The Charlie Kirk Show - Iran and Israel: The Questions We Need Answered

00:00:00.000 Hey, everybody.

00:00:00.000 Charlie Kirk here, live from the Bitcoin.com studio.

00:00:04.000 Today in the Charlie Kirk Show, Israel, Iran, and a series of questions that no one has yet to answer.

00:00:10.000 I think it's very important that you hear about this.

00:00:14.000 And these are questions that nobody really understands.

00:00:18.000 But I think you should.

00:00:19.000 Email us, as always, freedom at charliekirk.com and subscribe to our podcast.

00:00:23.000 Open up your podcast application and type in Charlie Kirk Show.

00:00:26.000 That is the Charlie Kirk Show podcast.

00:00:29.000 And again, become a member today.

00:00:30.000 Members.CharlieKirk.com.

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00:00:35.000 Buckle up, everybody.

00:00:35.000 Here we go.

00:00:37.000 Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.

00:00:38.000 Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campus.

00:00:40.000 I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk.

00:00:44.000 Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks.

00:00:47.000 I want to thank Charlie.

00:00:48.000 He's an incredible guy.

00:00:49.000 His spirit, his love of this country, he's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA.

00:00:57.000 We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country.

00:01:06.000 That's why we are here.

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00:01:26.000 That is noblegoldinvestments.com.

00:01:28.000 It's where I buy all of my gold.

00:01:30.000 Go to noblegoldinvestments.com.

00:01:34.000 I was out on assignment in Washington, D.C., and one day, a month, a year, ten years from now, I will tell you where I was and what I was doing.

00:01:43.000 So you'll just have to infer and guess what I was doing.

00:01:47.000 More importantly, though, we have this ever-growing conflict in front of us, the Israel-Iran conflict.

00:01:55.000 Will the United States get involved?

00:01:57.000 Will the United States decide to use bunker-busting bombs?

00:02:01.000 As I've said once, and I'll say again, President Trump has beyond earned our trust on all foreign affair issues.

00:02:09.000 He took out Soleimani.

00:02:10.000 He took out ISIS.

00:02:11.000 He has bombed the Houthis. 0.85

00:02:13.000 President Donald Trump has been a leader who is willing to use American military might where necessary, but not for prolonged conflicts.

00:02:24.000 He's not a nation-builder guy.

00:02:26.000 He's not a let's-change-the-population sentiment guy.

00:02:31.000 There's only one nation that Donald Trump wants to build, and that is America.

00:02:36.000 He wants to rebuild this country with infrastructure, a border, rising wages to get rid of inflation, mass deportations.

00:02:45.000 President Donald Trump is focused on pouring money back into America.

00:02:49.000 He's focused like a laser beam on that.

00:02:53.000 And President Trump has earned our trust on all things foreign affairs.

00:02:58.000 So right now, you have Lindsey Graham, you have James Lankford, you have Tom Tillis.

00:03:02.000 They're calling for regime change.

00:03:04.000 They're calling for regime change.

00:03:05.000 But a step before that, almost the entire industrial media class right now is calling for a bombing of Fordow.

00:03:14.000 Sounds good.

00:03:16.000 But I think it's time that we get a couple answers.

00:03:19.000 And we, the American people, deserve answers to this.

00:03:21.000 Because after the 2020 election, after COVID, Remember 2020?

00:03:28.000 Most secure election history.

00:03:30.000 Everything was wonderful.

00:03:32.000 Oh, really?

00:03:33.000 We all know the truth there.

00:03:35.000 How about COVID?

00:03:37.000 Six feet to slow the spread. 0.93

00:03:39.000 Vaccine is safe and effective.

00:03:40.000 Shut down the schools.

00:03:41.000 Mask while you shower.

00:03:43.000 COVID came from a bat.

00:03:46.000 So we were lied to there by the mass media and lied to there by the intelligence agencies.

00:03:50.000 How about Joe Biden's mental decline?

00:03:52.000 Joe Biden's perfectly fine.

00:03:54.000 He's perfectly fit.

00:03:55.000 It's a deep fake.

00:03:56.000 You're wrong.

00:03:57.000 He's never been sharper.

00:04:00.000 How about the Hunter Biden laptop?

00:04:02.000 That is Russian disinformation that our own intel community signed a letter saying that it was Russian disinformation.

00:04:10.000 Our own intel community did that.

00:04:12.000 Well, I'm sorry.

00:04:14.000 That very same intel community should probably be questioned and challenged because they're the ones that are now pushing to bomb Fordell.

00:04:23.000 The very same intel community that told us that COVID came from a bat lab and the very same intel community that is telling us that was Russia, Russia, Russia was the biggest threat ever. 0.85

00:04:35.000 You're going to have to earn our trust.

00:04:37.000 You might be right, but you're going to have to earn our trust on this one.

00:04:41.000 We are not going to blindly trust the intel community based on the track record of the last five years.

00:04:48.000 2020 election, most secure election in history.

00:04:51.000 COVID, six feet to slow the spread, safe and effective.

00:04:54.000 So before we commit to another military operation in the Middle East, which might be the best decision, here are some questions that I'm curious about that I think that we need to have answered.

00:05:08.000 Do you know that Ronald Reagan had Team B?

00:05:11.000 He had Team A and Team B. I learned this from Steve Manon.

00:05:14.000 Team B was a totally independent intel group that would analyze the intel the president was getting to double-check to make sure the president wasn't being cross-wired by Team A. All of the intel experts.

00:05:27.000 This is necessary.

00:05:28.000 I think President Trump needs Team B immediately.

00:05:30.000 Team B could be led by J.D. Vance.

00:05:32.000 You could have Amaryllis Kennedy.

00:05:33.000 You could have these incredible people that would double-check what the intel agencies are saying to make sure that the President Trump's information flow is robust.

00:05:41.000 And, by the way, the President has such good instincts here.

00:05:44.000 Phenomenal instincts.

00:05:45.000 I have no idea why the President all of a sudden is saying two weeks.

00:05:49.000 Could it be that maybe he's just doing a little of a double beat?

00:05:54.000 Maybe he just wants to make sure he gets all sides, no blind spots, because these very same intel agencies, even though that we have great people now running them, we have not rooted out all of the cockroaches.

00:06:04.000 These are the very same intel agencies that targeted him and did Russiagate and went and did a foreign dossier funded by the Democrat National Committee while they were lying about it to go get a warrant against Donald Trump to displace him from becoming president.

00:06:17.000 And President Trump hasn't forgotten that.

00:06:19.000 That's why we must trust President Trump.

00:06:21.000 But I have put together a list here, and it's a working list, of some things that we, the American people, deserve to know.

00:06:28.000 And if you get angry as I go through this list, I'm really suspicious as to why.

00:06:35.000 We deserve answers to this.

00:06:36.000 And maybe some of these things we don't know.

00:06:39.000 Maybe the answers are, there's a high risk.

00:06:42.000 We don't know.

00:06:43.000 And that's fine.

00:06:44.000 That is an acceptable answer.

00:06:45.000 Just be honest and tell us the truth.

00:06:48.000 Because there were lies about the invasion of Afghanistan.

00:06:51.000 There were lies about the Iraq War.

00:06:54.000 There were lies about the Libya Civil War.

00:06:56.000 There were lies about the Syrian Civil War.

00:06:58.000 There were lies about what's happening in Ukraine.

00:07:01.000 And so before we involve America in another military operation in the Middle East, which might be the right decision because Iran should not get a nuclear weapon, here are some answers to some questions.

00:07:16.000 Is hit with an American bunker buster, will it totally take out Iran's nuclear capability?

00:07:24.000 What is an approximation chance that it will?

00:07:28.000 Will the bunker buster actually work?

00:07:30.000 And secondly, what percentage chance that it will take out the entire nuclear program of Iran?

00:07:36.000 I was talking to some people, and they said, oh, this will be the death blow of the nuclear program of Iran.

00:07:42.000 Is that right?

00:07:44.000 Because I actually don't think that's true.

00:07:47.000 Because we're told right now that Iran is 15 days out from a nuke if they want it, even after the Israeli strikes.

00:07:54.000 Even after the strikes that Israel has had a week later, they're still 15 days out.

00:07:59.000 Can we play that from the U.S. ambassador to the U.N.?

00:08:02.000 Can we play that piece of tape, please, that we had?

00:08:05.000 It's very powerful.

00:08:06.000 400.

00:08:08.000 Iran's leaders could have avoided this conflict had they agreed to a deal that would have prevented them from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon.

00:08:16.000 But they refused to We can no longer ignore that Iran has all that it needs to achieve a nuclear weapon. 0.83

00:08:30.000 All it needs is a decision from their supreme leader.

00:08:34.000 That is unacceptable, and this Council must urge them to change course.

00:08:42.000 They're saying that the UN 15 days after Israeli airstrikes.

00:08:45.000 Has anything changed since the airstrikes?

00:08:47.000 I know that there was uranium enrichment facilities that were bombed.

00:08:52.000 I know that nuclear scientists were taken out.

00:08:54.000 The New York Times is reporting today that the 15-day timeline from Israeli intelligence shows that even after all these airstrikes, they still might be able to get a nuclear weapon.

00:09:03.000 So I will repeat, if Fordow is hit, will it totally take out Iran's nuclear capability, and what is the percentage chance that it will?

00:09:11.000 And if it doesn't work, what is the plan?

00:09:14.000 Here's another very heavy question.

00:09:16.000 How many American troops might die in Iranian retaliatory strikes?

00:09:21.000 You know, I was talking to somebody that was, you know, watching cable news a lot and they're very on board for Fordell.

00:09:27.000 I said, you know, American troops might die in response.

00:09:32.000 I said, well, no, that's not true, actually.

00:09:35.000 They have 2,000 hypersonic ballistic missiles that are still raining terror over Israel, and we should pray for the peace of Jerusalem as Iran strikes hospitals. 0.88

00:09:43.000 And there are over 40,000 American troops within ballistic missile range of Iran.

00:09:49.000 So what are the estimates?

00:09:51.000 Because you better believe the American military and the intel community, they run war games and estimates.

00:09:57.000 What are the estimates of how many American troops will die if Iran responds after we bomb Fordow?

00:10:04.000 So imagine a scenario where we bomb Fordow.

00:10:07.000 It doesn't work.

00:10:09.000 We tick off the Iranians. 1.00

00:10:11.000 They then launch a ballistic missile at an American base, killing 100 Americans.

00:10:16.000 How do we respond?

00:10:18.000 Do we respond then with more bombing?

00:10:21.000 I thought this was about a nuclear program.

00:10:23.000 That's a very important question.

00:10:25.000 If American troops were to die in the response of the Iranian ballistic missile attack, what then would our response be?

00:10:33.000 More escalation?

00:10:34.000 Troops on the ground?

00:10:36.000 And how many Americans would potentially die in such a strike?

00:10:39.000 I'm just beginning with this comprehensive list that we as Americans deserve answers to after we have been lied to so repeatedly.

00:10:47.000 You better believe President Trump understands this better than anybody else.

00:10:54.000 Hey everybody, Charlie Kirk here.

00:10:56.000 By the time this show ends, another family farm will be shut down.

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00:11:56.000 So, I do have a question.

00:11:58.000 God forbid a single American troop dies.

00:12:02.000 God forbid.

00:12:04.000 However, it is likely that the Iranians will retaliate if we bomb Fordow with ballistic missiles at American bases.

00:12:13.000 For those of you in the audience that want us to bomb Fordow, what would be an acceptable number?

00:12:19.000 If a thousand Marines die, would that have you second-guess?

00:12:23.000 Now, that is a very high estimate, but no one is being honest with us about estimates.

00:12:28.000 Would 100 be acceptable?

00:12:30.000 If 100 Marines died, do we just kind of say no more? 0.79

00:12:33.000 By the way, that's not unprecedented.

00:12:36.000 Remember, Ronald Reagan had the barracks bombing in Lebanon, and over 280 Marines died, and Reagan pulled out.

00:12:43.000 He was mocked by the neocons, but Reagan said there is no good option after this.

00:12:47.000 280 Marines die, and we're pulling out.

00:12:51.000 Somalia, another option, another example.

00:12:53.000 Black Hawk Down.

00:12:54.000 Sometimes when a lot of American service members die, You back out.

00:12:58.000 Now, it doesn't make you look overly strong, but it might actually be the prudent decision.

00:13:02.000 What assurances can we have that bombing such a facility will result in no nukes for Iran? 0.94

00:13:09.000 Will that end the program permanently?

00:13:11.000 If not, what will?

00:13:14.000 If that won't end the nuclear program, how long would it take to undo the damage?

00:13:19.000 How long would it take for a country like Iran... 1.00

00:13:26.000 to build a nuclear program if they really, truly wanted to.

00:13:30.000 According to the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., they could get it in nearly six weeks, 15 days.

00:13:36.000 They have not been sprinting towards a nuclear bomb recently.

00:13:40.000 So let's say that you bomb Fordow.

00:13:43.000 The Ayatollah is still alive.

00:13:45.000 The country is in a very weak position.

00:13:47.000 But because they're being bombed relentlessly, what if a more charismatic, younger leader says the number one priority, Is that we are going to want to build a nuclear bomb?

00:14:01.000 What does that timeline look like?

00:14:04.000 Does this eliminate the program for good?

00:14:07.000 Or does this just buy us time?

00:14:09.000 Because I can tell you right now, a lot of the rank and file that I'm talking to, they said, oh, this gets rid of the nuclear program for good.

00:14:16.000 Pure annihilation.

00:14:17.000 I don't think that's right.

00:14:20.000 And if it just buys us time, what does it buy us time for exactly?

00:14:24.000 And of course we're clear, we don't want Iran to get a nuclear weapon.

00:14:28.000 Nobody wants that.

00:14:31.000 But is this a permanent death blow?

00:14:33.000 Or is this a, hey, we're going to purchase you guys two years?

00:14:37.000 And again, if it buys you two years, is 100 troops worth two years?

00:14:45.000 I don't know.

00:14:47.000 If Iran moved at max speed, what is the timeline to get a nuclear weapon?

00:14:52.000 Another question.

00:14:53.000 Have the Israeli airstrikes done anything to actually prevent their nuclear program? 0.81

00:14:58.000 If so, what?

00:14:59.000 Because it sounds like it hasn't.

00:15:01.000 It sounds like they're all saying, well, they're still very close to a nuclear bomb.

00:15:04.000 They've been bombing them for a week.

00:15:06.000 They took out the nuclear scientists.

00:15:07.000 They're bombing oil fields.

00:15:09.000 They're bombing uranium enrichment.

00:15:11.000 Has it derailed the nuclear program?

00:15:13.000 And if not, what has the objective of this mission been?

00:15:17.000 This is a big if.

00:15:18.000 If bombing Fordow can't permanently destroy the nuclear program, will advocates of a limited intervention pivot to immediately demanding a full regime change war?

00:15:29.000 Because a lot of people are calling for regime change right now.

00:15:31.000 Lindsey Graham, James Lankford, Tom Tillis.

00:15:33.000 What does that even look like?

00:15:36.000 Here's a big one, because you better believe the intel community has done this.

00:15:39.000 They run these war games.

00:15:41.000 One of the most important questions that we deserve an answer to.

00:15:45.000 What are the refugee estimates of such regime change?

00:15:52.000 A million?

00:15:54.000 Five million?

00:15:55.000 It was six million in Syria, and Iran is nearly, I think, triple the size of Syria?

00:16:01.000 So 18 million refugees?

00:16:04.000 Well, that's nice.

00:16:04.000 Where are they going to go?

00:16:06.000 Pittsburgh?

00:16:08.000 Springfield, Ohio?

00:16:11.000 You break it, you bought it.

00:16:13.000 They're not going to go to Tel Aviv.

00:16:14.000 I can tell you right now, Israel, nor should they, will they accept a single refugee? 0.99

00:16:20.000 Where will they go?

00:16:21.000 Berlin?

00:16:23.000 Denver?

00:16:25.000 Who is most likely to take power next?

00:16:29.000 If the Ayatollah is taken out, who's the frontrunner? 0.80

00:16:32.000 Who's the Calci, Pali market odds-on favorite for being the successor to the Ayatollah?

00:16:38.000 What do we know about him?

00:16:40.000 Is he more moderate?

00:16:42.000 Is he younger?

00:16:42.000 Is he more religious?

00:16:44.000 Is he more radical?

00:16:46.000 It's Mojtabi Khamenei.

00:16:51.000 Mojtabi Khamenei.

00:16:52.000 Okay, fine.

00:16:53.000 The son.

00:16:54.000 Is he more moderate?

00:16:56.000 Is he more radical?

00:16:57.000 And if we take out that guy, who comes after him?

00:17:00.000 What is the line of succession here?

00:17:03.000 This is an ideological regime.

00:17:06.000 Boy, I have so many other questions here.

00:17:09.000 And no one's saying this.

00:17:11.000 Why?

00:17:12.000 Guys, learn the lesson from COVID.

00:17:14.000 Learn the lesson from the 2020 election.

00:17:15.000 Learn the lesson from Hunter Biden laptop.

00:17:17.000 Learn the lesson from Biden's health decline.

00:17:19.000 You can always bomb tomorrow.

00:17:21.000 Today, it's measure twice and cut once.

00:17:24.000 And President Trump, he understands this.

00:17:28.000 Hey, everybody.

00:17:29.000 Charlie Kirk here.

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00:18:28.000 We have the great Sean Davis here.

00:18:32.000 Sean, welcome.

00:18:33.000 You went very viral yesterday on X. And thank you for your courageous moral clarity on all of this.

00:18:38.000 I don't like people.

00:18:39.000 What side are you on?

00:18:40.000 It's not a matter of what side.

00:18:41.000 I'm on America's side.

00:18:43.000 I'm on same civilization.

00:18:45.000 I can't stand Iran. 1.00

00:18:46.000 I hate the mullahs.

00:18:47.000 I'm profusely pro-Israel.

00:18:49.000 I also have the battle wounds and scars the last five years of being lied to about the 2020 election, COVID, Biden's mental health decline, Hunter Biden laptop, all of that.

00:18:58.000 And so I'm going through a list of questions here, Sean, and I just want to have you kind of go through this with me.

00:19:04.000 So the other one, I ask this, because I'm saying, like, here's the things we deserve answers to.

00:19:08.000 By the way, President Trump's handling this beautifully, because I think this one, who knows why he's pausing?

00:19:12.000 This could be one of the main reasons.

00:19:14.000 What are the chances of a civil war if there's regime change in Iran?

00:19:18.000 Since the same people who pushed for Libya, Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan regime change are doing it again, what have they done to re-earn our trust?

00:19:25.000 Is this about nukes or is it about removing a regime?

00:19:29.000 Sean, in the last week it's gone from, very interestingly, this is Israel's war and let Israel finish it, great, to America needs to do bunker busters, to now some people are saying we need to do regime change. 0.60

00:19:42.000 What exactly is the goal here?

00:19:44.000 Yeah, we don't know.

00:19:45.000 And that's what I find so frustrating, because I lived through and watched the Iraq War run up.

00:19:51.000 They spent a year and a half telling us about all this intel.

00:19:55.000 They sent Colin Powell to the U.N. Congress, at least to its credit, mistakenly in my view, obviously in hindsight, actually authorized it, which is apparently something we don't do anymore, is have Congress authorize or declare wars.

00:20:09.000 But they spent a year and a half kind of working the public, telling us all this stuff.

00:20:13.000 Well, let's ignore that most of it was false.

00:20:15.000 I feel like they're speedrunning through that propaganda campaign in the span of like a week right now.

00:20:22.000 And I guess what bothers me, I want to go back to the beginning.

00:20:27.000 I absolutely don't want our enemies, people who want to kill us, to have nuclear weapons that they can use against us.

00:20:33.000 But I want to go right back to the beginning.

00:20:36.000 What is the evidence that they are, one, about to get nuclear weapons?

00:20:39.000 Where does it come from?

00:20:40.000 What's the veracity?

00:20:41.000 And then number two, what ability do they have to attack us?

00:20:45.000 So I think even before we get to regime change, which a lot of people have wanted for 40 years, let's just talk about that baseline question.

00:20:53.000 What's the evidence?

00:20:54.000 And I don't feel like we've been given any at all.

00:20:57.000 Just like in the Iraq War, it's being asserted.

00:21:00.000 It's not that I disbelieve everything that we're told.

00:21:03.000 It's that I don't believe any of it.

00:21:06.000 Rather than just assuming, oh yeah, it's coming from people who obviously wouldn't get stuff wrong.

00:21:12.000 I just don't believe it anymore.

00:21:14.000 Like, convince me.

00:21:15.000 Show me.

00:21:16.000 Don't tell me.

00:21:16.000 And I don't feel like any of that's happening.

00:21:18.000 And I find it really frustrating having seen in the past where that leads.

00:21:22.000 Well, so let's just take one of these pieces.

00:21:23.000 So that's a phenomenal analysis.

00:21:26.000 Somebody just emailed us.

00:21:28.000 They said, Charlie, we have to bomb Fordow because it will totally eliminate Iran's nuclear program.

00:21:32.000 Actually, that's not true, okay?

00:21:34.000 And by the way, if it is true, then someone prove it to me because we just had someone in front of the U.N. say they're still 15 days out.

00:21:40.000 They're still six weeks out from a bomb.

00:21:42.000 So by the way, if Fordow is like a death blow and that's it, they'll never get a nuke like you have just eliminated it, then go make that case.

00:21:50.000 But if that was the case, then why are they also simultaneously calling for regime change and the Israeli government is doing that?

00:21:56.000 And so, again, we have been so misled the last 20 years, misled on Iraq, misled on Afghanistan, misled on the open border, misled on COVID, misled on the 2020 election, misled on Hunter Biden laptop, misled on Joe Biden's, you know, Joe Biden's perfectly fine, it's a bunch of deep fakes.

00:22:09.000 So you and I are trained as outsiders to look at kind of this narrative war and say, whoa, whoa, it's been a crazy week.

00:22:16.000 Let's take a pause, let's take a breath, and we just need to make sure we're morally clear.

00:22:21.000 Israel is a moral civilization.

00:22:23.000 Iran is controlled by crazy Ayatollah Mollus. 0.98

00:22:25.000 No one has any moral confusion on this program.

00:22:27.000 We're America first.

00:22:28.000 We love America.

00:22:29.000 We grieve when any innocents are dying.

00:22:32.000 Okay, we get all those moral parameters there.

00:22:35.000 But Sean, I can't help but think that there's so many different components here.

00:22:43.000 Like, for example, if Fordow is hit with an American bunker buster, will it totally take out Iran's nuclear capability? 0.57

00:22:49.000 And what is the percentage chance that it will?

00:22:52.000 Yeah, that's a great fundamental question.

00:22:54.000 And again, I completely trust President Trump and his judgment.

00:22:58.000 And I'm so thankful that he is president right now, dealing all this, and not all the other people in the past or who've tried to run for that job in there, because I don't think they would have withstood any of the hysteria or the pressure.

00:23:09.000 I think they would have gone right in, tried to do regime change, and were right back in the mire that we are in in Iraq.

00:23:15.000 So I'm thankful he's in charge.

00:23:17.000 The problem is that, you know, They have not exactly filled me with a lot of confidence.

00:23:28.000 For example, we had bin Laden, who was the architect of 9 /11, killed thousands of American people.

00:23:36.000 It took us, what, 10 years to find that guy?

00:23:38.000 He was living in Pakistan, like, next door to their-- The equivalent of their West Point Military Academy. 0.91

00:23:44.000 We had no idea he was there.

00:23:46.000 So, I'm a little skeptical when I'm told that Fordow is the only source of uranium enrichment there.

00:23:53.000 That's the only thing they have to worry about.

00:23:54.000 They're 100 percent certain that, if they take that out, there's no more nuclear threat.

00:23:59.000 OK, but what if that's not correct?

00:24:01.000 What if they're somewhere we don't know about?

00:24:03.000 What if they have other facilities?

00:24:05.000 What if the Bunker Busters don't work?

00:24:07.000 And I'm reminded of the timeless quote from foreign policy sage Mike Tyson.

00:24:13.000 Everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face.

00:24:16.000 And we seem to think that, you know, as long as we're the ones throwing punches, no one else is going to counterattack or counteract.

00:24:23.000 And I'm really concerned if we go and do this and it's not immediately 100 percent successful.

00:24:28.000 There are some really, really serious ramifications at that point.

00:24:31.000 What if we don't take out the nuclear program?

00:24:33.000 What if that causes them to race into producing something that they maybe hadn't thought of?

00:24:37.000 That creates a really, really dangerous, completely unstable, chaotic situation that will probably make us far more endangered than we are now.

00:24:46.000 And it bothers me that nobody's actually talking about what we know and what we don't know and with what certainty we know or don't know anything.

00:24:54.000 So, Sean, let's go through another one of these questions.

00:24:58.000 How many American troops might die in an Iranian retaliatory strike?

00:25:02.000 Yeah, that's a great question.

00:25:04.000 And, you know, I've seen some stuff from maybe it might have been the Pentagon or some other sources.

00:25:10.000 And they said, well, yes, obviously, Iran can't hit the U.S. mainland.

00:25:15.000 They just don't have the ballistic missile capability.

00:25:17.000 As far as we know, we could be wrong on that.

00:25:20.000 But they're able to endanger troops in the area.

00:25:23.000 And so I think, well, obviously, that's intolerable.

00:25:27.000 Baseline kind of operating assumption is, if something's not directly in our interest, if we're not directly threatened, I really don't want to be accepting any American casualties.

00:25:38.000 But the best way to make sure crazy regimes or evil regimes can't target people around them is, you know, maybe we don't have troops everywhere around there.

00:25:48.000 It becomes a lot harder to target our troops around the world if we don't have them everywhere around the world.

00:25:54.000 And, again, it's us having to relearn the lessons of Iraq. 0.54

00:25:58.000 If we hadn't gone in there and blown it up and created a disaster of the whole thing, leading to ISIS and all kinds of horribles, there wouldn't be people over there to be getting harassed or shot at. 0.89

00:26:09.000 And that's something that I don't think is discussed nearly enough.

00:26:13.000 We kind of just take it as a given, as if we have no control over where our people are and how close they are to being targeted.

00:26:19.000 I think President Trump deserves enormous credit here that he's not getting from the media because the clamoring from Capitol Hill.

00:26:26.000 Let's play some of these pieces of tape here.

00:26:27.000 Do we have Lindsey Graham or Tom Tillis?

00:26:29.000 I'm sure we do.

00:26:29.000 We have endless clips here.

00:26:31.000 And President Trump, he's not an isolationist.

00:26:34.000 He's not an interventionist.

00:26:35.000 He's something completely different.

00:26:37.000 He's willing to use American force where necessary.

00:26:40.000 We have dozens of these.

00:26:42.000 Okay, how about this one?

00:26:43.000 Tom Tillis, rock star.

00:26:44.000 Playcut 380.

00:26:46.000 It's time for regime change.

00:26:47.000 And I believe that this president should be given a fair amount of leeway to affect that.

00:26:52.000 Regime change.

00:26:53.000 How about this one?

00:26:54.000 331.

00:26:54.000 Do you think the United States should assassinate the supreme leader if they can?

00:26:59.000 The assassination of any foreign dignitary or leader on this.

00:27:03.000 But we most certainly need to have regime change in Iran.

00:27:06.000 This is the same regime that's threatened America and Americans.

00:27:09.000 This is the same regime that oppresses their own people, that they use the money that they get from oil, money to be able to put towards terrorism, to be able to kill us and our allies.

00:27:19.000 They chant death to America in the streets.

00:27:21.000 We definitely need a new regime there. 0.66

00:27:23.000 So basically his answer is yes, we should assassinate the Supreme Leader.

00:27:27.000 So let me kind of go through my questions again.

00:27:29.000 What are the refugee estimates of such a regime change?

00:27:32.000 And what are the chances of a civil war?

00:27:35.000 Sean, what did the quagmires of the Middle East tell you about when D.C. is calling?

00:27:40.000 By the way, they have like, they're saying no shame.

00:27:42.000 They haven't like gone to a PR agency and come up with like a new term than regime change.

00:27:46.000 They're just using the exact same term as if nobody's learned and nobody cares.

00:27:52.000 Sean Davis.

00:27:52.000 Yeah, it's really actually kind of sad and discouraging to see how many D.C. politicians on both sides have never found a war they're not willing to send other people's kids to die in.

00:28:04.000 And I'm of the generation, the war on terror, Iraq war generation.

00:28:10.000 I have friends who were over there who were injured, you know, spiritually, mentally, physically.

00:28:14.000 You talk to a lot of them now, and they say, well...

00:28:20.000 We would go and pour out our blood and sweat and tears to take one little hamlet or village, and then, a month later, we would be pulled out and we would be back to where it was at the beginning.

00:28:29.000 And that's not even getting into the issue that you brought up of refugees.

00:28:34.000 As our government was pushing Syrian civil war, where did all those people go?

00:28:40.000 They flee.

00:28:40.000 They flee to Europe.

00:28:41.000 They flee to the U.S. when we had the fall of Afghanistan, a place that we should have been out of. 1.00

00:28:47.000 15 years ago, if not longer, we had all kinds of people-- not good people, by the way, a lot of them terrorists-- flooding into here, claiming asylum or refugee status.

00:28:57.000 This always happens.

00:28:59.000 And it's—you look back through history, whether it's the Middle East or whether it's through Africa, these wars have massive, massive consequences.

00:29:08.000 And as Americans, we seem to just think that if we say or wave a magic wand of regime change— And what actually happens is, you end up displacing millions, if not tens of millions of people.

00:29:26.000 You have refugee camps around the world.

00:29:27.000 You have people coming in here by the millions, many of whom are impossible to vet and often mean us harm.

00:29:33.000 It creates utter, utter chaos.

00:29:36.000 And it is shocking to me, given what we have lived through.

00:29:39.000 We're not even talking about having to go read a history book to learn its lessons.

00:29:42.000 We all lived through the last 25 years, and to see so many people not learn a single thing We just hit $37 trillion in debt yesterday, okay?

00:29:53.000 And some people in D.C. are clamoring for yet another regime change war.

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00:31:05.000 Music I wish it was as easy and simple as it is being presented.

00:31:12.000 Maybe it is.

00:31:14.000 Probably isn't.

00:31:16.000 In a country as old and proud and grand and ancient as Persia, it's probably not so easy as you just drop a couple bombs on a mountain and today you go away.

00:31:29.000 Usually when things are presented in simple terms in foreign policy, they're usually wrong.

00:31:37.000 That's one of the biggest takeaways of the last 100 years.

00:31:40.000 These things tend to be infinitely complex, very deep, and the potential for mass escalation.

00:31:51.000 So the complexity of this is enormous, Sean, and I think the president has been incredibly prudent and restrained with high rhetoric, but also understanding that once you involve yourself in Fordow, the on-ramp for escalation is rather significant.

00:32:11.000 it.

00:32:22.000 And should we trust Lindsey Graham?

00:32:29.000 Yeah, I think the only thing we can trust Lindsey Graham to do is push wars that he's not going to have to bear the burdens or consequences of.

00:32:38.000 I think as American people, we have to do the thing that we always do, which is help our government and our representatives understand.

00:32:46.000 You represent us.

00:32:47.000 You represent our needs and our concerns.

00:32:50.000 And you have to level with us and be honest with us.

00:32:52.000 You can't just come out there and say, trust me, we have got the intel.

00:32:56.000 It's right this time.

00:32:57.000 We got to go.

00:32:58.000 Because the thing is, the American people, like, we're pretty trusting people.

00:33:02.000 We're pretty open.

00:33:03.000 We have zero appetite for being threatened or attacked by anyone.

00:33:08.000 I think your average American is far more Jacksonian in their foreign policy outlook than anything.

00:33:15.000 They don't really want to be enmeshed or entangled in foreign affairs or with foreign countries.

00:33:19.000 But when it comes to defending ourselves, they want to be able to do it.

00:33:23.000 And so I think our government just needs to be very clear-eyed and honest with the people.

00:33:28.000 Here's what we know.

00:33:29.000 Here's what we don't know.

00:33:30.000 Here's what we think the best course of action is.

00:33:32.000 And then listen.

00:33:33.000 And one of the things I love about Donald Trump is he's got his own internal instincts.

00:33:38.000 He's got his own political compass and radar.

00:33:40.000 But the man listens like minute to minute, day to day.

00:33:43.000 He listens probably better than any politician we've had in modern memory.

00:33:47.000 And I know that if people start telling him what they want, what they believe, what they think they need, he listens.

00:33:53.000 Yes, he does.

00:33:54.000 And he is acutely aware of all the dynamics at play here.

00:33:59.000 He's a phenomenal listener.

00:34:00.000 And it's one of the main reasons why he has developed such great instincts over his entire career.

00:34:07.000 In closing here, Sean, you and I both have seen nothing but lies and deception and misleading.

00:34:15.000 Isn't it important for the audience to reconsider the premise of what they are being told?

00:34:21.000 I encourage everybody here.

00:34:22.000 And by the way, the premise might be right, but let's try to go down to first principles, right?

00:34:26.000 Go back down to first principles and please understand the very same people that have been lying to you for the last five years about all the other stuff very well might be lying to you again.

00:34:37.000 How does someone get back to first principles here, Sean?

00:34:40.000 Yeah, I think the best thing to do is start at the very bottom.

00:34:43.000 What do we know?

00:34:44.000 What do we not know?

00:34:45.000 Are we at risk?

00:34:46.000 Are we not at risk?

00:34:47.000 What are the likely consequences of doing things?

00:34:50.000 What are the consequences of not doing things?

00:34:52.000 I think this is a conversation we need to be having with our representatives, both in Congress and in the White House.

00:34:58.000 And the best way for these institutions to get their trust back, which they have destroyed over the last 25 years, is to level with us.

00:35:07.000 Tell us what you know.

00:35:08.000 Tell us how you know it and just be honest and level with us as opposed to this tell, don't show thing that is still going on now, which I personally find maddening.

00:35:18.000 Sean, excellent work.

00:35:32.000 Everyone check out The Federalist.

00:35:33.000 He's been great on X. Thank you so much.

00:35:35.000 Thank you.

00:35:36.000 I want to just repeat some of these.

00:35:38.000 Because I think it's very important.

00:35:40.000 If bombing Fordow can't permanently destroy the nuclear program, will there be a pivot towards full regime change?

00:35:48.000 What is the plan and the process for that?

00:35:52.000 Is this clearly about nukes or removing a regime?

00:35:58.000 What role do the Iranian people play here?

00:36:01.000 Oh, here's another really good one.

00:36:02.000 Can we get third-party analysis not from...

00:36:09.000 What is the best on-the-ground sentimentality of the Persian people right now?

00:36:15.000 Because it's mixed.

00:36:17.000 I opened up a whole TikTok where I said, hey, if you're in Persia, send me a message.

00:36:22.000 Now, some of it could be fake.

00:36:23.000 Some of it looked very real based on IP addresses.

00:36:25.000 But a lot of the people emailing said that sentiment has turned more against America.

00:36:29.000 And that people actually are less likely to rebel because they're tired of being bombed.

00:36:33.000 It's actually creating consolidation.

00:36:35.000 That could be propaganda, of course.

00:36:38.000 But we should also let mistest that as well, right?

00:36:42.000 Thanks so much for listening, everybody.

00:36:43.000 Email us, as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.

The Charlie Kirk Show - June 20, 2025

Iran and Israel: The Questions We Need Answered

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