The Ben Shapiro Show - August 31, 2026


Why the Iran War Leak Is a Serious Problem


Episode Stats


Length

12 minutes

Words per minute

200.99

Word count

2,576

Sentence count

199


Transcript

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00:00:00.000 It's pretty clear at this point, we are in fact winning the war in Iran.
00:00:02.000 I know, controversial, but it's actually true.
00:00:04.000 The Strait of Hormuz is mostly open thanks to the U.S. military and the Treasury Secretary's audacious moves to economically cut off Iran's economic sponsors around the world, which means Iran is isolated.
00:00:14.000 We'll also get to Trump's 25 year oil deal with Venezuelan dictator Delce Rodriguez, whether or not the United States benefits and what it means for us going forward.
00:00:22.000 Let's break it all down.
00:00:23.000 President Trump has been saying for a long time, the Strait of Hormuz is open.
00:00:25.000 And listen, I've been skeptical because I've been watching the amount of oil coming out of the Strait of Hormuz, but it turns out.
00:00:31.000 The Strait of Hormuz is kind of open.
00:00:33.000 This is no longer a speculative matter.
00:00:36.000 An enormous amount of oil is pouring out of the Strait of Hormuz from Qatar, from UAE, from Iraq, from Kuwait, and zero is coming out from Iran.
00:00:45.000 And Iran is in serious economic straits.
00:00:47.000 Here's CENTCOM Admiral Brad Cooper explaining the traffic separation schemes in the Strait of Hormuz.
00:00:53.000 Let's take a look at exactly what this means.
00:00:56.000 Here's a nautical chart of the Strait of Hormuz and surrounding seas.
00:01:00.000 It's frequently used by mariners around the world.
00:01:03.000 And clearly identifies the internationally recognized traffic separation scheme, which you see labeled on the chart as TSS.
00:01:11.000 A traffic separation scheme is a highway system for ships on the ocean.
00:01:16.000 Here on the chart, a dividing line is shown and placed between lanes with opposing traffic directions to keep ships safely apart in the narrow waterway.
00:01:25.000 These are the long standing lanes international shipping has historically used to transit the Strait of Hormuz, and over the past few months, our forces meticulously And quietly cleared them of sea mine threats using a combination of Navy divers, Navy SEALs, and U.S. air power from the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps.
00:01:47.000 The circumstances were challenging and dangerous to say the least, but we got the job done.
00:01:52.000 Bottom line today, international shipping lanes are open and momentum is building.
00:01:58.000 Yeah, that's extraordinary.
00:01:59.000 Brett McGurk, who worked under pretty much every administration in the recent past, worked under Trump and Biden and Bush and Obama.
00:02:06.000 He has a piece at CNN saying the U.S. is winning.
00:02:08.000 Quote, Bloomberg reported this week that oil flows through the strait have recovered to two thirds of pre war levels.
00:02:14.000 That means pressure is now compounding on Iran and not the U.S.
00:02:17.000 And if Iran loses its ability to hold the strait hostage, its leverage dissipates rapidly.
00:02:21.000 According to the International Monetary Fund, Iran's economy is expected to contract by more than 5% this year.
00:02:26.000 With inflation approaching 70%, the value of Iran's currency has fallen sharply.
00:02:30.000 Prices for basic goods have soared.
00:02:33.000 Miyad Maliki from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a frequent guest on the program, explained over the weekend.
00:02:38.000 The regime can keep printing real to avoid cutting salaries, but it can't print gasoline or refining catalysts.
00:02:43.000 Printing buys time, but salaries paid in melting real simply can't buy imports that no longer arrive.
00:02:48.000 The regime is inflating away payroll cuts, but can't inflate away empty fuel tanks.
00:02:51.000 The regime's economy minister admitted that 100 trillion tomans were borrowed directly from the central bank in March through May alone.
00:02:59.000 The monetary base is up 61.5%.
00:03:01.000 Inflation is near 90%.
00:03:02.000 Food is up 134%.
00:03:07.000 A stopped paycheck is a different animal from what we have seen a common date, a common grievance, an obvious culprit.
00:03:11.000 Unpaid salaries.
00:03:12.000 Would start to trigger strikes.
00:03:13.000 And by the way, this is now being admitted full scale by the Iranians themselves.
00:03:16.000 Mohammed Pazeshkian, who is the titular president of Iran, he said on Friday that there are people who are saying the sanctions have no impact.
00:03:26.000 And he's like, I don't know what you are talking about.
00:03:31.000 Exports and imports have fallen by 25 to 35%.
00:03:34.000 This is our exports have fallen more, but our imports have also declined.
00:03:40.000 Of course, exports have seen a bigger drop than imports.
00:03:43.000 The meaning of this is clear to those who understand economics.
00:03:46.000 I do not want to spell it out.
00:03:48.000 I do not know what to say to those who claim that the sanctions have no effect.
00:03:53.000 So, I mean, that's even the Iranians acknowledging this at this point.
00:03:58.000 There's some pretty significant infighting between the IRGC and some of the other parts of the coalition inside Iran.
00:04:02.000 Now, the Trump administration just has to sit there and keep the blockade on, which is why Iran is starting to get kind of frisky.
00:04:08.000 So, Iran is freaking out.
00:04:09.000 They want to re mine the strait because if they lose leverage over the strait, they got nothing.
00:04:13.000 They don't have a nuclear weapon.
00:04:14.000 Their only forward capacity is terrorist groups who are being blown to smithereens, largely by the Israelis in Lebanon, for example.
00:04:21.000 And they can fire desultory missile rounds at Jordan and mostly get knocked down, but that's kind of it.
00:04:27.000 So, over the weekend, they tried to re mine the strait, and the United States did not allow them to do this.
00:04:32.000 According to Reuters, U.S. forces struck two Iranian launchers on Iran's Larak Island on Sunday, marking the first known American strikes on Iran since late July.
00:04:41.000 Iran responded by attacking U.S. forces stationed in Jordan.
00:04:44.000 Pretty much all the incoming missiles were intercepted.
00:04:47.000 Now, President Trump, just for the funs of it, I guess, the funsies of it, he put out an AI video of Karg being blown to smithereens.
00:04:52.000 Of course, this is the AI.
00:04:54.000 Now, you know, this is how the president gets his kicks at 9 18 on a Sunday night, putting out a tweet showing Karg Island being blown.
00:05:00.000 Again, the United States could do that at literally any time.
00:05:03.000 Moshtaba Khamenei, who may or may not be alive, right?
00:05:05.000 We literally have not seen him since the original attacks on the Iranian regime.
00:05:09.000 So it might be his dead body, weakened to Bernie's style, being wheeled around and his skull being manipulated to say things.
00:05:16.000 He issued a letter urging Muslim countries to unite against what he called their real enemy.
00:05:21.000 Well, let's just be clear at this point, Iran has fired on pretty much every surrounding country.
00:05:27.000 So I think all of them know who the real enemy is at this point.
00:05:29.000 So this brings us to what can only be called treason inside the administration, true treason.
00:05:36.000 So yet another leak over the weekend.
00:05:38.000 These leaks need to be identified and the leakers need to be prosecuted.
00:05:41.000 Prosecuted today.
00:05:42.000 I don't care whether you're an opponent of the war, whether you think the war is a good idea, a bad idea, how it's going.
00:05:47.000 It doesn't matter.
00:05:48.000 Leaks of classified information at the top levels of the defense structure to the press ought to be prosecuted because even if you wish for this war to reach some sort of crappy negotiated solution, if you want the U.S. to have a stronger hand in those negotiations, you cannot.
00:06:04.000 You simply cannot be leaking dissension within the ranks.
00:06:09.000 Supposed shortcomings in terms of materiel.
00:06:11.000 The Washington Post, for like the 18th consecutive time, and I have my suspicions as to, let's say, which wing of the administration is doing the leaking.
00:06:18.000 I do not think it is a mystery wrapped in an enigma who exactly is doing the leaking at this point inside the administration.
00:06:25.000 I don't think anybody who's been watching this closely has a lot of doubts as to who's doing it.
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00:07:32.000 But according to the Washington Post, several U.S. military leaders have advised Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth that prolonging large scale operations against Iran is unsustainable and risks weakening their ability to confront threats elsewhere, including the U.S. homeland, according to people familiar with a recent assessment prepared for the Pentagon chief.
00:07:47.000 The warnings detailed for head stuff by the heads of the Army, Navy, and Air Force and the four star commanders overseeing U.S. operations throughout Europe, Asia, and Latin America appear in the August 14th edition of the Secretary of Defense Orders book.
00:07:58.000 According to those people, they described the assessment to the Washington Post on the condition of anonymity because the document is classified.
00:08:05.000 Every single person who is leaking this stuff to the Washington Post needs to be identified, fired, and prosecuted to the full extent of the law.
00:08:12.000 This is insane.
00:08:13.000 These leaks have to stop.
00:08:15.000 They are, in fact, a treasonous act.
00:08:18.000 It is a treasonous act.
00:08:20.000 To leak that information.
00:08:22.000 Now, the administration is taking the bizarre position that the real problem here is the press.
00:08:26.000 The problem here is not the press.
00:08:27.000 The problem here is the members of the administration who are leaking.
00:08:30.000 They should be tracked down.
00:08:32.000 Put the people on it inside the Pentagon whose job it is to prevent the leaks.
00:08:35.000 Sean Parnell over it.
00:08:37.000 The defense department said publishing highly classified assessments from the secretary's orders book is a crime.
00:08:41.000 It's a betrayal of the force, and much of what they're publishing is inaccurate.
00:08:44.000 Of course, we demand candid military advice.
00:08:46.000 None concurs our standard.
00:08:47.000 The secretary sees them constantly.
00:08:48.000 That's how you run a real military.
00:08:51.000 The story isn't about readiness.
00:08:52.000 It's TDS and PDS.
00:08:53.000 They hate President Trump and Secretary Hegseth more than they love America.
00:08:56.000 Now, again, that's true.
00:08:57.000 Identify the leakers and prosecute them to the full extent of the law.
00:09:00.000 And none of that should be controversial.
00:09:03.000 Back in 2010, Barack Obama literally fired the top Afghanistan commander, Stanley McChrystal, not for leaking information, but for simply talking in disparaging ways about him.
00:09:12.000 And then he was replaced by David Petraeus.
00:09:14.000 So there's a long history of this sort of stuff.
00:09:17.000 Pete Hegseth was asked about reports that missile stockpiles are running low.
00:09:21.000 Here was his answer.
00:09:23.000 The press reported that nearly all of the attack of weapons were used.
00:09:27.000 Did the United States use both military and military?
00:09:30.000 Why would I answer?
00:09:31.000 I mean, this is a kind of stupid question I would never answer.
00:09:33.000 Like, why would I answer a question about whether we do or do not have certain types of munitions?
00:09:37.000 I would tell you we have 110%.
00:09:39.000 Or I would tell you we have one.
00:09:41.000 I would never answer that question.
00:09:42.000 An American press is foolish to want to press an American War Department about where we may or may not be on classified, exquisite systems.
00:09:49.000 We had plenty when we needed it, and we have plenty now, and we'll have plenty when we'll need them in the future.
00:09:55.000 Again.
00:09:56.000 Whether that's true or whether it's not true, the bottom line is whoever is leaking to the press needs to be identified.
00:10:00.000 The leakiness inside the Defense Department, the leakiness coming from the state, whoever is leaking this stuff, other offices in the executive branch, those leakers need to be identified and put behind bars immediately.
00:10:13.000 Immediately.
00:10:15.000 And meanwhile, on other foreign policy news, Delcy Rodriguez, who is the dictator of Venezuela, she announced a historic agreement with the United States.
00:10:25.000 She said, Venezuela announces a historic agreement with the United States government.
00:10:29.000 Which will have a significant impact on our nation's revival.
00:10:31.000 The initiative is the result of strengthening of relations between Venezuela and the United States.
00:10:34.000 It will facilitate a significant flow of investment aimed at the recovery and reconstruction of strategic infrastructure for the development of our hydrocarbons industry.
00:10:42.000 And she expressed gratitude to President Trump and Marco Rubio and all the rest.
00:10:48.000 So it calls for a significant increase in production and the development of 17 strategic fields with a proven potential of 65 billion barrels of oil, an investment of more than $100 billion, and more than $209 billion in taxes for the state.
00:11:03.000 Apparently, this is an energy agreement that will remain in force for 25 years.
00:11:08.000 This is an initial goal to raise crude output to 1.5 million barrels.
00:11:12.000 President Trump said that he's going to fill the strategic national reserves with Venezuelan oil.
00:11:17.000 He says the topping out process will begin very shortly and is a gift from Venezuela to the people of the United States.
00:11:23.000 Thank you.
00:11:23.000 Okay, so I'm very much in favor of what the president has done in Venezuela.
00:11:27.000 With that said, every foreign policy initiative ends the day the president leaves office.
00:11:33.000 That's the way this works.
00:11:34.000 I don't care whether the successor is JD Vance or whether the successor is a Democrat.
00:11:38.000 When it comes to Venezuela, a Democrat in the White House will kill all these initiatives, and the people left in power will be people who work for Nicolas Maduro.
00:11:45.000 That's who is currently in power.
00:11:46.000 The next two and a half years need to be spent transitioning the Venezuelan government away from Delcy Rodriguez and toward the actual opposition leadership, people like Maria Machado.
00:11:58.000 We should be gripping Venezuela by the throat, and we should be telling them if Maria Machado goes back and is on the ground, if she is harmed in any way, we grip you by the throat harder.
00:12:08.000 Because, again, the next administration from a Democrat will not give a crap about oil production.
00:12:13.000 They'll try to stop it based on global warming nonsense and redistributionist ideals.
00:12:18.000 If you want to effectuate actual change, it is not enough to just effectuate regime behavior change, especially not when you are talking about long run proposals.
00:12:29.000 That changes the minute Trump's out of office.
00:12:31.000 So now would be a time not just to make oil deals, but to attach conditions that would allow for a transition of power in Venezuela.
00:12:37.000 That is the next step in Venezuela.
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