Former Vice President Joe Biden joins CNN's Jake Tapper Alex Castellanos to discuss the latest in the ongoing conflict between Iran and Israel, and what it means for the future of peace in the Middle East. Former Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu speaks about his relationship with President Donald Trump and his vision for peace between Israel and Iran. Chinese sources say China is preparing to send weapons to Iran despite the ongoing fragile ceasefire which it helped broker.
00:02:44.180China says that these claims are untrue and that they have never provided any weapons to any country that's party to this current conflict.
00:02:52.380Two sources say that the weapons in China is that the weapons in China is sending include shoulder fired anti-air missile systems.
00:03:00.340And these types of weapons pose a major threat to low flying aircraft.
00:03:04.880It would be a huge undertaking militarily.
00:03:07.520I'm not prepared to say that it couldn't be done militarily, but to do it and to sustain an opening, a safe opening of the strait would require months and months of hard work by not just the United States military, but frankly, militaries in the region and hopefully even militaries who aren't in the region, such as our European allies.
00:03:26.520I mean, just the convoys alone, Jan, just I did that mission back in 88.
00:03:31.640That's time intensive, ship intensive.
00:03:48.040You're going to need constant intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets flying over the strait.
00:03:52.960So you can see with an unblinking eye everything that's moving in that water 24-7.0.89
00:03:58.640And you might even have to take militarily through land forces some of those islands on both sides of the strait that the Iranians have been able to use to launch attacks from.0.65
00:04:09.780It's a huge undertaking. Again, not impossible militarily, but huge.
00:04:14.340And there's just really no way the United States could do it on its own for any sustained period of time.
00:04:19.240Breaking this evening now, the UK is apparently preparing a new version of a major plan to get the whole nation from the military and the police to hospitals and industry ready for a transition to war.
00:04:33.040That's what the head of the armed forces has told Sky News.
00:04:35.520Well, just beg the question, doesn't it? Whose side would all those people be on?
00:04:39.300You transition to war all you like, but we obviously have a load of people in this country that I think will just be on the side of whatever enemy it is that we happen to be fighting.
00:04:46.840And if that wasn't enough, the Telegraph are also reporting tonight that the Russian shadow fleet crews will be able to claim asylum in Britain if we seize their ships, because, well, yeah, they just can't.
00:04:58.060That's the fear, apparently. I mean, it's ridiculous. I'm not sure how much more of this we can really take, can't we? Basically all because of international laws.
00:05:04.840U.S. intelligence uncovered by the D.C. Bureau indicates that China is preparing for air defense shipments to Iran, possibly within weeks.
00:05:13.100This is according to sources familiar with the intelligence.
00:05:16.120The systems are these shoulder-fired anti-air missiles known as MANPADs.
00:05:21.440And they're designed to target, as you said, low-flying aircraft, including U.S. jets.
00:05:25.780Similar weapons likely used to shoot down that F-15 last week, according to President Trump.
00:05:30.200Iran claimed at the time that it used a new air defense system.
00:05:34.920That was according to a statement from Iranian state media.
00:05:37.840shipments might be routed, these sources are saying, through third countries to hide their
00:05:43.440origin. China obviously wanting to distance itself, certainly from any visible indication
00:05:49.280of providing weapons to Iran, considering that it has just been working the phones in recent days,
00:05:54.800including 26 calls from its foreign minister, Wang Yi, to regional allies and friends to try
00:06:00.860to defuse this situation. President Trump saying that Iran actually helped bring about this cease
00:06:05.360fire. And of course, we are now hours away from these crucial talks that will be happening
00:06:08.800in Pakistan. This would mark a major escalation in China's support for Iran, sources say,
00:06:15.460if indeed this intelligence is correct, going well beyond the existing sales of dual-use
00:06:20.320technology that China has been providing to Iran throughout this. But we know that China
00:06:25.640has incentives to try to assist Iran in ways that does not harm its standing with the global
00:06:31.780community. Obviously, China is heavily reliant on Iranian oil. By some measures, they're purchasing
00:06:37.36080 to 90 percent of the oil going through the Strait of Hormuz, up more than a million barrels
00:06:41.360a day. So trying to support Iran while maintaining deniability, these sources that my colleagues in
00:06:46.920Washington have spoken to say could be really crucial here. Iran might be using the ceasefire
00:06:52.160to replenish their weapons. Now, I want to read for you because we do have a statement from the
00:06:57.600Chinese embassy in Washington. And I'm going to read it to you in full, what we've published.
00:07:01.980China has never provided weapons to any party to the conflict. The information in question
00:07:07.040is untrue. Goes on to say, as a responsible major country, China consistently fulfills
00:07:12.700its international obligations. We urge the U.S. side to refrain from making baseless allegations,
00:07:18.300maliciously drawing connections and engaging in sensationalism. We hope that relevant parties
00:07:23.120will do more to help deescalate tensions. Obviously, we know, Polo, that Russia has been
00:07:28.680providing much more significant military support than dual-use technology, even going so far as
00:07:34.120to provide Iran with intelligence of targets that they could strike across the Middle East.
00:07:40.440If this is true, if what my Washington colleagues have reported from their sources is correct,
00:07:45.260certainly it would seem that the help coming from China is much, much more than was at least
00:07:50.920originally believed. But again, a very firm denial of this reporting from the Chinese embassy in
00:07:56.480Washington. When you see what they're doing when it comes to Lebanon, where on this 10-point plan,
00:08:01.700don't bomb Lebanon was on there. The administration seemed to be okay with it. They're backing away
00:08:08.040from it now. But Israel is going, they're not at the negotiating table, but they're absolutely
00:08:13.400maybe the largest player when it comes to what happens next, especially when it comes to Lebanon.
00:08:18.340Now, you make a great point. We have these bilateral talks going on in Pakistan and another key player in this war.
00:08:27.020In fact, the only real ally right now that the United States has is not going to be present and wasn't present when the ceasefire was agreed to, which led to the confusion over Lebanon.
00:08:38.740Israel's a sovereign state. They're looking at this situation from their lens and from their threats, the threats to their people.0.56
00:13:41.960We've got a packed show where we're going to do today both the geopolitics and the negotiation and national security of what's happening in not just in the Middle East, but also with the Chinese Communist Party.
00:13:53.800But also we're going to look inside the wire, which we think is not getting enough focus, the war inside the United States for the security of the United States and to keep this republic going.
00:14:03.560And we're going to go from Texas to Florida to many other locations and discuss all of this.
00:14:08.800I want to thank our sponsors, particularly on the weekend, Birch Gold, now more than ever, the End of the Dollar Empire.
00:16:21.460war room here's your host stephen k man
00:16:25.580war and the rumor of war so we're going to go from uh iran and islamabad the persian gulf to
00:16:34.540the indian ocean dear garcia and then talk about the chinese communist party uh as we tee up for
00:16:40.340this audience to keep you guys ahead of the curve david uh patrick karakos joins us now special
00:16:46.180correspondent for the daily mail david thank you so much for joining us uh you are one of the top
00:16:52.780i would say iran experts in the world their media is making a huge deal that since 1979 since the
00:16:59.440uh the shah of iran got booted uh and with it the united states and they took over our embassy
00:17:06.400that this is the first time in 47 years there's ever been high level face to face between i think
00:17:12.700they've got a 12 or 14 man team uh with vice president advance and uh and jared and steve
00:17:18.040whitkoff just we've been making the thesis here that one of the issues around this negotiation
00:17:25.200is forget what reality is the the reality that the regime believes is that not only are they
00:17:34.820winning this war they think right now to date they've won it and they think they have the
00:17:39.660upper hand in these negotiations. Can you walk us through your understanding of the mindset of
00:17:44.620this regime and where we are right now as we kick off these negotiations in Islamabad, sir?
00:17:51.160Sure. Look, Steve, I think that is a very astute point that you've made. They think that they've
00:17:55.700won and that they're winning. I mean, I was looking at photos of those regime stooges walking in
00:18:01.320to the Islamabad negotiations. It's like a low-grade reservoir dogs, all of them in their
00:18:06.380black suit strutting around. Look, what is happening right now is, you know, I mean,
00:18:12.420Iran is the beneficiary of what I have come to term, what I call the despot dividend, right?0.96
00:18:18.520What does this mean? It means when democracies go to war with dictatorships, dictatorships always0.83
00:18:23.120have a couple of advantages. One of them is informational, okay? Look, one thing we do know
00:18:28.020that the Americans and the Israelis have pounded Iran like it's never been seen before. And yet,0.94
00:18:33.760because they're a dictatorship they've cut all of the internet there is an informational imbalance0.55
00:18:38.860here Steve which is Iran is dark on one side all we hear are crowing boasting Iranian leaders those0.84
00:18:45.680of them that are still alive and on the other the Iranians watch everybody in the west and the world0.90
00:18:51.040hammering Donald Trump hammering Benjamin Netanyahu and it emboldens the Iranians and that's the way0.83
00:18:56.540it is because obviously we don't want to you know cut our meter off do we so what has happened is0.87
00:19:01.240that every day the Iranians have survived the discourse has moved towards them and it has0.71
00:19:06.160emboldened them and this is where we are with the talks right now but I would say one thing and it's
00:19:10.420one thing I think you've said Steve one thing your viewers know there is a long way to go here let's
00:19:14.960see how this plays out are the Iranians really in a position five six seven months from now to0.96
00:19:19.800oppress their own people when half of their leadership is gone when so much of their military
00:19:23.660infrastructure is wrong I don't know but let's see this will take time the effects of this war0.79
00:19:29.320And look, the Iranians may survive. I'm not saying that they've lost. What I'm saying is, it's very early to say that they've won, especially you're dealing with the United States. And especially as you also say, Steve, the big relationship here is between the United States and China. And let's not forget that.
00:19:43.560talk to us about you know one of the strategies of the regime the military of the revolutionary
00:19:51.060guard is understanding that israel in the united states one day we're going to come for them and
00:19:56.780a decapitation was to disperse command and control although it's been shattered to 31 military
00:20:02.760districts the center of gravity this battle shifted to the persian gulf and the hormuz did
00:20:08.560Does a group in Islamabad right now, did they actually have, you think, operational control of that group that's down on Hormuz?
00:20:17.080It's a combination of Bedouins and Persians that are essentially pirates that run those islands and run those cliffs out on Hormuz.
00:20:26.180Did they actually have the ability to deliver a deal?1.00
00:20:37.320Think about their nuclear program. In 1981, the Israelis struck the Iraqi nuclear program. It was a single above-ground reactor. The Iranians learned their nuclear program was dispersed underground across their country. They saw when the Americans came in with the Brits, but you guys, as soon as Saddam fell, the Iraqi regime crumbled. They learned from that. They built their regime on the ability, on a mosaic structure. If you take out the leadership, cells work with semi-autonomous fashion.
00:21:05.640So yeah, what they have as well, this is a gangster regime.
00:21:08.620Don't forget, the lower down the food chain you get, the more they become like criminals,
00:21:15.880To answer your question, they have a loose exercise of control over them.
00:21:19.680This is not command and control like you get in the US military.0.91
00:21:23.080But you guys, in the end, will come to heal for what the Iranians want.0.92
00:21:26.360Don't forget, this is very low-tech, low-grade, disruptive processes.0.95
00:21:30.980We're talking about guys in speedboats, possibly giving the order to go and kill themselves and drive themselves into an American vessel if need be.
00:21:37.800It's asymmetric. It's low grade. In the short term, it can hold the world hostage.
00:21:43.060Let's see what happens as time passes. China needs that straight up for moose flaying as well.0.83
00:21:47.180Don't forget that. David, you had John Kerry, you had Hillary Clinton, you had Barack Obama, you had President Trump's negotiating team.
00:21:56.100had the the deal he was he cut um you've had then coming into president trump's second term
00:22:02.320uh the way the persians negotiate i think it's called market talk it's basically kind of string
00:22:08.940you along because they've been doing this for thousands of years these people are persians
00:22:13.020they fought greece they fought the romans uh you know they they acquiesced to the british
00:22:18.200and now they're fighting the west as personified by the united states of america in israel
00:22:23.480But they got this concept, I think it's called market talk or market negotiations, where
00:22:44.020Look, my first book was on Iran's nuclear program.
00:22:46.500So I spent about 10 years, Steve, analyzing Iranian nuclear negotiations.
00:22:51.620And, you know, I used to go and see in Vienna, Steve, a man called Ali Ashgar Soltanay.
00:22:56.040He was Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency.
00:22:59.360He was a lovely, charming man, would give me tea, would ask about my family and then proceed to lie to me for the entire hour of our interview.
00:23:06.480Very charming. Never got a single word of truth out of him.
00:23:09.480It's the same principle. They'll be very charming.
00:23:11.740And another thing, every time you meet with Iranian diplomat, Steve, you have to spend half an hour, first 15 minutes of boasting where they tell you how they're an ancient civilization.
00:23:19.680and that they defeated the Persians, so on. Then there's another 15 minutes of them listing all
00:23:24.280their grievances against how the West has done this to them and that to them, and how they've
00:23:28.020never started a war in God knows how many hundreds of years. And you go on and on and on, and they
00:23:33.920will quibble and haggle over minutiae. And let's not forget, this is all now being done under the
00:23:39.780auspices of the Pakistanis, which, Steve, I personally think is like having an arsonist0.76
00:23:44.240oversee a meeting of fire safety regulations. I find it absurd, but this is where we are.1.00
00:23:48.780So be prepared. The Iranians will try to string this one out. You are absolutely right again.1.00
00:23:56.000You're absolutely correct. You couldn't get up. And I realize President Trump's got a very strong
00:24:00.100relationship with the field marshal of the Pakistani army. That being said, if you had
00:24:05.240to pick in the world a worse group to be as mediators, it would be the Pakistanis. If nothing1.00
00:24:11.380more, then they're totally bought and paid for by the one belt, one road of the Chinese Communist
00:24:16.180Party. Give me your perspective of China's influence in this, the specter of the Chinese
00:24:21.660Communist Party that hovers over this entire meeting in Islamabad, sir. Look, and that's one
00:24:27.840of the things I like about you and the war room. You don't forget China. China is a colossal actor1.00
00:24:32.820that often stays in the background. Look, China needs Iranian oil, okay? I think it's 80 or 90%0.54
00:24:39.200it buys. It is there in the background. It's in many ways keeping Iran afloat. Now, in the short
00:24:44.580term, I think this benefits China. Right now, you know, energy prices right now has that
00:24:52.780relationship with Iran. So if Iran's cutting off the oil to other people, China will still keep
00:24:57.540flowing. Don't forget as well, it's seen a lot of Western military tech in action. It will be
00:25:02.760watching those American strikes, learning about American military capabilities. And now, you know,
00:25:08.460if it wasn't bad enough with the Pakistanis, we're going to have the Chinese looking statesman's0.98
00:25:12.260and talking about bringing peace. So they're going to be milking this for all it's worth. But again,1.00
00:25:17.440over the medium to longer term, it starts to look worse for them. You know, they need energy
00:25:22.500security. China imports so much of their stuff, they need the Straits of Hormuz flowing. Okay,
00:25:28.140in the short term, it benefits them. But in the long term, if this continues, there's inflation,
00:25:32.480economic pressure, don't forget how much China imports. So the Chinese have an interest in
00:25:38.200seeing this resolved. Again, it keeps coming back to, in the short term now, things might look very
00:25:43.540rosy for Iran, because we can't hear the Iranian people. You think everyone's criticizing Donald
00:25:47.800Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. Imagine how the Iranian people feel about their regime. We know
00:25:52.180what they tried to do in January. They tried to rise up, and they were slaughtered en masse.
00:25:56.560Let's see what happens as the weeks and months unfold.
00:26:01.780David, before we let you go, if you were in the room and having a cup of coffee with
00:26:06.560JD and Jared and Witkoff before they go in to start this, what would be your guidance to the
00:26:12.080Americans about what to expect, what to anticipate, and what to hopefully achieve in Islamabad?
00:26:19.600Look, you're dealing with, as we've discussed, a very sophisticated people used to negotiate,
00:26:25.380and they don't negotiate in the Western way. With us, if I go into a meeting with you, Steve,
00:26:29.640you want me to get to the point. If I'm bloviating for 20 minutes, it's rude. The Iranians are going
00:26:34.040to do it the other way. And then they'll be all offended if you don't acquiesce and we'll go on1.00
00:26:40.640their timeline. I would say to J.D. Vance, don't forget who you are. You are America. And Iran is
00:26:46.020Iran. And the disequilibrium of power is colossal. I spoke to some people, security officials or0.80
00:26:52.540sources. They estimate that the damage being wrought on Iran is possibly $200 billion. Okay,
00:26:58.340this is huge. We can't see it right now. The Iranians aren't talking about it because they're
00:27:02.220all gang. Don't forget that you have the upper hand here. Yes, you need to get those straits1.00
00:27:06.440open. Don't forget who you are. And don't forget who the Iranians are. Don't forget what they did
00:27:11.860to their people just in January. Reports of up to 30,000 being killed. You're the United States
00:27:17.420of America. Get the straits open. You're dealing with a rogue and criminal state. And don't ever
00:27:22.780forget that, no matter how polite they are. David, where do people go to get your writings
00:27:28.840He's a special correspondent of The Daily Mail, your social media, and your books.
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