Transcription
Donald Trump just blew up the peace talks taking place in Switzerland before they even began. He's destroyed any chance of these negotiations succeeding.
He started to attack the Iranian leadership who was there to negotiate by saying he was going to kill them before they returned to Iran. He then said that the United States would take over the Strait of Hormuz and start charging a toll. This caused the Iranian leadership that was in Switzerland to lodge a formal protest against the United States.
Iran made it very clear they will not be talking about the nuclear file at all at these discussions in Switzerland. Iran will only be discussing how the United States intends to restrain Israel to implement a full ceasefire in Lebanon as required by article one of the memorandum of understanding and to release all sanctions and provide all necessary waivers to Iran. The head of the IAEA wasn't even attending these talks in Switzerland.
Then Donald Trump had Lindsey Graham and other MAGA stooges go on the various networks this morning to also threaten Iran and say that the United States would take over the Strait of Hormuz and start charging tolls. Lindsey Graham also told the people of Lebanon, "Don't you worry, help is on the way." The same message that Donald Trump told the Iranian people in January, which again I interpret as yet another threat by this Trump regime.
The status of the Strait of Hormuz right now is that it is closed. Iran has shut down the Strait of Hormuz. Iran is able to move its oil tankers out from Car Island and it has been able to move out somewhere in the range of 20 to 30 million barrels. Meanwhile, the Strait of Hormuz remains closed to the United States and to other countries at this time.
Uh, the Iranians also uh refused to pose for the photo op that JD Vance, Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner, who were in Switzerland on behalf of the United States, wanted. I've never seen the United States look so weak and pathetic on the international stage before.
So what happened was there was a press conference that was taking place before the negotiations were set to take place in earnest. And at the same time, Donald Trump started threatening to kill and uh destroy Iran and kill the negotiators who were there uh in Switzerland. The United States was there in the room first, which is always a sign of weakness in the negotiation, waiting for Iran to show up and then Iran's like, "We're not going to take photos with JD Vance and Witkoff in them." So, they can do it on their own. And so, just the level of weakness to see the US on the international stage.
Are also getting a statement from MB Galabath that was just released in response to Donald Trump's uh threats to kill him and to kill the entire Iranian negotiating team. Galabath just wrote, "Don't they think to themselves that if their threats had any result? They wouldn't have reached today's desperation. We do not take the Americans' threats into account at all. It would be better for them to watch their statements carefully. Our armed forces are ready to respond to them in a different way. No matter how much they talk, it is we who act."
This is what the United States has become on the world stage under the Trump regime. Incredibly weak. And the Strait of Hormuz remains closed right now as a result of Israel continuing to strike inside of Lebanon, killing over a hundred people in Lebanon. And it was innocent women, children, and people who were uh a lot of the uh casualties that have been there uh by the way uh in Lebanon. Meanwhile, Netanyahu says that he has uh no interest in ever leaving Lebanon. Israel's uh defense minister, Israel Katz, says, "Nope, we're going to keep on blowing up Lebanon right now." And so Israel saying, "We don't care about your memorandum of understanding, Donald Trump. Uh, we're going to continue to move forward." uh and continue our invasion of Lebanon.
And here's what Donald Trump posted. Let's just go bring out the receipts. Trump writes, "Iran must immediately stop their highly paid proxies in Lebanon from causing trouble. If they don't, we will hit Iran very hard again, just like we did last week, only harder." Donald J. Trump.
This again has the Strait of Hormuz closed right now because of Israel strikes inside of Lebanon. And Donald Trump posted that right as the negotiations were supposed to take place in Switzerland. I mean, Donald Trump seems intent on causing a global depression, right, and destroying these negotiations.
Donald Trump then called up uh state regime media, which calls itself Fox. And then Donald Trump told one of the Fox correspondents the following. He said, "You close the Strait of Hormuz, you ain't going to have a [ __ ] country, Iran. You hear me?" I mean, Donald Trump is so unhinged. Here's what he said. Let's play it.
>> President Trump tells Fox News he spoke with Iranian officials overnight and said, "You close it and you won't have a country." He went on to tell these officials, "You won't even make it back to your effing country."
Now, ear then Donald Trump told the Fox host, "We're going to bomb the [ __ ] out of you. I'm going to blow the [ __ ] out of them." You understand? I mean, just think about Donald Trump. He's in Camp David right now, panicking around the room. The Strait of Hormuz is closed. We're about to hit tank bottom on oil and he's out there cursing to a Fox host here. Play this clip.
>> An important point here is what the president is leaving on the table as it relates to the Strait of Hormuz. He says, "We may take over the Strait. If we have to, I'll blow the S out of them."
Then Donald Trump said, you know, this deal, this MOU, it's not even a deal at all. You see, it's an option. And after 60 days, I think I'm just going to go and return to blow the [ __ ] up out of them. This is what Donald Trump is saying this morning. And by the way, the optics of what's going on in Switzerland tells a very different story right now about the weakness of the United States. But let's play this clip.
And also, President Trump talked about the broader memorandum of understanding, indicating this is just a ceasefire extension. This is not the final deal with the Iranian regime. And the president says he holds the cards and maintains a variety of options if the Iranians don't make these serious commitments at the negotiating table. He said, "I have a 60-day option and I can do whatever I want after that option." So again, President Trump believes then pursuant to the memorandum of understanding, Iran is not required to completely give up enriched uranium. The MOU, if you want to look at the provision specifically, paragraph 8 talks about down blending, which by the way was in the JCPOA, although the JCPOA had enforcement mechanisms. So naturally, Iran's president poses and says, "We're not going to give up our right to enrichment." By the way, that's in the memorandum of understanding that they don't have to give up their right to enrichment. They said no nuclear weapons, but they can enrich. They just have to downgrade. I don't know Donald and Jared Kushner and JD Vance. I don't know. Maybe you want to know a little bit about the way nuclear material works. I don't before you go and you do these deals.
And Donald Trump says he better watch his mouth because we're going to take over the rest of the country. Here, let's play this clip.
It's >> also reacting to that. Take a listen.
>> We will not give up our right to enrichment and they too will be forced to accept it. You all know what the so-called president of the United States was saying. He had made a complete 100 degree turn. He was saying that Iran must surrender unconditionally. Iran has no right to do this. It has no right to do that.
President Trump during our call responded directly to those comments by Iranian President Masud Peskian. President Trump told Fox News he better watch his mouth. He better shape up or we'll take over the rest of the country. And so clearly the president reacting directly to these comments from Iran's president, Masud. As I noted before, then Donald Trump had Lindsey Graham show up and Lindsey Graham said this deal is going to fall apart and then we're going to take over the Strait of Hormuz and we're going to invade Iran and then we're going to do this for Israel. That's what Americans want for Israel. Everybody. No, we want for America right now not to be in these catastrophic and unlawful wars. Here, play this clip.
I spent four and a half hours with President Trump Friday. Here's what I think will happen next. If this deal fails, President Trump is going to take the Strait of Hormuz over by force. The United States will control the Strait of Hormuz. We'll charge a fee for all those who go through to pay for the operation. And we're going to expand the Abraham Accords in calendar year 2026. Uh, we're going to get Saudi Arabia joined the Abraham Accords and uh, which is the biggest change in 5,000 years in the Middle East. And if Iran contests control of the Strait of Hormuz by the United States, we will obliterate them.
>> Also, Lindsey Graham keeps on fantasizing about Saudi Arabia and all of these countries joining the Abraham Accords with Israel. None of these countries want to engage in the Abraham Accords with Israel while Israel's engaged in genocide in Gaza and while they're blowing up Lebanon. Lindsey Graham. And then Lindsey Graham's like, "Everybody join with Israel. Join with Israel, Arab nations." This catastrophic war that you and Netanyahu and Trump got us into pushed people further away from Israel is actually what's happened, Lindsey Graham. And then Lindsey Graham goes, "To the people of Lebanon, help is on the way." Here, let me show you what he said. Let's play this clip.
>> To the uh to Saudi Arabia. Uh, now is the time to open U negotiations yet again for you to expand the Abraham Accords for you to join. I think this is going to happen in 2026. And it can't happen until Iran's in a box.
>> If we get a deal, if we get a deal, Iran will be in a box. If we don't get a deal, Iran will be in a box. To Lebanon, to the people in Lebanon, help is on the way. Hezbollah has been terrorizing your country for for a long time. That's about to end.
>> Senator, um, I have other questions.
And then on ABC's This Week, you had Donald Trump's energy secretary, Chris Wright, uh, you know, spewing regime propaganda, to which Jonathan Karl of ABC said, "Yeah, but um, Donald Trump said that if this deal falls apart, and he seems to be making it fall apart right now, that we are days away from global economic depression." That's not my words. That's what Donald Trump said when he was in Versailles and when he was at the G7 in France. Listen to what Wright says as he just kind of stutters and mutters here. Let's play this clip.
But but let me the the other question is what happens if it falls apart. You just said if it falls apart, we'll still see declining prices. But I want to play you something that President Trump said uh at the G7. He seems to have President Herbert Hoover on his mind. Take take a listen.
And the one president I did not want to be was the late great Herbert Hoover. Rather than possibly going into a depression, rather than having your favorite president be Herbert Hoover, I was always the one I didn't want to be.
I mean, what he's saying there and he has said a few different times is that if we go back to a state of war with Iran, we face the risk of global depression. Is that not true?
>> Look, the the president No, I I don't Well, look, the president has been advised all along, despite the media proclamations, that there was enormous risk to energy flows to engage the Iranians on their nuclear program in a military fashion. But he simply was unwilling to leave to his successor uh a nuclear armed Iran. That's just there's just no greater risk to energy prices to the economy of the world than a nuclear armed Iran. He knew he was going to drive up energy prices in the short run. He had the courage to take the action.
As I noted before, the Iranians said, "We are not discussing anything of the nuclear file today. Today is just about Israel out of Lebanon. You remove sanctions from us." And also, how do we know that the head of the IAEA wasn't even there? Though we could just uh factually observe what's taking place and we could factually observe what's going on in the room. JD Vance and Witkoff and Kushner look like the three stooges there. I mean, they look like the most incompetent and unqualified people because they are. They were thirsty for a photo with MB Galabah, Foreign Minister Arachi, and Iran's negotiating team. Iran's negotiating team was like, "We're not taking these photos with you." And then the Trump regime wants to push out all this stuff to American regime media like we're somehow like this is tough and this is America strong. No, this is America never being weaker, objectively based on I'm just giving you the receipts right here.
It's why we need a healthy media diet. And I often get asked, Ben, where do you get your news from to do these presentations to provide these fact-based news reports? And I tell people, you know this, that I use Ground News. Ground News is an app and a website that pulls in thousands of articles from around the world and organizes them to show you how it's being reported on the left, how it's being reported on the center, how it's being reported on the right, how it's being reported internationally, how different media outlets are framing stories differently so I can distill it and give you some of the most objective reporting out there.
You know, I'm watching the World Cup for example. I just find it fascinating that uh the rightwing refuses to post about how Iran's been given a hero's welcome in Mexico and how poorly they're being treated the Iranian team here in the United States by the Trump government. The people are showing love and the people are showing respect, but how the Trump government is constantly attacking the Iranian soccer team or if you're international football team, like no one on the rightwing is reporting about it. And so I compare how the rightwing's doing it, how the left wing's doing it, how the center is doing it, so I can just give you objective facts. It's why Ground News has a dedicated blind spot feed. It's a personal favorite of mine, which highlights how different uh types of media are reporting on things. By the way, I believe in Ground News so much, I'm going to offer you 40% off the same Vantage plan that I use for my research. So just go click the link in the description or go to ground.news/mtn news/MTN or scan the QR code up here. It's one of the biggest discounts they've ever offered. If you want to support this channel and get a clearer understanding of the world, try out Ground News.
I want to get back to the reporting here as well, cuz I want to contrast what I showed you in the first half of this video to what JD Vance has been saying right now. So JD Vance, after the Iranian delegation naturally refused to shake his hand or take photo ops with him and Witkoff and Kushner, as Donald Trump is threatening to kill them, JD Vance says, "The opening of the Strait of Hormuz and the ending of Iran's nuclear program. These things have already been accomplished." Really? Because the Strait of Hormuz is closed right now. And Iran has also made clear its weapons-grade nuclear program. They will phase out, which they claim we never wanted that in the first place, but they are going to enrich. They're just going to downgrade and blend. You should go and read the JCPOA, JD. Here, play this clip of JD.
Diplomatic resolution to a host of issues that matter to the American people, but I think the world. The opening of the Strait of Hormuz, the ending of the Iranian nuclear program. All of these things have already been accomplished. The question before us now is how much more can we accomplish together? Can we turn over a new leaf? Can we change relations in the Middle East permanently? Or do we go back to doing things the old way, which is not our preference, but is certainly very much something that can't happen.
Then JD Vance said, "What we're really trying to do here is transform the Middle East. Iran has been a driver of regional instabilities." You think this is a good way to negotiate, JD, to show up there begging, then say that Iran has been the main uh regional instability there? You think that's a a good way? Now you want to promote peace this way. Great work, JD. Off to a wonderful start here. Play this clip.
>> Diplomatic resolution to a host of issues that matter to the American people, but I think the world. The opening of the Strait of Hormuz, the ending of the Iranian nuclear program, all of these things have already been accomplished. The question before us now is how much more can we accomplish together? Can we turn over a new leaf? Can we change relations in the Middle East permanently? Or do we go back to doing things the old way, which is not our preference, but is certainly uh very much something that can't happen.
And then JD Vance has the audacity to say, "I actually feel great about where we are with Lebanon right now." You feel great about that, JD? Really? Because around 150 people have died since Friday. Israel has increased its offensive in Lebanon. Israel expands the area inside Lebanon, which it now claims as Israeli territory. Israel says this is our security zone. And the memorandum of understanding you agreed to says that that can't happen. Says that there needs to be a ceasefire in Lebanon. That's point one. It's one for a reason. You know what's also in memorandum of understanding point 1? Y'all can't threaten to engage in war with Iran, which you violated point 1 as well there too.
So now JD Vance says, "What today really represents is the beginning of technical negotiations. The reason why we have some political leadership of the respective countries here is because we want to set a structure." You're just saying a bunch of word salad, JD. The reason that these technical negotiations are taking place right now is Iran is cashing in on the fact that it won the war. Rightfully so, right? It is saying, "Remove our sanctions, give us the waivers, do all of these things, and we may allow some tankers to leave the Strait of Hormuz, but we control it." Because as Trump said, you're on the verge of a global economic depression. Anyway, here's what JD said. Let's play this clip right here.
Then it was 10 years ago. And what we're trying to accomplish here is very simple. Through diplomacy, through working together to transform the Middle East, where Iran and the Gulf have been at war with each other or at least have had very unfriendly relations. Iran has been a driver of regional instability. Now, we see a future where everybody can work together to promote peace and prosperity for everyone.
Now, I also want to point out, you may have seen Donald Trump's uh bizarre post last night, and again, as we're engaged in serious matters of war and peace. Donald Trump posted last night, "Great daughter, my honor, DJT." And so, we've been looking into who he's been referring to here, like who's even in this photo. Who's in this photo is someone named Margot Castidus, it seems. And she is a billionaire. She's married to John Castimedus. And when Trump said, "Great daughter, my honor," this was his post in between attacking Iran and saying he was going to kill them, he said, "Great daughter." So I was thinking to myself, "Great daughter? What are you referring to?" And then I said, "Oh, is that is that who I think it is? Is that Margot Castus?" Because her daughter is Andrea Castus, who's now been who's now has this role in the Republican party in New York City. She's MAGA. And I said, "That's who it is. It's Andrea Castus, who refers to herself as like the like the bikini leader or something like she's like the bikini leader of the Republican New York City party or something like that." And this is who Donald Trump is referring to.
So while while you're all suffering out there, while American people are on the verge of bankruptcy, and many are already are in bankruptcy, can't afford anything. This right now is what is going on in Switzerland. Donald Trump threatening to kill everybody and then posting "great daughter" about the bikini lady. And that's that's where we are as a country. It's absolutely ridiculous. We'll keep you posted every step of the way. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. And thanks for watching every new Midas merch drop. Check out the latest Pro-democracy sticker packs, t-shirts, hats, sweatshirts, and more. All at store.mitus.com.