Bannon's War Room - Episode 5152： Tensions Rise In Iran And Cutting Of Oil To The CCP; Live From Athens

00:00:00.000 this is the primal scream of a dying regime pray for our enemies because we're going medieval on

00:00:10.660 these people here's not got a free shot all these networks lying about the people the people have

00:00:17.240 had a belly full of it i know you don't like hearing that i know you try to do everything

00:00:21.000 the world to stop that but you're not going to stop it it's going to happen and where do people

00:00:24.600 like that go to share the big line mega media i wish in my soul i wish that any of these people

00:00:32.420 had a conscience ask yourself what is my task and what is my purpose if that answer is to save my

00:00:40.340 country this country will be saved war room here's your host stephen k bannon

00:00:47.580 every country in the middle east except maybe the uae is desperate to avoid this war the chinese and

00:00:59.020 the russians don't want this war trump really doesn't want this war who wants this war benjamin

00:01:04.860 netanyahu wow will he get the war that he wants boy it's very hard to say i go back and forth on this

00:01:13.680 one uh on one hand i say this war can't happen because we can't achieve our goals by striking

00:01:23.460 iran and furthermore you have to take into account what iran can do in retaliation you were just talking

00:01:30.720 about the straits of hormuz and what the consequences would be if that one heated up and of course the

00:01:37.800 iranians are going to launch ballistic missiles at israel as well so it's hard to see why it makes

00:01:45.080 sense to start this war from a purely strategic point of view but then it looks like trump has

00:01:52.100 boxed himself in and furthermore the israelis appear to be putting enormous pressure on him

00:01:57.900 to go to war against iran and you know can he disobey his masters i don't think so so that pushes me in

00:02:07.100 the other direction so i feel one day war is inevitable uh because of pressure from the israelis

00:02:13.420 and the next day i think it's not going to happen because i can't tell the story as to how a war leads

00:02:19.480 to some sort of happy ending for all the parties okay that's professor mersheimer obviously the guy's

00:02:24.900 been dead right on ukraine the entire time matt boyle now joins us from uh greece another tinderbox of

00:02:31.940 this part of the broader region matt uh overnight axios came out with a and we had we had captain

00:02:38.440 finnell on here yesterday go through a detailed presentation kind of an nsc type briefing of all

00:02:43.460 the assets pouring into the region axios this morning reports that this is much farther advanced

00:02:49.460 strategically in the planning in the white house than than people understand you're in the region

00:02:54.840 right now your your situation the event you had with kimberly guilford was great yesterday she's a

00:02:59.540 great ambassador uh i don't know what's more beautiful matt is that your smiling visage

00:03:04.860 of matt boyle the national political editor breitbart or the acropolis at sundown in the background sir

00:03:10.820 yeah well i mean the greeks are totally hooking it up here for me we've got the acropolis back uh

00:03:17.220 back behind me uh which is pretty impressive uh to see um the uh the uh it's been quite a it's my

00:03:25.220 second trip here uh really exciting it's your point about you know what may or may not be looming with

00:03:30.880 regard to iran and the president's eventual decision making there everyone here is talking about that

00:03:36.600 right like so um i've been having a series of discussions with folks in the media in athens as

00:03:44.680 well as political defense business leaders both inside and outside government uh since i've arrived

00:03:53.200 a little over a day ago uh and everybody expects something to happen from president trump exactly

00:04:01.220 what nobody really seems to know yet uh and i don't think anybody knows except president trump

00:04:06.640 uh ultimately the president will make a decision i think that there there are several things that

00:04:12.320 the president is keeping in mind as he makes any kind of a decision with regard to iran and the

00:04:18.920 the first and most important thing if you remember steve last time we talked uh is the polling data

00:04:23.200 that shows that support for taking out the regime in iran significantly drops when you start talking

00:04:29.380 about even one american casualty so i think the president uh you know if you look at the two major

00:04:34.840 military successes uh so far the and i'm talking about major ones there have been a lot of minor ones

00:04:40.160 as well like taking out the terrorists and stuff but i'm talking about the major ones the uh the strike

00:04:44.940 in iran taking out the nuclear program last year uh and at the beginning of this year to uh you know

00:04:49.560 the capture nicholas maduro in venezuela uh what is the the constant in both of those cases very short

00:04:56.180 operation no american lives at risk clearly defined policy outcome and goal that was in the american

00:05:03.940 interest and achieved uh you know quickly and without paying for america right like so i think that those

00:05:10.480 are the things that the president is considering as he's looking at his optionality but hang on for a

00:05:16.480 second the axios piece was very detailed and this came from administration people and they talked

00:05:20.940 specifically about the difficulty of the target sets different than the 12-day war different because this

00:05:26.600 is just not going after nukes and not ballistic missiles they're talking about a several week bombing

00:05:31.840 campaign uh that's pretty detailed and and pretty well planned at the same time president trump's in a

00:05:38.120 negotiation and he wants to see uh results uh and he's a master negotiator he's brought in all the

00:05:44.820 possible leverage he could have with this military because they're flooding you know you're going to

00:05:48.520 have two carrier battle groups there captain finnell talked about the possibility of maybe a third

00:05:53.160 carrier battle group uh the bush that would be available uh so when mersheimer says that president

00:05:59.300 trump's boxed in do you buy that or you think this is a master negotiation strategy to try to get what he

00:06:06.020 wants to achieve and maybe cut force him to cut off the oil to the chinese communist party to bring

00:06:10.420 down the regime economically yeah well i mean i first off i don't think president trump has ever

00:06:15.920 boxed it when it comes to negotiations and he's more powerful than he's ever been in his entire

00:06:21.000 political career here in his second term especially as he enters his second year ahead of the state of

00:06:26.320 union address a week from today right like so the the fact is is that i think you were going to see

00:06:32.400 uh i i i don't know exactly what's going to happen right so i don't want to predict the future

00:06:38.220 but what i will say is is that the president always has leverage and this president in particular

00:06:44.220 is a master negotiator right like i mean we've seen it with trade deals with peace deals with economic

00:06:50.220 deals uh you know one of the things i talked with ambassador guilfoyle about here in athens last

00:06:55.040 night is in her first hundred days as u.s ambassador to greece right she was a little delayed in

00:07:00.760 getting here because you know one of the the beauties of democracy and we've got the birthplace

00:07:05.980 of it here right behind me uh one of the beauties of democracy is is that our united states senate has

00:07:10.960 all sorts of finicky procedures but anyway she's been here a little more than 100 days now finally

00:07:16.000 got through the delays in the united states senate and they got her confirmed uh what what has she done

00:07:20.740 major energy deals right like so they just signed a huge deal with chevron to do offshore drilling

00:07:26.080 uh an exploration for uh lng off the coast of greece right i mean who would have thought that's

00:07:32.000 possible right the europeans uh you know uh are are basically doing drill baby drill that's the thing

00:07:38.420 i keep hearing from everybody right everybody here is walking around talking about drill baby drill who

00:07:43.260 would have thought that in greece or anywhere in europe uh you know a few years ago uh but the what

00:07:48.600 you're seeing is is that the you know these folks are siding with president trump but again so what i'm

00:07:52.980 saying is is that everything's a negotiation with president trump everything's about creating more

00:07:57.720 leverage everything's about interconnected with everything else and so to your point about you

00:08:03.740 know cutting off the chinese communist party it's worth noting the president has a planned trip there

00:08:07.880 coming up in uh in april right like so and the the the ultimate negotiation is with china right about

00:08:17.500 the the future of that uh so in all of these other trade deals are about creating leverage for that and

00:08:22.280 you know the india trade deal is all about russia and ukraine and cutting off uh india from buying

00:08:28.200 russian energy so the the all of these things are interconnected the president has more leverage than

00:08:33.620 he's ever had his entire political career in his entire life and business i i think that he has

00:08:39.720 more power and control than ever and so um no he's not boxed in i think if anything he's in the driver's

00:08:46.240 seat let's talk about what happens next yeah all the carry battle groups it looks like

00:08:52.280 heading to the north arabian sea but you can't forget the eastern mediterranean where greece and

00:08:57.140 turkey are at the very beginning day in this discussion that netanyahu said okay look if you

00:09:01.900 guys aren't prepared to go let us go we'll do it but we will need some defensive support in the first

00:09:08.360 48 hours of the 12-day war we shipped i think sailed two or three aegis class cruisers to the eastern

00:09:15.220 mediterranean right off of greece to act as air defense is the concern in the region that everybody's

00:09:22.020 looking at the north arabian sea and hitting iran but a conflict that could go from the persian gulf

00:09:27.580 and the because the iranians if they're hit are just are going to try to hit back they're going to

00:09:31.260 try to hit the oil the gas fields in qatar they're going to try to hit the saudis uh is there any concern

00:09:37.140 that this could metastasize because you're essentially sitting on a tinderbox between the greeks and the

00:09:42.920 who hate each other's guts sir yeah well first off i will say you hear a little bit less of turkey

00:09:50.140 talk here uh since uh on this trip as compared with my last one uh and i think that's because

00:09:56.100 uh president trump has effectively handled erdogan uh and you know he says nice things about him but

00:10:02.300 doesn't actually give him anything right like they keep wanting the same things dating back to 2019 and

00:10:07.840 they haven't gotten it right like so it is what it is with that uh but more particularly to your point

00:10:13.840 about uh if there is some kind of a war with iran or some kind of a military action um uh i literally

00:10:20.060 just left an interview where another journalist asked me the same question and they are concerned

00:10:24.720 about it uh here uh because of how close it is right like and so

00:10:29.280 okay i think we just dropped a fee to matt bowl try to get that set back up let's go to australia

00:10:37.220 we got dr thayer this is the magic of real america's voice let's go to australia one of our top

00:10:42.940 strategists is down there for a big conference with ben harnwell dr thayer your assessment you've seen

00:10:48.060 the axios piece this morning you've been warning that this planning had to be a much more advanced than

00:10:52.880 it was your thoughts uh it certainly is and and uh the air bridge keeps flowing into the region

00:11:00.020 if you're looking at uh the movements of course of uh american mobility of the air mobility command

00:11:05.560 uh steve so lots of resources are flowing into the region hang on hang on hang on hang on one second

00:11:12.700 because jim finnell talked about the naval resources when you say air bridge what do you mean by that

00:11:18.360 to find it for the audience and and what resources are flowing in on the air bridge now

00:11:22.460 so very valuable uh and uh resources are flowing in via american cargo aircraft those would be c-17s

00:11:33.080 uh and c-5s larger but principally c-17s into the region they would be bringing personnel they'd be

00:11:40.940 bringing material uh that would be um immediately useful uh to uh deploy uh in the region and uh that

00:11:52.060 bridge is very important because it's signifying that america's precious valuable um and uh assets

00:12:01.220 are going there right now right so they're going to uh the middle east presently uh and that's designed

00:12:09.740 to allow obviously the military option to be executed that's also allowed to allow real muscle

00:12:17.720 uh to be provided to the diplomatic effort uh which is uh which is ongoing which is coterminous so

00:12:24.940 the iranian regime is looking down the wrong end of a very large gun barrel and that's going to help

00:12:32.280 with diplomacy but if diplomacy fails uh then the trigger is going to be pulled uh against the target

00:12:39.440 set uh in um uh in iran hang on let's talk about hang on i want to talk about the target set because you

00:12:45.560 did great analysis on the 12-day war and then the the total obliteration campaign the expeditionary

00:12:50.920 force of the of the uh of the bombers from nebraska and the navy uh tomahawk missiles also in this the

00:12:58.680 strike the magnificent strike of special forces from um from the 82nd airborne in venezuela this is

00:13:05.560 quite different they're talking now axios the leak and it came from the administration

00:13:09.340 a minimum of a several week intense bombing campaign sir your your thought we got about a

00:13:15.460 minute we're going to hold you through but your thoughts well certainly i would make two points

00:13:21.480 here just before the break uh steve one matt's right that trump's not boxed in uh and um trump is a

00:13:30.100 master negotiator and nothing is determinative yet but it does look that we are not just inching

00:13:36.340 but we're really taking uh some we're galloping towards conflict uh with iran that target set

00:13:43.260 could be limited or it could be a major attack option it's looking like a major attack option

00:13:48.880 against the leadership against the uh republican guard against other military targets and the ballistic

00:13:56.940 missiles uh of course which are at this point iran's principal mechanism of retaliation ballistic

00:14:05.660 missiles more so than uh the modest aircraft uh assets that they have so uh it does look like

00:14:12.620 we're galloping towards a major attack option uh against iran uh and um uh at this time that has of

00:14:21.160 course consequences yeah hang on one second we've got 30 seconds i want to hold all this

00:14:25.600 do the next break galloping and not boxed in pretty detailed leaks out to the media today

00:14:33.880 kurt uh mills has gone to jewish we're talking about what mersheimer said bruce springsteen takes you

00:14:39.980 out on the streets of minneapolis not the streets of tehran or break back in a moment

00:14:45.720 a new year means new financial goals like making sure your savings are secure and diversified

00:15:04.980 will this be the year you finally listen to me and talk to someone from birch gold group honestly

00:15:12.160 they're great people i appreciate their educational approach and their understanding of macroeconomics

00:15:17.440 there are forces pushing the dollar lower and gold higher which is why they believe every american

00:15:23.640 should own physical gold so until february if you are a first-time gold buyer birch gold is offering

00:15:31.900 a rebate of up to ten thousand dollars on qualifying purchases to claim eligibility and start the process

00:15:39.560 just text bannon at nine eight nine eight nine eight birch gold can help you roll an existing ira or

00:15:47.060 401k into an ira in gold and you're still eligible for a rebate of up to ten thousand dollars make right

00:15:56.100 now your first time to buy gold and take advantage of a rebate of up to ten thousand dollars when you

00:16:02.180 buy by by by february 27th text my name bannon nine eight nine eight and claim your eligibility today

00:16:09.440 remember text bannon b-a-n-n-o-n to nine eight nine eight nine eight you've got to the end of february

00:16:15.600 27 february to qualify up to a ten thousand dollar rebate here's your host steven k ban

00:16:24.820 okay we lost the light in in athens we're gonna try to get bold back up by phone dr thayer's in

00:16:32.300 australia jim rickert's gonna be with us tomorrow one of the best geopolitical thinkers around

00:16:36.360 rickert's war room.com you go there you get it's a landing page you get asked ask access to strategic

00:16:44.800 intelligence his newsletter that the c-suites that'd be chairman of the board and ceos read every month

00:16:51.720 you get access to it it's it's based upon this a set of uh analysis he calls predictive analytics

00:16:58.320 it's one of the reasons he's been so accurate he's such a legendary figure like i said we're

00:17:03.040 gonna try to game up tomorrow morning rickert's war room.com uh go there right now rickert's war

00:17:08.680 room.com it's a landing page you get access to strategic intelligence and he'll throw in

00:17:12.700 a book he wrote that's quite brilliant about fiat currency and artificial intelligence

00:17:17.600 was it money gpt you cannot miss it jim rickert's one of the best dr thayer it's the middle of the

00:17:24.420 night uh we're gonna get you and um we're gonna stream your your talks and panels you're there with

00:17:30.400 harnwell we couldn't be prouder that you're taking the uh taking the war room and taking it to an

00:17:35.260 australian audience closing thoughts on on this kurt mills is on deck uh you've you've kind of called

00:17:41.320 this from the beginning you got an air bridge now you get massive naval uh assets coming in leaks

00:17:46.540 from the white house saying that the planning for this and for a sustained long attack is much

00:17:52.100 more developed than people have thought uh your closing thoughts sir yeah they're certainly signaling

00:17:57.140 that steve right they're signaling that this is going to be a major attack that's useful for

00:18:01.100 diplomacy as i said and that would certainly be useful if conflict uh erupts uh my thoughts are

00:18:07.620 these that uh closing thoughts are these not determinative um president trump can alter course if he

00:18:14.720 chooses to secondly major attack options are going to be sustained uh and that's going to involve

00:18:20.860 it's a very difficult target set going after individuals and going after uh even ballistic

00:18:26.800 missiles and cruise missiles uh which the iranians have and will likely be along with terrorism

00:18:32.560 their principal means uh of retaliation against the gulf shakedoms uh and u.s allies uh and perhaps the

00:18:39.940 u.s uh itself finally uh this is par these assets are precious so all the assets that are going into

00:18:47.860 this area have a high opportunity cost all right they're not around japan they're not around taiwan

00:18:55.040 they're not around the philippines even as uh chinese communist party's aggression uh continues

00:19:01.360 against our allies and partners uh in the indo-pacific uh and elsewhere so china's military buildup and its

00:19:09.840 aggression continues and the assets that are in the middle east uh can't be used to serve

00:19:15.080 conventional deterrent or other missions uh in the uh indo-pacific so um very important to keep uh that

00:19:22.720 in mind if there is going to be a war it's likely going to be one which is sustained and of course every

00:19:28.720 war takes its own course uh right once you you start it uh as klaus was warned of course warfare is not

00:19:35.440 predictable uh it will have its own pathway uh so very important to keep uh these points in mind as

00:19:41.980 we move towards um uh obviously great security competition with iran what is your uh social

00:19:50.760 media how they follow you on your trip and all your uh writings and analysis sir well brad there at x and

00:19:58.700 bradley there at getter and truth and uh thank you very much steve for streaming we have a lot of

00:20:03.760 great australians uh here who are uh working with us to solve really to cut the gordian knot of western

00:20:10.920 politics which is uh how can the people of western countries be heard right how is it that you can um

00:20:18.620 uh change path uh and uh really bring about popular change uh whether it's in ireland or in texas

00:20:27.120 or in australia thanks very much we sent two of our biggest hammers dr bradley thayer and our own

00:20:34.020 ben harnwell from uh our international division in rome so thank you sir thank you for being out

00:20:38.380 there it's great look forward to streaming all the panels and speeches and get you guys back on

00:20:43.020 fantastic kurt mills um the leak overnight to uh axios uh and others i think part of that came from

00:20:53.260 obviously uh the israelis uh the writer is known to be very plugged in at the highest levels of the

00:20:59.640 israeli military intelligence services in government uh what is your thought is this president trump is

00:21:05.420 this another um strategic asset he's using to try to get to a negotiated end because as you said two

00:21:12.480 days ago we had you on this thing's changing every 12 hours so given the fact that they're sending a

00:21:17.860 message that hey we have been planning this for a while we understand that this target set is not

00:21:23.860 going to be a one-night knockout like the 12-day war or venezuela and we're set if we do it we're set

00:21:29.280 to go in and we're set to essentially let's be blunt this is not about the nuclear program at least

00:21:34.940 what's been purported is not about the nuclear program it's not about the ballistic missile this is

00:21:38.980 a it looks like planning a regime change strike sir

00:21:43.120 yeah so i think the first thing that you flag that it's been a bit of a whiplash is an understatement

00:21:50.680 um yesterday morning eastern time so as the negotiations were concluding at the end of the

00:21:56.620 business day in europe on tuesday um the iranian readout was quite positive on how the negotiations

00:22:02.940 went uh they thought that they had a framework for continuing the talks and the u.s signaled that the

00:22:08.660 talks would continue uh the vice president's appearance on fox news or fox business um at the

00:22:16.220 evening eastern time or at least when it aired uh was open to some interpretation a bit of a

00:22:22.580 rorschach test um some thought that vance's rhetoric was pretty hawkish indicating that they'd only

00:22:29.040 signaled that they were going to continue the talks others thought that there was more of an opening

00:22:33.500 there uh vance the vice president only emphasized as the president has emphasized that no nuclear

00:22:39.880 weapon is the goal so if that is the goal uh in my view they will come to a deal uh if the goal is

00:22:46.640 more expansive i.e zero enrichment uh basically what it would take is 90 enrichment to get a nuclear weapon

00:22:53.360 so if they accepted some low level enrichment like 1.5 um i think we would get a deal if the goal

00:22:58.500 goal is zero enrichment or even more expansive ballistic missiles then i think we are going

00:23:03.620 to war and the report that ravine and you're right to say the axios writer is extremely plugged in uh i

00:23:09.680 believe he's a dual national or he's literally just an israeli um says that uh not only is trump

00:23:15.360 considering going to war uh that it's going to be a war that is far far far more expansive uh than the

00:23:22.200 operation that went on uh to maduro and indeed as the midnight hour approached eastern time last night

00:23:28.620 uh there people very plugged into it thought uh that there was a chance not only of a strike

00:23:34.200 a la uh june 2025 but a broader maneuver and as the day has wandered on today wednesday the iranians

00:23:42.440 appeared prepared uh for that uh contingency and that battle uh that ship the ford is it appears to be a lot

00:23:50.760 closer to the region that people understood even a day ago so let's go back i want to go back uh over

00:23:58.060 that for a second particularly because the region uh i think people in the region are not as gung-ho

00:24:03.140 on this because of the ballistic missile situation the gas fields with qatar uh which i think some of

00:24:09.380 the jointly run with the uh with the persians you got the situation with the saudis um and the

00:24:15.200 ballistic missile i can't see now if you're saying hey it's got to be totally about enrichment nuclear

00:24:19.740 i just don't see how president trump gets off this ballistic missile situation because i think

00:24:25.540 it's absolutely not icbms not things that would hit the united states as a lot of people you know

00:24:30.120 try to run out of their hair and fire these these are these are the ballistic missiles hit tel aviv

00:24:35.700 that did so much damage also could hit qatar and they're really concerned about the oil fields i've

00:24:40.000 talked to people that are experts in the region they're saying hey you get into a three or four

00:24:43.900 week shooting war here our gas field that massive gas field that supplies so much for uh europe and

00:24:50.700 others could be taken out and not be brought back up for five years so i i don't see any situation do

00:24:57.460 you think that these negotiations can't include some sort of discussion of ballistic missiles and

00:25:02.280 if you're saying the iranians are going to say well heck with that we'll just go to war

00:25:05.060 then i think we're on the path to a kinetic conflict right i mean look the president has to decide

00:25:11.860 basically what his criteria are um i i totally see a pathway to negotiation without the missiles

00:25:17.240 that's what the original negotiations were last spring before the negotiations were interrupted by

00:25:21.780 the israelis and then frankly this is why our politics are becoming corroded by this discussion

00:25:26.160 frankly the mcbms the medium medium range ballistic missiles uh don't affect the united states

00:25:33.180 they're not a threat to the united states they're a threat to israel they're not a threat to anybody

00:25:36.860 else in the region they're not a threat well hang on hang on hang on hang on they're a threat

00:25:40.780 to the gas fields are they not that's what they're going to hit the gas right only in the

00:25:44.380 contention of a war yeah only that's yes yes yes but i mean if we don't go to war there's no there's

00:25:53.080 no threat right uh but we haven't they didn't hit israel until we went to war there anyway what

00:25:59.840 it seems it seems like from the messaging over the last 24 hours and we had rabbi willucky on here

00:26:06.080 yesterday and one thing he mentioned about the framework he said look the way the persians

00:26:09.360 as you know they're so bureaucratic the way they traditionally negotiate is a win for them is to

00:26:15.260 have another meeting and so this may be going down and whitkoff and kushner could be reporting back

00:26:20.140 saying hey they want to get to the next meeting there's a series this but are we really making

00:26:24.820 any headway on the big issues as you know president trump is a patient man but he does have limited

00:26:31.440 patience sir yeah i know i mean the pretty hawkish nuclear expert who i think is who is a professional

00:26:37.600 i don't agree with his politics but david albright uh has signaled that the iranians are beginning to

00:26:42.780 hide nuclear weapons sorry nuclear material again underground further to try to shield them from

00:26:49.540 uh from bombing so there is evidence that you know look that the iranians could be stalling but i think

00:26:54.260 the overriding uh story here is that this is basically a bureaucratic uh autocratic uh you know

00:27:01.660 almost sovietized part of the world and that that they are pretty slow in negotiating in fact they

00:27:08.040 still maintain that they want to do indirect negotiations which is these are sort of bizarre

00:27:12.360 situations in which you know whitkoff's in one room the foreign minister arachis in another room

00:27:16.800 they're not doing themselves any favor uh but i mean going to full-scale war uh because the iranians

00:27:23.120 uh tactical decisions diplomatically are goofy i'm not really sure is in the american interest

00:27:28.880 hang on for a second because i want to talk about the political calculation here domestically

00:27:34.100 because obviously from georgia and people uh they're coming in and out the georgia lecture board

00:27:39.160 we've got it up uh streaming it's right there it was on it's right there on the screen you can dip

00:27:43.420 in and out of that uh a fascinating uh uh effort in georgia as we dig in there to make sure they

00:27:49.360 don't give up the uh don't give up the ballots and get to the bottom of this entire mess the stolen

00:27:53.700 2020 election yes it's still living and breathing because uh the streets of minneapolis are still

00:27:59.960 living and breathing the 25 million of illegal alien invaders have not left the country natasha

00:28:07.220 owens takes us out with her hit the boss back in a moment

00:28:10.680 the world is getting more unstable and chaotic every day it seems like everyone everywhere you

00:28:26.340 look there's another crisis another controversy another conflict or just outright catastrophe

00:28:32.260 you can't control what happens out there but you can control how you prepare for it

00:28:38.460 you can make sure that no matter what happens you have the basics covered in case one of these

00:28:44.480 disasters reaches your doorstep you know things like having enough food to eat when the shelves are

00:28:51.120 empty and when it comes to my family's food security i trust my patriot supply they've helped millions of

00:28:58.000 americans get prepared and they have over 90 000 five-star reviews right now you can get their best-selling

00:29:06.440 three-month emergency food supply kit for 100 bucks off my patriot supply almost never offers a deal like

00:29:14.540 this to take advantage of it go to preparewithbannon.com that's all one word preparewithbannon.com

00:29:23.120 this food kit gives you 2 000 calories a day last up to 25 years and best of all it's 100 off

00:29:32.860 for a limited time go to preparewithbannon.com and get yours right now that's preparewithbannon.com

00:29:40.880 make sure you know all one word preparewithbannon.com special deal 100 bucks off do it today

00:29:49.520 war room here's your host steven k mann

00:29:53.960 okay we've got matt boyle by phone we lost the light pretty poetic right we lost the light in

00:30:01.380 athens but we have matt boyle by phone matt you're a national political editor of uh breitbart uh news

00:30:08.660 and have been for a very long time you're probably i think the best reporter by far understanding maga

00:30:15.900 uh where it looks like potentially on a path to a kinetic conflict here uh your domestic political

00:30:23.100 calculations of that sir well look i mean if if they if we are on a path to a conflict which i would

00:30:30.320 agree with your assessment it seems like we are um then again if it really is very quick over and on

00:30:38.220 i think the president will be viewed as uh as a massive success but if it turns into a long drag

00:30:44.740 out thing right like i mean they're talking about what three or four weeks right now well that's what

00:30:49.220 they were saying at the beginning of iraq right like uh you know and then a decade or so later we

00:30:54.080 were still there right so like the question is is can the president do something quick and uh you know

00:31:00.120 not protracted and not long and is the objective uh achieved very quickly and are uh americans

00:31:08.200 lives protected if that's the case then uh you know he's going to go down as a you know an

00:31:14.060 incredible leader if he gets us dragged into a long protracted war uh that destabilizes the region

00:31:20.240 and what i think when we got cut off there i was just talking about uh when the connection dropped

00:31:25.960 for me um uh that we were just talking about how uh greek people i've been talking to lots of

00:31:32.060 greek people both inside and outside government uh and they are all talking about this and what whether

00:31:38.180 or not uh it may or may not destabilize the region uh everybody understands that um that the you

00:31:44.980 know this this has worldwide consequences uh that will ripple across europe that will go you know into

00:31:52.100 asia uh that uh you know over to the united states and so um you know will this undercut the president's

00:31:59.640 broader agenda of rewriting the global economic order uh in a manner that helps america first with the

00:32:06.160 trade deals that he's been doing around the world uh will it uh undercut the energy agenda that he's

00:32:11.880 achieving um or will it again just be a quick or you know in and out type of a thing i don't i don't

00:32:18.240 know the answers to those questions i can't see the future uh but i can tell you that those are the

00:32:22.920 questions that uh american voters are going to be asking and they're again at the end of the day

00:32:28.760 uh for republicans want to win the midterms they need to deliver economically on the things that

00:32:34.700 president trump campaigned on in 2024 and in other elections as well uh the the maga agenda and i don't

00:32:41.700 know how war helps the economy so much it really probably doesn't right like and so um this is uh you

00:32:49.280 know not necessarily the uh the thing uh that you know is going to address the big buzzword of the year

00:32:56.280 if you will which is affordability right like which will probably have another buzzword from the

00:33:00.000 democrats by november but the point is is that it's you know i don't know if this this does that

00:33:06.720 so we'll see yeah no we had we had peter on right for you they're talking about their affordability

00:33:11.400 agenda particularly in housing matt bull fantastic uh the event with uh kimberly was fantastic she's

00:33:18.080 doing a great job uh look forward to hearing all your reporting from there where do people go to

00:33:22.660 get everything you're putting up at breitbart and your social media sir yeah just breitbart.com

00:33:27.960 at mboyle1 on x twitter and at real matt boyle on true social and we have a lot of stuff coming from

00:33:33.600 here like we have a lot of stories that are going to be coming out so keep your eyes on all that stuff

00:33:38.420 and i'm going to italy on the way back and we have a lot of stuff coming from there too so you've got

00:33:43.780 some next week you've got some pretty big interviews my understanding is my sources in rome

00:33:50.960 of which we're very well sourced even with harnwell now in australia uh that you've got

00:33:56.000 some pretty big i don't want to tip them off but you got some pretty big interviews uh coming up in

00:34:00.180 italy in italy yeah so i was originally just going to go there to go to the olympics because a friend

00:34:05.140 of mine has tickets to the gold medal hockey game and then it turned into word got out for across the

00:34:10.640 political universe matt boyle's coming so everybody wants to sit down with me so we're going to do

00:34:15.420 amazing stuff while we're there too so okay great we'll we'll get you in from italy thank you

00:34:20.260 so appreciate you yep all right thank you steve kurt in the time we got a remaining and i want to do

00:34:25.840 something you know there has been this tension or a discussion between the israelis and the americans

00:34:32.160 and netanyahu is basically and they've leaked this out to say look if you're not prepared and not ready

00:34:37.680 we got it if the political calculation is not right we got it but we're gonna go you know we got this

00:34:44.160 thing where we want it we're gonna go but we're gonna need some defensive backup we're gonna need

00:34:48.080 those aegis class sent back to the eastern med we're gonna need dads and and patriots you got

00:34:54.400 to back us up because tel aviv and people don't realize president trump on the 12-day war one of

00:34:59.880 the reasons he stepped in to take it down was that tel aviv was getting really eviscerated uh is there

00:35:05.880 an option here that the israelis can do it on their own and we can provide enough minimum defense that we

00:35:12.340 don't get dragged in that the the persians just going to say screw it i'm going after cutter i'm going

00:35:17.440 after the saudis i'm going after every american base i'm going to go after the uh the two battle

00:35:22.580 groups sir i'm not sure i mean number one i think to answer your question directly uh that would

00:35:30.520 potentially impair all negotiations between the united states and iran and the president seems to

00:35:34.880 like these talks going on just to have the talks i mean say what you will for the iranians but the

00:35:39.560 president is negotiating a number of world conflicts right now and likes to be part of the

00:35:44.540 conversation and uh supporting a military action led by israel on iran isn't exactly the act of a

00:35:51.220 interested party um so i think the iranians would discontinue it um so and then additionally i'm not

00:35:57.260 sure there's full um trust from the israelis actually that if the israelis led the attack uh number one that

00:36:05.260 they could decapitate the regime all the reporting since the beginning of the administration is that

00:36:09.680 they feel that they can't uh they couldn't bomb flerdau uh and they can't even do a lot of these

00:36:14.100 special operations without u.s air support um that's all the reporting and that's all the military

00:36:18.620 understanding that i have on that front and then secondarily there is the precedent it's a small

00:36:23.900 precedent uh comparatively of yemen uh so the president got into a new war in yemen with the houthis

00:36:30.740 uh last spring uh and then he left it he cut bait he cut a separate deal with the houthi leadership

00:36:37.100 uh and he said this is basically an israeli problem now yemen and the houthis are much

00:36:42.580 smaller potatoes uh than the iranians um but the but the israelis must have to fear that contingency

00:36:49.200 and they should fear it that if the war got really nasty and the iranians put up much more of a fight

00:36:53.760 this time which i deeply suspect they will uh that trump and the u.s will just get out and then the

00:36:59.480 israelis will have a war that they can't finish so kurt uh we've got on the screen uh down below we

00:37:05.240 we're all day at the georgia election board hearing uh the war room audience is is is very

00:37:12.020 focused on the steel of 2020 we've had these reports now that they're mocking and ridiculing

00:37:16.900 us in in minnesota about how we you know the the marxists are saying we lost and we were treated we're

00:37:21.960 not going to do any mass deportations they just had a major jury nullification here in dallas

00:37:26.920 on a murder uh on trenda iraga murdering people in cold blood and and now we see these pamphlets

00:37:33.780 and courses on uh jury nullification how they're training up the left the the left is motivated it

00:37:40.880 it's doing voter registration it's getting out the vote um how does this play particularly and i'm just

00:37:47.440 saying what was in axios this morning that the administration has not said hey this is not true

00:37:53.280 uh this detailed plan of an extended bombing campaign how do you think that plays domestically

00:37:58.640 given the fact they had the meeting yesterday at the capitol hill club and they talk about

00:38:01.880 everything's about the economy we had navarra in here it's all predicated on affordability

00:38:05.780 gdp growth wage growth job growth etc etc etc how does this fit into that calculation well it's hard to

00:38:15.040 make the argument that you're focused on the economy if you're starting new foreign wars and then

00:38:18.900 traditionally this is a foreign war unlike some of the other the uh of the adventures that trump has

00:38:24.480 flirted with that actually could really spiral the economy i mean it is not going to be hard for the

00:38:29.640 iranians to close the strait of her moves the the very small channel of water that a lot of global

00:38:35.300 oil goes through if the iranians close it and all they have to do to close it is start filing

00:38:39.600 firing a few missiles or a few bullets literally at ships and no one's going to put their sailors

00:38:45.580 through it no one's going to insure those kind of ships except for the black market pirates frankly

00:38:50.200 that could spike the price of crude to let's say 80 90 dollars a barrel so you know 1.5x 2x

00:38:59.060 americans aren't going to like that americans aren't going to understand why we're doing this

00:39:02.860 um moreover um i think you know i there's a sort of canard or leitmotif that you know basically

00:39:11.120 trump's uh support is durable i agree with that i think if you call i think if we do this war with

00:39:16.120 iran and we are calling people at easter say you know early april and they ask do you support the

00:39:21.780 president if you if you call the median uh listener to war room and you ask them do you support the

00:39:27.060 president do you support the administration they're gonna say yes right but there's a lot of ruin in the

00:39:31.640 level of support um there's such a thing as motivation there's such a thing as demotivation

00:39:36.340 and if uh you know it's one thing to prefer this administration over a democratic one it's one

00:39:42.400 thing to prefer donald trump uh over uh most republicans or any republican i do certainly um

00:39:48.480 but it's another thing to not really understand uh or have faith in the course of action that looks a

00:39:54.500 lot like george w bush that looks a lot like george w bush's second term and meanwhile the democrats can

00:40:00.280 dust off the 2006 2007 playbook and run the anti-war movement thing yeah it'll be very cynical

00:40:07.300 because the democrats continued a lot of these wars they expanded a lot of these wars but it

00:40:11.660 doesn't matter cynicism wins all the time in politics and they can try to run it and then

00:40:15.600 finally one other domestic parallel that i think should be flagged from history uh barack obama came

00:40:21.520 in as an anti-war president and he saw his own ranks demotivated by what they saw as an

00:40:26.980 establishment sellout presidency and that led to the rise of bernie sanders and i think you know it

00:40:32.700 should not be discounted we are it is a lot it is very early in the political calendar but there

00:40:36.880 could be a serious new populist right backlash to an already populist right administration

00:40:42.180 let me ask you you know in in in the 12-day war and in venezuela there was a lot of buildup and

00:40:48.180 people said hey that if the you know if president trump goes in and tries to do regime change bombing

00:40:52.320 it's going to be a disaster he was he sent an expeditionary force that was highly targeted

00:40:57.320 right you sent the he sent the b2s from from nebraska from nebraska and he sent um or you know

00:41:03.360 the midwest and you sent the the navy submarines with the tomahawks boom over done obliteration in

00:41:10.460 uh venezuela the same thing take out the top guy make a deal with the other people figure it out

00:41:15.760 uh what about because president trump is a guy who looks at a range of alternatives

00:41:20.060 but if there's a strike it's a concentrated strike and not this three or four week bombing campaign

00:41:25.580 which they may have leaked as you said just a negotiating power if it's intense if it's

00:41:31.100 concentrated and if it gets results where do you think that leaves us what are results that the

00:41:38.240 decapitation of the regime is that even particularly preferable because i mean the u.s uh will then be

00:41:43.680 responsible for the transition uh and i i think the u.s will have to handle the transition the israelis

00:41:49.680 won't uh i want i want to go back to that your belief is is that if you go in and it's more than

00:41:55.580 just taking out ballistic missiles or some broader context with these negotiations but if it's taking

00:42:00.620 out the iranian military the revolutionary guard the mullahs the ayatollahs you own it you you you

00:42:07.020 got everybody worked up in the streets by destroying you know best in destroying their their currency you

00:42:11.180 got them all worked up uh if you take it now you own it yeah pottery bond rule right i mean colin powell

00:42:17.800 was right about this i mean i think colin powell should have resigned from the bush administration

00:42:21.200 rather than advocate for war he didn't believe it and i think that's on his record forever

00:42:25.080 but colin powell's arguments internally cautioning against the iraq war based on the pottery bond rule

00:42:31.040 if you break it you buy it which is why the first bush administration george hw bush the father uh say

00:42:37.020 what you will more responsible president than his son uh didn't go all the way to baghdad because they

00:42:42.280 knew it would look like this and so i think you know stipulating that we can even do this with the

00:42:48.260 the military plan that we're considering that we can't even we can even can decapitate the regime

00:42:54.200 um what do you replace it with and i mean there's there's all these sort of goofy uh sort of proposals

00:43:00.080 uh principally anchored around the race of palabi person the sort of um playboy the monarchist

00:43:08.180 thing's a joke you know they had the 100 000 people he's the leading candidate and i like

00:43:13.520 seriously i i don't mean to float this and i'm not rooting for this but if he goes to iran

00:43:17.500 and he is murdered in like 10 days when he says i'm here i'm the king what is the u.s plan then

00:43:23.800 the shah the shah okay hang over a second we're gonna drill down on this for a minute on the other

00:43:28.520 side um the strategic president trump is he gonna roll the iron dice of war find out

00:43:37.860 potentially in the next couple of days burt mills on the other side

00:43:41.780 patriots listen up for a limited time patriot mobile is running their red white and blue friday

00:43:55.340 promotion your once a year chance to get a free smartphone just for switching to america's only

00:44:01.920 christian conservative wireless provider a brand new phone absolutely free while supplies last

00:44:08.460 for over 12 years patriot mobile has defended faith family and freedom while giving you the same or

00:44:14.480 better premium coverage on all three major u.s networks unlimited data mobile hotspots international

00:44:21.380 roaming they do it all when you switch you never sacrifice quality or service hundreds of thousands

00:44:27.740 have joined the movement because every bill supports the first amendment the second amendment

00:44:32.400 the sanctity of life and our veterans and first responders switching is easy keep your number keep

00:44:38.920 your phone or upgrade to that free smartphone today their 100 u.s based team can activate you in minutes

00:44:46.180 go to patriot mobile.com slash bannon that's all one word patriot mobile.com slash bannon or call

00:44:53.740 972 patriot and use promo code bannon don't wait this limited time offer won't last that's patriot

00:45:01.740 mobile.com slash bannon or call 972 patriot with promo code bannon you're going to get an east taxes

00:45:09.480 an east texas accent and you're going to get an american citizen on the phone so join me today

00:45:15.660 make the switch today at 972 patriot promo code bannon here's your host stephen k bannon okay tax network

00:45:25.980 usa we're in that time of year um take the anxiety away take the angst away call them at 800-958-1000

00:45:33.380 tell them you're a war room posse you're from the worm you will get a free uh discovery call

00:45:38.980 uh actually they'll walk through with you what uh they think your issue is your problem what you owe

00:45:44.820 uh and that comes normally this costs hundreds not even not thousands of dollars

00:45:50.140 1-800-958-1000 you get a free discovery call tax network usa do it today the feedback we've gotten

00:45:59.040 from people is incredible so go check it out just for the war and posse uh they've obviously got a

00:46:05.000 bunch of clients from uh our audience and uh they love it so go check it out remember they've solved

00:46:10.540 i don't know a billion dollars of tax issues so nothing that your tale of woe they've heard before

00:46:16.520 and they've solved before 800-958-1000 or tnusa.com either way just tell them the worm sent you

00:46:24.000 uh kurt mills we got a a minute or two uh first of all i want to here's what i want to immerse the

00:46:30.120 war and posse and everything you're great i want to give your sight again but if you had to

00:46:33.880 recommend the guys to do the best job you think of the counter argument because i want people to get

00:46:39.240 i want everybody walking into this thing with total eyes open that you got all the information

00:46:43.600 possible because if something happens here even a negotiation this is going to have massive

00:46:49.060 geopolitical impact and and impact politically here domestically so what would be the who would

00:46:55.600 you recommend to give the the the alternative to kurt mills's theory of the case well i think you

00:47:02.360 in that case we should flag the people that are pretty relevant on this and so i would say the

00:47:07.060 foundation for defense of democracies which is uh renamed from basically a israeli word or a hebrew word

00:47:14.880 uh because it is basically not declared an israeli pr shop and they are uh driving uh the push for war

00:47:25.680 uh this is a group of people who were chock full frankly of never trumpers people who signed the

00:47:31.940 never trump letters frankly um and people who did not support trump's rise in the republican party in

00:47:37.360 2015-2016 did not support him for election against Hillary Clinton um and we're not you know particularly

00:47:43.360 helpful in 2020 i would flag um but they have been instrumental in writing a lot of trump's iran policy

00:47:50.280 in term one and they are uh i think uh although they're not as represented in this administration

00:47:56.160 they are blowing the horn for war in term two so fdd we know this guy's well and you you got

00:48:02.400 two alternatives if you wanted to go somewhere to get just information about the neocon case without

00:48:09.140 maybe the partisan push where would you so fdd would be one uh where would they is there any kind

00:48:15.280 of you would recommend middle of the road uh uh neocon that you could go and just get information

00:48:20.740 because i want i want to we want to immerse people in both the military the tactical all of it where

00:48:25.740 they go but the journal's hard reporting is is fine you know so i mean i think the editorial board

00:48:30.940 exists for the humor of one man rupert murdoch um and so they're very similar to fdd and in their

00:48:36.560 flavor but wsj is you know the the tone of it is is more hawkish than my cup of tea uh but w wall street

00:48:43.500 journals hard reporting on iran is excellent um and i i recommend reading it's highly plugged in

00:48:48.220 and it's highly accurate okay where do they go for you i want to go to the newspaper the magazine

00:48:53.200 and the uh in your social media sure um we are the american conservative we are at the american

00:48:59.600 conservative.com founded in 2002 by pat pucannon and others against the iraq war um i am at kurt mills

00:49:07.940 at c-u-r-t-m-i-l-l-s um and on on x and uh look uh you know we are on the right uh and uh we oppose

00:49:18.360 the bush administration going to war in iraq and you know if we have to we'll oppose this

00:49:22.060 administration going to war in iran but i hope we don't have to do it so kurt mills thank you for

00:49:26.860 joining us sir everybody go particularly the next couple of days gonna be quite intense

00:49:31.180 uh trevor we got 90 seconds i want people to comstock i want people to go to your site your

00:49:36.980 reviews speak for themselves your new products sell out immediately give me 90 seconds of what

00:49:42.400 people where they go what they look for and what are your deals yeah um so obviously you can go to

00:49:47.800 sacredhumanhealth.com i did want to mention that we just launched our moisturizing and healing bundle

00:49:53.100 which includes the 100 american grass-fed and finished beef towel moisturizer and then our newest

00:49:59.280 product which is the sacred healing salve so you can get both those together at a discounted rate

00:50:03.920 obviously our towel moisturizer has been extremely popular and is amazing for things like dry skin

00:50:09.020 eczema as well as daily skin hydration and then the sacred healing salve if you have any like joint

00:50:15.260 pain muscle stiffness swelling or wanted to use it for arthritis support it really helps calm that pain

00:50:21.060 and bring any swelling down so like i said you can get both those products together now

00:50:26.000 at a discounted rate and then also i'd just like to mention that both those products are handmade by

00:50:31.200 our team in idaho so we're only using the highest quality ingredients that we can get our hands on and

00:50:35.520 not mass producing anything but if you do have any questions of course just let us know you just go

00:50:41.100 so i would send people to the site right now if they got a question for you because the feedback i'm

00:50:45.380 getting people love these and of course they're selling out all the time so you can tell that where do

00:50:49.280 people go if they want to read the reviews and get more product information and contact you where they go

00:50:54.640 yeah 100 you can go to sacred human sacred human health dot com and then always use code war room

00:51:01.180 for 10 off like you said if you have any questions you can let us know but check out the reviews as

00:51:05.280 well there's some amazing success stories there home run after home run trevor comstock not too

00:51:11.100 shabby founder thank you ceo and chairman mike lindell you had a new sale yesterday people are talking

00:51:17.440 about it what do you got for us well everybody where this has been breaking news we uh the last couple

00:51:23.440 weeks we've uh we're moving my pillow into a new factory in minnesota and we went through our

00:51:29.740 our overstock we now have overstock um a factory and warehouse so we're finding all of these products

00:51:37.480 that we need that we're going to close out one of them we found these mugs you guys that from

00:51:42.580 from the spring of 2021 helped save our country these are commemorative mugs today you anyone that orders

00:51:49.780 anything using promo code war room i'm going to send you one free absolutely free and what we have

00:51:56.680 if you go to my pillow.com forward slash war room this is a war room exclusive you have our overstock

00:52:05.220 sales you have our factory sale you save up to 80 percent on all the clothing we have we're closing

00:52:12.480 closing off lines of clothing we're making we're making room for um to get into our new factory as

00:52:18.940 we're doing the transition art and you this is your game we're in posse all of these products we have

00:52:25.540 hundreds of products i didn't even know that we were closing out but they from slippers to all of our

00:52:31.160 sleepwear all of our my pillow clothing and you get the uh the free the best these commemorative months

00:52:37.200 there's about 900 of them any order free using promo code war room 800-873-1062 you guys check it out

00:52:46.260 today and take advantage of pre-shipping options available we'll see you at five o'clock

00:52:51.660 uh mypillow.com promo code war most powerful promo code in the business it is ash wednesday

00:52:58.820 we're turning it over now to the charlie kirk show postos after that we're back at five

00:53:03.820 with the war room and six tonight will be war room texas ben harnwell is in australia

00:53:10.320 see you back here at five from the boss we need help from the boss

00:53:16.400 imagine having the world's most connected financial insider feeding you vital information

00:53:25.300 the kind of information only a handful of people have access to and that could create a fortune for

00:53:32.380 those who know what to do with it that's exactly what you get when you join our frequent guest and

00:53:39.160 contributor jim records in his elite research service strategic intelligence inside strategic

00:53:46.880 intelligence you'll hear directly from jim and receive critical updates on major financial and

00:53:52.320 political events before they hit the mainstream news he'll put you in front of the story and tell

00:53:58.440 you exactly what moves to make for your best chance to profit as a proud american you do not want to

00:54:05.300 be caught off guard sign up for strategic intelligence right now at your our exclusive website that's

00:54:11.580 rickardswarroom.com rickardswarroom.com you go there you get strategic intelligence based upon predictive

00:54:20.240 analytics do it today right now rickardswarroom.com

00:54:25.140 is

00:54:27.480 uh

00:54:29.340 you

00:54:32.940 you

00:54:35.000 you

00:54:36.940 you

00:54:38.040 you

00:54:42.020 you

00:54:42.100 you

00:54:42.200 you

00:54:42.920 you

00:54:43.960 you

00:54:44.040 you

00:54:46.060 you

00:54:46.100 you

00:54:48.560 you

Bannon's War Room - February 18, 2026

Episode 5152： Tensions Rise In Iran And Cutting Of Oil To The CCP; Live From Athens

Episode Stats

Length

Words per Minute

Word Count

Sentence Count

Misogynist Sentences

Hate Speech Sentences

Summary

Transcript