Richard Arnold: US Correspondent on the US threatening intervention in Iran

Donald Trump is risking further inflaming matters in Iran, urging anti-government demonstrators to keep protesting, adding "help is on its way". 

The US President has raised the possibility of intervention in Iran, and his national security team meets today to discuss its options. 

Thousands are feared dead, as the country's regime violently cracks down on anti-government protests. 

US Correspondent Richard Arnold told Andrew Dickens military operations are being considered, including a strike on Iran’s missile programme, or strikes against security services or directly against Iranian leadership. 

He says Iran is publicly threatening retaliation for any military action, which the White House has called laughable. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
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Speaker 2 (00:16):
To America We Go. Richard Donold, good morning to you.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Good morning, Andrew.

Speaker 4 (00:20):
So.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
Donald Trump has going great guns about Iran at the moment.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
Yeah, his meeting today with his national security advisors on
how to respond to the escalating violence. We're seeing their
security forces in Irana carrying out very violent crackdowns because
of the internet blackout. We don't have a clear idea
of the number of people killed, but human rights organizations
are putting it somewhere between six hundred and two thousand,
so it is brutal. Trump has responded by threatening military

(00:49):
action and saying he will impose tariffs on Iran's trading partners.
Either would be a big move. On social media, Trump
has been posting broad comments saying quote help is on
its way. Iranian patriot says Trump, keep protesting, take over
your institutions, save the names of the killers and abuses
in quote. So dramatic words, especially given the fact that

(01:11):
the US sat on the sidelines during the last big
protest back in twenty twenty two, when that woman was
arrested for failing to cover her head in public. Trump
now says he is receiving hourly reports on the Iranian demonstrations,
and he says when he threatened military action, Iranian officials
contacted him about a possible meeting. However, Trump says the
US might make some moves sooner. Military operations being considered

(01:35):
include a strike on Iran's missile program, while another possibility
would be strikes against the security services or maybe something
directly against the Iranian leadership. That would be ASTOUNI, wouldn't
it be given the news of late who knows Iran
is publicly threatening retaliation for any US military action. The
White House is calling that quote laughable, so Trump.

Speaker 4 (01:55):
If they did that, it'll be met with a very.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
Very powerful for US.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
But former US Defense Chief William Cohen says Iran is
not Venezuela.

Speaker 4 (02:05):
Iran has about ninety three million people, and they are
deeply entrenched as far as the ruling theocratic regime. So
we have to pursue this with caution.

Speaker 3 (02:15):
Cohen says this cannot be resolved with any one take
air strikes.

Speaker 4 (02:20):
You will not restore a democratic system or create one.
At the end of a gun barrel or by air
power alone.

Speaker 3 (02:26):
Meantime, Trump says he will impose a twenty five percent
tariff on US trade by any company that does business
with Iran. Now that move is yet to be made official,
so is it real. We'll simply talk. Iran's biggest trading
partner is China, with export totaling thirty eight billion dollars
New Zealand. China buys ninety percent of Iran's well, amounting
to three and a half billion New Zealand a month.

(02:48):
China is responding angrily to the Trump tarot threaten and
says it firmly opposes any illicit unilateral sanctions. However, the
economic crisis in Iran, which is fueling these protests is severe,
with their currency collapsing. An Iranian friend of mine here
and Los Angeles is the biggest Iranian community in the
world outside of Tehran, says the inflation is crazy. He

(03:09):
says when he arrived here in the seventies, it took
seven Iranian reals for one US dollar. Now, just googled it.
It's not seven reals to a dollar. It is one million,
one hundred and thirty seven five hundred.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Oh goodness, mean New Zealand does four million dollars worth
of trade last year with ELIN, so we're not too
worried about that twenty five percent tariff. Now that the
tariffs and inflation, and of course the battle between Donald
Trump and FED Chair Jerome Powell. What's the letter you've got?

Speaker 3 (03:39):
Well, inflation remains a problem here as well, nothing like
some other countries, of course, but it remains stubbornly at
two point seven percent on the latest figures just out.
And some of the biggest jumps are in food prices.
Those prices rose by zero points seven percent last month,
biggest monthly increase in more than three years. For instance,
beef prices now are more than sixteen percent higher than
a year ago. So this is what is behind the

(04:00):
political firest dom you mentioned over the boss of the Fed,
the US Central Bank, j Powell. A number of Republicans
have slammed the Trump moved to investigate the actions of
the FED chair over the construction of a new headquarters building.
It's alleged that he lied under oaths to Congress about
the cost over runs for the two and a half
billion dollar renovation. Trump says he did not order the
investigation himself, but He's lashed out at Powell repeatedly like this.

Speaker 1 (04:24):
I'd love to fire his ass.

Speaker 4 (04:26):
He should be fine, guys, grossly incompetent, and he should
be sued well.

Speaker 3 (04:31):
The person who initiated the investigation is the former Fox
News commentator Janine Piro, who says now she only did
it because Power refused to talk with her. Top Republicans
are criticizing that move, with Senator John Kennedy saying I will.

Speaker 4 (04:45):
Be shocked if he has done anything wrong.

Speaker 3 (04:49):
Well, Republican Senator Tom Tillis is echoing some of that.

Speaker 4 (04:52):
He says, my message to whatever, whoever and who went
after what I consider be vindictive prosecution to grow up
and give the president better advice.

Speaker 3 (05:03):
As for the Fed chief, he has done something we
have never seen before, making a video statement about his is.
Attitude to this and slamming the investigation is nothing but politics.

Speaker 5 (05:12):
The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the
Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment
of what will serve the public, rather than following the
preferences of the President.

Speaker 3 (05:23):
That Power statement about the independence of his agency led
some satirists to suggest the Power comment looks a bit
like a hostage video.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Thank you, Richard Arnold from the United States of America.

Speaker 1 (05:34):
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