Valuetainment - January 30, 2026


"Leadership Change Is COMING!" - Iran’s Supreme Leader HIDES As U.S. Strike Threat Looms


Episode Stats

Length

20 minutes

Words per Minute

185.81528

Word Count

3,750

Sentence Count

324

Misogynist Sentences

3

Hate Speech Sentences

10


Summary

Iran's supreme leader retreats underground, warned of likely to have U.S. airstrikes, as the USS Abraham Lincoln steams towards Persian Gulf. Iran says it will treat any attack as an all-out war against us.


Transcript

00:00:00.900 I'm Kelly Kennedy. I've been called a hope dealer for leaders and with over 300 episodes of the Business Development Podcast, we'll guide you and we'll always be in your corner.
00:00:12.900 Follow the Business Development Podcast on Spotify and let's make 2026 your best year yet.
00:00:19.740 Stay focused on what's going on. Next story I want to get to is Iran.
00:00:31.660 Iran's supreme leader retreats underground, warned of likely to have U.S. airstrikes.
00:00:39.900 Rob, if you want to go to this, page nine. Folks, if you're watching this, you want our stories, just go to the Manek Circle to get all the stories you can follow with us.
00:00:49.160 You'll get all the notes every single week if you want to follow the notes that we're looking at.
00:00:52.960 So, Supreme, okay.
00:00:54.640 Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has gone underground, reportedly hiding out in a bunker out of fear of being wiped out by the U.S. airstrikes as the USS Abraham Lincoln steams towards Persian Gulf.
00:01:03.420 The 86-year-old supreme leader has moved to a fortified shelter in Tehran connected to a series of elaborate underground tunnels after senior military officials warned of the increasing likelihood of an imminent U.S. attack.
00:01:16.280 Iran International reported Khamenei has left his youngest son, Masoud Khamenei, 53, in charge of running the day-to-day management of the Islamic Republic.
00:01:24.820 Masoud Khamenei's emergency duties include being the primary communication channel with the regime's executive branch.
00:01:32.300 Iran has deemed the likelihood of the U.S. airstrikes to be high after President Trump announced that warships were headed that way.
00:01:39.060 So, that's one story.
00:01:41.640 All of a sudden, major airlines cancel flights to the Middle East with possible of U.S. airstrikes.
00:01:46.840 Then Iran, the senior Iran official, says Iran will treat any attack as an all-out war, is what he announces.
00:01:55.980 Rob, do you have that clip as well?
00:01:57.840 Senior Iranian official stated that Iran will treat any attack as an all-out war against us on Friday ahead of the arrival of the U.S. military aircraft strike group and other assets in the Middle East region,
00:02:09.040 which is expected to be in the coming days, this military buildup, we hope, it is not intended for real confrontation, but our military is ready for the worst-case scenario.
00:02:18.480 This is why everything is on high alert than Iran, said the senior Iran official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
00:02:24.860 This time, we will treat any attack, limited, unlimited, surgical, kinetic, whatever they call it, as an all-out war against us,
00:02:33.340 and we will respond in the hardest way possible to settle this.
00:02:36.700 U.S. President Trump stated that his administration was watching Iran very closely.
00:02:41.300 Humberto, what do you think is going to happen here?
00:02:44.880 I think this is not a defining moment right now.
00:02:49.160 And I think it's very, because, you know, I think it's very, it's good for the regime that they have an excuse to go on hiding.
00:02:55.420 My guess, and I'm thinking this from the perspective, everyone's talking about the regime and they're talking about the U.S. influence,
00:03:03.960 but this revolution is about the economy, all right?
00:03:07.100 We saw over the last year the reports of 42% inflation, low energy production, running out of water,
00:03:15.860 and those reasons by themselves, Pat, like just economical reasons, they're enough to topple a government.
00:03:22.340 You know what I mean?
00:03:22.960 I mean, we've seen that President Trump, he's been very careful, you know, with his actions, very tactical with his actions in Iran.
00:03:31.700 I'm not calling him bluff.
00:03:33.000 I think he will act when time is ready.
00:03:35.400 But them pushing the narrative that the attack is imminent, it gives them safe passage to finally get out.
00:03:42.260 Because if Trump doesn't get them, eventually the people of Iran will get them.
00:03:45.820 And I'm not advocating for any regime change or anything of that nature.
00:03:50.780 But if you get your savings wiped out with a 48% inflation, you get half of whatever you had, you get it cut in half, you're going to revolt.
00:03:59.780 That's basically my opinion on it.
00:04:02.160 Yeah.
00:04:02.640 So, you know, this Saturday we had the podcast with the two Iranians, Amir and Dr. Kangor Liu.
00:04:07.740 And the doctor, who's a nuclear physicist, he said something very interesting.
00:04:12.560 He said, this is the first time in the history of the world.
00:04:15.220 Rob, can you look this up?
00:04:16.760 I don't think we did this.
00:04:18.540 If you want to search, when is the last time in history that a religious revolution and an economical revolution was taking place at the same time in the same country?
00:04:30.220 It happened two separate times.
00:04:32.980 He was saying that Iran is the first country ever in the history to have two different types of revolutions taking place at the same time.
00:04:38.740 One is economic.
00:04:40.060 One is religious.
00:04:41.000 Meaning, one, economy, it's horrible.
00:04:42.460 They're not making money.
00:04:43.240 They can't take care of their families.
00:04:44.920 Two, they are sick and tired of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard of what it's doing to it.
00:04:51.440 Okay?
00:04:51.580 And so, if you watch this, the most recent one that was close to both, they're saying 79, Khamenei, but the other way around, religious and Islamic, and then the one that's happening right now.
00:05:02.160 This isn't pretty what's going on in Iran today.
00:05:04.680 It's not.
00:05:05.460 And at any point, anything can happen.
00:05:07.920 It's so unpredictable for us that when you look at this, Tom, you know, from the standpoint, I'm curious to know what you'll say about this.
00:05:16.120 If you had to have a, you know, if you yourself, you have your Tom Kalshi, without looking at Kalshi, Tom's Kalshi, what's the split on whether U.S. will attack, cause some mayhem in Iran versus two, nothing happens during Trump's term?
00:05:34.120 So, I think we've hit 50-50.
00:05:37.480 That something could happen?
00:05:38.320 That there will be some sort of strike against military, radar, you know, or what they call distant defense proxies.
00:05:47.300 I think we're going there.
00:05:49.600 It really spooked me over the weekend because the Department of Defense around the world can use simple air traffic control messages.
00:05:58.360 And so, even the airlines don't know what's up, but they cancel their flights because they're told there are no longer landing clearances where you're going.
00:06:08.900 Like, you're going from Greece to Tel Aviv.
00:06:11.380 You're going from Rome to Cairo or whatever those are, those routes.
00:06:15.640 And all of a sudden, you're saying, hey, we have an ATC hold because federal governments have the ability to get in there and put those.
00:06:22.560 So, you saw, remember over the weekend, all of a sudden we saw all these flights are canceled.
00:06:27.820 Well, the airlines are like, why are they canceling them?
00:06:29.940 They're canceling them because they are not permitted to leave or fly.
00:06:33.840 And the airlines may not know the reason.
00:06:35.940 There could be heavy weather and ice in Boston and they get ATC.
00:06:40.160 It says, hey, we can't release you to Boston.
00:06:41.960 And they look it up.
00:06:42.700 Oh, man, they're getting ice.
00:06:43.700 It must be the ice up there.
00:06:44.580 I can't fly.
00:06:45.660 It's happened to us.
00:06:46.320 So, I felt like, wow, somebody has pushed the get out of the way button.
00:06:53.980 And that made me nervous because it's like, okay, are we going to fly over and hit some installations?
00:06:58.600 So, I thought we were like 75% likely that something was going to happen over the weekend, Pat, not in the city center, not to the palace,
00:07:07.700 but hit a bunch of military installations and fly home and then call back and say, do I have your attention?
00:07:14.120 You know, that's kind of what I thought.
00:07:15.420 So, my calci is I'm 50-50 on we execute a strike before the end of the year.
00:07:24.960 And I'm more than 50-50 that like September to Christmas, there's an actual leadership change.
00:07:35.360 Because I don't think they can keep a lid on this with the people, what they're going through.
00:07:39.100 I believe the Iranian people know that there is just one shot here.
00:07:44.960 And this is the first shot in 47 years.
00:07:47.560 And it may be that they have to pull back a little bit to go forward.
00:07:51.740 But this is their only shot.
00:07:55.960 I think it's way more than 50%.
00:07:58.560 I think all the signs are showing that they need the help and Trump wants to help.
00:08:03.940 I think he's biding his time.
00:08:04.920 Every time we think he's going to do something, he waits.
00:08:07.200 And then a week later, we're like, oh my God, now this is the time.
00:08:10.020 Because at the end of the day, Humberto, I think my personal opinion is once everything was ready to go,
00:08:15.900 once they met with Reza Pallavi and everything, and he realized, remember, what did Trump say?
00:08:21.240 Yeah, he's not the guy for the job.
00:08:24.380 But he's a nice guy.
00:08:25.320 No, yeah, he's a nice guy.
00:08:26.400 Pat called him a sweet guy, which he is.
00:08:28.180 But when you don't listen to me, if you're going to go and help, Humberto,
00:08:31.220 and you're going to go really, really try to help these people, you know what I mean?
00:08:35.040 Because they're freaking dying by the thousands.
00:08:37.320 If they don't have somebody that's going to lead them, what's going to happen?
00:08:41.700 What do you do?
00:08:42.560 That's the thing.
00:08:43.140 The Trump administration, the guys they have there, they're incredibly smart.
00:08:47.600 Like, for example, when they took out Maduro and they kept half of the regime in Venezuela,
00:08:52.280 it was for a reason, you know?
00:08:54.480 It was so they know how health care works, how to get pensions out, how the oil industry works.
00:09:00.960 You know what I mean?
00:09:01.780 He's very measured, and there's some tremendous guys in there, and they're trying to find a solution.
00:09:06.600 This is not a straight solution.
00:09:07.820 You're going to have to keep some of the regime in there.
00:09:10.320 Of course, yeah.
00:09:10.760 You know what I mean?
00:09:11.320 Yeah.
00:09:11.720 So you can't just, like, bomb it flat.
00:09:13.980 No, yeah.
00:09:14.300 Well, I don't think they're going to bomb it flat.
00:09:15.760 And I don't think they can take any more pressure.
00:09:17.800 Like, it breaks my heart to hear all the beautiful Iranian people protesting that they're getting killed.
00:09:23.600 So, like, I think we need to pull down the pressure.
00:09:26.080 They need to find a solution and strike whatever it is.
00:09:28.660 If it's military, if it's sanctions, but I think they're going to put a plan in place.
00:09:32.440 Well, here's my question, though, Tom.
00:09:33.740 Haven't we kind of done – I agree with you to a point, Humberto, but haven't we done sanctions?
00:09:37.760 I mean, unpack what you're saying.
00:09:39.240 We've been sanctioning them quite a bit.
00:09:41.420 But right now, what is it, Russia and Iran can't get oil into Europe, basically?
00:09:46.220 Less than 2% of the oil coming into Europe is Russia or Iran contraband being smuggled in.
00:09:52.520 So we've had these big sanctions.
00:09:55.000 What now?
00:09:55.880 They're slowly working, Tom.
00:09:57.420 Like, for the economy to go in the gutter, like, sanctions were a big part of it.
00:10:02.380 Like, it's not as fast as striking with missiles, but they do work in the long run.
00:10:07.140 You know what I mean?
00:10:07.720 Well, how long are these – how many more – let's say it's at 20 – I'm going to go low-ish.
00:10:12.320 20,000 civilians are dead in the street because they, on their own, said enough is enough.
00:10:17.600 How long are we going to leave?
00:10:18.340 Because this happened the last time.
00:10:20.320 They're up.
00:10:20.900 They're up.
00:10:21.260 They're fighting.
00:10:21.920 And the voice – and then it just dies out.
00:10:24.140 And then everybody forgets about Iran and then goes on to something else.
00:10:26.960 Now they're really going for it.
00:10:29.200 They're really like, hey, we're out here.
00:10:31.080 We need some support and nothing.
00:10:34.000 You don't have a freaking – a leader.
00:10:35.460 You don't have anybody that's going to stand up.
00:10:37.460 One – guys, one person that's going to say, I'm going to do it.
00:10:41.240 Yes, everybody's here in Washington.
00:10:42.820 I'm going to go there.
00:10:44.140 I'm going to sacrifice because they need somebody, bro.
00:10:47.440 Mr. President, Mr. President, Mr. President, Trump, Trump, Trump, three weeks ago you said you had our back.
00:10:53.140 Exactly.
00:10:53.580 Yeah, exactly.
00:10:54.220 We went for it.
00:10:55.740 Now, where are you guys at?
00:10:57.420 That's like he was talking about earlier.
00:10:58.460 You go in there.
00:10:58.940 You start to find, like, yeah, we're good.
00:11:00.240 And you turn around and your backup isn't there.
00:11:02.800 It's like both – and no, they're not backing down.
00:11:04.480 Those people are still getting killed.
00:11:05.820 And what, those 12,000 to 15,000 that are captured, what do you think the IRGC is doing to them in the jails if they're still alive?
00:11:12.720 Not killing everybody.
00:11:13.200 You think they're all dead.
00:11:14.840 Torturing.
00:11:15.240 They're all dead.
00:11:15.820 God rest their souls.
00:11:16.860 They need the help.
00:11:17.800 I think Trump is strategic.
00:11:18.900 It's going to happen.
00:11:20.240 But me personally, I know whatever I was going to say, oh, we're war.
00:11:23.600 They need help.
00:11:24.600 It has to be sooner than later.
00:11:25.540 Some kind of help.
00:11:26.160 We don't know what kind of help.
00:11:27.560 You know what I mean?
00:11:28.060 There needs to be something, bro.
00:11:28.800 How many more people are going to die?
00:11:30.340 There needs to be something.
00:11:32.000 What do you think, Pat?
00:11:32.600 You know, I'm going back to thinking about what the difference is between Khomeini coming back in and Reza Pahlavi.
00:11:40.380 If I'm U.S., what am I thinking about?
00:11:45.720 What is the DNA of Venezuela versus Iran?
00:11:48.680 So imagine you're the president, okay?
00:11:50.880 You didn't study Iran history.
00:11:52.880 You didn't study Venezuelan history.
00:11:55.080 You studied the streets of New York, negotiation, tough games, manipulation, all that stuff.
00:12:01.040 Roy Cohen, the university of Roy Cohen, right?
00:12:03.760 Never give up.
00:12:04.540 Never surrender.
00:12:05.240 Never this.
00:12:05.740 Never that.
00:12:06.180 Always blame.
00:12:06.900 Always take every victory.
00:12:08.140 Whatever happens.
00:12:08.820 Yes.
00:12:08.980 Okay, so here's a question.
00:12:10.800 I'm getting briefing.
00:12:12.860 Now, I'm sitting there with my seven guys that are in front of me and gals, whoever the people are.
00:12:17.780 And I ask, what's the difference between the people in Venezuela and the people in Iran?
00:12:23.720 So if we topple the regime in Venezuela versus Iran, what is the difference?
00:12:28.240 Is the military in Venezuela 100% Maduro?
00:12:32.440 Is the military in Iran 100% IRGC?
00:12:36.740 What is the difference?
00:12:37.520 Whose support does Edmundo Gonzalez have?
00:12:41.840 Whose support does Maria Corina Machado have?
00:12:44.480 What's the point?
00:12:45.300 The point is, if we know a portion of the Venezuelan military is going to side with a new leader,
00:12:52.120 we have something to work on, right?
00:12:54.560 We have something that we can help.
00:12:56.400 If we look at Iran, when Khomeini first came in, there was some military guys under the Shah
00:13:02.300 that flipped and went towards him on the Air Force.
00:13:04.420 There were some that supported him.
00:13:07.700 If Reza Palavi has some of the guys on the military that are, you know, flipping and wanting to support,
00:13:14.300 that needs to be public.
00:13:16.020 Because me as the president, let's just say all of a sudden 30,000 military soldiers came out in the street
00:13:22.720 saying, I was a former this, I am not pro-Reza Palavi.
00:13:26.400 You think Trump would have an easier decision to make?
00:13:28.680 Yes.
00:13:29.280 That's the question.
00:13:30.500 If you don't have the military, what happens?
00:13:32.940 You go in, what's going to happen?
00:13:34.180 Day one, they're going to listen to you?
00:13:35.260 For what?
00:13:35.700 No.
00:13:36.440 In a democracy, you're going to go in and a regime that's been telling people what to do,
00:13:41.340 you better listen to me or else, you know, you're going to get killed.
00:13:44.440 Is Reza Palavi going to go out there?
00:13:45.820 You know how many people Khomeini killed right afterwards when he went in?
00:13:48.660 Thousands.
00:13:49.600 And I'm talking military personnel he killed.
00:13:51.960 If you're not on my side, take him out, take him out.
00:13:53.800 He's rather, take him out, take him out, take him out, take him out.
00:13:56.560 Then all the other military service members are like, whoa, we better get in line or else they're going to kill us.
00:14:03.080 Does he have that?
00:14:03.880 How do you do it?
00:14:05.300 And these are more the extremists.
00:14:06.520 So how do you flip an extremist regime versus the old one?
00:14:09.820 Humberto.
00:14:11.400 Or else, that's the difference.
00:14:14.280 There is no or else today.
00:14:15.420 There is no or else.
00:14:16.320 And the other thing is, and when we had Curtis Jarvis come in, he said something that really struck a nerve with me.
00:14:23.000 He was like, does a regime believe on itself?
00:14:26.080 All right.
00:14:26.340 If you look at the Venezuela regime, they haven't done anything revolutionary in the past 25 years.
00:14:33.000 They're just keeping their status quo, trying to deal with the economy.
00:14:37.300 They're not expanding the communist revolution in South America as they claimed.
00:14:42.260 Now, if you see the Iranian regime, they're about the life path.
00:14:45.680 You know, they're sending troops to Venezuela.
00:14:48.700 They're, you know, sending money to all these terrorist organizations.
00:14:52.780 Like, there's some true believers inside of the IRGC.
00:14:58.060 There wasn't that many true believers on Believers Plan in Venezuela.
00:15:01.680 And once the regime stops believing in themselves, I think you have a real chance of fighting.
00:15:07.180 Because even if you beat them militarily, you're going to get an insurrection movement.
00:15:11.200 They're going to go on hiding.
00:15:12.460 They're going to go somewhere else.
00:15:13.620 And then you're going to get a terrorist element inside of Iran.
00:15:18.400 Which is much better than them ruling the country.
00:15:20.600 But it's a reality we have to live with, you know?
00:15:23.020 Tom.
00:15:23.240 We've seen this, a case study.
00:15:25.660 And the case study was the Philippines.
00:15:27.820 Marcos, Ferdinand Marcos and his crazy wife, literally insane, categorically insane wife, Imelda,
00:15:35.220 you know, finally are getting on the edge of being forced out by the people.
00:15:38.980 And the tensions are high.
00:15:40.560 And the revolution is forming.
00:15:42.460 And Benito Aquino said, I need to go home.
00:15:45.260 And I need to be the man for the Philippine people.
00:15:48.020 American Chuck Colson, who worked with Nixon, begged him not to do it.
00:15:53.360 He said, I don't think it's wise.
00:15:54.800 They're not fully ready to upset you.
00:15:56.760 And you need the military.
00:15:58.220 When the plane landed, Marcos' henchmen, dressed as airline employees,
00:16:04.120 came to the door of the plane and blew his head off as he was stepping off the plane into the Philippines.
00:16:10.420 It would trigger the revolution.
00:16:12.080 And his wife, Corazon Aquino, and the Laban movement was formed.
00:16:17.200 But this is exactly what regime change you're talking about.
00:16:21.600 You have to have the military under you.
00:16:23.820 You have to know who is breaking ranks, as they will, to have you there.
00:16:27.920 So we've seen it.
00:16:28.980 We saw it in the Philippines.
00:16:30.840 Ultimately, the death of Benito triggered the whole revolution.
00:16:35.040 And the Marcos' fled to Hawaii with the help of the American CIA.
00:16:39.660 True story.
00:16:40.820 And suddenly, the Philippines were led under Laban.
00:16:44.480 But this is exactly what we see here.
00:16:47.200 Before somebody can step forward, you're right, Pat.
00:16:50.140 You've got to know what support do you have and what do you not have before you walk into that.
00:16:55.340 If you're part of Reza Palabi's camp, the first thing you have to do is find a way to get to the military folks
00:17:02.920 and see if you can flip them one by one by one.
00:17:06.000 If you get more, there's volume.
00:17:07.620 And they're saying they have to keep it private.
00:17:08.920 They can't make it public.
00:17:09.780 There's already plenty of people.
00:17:10.820 There may be.
00:17:11.300 There may be quite a few people that have signed up, but they need to show that to the guy who you need.
00:17:18.680 If you don't need the White House, if you don't need the U.S., go do it on your own.
00:17:22.520 But you need America to do it.
00:17:24.320 You need somebody else to do it.
00:17:25.720 If you didn't need anybody else, you would have already done it.
00:17:28.760 You would have already done it in the last 48 years.
00:17:31.000 So his team is probably going to want to see what type of pull-in control and influence do you have in Iran
00:17:36.880 and then what the plan is afterwards.
00:17:38.880 It's not going to be as pretty as everybody thinks it is.
00:17:41.920 America's turning 250 this year.
00:17:43.780 And by the way, we're doing something special on the 250th, 4th of July.
00:17:50.020 Stay tuned.
00:17:50.680 I'll announce it to you when it's ready to announce.
00:17:53.300 It's going to be wild.
00:17:53.920 But we're going to do a handful of special pieces of merch, limited edition, numbered, okay?
00:18:00.060 This one's going to be out of 250 with the number 250.
00:18:04.160 So it's numbered out of 250 for the 250-year celebration of U.S.
00:18:08.340 It will not last long.
00:18:09.900 Rob, play this clip.
00:18:11.760 Future looks bright.
00:18:13.100 We're excited about this year with all the chaos that's happening.
00:18:15.900 When we break down to you what is really going on, it will make sense to you.
00:18:19.340 But having said that, Rob, go ahead and play this clip.
00:18:21.980 We don't just make products.
00:18:23.920 We carry a legacy built on American craftsmanship, intention, and pride.
00:18:32.340 250 years of history refined for today.
00:18:38.680 Every detail tells a story.
00:18:43.640 Every piece stands for who we are.
00:18:49.040 This is tradition.
00:18:51.980 Reimagined.
00:18:54.580 This is our 250 years limited edition collection.
00:19:00.000 The future looks bright at 250.
00:19:05.900 Guys, this is all I'll tell you.
00:19:07.800 Good luck if you sat on this one.
00:19:10.760 If you wait.
00:19:11.420 By the way, for some of you guys that unfortunately will watch this this afternoon because you wait for the clips,
00:19:15.300 you can find the items that people buy on eBay.
00:19:18.840 That's that'll be the only place you'll be able to get it.
00:19:20.560 The hat will not last a long time.
00:19:22.180 Again, it's limited merch.
00:19:24.120 So it's numbered out of 250.
00:19:25.840 If you go to eBay afterwards, you may find it because these things are not going to last.
00:19:29.780 But 30 minutes, they'll be gone in no time.
00:19:31.760 Every time we do limited merch, it comes, the hat comes in a box that says future looks bright and the logo VT right on there.
00:19:39.980 So go to vtmerch.com.
00:19:42.480 Place your order.
00:19:43.240 Go to vtmerch.com, Rob.
00:19:44.800 If you could just go to the website.
00:19:46.200 If you go to vtmerch.com on the cover, you'll see the 250.
00:19:49.420 Get the sweater because it's cold.
00:19:51.240 Get the shirt and get the hat.
00:19:52.980 And if not for you, buy it for somebody else as well.
00:19:55.400 Having said that.
00:19:56.100 The shield, that shield is just amazing.
00:19:58.120 It is amazing.
00:19:58.940 It is amazing.
00:19:59.620 It's sick.
00:20:00.400 If you enjoyed this video, you want to watch more videos like this, click here.
00:20:03.100 And if you want to watch the entire podcast, click here.
00:20:09.880 Thank you.