it off." But the US didn't do. that. This administration did not do that. In  fact, apparently, according to the Israelis, they never even consulted Benjamin Netanyahu. They  did not tell him that we are right on the cusp of. ceasefire talks. Why? because they were worried  that he would do what he did with Operation. Eternal Darkness, Operation Hell, and scuttle  the whole thing by doing something crazy like.

bombing apartment buildings in Beirut, Lebanon.  So apparently getting Israel under control so the. United States could save its economy and the lives  of its troops was not even on the table. Like the. one thing we know we're not going to do is tell  the Israelis to behave. And that's why there is in. practical terms in effect if not name no ceasefire  right now the one that everybody in the United.

States desperately wants. So the question is and  it is the question unfortunately why can't the. United States get its proxy its client state its  effectively its employee Israel under control? Why. is that the one thing that's never on the table?  That's the question. It's the question that Joe. Kent, one of the top US intel officials, asked  when he resigned a few weeks ago. We got into this.

war at the urging of another country, Israel. The  war did not go well. Now, we can't get out of the. war because the behavior of that same country,  Israel. Why? Why can't this president or any. president say no to Israel? And we have a right  to know why. It's not just because we love Israel. and it's the only democracy in the Middle East.  And if it is, then our leaders are dumber than.

we thought they were. But it's probably not that  because they understand perfectly well how bad. this is for the US. And there are, believe it or  not, a lot of people in the White House who care. about the United States. People with power in the  White House. They're not all whatever you think. they are, zombies doing BB's bidding. Some of  them can see very clearly where this is heading. It's heading toward a nuclear strike by Israel on  Iran. That's obvious. And that would be a world. historic disaster. It's also clearly terrible for  the American economy, for the American people,

not even to mention the Americans who will  die in numbers if this becomes a land war. So there are people working really hard really  late trying to fix this to get a piece even. one that diminishes us where we have to take some  lumps. They are doing that. That's the only reason. we got to where we were yesterday is because  people in the White House taking no credit for. it whatsoever. We're working to end this cuz it's  bad. But those people predictably were undercut.

Our country was undercut by Israel. And there's  apparently nothing we can do about it. So again, why is that? And once this is over, even before  it ends, every American has a right to know, why does this tiny country have so much control  over our government? Is it consent? It doesn't. look like it. Now, Joe Kent said point blank when  he resigned. And by the way, the day he resigned, he retained highest level security clearance. They  tried to tell you, oh, he was a leaker. He was.

under investigation. It was a lie. They admitted  it was a lie. He wasn't under investigation by the. FBI. Untrue. And you know it's untrue because he  held his security clearance till the day he left. the building. So there's no intelligence in the  US government that Joe Kent couldn't see. None. He. was one of the most informed people in the world.  And his conclusion was there's something weird. going on here. And one of the clues is the Butler  shooting. shooting in the summer of 2024 during.

the presidential election where President Trump  was shot in the ear by a gunman a little over a. 100 yards away in the roof of a building called  Thomas Krooks. And according to Joe Kent, who. would know that investigation was closed before  it pursued every possible lead? We can be fairly. confident that Thomas Krooks pulled the trigger.  We cannot be confident at all that he acted alone.

And of course, we can't know because that  investigation was shut down. That's what. he said. And Joe Kent, who you can dismiss as a  wacko or a traitor, but you can't say he doesn't. know what he's talking about. And you can't say  the Trump administration didn't trust him with. all available US intelligence until the day he  left. You can't say that cuz they did. He has said. out loud he thinks the failure to investigate the  Butler shooting, the shooting of our now President. Donald Trump, and why wouldn't they investigate  that, by the way? That alone is baffling. Why.

wouldn't they release all the information they  have about Thomas Krooks? They haven't. Why? If. it was a lone gunman, why didn't tell tell us all  you know? But they haven't. Why? He believes that. is connected to the control that Israel has over  the United States government. The demonstrable. control. He said that. He also pointed to a  couple of pretty shocking violations of the. president's personal security by the Secret  Service. They allowed things to happen that. never happen around a president. Now, maybe they  were mistakes. You want to think they were, but.

who's been fired at the Secret Service over those  mistakes? No one that we're aware of. There's not. been a wholesale reordering of the Secret Service.  Their job is to protect the president, the elected. president of the United States. And you do  that not just because you love the president, but because our entire system hangs on the idea  that the people get to choose their president and. he can't be removed by force. That's democracy.  If you could just take out the president by force,

then how is democracy real? People choose someone  that larger forces don't like and they kill him, then you don't have a democracy. So protecting  the life of the president is essential to the. functioning of our system. And yet on at least  two occasions they've proven that they haven't. been able to do that. And yet has there been  an investigation into that? Has anyone been. fired over that? No. Now those of us who don't  work there have no real idea what that means.

But someone who just worked there until the other  day, Joe Kent said, "I think that may be related. to our inability to say no to Israel." Now,  maybe Joe Kent's a total wacko. In which case, why was he head of the counterterrorism center for  the Trump administration? That's another question. But let's just say he's a total wacko, but what's  the answer? I the facts, the known facts have. never been explained. And at this point watching  Israel once again, not for the first time,

hardly for the first time, shortcircuit American  diplomacy, the expressed will of the American. president elected by the rest of us to have some  foreign country of 9 million people just to say. no. Exercise veto power over our president, short  circuit our interest. This is bad for us. We're. doing it anyway cuz Benjamin Netanyahu wants to.  You see that enough times, this is again not the. first time we've seen this. It's not the 10th time  we've seen this. We've seen it generationally. You.

have to ask what is this? And you have to find out  and you have to heir it publicly because it has to. end. We cannot be a free and prosperous country  until we are a sovereign country. What does that. mean? Our leaders elected by us have to be able  to make decisions in our interests, not to the. exclusion of everyone else. You don't have to end  other people's civilizations in order for your own. country to prosper. It doesn't work that way. But  you have to put your people's best interests first.

or it's not a legitimate system. And if there is  another country in an arrangement with another. country that's preventing you from doing that,  you have to fix it. And then there are also moral. questions. If that partner, your closest ally, the  only democracy in the Middle East, is killing kids. in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Iran, and doing  so without apology. If it's committing war crimes. every single day for years with your money and  your weapons, at some point you're implicated in.

those crimes. And you have to stop that, too. It's  all bad. There's no upside. Where's the upside? And so the United States has to and hopefully the  first thing we do when and if this war is resolved. is detach from Israel. Not declare war on Israel  or treat Israel as an enemy. They may treat us as. an enemy as they have before. When they tried to  sink the USS Liberty, an American naval vessel, a.

surveillance vessel, they treated us as an enemy.  We don't have to treat them as an enemy, however, and we shouldn't. But we should treat them like  we treat every other country, as an ally, but. with restrictions and reservations and red lines.  No, you can't act against our interest. And this. distancing should begin with a total end of aid of  any kind, military or economic, to Israel, by the. US government. And people who love Israel, some of  whom are pretty successful, can send all the money.

they want to Israel. And that's fine. But the  US government should send not one more dollar to. Israel and not one more piece of military material  to Israel, not one more fighter jet or bomb or. missile defense system or small arm or ammunition  of any kind because Israel is aggressively acting. against our interests. And so to continue to arm  and finance them, their generous welfare state for.

example or their military, defend their nation is  not only contrary to core American interest. It's. just massochism. Watch us hate ourselves as we  fund a country that's killed more Americans than. most other countries have. That's just a fact. And  not just on the liberty. Every war that Israel has. pushed us to join has resulted in dead Americans.  And the fault lies ultimately with our leaders who.

are going along with this. It's their fault first.  It's not the Israelis fault. It's our fault. But. they're implicated in it. This relationship  has resulted in a lot of dead Americans. A. lot. And it's time not to end it, not to set up an  adversarial relationship, but to set up a healthy. conventional relationship where Israel can pay its  own bills and fund its own military and act within. the constraints imposed on it by its own economy  and population. That's what normal countries do.

Most countries live with neighbors that don't like  them, with whom they have testy relationships, but they make accommodations because they have no  choice. There's no country in the world that acts. with total impunity because it knows a much larger  country will backs stop it no matter what it does. That just doesn't exist in the natural world  because it's not natural. It's grotesque and. it's terrible for the United States. And now it's  obvious. And by the way, unless our lawmakers, unless the US Congress restrains this  relationship and changes its nature,

there's going to be political turmoil in this  country. So nas it is really clear Israel is. pursuing what it thinks its own interests are but  those are not the same as our interests. Now one. of the problems with changing that relationship  is well you're going to have to deal with Israel's. agents and advocates in the United States.  And there are many of those. There are many. of those. And by the way just to be completely  clear they're not all Jewish. In fact most of.

them aren't. This is not about Judaism. It's about  blind support for a nation state called Israel to. the extent that it harms our interests. And you  saw that on full display in the last 24 hours. The president excitedly announces a ceasefire.  A pause in the fighting in a war that cannot. result in American victory, but only in further  American defeat and degradation and ultimately in. bankruptcy and possibly a nuclear war. So, this is  a great thing. Immediately, advocates for Israel.

appear on Fox News telling you that this is not  acceptable. This is a loss. This is cowardice. Here's 83year-old former general Jack Keane on  Fox telling you that this is disappointing that. the killing has paused just for a moment. Here  he is. So, there's a lot wrapped up in the deal. My preference would have been to keep the war  going as leverage to make that deal. But we are.

where we are now. And I really do think if if the  deal blows up, it it comes down to Car Island and. forcing either take control of Car Island and take  control of the distribution of oil or or destroy. it and force an economic collapse. I mean, what  do you say to something like that? Most people. watching him like, "Oh, he was a general. He was  a general. He knows what he's talking about. He's.

probably war game this whole thing out. He knows  what it is to take Car Island." Talk to anyone. who actually has been to Car Island or understands  the geography of the Persian Gulf. How do you take. Car Island? Is General Jack Keane of Fox News the  first person ever to think, "Hey, we should take. Car Island. Then we control the commodity flow  through the Persian Gulf. That would make us. powerful." No, he's not the first person to think  of this. Car Island has actually changed hands. quite a few times through history. Various empires  have controlled it because geographically it's a.

critical piece of real estate and it's extremely  hard to control at this point or once again we. would already take control of the oil. Oh really?  Hadn't thought of that. How would we do that? And. of course no one ever asked a follow-up question.  How exactly would you do that? What would it cost. us to do that? How long could we hold it? How far  from mainland Dan is Car Island? Is it within, I don't know, artillery range? Have the Iranians  thought this through, too? Do they see Car Island, through which 90% of their energy moves  as a key piece of real estate? Have they.

taken extraordinary steps to defend it? What are  those steps? And how do we mitigate those? No, not a thought. Just take Car Island, take control  of the energy flows, collapse their economy. Well, then what happens? You collapse their economy and  then what does that open the straits of our moose? Where does that leave us? Where does that leave  the seven countries that face Iran? No, no thought. to that at all. Just do it. And by the way, it's  kind of cowardly not to do it. They're children.

And not only their children, we know they are  because they have a decadesl long track record of. bad decisions. Not just bad, but disastrous. These  are the very same people who've gotten the United. States into every pointless conflict really since  the Second World War. How many have we won? Zero. Just a fact. A fact that you admit with sadness  if you love the United States, as most of us. do. None of this has worked. And if it has, tell  us how. Just explain what the United States got.

out of any of these conflicts with accelerating  absurdity. Each one more absurd than the next. You. can understand. You don't want China to control  South Korea. Okay, let's do the Inchan landing. You could sort of understand why you wouldn't  want Ho Chi Min sweeping into Saigon, which. is now called Ho Chi Min City. Can you really  understand why we invaded Iraq? Not at all. And. this war makes the least sense of all if you view  it through the prism that most Americans would,

which is, is this good for us? No, obviously  not. And there's no way to achieve it. you know, there's no way to achieve a military victory,  meaning a return to the status quo of February. 27th, because they never explain what those means  might be because they have no idea because they're. children. And so really, it's incumbent on the  rest of us to increase our self-respect and stop. giving airtime or any attention at all to  people with a long proven track record of. failure and absurdity and silliness. listening to  83y old generals who couldn't find Car Island on.

a map pretending that they're experts on  the subject. Cuz they're not. And again, they've gotten it wrong again and again and  again. Would you take real estate advice from a. homeless person? No. Cuz they're not good at real  estate. So they're homeless. Like this is nuts. And so for this government to function, people  who've gotten it wrong again and again and again.

cannot be persists of leadership. Doesn't  mean they have to be imprisoned. They'd. like to imprison their enemies. But in a  free country, you don't imprison people. because of disagreement. They're saying out  loud, "Anyone who disagrees with us should. be in jail because they're authoritarians."  But it means not allowing them in government. Why? Because they don't have the best interest  of the country at heart. That's why obviously.

or they wouldn't be calling for military action  that is by definition fruitless in Sysophia and. it doesn't work. Who does that help? Not us helps  Israel. That's the whole point of the program. So why do they still have positions of authority  in the US government? Well, that's a really. interesting question. But we could start, the  great sorting could begin by disqualifying anyone. from government service who holds a second  passport. That's really simple. And not just.

an Israeli passport, but a Belgian passport, a  Sierra Leonian passport, any other passport. If. you're a citizen of another country, obviously you  shouldn't be running our country because you have. by definition dual loyalty. You can just leave  and go to your other nation. No country would. allow that. Why would you allow that? It doesn't  mean people with dual citizenship can't live here, though. There's an argument for that, too. A  strong argument for that. Pick a country. If. you don't like it, leave. That's fair. Can't use  this as a place to park your money. A place to.

hide out or hang out until you get in trouble  and then flee to your other country. Like, why would any nation allow that? Most don't. We  do. We got to stop it. But you could begin with, no, you can't serve in government if you've got  two passports. Sorry. Period. At any level. DMV. up to DoD. No. And if you've served in a foreign  military, come on now. Especially when the US is. at war, you can't serve in the US government if  you've worn a foreign uniform. Of course not.

You can't hold elective office if you fought for  somebody else's country because by definition, you have fought for aims that are not the same as  ours. In fact, they may be in opposition to ours. You may have fought against what's good for the  United States. Certainly, if you served in the. IDF, you fought against what's good for the United  States. Knowingly or not, you probably didn't mean. to, but you did. You shouldn't go to jail for  that. But you can't be allowed to work at, say,

the Pentagon. But right now, you can. And by the  way, there are IDF officers working out of the. Pentagon because they have an office within  the Pentagon as they do at CIA and Langley. A foreign government has offices in our critical  executive branch headquarter buildings. That's. just not healthy. That's crazy. And it cannot  be allowed a single more day. Why would it? Oh, that's hateful. Of whom would Israel allow  that? Would they allow Americans, I don't know,

to open an office in the Deona complex? No.  because they're not insane, but we are. So, we. should stop that immediately. But the main problem  with neocons of all religions, just to be totally. clear, is that not only are they not on board  with the interests of the majority of our country,

they work in opposition to those interests. wars.  You don't need mass migration into this country. and the West and that would include Canada  and New Zealand and Australia, Western Europe. and the United States. That migration, which I  think even liberals would acknowledge has not. been good for anybody. In fact, it's destroyed  these countries because a country, a sovereign.

country has control over its borders. Can't change  the population in a generation. Can't do that. That's all been emedded by the neocons 100%. Now,  why is that? Well, that's another question. But. the whole thing is dark. The owner of Only Fans  is one of the biggest contributors to Apac. Tell. me how that works. Don't know the answer. But  it's not good. It's not healthy. It's not good. for the United States. None of it's good. Apac's  not good. Only Fans is not good. So maybe it's not.

surprising there's some nexus there. But above  all, what is degrading to our country, bad for. our strategic objectives, and just rotten for  the nation is the lying. The non-stop lying. The. refusible refusal to be straightforward about your  aims. What are you actually arguing for? You never. know because lying is totally acceptable among  neocons completely. You always cloak your real. objective. You saw this in the 12- day war. Oh,  no, no. just we're just going to get rid of their.

nuclear program because it's an imminent threat  to the West. Okay, it's an imminent threat. And. some people piped up and said, "I don't know. This  looks like the opening salvos in a regime change. war." Oh, shut up, racist. Of course, it turned  out to be, but nobody ever apologizes. Well, actually, you're right. You caught us the first  time, and now we know because we're in a regime. change war or an attempted regime change war.  No, just keep lying. just say whatever it takes, whatever's expedient to get to whatever the goal  is, but you never know what the goal is because.

they'll never tell you. It drives people crazy.  It makes people conspiratorial. That's the other. problem with it. There's so many conspiracy  theories. Well, there happen to be quite a. few conspiracies. What's a conspiracy? Well, it's  a group effort to achieve something whose goal is. never stated in public. That's what a conspiracy  is. And there's obviously a lot of that. Here's. one example. This is from Fox News yesterday, one  of its top shows. Here are two neocons talking. about what they think the US we should do next  in Iran. And hopefully if we can get arms in the.

hands of the people, they'll take over. I'll give  you the last word. We have about 30 seconds. That. that to me is very key. I've been talking about  that in multiple appearances here and on radio. We have to arm the people because if  we're not going to do regime change, they need to have the ability to do it. Reagan did  it in Afghanistan. He did it in Nicaragua. He did. it in Honduras. He did it in Angola. Donald Trump  can do exactly the same thing. Somehow someway,

those people need to be able to get armed  and need to take their future into their own. hands. It's like they can't even hear themselves.  Yeah, I mean the other problem is and one of the. reasons you have to laugh at all the conspiracy  talk about the neocons is a lot of them are not. super bright. They don't really know very much. So  here you have that guy just said Reagan did it in. Afghanistan and Nicaragua. So what happened? Well,  let's see. When Reagan did it in Afghanistan,

he sent weapons to a group of freedom fighters  called the Majaden Islamic warriors. This is. back in the 80s when we were on the side  of Islamic extremism against the Soviets. And now you fast forward 40 years and who's in  charge of Afghanistan? Well, Islamic extremists, the Taliban. Nicaragua. 40 years ago, we sent  arms to the Contras. A lot of people supported it, including me, by the way, to be clear, because  the Soviets were making inroads in Nicaragua.

They're a funding group called the Sandinistas led  by a man called Daniel Ortega and we are going to. regime change Daniel Ortega. So 40 years later,  who runs Nicaragua? Anyone got Wikipedia? Oh, Daniel Ortega. So whether you support it or not,  it it didn't work. It didn't work. You're you're. pointing those successes. Really? Countries  that 40 year late 40 years later are run by. the Taliban and Daniel Ortega. And that's the  argument for sending arms to the opposition.

But what's so revealing about that clip is how the  actual point, the object of the strategy is never. stated. In fact, it's hidden. And it's hidden in  the most sinister way in the language of idealism. and ideology. We have to end Islamism. We have  to stop the threat of the terrorists. We have. to bring freedom to the poor benited people of  Iran. when of course the actual aim is Israel's.

aim which is chaos. The whole point of this from  an Israeli perspective is not an attack on Israel. by the way. I mean it makes a kind of evil sense.  If you want to eliminate a threat, you can't kill. everybody even with nuclear weapons. But what you  can do is set them at war with each other. And. this has been the way that Israel has conducted  asymmetrical warfare since its founding. You. sow chaos among your opponents. You get them to  fight each other. And that's the goal for Iran,

which is just a little bit over 50% Persian. Not  everyone who planned the war seemed to know that. or advocated for the war seemed to know that, but  the Israelis know it. And they know that the goal. is to stoke ethnic conflict and to some extent  religious conflict in Iran. Most Americans have no. idea that there are up to 5 million Christians  in Iran. They have no clue. But of course, the Israelis know that there are lots of Jews in  Iran. The Israelis bombed one of their synagogues.

yesterday. Why? Unclear. Maybe just the love of  bombing things. But it is a multithnic country. with religious minorities. And countries like  that are ripe for internal division. So the point. of the exercise is not to get weapons in the hands  of freedom fighters. Who's who would those be? How. how do we identify an Iranian freedom fighter? No,  the point is to stoke an endless civil war which.

once ignited are famously hard to end. That's the  point. How does that serve our interest? Well, of course it doesn't. Israel, which seems  to have an interest in destroying Europe, certainly a desire to destroy Europe. Prime  Minister said it himself. Rome is our real. enemy. Still angry about 70 AD 2,000 years  later. His words, not mine. So clearly Israel. wants to harm Europe. They've said so. They've  helped do it. That would definitely harm Europe. and the West. How does it help the United States?  Well, not at all. But here you have two prominent.

analysts on Fox News telling you that for the  sake of the Iranian people, we need to do this. really. The same people who are being bombed,  whose infrastructure, civilian infrastructure is. being destroyed, the same people who will starve  to death if this keeps up. We're really doing. this for them. How is starving me to death in my  interest? Are you really trying to help me? No, of course not. How much better it would be? How  much more Christian would it be just to say what.

you're trying to do out loud to tell the truth  for once and then the rest of us could assess it. We could argue against it on good faith terms. We  could probably even accept it even if we disagreed. with it if we knew what it was. But you never  know what it is. with liars, with people who are. committed to saying whatever it takes to get their  goal achieved without explaining what the goal. is. So that mode of communication of operation,  that whole worldview is totally corrosive to our.

country. It is totally immoral. Lying is bad. And  because lying is now the currency of government, thanks to people like the people you just saw on  the screen, some of us have lost track of this. So you can't accept anything the government says  at face value. You have to parse every statement. Well, maybe this means that or it's a bank shot  intended to achieve this. You have no clue. That. is so bad for your society. Living in a hall  of mirrors gives you vertigo after a while.

Those kind of people should have no role in any  decision the US government makes going forward. Period. And if they support arming the freedom  fighters of Iran, let them do it themselves. If. they support overthrowing the regime, let them fly  there themselves and attempt to do that if it's. that important. But for not one more day should  people like that have access to the levers of.

power in this country. And they should absolutely  not be allowed to write our legislation. This. country needs to free itself from the influence  of a foreign power and restore freedom to its own. citizens. the freedom to criticize a foreign  country, to boycott it if they so choose, to. speak their conscience without the fear of being  arrested or accused of a thought crime. People. like that have made this country increasingly  authoritarian, where people who are born here no. longer feel free to say what they really think.  The last election was supposed to end that.

Instead, it accelerated it. How did that happen?  It's not even clear, but it did happen. And so the. first thing we need to fix when this is all over  is the system that produces disaster in the first. place. Not just a change of presidents. That won't  be enough. We've just proven it's not enough. You. need to change the system that acts on not just  this president, but every president to produce. results that are terrible for the United States.  That's the first thing we need to do. The second. thing we need to do is figure out how exactly Iran  was able to do this. How did that happen? It'd be.

fun to go back and look at the tape from cable  news in the months preceding this war and just. clip the portions where they describe what Iran  is like. All experts on Iran, not a farsey speaker. among them, but know a lot about Iran. This is  before anyone had heard of Car Island. They'd know. the population of knew nothing about the country  except that it was a primitive country. And so. when the president said we're going to bomb them  back to the stone age, most Americans must have.

thought, well, I thought they were already in the  stone age. Well, who knows what age they were in, stone age or medieval, who knows what their  caliphate was really like. It turns out that. their military power and their economic power,  we vastly underrated. Vastly. They've done, and this is noted with real sadness, much better  than anyone expected, including the Israelis,

apparently. No one saw this coming. So, how did  this happen? How did this primitive country that. shoots protesters in the street and beats up  women cuz they're women or whatever they were. telling you on TV, how did that country chase away  US aircraft carriers that aren't anywhere near the. coast? How did that country shoot down some of  our most advanced aircraft, Warthog, Blackhawks, etc.? How'd they do that? We have gotten as a  society into a very bad and self-destructive.

habit of not allowing questions like that, honest  questions about our own failures. And the reason. that's bad is because unless you understand what  you did wrong and repent of it, promise not to. do it again, you tend to keep doing it. And yet  in this country, for some reason, the reasons. are pretty obvious, we have allowed the people  who make those mistakes to browbeat the rest of. us into silence. And whenever someone pipes up  and says, "Well, wait a second. We're spending a.

trillion dollars a year on this military and we  can't get our aircraft carriers within striking. distance of the coast of Iran because why? Shut  up, Islamist. Were you siding with Iran?" Well, no. I'm siding with the United States, but what's  the answer? We pay for this military. We were. told we had total dominance of the skies, but  then they shoot down our aircraft. Apparently, a lot of them. We can't know because everyone lies  about everything, but apparently a lot of them.

But one is shocking. How did they do that? Is it  worth having an aircraft carrier in 2026? I don't. know. But the people who build aircraft carriers  certainly have an interest in telling us we need. them. During the Ukraine war, at the point maybe  a year or two in when the public was starting to. ask like, "Wait a second, our airports are filthy.  Our schools don't work. I have to work two jobs.

just to pay my bills and I still can't afford a  house." Started add those people, which is most. people started to ask the question, why are we  sending all this money to Ukraine? And by the way, where is Ukraine? And Putin bad. Okay, Zalinski's  Jesus got it, but like what has this got to do. with us and why is it good for us? And the answer  that we all received from members of Congress, Republicans in the Senate and Democrats, was it's  a great deal. Actually, it turns out, this is like. congressional accounting. Actually, that money,  which seems like it's going to a foreign country,

actually comes back to us because it goes to  American defense companies, Rathon and the rest, Lockheed. And so what we're really doing is  funding American jobs. This is an industrial. policy really. And so it's a kind of slight of  slight of hand where we seem like we're being. generous, but actually we're benefiting. And there  may be some truth in that. By the way, it's not. a totally I mean you can assess whether that's  like a the kind of country you want to live in.

where the only real manufacturing base is weapons.  Probably not. But that's where we are. And it's. not a crazy argument to make on a practical level.  I mean, there are military contractors in every. congressional district or always were. And so, it  does produce American jobs, but it also sets up an. incentive for those companies and the lawmakers  who fund them to maintain the status quo.

And the status quo is of course always going  to favor larger, more expensive weapon systems. because those are the most profitable. A system  like that will never invest meaningfully in say. drone technology because there's not enough money  in it. But you watch the war in Ukraine and you. watch the 40 odd days of the war with Iran and you  realize, well, wait a second. Maybe we should have. invested more in drone technology or taken a big  picture look at what the United States would need.

to project military power beyond its shores. And  maybe aircraft carriers and the the whole suite of. weapon systems, the most expensive in the world,  aren't really the way to project military power. cuz it doesn't work. and they can be defeated or  at least constrained at a thousandth the cost by. less technologically advanced countries like Iran.  That would be a very obvious conclusion. In fact, that was the conclusion of any smart non-aligned  person for the last 5 years. Is it really worth.

having an aircraft carrier if you have to  open the straits of our muse? Maybe not. Well, apparently not. But we have been unable to  have that conversation because the vested. players in the whole economic chain coming  from the United States Congress through the. Pentagon and out to well the entire economy  of Northern Virginia has discouraged it. So, we've continued to do the same thing the same  way except at a higher volume for a very long.

time. And now we are seeing the results which are  embarrassing. And we actually can tell ourselves. we're the strongest military in the world and you  want to be the strongest military in the world. cuz that's great. But if you are the strongest  military in the world, why can't you force Iran. to open the bottleneck at the end of the Persian  Gulf and let vitally needed commodities out to the. rest of the world, including you? Like, if you're  so powerful, why can't you get it done? And so,

what we've learned is we're really not as  powerful as we said we were and probably. as we thought we were. And that's bad for us, but  it's also dangerous because it invites aggression. We need to fix that by being honest about what  just happened. No more lying. We should learn. something from what is happening right now.  And that process will require the people who. made bad decisions to be punished for them, not  imprisoned or killed, but certainly humiliated cuz.

they deserve it. When was the last time a public  official was ever really humiliated? Even the ones. who get fired get fired with like a statement  like, "We thank you for your service. You're so. great. You're doing something more important."  How about you committed dereliction? You did a. terrible job. You don't you don't have to kill  yourself or anything, but you can't work here. again. And we're not going to endorse you. We're  not going to pass you on to the next employer with. like a fake letter of recommendation. Oh, you did  such a good job. No, you were terrible. That's why. we fired you. Only in a system like that, a true  meritocracy, can you have excellence? But that's.

the opposite of what we have. No one is ever  punished. No one is ever criticized. No one ever. takes the fall. No leader is ever humiliated. only  the people beneath him who carried out his orders. That's the definition of a perverse system that  produces not surprisingly perverse results like. the ones we're experiencing now. So that's the  next thing we need to do. Be honest about how. Iran, this primitive country, just humiliated us.  That's not anti-American, that's pro-American. We. love our country enough to want to know and we  need to know. And the final thing we need to.

learn from this particularly ugly experience is  that you have to have leaders who care about you. Cuz that really is the basis of good governance.  It's not brilliance or superior planning. Those. are important sometimes. But what really matters  is intent. is the will to protect and serve the.

people you've been elected to protect and serve.  To put at the very center of your agenda the. people who put you there, the people in your  country. A love of those people gets you a lot. farther than the best funded government program  ever made. It's a lot like parenthood. You don't. have to know a lot, but you have to be totally  committed. And the commitment has to derive from. the love that you have for your children. And if  that is the case, you'll be a pretty good parent,

good enough for sure. And if you don't have  that, it doesn't matter how much money you have, your kids are going to be screwed up because you  will do a bad job. So it's about intent. How do. you divine intent? How do you know what a person  wants? Well, by the way behaves. You judge the. tree by the fruit. And so any leader whose focus  is outward rather than on his own country is going. to be a bad leader. And this is the core problem  with maintaining a global empire. You are never.

going to find a leader. You will never find  an American president who is more interested. in governing America than he is in governing the  world. And honestly, would you be what job would. you rather have? King of the world. The world.  King of the world. Colossus. A stride. Here I am. I'm king of the world. I make all the decisions.  I'm going to eliminate your civilization for. breakfast. I'm going to overturn your economy  for lunch. And tonight we may have operation.

eternal darkness. I mean, there's an appeal  to the megalomaniac to all of them. It's. not just this one. It's all of them. That is  irresistible to leaders. I run the world. Now, running America, by contrast, is hard and  messy. And you know a lot of the people, you're going to make them mad. You go to war with  the Houthies, people don't know what a Houthi is. They're never going to meet a Houthi. There's  no cost to you whatsoever in the short term. But let's say you just ran America. How'd you  like to fix Baltimore? Be responsible for Gary,

Indiana or Detroit or Los Angeles or New York.  These are hard problems. How do you fix American. schools? They're totally useless. No one's even  trying. And the reason they're not trying is. because they're totally distracted. Well, because  it's hard. Of course, the solutions are not. obvious. But they're not even being attempted  anymore. And this is a generational thing. 30 years ago, people still talked about our  schools. We got to we got to think of a way. to make our schools better. School choice  sound like a good idea. Did it work? I don't.

know. No one ever mentioned it again. Nobody  cares. Our leaders don't care. They don't. care. And that's why the country is withering  because people who don't care are inattentive. Sometimes they're actually a little bit  hostile. Sometimes they're very hostile. But no matter what their disposition, they're  never going to save you because they don't care.

enough to save you. No leader who really loved  his country, no matter what they tell you, would have embarked on this disaster, they kind  of nod to caring. We're going to save you from. the nuclear threat of Iran. Was there a nuclear  threat from Iran? Shut up, hater. Was there a. nuclear threat? But shut up. Okay. Okay. There's  no even real attempt to tie what they do outside. our borders with most of our money to any benefit  to you whatsoever because that's how little they.

care. And that actually has to change. And it's  not just a matter of the looming debt crisis, which is real, the fact we spent hundreds of  billions on a fruitless war that diminished us. It's not even about that. It's bigger than that.  Coming out of this, we have to demand, regardless. of party or even ideology, leaders who have a gut  level love and concern for the American people. That is the test. That's the acid test for holding  office in the United States. You have to care. We.

can probably devise ways to measure whether you  care. But if you don't care, you're going to have. to join the neocons in doing something else. So,  that's what we've learned so far for where we're. going and whether this ceasefire, assuming it  even is a ceasefire, will hold. We want to talk. to someone called Alistair Krooks, who is not  famous in American media by and large, uh, but.

is outside the United States, I think, regarded as  one of the most experienced and wisest observers, mostly non-aligned observers, of what's happening  in the world, particularly in the Middle East. He spent most of his career as a British diplomat,  intelligence officer. It's not an endorsement. of British intelligence, which has been uh  much discredited in the last 25 or 30 years, but certainly one of the most knowledgeable  governments uh for most of its existence. I mean, they managed the world and they sent people out  into the world who really understood how things.

worked at a granular level, not just a 40,000  foot level, but understood the languages and. the cultures and the geography of the nations  that they were trying to influence. So, he. has spent his entire life outside his own country  and has actually personally negotiated ceasefires. in the Middle East and knows it very, very well.  Lived for years in Beirut. And so, we asked him, "Where do you think this is going?" Here's the  conversation. Mr. Trump, thank you very much for.

joining us. Do you believe that the the ceasefire  that the president of the United States announced. uh last night can hold? It's very tenuous at  the moment. It's very tenuous. It's already. eroding somewhat. Um and I'm not sure that  the contradictions in um the tensions, the underlying tensions within the ceasefire  uh can hold. Um it may be that it's already. eroding the been Israel has been attacking  Lebanon. There is some dispute as to whether.

um Lebanon was supposed to be a part of the  ceasefire or separate to it. Initially it was. definitely a part of it. Now Mr. Netanyahu  is saying it is not. And it seems to be that. that has been confirmed by the press secretary at  the White House that the Iranian reaction to that. um is that they have an equation either there's  a ceasefire for all or there's a ceasefire for.

nobody. I know that what's happening in the maj at  the moment in the parliament in Thran is that the. security um committee there are saying okay if  Hezbollah is a target and is being targeted and. being killed at the moment and it is not part of  the ceasefire well then maybe we'll consider that.

the whole of Israel is not part of the ceasefire  and we'll continue to target there. So it is it is. quite tenuous and I understand um that in the last  period the Iranian authorities have refused to. allow ships to pass through Homos. They've stopped  at at the moment. Well, here's something that. thieves count on. Security cameras usually stop  where Wi-Fi stops, right? Makes sense. So if you. got a barn, a job site, equipment parked outside  along driveway, criminals know, there's a good.

chance that nobody is watching this cuz there's no  Wi-Fi. And that's why we like Defend by Tacticam. It's a new sponsor of this show. Defense cameras  don't run on Wi-Fi. They run on cellular just. like your phone. They work everywhere. If you've  got cell signal, you've got security. Middle of. nowhere, edge of your property, construction site,  wherever you need it. You don't need Wi-Fi. It's a. big difference and you can see why it matters. So,  we use these cameras in places where Wi-Fi doesn't.

reach. The setup is super simple. You mount the  camera, open the Defend app, and you are live. You. get clear footage, night vision alert sent right  to your phone. It's great for construction sites, ranches, farms, or anyone with a property that  stretches beyond a router. And here's something. we really appreciate. Defend does not sell your  data. Not to tech companies, not to advertisers, not to China. No one. Your footage belongs  to you and that's big. Plans start at about.

five bucks a month. No contract. Cancel anytime.  Visit defendellcam.com. That's defendellcam.com. Can you uh describe what you uh referred to  at the beginning as the underlying tensions in. the ceasefire, the the the misaligned interests  that may torpedo it in the end? What are they? Well, I I would explain it not in terms of just  sort of literal what is in and what is not in it.

I would say from the Iranian perspective um the  purpose of what's happened or at least the attack. that took place uh on Saturday last we killed the  supreme leader that has given an opportunity um to. change the situation to break the paradigm. They  want to get out of the cage. What do I mean by the.

cage? Well, it's not the sort of physical cage of  Gaza where there are fences and grows lying over, but nonetheless, it's been 74 75 years of Ki by um  if you look at a map, you'll see all around Iran, every side, it is hemmed in by military bases. All  around it is hemmed in by sanctions, by tariffs.

um by siege, economic siege on the country, by  political even cultural um isolation. And they. see this therefore not as an attempt to not as  a process that will lead uh if you like to new. deterrence, a new form of a sort of we go back,  there'll be a ceasefire, then it'll end and then. there'll be another round of military. They want  an end to war. They want this to bring about an.

end to the war. And they believe they're on the  strong position. In fact, I know this will be seem. counterintuitive to to many of the audience,  but actually Iran has emerged stronger from. this month of war than it did at the end of the  12-day war last June. in many ways. Um firstly. because in economic terms they are benefiting.  For example um in the last first month of this.

war they have earned more revenue from their oil  sales from tankers passing from Car Islands from. the Hormos and being sold. In this one month,  they have earned double what they've ever earned. in previous years. In one month and just to take  as an example, um for example, on Sunday, um they.

loaded five tankers in K Island at the terminal  there. That was 7.7 million barrels of of oil. uh. and they earned $850 million in one day from that.  So the revenue from if you like the potential. revenue from Homos um will be enormous. It would  be probably in a year just under a trillion.

dollars on the basis that they're charging at  the moment. Um they're not only charging that, but they're also demanding um it in which is part  of the bigger, if you like, plan they have um. which is to break the sanctions, not only to break  the homos, but by insisting that carcos have to be. charged in one, the Chinese currency um and not in  dollars um to be get permission um to pass through.

Barthm Island and Gar Island. Um and they are  then escorted by the Iranians through um through. the elements the other but in the other aspects  which will be seen strike probably listeners are. even more surprising is that their casualties are  probably less than in the 12-day war. Why? Well, because uh what they learned from the 12- day war  is evacuate all public buildings that you possibly.

can. That's leaving hospitals but everything  else empty. State buildings, security buildings, educational buildings, all are empty. And so the  attacks which are focused very much on those um. have caused far fewer casualties. you know, there  may be a caretaker or someone who unfortunately.

is killed in these and of course civilians being  killed. I mean many civilians being killed where. residential areas uh have been attacked but on the  whole they have had fewer uh casualties and the. second thing is that their military is in better  shape than it was at the end of the war. Um but. first of all the reason for that is again a rather  strange one. The Iranians bought a lot of these.

decoys huge numbers of decoys from the Chinese um  that uh imitated airplanes and missiles and so on. Um, but the Chinese gave them a twist, which  was interesting, and I didn't know this before, but they have a heat source in so that when  they're picked up by radar or by sensors, um, it looks real because, you know, it not only  looks a part, but it actually emits the heat of a.

real missile or an airplane. And so largely um the  Israelis and the United States have been bombing. uh the deep courts. They've also been trying to  bomb the main missile cities. But if you take. um a main one like Yazu, it is buried in a granite  mountain 800 m deep. uh really deep and there's.

concrete and there's a whole railway system  underneath the tunnels and railway systems under. this mountain and they deliver the missiles on  railway trucks and the railway takes it right up. to the entrance. An airtight door opens. It moves  to the entrance and the missile is fired. The. airtight door comes down and the train withdraws.  Well, the uh Israelis have bought bombing and.

bombing this and you know the mountain is getting  blacker and blacker but it's not affecting. um their missiles and these missiles and I've  made this point many times you know what they. haven't understood about the mosaic system that  the Iranians started planning for this asymmetric. war 20 years ago is that they are dispersed across  the center of Iran which is a huge country with. mountains and forests the size of Western Europe  effectively and they are buried deep deep. That.

was the lesson that the Iranians learned from the  attack on Baghdad in 2003. They saw how air power. could come in and could destroy the command center  and the military capabilities of Saddam Hussein. that time and they decided we have to manage a  way that we will not suffer a decapitation strike.

So they implemented this um asymmetric role where  the leadership is completely dispersed across the. country again autonomous if you like commands.  They have their own missiles. The commander has. the initiative to fire those to use troops and  they are completely immune from any cut off of.

communications or an assault or a decapitation  strike because they have preset plans, sealed. plans. Um each commander has these sealed plans  of what to do if a supreme leader is is killed. um. and they tell him what the next proposals are. So  it's like a sort of huge retributive machine that. snaps into action the second um the command is  lost and will continue the war will continue with.

preset plans and we saw that happen uh on that  Saturday when the supreme leader killed within. the hour those plans were unfold and attacks  were starting on Gulf states or and military. US military bases in the in the area. So all in  all, what I'm saying to you is that you know um. and people I think have been quite surprised um at  the resilience that um Iran has has shown in this.

and now they're trying to if you like leverage  this resilience to bring about a major change. uh in the situation and The Iranians have you know  some equations that it's best to understand if you.

want to understand what their position is. It's  like the one I mentioned about the ceasefire but. it is security for all or security for no one.  Prosperity for all in the region or prosperity. for no one. If we are attacked, we will move up  the escalation ladder accordingly. But the aim. is to try and bring about um a complete change as  I say to change the region to through the control.

over the hormones to change um the region away  from being a petro dollar region away from it. being if you like um part of the economic um  the economic sphere. uh of of Wall Street. um and to try and to move to a different economy  in the Gulf uh area. And also uh by insisting on.

Juan, it is trying if you like to change the whole  um if you like basis and the whole geopolitical. um sighting of of Iran and for it to come back as  a major geopolitical power in the region. That's. it. Essentially, it's probably pretty obvious by  now that you definitely need the hallow app. You.

need peace and the hallow can bring you there.  And there's something pretty great starting on. Hallow. Starting April 13th. Mark Wahberg begins  a new series called Stay Prayed Up. His message is. simple. Go to church, take your faith seriously,  and pray. And Hallow can help you with the last. one. Millions follow that routine on Sundays. Then  Monday comes, your life gets busy. The connection. to God fades. Not with Hallow. Hallow offers  daily prayer challenges, not just encouragement,

but structure. or a way to actually live out  your prayers. Prayer is not complicated, but. it's hard. It is a discipline. It's about opening  yourself up to God's will, relinquishing control, and letting God lead your life. And that  can absolutely change your life. In fact, it's the only thing that can change your life.  Hela helps users embrace the rhythm of prayer and. scripture into their regular routines. You listen,  reflect, let it speak into your day. That's what. it means to stay prayed up, showing up daily, even  when you don't feel like it. And when you do that,

God meets you directly. So stay prayed up.  Download Hallow today for 3 months for free. at hallow.com/tucker. There's nothing we recommend  more strongly than this. If Iran, it's from what. you've described, if Iran were to achieve those  goals or even the majority of those goals, it. would be a major global power, not just a regional  power. It seems to me. Yes. Exactly. And this is. why I mean you know what is happening in Iran and  with Homos portands a big ship in the global path.

because already we s see you know signs of this  taking place the their demand that every ship. passed has got to confirm that it is its cargo is  paid for in front and we're seeing consequentially. Russia has already announced that in future  any sales any purchases of Russian oil or gas.

or products by Europe will have to be in one  uh from now on that's it then you've seen a. big European bank Deutsche Bank now stopping um if  you like the issuance so much of their their debts. in dollars and are issuing ponds that isn't based  in either the digital remembering or the ordinary.

remembering and was a huge success. People have  been um it's been oversubscribed people coming. back uh and taking this. So what they're doing is  actually if you like in a small way but they're. trying to capitalize an economic shift away from  the very um leveraged financialized economic world.

um which incidentally has been so damaging  to America and and Europe too because it's. prioritized the financialized world at the expense  of the real economy and real jobs. Um, and it's. all about trading and making money by trading or  something else. But it isn't from making goods. No one does that now. Not enough money in it.  You can make more money in an hour on the stock. markets trading across um futures markets and  other things. So uh it's also part of uh if.

you like that greater project that the Chinese and  Russians are engaged in of going back to much more. self-sufficient economies that are not just based  on financialized um products and and dealings. but actually produce things for people. Produce  things for people and therefore can pay salaries.

to people. and they think this is um you know what  they need to move towards and they want to change. the Gulf in that direction um by persuading them  to deal with Iran that they have no choice but. they need to deal with Iran and they should give  up if you like all these big data centers um by. Amazon and AI centers and should change to a much  more simple economy. So, it's I think it's been.

clear um from an American perspective since the  first days of the war between Russia and Ukraine. that the US dollar as the global reserve currency  was in retreat and it was obviously going to. change at some point. It always was and maybe that  could be managed in some way. You're describing. a very abrupt change. I mean, if a fifth of the  world's energy is settled in Chinese currency, um, that seems like just the end of the dollar as the  global reserve currency, or maybe I'm overstating.

it. I I mean, I don't think I don't think that  is the aim. I think the aim at this point is to. construct um enough pay to get lab leverage over  um the west to get them to understand because it's. not just oil and gas passing through hormones.  It it is also the precursors for for equipment. um helium and sulfuric acid and all these  things that we need for our supply lines.

So it's, you know, if there's a parallel,  I would say that the sort of second part of. it is a parallel to what we've seen in China when  um Mr. Trump imposed those tariffs, high tariffs, 155%. Um China started saying, "Well, I'm sorry.  We're going to impose restrictions on rare earths. and important minerals um also until you bring  down the tariffs." And that's was achieved by.

China by using that leverage um to bring about  a change in the trading system there. And in a. sense, Huo's uh strait gives the opportunity  particularly if the Red Sea is included where. so much of the the world's commodities pass and  of course Ansal the Houthies um are quite capable. of controlling that in a similar sort of way.  So yes it is a change um in that direction but.

China I believe is very is very careful. I was in  in China at the end of last year and I was very. much aware that they are cautious because the  way they've applied AI in sound is not in the. way we do it in the west. I was talking to some  of the factory owners and he said look you know.

uh Alistister went you know at the beginning of  this year I take a typical factory I employed 2. men it's now 200 one year later and he said all of  that is because we apply soft AI you can call it. robotics or automatation or automatics or whatever  but we apply soft AI for productivity to get our. costs done and our costs are falling manufactured  costs are falling by 10%. Uh and I I turned him.

and I said that's terrible because you know we we  can never compete with that. We you must be aware. that's quite dangerous because you are entering  the fusidities point and when you because we have. cost inflation and you have cost deflation this  is not going to be a very easy thing. So you have.

to manage this your but you know your fusidity  and point with great care otherwise you end up. in in a worse conflict with with with the west.  But the Chinese don't want to push themselves to. the forefront, displace the United States and,  you know, the special currency. But they could. do it. You're right. You could do it tomorrow. For  example, when I use WeChat in China, um, you know,

it has 1.4 billion users on that one platform. 1.4  billion. and you can pay, you can take insurance, you can get a loan, everything you want on that.  They could roll that out so easily. I mean, you know, the scale is already there. They could  roll it out across Asia tomorrow. But I don't. think they want to do that. They're not trying to  create a crisis that will affect the whole of the.

trading system of the world because China depends,  you know, on trade and it doesn't want to to. break the system, but it wants to gently move the  system in a different direction. Cost of living is. already making it hard to live here and it's not  getting any better. Unfortunately, it's likely to. get worse. And a lot of Americans fill the gap  with credit cards, not just for fancy dinners, but to cover things like groceries and bills.  And that is a disaster. It's understandable, but don't go down that road because there is a tax  in effect, a survival tax of 20% interest or more.

Why would you do that? Why would you hand money  to the big banks when you could keep it for your. family? Our friends at American Financing have a  better way. If you're looking to buy your first. home or refinance your current one, they're  helping Americans achieve the dream of home. ownership with monthly mortgage rates currently in  the fives. American Financing saves its customers. an average of 800 bucks per month. That's nearly  10 grand every year back to you. This isn't just.

a loan. It's a total financial reset. So, debt  is tough, but there's a smart way to do it and a. reckless, self-destructive way to do it. Credit  cards. And so, we recommend American Financing. They're salary based, not commission based,  which means they actually work for you, not the banks. They're called America's Home  for Home Loans for a reason. Call 800685-55696. 800685-55696. or visit americananfinancing.net/tucker.

You you mentioned that Iran between the end of  the 12-day war in June and the start of this. war at the end of February had received quite a  few decoys from China. Is that the extent of the. military aid that the Iranian government has  received from the Shi government? No. Um but. you know people say well I don't see anything. We  don't see it in Iraq. No, because you wouldn't see.

it because what they had provided um is that um  the the Iranians used to use GPS and the West was. found it quite easy to disrupt GPS signals when  they wanted to or to spoof them into thinking it. was a different location from it. the the Iranians  had gone on to the Russian um system first of all, but now at the beginning of this um period  after the the June war, they moved into BU.

uh the Chinese digital system which is linked  to their satellite. They have complete satellite. system um as you know over the Earth and  we've seen some of the pictures from them. They're very good. And they also in the in the  agreement in the cooperation agreement between. Iran and China agreed that they might have access  to the highest grade military quality digital.

communication system of Beu. So the satellite  system there are earth earth receivers in Iran. The satellite system is linked to that  and the radars are linked through Beu. um to a single um command post or to each  single um if you like missile city to provide.

the targeting and and the and the data. And  during the first stages of this, they also put. uh uh one of their intelligence ships called  Ocean One off the coast, the Persian coast, which was able to intercept communications. It  was also able to map under sea. In other words, it. could map any Israeli or United States submarines  that were operating. All of this was linked and.

it's linked in a sort of huge um digital map  that is available which gives the targets and. it gives the way in which those targets can  be attacked what type of missile can be used. It was used by the Pakistanis in a rather simpler  form in their war against India which um you know. the the the pilot in the Pakistani pilot didn't  have to see its um target on the radar because.

it could see the whole the whole situation the  whole map. Um we call this in the west the IRS. intelligence reconnaissance surveillance. This  was the big asset that the United States gave to. the Ukrainians, the ability to have an integrated  um type of targeting and data um all in one all.

presented even down onto a laptop if necessary,  but onto a cockpit or into a missile center. So what I'm saying is and there's no confirmation  of this from the Chinese or anyone they keep quite. but this time that the who is on the other foot is  the Iranians that have the IRS team intelligence. reconnaissance that's available is quite clear. I  mean, you know, I don't have to prove it because,

you know, when a B1 takes off from Fairford  um airport, RAF in in in England, they the. the Iranians pick it up within a second that it's  taken off and know they can plot where it's going. and what to do about it. So they obviously had  much more sophisticated um uh if you like um. targeting and data management than in the past. I  think the Russians helped but in a different way.

more with drones. Um you know the Iranians helped  initiative with their drones drones. I mean, the Russians asked for them for use in Ukraine  and they took them and then they upgraded them. and now some of that upgrading is coming back to  Iran courtesy I think of Russia. How how difficult. would it be for the United States to defeat  militarily the Iranian regime at this point?

Oh, I I as such I don't think it's possible.  Not in that sense. If you mean to destroy their. ability to uh continue um a military conflict  with um Israel and the United States um bases in. the region, I don't think they can. The Iranians  have even buried their construction plants for.

for missiles. They're not on the surface. And  these um missile they come up if they're not on. in a mountain coming out on the train they come up  from silos you know 200 m deep and they just come. straight up out of the silo and then a new rocket  a new missile is automatically there's a rotating. um if you like um you know drum and it moves the  next missile directly. It doesn't get exposed.

It's not out in the open. It's 200 meters  underground and then the air tight door. shuts as soon as the missile has has has left. I  think it would be very very difficult to defeat. uh Iran in that sense to destroy its military  capabilities and it would be even less possible to. take control of almost now from um from Iran. uh  you you have to look at the geography I mean and.

the terrain of the to understand why this would  just really be a non-stop. Well, you probably. heard a lot about the prime minister of Israel,  Benjamin Netanyahu, BB on this show and elsewhere. He's the guy who's always at the White House  working to suck the United States into some war. of conquest on behalf of his country. But what you  may not know is that the charges against Netanyahu.

are real corruption charges. They tell you a  lot about him. What exactly do you know about. this man who's apparently in charge of the United  States? Well, we are now streaming the BB Files. It's a documentary that pulls back the curtain on  Benjamin Netanyahu. This film traces the rise of. the longest serving prime minister in the history  of Israel and the corruption cases surrounding. him. Hear from former staff and Israeli insiders  describing what Benjamin Netanyahu is really.

like and see leaked interrogation footage from  his corruption investigations. Video that you. were not meant to see and that they definitely  don't want you to see. The BB Files. It offers. a rare look inside Israel's power structure and  the man whose decisions have once again drawn. our country into another war. A big war. You  can stream it now only at tuckercarlson.com. So I if Iranian oil sales as you described them  are potentially going to bring a trillion dollars.

US to the Iranian government over the next year.  that would I I think from an American perspective. increase the incentive to blow up carg to blow up  Carg where I think the overwhelming majority of. Iranian energy uh is loaded onto ships and you're  hearing people talk about that. Well, let's just. eliminate Carg Island. Is that um would that work?  Is that possible? No. Uh it wouldn't work. And.

um you know this is a first of all cog first of  all cog as you know lies at the far end of almost. um on the other shore there of cliffs and then  behind that it's barren very very barren very with. no vegetation um the hills and mountains small  range mountains goes right down to the straits.

And so first of all is how would you get troops  to car? I mean you can't sail them up the whole. moose. In fact the the the what I understand is  that that what they call I think MEU the marine. expeditionary unit ship HMS something or USS  something rather I can't remember his proper name.

um uh did erupt uh with um 2,000 um Marines  on board. Uh Iran fired a couple of missiles. across its boughs and it is now removed to about  1,000 kilometers off the Persian coast because. it doesn't want to risk moving any closer which is  what happened to the um also which happened to the. carriers. they had to move further and further  back so that they couldn't actually use the.

uh the the the fighter to strike aircraft on their  deck because it was too far. They'd have to start. refueling them even over the target and that is an  unacceptable risk for for them. So I don't think. you could get uh could you land them on on on the  borders? Well, Cog Island is in artillery range of. um the the um Iranian side of the hallmarks um  and is certainly within ballistic missile. So.

your troops would be there and they would have  both missiles and they would have artillery bar. um all the time. How would you resupply them? How  would you deal with them? Would you create a sort. of an air base further back? Well, actually the  the Iranians would allow that because they they. in in the Iran Iraq war, they were specialists  in opening corridors and during the Iraqis to.

go in their corridors because they thought they  were unprotected. and then they closed corridor. and then they killed the uh troops in it. Um the  Iraqi has a big military uh it is a million men. under arms and the baz are near another million.  um they would I think not find it difficult to.

deal with a substantial landing of of troops. It  is terrible. The mountains that you know there. are the cliffs are full of anti-ship missiles.  Um and the mountains also um are full of sort of. caves and tunnels where artillery is in position.  Digging artillery out of mountains is a terrible.

expensive job. And in any case, you can't get  into that wouldn't give you if you had T island, you wouldn't have control because the  Iranians have, as I say, anti-hship missiles, but they also have, which we haven't seen used so  far, submergable drones. These are small drones. that are in tunnels under the the water. They  are submerged tunnels and they can exit under.

the water from those tunnels. They have lithium  batteries which can last about 4 days. They have. the capacity to loiter and then use artificial  intelligence to select the target and to attack. the target. Then they have surface drones among  about 600 fast ship surface drones. Most of those. are concealed also and they have finally um which  is not acknowledged much but they have about 25.

to 30 mini submarines and the the draft in that is  is relatively shallow but these submarines I mean. these submarines are mini submarines very small  and they can fly up and down almost and they can. fire anti-ship missiles formers were submerged.  They uh under the under the waters or attack.

it with other forms of drones by these small  submarines. So they would be very vulnerable. We've seen what happened over the weekend where um  uh the US lost uh many aircraft partly because of. an attempt to rescue to crew from the F-15 uh but  also the subsequent operation which was probably.

an operation uh to try and take uh the enriched um  uranium um from Isah um nuclear facility. um that. went wrong and there was an ambush and um uh many  planes were and helicopters were were destroyed. in that process and it failed. I think that was  what you know Trump was very much counting on. you know that they could you know do a madura do  a Venezuela you know the special forces would go.

in one night over a long Easter weekend when the  markets were closed they would go in go to where. Gi the head of the IEA say you know there's half  of the enriched uranium sitting in a tunnel in. this bahan and take it and then come back and  before the market opens we've won it's a great. success but it went badly wrong my guess  is you know that's you can't repeat that.

exercise now not because the Iranians know of it  they knew all along I mean you know they're not. They knew that the main aim of Trump would be to  try and take seize the uranium and then sort of. put it on out as sort of trophy. We destroyed  their nuclear capabilities. Now we have more. than half said it was 60 to 70% of the total 430  kilos of 60% enriched uranium. When the president.

threatened yesterday to eliminate the civilization  um and to destroy the country, what weapons do. you think he was thinking about using? I really  don't know. It sounded very ominous to me. I mean. that he could take out, you know, this is a big  country. I mean a huge country. 95 million people,

you know, infrastructure and industry. I mean the  size of um the whole of Western Europe across it. I mean how could he how how would you do this  by any conventional means? I I don't understand. Maybe he was deliberately hinting at some sort  of nuclear device, but I can't tell. But that's. I suppose one possibility of what he meant by this  would be the death of a civilization and it would.

not return again in the future. It would be over.  Well, what do you how would you do that in such. a big scale? I don't know. Or maybe he was just  talking and didn't really mean what he was saying. was bluster. We just we just don't know. This  makes it very difficult for not just the Iranians. but everyone to sort of negotiate in this time  because they they're finding it very difficult to.

understand um what you know what is now France's  ambition. It seems to me that he wants to get out. of the swamp to which he was invited by Netanyahu  and enthusiastically accepted. Um he wants to get. out because he has this timeline. Uh the midterm  elections are coming up. He's always said,

you know, I've got to, you know, we've got to get  this Iranian thing settled, you know, in four to. 6 weeks so that I can concentrate on trying um  to save the midterm results. Um but now after. the failure uh to try and extract the uranium  from Isbahan, I think the only thing that was. facing him was a long war or massive escalation.  Um and that wasn't going to work well for for for.

the midterms or his situation in the country. So I  think he was hoping for a way out. Is it going to. work? Can it work? Well, that's what I mean about  the contradiction. Iran doesn't want a ceasefire. It wants an end to the wars, an end to its siege.  It wants to be able to get out and play a role.

um in the region. Um and of course that is not  the interest not only of Trump but of particularly. of Israel. Israel has been pressing. I read the  Hebrew press regularly. We do sort of summaries. of of it. And they've given up on the idea of  uh what they call a regime change in Iran. They. realized it's not going to happen. It's not going  to work. Maybe it never was going to work. I mean,

they say this, you know, in the Hebrew press are  much friend than in the English language. They say. this very clearly. It it wasn't going wasn't going  to work. Then came Netanyahu said they must take. Car Island. This has got to be done. Both on the  ground. Car island is the key thing that they have. to do. Well, they have now come to a conclusion.  I mean the Israeli military experts who who know.

the region like the military defense agency have  said you know you're not going to what are you. going to do when you sit on K Island you'll just  be a sitting target you will have huge casualties. and so even the Israelis understand that so  that's why we now have the switch that is taking. place which is over okay now we have to destroy  their infrastructure electricity, water supplies,

railways. In this last days, the entire railway  system of of Iran was has been attacked by by. Israel across the entire country. They've  been destroying the railway system. I mean, it is civilian infrastructure. It is a criminal  thing to do this to the civilian population, but that's what they're pressing on Trump um  to do um to try and push him further down.

They want it really so that Iran is not  functionable as a as a as a going state, but it is too broken. And then they want to see it  divided up into sort of ethno sectarian stateless. uh rather like Syria. This happened to to to Syria  so that it is weak uh and easily dominates it.

What would it take to do that? Is that even  leaving aside whether or not it's evil, and of. course it is evil, but if that were your goal, do  you have a realistic chance of achieving it? And. if so, how? Um, it it will be difficult, but you  could do some of it. Uh, it the Iranian electrical. system is notably decentralized. This is all part  of their rethinking of asymmetrical warfare from.

the 2003 period. So there are about I think it's  150 160 different you know electrical plants that. are all interconnected and so they have a huge  number of small plants that are decentralized. across Iran rather than you know a few big  partners and Busher is probably the biggest.

one that they have but that's a joint project  with Russia. Um but David Iran has attacked that. twice and I think this was a message and you  asked me what was happening but first of all. um Israel attack Nantaz which is another nuclear  site facility. Um it has this or still you know. damaged from when Trump bombed it. But then they  put landed a missile quite near to Bucher which.

is a functioning power nuclear power plant uh  jointly run by the Russians and it's under full. IEA supervision because the Russians want it like  that and then they landed a missile quite close to. Ducher and then now they've landed in the recent  days a missile that has damaged it not heavily.

just but hit it. And of course um the IIA were  very concerned about this and the Russians have. now withdrawn all their stuff from it. But in  my view um this was a message not to Iran but. to the United States. And the message was  to say you know well if you don't do it we. have the capability um uh to eliminate  um these nuclear to go down the road of.

um it's like uh attacking um the nuclear issue. um  in other words to use technical nuclear weapons. So I think I think this was a pressure point  that was put on to the White House to say. look either you do what we say and you know um  destroy their capabilities their infrastructure. or may or maybe Israel will be forced um to  to move to a different level of attack to to.

a nuclear level. That would not be the first  time the Israelis have threatened that. They. threatened that in 1973. So, it's been over  50 years of the same threat. What would do. you believe that that's a real threat? Do you  think Israel would use nuclear weapons in Iran. at at the last resort? Possibly, but not  before. No, I don't think so. I think it.

would be very much a last resort. But you know,  Israel is becoming less I've been writing for. some years to say that, you know, it's no longer  possible to see and understand a large segment of. the Israeli population through secular rationalist  lenses, which we tend to do. We have to look at it. through esqueological ideas and see what they are  uh looking to. And there you see I mean you take.

uh something someone a minister like sports  I remember six seven years ago him saying you. know this is the plan we're going to get rid of  all of the Palestinians all of the Arabs out of. the territories but we require one thing this  was seven years ago six seven years ago and he. said we missing one thing we need a big crisis  or a major war to finish off this project in.

other words there is a large segment that are  not frightened of Armageddon but actually are. looking forward because this is the path to  redemption in in in this in in the stew. So. there's no point saying to them you know as you  know we in Europe do said well it doesn't make any. sense to provoke a big war. it makes absolute  sense that you're an esqueological messianic.

um believer to to do these things. So um you  know we have to try and understand it in in in. in these terms too I think and there is a danger  the the sort of esqueological the messianic theme. uh that is present has been predicted that it  would be present and has gripped probably more. than half of Israelis the sense of um Amalecch  that they are fighting the war of Amalecch and.

this is going lead to um eventually to Armageddon  and redemption. G given that how do you understand. the pressure from Israel on the United States  to continue fighting Russia? It it's very clear. now. What's always been clear, but it's rarely  spoken in public in the US, that Israel and its. advocates in the US have been the prime drivers of  the Ukraine war, pushing the United States to fund.

Ukraine in a fight against Russia and Putin. Why?  What is the thinking there? What's the strategy. behind that, do you think? I think it's it's the  same people and it's the same supremacist thinking. the idea of um control and there is I think in  the case of Russia uh great ancient resentments.

I mean dating back first of all uh to the failed  attempt of the Bolsheiks to instit institute a a. a society that you know ended all reliance on  family, community, religious to create people. as just units units in a society in a sort of  technocratic society. that failed and then Stalin.

uh was instrumental uh in as they believe it in  killing many of those people who largely were. originally many of them came from the US and were  prosecuted. Um, and I remember watching a video. of Putin addressing some of the acidic members  in in in Moscow and he was saying to them, um, you know, and he was warning them and he said, you  you know that I think the figure he gave was 83.

uh% of the Bolshiks were Jewish and most of them  didn't speak Russian. Facebook. Um so the Russians. were very aware of this history and then they were  made aware of it again in the '90s. Um when the. oligarchs, the period of the oligarchs for um put  him turned down on on that um the of the oligarchs.

um there were seven oligarchs nom nomly um six  were Jewish and tied to financial institutions. in the west whether in America or or or or or in  Europe. Um and the consequences of that period.

with the shock treatment, the shock economic  treatment that was visited on Russia, I mean were. were terrible the consequences on on on on their  society. So I think Putin has always tried to. carefully maneuver and manage if you like what he  understands is a um a sort of a power system which. is higher and larger than the power system in in  Europe and the United States in the conventional.

way based much of it on sort of finance  and banking going back to the 19th century. and the influence of people the yak of Franks and  so on and that has given them a very um cautious. um to um to their relations and we've seen that  caution sort of obvious in Syria at times but.

also in in Putin's relations um with uh Israel.  Um I I don't mean it in any denigratory way. Look, I'm just saying that I think he's a cautious  person, a lawyer by training, and he understands. the the power uh the global power and its ability  to mobilize and its ability to use proxies to.

um damage and maybe even defeat a country. And  so, you know, this is I mean, it's interesting. because this is exactly the the parallel that  we're dealing with now um with with Iraq um. in the sense uh that I think um the United States  and would like and Iran would be content to find a.

security solution, a permanent security situation.  solution, not just a ceasefire um to which would. involve um of course things like sanctions,  removal of sanctions and things very similar. to what Russia has been looking for. Uh but just  as in the Ukrainian um situation, the European.

determination to continue the war on Russia  using the Ukrainian proxies has really stopped. the ability to to find a political solution um a  political architecture because what Russia wants. is quite clear. I think Russia wants to set the  boundaries a very clear what are the boundaries of. the sphere of interest of NATO and what are Russia  and China and Asia's sphere of interest what where.

does the boundary between those and what does  that mean that's what I think he means when. he talks about security architecture and this is  what Iran is effectively saying you know you have. to curb do something about stopping Israel because  otherwise Israel will not allow you to come to any. you know any serious meaningful um agreement uh  with uh Iran um and to and if you don't and then.

Iran will do it its own way which is going to be  and you said what happens about Homos but uh you. know they only have to keep homos tightly closed  for 3 weeks and the pain that crossed financial. markets in the west upon around supply lines  and upon food and all these issues will become. very very severe. So you know they're saying you  know this is your these are our equations. It's.

either security for all or security for no one.  Prosperity for all or prosperity for no one. And. we are intent on it. And you know the the Iranians  have a huge resilience. They're unusual people. Uh remarkable in many sense because they're  reading of um the revelation of the prophet.

uh is that you are mandate as a human being um to  oppose the oppression of others. you are mandated. um but similarly um to look after and to take  care of the dispossessed. I mean these are the. fundamental things. You go back to Kerbal you'll  see that is the principles these were the the. principles these were the principles that the imam  in induced and the third principle was the need.

to have active minds. I want the people to have  active minds to think for themselves and to think. um well and for that reason made it compulsory  that you if you went to university you had to. if you wanted to study Islamic philosophy you  also had to study western philosophy the two. run together in in Iranian universities. So this  gives them a very strong and it explains why Iran.

is viewed as an enemy by people who who you know  are oppressing others people um with who uh in. enforcing special rights on some people and not  on others in the in the region. Um, and that is, you know, where it is. And I think that eventually  we're going to get to the point because the.

tensions in Israel, huge, enormous tensions that  are there. Um, you know, the the the the star went. to the cabinet the other day um and said, "Listen,  the IDF, the military force is collapsing. We're totally overextended. It is collapsing  and you know there's nothing we can do about it. unless you want to produce another four 400,000  troops. We can't do it. We're overextended. We.

need to get out of Lebanon. We are failing.  We have failed with Gaza. We have failed in. uh in Lebanon. We thought we defeated Hezbollah  and Mau is inflicting huge costs on a huge damage. on us. You have failed. They are saying that to  let me know. It's in the Hebrew press more than. it's in the English language press. But is a real  crisis and why it's such a big crisis is in Israel.

the army has always been the spinal cord of the  state. you know, left, right, religious, secular, all did their service in the army. It was the  thing that kept it together. And the chief of. staff is saying, "It's broken. It's completely  bust." And the the the political leadership says,

"No, you're just being defeated. We are on  our way to a great victory and we're going. to establish greater Israel across across the  Middle East. And within Israel, people are saying, "You're wrong. It's not going to do that.  Actually, you're going from one defeat to another. to a bigger defeat." And that we have to take  stock and think again of of where where we go.

Why, given the fragile state of the IDF, would  the IDF be bombing residential apartment buildings. in Beirut? Not in southern Lebanon, but in  Beirut, uh, you know, a a a country with a. Christian president. Why would they be  killing civilians in Beirut right now? Well, what some of the um military people in is in  in Israel are saying, this is clearly a last gasp.

um by um the government there to present uh if  you like a victory before they have to concede. um that they will join the the ceasefire in  due course. that this was a a show of force. even though it was a completely ineffective show  of force miniatur this was just simply destroying. residential power blocks many of them many of  them and it was served no purpose other than.

for you know the political grandees to say oh no  look what we've done we've got freedom of action. in Lebanon we can go where we want and destroy  what we want. Um, well, maybe we will agree. to join the ceasefire if Trump pushes us hard  enough to to do that, but it served no purpose. And the idea no it is actually they are going to  I think completely withdraw except that they say.

and this is what the defense minister is insisting  they have to demolish all the houses for a depth. of 7 kilometers into Lebanon platinum they have  to be like Gaza I mean they don't hesitate to. say it's got to be like Gaza and that's going to  be a buffer zone for us and the military say what. is the point of that. The IDF is saying to their  leaders say what is the point of that? Because.

actually the the the as bull's missiles most of  them are north of the Leani. The Leani is the. river that divides Lebanon and it's about I can't  remember how many kilometers but it's about the. third of the way up of Lebanon. and he says they  can still fire from north of Leitani into northern. Israel and they're causing huge damage and huge  losses in one day. I mean the the IDF lost nearly.

500 Macoba tanks, main battle tanks. Now they they  they they did an ambush and they've done it on. other days and other days they've lost 80 um maybe  50 in another day. It's like 2006 in Lebanon when. I was there and they did the same thing to the  Merva there. Um, and you know, of course, I mean, actually, a I think a few of the lead tanks,  the crew get out, but for most of them, they.

don't get out. So, there are big casualties taking  place. I mean, the thing is a mess, a disaster. And this is why I think that ultimately the demand  for a sort of a real ceasefire is mostly going to. come not from Trump and those associates around  him that are close to Israel but may come from.

Israel itself because they've experienced huge  damage and you know what is the point of this? I. mean they cannot they cannot make a political gain  from the system. They've created mayhem across the. region and nothing is working to their favor.  There's not going to be a sort of love in with. the Gulf States, Abraham courts or anything after  what has happened in these in this period. So,

they have to rethink where they're going. And I  think that probably will happen. Maybe not yet. It's not right yet. But I think they will do  that. I think in the United States in doesn't. the US have to think about how to disengage from  Israel given that the cost to the relationship is. very obvious to the American public now. We would  not be in a war with Russia were not for pressure.

from Israel and its advocates. We would not be in  a war with Iran were it not for our relationship. with Israel. So can the United States disentangle  from Israel without getting hurt in the process? Do you think? Well, there are those in Israel  who advocate it. I know that's surprising, but on the right wing, there are those who say it.  Even Netanyahu says it's time for us to disengage. and be less reliant on on the United States. I  think he reads the writing on the wall. Frankly,

he sees the writing on the wall. So, let's  anticipate it. But how they're going to do. that? I I mean, is is is a different question.  As I was saying earlier, you know, the whole. um it's not just the geopolitics of the region is  shifting because of Hormos and the way the war is, but I'm saying that you know the mainstay of uh  Israel has been the technical um industries of.

the Gulf and the Gulf States and the money of the  Gulf States which have supported it. And I think. that is probably going to change and change quite  dramatically. I I'm not sure. It depends uh to the. degree with which the Gulf States can also read  the writing on the wall and realize some of them.

I think have begun to do that. They're thinking  about how how to deal with how to deal with Iraq. that they need to come to terms and to come to an  arrangement so they can export their energy and. whatever else they want. But that is going to mean  and the Iranians say that you know you can't do. that and also be beholden to Microsoft and Amazon  and have all of their data centers and because you.

know we understand what data centers are. They  are for security. They are for surveillance, for monitoring every telephone call and every  structure that take moves in the Middle East. uh so that you can assassinate them if you want  them. We are not going to accept these this type. of um technology in in in the region and that's  why they've attacked them. And I think they've. attacked that big Amazon center and the UAE I  think cost 30 billion to set up. It's the biggest.

You won't find it on Google Maps because it's  hidden but it's a huge AI center that so I think. I think yes I I think you know that is the way.  So where what is the business model for Israel for. the next 10 years? That is going to be a question.  Where does this war leave the Gulf States, the. GCC? Um, it leaves them badly damaged. Um, many  of the people leaving um the particularly Dubai.

um and UA. Um the it leaves them uh needing to  rethink how uh they can if you like um manage a. relationship with Iran which allows them to export  their goods even though it will mean disengagement.

from the western financialized world. Um but  they will need to do that. I think they will. find they have little choice ultimately at the  moment they're full of indignation and anger. that they've been attacked and blah blah blah but  ultimately um you know if they want to move their. products either through the Red Sea by the way the  Saudi pipeline um uh to the Red Sea has just been.

attacked I don't know if it's completely destroyed  but has just been attacked um for that was their. alternative to supplying oil. They could supply  5 million barrels a day from um off the coast. of the Red Sea. Um but that's been attacked now.  So I mean the pressure is on the Gulf States to. to come to terms and some of them will. I believe  some of them will more easily and others may not.

And and f finally how do you think most likely  this is resolved and over what time period? Uh I think that this is going to be resolved  in the way uh that I indicated. I think that. um initially um we will see the negotiations  that the Americans although they've said the.

White House has said that the 10point plan is  the base for discussion about the political. settlement. This is the base. This is  the anchor if you like the 10point plan. um that uh Iran has produced. It's a real I mean  it's a real initiative. It's been signed off by. the supreme leader uh the young supreme leader  and by the security council. It's not one of these.

plans that have come in from Pakistan by talking  to sort of ephemeral people. this has come out of. the security um structures and with the support  of the uh IRGC um and the supreme leader read it. um asked for some amendments to it and gave it its  imperative. So it is a serious document. I think.

that inevitably in the negotiations um whoever is  negotiating if it is Vance or Whitcock or whoever. they will then revert or try and say yes but  we have to go back to these other issues. You. may not enrich uranium in Iran. And one of the  principles that the Iranian has said is we have. the right to enrich in Iran our Iranian or as  a source of energy. They will then say well you.

cannot have such missiles. You're going to have to  dismantle your missile systems and you will need. to put limits on them and we will have to inspect  them and we will have to um monitor it. and run. will say no way is that going to happen and they  will say you'll have to give up the whole mus. completely that we'll have to you'll have to give  up the whole mus um and um and they will say no we.

are in control of it and we don't intend to give  it up and then the negotiators on the American. side will probably say well if you do what we  set out in our 15point plan or whatever it is, then slowly sanctions will be lifted on you  according to how you behave and Iran will say, "Listen, you forget our basic equation. Prosperity  for all or prosperity for not. If you do that,

you're going to have an economic crisis." And I  think probably that is where we're going to go. There will be eventually financial economic  crisis in certainly in Europe but in America. too. Um the debt market will will tank the market  the stock market will go. It will be a crisis and. people will eventually you know unfortunately  pain is the greatest um instigator of faint.

I mean I think when the pain becomes sufficient  then then there will be a decision in the White. House that they have to rethink um how they  approach this and that maybe the 10point plan. was something that they could actually work  with and that they understand that those were. preconditions to a ceasefire. not the discussion  points during a ceasefire but the preconditions.

and they include the lifting of sanctions and  first primary sanctions and secondary sanctions. that affect Iran. I mean you've heard these same  stories for Russia. I mean this is the same the. same sort of thing and either either people will  face up to that or it's going to be a long painful. period in in in coming ahead for us unfortunately  because of our but I think it's important I was.

going to say but nonetheless I think that's not  a bad thing not a disaster because I do think. I mean maybe I'm speaking you know I'm going  to contrarian But I think we in the west need. a process of capacity. We've sunk into neihilism  and we sunk into a sort of negative postmodernism. uh and an economic structures um that damage um  uh the the majority of our peoples. um um the.

the minority get she rich by doing very little  but many people are suffering today. I mean, it's hard. um jobs are getting scar and it's hard  and and I think that we do need a sort of what I. call creative to structure it a little bit to to  help us rethink for a start what sort of economic.

structure do we need to to address the problems  we have because the economic um structure we've. had in this period has not has has brought about  this bipolar world. There is, you know, the the. the the world of the billionaires and the world of  the rest which is getting progressively into, you. know, our people are only people wherever it is in  Europe and others they think well you know protest.

doesn't work um because we protest nothing happens  we voting doesn't work we can vote for tweedle D. or tweedle bar it doesn't change the economic  system um and bring about a change and that's. what we want to see and I think the whole of this  period partly stimulated by what the Iranians are. doing and even by their sort of thoughts about it  is going to um provoke people to think more deeply.

in Europe about um you know how do we actually  not just produce a cosmetic market relations type. of things. But how do we actually find a solution  that would provide a decent living for our people? I think that's the um that's the most hopeful  thing I've heard in a long time and I'm grateful.

for your analysis, Alistister Crook. Thank  you very much. My pleasure. Thank you. So, if you've made it to the end of this  episode, one recommendation, go back, rewind the last three minutes of what Alistair  Crook just said about what this crisis could lead. to. That the shoots of renewal are poking up from  the soil. They are there. If you look carefully,

you can see them. What we're doing is not  working. It hasn't worked for a long time. It's not even worth aortioning blame for that.  It's enough to just observe it, acknowledge it, and know that it's true because it is true. The  majority of the American population is not being. served by the current system. And yet, some sort  of horrible revolution is the last thing we want. It is possible, and if we're wise, we could make  it true that what we're going through now leads. to something better, a better future for our  country, the United States, and for the West,

and maybe for the world. This doesn't have  to end in total destruction. It could end. in renewal and no one has ever put it better  than Alistair Krooks who just did. So watch. it again if you have the time. Thanks so much  for joining us. We'll see you next Wednesday.