Transcription
The situation with Iran just escalated. Listen to this.
President Trump, following through on his threats to Iran, unleashing a new wave of heavy strikes in response to attacks on American forces. Just 12 hours after President Trump warned Iran, US forces unleashed powerful strikes against the regime. Dozens of targets were hit, including IRGC military command centers, missile and drone facilities, along with remaining maritime capabilities. US Central Command released a statement saying Sentcom forces successfully completed a heavy wave of strikes against Iran in response to yesterday's attempted missile attacks on US forces. The strikes aimed to further diminish threats posed by Iran and its proxies to American forces, commercial shipping, and neighboring Gulf countries after the Iranians launched that surprise missile attack on US forces in Jordan.
The president later spoke from the Oval Office saying this. >> We're going to hit him very hard. I mean, I can actually say that because in that there's very little they can do about it. Uh, it was a different group than we're dealing with. They've already apologized, but >> they hit back when they strike. >> Will I always hit back? >> Yes, >> pretty much. >> Is anyone surprised that we're in a position where the negotiators are saying one thing and the military over there is doing something else? And what will be Trump's next move? Check this out.
And so now the president has been presented an option by the head of Sentcom to go big and escalate strikes. According to the Wall Street Journal, the idea behind Admiral Brad Cooper's high-end option is to go beyond the smaller retaliatory air strikes that have done little to deter Thyron from threatening ships in the straight of Hormuz and lobbing missiles at American forces in the region by sharply escalating the war. According to people familiar with his thinking, this all really could turn into a much broader world war if this Reuters report is true about China getting ready to sell Iran tens of millions of dollars worth of shoulder fire missile launchers built to take out helicopters and fighter jets. >> President X told that um China would not give or sell Iran any weapons. And there's a new report that get 400 rocket launchers from China going through Pakistan to Iran. >> Well, that would be surprising. I mean, things like that happen, but that would be surprising. He told me very strongly he wouldn't partake. Uh, but he knows I'd be quite disappointed. >> So, Trump says that's fake news.
But what about this idea of a larger conflict? Well, that, as you're about to see, might actually be the worst thing possible for Iran. The Saudis are now calling for a coalition of the willing to protect shipping. This is not a winning situation for Iran.
All right. President Trump is sending a message to Iran uh and their back proxies by teaming up with Saudi Arabia to strike militia groups over in Iraq after a string of attacks on American forces. But who are these groups? Let me give you an overview. First off, >> uh obviously this is bad news for Iran. >> This is where the money comes from. This is the area in which they're located. You got about 10 Shiite groups that really came into prominence uh after we invaded. Yes. But mostly after we pulled out during the Obama administration and they left the void. In come these Iranian militias actually to put down the push of ISIS and they stayed. So 10 about 10 groups, 50,000. Who are the biggest groups? Well, here's one of them. The Katab Hezbollah. Yes. Affiliated with Hezblah. They got the most rockets. They seem to if they were uh if anybody was to hit Jordan, you would think this group is the group to actually do it because they're the most armed up. And then you have this group for with Al Hawk named after one of these guys. He was also arrested. He was jailed. He was let out. He forms a group. And this El Kazali is trying to become part of the political process and soften his image. But being part of a militia is not helpful. We do now have an Iraqi leader that wants to be affiliated with us and keep these guys under control. The question is, are they going to have the armament and the army to do exactly that? Because Iran backs them. Another reason why you want to diminish Iran's power. That's when these guys stop being funded. And then of course, Hezbollah stops being funded and Hamas gets diminished. So this is Iran's coalition. And who's against that? The entire Middle East that is getting pulled into an alliance because the peace and prosperity of their people depend on an alliance to stand against this.
But who else might become part of this wider conflict? >> And the region waits to see if the war will expand. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Wednesday with Secretary of War Pete Hen. After the meeting, Netanyahu said this. >> And what I ask you is only one thing. Stand up. Stand up. Be calm. Don't cower. And you know, when you're faced with an attack, what do you do? Attack back. Israel military remains on high alert given the possibility the conflict could expand.
>> Yeah, it looks like that's what Iran wants. And the thing you have to understand about Iran and the reason why they keep expanding this conflict and trying to project force is because the second they stop projecting force, they lose their ability to be this regime that controls a country, controls a people, and threatens the entire world because everybody's going to stop being afraid of them. They need people to fear them if they want to stay the way they are and maintain this status quo. That's why they keep attacking. That's why they will not fold as we heard earlier. But wait till you hear this >> that if they decide to go with the go big strategy that it'll be effective to change the mindset of the Iranians.
>> It's a great question and the short answer is we don't know. The ultimate decision will lie with President Trump as to whether or not he wants to order this larger strike package against the Iranian regime. And according to initial reports, this would work to further degrade Iranian ballistic missile capabilities in the region. And we saw those capabilities on display earlier this week when they went after US forces in Jordan. But when the president spoke with Fox yesterday, he described how accurate these US forces are on defense when they have to shoot down this incoming fire. Yeah, they blocked them all. Primary goal of this larger strike package would initially be to destroy what remains of Iran's ballistic missile arsenal, go after any of their air defense systems that may have been repaired or redeployed, and further degrade Iran's ability to threaten US forces or allies in the region.
>> Yep. So, the reason that this continues to happen, Iran continues to aggressively project force, the United States continues to take action. This is happening because of everything else that degraded military capability allows.
>> I I think the president's doing exactly the right thing. The the president's strategy is not tit for tat and it's not escalation. We're just going to keep throwing them more till we get the guy to quit. What the because we've already I know it's we're still fighting it, but we've already won the war. Everything that makes Iran a strategic threat, the president has already taken off the table. So what the strategy is doing now is d-risking, which means every time the Iranians do something aggressive, the president takes another capability of theirs off the table. And that just extends the timeline from when they can ever be a threat again. And again, what's also key is we're all focusing on the kinetic action, but the fiscal the fiscal actions are this is a twofer. So between the blockade and the sanctions and the kinetic, this regime's really, really being squeezed.
>> What are we not hearing? We're not hearing about traffic snarled in the straight of Hormuz. Ships are getting out. Why? Because the military capability that Iran used to have to threaten those ships isn't there anymore. Which means Iran is isolating itself through this aggression. And every time there is aggression, they lose the capability to continue being as aggressive. You see, things are happening. Are they happening as quickly as everybody wants? Not necessarily. But Iran may be past the point of no return.
>> It's hard to know exactly what the United States is planning. They don't want to project their plans to the Iranian regime, but a variety of options are on the table for President Trump along with regional allies. We know earlier this week in the Oval Office, he had a very positive meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. And we think back to February 28th of this year when Operation Epic Fury began. In a matter of four minutes, 40 senior Iranian officials, including the Ayatollah Kamayi, the besiege forces, the IRGC command centers around Thran and other locations were hit very rapidly. And the Iranians couldn't do much about it. And they're in a similar position now and an even weaker position because so many of these air defense systems have been hit. And that's also why Griff, we are tracking this ongoing story in these reports that indicate a Chinese company is trying to supply the Iranians with 400 shoulder fired missiles because these missiles can be very dangerous to US jets. And according to reports, it was one of these man pads that actually shot down the US fighter jet earlier this year. But that is not a war-winning strategy. shoulderfired weapons. They are what militant aggressors would need if they decided to take to the hills and stage some form of guerilla campaign against an occupying force. That's what those would be for. But the tactical situation here has gone the way experts were predicting it would, which likely means President Trump knew this entire time that this is exactly where we would wind up. Watch this. Look at we got to open the straights of a muzz. If we're not going to be able to do it through negotiations, we got to do it by force. Wow.
>> And let's look at where we really are. I mean, last night, Iran using five of their best ballistic missiles attacked the US base. That's what they did last night. They also attacked shipping in the Gulf. They also are using the Iranian backed proxies in Iraq who have attacked us over 30 times in the last couple of days. and the Houthies are on the attack being pushed by Iran to do so. What is that telling us about our situation here in dealing with Iran? Certainly, anybody thinking that negotiations is going to be the pathway forward uh has got to come to grips with what reality is here.
>> And who might those individuals be? Well, after these attacks earlier this week, this surprise ballistic attack on a US base that was thwarted, who responded? It was the United States and Saudi Arabia. So this coalition of the willing is being formed before our eyes. And this is the worst thing that could possibly happen to Iran if it marks the start indeed of a much larger combat operation everyone right now thinks is imminent. Watch this.
>> Escalating against Iran, which is what we've been doing day by day based on their attacks, is not working. Yeah, >> what we is obvious what we must do is return to major combat operations. The sooner we get on with that, >> the better. >> Does that include eliminating the leadership of the Revolutionary Guard? Cuz this sentcom said this morning that it was the Revolutionary Guard that fired those missiles at our troops.
>> Well, I I don't think we should be It may be a major attack over what we've done in the past, but that's tit for tat. That's a gradual escalation. And I think we have to do a comprehensive attack against them. And what am I really talking about? Start with one, quarantine the country. What do I mean by that? Shut down all the roads and rails in and out. Shut down all airports and all ports in and out of the country.
>> That is a huge move right there if that ends up happening. But here's why this is a logical thing to conclude. Needs to be the US next step. We've got these reports that a Chinese import export company is trying to get weapons into Iran. Who knows if they're real? The president says that he's spoken to the president of China, but if Iran is bringing things into the country to help them wage a campaign of aggression, and if they're having their own forces leave and go to places like Iraq, and if they're trying to send things to the Houthis in Yemen, that's bad news. That requires what the general just mentioned as a solution to bring about a lasting peace and to stop this regime from doing what? projecting the force they need to project to stay in power.
>> Isolate Iran. And number two, isolate. >> Yes, we have got to conduct >> all out attacks on the IRGC, their leadership. We have to massive attacks on ballistic missiles and drones. >> Wow. Everything that's driving this country to retaliate against us needs to be attacked from an organizational perspective and also obviously from weapons itself. What does that include? That includes Iran's ability to domestically manufacture weapons that they might use to rebuild every time there's a ceasefire, every time there's a pause. And it also includes what? The infrastructure they use to stay organized. That is an illusion to things like bridges and power plants and things that power the regime and help them move weapons and assets around their country and help them move things out of the country that might be used to launch an attack from a place like Iraq which is what we saw just a few days ago.
>> is needs to be done and the sooner we recognize that I think Stuart the better. We also obviously have to protect our bases in the region and allies oil and gas infrastructure. we can prioritize those uh and protect them and we also need to be at the same time undermining this regime. Uh the CIA and the MSAD and providing assistance to the Iranian people and obviously the byproduct of all of that would be the straits of Amuz would be open.
>> There it is. The byproduct of ending Iran's ability to be the militant aggressor that projects force in order to stay in power is the Straits of Hormuz open. One accomplishes the other. That's why this plan that he's talking about right here will likely include similarities to this go big option that the president has allegedly been presented with.
>> They had everything to do with uh Jordan and our base being rocketed in Jordan. Where do we go from here? Let's bring in former SenCom Director of Intelligence, Lieutenant General Karen uh Gibson joins us now. Lieutenant General, we hit last night. We hit a series of uh uh targets, but there's no word yet on how effective these hits have been or how effective those 14 days of hits were.
>> I look at two things. One, what is their uh cap desire, their intent, their stated will, what they seek to accomplish, and then what is their capability to do that? And I mean think back to Iran's current stated will and intent which is to continue to control the straight of Hormuz to enable some kind of mechanism where they sustain that control and they are doing that through these drone and missile strikes against commercial shipping.
>> That is their only goal. Project power at all costs because the second they stop projecting power the second that's the second they stop sending the message to the rest of the world that hey you need to pay us for this. Hey, we're in charge over here. And certainly don't think about helping the people of our country get rid of us. Oh no, don't do that. It's the sad reality of how regimes operate. They operate by putting their force out there and having the rest of the world absorb it and run from it.
>> Our many strikes have not eliminated that capacity. And frankly, although we've degraded it significantly, it's been tactically significant. Truly eliminating it totally is darn near impossible. It's an incredibly high bar. I think that's what Admiral Cooper was saying. And then the second side, you know, what is their desired will and intent? These strikes that Sentcom has conducted very proficiently, there's no evidence that they've done anything to move the needle on the IRGC desire to pull the straight both capability and intent still not entirely changed.
>> And let's take a look at the map. The straight of Hermuz and the Bandar Straight, which is basically the Red Sea. The Houthies are creating havoc there. Uh, which was forced to use the Suez Canal, which I understand is not really able to take the huge tankers and then the straight of people are making pipelines rapidly to go around it. But I hear the frustration in your voice. But evidently, Admiral Cooper does have a plan to do maximum damage on the people closing these straits, and that's the IRGC. Now, as you watch this and as you hear that there's some plan out there, it would escape reality for any of us to believe that these plans were cooked up in the last 30 seconds. We're going to hear the fake news tell us that, "Oh, Trump doesn't have a plan. He doesn't know what he's doing. Now he's got a new plan. That's not going to work." No. This stuff has all been out there on the table since before Epic Fury even started. We have military planners that go over this stuff. It is their job to plan weeks, months, years and ahead. These options have always been out there. But what did the president want? He wanted peace. He wanted a diplomatic solution. He wanted a deal. He did not want to go down any of these roads. And I don't think you can blame him. What's the point of doing this if it means the people of Iran are sent back 50 years in time and can't get out of this? If there was a peaceful solution out there that was available and the US ignored that and just did what some people wanted, which was just to go all out and have this epic fury operation continue forever, we would have missed that. The world would have lost because the world is going to be better off if the people of Iran can start succeeding as fast as possible. But doesn't really look like their leaders want that to happen at all. Unfortunately, watch this. the straits of Amuse would be open because the Iranians will take away the capability for them to interfere with it. Not just organizationally but materially like they were doing last night when they attacked it.
>> A reassessment is necessary.
>> So general suggesting we we need an allout attack. That's that is your suggestion. That's what we need. Are you expecting that attack to come in the next couple days?
>> I think everyone is but we don't know.
>> I don't know. These are decisions the president has to make. Yes, I am suggesting re a return to major combat operations which is what we were conducting >> for 38 days prior to the ceasefire. And I would add to that >> complete destruction of Iran's oil and gas infrastructure that would take everything economically away from them that they value. Now, at the beginning of Epic Fury, there were people who said the exact same thing. But it doesn't look like the political will was there on behalf of not just the American people, but people all over the world to see that happen to Iran. The entire world has been hoping for a peaceful solution this entire time. But the leaders of Iran are showing the world that they do not want a peaceful solution to this. And the sad thing is there are 90 million people in Iran who will have to rebuild what could be making them prosperous right now. The goal this entire time has been to do what? To preserve the oil infrastructure. Trump has said many times he doesn't want to go after desalination plants. He doesn't want to hit power plants. He doesn't want to hit the oil infrastructure. He wants to preserve that stuff so this country can recover and so that the people can have a bright future quickly and can quickly get out of the mess that has been made of their country over the last 47 years. But it looks like their leaders do not want that to happen. And the world is faced with a tough choice right now to allow Iran to sell oil. Even if they can't get a ship out through the street of Hormu, Hormuz, there are still land routes they can take. They can drive tankers to try to get oil out that way. They can still make money. They still have resources. If all of that helps them to continue being the aggressor, eventually the world will have to make a choice. It sounds like we know the choice this general has that he would make. What do you think should happen next? Let me know. I'll see you in the next