Verdict with Ted Cruz - Israel vs. Iran, Who's Winning, What's Next & Will America Bomb Fordow

00:00:00.000 This is an iHeart Podcast.

00:00:02.580 Guaranteed human.

00:00:05.260 Welcome, it is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you,

00:00:09.260 and we've got a lot to unpack on the show,

00:00:11.780 especially when it deals with the issue of Iran and where we are right now.

00:00:15.940 Well, Israel is winning massive victories in Iran, 0.96

00:00:18.680 that they have decimated Iran's military leadership.

00:00:22.280 We've seen one chief of staff after another,

00:00:25.000 after another of Iran's military taken out by Israel.

00:00:28.840 We have seen nuclear facilities across Iran taken out by Israel.

00:00:34.420 The attacks have been incredibly effective.

00:00:37.940 Iran is striking back. 0.93

00:00:39.540 They are firing ballistic missiles into Israel, trying to kill civilians.

00:00:43.940 Israel is attacking military targets.

00:00:46.360 Iran is attacking civilian targets.

00:00:48.700 So far, the degree of success has been spectacular,

00:00:52.380 but yet the question remains, what is America's role?

00:00:57.060 What do we do?

00:00:58.140 Is America, is the Trump administration going to be directly involved

00:01:02.360 in taking out the Fordow nuclear facility in Iran?

00:01:05.940 We're going to break that down in this podcast.

00:01:08.660 Yeah, I want to also just talk to you real quickly about what you can do

00:01:11.760 to help the people in Israel.

00:01:13.800 And we've been talking for a long time about an organization called

00:01:17.380 the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.

00:01:19.440 And right now, after you're witnessing what is happening, you may say,

00:01:23.080 you know what, I want to stand with the people in Israel.

00:01:25.500 And what we're seeing, it is disturbing.

00:01:27.760 Anti-Semitism on the rise, not just in the Middle East, but even here in America.

00:01:32.860 We're seeing Jewish schools that are being targeted,

00:01:35.280 synagogues that are being threatened, families that are living in fear.

00:01:38.340 And it's a whole other level of pain that we're witnessing in Israel.

00:01:43.380 And that's why I want you to get involved with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.

00:01:48.600 They're on the front lines, and they're giving food and shelter

00:01:51.500 to so many displaced Jewish families that are under threat.

00:01:55.800 They're also, literally as we speak, building bomb shelters just for children

00:02:01.440 to be able to save more children with all of the rockets that are coming in.

00:02:05.760 They're helping survivors of hate rebuild their lives and their homes.

00:02:10.300 And they don't just respond to this crisis.

00:02:12.380 They work every day to prevent future crisis from even happening.

00:02:17.020 Now, how can you help?

00:02:18.260 Well, you can have a simple gift of just $45

00:02:20.360 that will help support their life-saving work

00:02:23.100 by providing food and shelter and so much more.

00:02:26.160 So if you want to stand with the people in Israel,

00:02:28.840 you can do it right now by getting involved with IFCJ.

00:02:32.080 You can call to make a donation, 888-488-IFCJ.

00:02:37.740 That's 888-488-4325.

00:02:42.380 You can also give securely at ifcj.org.

00:02:45.400 That's ifcj.org.

00:02:47.760 Every dollar helps.

00:02:49.180 Don't wait.

00:02:50.180 Be the difference.

00:02:51.340 ifcj.org or 888-488-IFCJ.

00:02:56.540 All right, so Senator, you started your day very early

00:02:59.100 dealing with this issue of Iran first off.

00:03:02.380 Well, I did.

00:03:03.420 I spent two hours in my office first thing this morning

00:03:06.120 doing an interview with Tucker Carlson.

00:03:09.120 Now, you and I both know Tucker well.

00:03:11.680 We like Tucker.

00:03:12.960 I agree with Tucker on 80% of the issues.

00:03:16.240 I think he's been fantastic on a ton of issues.

00:03:18.600 He's been fantastic on securing the border.

00:03:21.180 He's been fantastic on standing up to COVID lockdowns

00:03:24.360 to standing up to COVID vaccine mandates.

00:03:26.660 He's been great on free speech.

00:03:28.400 He's been great on the Second Amendment.

00:03:30.360 We agree. 0.99

00:03:30.900 And in fact, I will say during the idiotic COVID lockdowns, 1.00

00:03:35.560 Tucker's monologue every night on Fox 0.99

00:03:37.780 was the single best thing on television,

00:03:39.700 which I told him at the time.

00:03:41.760 And I agree with him. 0.97

00:03:42.960 I will say on foreign policy, Tucker has gone back crap crazy. 0.93

00:03:48.840 He's gone off the rails. 0.94

00:03:51.500 He is suddenly a hardcore isolationist.

00:03:55.140 And so he asked, he asked about a month ago,

00:03:57.620 hey, I'd like to come interview.

00:03:58.720 And I knew he was coming in to interview me,

00:04:01.900 and it was not going to be pleasant.

00:04:02.920 He disagrees with me on foreign policy.

00:04:05.040 So we were going to have a rough and tumble fight.

00:04:08.060 We agreed to this interview a month ago,

00:04:10.660 and yet it ended up happening today,

00:04:13.520 right when Israel and Iran are in a war.

00:04:16.580 And Tucker has spent the last several days attacking Donald Trump

00:04:20.140 and saying Donald Trump is...

00:04:22.200 Which, by the way, was just really odd.

00:04:23.460 Can we talk about that?

00:04:24.320 There's a lot of people that are shell-shocked right now,

00:04:26.160 saying, like, what is happening?

00:04:27.500 Tucker Carlson, who's usually hanging out with Donald Trump

00:04:30.320 during the campaign and up on stage,

00:04:32.720 is now attacking Donald Trump.

00:04:34.280 This is not what anyone was expecting.

00:04:36.420 Yes, he's blasted Trump as complicit in this horrible attack.

00:04:41.020 And he keeps saying, World War III is going to happen.

00:04:43.820 And he's been just over the top.

00:04:45.380 And I will tell you, we sat down, we did it in my office.

00:04:48.960 And it started off, look, I did not intend to get combative,

00:04:52.560 but it started off his first question.

00:04:55.060 He was throwing haymakers at me, and he was coming at me.

00:04:57.720 And it was a two-hour interview.

00:05:00.000 Um, the interview will come out Wednesday at 1 p.m.

00:05:06.440 And so you can watch the whole two-hour interview.

00:05:08.320 And he attacks Trump.

00:05:10.160 He blasts what he calls the AIPAC lobby.

00:05:12.940 And he spends 20 minutes focused on how he thinks

00:05:16.160 the AIPAC lobby is dominating American foreign policy.

00:05:20.200 And I will tell you, it gets pretty rough because I...

00:05:23.180 For people that, by the way, don't know AIPAC,

00:05:24.820 can you explain what that is?

00:05:26.440 So AIPAC is the American-Israel Political Action Committee.

00:05:31.080 And it is a group of Americans who care about standing with Israel.

00:05:35.340 And Tucker argued they are a foreign lobby

00:05:39.540 working for the government of Israel that should register

00:05:41.800 and should be prosecuted for not being registered.

00:05:43.960 And it was just unhinged.

00:05:45.680 And I get, like, they're conspiracy sections of the Internet

00:05:49.960 that are worried that, like, AIPAC is running the world.

00:05:54.120 It's just not reality.

00:05:55.420 And he didn't like it when I called him out on it.

00:05:58.440 And I did.

00:06:00.580 He also...

00:06:02.220 There's a completely surreal portion

00:06:04.100 where I pointed out that Iran is actively trying to murder 1.00

00:06:08.540 Donald J. Trump as hired hitmen.

00:06:10.220 And he just said, that's not true.

00:06:11.560 I've never heard anything about it.

00:06:12.700 I don't know anything about it.

00:06:13.900 Well, it happens to be a fact.

00:06:15.260 It happens to be DOJ has indicted Iranian hitmen 0.54

00:06:19.040 for trying to murder Donald Trump.

00:06:21.900 And so that...

00:06:22.420 Did he not know that, by the way?

00:06:23.840 Like, when you brought that up, or was he refusing to accept that reality?

00:06:26.740 He insisted I was lying.

00:06:27.900 He was just like, that's not true.

00:06:30.840 So I'll say this.

00:06:33.240 Today's podcast is on Wednesday.

00:06:35.620 Friday's podcast, we're going to break down in depth this interview

00:06:41.000 because it's important.

00:06:42.400 The foreign policy divide, I think isolationists, those who oppose...

00:06:49.180 And by the way, I went back at Tucker and I said, okay,

00:06:53.100 is there any military intervention that Trump has done that you agreed with?

00:06:57.860 And he wouldn't agree with anything.

00:06:59.600 And it's just, in my view, and I lay this out at length,

00:07:03.520 and listen, Friday's podcast, we're going to do a deep dive.

00:07:05.980 But traditionally, there have been two polls in Republican foreign policy analysis,

00:07:11.760 interventionists and isolationists.

00:07:13.840 I think they're both wrong.

00:07:15.860 I consider myself a third point on the triangle.

00:07:18.720 I am a non-interventionist hawk.

00:07:21.160 I am very reluctant to engage in military conflict, just like Trump is.

00:07:25.840 But I also believe in peace through strength.

00:07:28.140 The best way you avoid war is being strong enough.

00:07:30.720 Your enemies don't want to stand up to you.

00:07:32.560 And I got to say, Donald Trump, the first term and the second term,

00:07:37.160 I am very hard-pressed to think of a single foreign policy decision

00:07:41.080 that I disagree with.

00:07:42.820 And that's not accidental.

00:07:44.340 I spend a lot of time talking with the president,

00:07:46.580 and on foreign policy, he has agreed with me overwhelmingly.

00:07:49.540 We're on the same page.

00:07:51.600 Tucker is not.

00:07:52.480 He thinks Trump is wrong.

00:07:54.380 And if you listen to the rhetoric, and he's right now,

00:07:57.100 as we're sitting there, it is 1225 a.m. Tuesday night.

00:08:02.160 He's putting out little snippets like blasting me.

00:08:05.000 And his view is anyone who wants to stand with Israel and stand up to Iran 0.99

00:08:09.700 is a crazy warmonger.

00:08:12.720 I just, I think that's wrong. 0.97

00:08:15.220 I don't think Trump is a crazy warmonger.

00:08:16.980 I think he's a strong commander-in-chief.

00:08:18.880 I think he is defending America.

00:08:20.880 I think he's defending Israel.

00:08:22.000 And I think he's standing up to a theocratic zealot 0.96

00:08:24.800 who wants to murder as many Americans as he can 0.99

00:08:27.080 and as many Israelis as he can. 0.97

00:08:29.060 So I will say this.

00:08:30.000 The quote all day that's been going through my head with this

00:08:32.200 is one of my favorite quotes of yours when you say,

00:08:34.380 we live in interesting times.

00:08:35.600 And it is an interesting day when you and Donald Trump are together

00:08:39.680 and Tucker Carlson is against the two of you.

00:08:42.060 Yes.

00:08:42.700 We are living in interesting times.

00:08:45.400 It's actually, it's a quote.

00:08:47.520 It's an old Chinese curse. 1.00

00:08:49.680 And so the Chinese curse is, may you live in interesting times. 1.00

00:08:55.060 And it's meant to be that that's going to be a real problem.

00:08:58.040 And I say all the time, we do.

00:09:00.260 We live in interesting times.

00:09:01.600 And it means the challenges facing America and the world are massive,

00:09:05.180 but also the opportunities are massive.

00:09:06.860 And I got to say, I love living where we are right now.

00:09:10.900 I think America, you know, President Trump has said we're in a golden age.

00:09:14.760 I think there's an enormous amount of truth to that.

00:09:17.380 We have a strong president who's fighting for America,

00:09:20.920 who's defeating our enemies, who's fighting for freedom,

00:09:23.560 who's fighting for free enterprise.

00:09:25.220 We've got Republican majorities in the House and Senate.

00:09:27.660 It's an exciting time right now.

00:09:29.500 It really is.

00:09:30.060 So let's give an update.

00:09:31.260 And obviously we're going to deal with that interview on Friday.

00:09:33.280 But let's get into the meat and potatoes of what's happened in the last 48 hours.

00:09:37.640 And a lot of it comes down to some news that has obviously caught the world by surprise.

00:09:44.180 Number one, we know that the president said where the leader of Iran is.

00:09:48.460 We could have taken you out if we wanted to.

00:09:50.200 We've decided not to.

00:09:51.900 However, we may also be engaging and standing with Israel in some sort of attack on Iran.

00:10:00.560 And that would specifically be on their nuclear program.

00:10:04.500 Let's break all that down as well.

00:10:06.220 Yeah.

00:10:06.720 So if you look at what Israel is doing, they have been surgical in their precision. 0.95

00:10:12.280 They have taken out senior military leaders.

00:10:14.720 And by the way, if you didn't listen to Monday's podcast, you should listen to Monday's pod.

00:10:19.400 We break down.

00:10:20.380 We list all of the senior military leaders they've taken out.

00:10:23.880 One after the other after the other.

00:10:25.760 I mean, it is the leaders of the IRGC.

00:10:28.660 It is the chief of staff of the military.

00:10:30.240 It is.

00:10:30.420 It's at the point with where if you're an Iranian military officer and they they say, hey, Ben, you want to be head of the Iranian military?

00:10:39.900 Your answer should be hell no.

00:10:41.720 No, I'll pass on that.

00:10:42.980 Yeah.

00:10:43.140 Because I'm dying in 24 hours because Israel has been so effective. 1.00

00:10:47.340 They literally promote someone. 0.81

00:10:48.900 Boom, they're dead.

00:10:49.800 Promote someone. 0.73

00:10:50.520 Boom, they're dead.

00:10:51.560 And it's a little bit.

00:10:52.720 It reminds me of when Israel did the pager operation against Hezbollah and the pager operation against Hezbollah.

00:10:59.980 Hezbollah leadership gave pagers to terrorists and Israel planted little bombs in the pagers.

00:11:05.040 They detonated them and it was the most accurately targeted military attack, I think, in history because Hezbollah leadership decided who gets the pagers. 0.99

00:11:17.140 Only the people who were bat crap crazy enough that we want terrorists able to page at a moment's notice to go kill people. 0.93

00:11:24.120 So they gave the pagers to them. 0.99

00:11:25.340 They blew up and they they either killed or wounded a ton of Hezbollah terrorists.

00:11:32.000 The next day, Israel had a second operation where they had walkie talkies that Hezbollah was using and the walkie talkies had bombs in them and they started exploding.

00:11:41.220 And the beauty of it is Hezbollah terrorists, I think those guys were terrified of phone rings and they jump and run screaming like it was incredibly effective. 0.99

00:11:50.320 And I actually think what Israel is doing against the military leadership is similar, where if you're an Iranian soldier, you're looking around going, wait. 0.66

00:11:58.940 Every time someone gets promoted to run this thing, they die the next day.

00:12:05.040 That is fantastically effective in terms of limiting Iran's ability to wage war, limiting Iran's ability to wage war against Israel, limiting Iran's ability to wage war against America, limiting their ability to sponsor terrorism.

00:12:19.780 So that has been incredibly effective.

00:12:21.260 They're also taking out Iran's nuclear scientists. 0.95

00:12:24.980 And so this is all about you have a crazy Ayatollah who is a religious zealot who routinely chants death to America and death to Israel. 0.88

00:12:35.000 And he's trying to build nuclear weapons and he's trying to build ICBMs. 0.92

00:12:38.560 And here's an important point, Ben.

00:12:40.880 An ICBM stands for an intercontinental ballistic missile.

00:12:45.060 You don't need an ICBM to get to Israel.

00:12:48.020 Iran is attacking Israel with ballistic missiles.

00:12:51.820 An ICBM, the intercontinental aspect of it, is entirely to take a missile to America.

00:12:58.780 The reason Iran is building ICBMs is they want to be able to carry a nuclear warhead to the United States of America and detonate it in the skies of New York or Los Angeles or Washington, D.C. 0.89

00:13:11.360 and murder as many Americans as possible. 0.70

00:13:13.680 And so President Trump has been incredibly consistent saying Iran will not get a nuclear weapon, period, the end.

00:13:24.740 And in fact, I want to play a montage of a couple of minutes of President Trump saying this over the years.

00:13:31.200 For more than a decade, he has said this line.

00:13:33.520 And yet some observers, including Tucker, are acting shocked that President Trump is saying Iran can't get a nuclear weapon.

00:13:40.140 And he has said this without deviation for more than 10 years.

00:13:43.880 Give a listen.

00:13:45.980 You cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.

00:13:49.120 You cannot let it happen because bad things will happen if that happens.

00:13:55.080 But everybody stopped.

00:13:56.380 They were ready to make a deal.

00:13:57.540 We would have made a deal that was great for everybody.

00:13:59.340 No nuclear weapons.

00:14:00.260 You can't give them nuclear weapons.

00:14:01.580 Now they're going to have a nuclear weapon.

00:14:02.740 Don't let Iran have nuclear weapons.

00:14:07.340 That's my only thing.

00:14:08.480 I have to tell you today, don't let them have it.

00:14:10.680 They would have never had them.

00:14:11.960 Including Iran.

00:14:12.800 They can't have a nuclear weapon.

00:14:14.620 That's all.

00:14:14.980 They can't have nuclear weapons.

00:14:16.340 It's too destructive, too powerful.

00:14:19.540 They can't have it.

00:14:20.900 But I wanted to make a deal with them.

00:14:22.480 No nuclear weapons.

00:14:23.360 You can't have nuclear weapons.

00:14:24.960 Nuclear weapons are the single greatest threat to this world, to the whole world.

00:14:29.440 And Viktor Orban understands that.

00:14:31.680 And some others do, too.

00:14:32.740 I just don't want them to have a nuclear weapon.

00:14:35.300 And they weren't going to have one.

00:14:36.940 And they cannot have a nuclear weapon.

00:14:38.560 That was the only thing.

00:14:39.680 The one thing I said, you cannot have.

00:14:42.040 I just didn't want Iran to have a nuclear weapon.

00:14:44.020 I said, you know, we're going to make a great deal.

00:14:45.780 Everybody's going to be happy.

00:14:46.760 You're going to be rich as hell again.

00:14:48.060 Everything's going to be great.

00:14:49.600 But you cannot have a nuclear weapon.

00:14:52.120 You can't let Iran have nuclear weapons.

00:14:55.260 Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.

00:14:58.060 Very simple.

00:14:58.600 They cannot have a nuclear weapon.

00:15:01.700 Instead, we have a very hostile country that wants nuclear weapons.

00:15:07.820 You can't let that happen.

00:15:09.820 The main thing is Iran can't have a nuclear weapon.

00:15:11.960 That was my main thing.

00:15:13.100 The deal was a simple deal.

00:15:14.820 Iran can't have a nuclear, you know, it can't have a missile, can't have a nuclear missile.

00:15:20.060 It cannot have that nuclear capability.

00:15:22.640 You listen to the president.

00:15:23.720 By the way, we've got another nine and a half minutes of the president saying this over and over again.

00:15:27.920 Yeah, that clip is 16 minutes long.

00:15:30.740 So we literally cut it short.

00:15:32.020 I was like, look, we can't play a 16 minute clip on the podcast.

00:15:34.960 But that is President Trump for more than a decade.

00:15:39.420 I'll tell you a story.

00:15:40.260 So back in the 2016 presidential election, Trump and I are running against each other.

00:15:45.920 And I organized a rally on Capitol Hill against the Obama-Iran nuclear deal.

00:15:53.160 And we had thousands of people come out against it.

00:15:55.900 And I was saying, this is a terrible deal.

00:15:58.480 It will result in Iran getting a nuclear weapon. 0.79

00:16:00.660 And I invited Donald Trump to come to the rally.

00:16:04.480 And Trump, look, he and I were running against each other.

00:16:06.980 We were friends, but we were opponents in that race.

00:16:09.400 And so I remember Trump showed up and he's like, Ted, why the hell did you invite me to your rally?

00:16:15.480 Like, I don't understand.

00:16:16.700 Like, we're running against each other and you invited me to your rally.

00:16:20.620 And I said, I said, Donald, it's real simple.

00:16:23.180 When you show up, you bring a crap ton of TV cameras and the press all covers it.

00:16:28.860 And I care about this issue.

00:16:31.300 And if we do not stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, we are endangering the lives of millions of Americans. 0.90

00:16:37.960 And so Trump and I together in the middle of the campaign where we're campaigning against each other, we stood on the stage together and said, we agree Iran cannot get a nuclear weapon.

00:16:49.900 And America must do whatever is necessary to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. 0.82

00:16:55.300 We were unified a decade ago in that.

00:16:58.000 That has been Trump's consistent position.

00:17:00.020 So I've got to say it's remarkable watching the Tucker Carlson's of the world react with shock.

00:17:05.040 Why the hell does Trump want to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon?

00:17:08.660 The reason is simple.

00:17:09.780 And this is where, look, in foreign policy, people think in a very binary sense.

00:17:14.860 Either you're an interventionist who wants to invade every country on Earth or you're an isolationist who never wants to engage in military force.

00:17:21.960 Both views are wrong.

00:17:24.960 The touchstone for military action should be protecting the vital national security interests of the United States.

00:17:31.300 The reason President Trump is standing with Israel, Israel is doing a massive favor to us.

00:17:37.860 Every one of us should stop and say thank you to the tiny nation of Israel.

00:17:42.860 It is the size of the state of New Jersey.

00:17:45.820 Yeah, it's not big.

00:17:46.720 A lot of people don't realize that.

00:17:48.000 It is tiny.

00:17:49.500 And they are actively taking out Iran's nuclear capability right now.

00:17:54.320 And listen, those nuclear weapons, if Iran developed them, there's a real possibility they would be used against Israel.

00:18:02.740 But there is at least an equal possibility they would be used against America to murder millions of Americans. 0.58

00:18:09.160 And so it's not American soldiers.

00:18:11.760 It's Israel that's taking this out. 0.97

00:18:13.600 Yeah.

00:18:13.820 And let's bring in this new aspect because this is some of the breaking news.

00:18:17.420 That President Trump has called for Iran's unconditional surrender and also called the Supreme Leader out saying, look, we know where you are.

00:18:25.740 You're an easy target.

00:18:27.100 You might want to hurry up and get a deal done here.

00:18:29.620 Clearly, the president's not advocating for regime change.

00:18:32.420 What he is advocating for is making sure that they never get a nuclear weapon.

00:18:35.520 Well, and I will tell you, on the point that he said, we know where you are, he said it in reference to protecting American servicemen and women.

00:18:44.100 And when this war broke out, we did a podcast that night, and we said, listen, every one of us should pray for the people of Israel because we're going to see a massive ballistic missile onslaught of Israel. 0.86

00:18:57.720 And we're going to see a lot of Israelis killed. 0.99

00:18:59.780 You know, I talked on Sunday night to a good friend of mine whose mother is in Jerusalem right now, and he said his mom, since this war has started, he said she hasn't slept a night because every night they wake up at two or three in the morning and they rush, the air raid sirens are going off.

00:19:15.380 They rush to a bomb shelter because they're facing incoming missiles constantly.

00:19:20.360 That's a hard circumstance.

00:19:21.980 And so I will say to all of our listeners, pray for the people of Israel.

00:19:25.840 That is hard.

00:19:27.100 They are doing this because the risk of an Iranian nuclear weapon is a massive murder of Israelis, potentially on the order of magnitude of the millions. 0.75

00:19:37.700 So it is the right thing for them to do.

00:19:40.080 But Israelis are dying. 0.99

00:19:42.380 They're dying every day because Iran is targeting civilians. 0.99

00:19:46.980 But secondly, hold on, let me make this other point, Ben.

00:19:50.780 Iran, there is a real threat of Iran targeting American servicemen and women.

00:19:55.640 And we've got thousands upon thousands of servicemen and women in the Middle East.

00:20:01.020 And I will tell you, I called on Sunday, I called President Trump and I said, hey, I just want to tell you thank you for what you're doing on Iran and Israel.

00:20:09.900 You are doing an incredible job.

00:20:12.180 In the last few days, these have been some of the best days you have had as president because President Trump is standing unshakably with Israel, which is where we should be. 1.00

00:20:21.700 But he's also made absolutely clear to Iran, if you attack American servicemen and women, you will face a devastating response.

00:20:32.700 And as you noted, the tweet he sent, he said directly to the Ayatollah, we know where you are.

00:20:37.760 And the point is clear. 0.96

00:20:38.740 If you kill American servicemen and women, to be clear, Iran could kill some of our soldiers. 0.96

00:20:44.880 I mean, they could fire enough missiles that we would have active duty military killed. 0.64

00:20:50.060 And what Trump has said as the commander in chief is if you do that, you are going to regret it because we are going to strike back.

00:20:58.180 You cannot attack American active duty military.

00:21:02.100 And thank God, Trump is being a strong commander in chief.

00:21:06.560 Joe Biden could never get that sentence out of his mouth.

00:21:08.980 But President Trump is protecting our servicemen and women.

00:21:11.960 And so I called him on Sunday and just said, hey, thank you.

00:21:14.600 It's making a real difference protecting our servicemen and women.

00:21:19.260 Canadian women are looking for more. 1.00

00:21:21.360 More out of themselves, their businesses, their elected leaders, and the world around them.

00:21:25.340 And that's why we're thrilled to introduce the Honest Talk podcast.

00:21:29.280 I'm Jennifer Stewart.

00:21:30.460 And I'm Catherine Clark.

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00:21:41.180 So if you're looking to connect, then we hope you'll join us.

00:21:44.420 Listen to the Honest Talk podcast on iHeartRadio or wherever you listen to your podcasts.

00:21:50.160 Well, let's also talk about what's happened with the air superiority or the lack of security that Iran actually had over their own country.

00:22:00.460 Yes.

00:22:00.880 And that could also spell trouble for the leadership in Iran because now the people may realize, wow, we may have been played by these horrible leaders. 0.81

00:22:10.960 And there is total air superiority now by Israel or anybody that wants to go after Iran. 0.78

00:22:17.900 So Israel and potentially America have complete air superiority over Iran. 0.83

00:22:23.480 And Israel has taken out Iran's air defenses.

00:22:26.460 So they're not able to stop Israeli jets in the air.

00:22:30.120 And the bombers are bombing the hell out of – as of two days ago, there had been over 720 military strikes in Iran.

00:22:38.900 And the number is substantially higher now.

00:22:41.480 I don't have the current number, but it was 722 days ago.

00:22:45.360 And Iran is not able to do anything about it because their air defenses have been destroyed.

00:22:50.060 And so they're just sitting ducks.

00:22:51.920 They're just – and I will tell you the dynamic.

00:22:54.740 So there's a delicate question.

00:22:56.200 Israel has been able to – and it actually has succeeded in taking out a massive amount of the military leadership of Iran.

00:23:04.980 They have also succeeded in pounding the hell out of Iran's nuclear facilities, like the Natanz facility, which is where they do much of the nuclear enrichment. 0.91

00:23:17.260 Israel has bombed the living crap out of it. 0.55

00:23:20.060 The one exception that Israel is not able to take out is the Fordow nuclear research facility.

00:23:28.120 Now, Fordow is built literally in the base of a mountain.

00:23:31.340 And it was built into a mountain, particularly to withstand a bombing attack.

00:23:40.140 And Israel does not have the military hardware to take out Fordow.

00:23:43.960 Their bombs are not big enough.

00:23:45.960 America does.

00:23:46.820 We have bunker buster bombs that are 30,000 pounds, that are massive bombs that can take out an underground, under-mountain nuclear facility like Fordow.

00:23:58.600 Now, Israel also does not have bombers that are big enough to carry a 30,000-pound bomb.

00:24:05.060 That's a big-ass bomb.

00:24:07.020 And so the B-2 bomber, which America has, is big enough to carry that bomb. 0.79

00:24:11.320 Israel doesn't have bombers that big.

00:24:13.780 And so one of the open questions – Israel has asked America, will you fly in the B-2 bombers and drop your bunker busters on Fordow and take it out? 0.58

00:24:24.440 But as you and I sit here at 12, what is it, 12.43 a.m. on Tuesday night, Wednesday morning, I do not know if President Trump's going to do that.

00:24:37.420 This is being actively debated.

00:24:39.720 It could – by the time this podcast comes out, it is possible that America will drop those bunker busters. 0.94

00:24:45.540 I think that is a real possibility in the next few hours, in the next few days.

00:24:51.640 And in my view –

00:24:53.860 With that being said, then I've got to ask this question so that people understand.

00:24:57.520 I said this earlier tonight on Chris Cuomo's show, and I said on Pierce Morgan's show, and I said on Fox, the same thing.

00:25:03.180 I am not in favor of putting –

00:25:04.820 Well, Ben, you're going on a lot of lefty shows.

00:25:07.040 Pierce Morgan –

00:25:07.540 I know, I'm fighting the commies every day, my friend.

00:25:09.660 Yeah, you know, is like – does Bernie Sanders have a show, AOC?

00:25:14.900 Like, are you going on with Xi of China?

00:25:17.940 I'm trying to go on with Tucker next, you know, and just see if I can explain to him what my foreign policy is.

00:25:24.100 But it's – I'm not in favor of putting troops on the ground.

00:25:27.740 Donald Trump's not in favor of putting troops on the ground.

00:25:29.940 Neither are you.

00:25:30.460 Absolutely.

00:25:30.800 No, no, no.

00:25:32.060 No troops on the ground.

00:25:33.180 So what we're advocating for is simply this.

00:25:36.400 If America gets involved, it would be to do exactly what you just said.

00:25:40.840 It would be to do what Israel can't do to take out a nuclear program – 0.52

00:25:44.740 To drop a couple of bombs.

00:25:45.320 Which is a threat.

00:25:46.060 Yes.

00:25:46.520 Which is a threat to us.

00:25:48.240 To drop a couple of bombs that Israel can't. 0.83

00:25:50.540 Like, their bombs are not big enough to take out Fordow.

00:25:53.140 And I will say this.

00:25:55.200 From a perspective, my overwhelming touchstone is what protects American national security interests.

00:26:03.180 What keeps Americans safer?

00:26:04.820 It's America first. 0.94

00:26:06.040 It's President Trump's foreign policy.

00:26:07.820 That is my foreign policy.

00:26:09.400 And I will say when he and I talked on Sunday, his comment when I was telling him you're doing a great job, what you're doing is fantastic, his comment is he said, Ted, on foreign policy, you and I are twins.

00:26:21.960 And that's right.

00:26:23.040 I agree with him on foreign policy.

00:26:25.940 The reason there is, I think, a compelling argument for America to take out Fordow is Fordow, they are doing research on nuclear weapons technology.

00:26:38.020 They're trying to develop nuclear bombs.

00:26:39.860 They're not doing it because the Ayatollah thinks climate change is a problem and he wants to create civilian nuclear power generation.

00:26:48.220 It is entirely creating a bomb that could murder millions of Americans or millions of Israelis. 0.98

00:26:53.540 They put it in the basement of a mountain because they didn't want to be bombed.

00:26:58.600 Only America can take them out.

00:27:00.800 And I got to say, I think dropping those bombs, I have zero interest.

00:27:05.500 We will not send boots on the ground.

00:27:07.400 We are not going to invade Iran.

00:27:08.480 And I have zero interest in coming into the country and trying to turn it into a democratic utopia.

00:27:14.780 We don't look.

00:27:15.860 It would be wonderful if Iran woke up tomorrow and it was Switzerland. 1.00

00:27:19.120 But I'm not willing to risk your children or my children to go in and fight a war to make that happen.

00:27:26.720 But it is a very different calculus to say, should we drop a couple of bombs and take out a lab and facility where they're developing nuclear weapons to murder Americans?

00:27:38.680 And I think that's a compelling argument.

00:27:41.140 And I got to say, I think there's a real possibility in the next few hours or days that's exactly what's going to happen.

00:27:47.580 Final question on this.

00:27:48.760 If Donald Trump does, in fact, make this decision, I actually don't think this is a tough decision or a hard decision.

00:27:54.400 I think it's a simple decision, as you described it, of we must protect the homeland and we must protect our allies at the same time.

00:28:01.060 And we're both a target.

00:28:02.300 And we know what Iran would do if they got a nuclear weapon.

00:28:05.360 And we know that even if they didn't do it, they might give it to their proxies to do it as well.

00:28:09.880 You add all that up.

00:28:10.920 I think this decision is actually pretty clear.

00:28:13.260 If the president does that and we move forward, there's also this big obsession in the media and out there's a massive divide in the MAGA world.

00:28:20.860 And this is going to split the Republican Party.

00:28:22.420 I actually think it's going to be a blip and we're going to move back on to all the issues that we do agree on.

00:28:27.520 I'm not taking the bait on that.

00:28:28.920 I want your take on it as well.

00:28:30.800 Yeah, look, so I did Sean Hannity this evening.

00:28:33.440 And Hannity had a poll that just came out that showed 75 percent of Americans agree with President Trump that we should act against Iran to prevent them from getting nuclear weapons using. 0.69

00:28:45.380 And the question in the poll was whatever means necessary.

00:28:48.700 75 percent, I don't know that 75 percent of Americans agree on butterflies or rainbows or peanut butter and jelly.

00:28:59.260 Like that's a big percentage in today's divided world.

00:29:03.140 And so it is frankly a handful of people who are disagreeing.

00:29:10.520 Tucker is really an outlier on this.

00:29:12.140 And I made the point and we're going to talk about this.

00:29:15.180 Friday's pod is going to be all about this.

00:29:16.800 But Tucker used to be 20 years ago.

00:29:20.120 Tucker was a neocon interventionist who was a cheerleader for the Iraq war.

00:29:25.360 And he practically had on a short skirt and pom-poms.

00:29:29.220 I think the Iraq war was a catastrophic mistake. 0.99

00:29:33.140 And so I think he was far too interventionist.

00:29:35.960 And Tucker does, too.

00:29:37.020 He thinks he was wrong.

00:29:38.200 And I respect that.

00:29:39.300 Look, look, intelligent people will assess changed circumstances and be willing to change their position based on the facts.

00:29:46.760 And so I respect that he changed his views.

00:29:49.200 But the point I made is he went from being an interventionist far too eager to send in the Marines to being an isolationist who says we should never, ever use the military, even when we've got a lunatic, theocratic zealot who is trying to murder Americans and has murdered hundreds of Americans.

00:30:08.180 And so I actually think that view is a really fringe view in America.

00:30:13.100 It's a fringe view in MAGA, and it's a fringe view across the country.

00:30:19.260 And I think the American people want a president who's going to say, we will protect ourselves against people who want to kill us.

00:30:27.120 That's exactly what Donald Trump is doing.

00:30:29.680 Yeah.

00:30:29.860 Well, don't forget that we will be doing another show on Friday, and that will be a big show in response to the interview with Tucker Carlson.

00:30:36.360 So make sure you join us for that.

00:30:38.060 Hit that subscribe or auto-download button as well, and make sure that you don't miss a single episode.

00:30:43.540 We do this Monday, Wednesday, Friday.

00:30:44.600 We're also up on YouTube now as well.

00:30:46.980 So if you listen to shows on YouTube, you can do that also.

00:30:49.860 And The Center and I will see you back here Friday morning.

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Verdict with Ted Cruz - June 18, 2025

Israel vs. Iran, Who's Winning, What's Next & Will America Bomb Fordow

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