The Charlie Kirk Show - The Iran Off-Ramp? — LIVE Reaction to Middle East Missile Strikes

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

00:00:04.000 Okay everybody, it is official.

00:00:06.000 Iran has launched ballistic missiles at the United States at troops throughout the region.

00:00:12.000 We recap all of this as we were reporting this live.

00:00:14.000 That's right, live.

00:00:15.000 You're going to love our analysis as we talk about it as it happened.

00:00:18.000 But right now, no U.S. troops have been killed, no casualties on this very historic day.

00:00:24.000 President Trump has an opportunity to have an off-ramp, declare victory, and to consider this a major win.

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00:00:53.000 Buckle up, everybody.

00:00:54.000 Here we go.

00:00:54.000 Charlie, what you've done is incredible here.

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00:01:53.000 Joining us now is Mark Halperin, editor-in-chief of Tu-Way, host of Next Up on the Megan Kelly Network.

00:02:00.000 Mark, great to see you.

00:02:01.000 I hope you had a restful and peaceful Saturday night.

00:02:05.000 Nothing really happened this weekend.

00:02:07.000 Yeah, we did a special report on Tuay, had a big audience.

00:02:10.000 And I think it's, you know, we hear a lot of negative stuff about America, American people media.

00:02:16.000 I think people are really engaged in this in a substantive way.

00:02:19.000 I know you hear it when you talk to people.

00:02:22.000 I know I regularly flatter you, but it's all heartfelt.

00:02:25.000 I think you've been so thoughtful about this as an analyst, but also as someone who's a player involved here, because this can be treated superficially.

00:02:34.000 It can be treated as a red-blue divide.

00:02:37.000 And these are serious issues.

00:02:38.000 And people should not be treating it like politics.

00:02:41.000 They should be treating it like what's America's role going to be in the world?

00:02:44.000 And what do we think of what President Trump has done?

00:02:46.000 And again, I think you've been extremely thoughtful as an analyst and as a participant in saying there's a way to do this.

00:02:53.000 It's in America's interest.

00:02:54.000 And there are ways that history suggests aren't.

00:02:56.000 And I think I applaud you and everyone else, including my colleagues on Tuway, who are treating this like a serious thing rather than a political thing or a frivolous thing.

00:03:05.000 Well, thank you, Mark.

00:03:06.000 That means a lot.

00:03:07.000 And we've been attacked by both sides.

00:03:10.000 We've been called a warmonger and we've been called an isolationist.

00:03:13.000 And then I look around and I say, well, you know what?

00:03:15.000 The show's doing better than ever.

00:03:16.000 So it turns out the American people actually want a straight, fact-first, non-ideological take on this.

00:03:23.000 So, Mark, let me ask some of the harder questions.

00:03:26.000 First of all, our eyes right now, we're monitoring the situation.

00:03:28.000 Any moment right now, Iran could strike and hit a U.S. base. 0.88

00:03:32.000 So I don't want to get too much into that because that's speculative.

00:03:35.000 But based on your reporting, Mark, was this strike in Iran successful?

00:03:41.000 Did it take out Iran's nuclear capability?

00:03:44.000 There's a lot of debate about that.

00:03:45.000 The New York Times is trying to cast a little bit of doubt regarding that.

00:03:50.000 What is your reporting showing regarding the success of this strike?

00:03:55.000 Well, it was at least somewhat successful on two levels.

00:03:58.000 Number one, or I'd say three levels.

00:04:00.000 Number one, it certainly set back Iran's nuclear program.

00:04:03.000 We don't know yet.

00:04:04.000 No one knows if it eliminated it.

00:04:06.000 Number two, it sent Iran and Israel both a message that the United States is, as Israel is doing, is seizing this opportunity, an unprecedented opportunity where Iran is as weak as it's been in quite some time, to show that the United States is going to partner with Israel.

00:04:24.000 And then, number three, it showed America's technological superiority over every military in the world.

00:04:29.000 And that means that not just Iran, but the folks in Beijing and elsewhere can be reminded that if the United States decides to use its military power, it's going to bring it to bear in a way with a technological and human proficiency that's unmatched by everybody else on the planet.

00:04:45.000 That's an asymmetrical advantage for the United States.

00:04:48.000 None of that means, though, that anybody knows, including the New York Times, including the administration, just how far back this has set the program.

00:04:56.000 And I think it's going to take a lot of human intelligence and electronic surveillance to try to figure it out.

00:05:03.000 There's no doubt that Iran did not go from being able to build a nuclear device and deliver it to being unable, completely unable to deliver it. 0.56

00:05:12.000 And we need to figure that out as a news story.

00:05:15.000 But the policymakers need to understand because that goes to the next moves for both Israel and the United States, whose stated goal is to remove that capability, at least for the time being.

00:05:25.000 Breaking news, by the way, Axios is saying, we could put this up on screen.

00:05:29.000 Israeli official says that Iran has now fired towards Qatar and Iraq.

00:05:35.000 Mark, what is the significance of this?

00:05:37.000 We're going to know a lot very quickly of the payload and the intent of the Iranian military.

00:05:45.000 A lot of our troops are sitting ducks in the region.

00:05:48.000 Kind of walk our audience through.

00:05:50.000 We've seen this similar in 2020 with the taking out of Soleimani.

00:05:54.000 So please educate our audience on this as we see this develop in real time.

00:05:58.000 Well, we saw it then.

00:05:58.000 We also saw it when Israel and Iran fought a few months ago.

00:06:02.000 I think there's a good possibility.

00:06:04.000 I'm not predicting it.

00:06:05.000 I'm not saying it's the only possible outcome, but I think there's a good possibility that Iran will do something like what they've just reportedly done, tell their people it was a huge success and the full retaliation, and stand down. 0.84

00:06:17.000 I think that's a possibility.

00:06:18.000 And I know there are people in the administration who are familiar with that possibility as well.

00:06:23.000 They may also decide to activate whatever remaining forces they have, both on their own and through proxies, To try to harm the United States and United States allies.

00:06:33.000 And that'll put a lot of pressure on President Trump to decide what he wants to do.

00:06:38.000 His rhetoric suggests that if Iran does that, the U.S. will respond quite forcefully. 0.60

00:06:43.000 But Israel's taking out a lot of targets now.

00:06:45.000 So I'm not sure what's left for the U.S. to hit, but there's certainly ways to ratchet this up.

00:06:50.000 So if a single American life is lost, I think the president will act quite in quite full force.

00:06:56.000 If it's just property, maybe not.

00:07:00.000 Yeah, and so this has been a little bit telegraphed, though.

00:07:02.000 We've kind of heard this for the last hour or two hours.

00:07:05.000 I'm texting with a reporter right now who's just about, I'd say you're a better reporter, Mark, but he's almost at the Helperin League of Excellence.

00:07:13.000 He says, quote, it sounds like based on what our reporting, this was telegraphed and designed to avoid casualties.

00:07:19.000 Why would Iran do that? 0.99

00:07:20.000 Why would Iran telegraph and design a military attack to avoid casualties?

00:07:25.000 Well, along the lines of what I said, they have to appease their people.

00:07:32.000 Their whole premise of governance has been on the military front, the geopolitical front, we're going to stand up to the big Satan and the little Satan.

00:07:41.000 And people in Iran know that the United States and Israel both have now attacked the Iranian assets.

00:07:48.000 And I think, again, they've done this at least twice now, where they don't want to bring the full measure of the United States force upon them.

00:07:57.000 But they need to tell their people they've done something.

00:07:59.000 And they can tell the Iranian people they did respond.

00:08:02.000 And they can exaggerate the degree of success and the tit for tat nature of the response.

00:08:08.000 And that's what many people think they'll do.

00:08:11.000 And this could be a sign of that.

00:08:12.000 But this is not a closed thing.

00:08:15.000 It's not like they get one chance to respond.

00:08:17.000 They may respond that way and then respond a different way.

00:08:20.000 Charlie, I think the biggest variable in all of this is the Iranian people and what the government feels they need to do to appease them or keep them from demanding a change in government or have a perception that they're a failed regime.

00:08:34.000 And we don't know most of the reporting out of Iran, and I'm unfortunately not in a position to do much reporting there directly, but most of the reporting suggests that they're rallying around the government.

00:08:43.000 They're reacting negatively to Israel and the United States.

00:08:48.000 And that's good for the government because that means they've got more leeway in how they respond without having to worry about losing face with their own people.

00:08:55.000 Okay, six missiles launched so far by Iran right now as we're here on air towards Qatar.

00:09:01.000 I'm told many have been intercepted.

00:09:03.000 There are multiple explosions over Doha, and those interceptions are ongoing right now.

00:09:08.000 So it's conceivable that Iran kind of, hey, it's coming. 0.99

00:09:13.000 It's coming.

00:09:14.000 And they didn't like quite want to kill Americans, but they wanted to show face domestically.

00:09:21.000 And they said, hey, we did this thing.

00:09:23.000 It's over.

00:09:24.000 And I mean, I could see it.

00:09:26.000 If these missiles are successfully intercepted and no U.S. troops die, what does your reporting show, Mark, about how President Trump would respond?

00:09:34.000 Do you think he will take an off-ramp and then kind of just put this thing, consider it done if no U.S. troops die?

00:09:42.000 In the short term, I do think that's what the president would do if it's just some buildings hit.

00:09:47.000 However, there's an ongoing issue, right?

00:09:50.000 The president, you know, to the extent, and again, you've taken heat, as you said, both, you know, called an isolationist and called a warmonger.

00:09:59.000 The president is committed to not letting Iran develop a nuclear capability or intercontinental ballistic capability.

00:10:06.000 The Israelis seem to be on this and they continue to not only hit our targets in Iran, but with a great deal of confidence. 0.73

00:10:13.000 But if there's another element of the mission, like we saw over the weekend, where the United States capability can get it done and Israel can't, they don't have the B-2s and the bunker busters, then I think the president would go back for more.

00:10:26.000 But I think the goal is to say, deter Iran from striking American forces around the world, deter them from hitting American forces in the United States, and hope that Israel can do what both the United States and Israel say they want, which is to eliminate that missile capability and that nuclear capability. 0.91

00:10:44.000 We're getting some of the video now that we're going to put up.

00:10:46.000 Sorry, Mark, this is all just breaking news in real time here.

00:10:50.000 I'm a breaking news guy, fella.

00:10:52.000 No, I know.

00:10:53.000 So, and by the way, feel free to check your phone, Mark, if you're getting sources and you're getting information too live on air.

00:10:58.000 The skies of Qatar are lighting up right now as interceptions seem to be occurring, and we're going to try to load up those videos.

00:11:06.000 Mark, what does this say for the MAGA doctrine, for the Trump doctrine?

00:11:11.000 If there is an off-ramp, President Trump has kind of created a third way.

00:11:15.000 We've kind of always existed in, hey, either you're a dove or you're a hawk.

00:11:19.000 President Trump has always existed kind of in between those two modalities.

00:11:25.000 What does this mean for the Trump doctrine and the Trump foreign policy worldview?

00:11:31.000 Speak loudly, carry a big stick, use it when necessary, and no boots on the ground.

00:11:38.000 I find people who are surprised by how President Trump is handling this to be guilty of not paying attention.

00:11:44.000 He's doing exactly what he said he would do.

00:11:47.000 People say, well, this is a slippery slope.

00:11:50.000 No, he's not going to put boots on the ground.

00:11:52.000 They're not going to be American forces on the ground.

00:11:54.000 There's going to be no nation building.

00:11:56.000 There's going to be no attempt to win the hearts and minds of the Iranian people. 0.53

00:12:00.000 There'll be a lot of rhetoric about how the Iranian people, as the president put on Truth Social yesterday, how the Iranian people should consider changing their government because their government has not performed in their best interest.

00:12:12.000 I think you'll continue to see that.

00:12:14.000 And I think you'll continue to see overwhelming forced use to take out whatever needs to be taken out to make sure that Iran cannot be a nuclear power. 0.92

00:12:23.000 Other than that, I think it's up to the Iranian government.

00:12:27.000 If they kill an American, one single American, then I think you'll see massive retaliation.

00:12:32.000 And the president made that clear to them.

00:12:34.000 That doesn't mean boots on the ground.

00:12:36.000 We've got extraordinary air power.

00:12:38.000 The Israelis have helped clear the way by making the Iranian Air Force and anti-air capacity quite limited. 0.80

00:12:47.000 And so I think the president, as he said over the weekend, and the experts I talked to concur, the mission that was carried out over the weekend is the tough one.

00:12:55.000 The ability of the United States to destroy government buildings, political things, bases, the Navy, that's fishing a barrel for the U.S. military.

00:13:08.000 All right, we have some visuals.

00:13:10.000 I just want to put this up on screen of some of the interceptions that are happening over Qatar.

00:13:14.000 Now, remember, this is very ballsy for Iran to do because Qatar and Iran, I don't want to say they're allies, but there's definitely something that's been going on there with oil.

00:13:23.000 And they're closer than Saudi Arabia and Iran.

00:13:25.000 So this is quite a maneuver for Iran to do. 0.84

00:13:28.000 But look at that, those interceptions happening over the skies of Qatar right now.

00:13:34.000 That is real stuff.

00:13:35.000 I mean, those ballistic missiles could take out hundreds of people if it hits a certain target.

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00:14:58.000 Right now, it looks like initial reports show that all missiles were intercepted so far.

00:15:03.000 We need triple confirmation on that.

00:15:04.000 I don't know what your reporting is showing as well.

00:15:06.000 But that could be another victory for President Trump to show the capacity for the U.S. military to intercept these missiles.

00:15:13.000 There's also alarms that are ringing in Iraq and Bahrain.

00:15:17.000 And the source of the interception is probably aerial interception and also Patriot missiles from the bases.

00:15:24.000 Again, we need triple confirmation on that.

00:15:26.000 So, Mark, really quick, what do you make of the politics of all this and kind of the response that you've seen from MAGA Faithful over the last couple of days?

00:15:35.000 You're very uniquely positioned as a reporter to comment on this.

00:15:38.000 As we get more information about this aerial attack against U.S. bases, what do you make of the politics of all this?

00:15:44.000 Well, on the Republican side, I think the stories about MAGA meltdown are exaggerated.

00:15:52.000 There's a few people like Marjorie Taylor Greene who are on principle opposed to this.

00:15:57.000 I hear it on two-way from MAGA folks who say this is a violation of what the president has stood for.

00:16:04.000 But most people, and I put you and Professor Bannon in this category, I think have participated in the debate in a responsible way.

00:16:12.000 Most members of Republicans in Congress saying, let's make sure that this is done consistent, not with just American principles, but consistent with the principles learned over the last several decades, maybe from Vietnam onward, saying America cannot win these wars and America shouldn't get into wars that they can't win.

00:16:31.000 But at the same time, using air power and superiority to achieve a specific objective, one that the president has talked about for such a long time, making sure they're not a nuclear power is a big one.

00:16:42.000 I think the Democratic Party, perhaps not surprisingly, is just a mess on this.

00:16:47.000 There's 17 different positions.

00:16:48.000 I've yet to hear any Democrat enunciate what seems to be the obvious position, which is support our troops, demand that the Iranian government not have nuclear capability or intercontinental ballistic missiles, and say that the president's obligated to work with Congress whenever he's going to put American forces in harm's way.

00:17:08.000 That's like the easy, sensible position that's patriotic and rational and doesn't give Donald Trump everything he wants.

00:17:15.000 And yet, like I said, I've heard almost no Democrat talk about it.

00:17:19.000 I'll be super curious to see if the president's poll numbers go up because normally that would happen.

00:17:24.000 Oh, I think they will.

00:17:25.000 Just really quick.

00:17:26.000 It looks like there's more ballistic missiles right now launched at Bahrain.

00:17:30.000 So it looks as if they're going after multiple targets.

00:17:32.000 Based on reporting happening real time here on the program, it looks like the Qatar missile strikes were intercepted and all six headed to Doha were neutralized, intercepted.

00:17:42.000 Huge victory for the U.S. military and for the Saudis and the Qataris and the British. 0.96

00:17:47.000 So basically, how I, again, as a very layman understanding, but basically we fly a bunch of fighter jets and we try to send out a bunch of flares and disruptors that try to make the missiles explode in air.

00:17:59.000 There are sirens right now in Kuwait.

00:18:01.000 So we are not out of the woods yet.

00:18:03.000 Bahrain and Kuwait and Iraq are probably the next three targets right here on the program as Iran looks to retaliate from the U.S. bombing on nuclear sites.

00:18:12.000 Mark Calpern is with us.

00:18:13.000 Okay, alarms are ringing right now in Kuwait.

00:18:16.000 They are ringing in Bahrain.

00:18:17.000 So eyes are now on those two countries.

00:18:19.000 Can we put up a Middle Eastern map, please?

00:18:21.000 So Qatar is the juiciest of all the targets. 0.96

00:18:24.000 It's the largest U.S. base.

00:18:25.000 It's in a desert and it's the closest proximity.

00:18:28.000 I think Bahrain actually might be a little bit closer, but we also have Blake here who's going to help with this.

00:18:34.000 Go ahead, Marks.

00:18:35.000 You got to worry about Iraq, too, because there's a history there of not through the air, but just human assets on the ground who have the capacity to attack American forces.

00:18:47.000 Those bases, of course, over years now have been fortified and they're pretty well secured.

00:18:53.000 But you never know if this is a desperate time for the Iranians when they may start to activate long-held assets who are in a position to do harm to America. 0.97

00:19:02.000 The air defenses, as Israel has shown in this part of the world, are very good.

00:19:07.000 Israel shoots down a very high percentage of attacks on them from all quarters.

00:19:12.000 And you mentioned a list of countries for whom this is a victory.

00:19:14.000 I know you didn't do it on purpose, but just to live rattle, Israel, a big part of this as well, in terms of intelligence sharing, in terms of technology. 0.71

00:19:24.000 So, Mark, right now, again, reports are showing French, British, and American fighter Jets are all over the Persian Gulf, just kind of going nuts.

00:19:33.000 I want you to remind the audience, though, when we took out Soleimani, we were able to get out with zero U.S. troops.

00:19:38.000 So, this would not be unprecedented where we do something with a lot of chutzpah, where we do something where President Trump really acts with decisiveness, with violence, but then we're able to get out without a single U.S. troop dead.

00:19:51.000 To do that twice, Mark, would be a rather phenomenal accomplishment in the modern era, Mark Halprin.

00:19:58.000 Well, it has to do with the extraordinary capabilities of the Pentagon, right?

00:20:02.000 They're following the orders of the commander-in-chief, the Secretary of Defense, and the president puts a premium on that.

00:20:07.000 He doesn't want a single casualty, but it also has to do with his attitude.

00:20:11.000 His attitude is, again, speak loudly, carry a big stick, only use it when absolutely essential, and he doesn't want Americans to die.

00:20:20.000 This continues to be the less failure to understand Donald Trump when they call him a warmonger.

00:20:25.000 He's the opposite of that.

00:20:26.000 He's extremely aware of the cost, not just for American families, but for American prestige and the military's capacity when America suffers casualties.

00:20:37.000 And that's why, again, I just, people who worry about him saying, well, we're going to go in and start building firehouses and parks and schools in Iran.

00:20:45.000 It's not going to happen.

00:20:48.000 Final thoughts here, Mark.

00:20:49.000 And Mark, by the way, you're welcome to hang with us as we kind of do breaking news.

00:20:52.000 We're just going to roll through this, but I know you have a busy schedule.

00:20:55.000 It sounds as if, and we need to get this verified.

00:21:00.000 There is explosions at the Al-Assad air base in Iraq.

00:21:03.000 That does not mean that anybody necessarily died.

00:21:06.000 There were explosions at these bases back in 2020.

00:21:09.000 It does not mean that any U.S. troops died.

00:21:11.000 10 missiles were launched targeting U.S. bases in Qatar.

00:21:15.000 I think that those U.S. bases, that was a successful interception.

00:21:19.000 The Iraqi one is an open question.

00:21:21.000 As you astutely mentioned, Mark, the Iraq one is very close geographically.

00:21:26.000 There's a ton of Iraqi bases.

00:21:27.000 In some ways, they were kind of sitting ducks.

00:21:29.000 So it sounds like there might be a successful missile launch, successful in the worst possible way, to say those words, on a U.S. base in Iraq.

00:21:41.000 Also, sirens at U.S. bases in Saudi Arabia.

00:21:44.000 This looks like they're doing a major volley here, Mark.

00:21:47.000 Yeah.

00:21:47.000 And look, this is one of the many things that people worried about, people who did not think the U.S. attack on the nuclear program was a good idea for worried about just this.

00:21:57.000 And now there's going to be a question of how long do they keep it up?

00:22:00.000 Do they kill any Americans?

00:22:01.000 And if they do, what is President Trump's response?

00:22:05.000 There's also a possibility of force of communication and to say to the Iranians, okay, you got your measure of revenge. 0.98

00:22:12.000 Now let's negotiate or we will reply in greater force.

00:22:18.000 That will, I predict, be what the president does.

00:22:20.000 I think he will make one more effort to get them to the table.

00:22:23.000 And if they don't come promptly to the table in a realistic way, I think you will see, as he suggested over the weekend, overwhelming force.

00:22:31.000 And that's if a single American dies.

00:22:34.000 And Mark, just to repeat a point that we've made over the last couple of weeks, and this is not in any way, and I told you so, this was just a cautionary element.

00:22:43.000 When we get into these situations, you don't know what's going to happen.

00:22:46.000 You don't.

00:22:46.000 No one could die.

00:22:47.000 100 people could die.

00:22:49.000 And that risk has always been the root of my caution.

00:22:52.000 When you get in these situations, there's a thousand different ways this stuff can fall apart.

00:22:56.000 100%.

00:22:57.000 And the rejoinder, as you know, and which you've also given voice to, is the status quo ain't great.

00:23:04.000 We have a country vowing to destroy Israel, a country vowing to do harm to the United States. 0.84

00:23:08.000 And this is an opportunity the president's taking.

00:23:11.000 It might not work out well.

00:23:12.000 And I know full well the president went into it asking questions about and knowing full well all the things that could go wrong and still decided it was worth it.

00:23:20.000 And the American people are going to continue to debate no matter what happens, whether it was the right choice or not.

00:23:25.000 And that's as it should be in a democracy of robust freedom.

00:23:32.000 This podcast was once just a dream.

00:23:34.000 And by the way, thank you guys for supporting it.

00:23:36.000 We really appreciate it.

00:23:37.000 And that dream has now turned into an entrepreneurial success story.

00:23:41.000 I bet you have an idea of a business you want to start and a dream that you want to come seem into reality, but you probably say, oh, I don't have the skills or I can't do it alone.

00:23:51.000 Well, turn those what-ifs into why-nots with Shopify by your side.

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00:25:25.000 Blake, how you doing?

00:25:26.000 Doing great, Charlie.

00:25:27.000 Okay, what are we hearing?

00:25:28.000 I'm seeing.

00:25:28.000 Well, I mean, hopefully we're doing great.

00:25:30.000 Exactly.

00:25:31.000 So no visual reports or missiles over Kuwait and Bahrain.

00:25:34.000 So we have reports of, you know, sirens going off, scrambling.

00:25:38.000 So that is what preceded the stuff in Qatar.

00:25:40.000 But we haven't seen any video of missiles coming in over there.

00:25:43.000 There are reports of explosions at Al-Assad Air Base in Iraq.

00:25:47.000 There's no footage of that.

00:25:48.000 Al-Assad is in the western desert of Iraq.

00:25:51.000 So there wouldn't be, you know, in Qatar, any random person might see missiles coming in.

00:25:55.000 It's not a big country.

00:25:56.000 It's all right by Doha.

00:25:57.000 Very similar.

00:25:58.000 So we'll be probably waiting for reports To come in.

00:26:01.000 So, Mark, we have Mark Halperin with us.

00:26:03.000 By the way, I want you guys to email us, freedom at charliekirk.com as we are monitoring this situation live as it is unfolding in front of us.

00:26:12.000 Coalition of jets, this is breaking news, coalition of jets intercepting Iranian drones over Qatar, Iraq, Saudi, and UAE airspaces.

00:26:21.000 So, looks, can we get the map break up again?

00:26:24.000 Let's get that Middle East map up.

00:26:25.000 So, if they're going to Qatar, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and UAE, they are flushing out in many different directions.

00:26:33.000 I want just a quick Middle Eastern geopolitical lesson for those of you that are tuning in.

00:26:38.000 A lot of you are.

00:26:39.000 Iran is at odds, very much at odds with the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

00:26:44.000 There's a Sunni-Shia split.

00:26:46.000 They just don't like each other.

00:26:47.000 They haven't for quite some time, especially Saudi Arabia and Iran.

00:26:53.000 Airstrikes in Iraq are now being reported.

00:26:56.000 And so the jets, by the way, pray for our service members right now that are in jets intercepting drones, they're intercepting missiles.

00:27:02.000 This seems to be a pretty serious salvo by Iran. 0.97

00:27:05.000 Whether it is somewhat performative or theatrical, we will see.

00:27:09.000 We know it's real, but what do I mean by performative and theatrical, there has been a little bit of a wind-up to this.

00:27:13.000 Close the airspace, you know, a little bit of a, hey, we're coming, because does Iran want to see this escalate? 0.83

00:27:21.000 Blake, what are we seeing?

00:27:22.000 So there's definitely the belief, the big worry is, if they hit us, are they going to actually try to cause as much damage as they can?

00:27:30.000 Or is it they need to show that they're willing to fight, much like we did, you remember this in Trump's first term, where when we took out Soleimani, they shot missiles at us to sort of impress their own domestic political base, but they weren't really attempting to do as much damage as they could.

00:27:47.000 They were not going to all-out war over this.

00:27:50.000 And we might see a similar strategy here.

00:27:54.000 On the other hand, it could also be they're testing it, probing it, seeing what might be vulnerable, or just trying to deplete our stockpile of interceptor missiles.

00:28:03.000 Yes.

00:28:04.000 Okay, so breaking news.

00:28:05.000 Iran says it has now launched what is called Operation Bakarat Al-Fatah against the U.S.-led coalition of the air base in Al-Uyded in Qatar.

00:28:14.000 The IRGC is to release a statement shortly, which means that this is probably coming to a conclusion, to an end.

00:28:22.000 So this is the question, everybody.

00:28:23.000 Is this a real escalation?

00:28:24.000 Does Iran want to escalate this?

00:28:26.000 Or is this kind of a domestic show of political force that they could check the box?

00:28:31.000 Is it a one and done?

00:28:32.000 And so initial reports right now show three reports of impact at the U.S. base in Al-Yudid.

00:28:38.000 This is Fog of War stuff, guys.

00:28:39.000 So we have to like triple confirm all of this.

00:28:42.000 So there are additional attacks happening right now in Iraq.

00:28:44.000 Can we show the Kuwait?

00:28:46.000 I just, this Kuwait is the most Middle Eastern picture.

00:28:48.000 I'm sorry, this is the most Middle Eastern video ever.

00:28:50.000 It literally shows missiles being intercepted and a bunch of yachts.

00:28:54.000 No, no, no, you got to show the Kuwait one I just sent.

00:28:57.000 It's literally a bunch of yachts and then a bunch of yachts on the bottoms part in water and then a bunch of missiles being intercepted above and a bunch of like four season like luxury condominiums.

00:29:09.000 That is the most Middle Eastern video you'll ever see.

00:29:13.000 You just need like a guy to be like going through with like an AK-47 that's gold plated or something that he just like sprays in the air.

00:29:19.000 Exactly.

00:29:19.000 President Donald Trump right now is arrived in the situation room.

00:29:22.000 Those optics right now, just show it one more time.

00:29:24.000 That is Kuwait.

00:29:24.000 You've got missiles being intercepted up top.

00:29:27.000 You've got luxury condos in the middle.

00:29:28.000 And you've got yachts on the bottom. 0.96

00:29:30.000 Welcome to Kuwait, everybody.

00:29:32.000 Yeah, I think it's Kuwait.

00:29:33.000 By the way, right now, U.S. generals are meeting with President Trump in the situation room.

00:29:37.000 We are looking at all of our sources.

00:29:38.000 We have the best sources.

00:29:40.000 I would say outside.

00:29:41.000 We're texting a lot of the stakeholders.

00:29:43.000 Those that are not currently in skips right now, we're texting.

00:29:46.000 We're getting information in real time.

00:29:48.000 Okay, so Iranian missiles are being intercepted, but it looks as if, unfortunately, there have been three successful strikes in bases in Iraq.

00:29:56.000 But we don't know if those are intercepted missiles that maybe made their way through.

00:30:00.000 Are they fragments?

00:30:01.000 Are they direct hits?

00:30:02.000 And if they hit, did they hit anything with people in it?

00:30:05.000 Yes.

00:30:05.000 And so, by the way, this why every minute matters.

00:30:07.000 The fact that there was almost an hour and a half or two hour heads up means that everybody could have gotten in vehicles and drove off base.

00:30:16.000 They could get planes up in the air.

00:30:17.000 They could get into bunkers.

00:30:19.000 And by the way, the U.S. drew down their presence at a lot of these bases from 10,000 to 5,000.

00:30:24.000 There's been a significant drawdown to try to limit some of the casualties and limit this response.

00:30:30.000 There's no yet indication that Iran is going to close the Strait of Hormuz.

00:30:35.000 That would be a serious escalation, one that would actually also hurt China.

00:30:39.000 So I think that is probably unlikely that'll happen.

00:30:43.000 We now have footage that we're about to put up that the base being struck.

00:30:47.000 The report is this, quote, it appears that there have been three direct hits on the large American base in Qatar.

00:30:53.000 There are no yet reported casualties at the base as it was evacuated several days ago, but damage has been caused.

00:30:59.000 Pray that remains, everybody.

00:31:00.000 If it's just building damage and it's just equipment damage, remember, President Donald Trump exercised restraint.

00:31:06.000 Again, President has a lot of history and drama with Iran.

00:31:10.000 Do you remember when Iran they struck down one of American drones?

00:31:14.000 Yeah, they shot our robot down.

00:31:15.000 Can we get that clip of Trump being like, I'm not going to strike Iran and kill 100 Iranians because they just struck down a robot?

00:31:23.000 And so, by the way, if this response is limited to a few missiles, let's put 357 up.

00:31:28.000 President Donald Trump will be able to declare an unbelievable military victory.

00:31:32.000 We take out a nuclear capability.

00:31:34.000 No Americans die.

00:31:36.000 Okay, so let me just repeat.

00:31:37.000 There are reports of three direct hits on U.S. bases in Qatar.

00:31:40.000 No reports of U.S. casualties.

00:31:43.000 No reports of U.S. casualties.

00:31:45.000 The Iranian operation called the Annunciation of Victory.

00:31:48.000 Again, these guys are a bunch of, they're just a bunch of talkers.

00:31:51.000 They got a big mouth in Iran. 1.00

00:31:54.000 Launched against U.S. bases in Iraq, Qatar, and Iran is confirming, of course, they're doing it. 0.62

00:31:58.000 We know that.

00:32:00.000 So Lindsey Graham is now saying now it's time to end this madness in Iran.

00:32:04.000 He's just calling for absolute regime change.

00:32:06.000 Mr. President, please, I will call you later with this message, but please resist Lindsey Graham. 0.96

00:32:12.000 Please.

00:32:13.000 If they do not kill an American and they just bomb a bunch of our equipment, take the W. Take the W. You will be able to say you did the most successful military operation in history, taking out a nuclear program with no U.S. troops dies. 0.61

00:32:27.000 If that ends up bearing out, we do not know that is true.

00:32:30.000 Blake, can you comment on that?

00:32:31.000 That would be phenomenal.

00:32:33.000 It would be by far the biggest win for, I think, the way trump sees his own military stuff of i will act decisively but without you know with a clear objective without any open-ended commitment if he's able to even you know even temporarily or significantly set back the nuclear program let alone destroy it if he can say i blew this 20-year threat to some marines and all they did was they shot some bottle rockets at us and killed nobody that is a big win for us and we don't we don't want to we don't want to get that americans

00:33:04.000 might be dying right now so we want to say that with humility this is big breaking news the Qatari Ministry of Defense reports that Qatari air defenses intercepted a missile attack aimed at the Ayued airbase and so by the way thank you Qatar I know that there's been a lot of anti-Qatari language and we haven't really gotten into that but if it's true that Qatari air defenses intercepted a missile then they might have saved American lives so you have to there has to be definitely some moral clarity there and

00:33:34.000 again there's a lot of language that okay Qatar funds the pro-Hamas crowd that seems to also be true but it might be a very complicated actor the Strait of Hormuz has not been closed down any reports that demonstrate that really quick Blake I'm going to test you in 30 seconds what is the Strait of Hormuz what would it mean if they close it so that's the Hormuz all right the Persian Gulf is that little body of water that you imagine going up to Iraq and then past that is the Arabian Sea that's the Indian Ocean the Strait of Hormuz is the narrow body of water that goes through it I believe it's named after

00:34:04.000 an island that the Portuguese owned and that is the narrowest part so Iran could mine it they could shoot missiles at it and ships would not want to go in there because they don't want to get hit and price would go way up a huge amount of the world's oil passes through that strait on its way to global markets email us freedom at charliekirk.com I want to know what you are thinking about all this whyrefi.com private student loan debt in America totals about $300 billion whyRefi has been an amazing partner of us and it's only getting started they were a huge supporter

00:34:34.000 of our young women's leadership summit game changer largest ever go to yrefi.com that is why com you don't have to ignore that mountain of student loan statements on your kitchen table anymore why refi offers a three-minute rate check without any credit impact go to whyrefi.com let's face it if you have distressed or defaulted private student loans nobody is coming to bail you out and bankruptcy is not an option but you could take charge of your situation by contacting why refi go to yrefi.com that is yrefy.com that is whyrefi.com

00:35:05.000 many clients are not able to even make the first monthly payment on their private student loans when they contact why refi go to yrefi.com again they don't care what your credit score is you got to check it out right now at yrefi.com whyrefi is not a debt settlement company and they work with each borrower individually tailoring each loan to each borrower's specific situation you will not be calling a faceless call center go to yrefi.com that is yrefy.com alex marlow joins us editor-in-chief of breitbart news

00:35:36.000 okay this we want to we want to proceed with a lot of humility and caution i do want to say though that i have a great deal of of relief that at least the attacks on qar seem to have not killed any americans that is the most target rich of all the targets it's the biggest base it's geographically one of the closest and if it's true that all those were intercepted that would be a major major victory cnn said that 10 missiles were fired into qatar one into iraq and

00:36:05.000 we will now stay live here and analyze in real time alex marlow what are we seeing potentially alex marlow it looks like president trump could walk away with one of the most remarkable u.s foreign policy victories if all if all continues as it is right now which would be taking out the nuclear capability while also no u.s troops potentially being killed alex marlow again i put a major asterisk on that it's really important about what's happening with qatar because this is a point i wanted to make to you today is

00:36:36.000 that the coalitions here around the world trump has brought in a broader coalition on his side and on america's side america is the alpha here absolutely and i know there's some misconceptions about that but trump is playing this perfectly and one of the things is qatar was seen as adversarial a few years ago now they're seen as largely cooperative and they want to get closer to us look what's happening on the other side with iran right now one of iran's biggest backers russia russia is trying everything they can not to help them why is this it's because of trump and they don't want to cause any more problems

00:37:06.000 with trump right now and this is a big deal so who's going to come in on iran's behalf on behalf of this unpopular regime uh probably no one maybe the venezuelans which is what are they going to do there it's it's seriously the thinnest coalition imaginable which is i think why trump and israel moved the way they've moved but the qatar incident that you've highlighted is so crucial because it shows you the broadening coalition in the middle east for peace and against war that they think this is the quickest path to a path to a more peaceful region as led by trump two

00:37:36.000 things number one i'm going to give aguila a shout out on telegram their reporting has been actually very very good the last couple days um and so thank you to aguila on telegram you guys give him a follow secondly um iran is now saying that they fired a missile at for every bomb that was dropped on us this seems very theatrical like again i don't want to laugh did they really say that yeah they did i do not want to laugh because americans actually might be dead right now we do not have the full casualty report but i just want to just take a big sigh

00:38:07.000 of relief it looks like in qar the most target rich of all the targets the one that we were worried about the most because they fired 10 missiles at Qatar and one into Iraq that that looks to be no casualties so far and so we just want to kind of take a deep breath and say thank you Lord for protecting our U.S. troops in Qatar because that is the biggest U.S. base in the entire region and so Alex what do you make of this and Alex I apologize I might interrupt you at any moment here because there's so much breaking news here for

00:38:37.000 example the Iranian National Security Council stated the missile strike on the American al-Uded base in Qatar does not pose a threat to the brotherly nation of Qatar whatever that means okay so but Alex is it possible that Iran was just kind of doing international theater here check the box kind of show their domestic strength while not trying to further provoke the American military might as I say that Buran has just urged all of its citizens to

00:39:07.000 seek immediate shelter but Alex Marlowe comment on that.

00:39:11.000 Yeah, they've taken a very aggressive rhetorical approach, and they're obviously trying to fight back with whatever they can, but their missile capabilities are drastically weakened, and they have almost no ability to quickly generate more because Israel has targeted a lot of the sites from where they fire the ballistic missiles.

00:39:30.000 But also, no nation wants to come in on their behalf because they're in a losing proposition.

00:39:34.000 Now, what does the endgame look like?

00:39:36.000 What does the full loss look like?

00:39:37.000 Is their regime change?

00:39:38.000 Those are all really compelling and mysterious questions at the moment, Charlie.

00:39:41.000 But overall, we know Iran is losing and no one wants to come in on their behalf. 0.93

00:39:45.000 Who would want to come in, contra Donald Trump from the position of strength that he is?

00:39:48.000 Not to mention, Israel has been very impressive in the war in terms of their ability to take out military targets.

00:39:55.000 And to come in on Iran's behalf is not going to happen.

00:39:57.000 So I think they're desperately trying to get some level of momentum as fast as they can to maybe recruit some ally to their side.

00:40:05.000 But it's probably not going to work.

00:40:06.000 And because almost everything is getting, the retaliatory strikes are just so devastating to them at every turn.

00:40:12.000 Qatar has officially said no casualties and no damage from the attack.

00:40:16.000 Praise the Lord.

00:40:17.000 That's a big deal.

00:40:18.000 That was the biggest threat of them all.

00:40:20.000 But right now, it's not over.

00:40:22.000 Bahrain is the sirens are going off in Bahrain right now, and they urge all citizens to seek immediate shelter.

00:40:29.000 That is happening in Bahrain right now.

00:40:31.000 Iran's top security council tells Qatar its attack poses no threat to its friendly and brotherly neighbors.

00:40:37.000 So basically, Iran is like, hey, Qatar, we're your friend.

00:40:40.000 So we're learning a lot about Qatar in the midst of all this.

00:40:42.000 So let's just kind of put a little bit of a – we'll talk about that.

00:40:48.000 We're all quick studies now.

00:40:49.000 Yeah, we're all very quick studies now.

00:40:52.000 But Bahrain, we got to keep all eyes on Bahrain right now.

00:40:54.000 All eyes on Bahrain.

00:40:56.000 By the way, before, Blake, I want to throw to you for a second.

00:40:58.000 Everybody, I want to hear from you, freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:41:00.000 That is freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:41:02.000 Iran has filed 10 missiles at Qatar, one at Iraq, and it looks like something is happening towards Bahrain.

00:41:07.000 I'm by no means a military expert, but here's my rule when it comes to all military things, is if you as an American citizen can't understand it, then they have not done a good enough job explaining it because that stuff's actually not as complicated.

00:41:19.000 Would you agree, Blake?

00:41:20.000 Like, oh, you know, this is just for military minds.

00:41:22.000 Actually, no, you're a U.S. citizen.

00:41:24.000 You deserve a right to understand it.

00:41:25.000 You're a stakeholder.

00:41:26.000 This is your government.

00:41:27.000 U.S. base in Qatar reports no casualties and minimal damage.

00:41:30.000 Praise God.

00:41:31.000 And now all eyes are on the Bahrain attack.

00:41:34.000 The Iranian state TV is now trying to pound the chest.

00:41:36.000 They're trying to get, oh, look at us.

00:41:38.000 We responded back to all these Americans. 0.78

00:41:40.000 Missiles launched at Bahrain, Qatar, and Kuwait.

00:41:42.000 Can we contrast this for a second, Blake, with what they did with Israel?

00:41:45.000 Israel, they actually wanted to kill Jews.

00:41:47.000 That was not performative.

00:41:49.000 That was real.

00:41:49.000 That was aggressive.

00:41:51.000 With America, it looks as if it's a little bit of a different of a calculation.

00:41:55.000 Explain.

00:41:55.000 Yeah, so first of all, they shot more missiles because Israel has the Iron Dome.

00:42:00.000 They can shoot quite a few incoming projectiles down.

00:42:03.000 So a lot of them got shot down, but some got through.

00:42:06.000 They've hit a decent number of buildings.

00:42:08.000 I think the total death toll is 24. And really, it could be higher, except Israel has prepared so much for this. 0.96

00:42:13.000 They have bunkers for everybody.

00:42:15.000 They're very well drilled on how to avoid them.

00:42:17.000 So you'd almost certainly have far more deaths if they were any less prepared.

00:42:21.000 There have been major strikes in Tel Aviv with really big missiles.

00:42:26.000 So that they were clearly actually going for doing some damage.

00:42:32.000 Yeah, with this, if we're stuck at 11 or 12 missiles, largely intercepted.

00:42:37.000 Intercepted, or the ones that landed did no damage and may not even have been seriously intending to do damage.

00:42:44.000 And they're already proclaiming victory and saying, Qatar, we're still buds with you.

00:42:50.000 Don't worry about it.

00:42:52.000 That is a very positive sign.

00:42:55.000 Guys, can I add something?

00:42:56.000 Yeah, please.

00:42:57.000 Alex, chime in really quick about it.

00:42:59.000 I was thinking about someone you guys were talking.

00:43:02.000 How many days has it been since Trump's attack?

00:43:05.000 It's been two days.

00:43:06.000 This is all they got?

00:43:07.000 Two days, and this is it?

00:43:09.000 Well, we don't want to overly talk about it.

00:43:11.000 It's not the show of force.

00:43:12.000 No, I know.

00:43:13.000 I agree.

00:43:13.000 Again, we don't know.

00:43:14.000 I get it.

00:43:15.000 I'm just, it's an observation.

00:43:17.000 Take it in a vacuum, Charlie.

00:43:18.000 No, I agree.

00:43:19.000 In Iraq, reports are being made of a drone attack against American air bases.

00:43:23.000 Guys, drones are much easier to shoot down than ballistic missiles, just so we are clear, okay?

00:43:28.000 Drones do not, right, Blake?

00:43:30.000 I mean, drones do not move at hypersonic speeds.

00:43:32.000 Now, drones should not be minimalized, but we have technology to shoot down drones.

00:43:36.000 Let's just be very clear.

00:43:37.000 Okay, email us as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:43:40.000 Again, there will be a time for a victory lap.

00:43:42.000 I just want to say, if President Trump is able to come out of this with no U.S. troops, with a performative response, U.S. troops died, a performative response, with incredible display of U.S. military might against Fordeau and against Istafan, against Natans, this could be one of the most clear military victories that we've seen in quite some time.

00:44:05.000 And by the way, keeping the entire Middle East coalition together.

00:44:09.000 That would be another win for the MAGA Doctrine.

00:44:11.000 I literally wrote the book, The MAGA Doctrine, a couple years ago, and keeping all these international and regional partners together.

00:44:17.000 And we don't know what kind of drones these are, but it just seems right now, the indication so far is that this has been somewhat of a theatrical response on behalf of Iran.

00:44:28.000 I'm not saying ballistic missiles aren't real, but they kind of gave us a two to three hour heads up, which, by the way, shows that President Trump is winning here and they fear America and they want America to kind of back off and everybody's kind of seeking an off-ramp here.

00:44:43.000 Right now, breaking news, U.S. aircraft takes off from the Saudi Arabia airbase.

00:44:47.000 So we have air bases in Saudi Arabia.

00:44:49.000 We got air bases in Qatar.

00:44:50.000 We got air bases all over the place.

00:44:52.000 And God bless our service members right now.

00:44:54.000 What they're doing is they're flying at, boy, how fast they fly, 800, 900 miles an hour.

00:44:58.000 I mean, they fly almost the speed of sound.

00:45:00.000 That's over the speed of sound.

00:45:01.000 They can break.

00:45:02.000 Over the speed of sound, 700.

00:45:03.000 I can't remember the exact amount, but about 700.

00:45:04.000 I mean, they're flying super fast across the Gulf, trying to find these missiles, shoot disruptors and eruptors.

00:45:10.000 And so far, they've been doing a phenomenal job.

00:45:12.000 So God bless our troops that are doing this right now.

00:45:15.000 And President Donald Trump right now is in the situation room.

00:45:18.000 In front of him is potentially a major U.S. victory.

00:45:22.000 No regime change, no boots on the ground.

00:45:25.000 You took out the nuclear program.

00:45:26.000 You took out the nuclear capability, I should say.

00:45:28.000 It's actually a big difference.

00:45:29.000 And you might be able to say no U.S. troops died in response.

00:45:32.000 What a triumph that President Trump very well might have been able to engineer.

00:45:37.000 Email usfreedom at charliekirk.com.

00:45:39.000 Subscribe to the Charlie Kirk Show podcast page.

00:45:42.000 Iran is just running their mouth.

00:45:44.000 They said, We just launched a very devastating and powerful missile attack.

00:45:47.000 By the way, we should never trust anything the Iranian social media ever says again. 0.97

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00:46:54.000 So we've got Alex Marlow with us.

00:46:55.000 Iran is kind of saying this was devastating and powerful.

00:46:59.000 It was devastating what President Trump did to you, just for the record.

00:47:04.000 I want to just ask a question here really quick, Alex.

00:47:07.000 If we are able to get this to a settlement, declare victory, which is legitimate, will this go a long way to making sure the MAGA coalition stays unified?

00:47:16.000 Alex Marla.

00:47:17.000 Yeah, I think the timing of it for the MAGA coalition, Charlie, it's high stakes.

00:47:20.000 I know you've been hyper-conscious of this, and it's really wise to be this way.

00:47:24.000 This is one where if this is a clear, decisive victory, and it takes place in the next week or two, which I think that is exactly where we're on track, it could go wrong at any minute.

00:47:31.000 You've been cautious about that.

00:47:32.000 But if this happens in the next week or two, a clear, decisive victory, where you've got a situation where Israel Netanyahu's been a fixture of public life for 30 years and his main goal has been to protect Israel from Iran. 0.68

00:47:32.000 That's correct. 0.68

00:47:42.000 That's been his stated mission.

00:47:43.000 And Iran has done numerous devastating things to America, including shooting at our Navy fighters with the Houthis, et cetera, funding all sorts of terror proxies all around the world and pursuing the destruction of America.

00:47:54.000 They would love to do it.

00:47:56.000 If Trump could devastate their nuclear facilities the way he's done apparently, from what we've been told, and he can pull out of the region without American casualties, without any further wars, without any ground troops going in, I think he could reassure the entire MAGA base that this is the way forward.

00:48:12.000 This is the peace through strength approach.

00:48:14.000 This is what America First is all about.

00:48:16.000 There are many places where things can get fractured along the way.

00:48:19.000 But if that happens clearly and decisively, I think he's going to start restoring trust in a lot of Americans who do not trust our leadership and our government.

00:48:26.000 And it could be a huge moment for the future of the country.

00:48:29.000 Very quick, Blake, just from a, it looks like some of the Jets are now returning.

00:48:34.000 It seems as if the attack is simmering down.

00:48:36.000 There could have been one impact in Iraq al-Assad airbase.

00:48:40.000 So we want to have a caveat on this.

00:48:42.000 We don't know Americans could have died.

00:48:43.000 And so we don't want to have a preemptive celebration.

00:48:47.000 But what are we reading and seeing, Blake, very quick?

00:48:49.000 I mean, it's looking like now we're seeing reports that, you know, if anything, stakes are going down.

00:48:56.000 Like they're not freaking out as much.

00:48:58.000 They're dialing back their concern.

00:49:01.000 We haven't had new reports of additional missiles coming in.

00:49:03.000 And I feel like if this was going to get worse, it's basically early in the evening there.

00:49:08.000 So in theory, this could be the opening wave, and you could see more stuff launched over the course of the night.

00:49:14.000 They have many hours to do that before daylight arrives.

00:49:16.000 But so far, it seems it might really just be one volley of missiles, declare victory, go home.

00:49:22.000 Okay, so let me just kind of go to some of these reports here.

00:49:25.000 It seems like there was a lot of talk from Iran.

00:49:29.000 This seems to be largely a theatrical show.

00:49:32.000 A lot of the parties, it seems like, knew the plot and the outcome in advance.

00:49:36.000 And this was permitted largely to allow Iranians as a way to save face. 0.99

00:49:42.000 So again, if that ends up being true and no Americans being killed, it is now an incredible victory.

00:49:50.000 And we shouldn't have any focus on regime change or any of that, but we can now reconfigure our intent on the American homeland, on deportations, on the border.

00:49:59.000 Again, we're looking at this right now.

00:50:02.000 Israeli Jets are now moving into strike Iran. 0.94

00:50:04.000 Okay, that's a whole separate dynamic here.

00:50:06.000 But is it possible the American chapter of this might actually be closed?

00:50:12.000 Yeah, it's possible.

00:50:13.000 And I think the most likely and most favorable scenario, again, there's so many caveats I could add to this, but you guys will see where I'm going with this.

00:50:21.000 Israel will continue to pummel Iran for the next week or two, continue to devastate them because they do not have any aerial defense right now, and Israel is going to take advantage. 1.00

00:50:30.000 America should do nothing else.

00:50:31.000 Both sides have said they want this war to end quickly, and we cannot be involved in any sort of regime change because regime change will go on and on and on.

00:50:38.000 There's going to be a lot of people who are going to try to tempt us into some sort of regime change war.

00:50:42.000 That is not our fight or that is not our fight.

00:50:44.000 That's not our battle.

00:50:45.000 We cannot do it.

00:50:46.000 We cannot engage in it because we don't know what will happen next.

00:50:49.000 But what we can do, go ahead.

00:50:52.000 But Alex, I'll throw it back to you in a second.

00:50:53.000 No problem.

00:50:54.000 Let me just read here.

00:50:54.000 Qatar's defense systems intercepted 9 out of 10 missiles launched by Iran with one missile landing in an open area.

00:51:03.000 And so it looks like all the missiles to Qatar, nine out of 10, were intercepted.

00:51:07.000 This is what happens when you kind of give a little bit of like an hour to two hour, hey, we're going to attack.

00:51:11.000 We're going to attack.

00:51:13.000 Alex, what does this say for the supreme leader?

00:51:16.000 It seems that the head of Iran did not want to see an escalation with America.

00:51:20.000 They did not, they truly fear President Trump as they should.

00:51:24.000 So President Trump's words now have real meaning for what he did in Fordot.

00:51:28.000 Could it be so that President Trump just set an entire message for the rest of the world that you better listen when I talk?

00:51:36.000 Yeah, I think Charlie, you and I called this last week on your show.

00:51:38.000 We talked about this exact thing, is that Trump's word matters.

00:51:41.000 It always has.

00:51:42.000 And he's always said that they are not going to be allowed to have nuclear capabilities.

00:51:45.000 He's been saying this for a decade and a half.

00:51:47.000 So obviously, if they're going to continue to flaunt him when he's in a position of deep power and they've been very much weakened by Israeli strikes over the last few weeks, of course, this was going to be something that Trump was going to do.

00:51:58.000 He said he was going to wait two weeks, typical, Unpredictable Trump fashion.

00:52:01.000 He only waited a couple days, dropped some devastating attacks, and now he's out.

00:52:05.000 And the American public is on the side of aerial defense.

00:52:09.000 They're not on the side of regime change.

00:52:10.000 And my prediction is Trump will stick with that.

00:52:12.000 Alex, stay right there.

00:52:14.000 Blake, I'm going to throw it to you for a second.

00:52:16.000 We do not know the extent of the attack at Iraq.

00:52:19.000 The Bahrain sirens are still going off, so there could be an attack on Bahrain.

00:52:24.000 Let's get the map back up here.

00:52:26.000 Bahrain has closed its airspace, so it might, we are now seeing potentially another volley towards Bahrain.

00:52:34.000 Bahrain is a very small country.

00:52:37.000 This map is not helpful at all, but you see Saudi Arabia there.

00:52:40.000 Super tiny.

00:52:40.000 Yes, but there's two clusters.

00:52:42.000 The two clusters on the eastern part of Saudi Arabia.

00:52:44.000 The southernmost one is the Qatari. 0.90

00:52:47.000 The northern one is Bahrain.

00:52:48.000 Exactly.

00:52:49.000 Literally, like the icons they're using on that are like larger than Bahrain.

00:52:53.000 It's a tiny island.

00:52:55.000 I doubt it's that much larger even than like.

00:52:58.000 So I'm curious.

00:52:59.000 Some people are emailing us saying, Charlie, even though they didn't kill any Americans, they want to see a huge response from America.

00:53:04.000 Is that your position?

00:53:05.000 Freedom at CharlieKirk.com.

00:53:07.000 Should we now escalate this if no Americans die?

00:53:09.000 I don't know if that's my position.

00:53:10.000 I think President Trump could take a massive victory here, which is that we bombed them hard.

00:53:15.000 No Americans died.

00:53:17.000 And that's it.

00:53:18.000 No regime change, no boots on the ground.

00:53:20.000 By the way, this is factored in.

00:53:22.000 This was a expected response.

00:53:25.000 By the way, we know that Iran probably wanted an exit ramp.

00:53:29.000 Take the win.

00:53:29.000 That's my position.

00:53:30.000 Email us freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:53:32.000 Three different media outlets are now reporting no injuries.

00:53:35.000 Not even injury, let alone a death.

00:53:37.000 Praise the Lord.

00:53:38.000 Again, this is the MAGA doctrine.

00:53:40.000 This is the Trump doctrine.

00:53:41.000 Force, exert the force, use it, be unapologetic in the use of it.

00:53:46.000 Limited, decisive, aggressive, violent, prudent action.

00:53:52.000 Blake, let's kind of go through the dynamics here.

00:53:56.000 Why would we not respond even though that they sent missiles towards us and no one died?

00:54:02.000 Why should we take the win here?

00:54:03.000 Well, because when you think about like what were we hope, what are we hoping to get done here?

00:54:08.000 The reason we got involved is hopefully to do as much damage to Iran's nuclear program as possible because that was what Trump's goal was.

00:54:15.000 He says Iran will not get a nuclear weapon.

00:54:17.000 And when we think, what are the bad outcomes that could happen here?

00:54:21.000 The bad outcome is we get sucked into some sort of cycle of constant strike and retaliation and strike back.

00:54:28.000 It would be a huge failure case if we end up with boots on the ground.

00:54:32.000 And how do you end up in a situation with boots on the ground, even if you say you don't?

00:54:35.000 If you're constantly having these strikes go back and forth, if, oh, we need to get back at them for something they did.

00:54:42.000 And if this strike did in fact have no casualties, we kind of have the perfect excuse to go, all right, they made their response and it was totally impotent.

00:54:51.000 We clearly don't even need to worry about what they have to shoot at us other than their nuclear program, which we just hit and did a bunch of damage to. 0.92

00:54:59.000 It perfectly works out for us to be able to say, we win, we take our ball, we go home.

00:55:04.000 No impacts at the Al-Uded air base in Qatar.

00:55:08.000 And so that is from every source that we have as well.

00:55:11.000 Okay, everybody, email us freedom at charliekirk.com.

00:55:13.000 We are looking at this live.

00:55:15.000 So right now, Iran coordinated attacks on the U.S. airbase in Qatar with Qatari officials, providing advance notice to minimize casualties.

00:55:23.000 That is the New York Times.

00:55:25.000 And so Iran has responded, and they responded with 11 ballistic missiles in the Mideast.

00:55:31.000 No American troops seem to have died so far, God willing.

00:55:35.000 New York Times is reporting, though, that Iran coordinated the American airbase attack, kind of just be theatrical and performative.

00:55:42.000 Iran appears to coordinate a response as to what, not drag the United States more directly into the fight.

00:55:47.000 What does that mean then, Blake?

00:55:48.000 I mean, it almost makes this sound like pro wrestling or something.

00:55:51.000 Like, you know, if you ever watch it, they have the whole like, you know, throw the punch, but the guy's ready for it and like pulls his head back.

00:55:58.000 It's like, oh, we're going to strike at you guys to show we're serious, but we're going to announce it in advance.

00:56:04.000 You're going to see everything coming and it's going to be aimed really badly.

00:56:08.000 And yeah, then nobody dies.

00:56:10.000 That is, if this is where we're able to get an off-ramp, it is a gigantic win for the United States.

00:56:16.000 And I suppose a gigantic win for President Trump's judgment.

00:56:19.000 Yeah, if we are able to navigate it and if we're able to kind of go through.

00:56:23.000 So big it.

00:56:24.000 Yes.

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00:56:32.000 This is a word that comes up all the time, but does anyone know what it really means?

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00:57:26.000 But honestly, this is a great story to tell.

00:57:28.000 Are you kidding me?

00:57:29.000 That you strike Iran, there is risk involved, no U.S. troops die in response. 0.88

00:57:35.000 And end of story.

00:57:37.000 This is a major victory.

00:57:39.000 That's the story to tell.

00:57:40.000 Just to be clear, though, U.S. officials are now saying, this is the U.S. officials are now saying that Iran, that, I'm trying to find this here.

00:57:50.000 U.S. officials are now saying that this was largely symbolic.

00:57:53.000 Trump has no intention of retaliation against Iran after its failed retaliation attempt.

00:57:59.000 Alex Marlow, if that's true, is this not a very powerful narrative to be able to present to the American people that, look, there was risk involved, but there ended up being no casualties and no death to American troops?

00:58:13.000 Yeah, I think that what we've seen here is Trump basically executing a plan that is very straightforward.

00:58:20.000 He's a man of his word, and Iran has not shown any willingness to be cooperative in the slightest. 0.88

00:58:26.000 And I think that, you know, it's just not true.

00:58:28.000 The facts are on Trump's side that he was not manipulated into This.

00:58:30.000 I know there's a perception online that Israel somehow coaxed Trump into war.

00:58:34.000 Israel was freaking out that Trump could throw them under the bus.

00:58:37.000 We, of course, have a lot of sources in Israel, and there's a lot of people who are deeply concerned that Trump is not a fan of Netanyahu, does not want to fight wars on his behalf.

00:58:44.000 But Iran went right after Trump by continuing to enrich and continuing to fund those proxies, despite him pleading with them, please stop.

00:58:50.000 Let's be diplomatic.

00:58:51.000 And they would not do it.

00:58:52.000 And this fits very clearly with Trump's narrative of taking out Baghdadi.

00:58:55.000 You remember Charlie with all those beautiful dogs going through the wall?

00:58:57.000 They could have gone through the door.

00:58:58.000 They went through the wall.

00:58:59.000 All that great stuff with him.

00:59:01.000 Soleimani, the taking out the Wagner troops in Syria, pro-arming, pro-actively arming Ukraine, cutting out Nord Stream 2 to affect the Russians.

00:59:11.000 Trump has been highly aggressive when people are not cooperative with him.

00:59:14.000 And then he does a one-off move, maybe two or three moves at the most, and then he backs off.

00:59:19.000 He's a peacetime president, but he understands being unpredictable is the quickest way to peace.

00:59:23.000 If he stops here where he's at now, that will be the narrative and it will be a winning narrative over time.

00:59:28.000 And Alex, let's just kind of reiterate this point, though, that, hey, for low propensity voters, they don't like the foreign intervention and all this.

00:59:28.000 Yeah.

00:59:38.000 Do you think the way that this is concluding could maybe remedy some of that?

00:59:43.000 Yeah, it has to.

00:59:44.000 We need to be deeply cautious of every political coalition in this country is tenuous, and it is very important that when you're in charge and you have to do stuff, there's nothing that's a hundred to zero issue.

00:59:55.000 So every time Trump makes a move, there's always a risk that some of the base, some of the movement is not going to understand it.

01:00:00.000 It's imperative on the messengers and on Trump himself and on his administration to make that case to the public in an effective way.

01:00:07.000 And I trust these guys to do it.

01:00:09.000 But there are a lot of people who are new to the movement who do not understand why some of us like Israel so much and understand that deep history.

01:00:17.000 And they don't want to feel like Trump got manipulated into war.

01:00:20.000 I know for a fact that's not why Trump did this, but that is on the people who want to see this movement to be strong to make that case to the people who are skeptical of everything.

01:00:28.000 Charlie, they're skeptical of everything for good reason.

01:00:30.000 After all the COVID stuff and after all the lying, after the 2020 election, people are skeptical of the government, and it is imperative upon us to make that case to them.

01:00:38.000 Blake, do you have a comment here on kind of news that we're seeing?

01:00:41.000 Well, so, I mean, there's not much news right now.

01:00:43.000 One of the funny things about this is just you get war has like long lulls in it, and then you just have these shows where you react.

01:00:50.000 For now, nothing new is happening on the strikes front.

01:00:52.000 This may be the end of things.

01:00:54.000 That could always change at any time.

01:00:57.000 I suppose a big open question is what will happen if we get this off-ramp to get out of things, but if just the war continues?

01:01:05.000 If Israel keeps bombing Iran, Iran keeps shooting missiles back at Israel.

01:01:10.000 Will that cause any pressure for us to get involved again at any point?

01:01:15.000 Or are we able to stand aside with just the role we've played so far?

01:01:20.000 So there are explosions in Tehran right now, which is likely Israeli jets.

01:01:24.000 And so Israel and Iran are going to keep on going back at it. 0.78

01:01:26.000 But this is probably and likely a closure to the American involvement here.

01:01:32.000 And by the way, don't take my word for it.

01:01:34.000 Oil prices are going down.

01:01:35.000 Oil prices are plummeting right now because the markets, they're like, okay, we know what this is.

01:01:40.000 This was theatrical.

01:01:42.000 This was performative.

01:01:42.000 This was kind of check the box.

01:01:45.000 And President Donald Trump is able to act in a decisive way.

01:01:52.000 You don't have to agree with it, but I'm going to ask the question, though, okay, if no U.S. troops die, and this is the end of the chapter, hasn't he yet, again, earned your trust on this stuff?

01:02:04.000 Syria, Soleimani, al-Baghdadi, American troops have not died in these situations.

01:02:11.000 Oil is collapsing right now.

01:02:13.000 And air defenses are activated all over Tehran.

01:02:15.000 That is not American jets from our knowledge, our understanding.

01:02:18.000 U.S. officials are saying that was a failed response.

01:02:21.000 We don't plan a response.

01:02:22.000 So it is conceivable then, Alex, that we can say that this chapter is closed.

01:02:30.000 Is that right?

01:02:31.000 Yeah, I think we're hovering around something really important here is that this needs to end.

01:02:35.000 The war needs to end.

01:02:36.000 It needs to come to a close.

01:02:38.000 We need to not be involved in regime change.

01:02:40.000 Go back and get that domestic agenda going. 0.99

01:02:42.000 We have 700 illegal immigration arrests yesterday.

01:02:46.000 We barely have time to talk about it.

01:02:47.000 I mean, that's stuff I want to talk about.

01:02:48.000 I want to get back to that agenda.

01:02:50.000 I want those maha moms reached out to. 0.53

01:02:53.000 It is the Epstein files are not going to, no one's going to be happy about that stuff.

01:02:57.000 And that continues to erode the trust in the people, the normal people, the new people in Trump's coalition.

01:03:04.000 And those people need to be focused on starting with the immigration agenda, getting those tax cuts going, all the things that Trump had promised.

01:03:10.000 That needs to get done next in order to solidify that he's a man of his word, which I think he is.

01:03:14.000 So I'm very optimistic today.

01:03:16.000 And Blake, the Iranian response being theatrical is very good for us, especially if we want, like they gave us an off-ramp.

01:03:24.000 And it looks like President Trump is going to take it.

01:03:26.000 It's conceivable that a week from now, we're going to be all back to deportation talk.

01:03:30.000 Yeah, that's one of the great things.

01:03:31.000 If we get the successful off-ramp, this just becomes, I mean, how many details do you remember about the Soleimani thing?

01:03:37.000 How many details do you remember about the Iran drone crisis?

01:03:41.000 Can you remember the month either of those things happened?

01:03:44.000 Probably at this point, some of us could, but I bet most people, they couldn't tell you the exact number of, you know, war crises we had with Iran in the first Trump term or when they happened.

01:03:54.000 And I think the biggest win for Trump would be if in a year from now, people can't even quite remember exactly when this happened.

01:04:02.000 President Donald Trump, this is breaking news from Axios, his administration was aware of the Iranian attack in advance.

01:04:10.000 So pretty amazing.

01:04:13.000 So, all right, email us as always, freedom at charliekirk.com and subscribe to our podcast.

01:04:18.000 Alex Marlow, what else are you seeing and hearing?

01:04:20.000 Yeah, I think that, Charlie, you're talking about the right stuff.

01:04:22.000 The urgency to end this thing and to move on is the right thing, but it is incredible.

01:04:26.000 Display of weakness by Iran that this is all they could summon after two days. 1.00

01:04:30.000 And it shows you that they're deeply vulnerable.

01:04:32.000 And I'm not rooting for or against regime change there, but what I am rooting for is for America not to be a part of it.

01:04:38.000 And Israel has to have, they've said they've wanted the war to end as well.

01:04:41.000 They can keep bombing for another week or so.

01:04:43.000 And then after that, you know, wind this thing down and start focusing on those deportations and the rest of the domestic agenda.

01:04:48.000 If that happens, Trump is going to look like just a historic figure with historic wisdom.

01:04:54.000 He continues to play this thing right.

01:04:56.000 And I continue to stay optimistic.

01:04:58.000 I'm trying to find one thing here, but Blake, What does this then mean for the broader foreign policy project, China, Ukraine, Russia?

01:05:06.000 Does this have other implications?

01:05:08.000 Well, if we get out of it, I think it's probably mostly positive.

01:05:12.000 I think our adversaries, if they had a hope, you know, what could happen to America, they would be thinking, oh, could America get into another conflict that will deplete them and distract them?

01:05:23.000 I imagine Russia would love it if we got in an Iranian quagmire because that would probably mean the end to any significant support to Ukraine. 0.93

01:05:30.000 China might see, oh, this is going to slow down their pivot to Asia.

01:05:34.000 Maybe that's our chance to go for Taiwan. 0.96

01:05:37.000 If we get out of this quickly, I think that might make them think, well, one, they're not distracted.

01:05:42.000 And two, we saw U.S. military hardware on display.

01:05:46.000 It seems to be working properly.

01:05:48.000 It seems any talk about America's armed forces being, you know, a paper tiger might be overblown.

01:05:54.000 And that could assist us in a lot of our international relations.

01:05:58.000 And also, if we're able to successfully kind of put Iran in a corner, that can definitely improve the relationships we've been building in the Middle East.

01:06:06.000 Can I chime in on that?

01:06:07.000 Yes, please.

01:06:08.000 Charlie, because I was thinking about what you guys talked about earlier about the Strait of Hormuz and how that's not shut down yet.

01:06:12.000 And I was thinking if Iran really thought they were in a position of strength, it would have been shut down by now.

01:06:16.000 But I know that there's people in the area who are more aligned with them who are saying, absolutely not.

01:06:20.000 Do not shut this down.

01:06:21.000 You can't do it or else we're going to throw you under the bus too.

01:06:24.000 So it just speaks to the vulnerability that they have right now.

01:06:28.000 And I think that that is another sign that Trump is acting very prudently here by doing something.

01:06:33.000 Don't do too much.

01:06:34.000 No ground troops at all.

01:06:35.000 I know Bannon's warned about the ground troops.

01:06:36.000 He's right to warn people about it.

01:06:38.000 But overall, it feels like we're in very strong footing at the moment.

01:06:42.000 Yes.

01:06:42.000 And sorry, I was just double checking right now.

01:06:45.000 So it looks as if the attack is over.

01:06:47.000 U.S. officials told Fox News that no American soldiers were killed or injured in the Iranian attack.

01:06:53.000 Praise the Lord.

01:06:54.000 That's huge, everybody.

01:06:54.000 Beautiful.

01:06:55.000 Beautiful.

01:06:56.000 Praise the Lord.

01:06:57.000 It is really big.

01:06:59.000 So the American official says, quote, the U.S. is not expected to respond to Iran's failed attack.

01:07:06.000 And so the U.S. official, we'll see what happens.

01:07:09.000 And we need to double and triple confirm that.

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01:08:14.000 Okay, Blake, what are we seeing as far as the reaction online from folks?

01:08:18.000 I mean, the reaction online, what's funny is, you know, this is all so immediate.

01:08:22.000 I'm not even sure if everyone's seen it.

01:08:24.000 They're at work or whatever.

01:08:25.000 But the initial stuff from people who are hyper online, I think is optimistic.

01:08:30.000 I think there's some gloating.

01:08:32.000 A lot of people at this point are really just in the phase of making fun of Iran.

01:08:36.000 I was messaging you earlier.

01:08:38.000 It's almost like this is the moment where you remember that Iran is a regime founded by college professors.

01:08:43.000 Like, they just talk a little game, kind of inept, kind of incompetent, aren't really good at the real world stuff.

01:08:50.000 And, you know, that's good to the extent that it's true.

01:08:53.000 And I think further reactions will depend greatly on what actually happens.

01:08:59.000 We live in a very, you know, ADD society.

01:09:01.000 So some people are already spiking the football, declaring total victory, declaring everything's worked out exactly as we wanted.

01:09:08.000 We will see what happens.

01:09:09.000 Things change a lot.

01:09:11.000 We'll even have to see.

01:09:12.000 One thing we were discussing this morning, we still don't know for sure how much damage was actually done to Iran's nuclear program.

01:09:18.000 Did they get their uranium out?

01:09:20.000 That's still an open question.

01:09:22.000 It could turn out maybe Iran did a minor response because they already know a lot of their nuclear material is fine.

01:09:28.000 And so they just don't want to antagonize the U.S. because they can just get right back to getting that underway again.

01:09:35.000 So I don't think we should overreact to things, but I think the reaction, to the extent it exists, is a mixture of cautious optimism and making fun of Iran.

01:09:44.000 Okay, I agree with that.

01:09:47.000 So the response seems to be largely theatrical, but it looks as if based on all reporting, and we're going to hear from the U.S. officials and the U.S. administration sometime soon, doesn't look like the United States is going to respond.

01:10:02.000 Again, there's a lot of fog of war going on.

01:10:04.000 Can you talk about the fog of war?

01:10:06.000 Where does that phrase come from, Blake?

01:10:07.000 The fog of war, I think it originally comes from Klausvitz.

01:10:11.000 Have you ever heard of that guy?

01:10:12.000 No.

01:10:13.000 Klausewitz was a Prussian.

01:10:16.000 It might even be older than that, but I think it's from him.

01:10:18.000 He was a Prussian military theorist in the 1800s.

01:10:21.000 He wrote a book on war, and it was kind of the first modern analysis of war that wasn't just old-fashioned, like medieval or ancient text.

01:10:32.000 It was a guy in the 1800s.

01:10:33.000 He was German, so of course the book had to be like a thousand pages long.

01:10:37.000 And he would write, and I think he also was the source of kind of the concept of no plan survives first contact with the enemy.

01:10:45.000 So he's like, in warfare, you design plans, but as soon as you actually get into combat, those plans break down.

01:10:52.000 You have uncertainty about what's unfolding around you.

01:10:55.000 That's the fog of war.

01:10:57.000 And so from a diplomatic standpoint, and now a U.S. domestic one, what would you say, Blake, is the lesson or the takeaway if no U.S. troops die?

01:11:08.000 If no U.S. troops die, I would actually like to caveat, there can be worries about that.

01:11:13.000 A worry that you might have is if we're able to do this, blow up a lot of Iran's nuclear program and get out without any casualties, that could make us overconfident that that can be replicated. 0.94

01:11:27.000 You might think, oh, well, we can apply the same lessons to this other country, and they'll probably not hit back at us either, and you make that mistake.

01:11:35.000 I would like to caveat that that could happen.

01:11:37.000 That said, I think a lesson we could take is President Trump has, at that point, a very clear track record of having good instincts on what he's able to do force-wise without causing things to spiral out of control.

01:11:54.000 So it would be a strong win for President Trump's personal instincts in that realm.

01:11:59.000 And it's a display that it is, in fact, possible to do limited war, that we can get America back to this attitude of we can do military ventures with clear objectives rather than open-ended nationbuilding.

01:12:14.000 I think a reason so many of our wars became these nation-building fiascos is because there was a mental tendency in America, in Washington, that our interventions had to go that way, that we couldn't just say, we're going to beat up on this country.

01:12:29.000 It was almost, we got too moralizing about our wars, that every war had to be to like rescue an entire country and bring them freedom and democracy.

01:12:39.000 Whereas Trump, because he comes from a more realpolitic school of thought, he thinks I wage war for America's interests.

01:12:48.000 And even if it'd be great if Iran was free, that is not why America goes to war.

01:12:52.000 Totally.

01:12:53.000 And it's just, so just we're clear, third verification now from a U.S. official, no casualties reported in Iran missile attack on U.S. base.

01:13:02.000 Blake, some people in our audience are saying, still, we have to respond with force.

01:13:07.000 Come on, guys, take the win.

01:13:08.000 Yeah.

01:13:09.000 I mean, they just did a whole theatrical response.

01:13:12.000 You think our enemies are just going to not do something at least theatrical in response?

01:13:16.000 It's like if you're like, if you have this annoying neighbor or something and he's doing, I don't know, if he's doing something, if he has something really aggravating on his property and you go over and you like smash it to bits or whatever because it's bad.

01:13:30.000 And then he comes over and he's like, you're big and strong and he's this little twink and he like punches you right in the chest and like it doesn't even hurt you and you're completely unharmed.

01:13:39.000 Do you then like respond by like grabbing him and breaking his arm?

01:13:42.000 No, you just you laugh at him and you walk away.

01:13:45.000 I want you guys to email us freedom at charliekirk.com.

01:13:48.000 Someone says, some people say the chapter is not closed.

01:13:51.000 We should send boots on the ground. 0.62

01:13:53.000 Some people are saying that.

01:13:54.000 Email us freedom at charliekirk.com.

01:13:56.000 I think that's kind of wild, to be really honest.

01:13:58.000 Oil prices, though, are falling 5% after the Iranian attack on a U.S. military base.

01:14:05.000 The whole world knows what this is.

01:14:06.000 And I fully anticipate President Donald Trump.

01:14:08.000 Here's what President Trump should do, if you want to ask my two cents.

01:14:11.000 President Donald Trump should do a primetime evening address tonight with more specificity about what we did, why it was in American interest to strike Iran, why it was not done lightly, the amazing military accomplishment, and how Iran responded and no American troops died.

01:14:28.000 And then say that this, you know, we're going to stay engaged and involved.

01:14:33.000 And if Iran dares perks up, we will respond even more. 0.94

01:14:38.000 But for all intents and purposes, we don't have any further military action.

01:14:42.000 I think that would be a great response.

01:14:44.000 Okay, everybody, just to recap today.

01:14:46.000 So we started the day kind of talking about the political fallout.

01:14:50.000 And Iranian missiles were launched.

01:14:53.000 10 of them were launched at U.S. base in Qatar, one in Iraq, and no casualties reported.

01:15:00.000 If this ends up being the case with this fast-moving breaking news day, President Donald Trump will have pulled off a phenomenal success, a legendary success, textbook, a masterclass, in a way that none of us could have ever potentially dreamed.

01:15:23.000 We're very worried about escalation, as we should be.

01:15:25.000 These things can still escalate from this point forward.

01:15:27.000 These things can still go to levels that we do not anticipate and that we cannot always predict.

01:15:33.000 But I could tell you right now that President Donald Trump is putting on a foreign policy masterclass.

01:15:41.000 And I believe that President Trump will now exercise restraint.

01:15:45.000 This is how strong nations exercise military power.

01:15:48.000 You don't have to agree with it, but how could you be against the result, though?

01:15:52.000 If the result ends up being a nuclear program that is severely put back and capability that is jeopardized and no U.S. troops and no foreign war, no regime change, how could you be against the result?

01:16:07.000 So I encourage you to enter into this discussion with a fair amount of honesty and integrity.

01:16:14.000 So the takeaway for me, and I think for a lot of people, is President Donald Trump has navigated this beautifully.

01:16:22.000 Again, there's still a lot of situational awareness we must have here.

01:16:28.000 There is still a lot of blowback that can still occur.

01:16:32.000 But look, what Iran did here is very simple. 0.92

01:16:35.000 Iran is very worried about what an American response would potentially be.

01:16:42.000 30 seconds, final thoughts, Blake?

01:16:44.000 You know, I think we talked about why we were worried about this at the outset, the ways it could spiral out of control.

01:16:50.000 So far, it is not spiraling, and I think we would both agree it'd be great for us to seize that opportunity, take the win, say, we did what we came here to do, and we're getting out.

01:17:01.000 We are setting a new template for U.S. military action.

01:17:05.000 Limited, restrained, clear objectives, brief.

01:17:09.000 And that's an asset that we have, and we should be grateful for it.

01:17:14.000 Very good.

01:17:14.000 Thanks so much for listening, everybody.

01:17:16.000 Email us as always, freedom at charliekirk.com.

01:17:19.000 Thanks so much for listening, and God bless.

The Charlie Kirk Show - June 23, 2025

The Iran Off-Ramp? — LIVE Reaction to Middle East Missile Strikes

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