The Matt Walsh Show

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00:00:30.000 Good morning, everyone.

00:00:32.000 I am Cabot Phillips, live from Daily Wire HQ.

00:00:35.000 And this is a special breaking edition of Wired In Live.

00:00:39.000 This morning, I'll be speaking with top U.S. lawmakers, diplomats,

00:00:42.000 and intelligence officials to sift through all of the noise in Iran

00:00:46.000 and get to the facts.

00:00:48.000 But first, let's recap what has taken place in the last 36 hours,

00:00:51.000 because it has been crazy.

00:00:53.000 Yesterday, President Donald Trump launched Operation Epic Fury,

00:00:56.000 joining with Israel in a historic military operation targeting the Islamic Republic of Iran.

00:01:02.000 We now know that the U.S. targeted missile stockpiles, anti-air defenses, and nuclear facilities,

00:01:07.000 while Israel primarily went after senior personnel within the regime.

00:01:10.000 The goal was to score a decapitation strike, knocking out the most senior leaders as possible.

00:01:15.000 And that is just what happened.

00:01:17.000 Numerous high-ranking officials within Iran were killed,

00:01:20.000 including head of the country's National Defense Council,

00:01:23.000 the top commander of the Iranian military,

00:01:25.000 their defense minister, the military chief of staff,

00:01:27.000 and most importantly, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

00:01:30.000 President Trump confirmed the news last night, saying Khamenei,

00:01:34.000 quote,

00:01:35.000 one of the most evil people in history is dead.

00:01:38.000 This is not only justice for the people of Iran,

00:01:40.000 but for all great Americans and those people from many countries throughout the world

00:01:44.000 that have been killed or mutilated by Khamenei and his gang of bloodthirsty thugs. 0.80

00:01:49.000 He was unable to avoid our intelligence and highly sophisticated tracking systems.

00:01:53.000 And working closely with Israel, there was not a thing he or the other leaders 0.89

00:01:57.000 that have been killed along with him could do.

00:01:59.000 This is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their country. 1.00

00:02:03.000 Overnight, videos flooded social media showing Iranians around the world celebrating

00:02:07.000 with large demonstrations in Washington, New York, London, and all across Iran,

00:02:12.000 where thousands of people flooded the streets, dancing, honking horns, and setting off fireworks.

00:02:17.000 Have a look.

00:02:27.000 In especially remarkable footage, demonstrators tore down a large statue of the Ayatollah.

00:02:55.000 Watch.

00:03:16.000 Just stunning footage there.

00:03:17.000 And obviously even more footage comes out every second from this country.

00:03:21.000 And we're going to be playing that throughout the morning as it comes to us.

00:03:24.000 Now, for their part, the Iranian regime says they will not be deterred by the death of their leader.

00:03:28.000 They've been adamant that they were prepared for a moment like this and have a succession plan in place.

00:03:33.000 For now, state media reports that an interim committee will run the country until a permanent leader is chosen.

00:03:39.000 Overnight, regime spokesmen vowed to enact revenge on the U.S. and Israel, quote,

00:03:43.000 with a force they have never experienced before.

00:03:46.000 At this hour, the United States and Israel have begun day two of their bombing campaign against Iran.

00:03:51.000 President Trump issued a statement warning the country that, quote,

00:03:54.000 Iran just stated they are going to hit very hard today, harder than they have ever hit before.

00:03:59.000 In all caps now, they better not do that.

00:04:01.000 Because if they do, we will hit them with a force that has never been seen before.

00:04:06.000 But to this point, earlier in the last 24 hours, those strikes had been largely effective.

00:04:11.000 Some missiles and drones have found their mark in Israel, Bahrain, the UAE, Jordan and Kuwait.

00:04:16.000 We do have breaking news coming in just in the last few minutes.

00:04:19.000 I'm going to get right to that.

00:04:20.000 This is from U.S. Central Command reporting the first U.S. casualties in this operation.

00:04:26.000 They wrote, quote,

00:04:27.000 As of 930 Eastern Time, March 1st, three U.S. service members have been killed in action, and five are seriously wounded as part of Operation Epic Fury.

00:04:36.000 Several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions and are in the process of being returned to duty.

00:04:41.000 Major combat operations continue, and our response effort is ongoing.

00:04:45.000 The situation is fluid, so out of respect for the families, we will withhold additional information, including the identities of our fallen warriors, until 24 hours after next of kin have been notified.

00:04:55.000 So again, CENTCOM there reporting three American service members have been killed.

00:05:00.000 That is a major development here, something that President Trump also warned of when he first announced that the strike was going on.

00:05:07.000 He told the American people that there was a chance that service members would be killed in pursuit of a safer United States.

00:05:15.000 And now we know, according to CENTCOM, as of 930 AM, at least three U.S. service members have been killed.

00:05:22.000 We're also now getting new details on the strikes yesterday that killed the Ayatollah and roughly 50 other senior advisors.

00:05:30.000 First, numerous reports say that the latest round of nuclear negotiations, which took place in Geneva, were essentially a ruse to keep Iran believing that a diplomatic solution was still on the table.

00:05:40.000 The U.S. wanted to avoid arousing suspicion that a strike was coming, so they kept the negotiations going.

00:05:45.000 The president had decided reportedly that the Iranians were simply stalling, that they never intended to make a deal or give up their nuclear ambitions, and that ultimately is what led to this decision.

00:05:54.000 Senior White House officials are now saying there were also credible intelligence reports from within Iran that the Supreme Leader knew he was running out of time and also running out of options, and that he planned to launch a preemptive strike on U.S. service members in the region.

00:06:09.000 So the administration is essentially saying they had no choice but to strike first to ensure that that Iranian response would be more muted.

00:06:16.000 Now, there are plenty of skeptics, especially those on the left, who do not believe that assessment.

00:06:21.000 They have drawn parallels to President Bush, assuring the American people there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and that warranted an invasion.

00:06:28.000 So do not be surprised if we hear from President Trump and others in the White House in the coming days as they look to assure the American people that this was the best and potentially only option.

00:06:37.000 And that pushback from the left and from many who are skeptical of a broader military conflict in the Middle East, it's only going to grow as we now have these reports from Central Command that three U.S. service members have been killed.

00:06:49.000 Again, President Trump warned that could take place, but now we know that it has, in fact, happened.

00:06:55.000 Three Americans are now dead.

00:06:57.000 We now also know that on Saturday morning, Ayatollah Khomeini convened a meeting of his top military and intelligence aides above ground in Tehran.

00:07:04.000 And at the same time, two other meetings were taking place in the city.

00:07:07.000 Now, typically, these sorts of strikes take place at night, but the U.S. and Israel reportedly felt this was their best shot for a decapitation strike, and they took it.

00:07:15.000 The obvious question now is who will fill the power vacuum in Tehran?

00:07:19.000 Could this ultimately lead to the collapse of the regime?

00:07:22.000 Joining me now to help answer those questions and more to kick things off today is Tim Rice, Daily Wire, D.C. bureau chief, and Cassie Akiva, Daily Wire, foreign affairs reporter.

00:07:32.000 So, Tim, I want to start with you.

00:07:34.000 You are in D.C.

00:07:35.000 What have you been hearing from lawmakers?

00:07:37.000 What is the mood in the Capitol?

00:07:39.000 About the same as yesterday, but Congress has shifted into the expected phase two of its response to yesterday's attacks, which is they're now fighting with each other and demanding more information.

00:07:50.000 So, Congress had previously scheduled votes on potential intervention in Iran for this coming week.

00:07:57.000 Those have obviously been preempted.

00:07:58.000 Now we have the Democratic leaders of both the House and Senate calling for a referendum vote, essentially, in the next coming days to either condemn or affirm the president's strikes in Iran and also to attempt to, in some levels, curtail future action.

00:08:14.000 We're also seeing, you know, dissident Republicans like Thomas Massey and Rand Paul joining in those calls to prevent another forever war and curtail executive power.

00:08:24.000 And more than that, though, and this is likely going to change now that we've seen reports for casualties of casualties and fatalities.

00:08:31.000 But the other thing that the lawmakers are doing is they are grappling for information.

00:08:34.000 So as we reported yesterday, Marco Rubio briefed the gang of eight, which is congressional leaders and the head of the classified intelligence committees from both houses.

00:08:43.000 Now every other lawmaker wants to get in on the action. 1.00

00:08:46.000 There have been some private meetings, at least on the Republican side late yesterday and early today.

00:08:51.000 But I expect to see a lot more public posturing calling for either support or condemnation of the president.

00:08:57.000 And more than anything, expect to see a lot of anonymous stories of such and such a lawmaker is furious that they weren't briefed on the attacks.

00:09:04.000 Yeah, we're going to be speaking with Senator Bill Hagerty in a moment, and we're definitely going to get his take on that looming war powers resolution vote in the Senate.

00:09:13.000 So, Cassie, I want to get to you.

00:09:14.000 We know that Iran, they were very prepared for a strike that would kill the Ayatollah. 0.96

00:09:19.000 They had an entire succession plan in place.

00:09:21.000 We now know that there is an interim leadership council who is temporarily running the country until a permanent leader is chosen.

00:09:27.000 Walk us through that process.

00:09:29.000 Who is on this interim council and what does this replacement process look like?

00:09:34.000 Sure.

00:09:35.000 So the first person on the council is President Masud Pezistan.

00:09:40.000 And then the second one would be Judiciary Chief Ghul Malasin Mohsen Enji.

00:09:45.000 I'm probably mispronouncing some of these names.

00:09:47.000 And then there's a jurist from the Guardian Council.

00:09:49.000 So this is a group of three people.

00:09:51.000 Obviously, they're probably very hidden right now.

00:09:53.000 And they're supposed to lead the country.

00:09:55.000 Now, the Iranians are very prepared for this. 1.00

00:09:57.000 They have succession.

00:09:58.000 They have IRGC commanders spread out throughout the country.

00:10:01.000 They knew something like this could happen and they're prepared to deal with it.

00:10:04.000 So usually there is a huge process of how they pick the next supreme leader.

00:10:08.000 You know, a lot of the mullahs come together and they go through a very legalistic process to figure out who the next leader is.

00:10:15.000 But they're obviously suspending that and having a short term council to lead.

00:10:20.000 So but I did just see that Israel has now launched new strikes on Tehran.

00:10:25.000 This has happened in the next last few minutes.

00:10:27.000 Israel has declared air superiority over all of Tehran and all of Western Iran.

00:10:32.000 So they are in the skies and they're not getting shot down.

00:10:35.000 And this is a this is a big breakthrough throughout this conflict.

00:10:38.000 And I'm assuming they'll, you know, go to the rest of the country as well and get get rid of those air defense systems.

00:10:44.000 So again, the big question now, we have this obviously information vacuum coming out of Iran where it's difficult for us to glean too much about their internal processes.

00:10:53.000 But what are we hearing right now as to who could be the most likely or logical replacement for the Ayatollah when this is all said and done?

00:11:03.000 Right. So a lot of people, I mean, previously, a few years ago, you would have said it would have been the Iranian president that mysteriously fell down in a helicopter.

00:11:10.000 Everyone thought he was going to be the successor.

00:11:12.000 You know, there this is up in the air.

00:11:15.000 It could be anyone. Israel is currently killing a lot of the senior leaders.

00:11:19.000 And if you haven't heard of how the work's been kind of divvied up between Israel and the U.S. during these attacks, Israel's been primarily taking out leadership.

00:11:26.000 And America has been primarily taking out facilities and military installations.

00:11:30.000 So I guess we'll just see who's left standing because Israel has already killed a huge portion of the chain of command in Iran. 0.51

00:11:39.000 So I guess we'll see what happens there.

00:11:41.000 But I also want to point out that you're talking earlier about Iranian strikes on different countries in the region.

00:11:47.000 And the UAE just announced that they had shot down 90 or 96 percent of Iranian missiles.

00:11:53.000 That is highly successful. Israel is close to that as well.

00:11:56.000 So while the Iranians are shooting their missiles and they're estimated to only have about 2,500, a lot of them are getting shot down.

00:12:02.000 So it's only a few more days until Iran might run out of missiles.

00:12:06.000 Tim, let's get back to the political angle here.

00:12:09.000 Before these strikes, polling showed that a preemptive operation against Iran, frankly, was not popular.

00:12:15.000 The majority of Americans opposed such an operation.

00:12:18.000 But we also saw the same thing before the operation to capture Maduro in Venezuela, where people were not supportive.

00:12:24.000 But then they saw the results and the majority ended up supporting that mission.

00:12:28.000 Do you think the same thing could happen here in Iran, given the overwhelming success of this move?

00:12:34.000 It's very likely.

00:12:35.000 I mean, first of all, you know, the sort of disclaimer is that war polling and polling around military action is kind of notoriously fickle.

00:12:41.000 And it always sort of vacillates depending on the mood, right?

00:12:44.000 I mean, there was a time when the Iraq war was polling, not super popularly, but right, I mean, kind of better than it eventually polled and these things go up and down.

00:12:54.000 I think one thing that people are missing in this debate and one thing we're hearing a lot here in Washington from the president's supporters is that it's very easy to fall back into the rhetoric of he said no more forever wars.

00:13:05.160 He promised no more, you know, regime change in the Middle East.

00:13:08.260 And yes, while this sort of smacks of that, I think much like we saw with Maduro, the president and this administration are really hitting the message that their goal is not for it to be a forever war.

00:13:18.460 Their goal is for it to be decisive, successful, and then to hand things over to the Iranian people. 1.00

00:13:24.320 So I would expect to see a lot of vacillations in the coming days.

00:13:27.960 I mean, the two big news stories out this morning, obviously the fatalities, that's going to make this a little bit less popular.

00:13:34.780 But not an entirely equal counterbalance, but something else to throw into the mix, the reports that former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been killed.

00:13:43.000 I mean, he was a big villain in the American political lexicon for a long time and in the formative years of a lot of people in our prime voting bloc.

00:13:51.340 So, I mean, this is a man who, much like the Ayatollahs, in a lot of American minds is synonymous with terrorism and tyranny in the Middle East.

00:13:59.300 So, again, I think we're going to see a lot of these one-two punches, something to boost the poll numbers, something to bring it down.

00:14:05.640 It's also, I think, going to come down to when does Trump really start talking about this, right?

00:14:09.660 We've seen a couple of statements, a couple of truth social posts, again, mostly geared at Iran and the Iranian people.

00:14:16.040 But at some point, the president's going to come back to Washington.

00:14:18.680 At some point, he's going to get in front of news cameras.

00:14:20.940 And then that's a whole different ballgame.

00:14:22.280 Let's talk about what that might look like then, Tim, because, as you mentioned, Americans are hesitant to get involved in the Middle East, even if it is a more touch-and-go operation like this one, in and out, not having boots on the ground.

00:14:36.180 But the White House was saying off the record to reporters or on background that they had evidence of an imminent strike from Iran.

00:14:45.220 What are we hearing on that front?

00:14:46.640 And do you expect President Trump to make that the main thrust of, hey, we had to go do this or else we were going to get hit?

00:14:51.880 Beyond just saying, well, it's good for the Iranian people to topple this regime.

00:14:56.880 I think there's a good chance.

00:14:58.580 I mean, one never really knows what the president's going to say.

00:15:01.020 I think if I were the president's advisers, if I'm Caroline Levin or Marco Rubio or Susie Wiles, I would be telling the president to actually take a different tack.

00:15:09.800 Because, again, that, as you mentioned at the top of the show, that does sort of, people are immediately going to start thinking about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

00:15:17.740 The Bush administration, all of a sudden, this entanglement becomes 2003 and everyone's minds are made up.

00:15:24.120 What I think the president could do instead, and what I do think he will likely do, is go back to the same posture that he usually takes after foreign entanglements, particularly successful ones, which is talking and describing himself as the president of peace.

00:15:36.040 He's going to talk about all the wars that he's settled.

00:15:38.600 It's going to be some big number that will probably leave some head scratching saying 15 wars, and you start counting on your fingers and trying to figure out what it is.

00:15:45.920 But he's going to talk about Venezuela.

00:15:47.540 He's going to talk about bringing on all the hostages from Israel. 0.99

00:15:50.380 He's going to talk about how he's talking tough with Putin.

00:15:53.460 He's going to talk about peace in Armenia and all these other places that he's sort of brokered talk.

00:15:58.760 So I think that is ultimately what it's going to come back to, not switching the rhetoric away from we needed to neutralize this threat and more to look at all that I am doing to create peace and stability in the broader world and make America safe.

00:16:12.880 Cassie, there have been reports from Israel that it was Israeli intelligence that was telling the U.S. that the Ayatollah would be having this secret meeting above ground.

00:16:23.440 That was an important aspect there as well, that he would be above ground with his team.

00:16:27.280 Just tell us about that intelligence operation, because even the fact that they were able to get footage of the Ayatollah's body confirmed out of the country, how are they doing things like that?

00:16:38.700 And just how ingrained is Israeli intelligence within the regime?

00:16:44.500 I mean, there was a story a few years ago about how the man in charge of finding Mossad spies in Iran was actually a Mossad spy himself.

00:16:52.180 So Mossad is very ingrained in Israel, but they're not the ones taking credit for this. 0.54

00:16:56.720 The CIA is taking credit for knowing where Khomeini was, and they say that they passed it along to the Israelis who carried out the strike.

00:17:04.840 So very coordinated.

00:17:06.620 This is much different than the 12-day war.

00:17:08.340 The 12-day war, Israel was by themselves until America came in with the B-2 bombers.

00:17:12.060 This is highly coordinated.

00:17:13.600 I kept asking because I was offline in the war start.

00:17:16.280 I kept saying, who attacked first, Israel or America? 0.62

00:17:18.500 And they attacked together.

00:17:19.520 So this is very coordinated.

00:17:21.840 And I just want to flag one more thing, that we might be seeing the death toll of Americans go up, because there were nine Israelis who were just killed in Beit Shemesh, which is a highly American neighborhood in Israel.

00:17:32.220 We don't know the identities of these people yet.

00:17:34.460 And the death toll might be going up, because there are some severely injured.

00:17:38.040 But I'm just flagging that, because that might be a situation as well.

00:17:41.060 Yeah, I want to read this tweet again for people who are just now joining us, that we have information coming in of American casualties.

00:17:49.980 I'm going to pull up that post right here from Central Command.

00:17:53.340 They wrote,

00:17:54.260 As of 9.30 a.m. Eastern Time, three U.S. service members have been killed in action.

00:17:58.880 Five are seriously wounded as part of Operation Epic Fury.

00:18:02.120 Again, that's from CENTCOM.

00:18:03.040 That is about as cut and dry as it gets there.

00:18:06.220 So a lot of Americans now waking up to not just a flurry of deaths among Iranian leadership, but also the first deaths among American service members.

00:18:15.520 Tim, what does this do to change the political calculus?

00:18:18.640 And how does this change the story?

00:18:20.600 Because no longer can the White House say, hey, we took Maduro with no casualties, and now we took out the Ayatollah with no casualties.

00:18:28.880 That no longer is true.

00:18:31.080 How does that change things?

00:18:32.080 It immediately galvanizes the critics of the operation, of course.

00:18:38.280 But I think one thing that it does especially is it really galvanizes that handful of, as I called them earlier, dissident Republicans.

00:18:45.440 Those sort of isolationist war critics like Thomas Massey and Senator Rand Paul.

00:18:50.640 She's not in Congress anymore, but former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia has also been a very prominent voice on this front.

00:18:56.880 So you always see the line along, you know, they want to send your sons to die in the Middle East.

00:19:02.680 If they care about this war so much, why don't they enlist?

00:19:05.140 You hear that more from Republicans than from Democrats.

00:19:08.200 Democrats tend to criticize these efforts, you know, more along the lines of checking executive power.

00:19:12.620 That's what we hear from Tim Kaine and Ro Khanna, you know, not going into more debt, saving money, focusing on domestic problems, allowing autonomy in other countries.

00:19:21.400 These are the this is the way the Democrats oppose wars, anti-war Republicans oppose wars by saying American men and women are going to die.

00:19:28.420 And we do not want that to happen. Right.

00:19:30.380 They are now they are going to remind people that this is supposed to be an America first intervention administration.

00:19:36.840 They are going to say that this is not an America first policy if Americans are dying.

00:19:41.660 So I think we are going to see the critics who have already brought themselves out from within the president's party, especially louder after this.

00:19:48.160 I think we are going we can expect to see some more lawmakers.

00:19:51.740 I would keep an eye on some folks like Anna Paulina Luna and and Lauren Boebert, some of these other kind of former allies of Marjorie Taylor Greene who are sort of stuck very close to that America first.

00:20:03.860 No foreign wars. Yeah. Part of the party. 0.99

00:20:07.020 Also, you know, the president's critics externally to conservative voices.

00:20:10.800 We're going to start seeing a lot of that. Yeah. All right.

00:20:13.000 Tim, Cassie, thank you guys so much for coming on a very fluid situation, but we appreciate both of your insights.

00:20:19.660 Thanks, guys. All right.

00:20:22.060 We're going to get now to Brian Hook, one of the leading experts on Iran.

00:20:26.200 He served as the U.S. special representative for Iran.

00:20:29.320 He was also the senior policy advisor to the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo.

00:20:33.740 Brian, thank you so much for joining us this morning.

00:20:35.940 Let's get right to it.

00:20:37.140 Because of your work for years now, you have faced credible death threats from the Iranian regime.

00:20:43.480 So this has to be a remarkable weekend for you.

00:20:46.980 How does it feel seeing the death of the Ayatollah?

00:20:51.780 Well, I think more about for American foreign policy than than any of my own sort of, you know, personal questions around these topics.

00:21:01.780 And so, you know, the the Islamic Republic of Iran for 47 years has been engaged in really an endless war against the United States and Israel.

00:21:13.080 And President Trump has had enormous success in the Middle East in this first term and now in the second term.

00:21:19.180 I mean, you saw in the first term the defeat of ISIS and the Abraham Accords. 0.83

00:21:26.040 And then here we are in the second term.

00:21:28.840 We had another country join the Abraham Accords. 0.99

00:21:31.780 And now you have Iran largely on its back and in a very bad place as a consequence of the 12-day war.

00:21:40.700 And now this effort to really change the trajectory of the Middle East towards something more stable, something much more secular, something much more tolerant.

00:21:54.020 And I think these are all I think I think the building blocks are in place for a much more stable and prosperous Middle East.

00:22:02.320 What do you make of the men currently leading this interim council to replace the Ayatollah?

00:22:09.160 What should we expect from them?

00:22:11.020 Is there a chance that they take a diplomatic approach with Trump, sort of like we saw in Venezuela with the new leadership?

00:22:16.360 Or do you think they're going to dig their heels in and fight even harder?

00:22:20.220 President Trump has offered all along the the diplomatic track, which the regime has consistently exploited. 0.70

00:22:31.180 I think that's that was a mistake.

00:22:34.000 And so here we are again, where the president is making very clear that there is an opportunity to have good diplomatic relations with the United States.

00:22:43.960 But Iran has to end its enrichment so that we don't ever face the prospect of a nuclear armed Iran. 0.63

00:22:50.900 We also need to end all of this proxy warfare, which has been such a danger to our troops in the Middle East.

00:22:58.080 And they also need to end these long range ballistic missile productions, which could be aimed at the United States.

00:23:05.260 And so regardless of who is in power, whether it's the Ayatollah or this triumvirate that's in place, any sort of government that follows the death of the Ayatollah, there is an opportunity to be at peace, not only with the United States, but also with Iran's Arab neighbors.

00:23:24.400 And that would be a very good thing because the biggest driver of terrorism and instability in the Middle East has been the Iranian regime. 1.00

00:23:34.120 It has not been the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

00:23:37.720 It has been Iran's revolutionary expansionist regime that has fought proxy warfare for 47 years.

00:23:45.600 And one thing I've noticed here is that while we're in the middle of this conflict, we haven't seen any of Iran's proxies attacking Israel.

00:23:56.600 And that is a testament to, I think, the resolve that the United States and especially Israel has shown since October 7th to ensure that October 7th never happens again. 0.52

00:24:09.520 What more does that tell you about the fact that we haven't seen huge operations from these proxies?

00:24:13.900 The Houthis issued a statement saying that they were prepared, you know, to help the Iranians and to push back on the West.

00:24:19.920 But we haven't seen, you know, this real flurry of activity from the Houthis.

00:24:23.340 Do you expect there to be more activity from their terror proxies?

00:24:29.380 They are so sufficiently degraded and their leadership has been so thoroughly eliminated that I think they have lost command and control of any operations.

00:24:40.580 And so typically this was always the fear from Israel and the United States is that in a conflict like this, you would have Hamas attacking Israel from one side and you would have Hezbollah attacking from the north and you would have Shia proxies in Syria and Iraq.

00:24:56.440 And then you would have the Houthis in Yemen and all of these proxies would be firing at the same time on American troops and on Israel.

00:25:04.380 And look at what we see today.

00:25:06.520 And we really shouldn't overlook the significance of this.

00:25:09.920 None of these proxies are active.

00:25:12.380 You're not seeing any sort of response from them.

00:25:15.180 And what that means is we are seeing the emergence of a new Middle East.

00:25:19.820 The attacks of October 7th by Hamas have massively backfired on everyone.

00:25:26.440 And Israel, I'm sorry, Iran, midwife, the creation of Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, all of these organizations. 0.91

00:25:35.600 And today these organizations are in fragments.

00:25:39.640 They have lost any sort of power projection or operational capabilities.

00:25:45.460 And then we have Israel with aerial superiority over Iran. 0.60

00:25:50.720 By the way, in June, they did in three days what Putin has not been able to do in Ukraine in four years.

00:25:57.820 And then they've done it again with aerial superiority.

00:26:00.580 It's an enormous undertaking to pull that off.

00:26:04.600 And so I think this has been a very successful operation so far.

00:26:08.620 The president very much hopes that the Iranian people are going to fill the vacuum that has been created by the death of the Ayatollah.

00:26:17.300 And we all very much hope that the Iranian people will have a government that is truly representative of their interests.

00:26:24.620 You mentioned Putin there earlier.

00:26:26.740 Let's elaborate on that.

00:26:28.120 What do you expect to see from the Russians in the coming days? 0.99

00:26:31.360 And what does the success of this operation to date mean for Moscow?

00:26:34.720 These sorts of conflicts send a message around the world.

00:26:42.800 When Obama did not enforce his red line in Syria, that sent exactly the wrong message.

00:26:48.440 But I think President Trump's operations in Venezuela, now in Iran, certainly send a message to President Putin, President Xi, Kim Jong-un in North Korea, in Cuba.

00:27:00.180 It doesn't matter anywhere along that axis of resistance, this is a teaching moment.

00:27:06.540 America has no peer militarily.

00:27:09.220 And we pull off these spectacular and extraordinarily complicated operations and we do it successfully.

00:27:14.700 And so I think if you're President Putin, you have to wonder just how much of an alliance you want to have with the Iranian regime.

00:27:23.740 And it really should have that effect of causing China and Russia and anybody else to have second thoughts about getting too close.

00:27:31.800 Whether it's Iran or Maduro in Venezuela or in Cuba, President Trump is sending a message to all of these countries.

00:27:40.500 You should choose your partners very carefully.

00:27:43.500 Yeah.

00:27:44.320 I think a lot of Americans are waking up yesterday and today maybe unsure of how to feel.

00:27:51.500 You know, there's this sort of secretive regime in Iran.

00:27:54.880 People don't know a ton about them.

00:27:56.400 So what are some things that you believe that the average American has wrong about Iran or maybe misunderstandings they have about the way that this regime operates?

00:28:05.940 Well, ever since 1979, in that Iranian revolution, and they took hostage our entire diplomatic corps in Tehran.

00:28:21.040 And then whether it's all, I mean, the Iranian regime is responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans.

00:28:28.400 Thousands of Americans.

00:28:29.300 And even in Iraq alone, Qasem Soleimani was responsible for the deaths of over 600 Americans.

00:28:36.520 And America has interests in every region of the world.

00:28:39.860 We have troops in every region of the world.

00:28:41.860 And it has been the consistent mission set of the Iranian regime to target American troops and American civilians in every part of the world, not just in the Middle East.

00:28:52.800 And so I'm old enough to remember people tying ribbons around trees to remember the hostages back in 1979.

00:29:04.260 And there has just been so much bloodshed.

00:29:08.520 And President Trump uniquely understands that.

00:29:11.260 He also understands the Iranian regime, you know, has never won a war and never lost a negotiation.

00:29:16.980 They're very good at these talks that just go on and on and on.

00:29:20.280 And I think Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff did their absolute best to try to help the Iranian regime come to the table and come to a deal, come to a deal that would be around any nuclear enrichment, the things I discussed earlier, and the regime miscalculated.

00:29:41.160 And so here we are today.

00:29:43.380 The Iranian regime has never been weaker in its history.

00:29:47.140 And I think its proxies have never been weaker.

00:29:50.300 This will create greater peace and stability in the Middle East.

00:29:54.280 We talked about Russia earlier and what this means for Putin.

00:29:56.920 Let's get to China, the other big player, other adversary. 0.95

00:30:00.200 We know they are heavily reliant on Iranian oil exports.

00:30:03.860 What else does this mean for President Xi?

00:30:06.320 The Chinese relationship with the Iranian regime has always been very transactional, which is kind of how China's relationship with every nation is.

00:30:16.660 They engage in predatory economics under President Xi.

00:30:20.900 And for a country like China, they very much want cheap Iranian oil.

00:30:27.540 And because of President Trump's sanctions on Iranian oil, he was the first one to do that, by the way.

00:30:33.380 President Obama, under the Iran nuclear deal, the United States was not allowed to sanction any Iranian oil.

00:30:40.740 And all of the terror proxies that we've been discussing, they're all financed by Iranian oil.

00:30:46.760 So if you can go after the oil, it changes everything, because Iran is the central banker for all of these terror groups around the Middle East. 0.97

00:30:57.180 And so China was able to buy a lot of Iranian crude at a discount because it was illegal to ship the oil.

00:31:05.860 And so China very much enjoys cheap Iranian oil.

00:31:08.980 Under the first term, we were able to collapse Iran's exports and took it from something like 1.7 million barrels to functionally zero.

00:31:22.580 And that had a crippling effect on the economy.

00:31:25.600 I think it's going to be much harder now for China to continue buying the oil.

00:31:30.040 They're going to have to get it from somewhere else.

00:31:31.700 So they're going to have to get it through ship-to-ship transfers on these shadow tankers that are floating around the world.

00:31:40.680 And so that's one piece of it.

00:31:42.780 I don't think it's much of an alliance.

00:31:45.620 The Chinese spread their risk around the Gulf. 1.00

00:31:49.440 They don't want to go so deep with any one country that they alienate others.

00:31:53.560 So they play a double game where they'll try to get what they can from Iran, but they'll try to get what they can from other nations in the Gulf or the Middle East.

00:32:03.300 And so it'll continue being business as usual with the Chinese. 1.00

00:32:06.700 All right.

00:32:06.920 We will leave it there.

00:32:07.680 Brian, thank you so much for your expertise.

00:32:10.280 We really appreciate you coming on and breaking this down for our audience.

00:32:14.080 My pleasure.

00:32:15.000 And we're going to keep things rolling here.

00:32:16.800 We have a ton more guests to come.

00:32:19.280 And I just want to let all of you know, if you appreciate the live coverage that we're doing here, and if you appreciate the fact that this is commercial-free, you watch this on TV, you're getting three-minute commercial breaks every few minutes.

00:32:30.760 We're not doing that here.

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00:32:36.120 So please go to dailywire.com right now.

00:32:38.060 Become a member so we can continue bringing breaking news, investigative reporting, and just explaining the world.

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00:32:51.200 Head to dailywire.com right now and become a member.

00:32:54.420 So we're going to hear from a number of lawmakers and diplomats in just a few moments.

00:32:58.560 But just recapping where we are today, day two of Operation Epic Fury continues.

00:33:04.600 The big news that we have coming out of the Middle East right now is that we have our first reported American casualties.

00:33:10.380 It's CENTCOM reporting just within the last hour that there are three American service members who have been killed.

00:33:17.180 A number of other ones have been seriously wounded.

00:33:19.620 That number was at five.

00:33:20.960 So we now know that we have our first American service members killed as a result of this action to disarm Iran. 0.92

00:33:28.380 And President Trump actually warned yesterday when he announced this operation that there was the potential for U.S. service members to be killed.

00:33:35.060 Let's play a clip of that speech now.

00:33:40.380 U.S. personnel in the region.

00:33:45.720 Even so, and I do not make this statement lightly, the Iranian regime seeks to kill. 0.91

00:33:53.220 The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost and we may have casualties that often happens in war.

00:34:01.000 But we're doing this not for now.

00:34:03.720 We're doing this for the future.

00:34:05.800 And it is a noble mission.

00:34:08.520 We pray for every service member as they selflessly risk their lives to ensure that Americans and our children will never be threatened by a nuclear-armed Iran. 0.97

00:34:18.700 We ask God to protect all of our heroes in harm's way.

00:34:23.520 And we trust that, with his help, the men and women of the armed forces will prevail.

00:34:29.880 So, again, President Trump last night warning when he announced this operation there was the potential for U.S. service members to be killed.

00:34:39.780 We now know Central Command confirming three American service members have died to this point.

00:34:45.000 At least five others seriously wounded, shrapnel, concussions, and other injuries.

00:34:49.420 We're still waiting for the details on how those casualties occurred.

00:34:53.580 But, again, this is going to change the calculus.

00:34:55.800 President Trump warning of that last night.

00:34:57.720 We're now joined in studio by Tennessee Senator Bill Haggerty.

00:35:00.980 Senator, thank you so much for being here.

00:35:02.140 It's great to be with you this morning.

00:35:02.880 So let's get to the breaking news and then we'll get big picture.

00:35:05.660 But Central Command confirming this morning three U.S. casualties.

00:35:09.160 How does this change the calculus of this operation?

00:35:12.060 Well, it's heartbreaking.

00:35:12.880 President Trump warned that this was likely to happen.

00:35:14.800 But I think you need to add this to the long list of murders and mayhem that the Iranians have caused this regime since they took over. 1.00

00:35:21.760 You think back to 1983, what happened with our Marine barracks.

00:35:25.700 They took over 200 lives there of American Marines.

00:35:28.940 They've continued to consistently wage war either directly or through their proxies.

00:35:34.200 You think about what happened on October 7th of 2023.

00:35:37.400 1,200 people were murdered and slaughtered there, over 40 Americans included in that toll.

00:35:41.780 This is something that we're going to have to address.

00:35:43.560 President Trump was clear about this yesterday, that it could happen.

00:35:45.940 I pray that this is absolutely minimized.

00:35:48.220 I know the president does as well.

00:35:49.460 All of us do.

00:35:50.140 Yeah.

00:35:50.660 Now, let's get to the Senate.

00:35:52.140 Democrats largely furious over this operation despite its success to this point.

00:35:57.240 A number of Democrat leaders are calling for a vote on a war powers resolution in an attempt to block the president from taking further action.

00:36:05.180 How will you vote on that measure if it comes to the floor?

00:36:07.620 And what do you make of that effort?

00:36:09.180 I don't think it's going to be successful at all.

00:36:10.900 First, President Trump has been clear he's not waging war on Iran.

00:36:14.120 What he's doing is he's taking out their capability to harm us, to harm our allies.

00:36:18.800 He's taking out their short-term, short-range ballistic missile capabilities.

00:36:23.180 He's also taking out their ability to create the launchers that send those missiles in the direction of our allies.

00:36:28.700 Also in the direction of commerce in the region.

00:36:31.060 20% of the waterborne oil exports in the world go through the Strait of Hormuz.

00:36:36.540 Iran has always used this as a choke point. 0.99

00:36:38.060 President Trump is reducing or eliminating that capability.

00:36:41.220 This is about American interest.

00:36:43.240 This is surgical.

00:36:44.480 And I think he's going to try to do everything he can to minimize the casualties.

00:36:48.020 As we said, sad that we'd have any casualties.

00:36:50.340 But also he's opened the door for the Iranian people.

00:36:53.100 We've seen the picture of people in the streets celebrating.

00:36:56.360 This is a generational opportunity for them to step up and take their country back.

00:37:00.340 I'm interested in your take on the objectives here.

00:37:04.120 So President Trump initially saying that the main goal was to knock out the nuclear stockpiles,

00:37:08.860 to destroy the missile capabilities, the missile program.

00:37:12.760 If that is successful, but the regime is still in power, would you support the president continuing

00:37:17.780 this operation once that first military mission is successful to try and get the regime weakened

00:37:22.900 so that they could be toppled from within?

00:37:24.540 This regime has done nothing except shout, death to America, death to Israel.

00:37:29.500 And look at what's happened now in the wake of this most recent episode.

00:37:34.020 They've actually gone out and attacked their allies in the region.

00:37:37.480 I think the world's sentiment is turning against this regime.

00:37:39.700 They need to go.

00:37:41.100 The White House has said they had credible intelligence, that Iran was planning a preemptive

00:37:46.300 strike on American forces in the region.

00:37:49.000 Have you been given any evidence of those preemptive plans from Iran?

00:37:52.420 You know, I've not had those sort of intelligence briefings, but I can say this.

00:37:57.440 Iran has consistently positioned and postured itself so that it continued to create and reap 1.00

00:38:02.440 mayhem in the area.

00:38:03.600 If you think about how unserious their negotiations have been, when Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner

00:38:08.320 left the negotiating table just this past Thursday, there was no willingness of Iran to actually

00:38:13.640 take this seriously.

00:38:14.840 They still kept taking everything off the table that were our red lines.

00:38:18.120 So it's clear they had no interest in peace.

00:38:20.240 They had no interest in negotiating.

00:38:21.320 All they're trying to do is what they've done for so many times before, which is just tap

00:38:25.540 America along.

00:38:26.780 This president is unwilling to accept that, and I applaud it.

00:38:29.920 I think a lot of folks are interested in how long this can continue on.

00:38:34.060 President Trump has said days to weeks.

00:38:37.020 What do you know and what can you tell the American people about how long this can go,

00:38:40.900 just from a logistical standpoint?

00:38:42.280 What sort of stockpiles are we talking about?

00:38:44.340 And could that potentially open the door for our stockpiles to be drained?

00:38:48.400 And how long would those take to replenish?

00:38:49.720 I guess just walk us through the timeline of what you see.

00:38:51.380 I think the stockpile to look at is the Iranian stockpile.

00:38:54.460 They've got about 2,500 ballistic missiles.

00:38:57.080 They're going to be draining that stockpile.

00:38:59.240 President Trump is taking out their ability to launch that stockpile.

00:39:01.860 He's also taking out the stockpile itself.

00:39:04.260 What you will see is the Israelis now having complete control of the airspace over Iran. 0.66

00:39:08.360 They will not be able to, the Iranians, will not be able to protect or defend their stockpiles or their launching capability. 1.00

00:39:15.180 What's happening right now is that we are going through and searching and seeking and destroying all of that launch capability.

00:39:20.400 So I think that this is going to be denominated in days or weeks.

00:39:23.140 It's going to be very short, very surgical.

00:39:24.780 Again, this is not waging war on Iran.

00:39:26.580 Iran, this is going in and taking out a capability that they have used to wreak terror around the region. 0.98

00:39:31.780 And he's doing that in advance of Iran's stated program.

00:39:34.660 They wanted to take that 2,500 to 8,000.

00:39:36.960 They want to increase their ability to create and harass terror in the region.

00:39:42.320 So this is all about standing up for America's interests, standing up for allies' interests,

00:39:47.720 and taking out a capability that has been used for far too long, for decades, to kill Americans, to harm and create mayhem in the region.

00:39:55.160 It's coming to an end.

00:39:56.240 Could you elaborate on the angle with regard to American interests?

00:40:00.220 Polling shows that Americans are very hesitant to support wars in the Middle East.

00:40:04.860 There's this hangover that's looming from Iraq and Afghanistan. 1.00

00:40:08.040 And I think people hear war in Iran and they think, or military action in Iran, and they think, is this going to be another conflict like that?

00:40:16.400 What is the case for why this is a beneficial thing for Americans?

00:40:20.580 Why this is good for folks here in Tennessee, the state where we both live?

00:40:23.220 Well, I can tell you why it's been bad.

00:40:25.300 Since, what, 1979 when the regime took over, we have seen nothing but instability and terror throughout this region.

00:40:32.260 Whether it's their being the number one state sponsor of terror, you think about what they've done through Hezbollah, 1.00

00:40:36.560 what they've done through Hamas, the Houthis, they've continued to consistently create havoc in the region. 1.00

00:40:42.380 We went in, what was it, eight, ten months ago, using bunker busters and took out their nuclear capability.

00:40:47.800 Operation Midnight Hammer was a complete success.

00:40:50.200 We told them that should be the end of their nuclear ambitions.

00:40:52.780 The Iranians turned right around and started back on that program again. 0.99

00:40:55.540 President Trump could not have been more clear.

00:40:57.580 They want to create havoc and mayhem.

00:41:00.160 And again, listen to what they say. 0.99

00:41:01.940 Death to America. 0.91

00:41:03.640 They need to be dealt with. 0.95

00:41:05.360 The time has come.

00:41:06.100 And frankly, they're at a weakened point right now.

00:41:08.480 This was the time to do it.

00:41:10.020 Have you been surprised by the lack of global support for Iran?

00:41:14.480 Their proxies not, you know, not really joining the fray here.

00:41:18.740 China and Russia both have been fairly silent.

00:41:21.380 Has that surprised you to see just how isolated Iran has become?

00:41:23.840 I think our adversaries should take careful note of the same situation in Venezuela.

00:41:28.980 America goes in and acts.

00:41:30.320 Our allies step up with us.

00:41:32.060 These people have no allies.

00:41:33.560 These rogue nations have no allies.

00:41:36.060 It's a marriage of convenience.

00:41:37.800 If you think about it from China's perspective, they've been buying the illicit oil from Venezuela,

00:41:41.760 from Iran.

00:41:42.860 Those days are over.

00:41:44.040 If you think about it from Russia's perspective, they should look at this with great concern.

00:41:47.520 President Trump means what he says.

00:41:49.600 And he delivers on what he says.

00:41:50.940 Let's come back stateside.

00:41:53.040 The Department of Homeland Security has warned for years that under President Biden,

00:41:57.280 when we had millions of illegals crossing the border undetected,

00:42:00.380 we don't know who many of those people are.

00:42:02.340 The DHS has been warning that there were efforts, they believed, from Iran to send sleeper cells

00:42:07.960 across our border.

00:42:09.700 Do you have any reason to believe that there could be a threat here on American soil?

00:42:13.300 Certainly.

00:42:13.900 We've had that concern from the very outset of the Biden administration going back to 2021.

00:42:17.640 When Joe Biden collapsed the border, this is exactly what we were concerned about,

00:42:21.540 the potential of it happening.

00:42:23.100 I'd say this.

00:42:24.320 My Democrat colleagues who are pushing for war powers resolution should also be pushing 0.88

00:42:28.520 to reopen the Department of Homeland Security.

00:42:30.360 They have shut it down.

00:42:31.720 Without a single Republican vote, it's time to make certain that we have the greatest capability

00:42:35.600 that we can here in the homeland to protect ourselves.

00:42:38.180 And it's certainly the time to stop playing politics and keeping DHS shut down just so they

00:42:42.580 can wave a political flag.

00:42:43.620 Tangibly speaking, how does that shutdown impact America's preparedness to protect our people?

00:42:49.040 Well, it takes our Coast Guard in a position where, look, these men and women that are

00:42:53.540 serving are continuing to serve.

00:42:55.800 They're patriots.

00:42:56.860 They step up and do the job.

00:42:58.320 But the fact that they aren't getting paid, again, just makes their lives much harder.

00:43:02.340 And why the Democrats want to exercise their political judgment in a way that hurts and punishes

00:43:08.360 these people when they have nothing to do with the Democrats' frustration that, frankly,

00:43:12.760 they don't have any message except resist Trump and resist anything at all costs.

00:43:17.920 And what they're doing is putting our nation in harm's way in the process.

00:43:20.240 Final word to the American people.

00:43:22.800 What should they be taking away from this operation?

00:43:25.420 What have we learned about President Trump's foreign policy?

00:43:28.000 That resolve matters.

00:43:29.400 That the U.S. has the most impeccable capability of any military in the world.

00:43:33.580 Think about the intelligence that was deployed here.

00:43:35.560 The precision that was used, the fact that we knew exactly where these people were, the

00:43:39.620 Ayatollah, the chief leadership, they had the equivalent of a National Security Council

00:43:43.520 meeting, and they are gone.

00:43:44.900 Forty of the top leaders are gone.

00:43:47.100 I think the world should take note that our intelligence and our military capability are

00:43:50.800 beyond compare.

00:43:52.200 Absolutely.

00:43:52.700 That is Senator Bill Haggerty from the great state of Tennessee, our home state.

00:43:56.540 Thank you so much for joining us in the studio, Senator.

00:43:58.180 Thanks so much.

00:43:58.680 We're going to keep things rolling.

00:44:00.160 More breaking news coming in every single hour.

00:44:02.900 We have, first, from Central Command, the announcement that there were three U.S. service

00:44:07.940 members who have been killed, at least five others injured.

00:44:11.380 So we are going to bring you new updates from there.

00:44:14.020 And we're now going to get to our next panel.

00:44:15.900 We have Bhatia Ungar-Sargan joining us.

00:44:19.140 So Bhatia, thank you so much for being here.

00:44:22.260 Also on the panel, we have Elizabeth Pipko.

00:44:24.740 So guys, let's get to this, Bhatia.

00:44:26.780 Let's start with you.

00:44:28.560 When you woke up yesterday, you saw this news.

00:44:31.560 What was your first reaction?

00:44:33.220 You're smiling.

00:44:33.900 You look very happy.

00:44:34.700 What was your first reaction?

00:44:37.280 Thank you so much for having me.

00:44:38.740 It's really an honor to be here with you.

00:44:40.940 I'm smiling because I didn't find out in the morning.

00:44:43.320 I didn't find out until the afternoon because it was Shabbat.

00:44:45.840 And so we were logged off.

00:44:47.100 And the rabbi happened to mention it in shul.

00:44:49.240 We barely believed it.

00:44:51.100 And then, of course, logging on after Shabbat at 6.30 p.m.

00:44:54.160 and finding out that the Ayatollah was dead.

00:44:58.020 Jubilation. 0.95

00:44:59.100 That man wanted every American dead. 1.00

00:45:02.160 The idea that he was not an enemy of the United States is ridiculous. 0.99

00:45:06.180 I don't understand what people think they wanted the nuclear weapon for.

00:45:10.440 They opposed the West with every fiber of their being. 0.93

00:45:13.820 They opposed the idea of freedom with every fiber of their being.

00:45:16.760 And so the world is a much safer place.

00:45:19.360 Our grandchildren are going to be much safer because of the brave action that the president took.

00:45:26.400 And, of course, I understand people who voted for him because he said no new wars.

00:45:30.740 I'm one of those people. 0.93

00:45:32.120 But the idea that this is anything like Iraq is just ridiculous.

00:45:36.080 It's utterly unthinkable that there will be American troops on the ground.

00:45:39.860 So we're praying for the troops.

00:45:41.140 We heard about these three troops who tragically have lost their lives.

00:45:44.440 I truly, truly hope that no more life is lost.

00:45:48.360 I'm praying every minute for it.

00:45:50.140 But the president is very keenly aware of where his base is on this.

00:45:54.720 And I think that he wants this to be over very quickly.

00:45:57.600 Elizabeth, let's get to you.

00:45:59.240 What do you make of the Democratic response that we've seen so far?

00:46:02.800 We know there's this push in the Senate for a war powers resolution condemning.

00:46:06.340 We've seen Zoran Mamdani saying that this was a terrible day for the world.

00:46:10.620 What do you think of that response?

00:46:12.900 And how is that going to play with the American people?

00:46:15.840 Well, look, it's not a surprise, right?

00:46:17.360 I think if any of us could have imagined that we were going to wake up to this news or, like

00:46:21.180 Bhatia said, actually, to turn on our phones to this news because I'm in the same boat and

00:46:25.380 imagine the Democrats would be supportive of that, no one would have believed that, right?

00:46:29.120 We've seen what they stand for, which is basically just opposing anything that Donald Trump

00:46:33.320 happens to do.

00:46:34.500 They know that they can rile up their base with this.

00:46:37.520 That's kind of all they look for at this point is opportunities to rile up the furthest

00:46:41.520 progressive portion of their base and make sure that they're ready to go out and vote

00:46:45.440 in the midterms.

00:46:46.380 And unfortunately, that base is the same base that's been burning American flags on college

00:46:50.720 campuses, chanting death to America like the Iranian regime has done. 0.99

00:46:55.320 We've seen these protests.

00:46:56.500 We unfortunately know what these people stand for.

00:46:58.320 And the Democrats are really laughing in all of our faces, assuming that we don't realize

00:47:02.220 exactly what they're doing, which is standing against America and hoping that it works out

00:47:06.860 for them because they need those votes this November.

00:47:09.780 And that's kind of all that they have left in their party.

00:47:12.380 Yeah, Bhatia, let's get to November here.

00:47:16.060 We're still eight months away and folks have short attention spans these days.

00:47:20.200 But what sort of impact do you see this operation having on the midterms and on the GOP push and

00:47:26.060 pitch to voters?

00:47:28.480 It's too soon to tell, right?

00:47:29.920 It all depends on how it ends.

00:47:32.200 If, God forbid, we see, you know, lots of casualties on the American front, that's not

00:47:37.320 going to play to the president's, in the president's favor.

00:47:41.400 Right now, 54% of Americans already support the strike.

00:47:46.080 So, you know, the idea that there's somehow a divide in MAGA on this, expect to see a lot of

00:47:52.080 liberal media wish casting about that.

00:47:54.900 I think it's all nonsense.

00:47:56.000 You know, 54% of Americans supporting it.

00:47:58.820 How many of those do you think are Democrats?

00:48:00.740 Not a lot of them.

00:48:02.020 So I do think that this is a lot like the first strike in Iran in June to where before it

00:48:07.540 happened, most people said they didn't support it.

00:48:09.820 After it happened and it was so successful, you really saw a lot of support, including up

00:48:13.580 to 90% of Republicans supporting it.

00:48:16.400 So it really all depends on what happens next.

00:48:18.380 But again, never doubt the president's understanding of where his base is, regardless of what some

00:48:24.460 high-profile isolationist podcasters try to tell you.

00:48:29.140 Bhatia, I know we have to let you go in two minutes, so I want to give you one more word

00:48:32.240 here.

00:48:32.500 I'm interested in what you expect to see from the Iranian people.

00:48:37.140 You know, when we talk about regime change, it can be this vague concept.

00:48:40.360 But tangibly, what would it have to look like for the Iranian people to step up and topple 0.99

00:48:44.560 this regime?

00:48:44.980 Do you know what's interesting?

00:48:47.200 I don't think the president is looking for a total regime change.

00:48:50.780 I think he wants exactly what he got in Venezuela, which wasn't actually an extreme regime change,

00:48:57.060 right?

00:48:57.240 That would have been installing Maria Machado. 1.00

00:48:59.900 That's what the Bush era folks would have done.

00:49:02.120 And the president, Marco Rubio, said, no, we actually don't want chaos here.

00:49:06.320 And if we do that, we risk a coup d'etat.

00:49:09.040 We risk the generals getting angry.

00:49:10.920 We're going to keep Dulce Rodriguez, who was Maduro's number two, and just say to her,

00:49:15.160 you like this job, you know, how about being a little bit more pro-America?

00:49:18.660 That's what we're here for.

00:49:19.400 And I think they're pursuing the exact same thing in Iran.

00:49:22.440 They're not trying to install somebody who the West would love.

00:49:26.560 They're saying we need to get the nuclear threat off.

00:49:29.120 We need to get rid of the threat to the United States, to our children and grandchildren.

00:49:32.980 And the rest is really up to the Iranian people. 0.99

00:49:36.000 We wish them well.

00:49:36.920 We want them to win.

00:49:37.980 But we're not fighting this fight for them.

00:49:40.660 There is a maturity that this president is bringing to the table with Marco Rubio, where

00:49:45.280 they have a really clear understanding of they're rejecting both the Obama era appeasement

00:49:49.620 and the Bush era nation building and saying, we are America first.

00:49:54.620 We want you to do what's right for you.

00:49:56.400 We want to see freedom everywhere.

00:49:57.880 But we're trying to avoid chaos and create stability, which is why it was so important

00:50:02.460 for the Saudis to get on board here as well.

00:50:05.920 All right.

00:50:06.140 We are going to give you let's do one more.

00:50:08.840 I got one more question for you, Bhatia, and we'll make it a 30 second one.

00:50:12.120 How does the report of U.S. service members being killed change the president's calculus?

00:50:16.560 Do you think it does anything to change his strategy or the messaging around this operation?

00:50:21.240 You know, he said in his initial message to the American people that this could be a possibility,

00:50:28.380 which I thought was really correct to do, not to avoid the fact that this might happen.

00:50:36.700 He, of course, wants to avoid these kinds of casualties at all costs.

00:50:41.200 But again, he's protecting our children and grandchildren from having to face a nuclear Iran. 0.98

00:50:47.220 I think that if it does seem that the threat is big, I think that will change the calculus.

00:50:53.500 But as you pointed out, Kavit, you're not seeing the Russians or the Chinese coming to the Iranian regime's defense.

00:51:01.040 They've sort of abandoned them.

00:51:02.860 That all turned out to be, you know, fake allyship.

00:51:06.260 So I don't know how long Iran is going to be able to hold on. 0.98

00:51:10.200 But, you know, I think it does change the calculus, not these three poor souls, precious souls who we mourn.

00:51:16.260 But if this continues and it seems like there is a big threat to mass casualties,

00:51:20.540 I do think that will change the calculation for the president.

00:51:22.660 All right, Bhatia, always a pleasure to speak with you.

00:51:25.600 You can go watch Bhatia.

00:51:27.620 Elizabeth, thank you so much.

00:51:29.040 That's Elizabeth Pipko, former RNC spokesperson and Bhatia host of Bhatia.

00:51:33.800 Guys, thank you so much.

00:51:35.000 We're going to continue going with all the breaking news that we have coming in.

00:51:38.160 Again, the United States launching day two of Operation Epic Fury with Israel. 0.94

00:51:43.840 There are ongoing airstrikes across the region.

00:51:46.700 The U.S. continues to hit missile sites,

00:51:48.240 knocking out nuclear production facilities and knocking out missile stockpiles.

00:51:53.120 We believe that the Iranians' latest intelligence says they had 2,500 missiles before this.

00:51:57.460 They are burning through those stockpiles, launching them.

00:52:00.340 As we said, for lack of a better word, use them before you lose them because the U.S. is targeting them.

00:52:04.300 And they are hitting Middle Eastern countries throughout the region. 0.85

00:52:07.980 We've had explosions reported in Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, the UAE.

00:52:12.580 There were explosions at high rises in Dubai.

00:52:14.940 In Israel, there were reports of a bomb that made it through, a missile that made it through.

00:52:19.520 And at this point, killed eight people in a residential neighborhood.

00:52:23.520 And the big news this morning, three U.S. service members confirmed killed.

00:52:27.020 We're going to read that update from CENTCOM.

00:52:30.360 At 9.30 a.m. Eastern Time, we're confirming three U.S. service members have been killed in action

00:52:34.940 and five are seriously wounded as part of Operation Epic Fury.

00:52:38.680 Several others sustained minor shrapnel injuries and concussions

00:52:41.260 and are in the process of being returned to duty.

00:52:44.000 They go on to note that because of privacy for the families,

00:52:46.840 they are going to withhold any further information.

00:52:49.860 But once we get news on how this took place,

00:52:52.180 we don't know if these were some of the missiles that got through to some of these bases.

00:52:58.240 We do not know how these individuals were killed,

00:53:00.520 but we will bring you the news as soon as we get it.

00:53:03.620 President Trump has been relatively quiet about this matter.

00:53:07.680 He posted a number of statements on Truth Social talking about all of this.

00:53:12.580 He had one where he warned that, quote,

00:53:14.900 Iran just stated they are going to hit very hard today,

00:53:17.660 harder than they have ever hit before.

00:53:19.240 However, they better not do that because if they do,

00:53:22.660 we will hit them with a force that has never been seen before.

00:53:25.540 Thank you for your attention to this matter.

00:53:27.620 President Trump, again, going on later on to celebrate the death of Hamini,

00:53:31.740 saying one of the most evil people in history is dead.

00:53:34.560 This is not only justice for the people of Iran, but for all great Americans.

00:53:38.440 He went on to say that this is the single greatest chance for the Iranian people to take back their country. 0.81

00:53:43.800 So President Trump, again, celebrating the death of the Ayatollah.

00:53:47.360 We also now know that at least 40 senior members of the Ayatollah's team were also killed in that decapitation strike.

00:53:54.220 There were three simultaneous strikes by the Israelis.

00:53:56.820 The Ayatollah was meeting with his top advisors from the intelligence and military community in Iran.

00:54:03.000 There were two other meetings going on above ground.

00:54:05.820 Right now, reports from the White House are saying that the Ayatollah did not believe that he was going to be targeted in the morning.

00:54:11.080 He was not in his bunker, and the U.S., we believe, preferred to launch this strike in the middle of the night as they have in the past.

00:54:18.020 But when they saw that the Ayatollah was meeting above ground, they took the opportunity.

00:54:21.920 They said this might be the best chance we get, and we now know that the U.S. and Israel were, again, successful in that operation.

00:54:28.660 We're now going to get to one of our reporters, Breka Stoll, who has been on the ground in New York City.

00:54:33.860 She has been gathering some footage from protests, so let's play some of that footage that we have from her protest that she attended in New York City yesterday, and then we'll bring Breka on.

00:54:42.840 Breka,

00:55:12.280 First, I'll say I can smell that protest from here based on some of the individuals I'm seeing, but what were some of the chants that you heard?

00:55:19.440 What was the main message from those protesters?

00:55:23.460 Well, the most concerning chant that I heard was when they were chanting, you know, Donald Trump and the U.S.A. are the biggest threat in the world today, and these protesters were very angry with the president, and as you saw, that clip was in the middle of the street in New York.

00:55:38.000 And so right behind me, we walked all the way up 8th Avenue from Times Square to Columbus Circle, where I am now, and they overtook, you know, one of the biggest cities in the country.

00:55:49.860 And how on earth are you able to take over a street like that?

00:55:53.300 Well, we found out it's actually through the mayor's office.

00:55:56.180 They obtained a permit in seven hours, Cabot, and were able to put on that production.

00:56:01.660 What do we know about who was organizing this protest?

00:56:04.480 Yes, so as, you know, we talked about yesterday, we saw it was the Answer Coalition was part of it, but then I'm also seeing reports of the People's Forum, and apparently people are saying that that program has ties to the CCP.

00:56:19.300 And, you know, I talked to one of the protesters out here yesterday, and I asked, how did you find out about this?

00:56:24.520 And then she tells me about the group chats that they have, and the different roles that every protester can play in the group chats.

00:56:31.800 So they have sign makers, they have chanters, they have organizers, and they have outreachers, flyer printers.

00:56:38.580 And we saw, you know, before the protest started, people bringing in these large signs, these large wagons carrying supplies.

00:56:46.380 And you'll notice in that video, several of the signs are the same.

00:56:49.800 And it just shows that this is ready to go.

00:56:53.180 And it's very difficult to get kind of something of that scale, a thousand people, on the same page so quickly, so you just know that there is some level of organization behind it.

00:57:02.720 People can see in the video you captured, this protest, it's a very dour mood.

00:57:07.040 People clearly very angry.

00:57:09.240 We saw a very different reaction from Iranians who were protesting, not just in Iran, but protesting all across Europe.

00:57:15.920 Or I should say celebrating, not protesting, celebrating.

00:57:18.420 They were cheering.

00:57:19.940 There were American and Iranian flags.

00:57:21.640 People were very happy.

00:57:22.900 We're going to play some of that footage from Iran of people being excited.

00:57:25.940 Were there any Iranians there that were trying to talk to protesters, telling them, hey, we're actually pretty happy that this evil tyrant was killed? 1.00

00:57:32.720 Oh, we saw one protester, you know, yell at the group saying, you guys don't know what you're doing.

00:57:39.800 You, you know, you shouldn't be doing this right now.

00:57:42.100 But we didn't see that same level of enthusiasm or praise for the president.

00:57:46.300 And I think we just have to think about, you know, where we are.

00:57:48.980 We are in, New York is one of the most liberal cities in the country.

00:57:52.200 You know, the state hasn't voted for a Republican president since Ronald Reagan in 1984.

00:57:57.300 And so I think we're just seeing that, you know, that group just may not be here.

00:58:01.640 And, you know, we weren't in any other areas, mainly just following that group of protesters.

00:58:06.480 And so that's what we were following yesterday.

00:58:08.580 All right, Brecca, we will leave it there.

00:58:10.060 Thank you so much for your reporting on the ground.

00:58:12.060 Stay safe there in the Big Apple.

00:58:15.620 Thank you so much, Cabot.

00:58:17.320 All right, again, we are tracking breaking news.

00:58:19.200 This is a special breaking edition of Wired In Live.

00:58:22.460 And if you guys appreciate the work we're doing, we're running live all morning.

00:58:26.000 We did this for hours yesterday.

00:58:27.700 No commercial breaks.

00:58:28.920 We just thank all of you.

00:58:30.120 We're able to do that because of our Daily Wire members.

00:58:32.400 So if you want to support the investigative work we're doing, support the live coverage,

00:58:36.140 support our reporters that are all around the country, all around the world, bringing you the truth,

00:58:40.240 go to dailywire.com, become a member today.

00:58:43.200 You can join the conversation.

00:58:44.700 You'll get special access on our website as this breaking story develops.

00:58:48.440 So thank you again so much to our members.

00:58:50.960 All right, I want to turn now to David Friedman.

00:58:52.620 He's the former ambassador to Israel who is joining us now from Israel.

00:58:57.340 David, thank you so much for coming on.

00:58:58.980 It's a pleasure to speak with you.

00:59:00.420 Just walk us through the mood that you are experiencing right now in Israel.

00:59:06.240 Well, you know, it's an interesting question.

00:59:09.140 The mood, I would say, is overwhelmingly optimistic, grateful to President Trump, proud, incredibly proud of the working together,

00:59:24.940 the collaboration between the U.S. military and the IDF, which I think together has put together probably the greatest military operation in the history of the world.

00:59:33.760 So there's optimism that this enemy may finally be tamed, that there's pride.

00:59:41.100 But then, of course, there's concern because every few minutes there's a siren going off.

00:59:46.640 There's explosions everywhere.

00:59:48.420 I'm running in and out of shelters with my wife.

00:59:52.780 I have some kids here, some grandchildren here.

00:59:54.460 So it's difficult.

00:59:56.260 And, of course, just, you know, a couple of hours ago, there was a, you know, not to make light of it, there was a serious tragedy, a direct hit by a missile on a public shelter in a town called Beit Shemesh,

01:00:10.300 where at least as of this moment, at least nine people were killed, including children.

01:00:14.780 And there's about 20 wounded.

01:00:16.060 So, you know, the mood overall is optimistic.

01:00:20.820 Israelis have been through this before.

01:00:22.260 But then there's also that component, which is incredibly sad and tragic.

01:00:27.580 Yeah, we'll just say, David, if you need to leave, if you need to go to seek shelter at any moment, please do that.

01:00:32.900 Our audience will understand.

01:00:34.460 So talk us through the dynamics.

01:00:36.080 Appreciate that.

01:00:36.880 Of course.

01:00:37.800 How is this different from the 12-day war?

01:00:40.760 What's the biggest difference?

01:00:41.780 The biggest difference is Israel has a true partner. 0.69

01:00:50.040 The Americans were very helpful in the 12-day war, but they adopted a defensive posture.

01:00:56.920 So they were there, as they have trained for many, many years in the past.

01:01:01.560 When I was ambassador, they were training these operations.

01:01:04.520 But those were training with regard to defense, to intercepting ballistic missiles.

01:01:09.780 And they performed a very valuable task, although in those days Israel did intercept most of the missiles, on and so on.

01:01:17.120 Now, offensively, you know, the big brother is coming to help Israel.

01:01:23.940 I mean, this is, you know, two carrier strike groups, the full weight of CENTCOM, the U.S. military intelligence.

01:01:33.680 So it's a completely different operation, completely different goals, I would add, as well.

01:01:41.320 And I think we're going to see very, very striking results as a result.

01:01:47.540 You know, President Trump is not going to let this drag.

01:01:51.280 This is not going to be, you know, a war where they're trading volleys.

01:01:55.640 You know, it's not going to be a war of attrition.

01:01:58.220 And Trump wants to end this, and he's going to end this just as quickly as he can.

01:02:02.720 And the Israelis are going to play an important role.

01:02:05.240 But this is America's show.

01:02:06.620 This is not the Israel's show. 0.86

01:02:09.480 This is the America's show.

01:02:10.780 The big question now is how this interim council is going to respond.

01:02:14.900 Will they dig their boots in the ground further and, you know, launch even more strikes as a result of the Ayatollah killed? 0.81

01:02:21.740 What do you think we should expect to see from Tehran in the coming days?

01:02:27.480 Well, the first thing is to understand, is there really anybody there minding this story?

01:02:34.600 There's been such a decapitation of leadership.

01:02:37.400 It's not clear to me that there is anybody really fully in charge.

01:02:41.140 But beyond that, look, I think the first day or two of responses has been fully baked into the military, you know, for six months.

01:02:53.100 As long as these discussions have been going on, they've had a plan for what to do on the first couple of days.

01:02:59.720 We're quickly coming to the end of that period.

01:03:01.880 And now the question is, what do they got left?

01:03:04.380 You know, between the Americans and the Israelis, they're targeting the launchers. 0.70

01:03:09.120 They're targeting the ballistic missiles.

01:03:11.140 They're doing everything they can with, by the way, you know, exquisite intelligence that, you know, no one else in the world has as to where the targets ought to be.

01:03:21.080 So America's continuing to pursue these targets.

01:03:23.840 Again, not a risk-free operation.

01:03:26.320 As you just announced, there were three unfortunate deaths and some additional casualties.

01:03:31.980 Heartbreaking that American soldiers, you know, would lose their lives here.

01:03:35.420 But they are, they're still, they've still got a lot of offense left.

01:03:39.720 And I think, you know, the Iranians are going to run out of gas.

01:03:43.460 I mean, it's, I don't know whether it's three days, four days, five days, but, you know, the American goal is to, is to get Iran as quickly as possible to a place where they're, they're harmless. 0.99

01:03:54.600 They're harmless to their own people.

01:03:56.760 They're harmless to Israel, to, to the Gulf countries. 0.65

01:04:00.040 And I think that's a time that's quickly approaching.

01:04:04.520 We've seen a number of instances in the last few decades in the Middle East, in particular in Africa, where tyrannical leaders were taken out, either deposed internally or killed by foreign militaries.

01:04:15.920 And there was this period of, you know, cloudiness.

01:04:19.360 We weren't sure what was going to happen.

01:04:20.340 And then there ended up being more instability as a result.

01:04:22.640 And there was more of a need for the U.S. to remain involved.

01:04:25.540 How do we avoid that happening this time around?

01:04:30.340 Well, that's a great question.

01:04:31.460 I think Iran is different than, let's, let's say, for example, than Iraq, right?

01:04:38.340 Iraq is a, was a, was a place where there were, it was, it was, it wasn't, it was never really a nation with a kind of a cohesive culture and an identity.

01:04:48.460 It was very tribal, very different groups that combined, you know, to kind of be kept under control.

01:04:54.320 Iran is a very different population.

01:04:55.940 I mean, they're not Arabs.

01:04:56.880 They're, they're Persians, you know, whatever that means.

01:04:59.280 I mean, they are culturally different.

01:05:01.460 They are, they're, many of them are very well educated.

01:05:05.760 There is a, you know, an advanced movement already there, you know, for freedom and for, and for democracy.

01:05:13.240 They've been held back only by the regime.

01:05:15.380 That's been their, that's been their, you know, their block, their blockage.

01:05:18.600 Now, you know, will a complete annihilation of the Iranian military result in any loss of the regime?

01:05:27.720 It's unclear, but this will be the best opportunity, you know, in the history of the, since the beginning of the Islamic Revolution in Iran in the 1970s, this will be the best opportunity for the Iranian people to rise up, take back their country and reform their government and become allies of the West.

01:05:47.420 I don't know if it's going to happen, but the upside of that happening, if that does happen, even if there's, you know, some turbulence along the way, which I would expect, that opportunity for the future of that region in the world itself is so great, it really is worth taking the chance.

01:06:03.940 I mean, the consequence of not doing this, of doing nothing, is a brutal, theocratic, dangerous Iranian regime that will threaten our children and our grandchildren. 1.00

01:06:14.820 Do you believe that the Ayatollah would still be alive today if October 7th had not taken place? 0.99

01:06:22.080 Well, this is, you know, these are great, you know, philosophical questions that we can sit around and debate.

01:06:28.880 The answer was, of course, I don't know, but I think October 7th changed everything.

01:06:35.100 I mean, we're too close to October 7th to really understand its role in history because, you know, from a historical perspective, it just happened yesterday.

01:06:44.920 But what it means, I think, is going to prove to be just as important, I think, as the Holocaust. 0.90

01:06:51.840 There'll be museums that will be dedicated to October 7th in the same way that we have Holocaust museums, at least in Israel.

01:07:00.580 October 7th, I think, was the time that, you know, Israel realized and America realized that there were just certain, you know, certain governments, certain regimes,

01:07:14.160 unfortunately, certain people with whom there would be no reconciliation, there would be no peaceful coexistence.

01:07:25.780 Israel learned the hard way, you know, by seeing, you know, how Hamas had elected, Hamas was elected by the people of Gaza.

01:07:33.600 It wasn't a single Jew living in Gaza, not a single Israeli IDF soldier on the ground in Gaza.

01:07:39.480 And yet, you know, with all the money they got, all the aid they got, all the support they got from around the world,

01:07:45.140 they took their money and used it to build terror tunnels and weapons that they could shoot into civilian populations in Israel.

01:07:51.220 So that was a harsh realization, especially since the people that were most affected by October 7th were people on the South, you know,

01:07:58.580 who had a very left-leaning, you know, perspective on life.

01:08:01.260 They really wanted to live with the Palestinians. 1.00

01:08:03.800 They wanted to help them.

01:08:04.540 They wanted to coexist with them. 0.82

01:08:05.720 And so these were the people who the Palestinians, you know, unceremoniously, you know, murdered, you know, raped, destroyed. 1.00

01:08:14.340 So that realization that sunk in in Israel and then kind of began to sink in elsewhere in the West, especially in America,

01:08:22.720 I think made everyone realize that, you know, of course, Iran was behind this. 0.99

01:08:28.340 Iran was funding it.

01:08:29.100 Iran was supporting it.

01:08:30.500 Iran was praising it.

01:08:31.320 I think it caused, you know, those of us who are clear-headed to realize that, you know, you can only negotiate to a point with radical Islamic terror. 0.65

01:08:41.840 And at some point, you either succumb to it or you destroy it.

01:08:45.860 And I think the president has come to that view.

01:08:48.680 And he gave every opportunity for the Iranians to, you know, to avoid this. 0.98

01:08:55.280 I mean, you know, just give up nuclear, you know, just give up, you know, nuclear enrichment, uranium enrichment.

01:09:02.040 The only purpose of that was for a nuclear weapon.

01:09:03.960 So just give that up and reduce or eliminate your ballistic missile stockpile.

01:09:09.600 No one's attacking you anyway.

01:09:11.100 They could have done that.

01:09:12.060 They could have joined, you know, the community of nations.

01:09:16.120 Their economy could have been brought back.

01:09:17.600 I mean, they had enormous opportunities, and the people of Iran saw that, and it must have been heartbreaking for them to see, you know, how this played out.

01:09:25.740 But now they're celebrating.

01:09:27.260 I mean, I don't know if you saw some of the events in London.

01:09:30.800 In London, there's a huge Iranian population that's celebrating.

01:09:34.000 They're celebrating in Los Angeles.

01:09:35.860 They're celebrating in Great Neck on Long Island, where there's a huge Iranian population.

01:09:40.200 The people of Iran, you know, apart from this regime, are quite happy right now.

01:09:44.720 One final question.

01:09:46.880 There's been a very vocal faction of folks on the right, podcasters, former TV hosts, some Republican elected officials who have urged President Trump to sort of abandon Israel and stay out of the Middle East entirely.

01:10:02.760 And certainly they've been pushing the president to not get involved in this military conflict in Iran.

01:10:07.300 What does it say about that faction's standing within the White House that President Trump, you know, for the most part ignored them and still move forward with this operation?

01:10:16.080 I think President Trump has seen for months what they're made of, you know, the ugliness, the lying, the, you know, the willingness to adopt a position contrary to their prior positions just for clicks or to appeal to the lowest, you know, the lowest form of human life.

01:10:45.160 He knows what they are.

01:10:46.160 He knows what they are.

01:10:46.320 He knows.

01:10:47.020 And I think it's I'm not surprised.

01:10:51.140 I've known the president for a very long time.

01:10:53.860 Look, I never thought he would pay much attention to any of them.

01:10:57.060 I think he'd he'd prefer not to see a divide within the Republican Party, especially in an election year.

01:11:03.480 But short of that, he's not going to compromise his views because of these lowlifes. 1.00

01:11:07.960 And I think I think they were largely irrelevant before.

01:11:12.380 But I think, you know, as they say, we can we can safely relegate them now to the dustbin of history.

01:11:18.760 All right.

01:11:18.880 We will leave it there.

01:11:19.860 David Friedman, former ambassador to Israel, coming to us live from Israel.

01:11:23.440 Thank you so much for your time, Ambassador.

01:11:25.840 Thanks, Cabot.

01:11:26.540 Thanks for having me.

01:11:27.800 All right.

01:11:28.040 We're going to keep going with the breaking news again.

01:11:30.260 The big story for those just now joining us.

01:11:33.280 Operation Epic Fury continues in the last few hours.

01:11:37.740 Strikes moving forward from the U.S. and Israel on Tehran and other sites across Iran.

01:11:42.960 Iran continuing to launch a barrage of missiles at a number of Middle Eastern countries targeting U.S. bases and also civilian populations in Israel.

01:11:50.320 At least one missile has made it through the Iron Dome defense system and has killed, right now, latest reports saying nine civilians in a heavily populated residential area of Israel.

01:12:01.760 And the big news, Central Command confirming this hour that three U.S. service members have been killed in action.

01:12:09.160 Five more have been seriously wounded as part of Operation Epic Fury.

01:12:12.160 They say the situation is fluid, out of respect for the families, will withhold additional information, including the identities of our fallen warriors, until 24 hours after next of kin have been notified.

01:12:22.700 That will be dominating the headlines today.

01:12:25.700 Understandably, three U.S. service members killed President Trump, warning that could happen, and we now know that it has indeed happened.

01:12:32.560 So our thoughts and prayers with the families of those service members, our brave heroes who are engaging in this operation.

01:12:38.840 We're going to turn now to Brent Sadler, former senior Pentagon official and Heritage Foundation senior fellow.

01:12:44.640 Brent, the last few hours this operation has continued.

01:12:49.220 What has surprised you most in the first 36 hours, though, of this Operation Epic Fury?

01:12:55.840 Perhaps the timing in early morning or daylight hours.

01:13:00.380 As the Mullah and his 40 or so of his closest and most senior leaders were gathering, that's the most surprising.

01:13:07.720 We'll see how much of a strategic impact it is making.

01:13:11.740 But that one then followed closely by the just completely misguided or, I guess, confused, lashing out by the regime and its missile launches at all of its neighbors.

01:13:22.780 Many of them going after civilian apartment buildings and others.

01:13:26.760 Just a poor lack of discipline is surprising to me with their missile forces.

01:13:30.940 Do you believe that some of the attacks that the Iranians have launched, we saw in Dubai, for example, a number of high-rise apartments and other buildings that were struck that had seemingly nothing to do with the military.

01:13:42.320 Do you believe that they're trying to put pressure on those countries by saying, hey, if you're going to ally yourselves with the U.S., we're going to just strike indiscriminately and try and pressure you into telling the U.S., hey, wrap this thing up?

01:13:55.860 Yeah, that's one way of reading it, but I think it's more chaotic and more of a fear of like use it or lose it kind of syndrome because as these attacks were coming in and surprising the IRGC, which was pretty much had the finger on the trigger, I think they thought we're next, so let's shoot it before we lose it. 0.54

01:14:16.600 Because, again, hitting these civilian targets is just going to galvanize, and it already is, the countries in the Gulf to ally with the United States and Israel and enter into combat, which appears that we're on the track, too, because of this very misguided approach by the Iranians. 0.89

01:14:34.140 But not as surprising when you start to realize how fractured their leadership's become.

01:14:39.180 To this point, we have seen, again, three U.S. service members killed.

01:14:43.000 We've seen a number of civilians in Israel also confirmed dead.

01:14:47.240 But from a relative standpoint, when you take into account what we believe to be the thousands of missiles the Iranians have fired off so far, have you been surprised by the relative lack of success that Iran has been able to have and the relative lack of damage that they've been able to inflict as a result?

01:15:04.380 Again, I kind of go back to the lack of targeting discipline is really what's equating to this very ineffectual missile barrages.

01:15:11.320 They're not launching the large massed attacks that they did last summer because their command and control has been decapitated.

01:15:18.680 And in that confusion, they're making attacks as they see an opportunity rather than coordinating with drones and large mass missile strikes against, say, Israel or one target, but it's scattered across.

01:15:30.480 So I think this is the real reason behind the ineffectiveness that could change.

01:15:36.140 Hopefully it doesn't.

01:15:37.620 But this is going to last with this level of intensity, at least for the next few days as the targets and the threats are actually taken out.

01:15:46.120 And hopefully in the interim, the Iranian people stand up. 0.96

01:15:49.140 So you spent years working within the Pentagon.

01:15:52.560 Walk us through what the options you believe are that are being presented to President Trump now from his military advisors.

01:15:59.960 Yeah, most of my time was operational in the Pacific, but dealing with providing the president many options, military options, is the key goal of the Pentagon and the military.

01:16:10.880 It's not to dictate or make the recommendation which to take, but to maximize the options.

01:16:16.640 And so by having two aircraft carrier strike groups, one in the eastern Mediterranean, the other one in the Arabian Sea, both within striking distance and very likely conducting very intensive operations, gives the president a real stat that he can adjust and maneuver his forces to send a signal,

01:16:34.140 but also to affect certain military operational impacts like we're seeing right now in the pictures.

01:16:40.740 I asked this question to Ambassador Friedman just a moment ago, and I want to repeat it because I think it's on the mind of a lot of Americans right now.

01:16:47.260 We've seen so many times throughout history, even in the past few decades, where tyrannical strongmen were taken out and there was this celebratory period.

01:16:55.940 But then years later, there was even more instability as a result, and it ended up maybe making the region worse.

01:17:01.940 How do we avoid that happening again in this scenario?

01:17:05.920 Well, it appears that the folks in leadership in this administration are taking two recent historical events to mind.

01:17:14.540 One is the liberation of Iraq.

01:17:16.640 You're talking about the statues of bringing down Saddam Hussein, his eventual hanging as a war criminal.

01:17:22.920 But that was overshadowed by too rapidly vilifying and purging all of the Ba'athists. 0.95

01:17:28.540 Very similar type of circumstances in post-war Germany in the end of World War II.

01:17:34.160 Rather than just remove all the Nazis, we kept those that were needed at a lower level to keep the lights on and policing the streets until they could be transitioned out and fully vetted.

01:17:43.780 What we ended up doing by the de-pathification in Iraq in 2003 and 2004 is we turned all of them into enemies and into insurgents. 0.98

01:17:52.120 And that's what bought us a very long war.

01:17:54.100 There's a smart way to go about that.

01:17:55.600 Afghanistan is another lesson that I think is being heeded.

01:18:00.020 Afghanistan is never going to be a replica of American democracy. 0.99

01:18:04.660 But we thought, along with many Western European countries, that we could.

01:18:08.700 So you have to take the country for what it is and what its people, their aspirations and desires and culture, and apply your interest to that.

01:18:16.220 Making sure that Americans and American interests are being safely pursued.

01:18:20.020 I think in both cases, when I say both, I'm talking Venezuela and what could unfold in Iran is give the space for the people to decide a government that is one that's responsive to their wishes, but also one that's not going to be a threat to Americans and American interest.

01:18:36.000 And it does take a degree of patience and a highly well-informed insight to the local politics and the local groups.

01:18:43.900 We'll see if we've got that in Iran.

01:18:45.960 It appears we've got that going along fairly well in Venezuela so far.

01:18:49.720 Final question, Brent.

01:18:52.360 What do you expect to see over the next few days?

01:18:56.280 Well, I expect we're going to see more of these sporadic and not clearly focused on a strategic insight missile launches.

01:19:04.420 The Iranians have upwards of 3,000.

01:19:06.440 They were in the process of rebuilding.

01:19:08.720 Some of their shipments from China were intercepted.

01:19:11.540 But we have to assume that they had recovered all that they had lost and spent in the last summer during Operation Midnight Hammer.

01:19:20.020 That's probably going to continue for the next few days.

01:19:22.160 The Iranians are going to name new leadership.

01:19:24.720 It'll probably be a new target set unless they change dramatically the nature of the regime and go from one of hostility and violence and terrorism to one of peace and prosperity for their people and their neighbors.

01:19:36.860 Big if, quite frankly.

01:19:38.660 Yeah, that's all the time we have now.

01:19:39.960 Brent, thank you so much for coming on.

01:19:41.540 Appreciate your insight.

01:19:43.080 Thank you.

01:19:44.040 That was Brent Sadler, former Pentagon senior official.

01:19:47.360 So just want to, again, thank our Daily Wire audience.

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01:20:27.040 Well, as we get ready to wrap up our show, we're just going to repeat the top lines because so much is coming in.

01:20:32.640 And this is a rapidly evolving situation.

01:20:34.120 Again, last night, we got confirmation that Ayatollah Ali Khomeini had been killed.

01:20:39.660 A successful Iranian or Israeli strike on the Iranian compound took him out along with 40 or so other top officials.

01:20:47.840 The country's minister of defense was killed.

01:20:50.500 The country's chief of staff to the military was killed.

01:20:52.800 Top generals, the head of the IRGC was killed.

01:20:55.120 So this was a decapitation strike.

01:20:57.900 The big question now, how will Iran move forward? 0.97

01:21:01.460 Is this the beginning of the end for the regime?

01:21:04.420 That is what we are waiting to find out.

01:21:06.940 Now, the regime currently has a succession plan in place that they have implemented.

01:21:11.260 There are three men who have survived these strikes who are now on the interim leadership team, sort of a triumvirate leadership team right now.

01:21:19.600 So the United States is trying to ascertain how they are going to react.

01:21:23.980 Will they dig in even deeper?

01:21:25.760 Will they continue to fight?

01:21:26.840 They vowed that if the Ayatollah was targeted, it would be an existential threat on the livelihood of their regime and that they would launch war like they've never launched before.

01:21:36.460 Will they do that or will this regime take the similar approach to what we saw in Venezuela with Dilsey Rodriguez saying,

01:21:42.980 I don't want the same fate that I saw Nicolas Maduro have.

01:21:46.400 I will play ball with the president.

01:21:48.140 That is what we will be tracking very closely over the next coming days.

01:21:52.700 And you can follow along with us at The Daily Wire.

01:21:55.180 We have a live 24-7 blog that is being updated on dailywire.com.

01:21:59.560 You can learn more about this developing story.

01:22:02.180 And you can learn more about the three U.S. service members who were killed this operation.

01:22:07.920 We learned that this morning, just a few hours ago, Central Command posting that three service members had been killed.

01:22:12.580 So we have our first casualties.

01:22:13.760 Please, once we learn more details on those casualties and if there are any more developments of that nature, that will be up on the live blog.

01:22:21.360 Go to dailywire.com and you can make sure to stay tuned there.

01:22:24.780 And also this entire stream, if you were joining us late, you can watch the entire thing start to finish along with all of our other coverage on dailywire.com.

01:22:32.180 Become a member so you can hop in the chat and join the conversation with our other members.

01:22:36.060 We will make sure to monitor that for you as well.

01:22:38.500 But again, thank you so much for tuning in.

01:22:40.840 Thank you to our Daily Wire members who make streams like this possible.

01:22:44.380 This is a historic weekend.

01:22:46.900 We woke up yesterday knowing that the world and the Middle East would never be the same.

01:22:51.040 And today, we now know the Ayatollah is dead.

01:22:53.940 So too are three American service members.

01:22:55.940 We thank them for their sacrifice.

01:22:58.440 We pray for the safety of our military.

01:23:00.860 And thank you to all of our Daily Wire members for tuning in.

01:23:03.480 I'm Cabot Phillips, host of Wired In Live.

01:23:06.700 Thanks so much.

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