U.S. calls on China to prevent Iran from closing the Strait of Hormuz and disrupting global oil transportation. Iran threatens to block access to a key oil shipping lane between the Persian Gulf and Persian Gulf, a key supply route for much of the world's oil supply.
00:00:00.000U.S. calls on China to prevent Iran from closing Strait of Hormuz and disrupting global oil flows.
00:00:07.840Now, Iran government poised to shut it down, closing off 20 percent of global oil and gas.
00:00:15.320And this is what Rubio had to say about this. Go for it, Rob.
00:00:18.200No way we were leaving that for future generations.
00:00:20.540Secretary, final question here. Do you expect Iran to move to close the Strait of Hormuz to try to
00:00:27.560disrupt oil transportation across the world?
00:00:33.020Well, I encourage the Chinese government in Beijing to call them about that because they heavily depend on the Strait of Hormuz for their oil.
00:00:39.720If they do that, it will be another terrible mistake. It's economic suicide for them if they do it.
00:00:44.180And we retain options to deal with that. But other countries should be looking at that as well.
00:00:47.660It would hurt other countries' economies a lot worse than ours.
00:00:50.420It would be, I think, a massive escalation that would merit a response, not just by us, but from others.
00:00:55.800So, look, they're going to say what they need to say.
00:01:00.600You know, these are the things that need to happen for their own internal politics and so forth.
00:01:04.380But in the end, we're going to judge them by the actions that they take moving forward.
00:01:09.020We had three objectives. We struck those three objectives with decisive force.
00:01:14.540And that was the point of this mission. And that's what we achieved.
00:01:17.300What happens next will depend on what they do.
00:01:19.620They want to negotiate. We're ready to negotiate.
00:01:21.740They want to get cute and do things that are dangerous.
00:01:23.860We have responses available that are devastating.
00:01:28.220Secretary, was China complicit? We know that jets flew into Iran.
00:01:31.640We don't know what were on those jets.
00:01:35.360No, we don't have any evidence that the Chinese were involved in it.
00:01:47.120And China has been trying to develop this relationship because China's got a lot of people and a lot of land, but not a lot of energy resources.
00:01:55.680And they need energy partners, which is why they turned to the north, to Russian for natural gas.
00:02:01.400And this is why they were with Iran trying to build this.
00:02:06.340And they have a very intricate economic relationship.
00:02:10.840And Rubio very astutely says, hey, it's not like we're calling China.
00:02:15.180Hey, buddy, you're a big country in the world, too.
00:02:17.720Could you call Iran and just let them know?
00:02:24.820When they close that port, the first country that gets impacted outside of Iran themselves, who stops getting economic, you know, stops getting money, stops part of their own economy, is you, dude.
00:02:38.640And they say, you're calling me while you're negotiating with me and you're kicking me in the balls and you're trying to get us to do this deal, a trade deal.
00:02:45.300Hey, dude, what we talk with you is what we talk with you about.
00:02:48.660I'm saying it's in your best interest to call Iran and tell them not to close the straits here because you need the oil, too.
00:02:56.120And so Rubio is very astutely pointing out that, you know, suddenly there's a question that has to be asked of China, which is, you know what?
00:03:21.660If Iran disrupts shipping in the Strait of Hormuz, which, of course, handles about a quarter of the world's oil trade, would that be a red line for the United States, Mr. Vice President?
00:03:35.000Well, Kristen, I think our biggest red line is the Iranian nuclear weapons program.
00:03:38.720That is really what the president has said we need to get rid of.
00:05:29.140They closed down a bunch of mosques, too, didn't they, Adam, in China?
00:05:33.620Number two, you're starting to see Russia turn its back on Iran.
00:05:39.160One of the main stories in the Wall Street Journal is how Putin has now turned a cold shoulder onto Iran.
00:05:45.980Quote, unquote, Russia is not as good of a friend or ally as it pretends to be with Iran.
00:05:52.260Putin often turns his back on his autocratic friends when they need him.
00:05:56.640So with friends like these who needs enemies, I don't see anybody coming to Iran's defense, including Qatar, who's number two on the list of state-sponsored terrorism or terrorism advocacy.
00:07:37.220Yes, the Chinese government has in fact portrayed Islam, especially amongst Uyghurs and Xinjiang, not merely as a religion, but as a form of mental illness or ideological disease that requires treatment or cure.
00:07:49.860According to Al Jazeera, Beijing has described Islam as a mental illness that needs to be cured with its re-education camp aimed at Uyghur Muslims.
00:07:57.280The Atlantic reports that Chinese authorities likened their camps to hospitals, treaty religions, extremism as a psychological condition to be remedied.
00:08:04.560A detailed summary in New York magazine, Intelligencer, explains that Islam was officially framed by Chinese officials as infectious ideological illness cleansed from their brain.
00:08:23.140The CCP is the biggest funder of the IRGC and the Ayatollah.
00:08:28.160And Adam, I just circle that square for me, how when they call your entire religion doctrine a mental disorder, yet you're following their lead.
00:08:39.300And Adam, just I had to fact check myself because I said that they destroyed China, destroyed mosque.
00:08:44.280Yes, the Chinese government has destroyed or repurposed hundreds of mosques, especially in Xinjiang, where the majority of the Uyghur Muslim population lives.
00:08:52.040In 2019, the Guardian and Bellicat revealed that over 30% of mosques in Xinjiang were damaged or destroyed.
00:09:00.320It's because Chinese campaign of religious and cultural suppression particularly targeted Muslims under the guise of counterterrorism and anti-extremism.
00:10:39.520Now, if you don't do it, the enemy will do it.
00:10:42.860If the enemy does it and the enemy gets more influence, then when it comes down to having leverage and time to do the things you want to do, then all of a sudden what happens?
00:12:14.920But you know, the whole thing about America only versus America first, a solopreneur is sick and tired of managing employees because it's hard.
00:19:10.560You either take money from sponsorship, then your loyalty has to be the sponsors, or you take money from customers who are buying stuff from you.
00:19:17.740The loyalty then becomes to them to stay honest to them.