Trump says Iran strike is ahead of schedule, as dozens of senior Iranian leaders have been taken out, so what is happening now? We have it all for you in The 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson ( )!
00:00:54.420But before we get to that, I want to take a moment and ask you to help the people in Israel with my friends at the IFCJ working right now on the ground for all those in need.
00:01:05.560As Operation Epic Fury intensifies, the world braces for what comes next and people of faith pray for freedom and for God's people to be protected.
00:01:16.620In the Holy Land, red alert sirens fill the air.
00:01:20.700Sirens that give you 15 seconds to reach the nearest bomb shelter.
00:01:25.200The situation is serious and the threat is real.
00:01:28.700In times like this, freedom and faith aren't just abstract ideas.
00:01:36.660And the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is on the ground, preparing large-scale distributions of life-saving food, first aid, and emergency essentials for security personnel.
00:01:48.420While helping ensure hospitals, emergency rooms, and shelters are stocked with critical medical supplies.
00:01:54.480This aid is focused on Israel's most vulnerable, the sick, the elderly, children, and families in great need.
00:02:02.040But the Fellowship needs your most generous gift today to make this work all possible.
00:02:07.700Now is your time to stand with Israel's most vulnerable.
00:02:42.300The military operation against Iran has entered its third day.
00:02:45.880With strikes against targets inside Iran and interceptions of Iranian aircraft, Iranian missiles, and drones attempting to land blows across the Middle East and the Eastern Mediterranean is very much ongoing at this moment.
00:03:00.600We know that the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has rejected the notion that Israel dragged the United States into war with Iran, telling Sean Hannity on Fox News, that's ridiculous.
00:03:14.980He also went on to say that Donald Trump is the strongest leader in the world.
00:03:19.200He does what he thinks is right for America.
00:03:21.460And he also does what he thinks is right for future generations.
00:03:26.420Earlier, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that the threat posed by Iran to the United States was, in fact, imminent.
00:03:34.900Contradicting what many on the left had been saying for the last 24 hours.
00:03:40.100The White House, he also says, had intelligence that the Islamic regime had planned to attack American assets in the region in the event of an impeding strike on its missile program by Israel.
00:03:52.100Marco Rubio also added that the timing of the strike was also influenced by desire to prevent the currently weakened Iran from building up its missile and drone programs
00:04:03.960to defend against strikes on its nuclear program that clearly they have been trying to use to say, as they put it, to kill America and to kill Israel.
00:04:15.080We also know that the official spokesman for Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Defense said that its forces have intercepted and destroyed eight drones that have come in from Iran.
00:04:26.600It comes after Saudi Arabia revealed that two drones were successful in striking the U.S. embassy there.
00:04:33.960The attack resulted in a fire and minor material damage to the building, but reportedly did not cause any injuries to U.S. personnel.
00:04:43.740We also know that U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance said there is no way that President Trump will enter the United States in a multi-year conflict in Iran.
00:04:54.980Speaking to Jesse Waters of Fox News, the vice president said, we're not going to get into the problems that we've had with Iraq and Afghanistan.
00:05:05.360After Iraq and Afghanistan, some people say, oh, here we go again.
00:05:10.400Is that something here you're thinking about?
00:05:12.580Well, Jesse, if you think back to Afghanistan, 20 years of mission creep, 20 years of not having a clear objective and 20 years of the United States trying to bring liberal democracy to Afghanistan.
00:05:24.260Iraq was a little bit shorter, but we were still in that country for nearly a decade with no clear mission, no clear definition.
00:05:30.620What's so different about this, Jesse, is that the president has clearly defined what he wants to accomplish.
00:05:35.520And there's just no way I said this before the conflict started.
00:05:40.500There's just no way that Donald Trump is going to allow this country to get into a multi-year conflict with no clear end in sight and no clear objective.
00:05:48.200What is different about President Trump, and it's frankly different about both Republicans and Democrats of the past, is that he's not going to let his country go to war unless there's a clearly defined objective.
00:05:58.820He's defined that objective as Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and has to commit long term to never trying to rebuild the nuclear capability.
00:06:08.900And I think that means that we're not going to get into the problems that we've had with Iraq and Afghanistan.
00:06:13.280Now, J.D. Vance was not the only one that was doing interviews.
00:06:17.540Israel's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, went on TV to debunk the claims that Israel dragged the U.S. into striking Iran, sitting down with Sean Hannity.
00:07:47.940These people massacred their own people.
00:07:49.800Imagine what they would do, these people who chant death to America, if they had ballistic missiles and the nuclear warheads to deliver to every American city.
00:08:38.160He also said one of the great things about working with President Donald Trump is that Trump has always understood
00:08:44.480the real threat that Iran has not only to the U.S., but to the rest of the world.
00:08:48.900Well, you know, when America, the indispensable ally for Israel and the greatest power in the world and Israel,
00:08:59.180America's model ally, as the National Security Council just called it, when we work together, amazing things happen.
00:09:06.300We work together and amazing things happened.
00:09:09.500But I have to tell you that it wouldn't happen without the leadership of President Trump, because he just, you know, I met him in Mar-a-Lago.
00:09:19.720You may remember this because I think you live close by and I saw you at that time.
00:09:23.380Right before his re-election, OK, and or before he was inaugurated the second time.
00:09:43.240He said that because he saw that as a clear and present danger to the security and well-being of the United States.
00:09:50.600To have a regime like that, so fanatic, that it just defines itself by destroying America, exporting revolution, exporting terrorism,
00:10:01.220exporting the worst Islamist fanaticism that attacks Arabs, attacks Israelis, attacks Americans, attacks everyone, everyone in sight.
00:10:09.720They just fired now their bullets in sight around the Middle East, including Cyprus and Europe.
00:10:15.180To have a regime like that, that plans to eradicate the United States, have the weapons of mass death would have been the greatest threat that America would face in the coming decades.
00:10:27.000And so he said to me right off the bat, I didn't say to him, he said to me, we have to make sure they never get the nukes.
00:11:13.020Pete Hedgeseth having a press conference at the Pentagon.
00:11:16.140And after answering questions for quite some time, he wanted to make sure he gave his last two minutes of his statement to talk directly to the men and women that are protecting and serving.
00:11:29.120He also wanted to reassure the men and women in uniform that he is not going to get you into a never ending war like Afghanistan or Iraq.
00:11:38.480And the Pentagon giving this update, but then speaking directly to our warriors.
00:11:43.460And it's important, I think, for every American to hear exactly what he said at the Pentagon.
00:11:48.840Let me speak straight to you, the joint force, our warriors on the front lines.