June 13, 2025 • 44 mins
1. Breaking News: Israeli Airstrikes on Iran
- Israel launched a preemptive strike targeting Iran’s nuclear and military infrastructure.
- The operation reportedly killed Major General Hossein Salami, head of the IRGC (Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps), and two top Iranian nuclear scientists.
- The Natanz uranium enrichment facility was among the key targets.
2. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Address
- Netanyahu confirmed the operation and emphasized it was a necessary act of self-defense.
- He warned of Iran’s progress toward nuclear weaponization and its threat to Israel and global security.
- Netanyahu stated the operation would continue “for as many days as it takes.”
3. Commentary from Senator Ted Cruz
- Cruz supported the Israeli action, calling it inevitable and necessary.
- He emphasized the threat posed by Iran’s nuclear ambitions and the IRGC’s history of killing over 600 U.S. service members.
- He warned Iran not to retaliate against American forces, asserting that any such action would provoke a strong U.S. response.
4. Broader Political and Strategic Context
- The discussion critiques the Obama and Biden administrations’ approaches to Iran.
- It highlights bipartisan tensions in U.S. politics regarding support for Israel.
- The show also includes appeals for support through the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews and Patriot Mobile.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
We start with the big breaking news and that is
coming out of Israel. Israel has struck Iran, and Iran
is now confirming that the IRGC terar chief Salami has
also been eliminated. Benjamin Nettnahu announcing the operation as well,
(00:21):
talking about what this means. And we also have found
out that not only did Iran state run Islamic Republic
News agency confirm in the early hours of Friday morning
that the Israeli airstrike on targets in the country eliminated
the major General Salami, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard.
(00:41):
Other arms of Iran state news apparatus also confirm this.
Several high profile regime members, including not one, but two
of their top nuclear scientists. Now this is obviously massive
because if you want to take out their nuclear program,
taking out the scientist behind it is huge. It's very
(01:03):
hard to get nuclear scientists to defect and come to Iran,
so taking them out could put back their program literally years.
They were killed in these strikes, and that is again massive. Now,
Islami may be by far one of the highest ranking
Iranian regime officials who have been targeted successfully in the operation.
(01:27):
He is one of those that was important to take out,
and Israel had planned this for quite some time and
they were able to do it. Salami had to stay
in a place. As one of the most prominent and
also belligerent senior leaders in the Iranian Islamic regime. He
regularly threatened attacks on America and Israel, and what was
(01:47):
perhaps his final public appearance on Thursday, Salami declared that
his forces were quote war tested and experienced, prepared for
war against its enemies. Now that was just twenty four
hours ago. He said that publicly now, the IRGC is
both a US designated terrorist organization he was in charge
(02:09):
of it, and a formal wing of the Iranian Armed Forces.
Among its chief operations is to sustain relations between the
Iranian terror state and its Jihadis proxies who does That
include the Huthis and Yemen, the Lebanese Hesblah, and with
fellow rogue states such as Venezuela and Cuba. The IRNA
(02:31):
confirmed Solami's death and a brief message that offered no
details on the occurrence. It just confirmed that Salami died
in Tehran and claimed him a victim of assassination. Their
words now also in a separate report, the state news
outlet confirmed a barrage of air strikes over the capital
city by the Israeli Air Force. Another Iranian state media outlet,
(02:55):
press TV, reported early Friday that the strikes had march
several other senior IRGC commanders and nuclear scientists. So we're
getting lots of confirmation about how deadly and how surgical
these strikes were on the top leadership in Iran veteran
nuclear scientists. Two of them, in fact, they, as they
(03:19):
described it, were martyred in the attack. Press TV reported,
adding confirmation from now that at least one Iranian military leader,
the chief of the Iranian Armed Forces also a major
General Bagherry, is still alive and in Iran's war room
quote plotting the nation's response. Now, The Times of Israel,
(03:41):
citing Iranian state television, reported that Israel apparently also bombed
one of the most prominent uranium enrichment facilities in the country,
the facility known as the Natanz facility, and there was
several hits apparently on that facility. It was scattered among
(04:03):
anonymous reports as well on social media that this had
also happened, and we also been told that there was
disruptions and Iran by undercover MASAD agents have also now
surfaced that Israel has not confirmed that. I want to
be clear now. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nettna who
also confirmed the airstrikes during a national address on Friday morning,
(04:24):
identifying the strikes as Operation Rising Lion. I want you
to hear what Netnya who had to say as he
addressed not only the people of Israel, but also the
people of the world.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Moments ago, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, a targeted military
operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel's very survival.
This operation will continue for as many days as it
takes to remove this threat. For decades, the tyrants of
Tehran have brazenly openly called for Israel's destruction. They've backed
(05:02):
up their genocidal rhetoric with a program to develop nuclear weapons.
In recent years, Iran is produced enough highly enriched uranium
for nine atom bombs. Nine In recent months, Iran has
taken steps that it has never taken before, steps to
weaponize this enriched uranium, and if not stopped, Iran could
(05:25):
produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time. It
could be a year. It could be within a few months,
less than a year. This is a clear and present
danger to Israel's very survival. Eighty years ago, the Jewish
people were the victims of a holocaust perpetrated by the
Nazi regime. Today, the Jewish state refuses to be a
(05:47):
victim of a nuclear holocaust perpetrated by the Uranian regime. Now,
as Prime Minister, I've made it clear time it again.
Israel will never allow those who call for our annihilation
to develop the means to achieve that goal. Tonight, Israel
backs those words with action. We struck at the heart
(06:08):
of Iran's nuclear enrichment program. We struck at the heart
of Iran's nuclear weaponization program. We targeted Iran's main enrichment
facility in Atans. We targeted Iran's leading nuclear scientists working
on the Iranian bomb. We also struck at the heart
of Iran's ballistic missile program. Last year, Iran fired three
(06:29):
hundred ballistic missiles at Israel. Each of these missiles carries
a ton of explosives and threatens the lives of hundreds
of people. Soon, those missiles could carry a nuclear payload,
threatening the lives not of hundreds, but of millions. Iran
is gearing up to produce ten thousands of those ballistic
(06:50):
missiles within three years.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Now.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Just imagine imagine ten thousand tons of TNT landing on
a country the size of New Jersey. This is an
intolerable threat. It too must be stopped. Iran is now
working on what it calls the new plan to destroy Israel.
See the old plan failed. Iran and its proxies try
(07:16):
to encircle Israel with a ring of fire and to
attack us with the horrible attack of October seventh. But
the people of Israel, the soldiers of Israel, rose like
lions to defend our country. We crushed from as we
devastated Ribalah, We hid Iranian proxies in Syria and Yemen,
and when Iran directly attacked us twice last year, we
(07:37):
struck back inside Iran itself. Yet in defending ourselves, we
also defend others. We defend our Arab neighbors. They too
have suffered from Iran's campaign of chaos and carnage. Our
actions against Iran's proxy Hizballah led to the establishment of
a new government in Lebanon and the collapse of Asad's
(07:58):
murderous regime in Syria. The peoples of those two countries
now have a chance for a different future, a better future.
So too, to the brave people of Iran, and I
have a message for them. Our fight is not with you.
Our fight is with the brutal dictatorship that has oppressed
you for forty six years. I believe that the day
(08:21):
of your liberation is near, and when that happens, the
great friendship between our two ancient peoples will flourish once again.
I want to assure the civilized world we will not
let the world's most dangerous regime get the world's most
dangerous weapons. And Iran plans to give those weapons nuclear
(08:41):
weapons to its terrorist proxies that would make the nightmare
of nuclear terrorism all too real. The increasing range of
Iran's ballistic missiles would bring that nuclear nightmare to the
cities of Europe and eventually to America.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Now the Israeli Prime Minister net Now who also confirmed
that these air strikes may not just be a one
day and done, saying quote, this operation will continue for
as many days as it takes, stating that the Iranian
officials were actively taking steps to weaponize it's enriched uranium
stockpile and calling on Tehran and saying they're a clear
and present danger to Israel's survival and also to others
(09:22):
in the world. Now, Center Cruz and I set down
for our podcast that we do Verticquate Tech. Cruz and
I want to play for you what we had to say,
because he had just gotten off the phone with the
Israeli ambassador and had had a briefing on this attack
and what is next, and I want you to hear
what was said.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
So take a listen.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
We are gathered right now at a time of war,
that time when Israel is striking back at Iran, striking
back to ensure that Iran does not acquire nuclear weapons.
And you and I are recording this podcast at is
twelve oh seven am on Friday morning, So the events
may change in the next forty eight hours, but at
twelve oh seven am, the war is just unfolding and
(10:05):
we're seeing what's happening, and what's happening so far israel strikes,
by the early reports, have been enormously effective. Israel has
taken out the chief of the IRGC. Israel has taken
out the successor to the chief of the IRGC. Israel
has decimated Tons, a major nuclear site in Iran, and
(10:28):
Israel is carrying out multiple military strikes right now as
we speak. Now, I will say, by the time you
listen to this podcast, it may be Friday during the
day and you're listening to the podcast. It may be
Saturday or Sunday and you're listening to this show on
the radio. Things may have changed by then. But right
now we are seeing war in the Middle East. We
(10:48):
are seeing Israel acting decisively to protect yourself. And I
will say there are several messages that every one of
us need to hear, but the two that are most
important our number one, America stands unequivocally with the state
of Israel. We are with Israel and her right to
defend herself with no daylight whatsoever. And number two, a
(11:12):
message to the Ayatola. We have an enormous number of
American servicemen and women in harm's way in the Middle East.
The Iahtola needs to understand if you strike out and
attack American servicemen and women, if you kill even a
single American servicemen or women, I am absolutely confident President
(11:32):
Trump will respond with overwhelming force. And so the Iyahtola
should know, do not attack America as a response to
this military assault.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Amen to that. And look, this is such a hard
time right now for so many in Israel, and so
many that listen to the show have asks what can
I do to help? How do I stand with the
people in Israel? They need her help now more than ever.
And that's why I want you to get involved with
an organization that I'm heavily involved with. It's called the
International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. And we are seeing
(12:05):
something that's disturbing, anti Semitism on the rise around the world.
Sadly right here in America. You have seen Jewish schools
that have been targeted, synagogues that have been threatened, families
that are living in fear. And that's happening in the US.
Imagine what's happening right now in Israel. And that's why
I want you to know about the International Fellowship of
(12:25):
Christians and Jews. They're on the front lines and they're
providing hope and help when it is needed the most,
especially right now. They're giving food and shelter to Jewish
families that are under threat. They are building countless bomb
shelters for children to keep them safe. In Israel, they're
helping survivors of hate rebuild their lives. And they don't
(12:47):
just respond to crisis, they work every day to prevent it. Now,
your gift of only forty five dollars not only will
help support life saving work by providing food and shelter
and bombshells and armored vehicles, but it will give them
peace knowing that there are people standing with the people
in Israel. So if you've thought about helping, now is
(13:11):
the time to do it. Call them and make a
donation eight eight eight four eight eight IFCJ.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
That's eight eight eight four eight eight four three two five.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
You can also go online to IFCJ dot org.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Every dollar truly does help.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Don't wait be the difference of his IFCJ dot orger
eight a eight four eight eight IFCJ. Right now, all right, Senator,
So let's start with the basic question, and that is
what how did this begin? What have you learned being
in Washington, d C. About this strike on these Iranian
(13:51):
nuclear sites and military targets. What do you know tonight
that that you can tell people listening?
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Well, let me say, first of all, I believe this
attack was inevitable that Iran was hell bent on acquiring
nuclear weapons. President Trump said repeatedly and unequivocally that the
only option for Iran was a complete and total dismantlement
of their centrifuges, of their enrichment capacity, of their ability
(14:20):
to enrich uranium. I led a letter with fifty two
Republican senators where we said, united, we agree with President Trump.
This is the red line, complete and total dismantlement of
their nuclear capacity. Now, what President Trump said is there's
two ways they can do this. One they can do
so peacefully through negotiations, and that's what the Trump administration
(14:43):
was trying to do. Or two, if they refuse to dismantle,
they will have the centrifugions dismantled through warfare. Well, this morning,
the Iranian regime announced it was not going to shut
down even in a single centrifuge. Instead, it was going
to build more. That they were hell bent on building
(15:05):
more centrifuges, enriching more uranium, and they were on the
path to a nuclear weapon. And I got to say, Ben,
the consequences of the statements this morning, we're number one.
There were a gigantic middle Frank Finger to President Trump.
They were saying, we don't care what you say. We
want nuclear weapons, and we're not gonna be dissuaded. We're
(15:27):
not going to be deterred. But number two, they were
a very clear message to Israel, attack us now, because
we are barreling towards acquiring a nuclear weapon, and if
you wait, you may find yourself with an enemy that
has a nuclear weapon and that can detonated over the
skies of Israel and kill millions of Israelis. And so
(15:47):
Iran set us on this course, and the government of
Israel is acting to keep the people of Israel safe.
But it is nonetheless an extraordinarily perilous time for Israel,
for America and for the world.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Say, you just mentioned that this was inevitable, and it
does feel like it was a long time coming, and
there was a question of who was going to do it.
Was it going to be America, was it going to
be Israel. Clearly now we know this as Israel is
launching this preemptive strike, and some would even argue this
was long overdue.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Yes, And I will say President Trump announced on April
twelfth that Iran has sixty days to negotiate and agree
to this sixty days. This attack was launched on June twelfth, Thursday,
June twelfth, exactly sixty days after that. That is not
an accident. Iran understood they had a timeframe, but you
(16:42):
got to understand the Iranians when they negotiate, they want
to delay. They wanted to delay, they want to continue
to reap the benefits of Joe Biden and the Democrats
weakness and appeasement and fuel the money that they received
into developing nuclear weapons. And so Israel made the decision.
They made the decision they were going to attack. They
were going to attack on exactly the sixty day expiration
(17:05):
of President Trump's deadline. And I think that was driven
by Iran beginning Thursday by saying we're not changing a
damn thing. We're gonna keep building centrifuges and effectively we
want a nuclear weapon and there's nothing you can do
to stop us. Israel acted to demonstrate that was not right.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Senator, I want to also remind people we do the
show as a podcast, so you can grab it three
days a week wherever you get your podcasts. Don't forget
subscribe to vertict with tech Cruise and let's get into
what Netnya who had to say as well Senator Netnak
who came out and was and spoke very boldly, not
just to the people in Israel, but also to the world.
Speaker 4 (17:43):
So on Thursday evening, as the military strike was beginning,
Prime Minister Netnyah who addressed Israel and addressed the world.
Here's what he had to say.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Moments ago, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, a targeted military
operation to roll back the Uranian threat to Israel's very survival.
This operation will continue for as many days as it
takes to remove this threat. For decades, the tyrants of
Tehran have brazenly openly called for Israel's destruction. They've backed
(18:17):
up their genocidal rhetoric with a program to develop nuclear weapons.
In recent years, Iran has produced enough highly enriched uranium
for nine atom bombs. Nine In recent months, Iran has
taken steps that it has never taken before, steps to
weaponize this enriched uranium. And if not stopped, Iran could
(18:40):
produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time. It
could be a year, it could be within a few months,
less than a year. This is a clear and present
danger to Israel's very survival. Eighty years ago, the Jewish
people were the victims of a holocaust perpetrated by the
Nazi regime. Today, the Jewish state refuses to be a
(19:02):
victim of a nuclear holocaust perporpated by the Iranian regime. Now,
as Prime Minister, I've made it clear time and again,
Israel will never allow those who call for our annihilation
to develop the means to achieve that goal. Tonight, Israel
backs those words with action. We struck at the heart
(19:23):
of Iran's nuclear enrichment program. We struck at the heart
of Iran's nuclear weaponization program. We targeted Iran's main enrichment
facility in Atans. We targeted Iran's leading nuclear scientists working
on the Iranian bomb. We also struck at the heart
of Iran's ballistic missile program. Last year, Iran fired three
(19:44):
hundred ballistic missiles at Israel. Each of these missiles carries
a ton of explosives and threatens the lives of hundreds
of people. Soon, those missiles could carry a nuclear payload,
threatening the lives not of hundreds, but of millions. Iran
is gearing up to produce ten thousands of those ballistic
(20:05):
missiles within three years now. Just imagine, imagine ten thousand
tons of TNT landing on a country the size of
New Jersey. This is an intolerable threat. It too must
be stopped.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
You listen to Netnyahu there, and not only was he
very clear and direct, but it was I think a
argument that if you're a sane person wherever you are
in the world, and you're looking at the position that
Israel is in with a Ran next door, they had
no choice but.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
To do this.
Speaker 4 (20:39):
Yes, Look, as you know, I know Prime Minister Netneho
very well. He is a friend. We've spent a lot
of time together. When he was in DC last month,
he and I spent two, almost two and a half
hours together, just one on one. I will tell you,
in the thirteen years i've been in the Senate, I've
met a lot of world leaders. That's part of a job,
(21:00):
as you meet the leaders of foreign countries. There is
only one who has taking my breath away. I think
Prime Minister netanya who the adjective I've used for him
I've not used for anyone else is Churchillian, because I
think he has a seriousness of purpose. I think he
has a gravitas. He understands that he is facing literally
(21:22):
a threat to annihilate the people of his country, and
he is committed to doing everything necessary to prevent it.
You know, I'll tell you when Obama was president, and
when Obama was negotiating and announcing the Obama Iran nuclear Deal,
which was catastrophically devastating, the House of Representatives invited Prime
(21:44):
Minister Netna who to come and address a joint session
of Congress. And when that happened, I invited Ellie Wizzell,
who is the Nobel Laureate, incredible, incredible man, to come
participate in a conversation with me on what the threat
of a nuclear was.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Now.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
Ellie, he wanted it to be very mache bipartisan event.
So I invited Chuck Schumer to participate. He said no.
I invited multiple Democrats to participate, one after the other
after the other. They sayed said no. Finally I told Ellie,
no Democrat will participate. We did a gathering in the capital.
(22:23):
We had over five hundred people come in the capital. Listen.
Ellie was l talk about his experiences seeing the horrors
of the Holocaust, seeing the horrors of evil and Nazi Germany,
and I got to say when Ellie was l talked
about never again means never again, and the greatest threat
(22:45):
of another holocaust on planet Earth is a nuclear Iran,
where these theocratic lunatics use nuclear weapons to murder millions
of Israelis. It was powerful. It took my breath away
to be sitting at the table with him. But it
also spoke volumes that not a single Democrat was willing
(23:06):
to be in the room. And I'll tell you ben
So on that speech on the Senate floor, I was there.
I listened to Prime Minister Netyahu's speech, which was powerful,
it was incredibly important, and we saw a vast number
of Democrats boycott the speech, refuse to attend. We saw
that again when when when the Prime Minister addressed Congress
more recently, and again Democrats boycott of the speech. Kamala
(23:30):
Harris boycott of the speech, refused to listen to the
democratically elected leader of Israel. And it is a sad
dynamic that today's Democrat party is dominated by the Prohamas faction.
Today's Democrat Party isn't panic because right now, far too
many of their radicals sympathize with Iran over Israel. And
(23:53):
that that may sound like hyperbole, but you know what
we are going to see. I'm going to predict this,
you and I. This is this is early Friday morning.
We are going to see Democrat after Democrat saying to Israel,
you need to restrain yourself, not calling out a Ran,
but calling out Israel because that.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
Is where the bank on Israel.
Speaker 4 (24:14):
That party is.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Yeah, after the attack, they've came out and said they
must show restraint. Before they'd even been able to figure
out what had happened in Israel, They're like, well, they
need to show restraint, they must show restrained.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
Everything the Biden administration over and over again said do
not kill the terrorists, do not kill the terrorists. They
cut off weapons to Israel. The radical left in the
Democrat Party hates Israel and that battle is only gonna
get worse.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
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nine seven to two Patriot. One of the things I
love about doing the show Center is moments after this
attack took place Israel on Iran, you were actually on
(26:43):
the phone with the ambassador from Israel. What did he
tell you about this attack? How long had they been
planning this? What was the final decision that made this
happen in the last several hours.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
Well, understand, this show happens real time. It happens real
time and life. You and I are recording this early
in the morning Friday morning. This podcast will come out
later in the day on Friday, So some of you
will be listening to this on Friday, others of you
will be hearing this on radio on Saturday or Sunday.
And so the world may have changed forty eight hours.
At the time. When a war is initiating, it is
(27:19):
a mountain of time. What I can tell you is
late Thursday night, as Israel was launching it its attacks,
before Iran has engaged in a counterattack, I was on
the phone with the Israeli ambassador of the United States
and he told me that the attack, at least so far,
had gone extraordinarily well, that they'd taken out senior leadership
(27:41):
of the IRGC. And I got to say, by the way,
that's a huge victory for the United States of America.
The IRGC has murdered over six hundred American servicemen and women.
They are grotesquely hostile to the United States, and for
Israel to take them out enormous benefit to America. But
(28:02):
at the same time, the Israeli ambassador told me that
the instruction had gone out in Israel to the people
of Israel go to a bomb shelter, either be in
a bomb shelter or be very near a bomb shelter,
because they are anticipating early in the morning Friday morning,
that Iran is going to launch a massive counter attack
(28:24):
with ballistic weapons. And Israel has extensive anti missile defenses,
but Iran has sufficient volume that if they launch everything,
they have the capacity to overwhelm the defenses, and so
there is a very real possibility. The people of Israel
are braced. They understand. Look, look, they're not playing they're
(28:45):
not playing games that they are playing with real stakes.
They're playing with live rounds. The people of Israel understand
right now, as you and I are recording this, that
we may see Israeli's die right now, because Iran has
enough missiles that if they launched them all there will
be Israeli's murdered in the minutes and hours ahead of us.
(29:08):
But at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyah, who made
the decision, it's a decision I agree with. It's a
decision that I think was right. Which is the risk
of Israelis dying and of Americans dying if Iran acquires
a nuclear weapon is qualitatively different that we could face.
With an Iranian nuclear weapon, we could face millions murdered.
(29:33):
And so listen, I want to underscore what I said
at the beginning of this podcast. Pray for the people
of Israel and pray for our servicemen and women in
har harm's way, because this is a very very dangerous
time right now.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Well, let's talk about who is targeted and what this
looks like moving forward from the standpoint of Israel. I mean,
the objective here is clearly to put them back when
it comes to their nuclear program. But they also went
after people that were involved in that program, which is
a really big way to move things backwards.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
Look, this was a decapitation strike. It was targeted the
senior military leaders in Iran. It was targeted at the
nuclear facilities in Iran. It was targeted at the anti
air assault facilities in Iran. It was a very targeted
but massively effective strike. Now Iran is going to strike back.
(30:27):
Understand that that that's not a possibility or a probability.
It is a certainty that Iran will hit back. Now,
what I hope Iran understands is they should not hit
back at America. Hitting back at America would escalate this dramatically.
And I will say the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio,
he put out a statement Thursday night. Let me read
(30:49):
his statement. Quote tonight, Israel took unilateral action against Iran.
We were not involved in strikes against Iran, and our
top priority is protecting American forces in the region. Israel
advised us that they believe this action was necessary for
its self defense. President Trump and the administration have taken
(31:11):
all necessary steps to protect our forces and remain in
close contact with our regional partners. Let me be clear,
Iran should not target US interests or personnel. Now, look,
I'm glad that the Secretary of State was putting out
that statement defending our servicemen and women. I wish there
(31:33):
had been more in that statement saying we stand with Israel.
That was missing from the statement, and it shouldn't have been.
From my perspective, we stand unequivocally with Israel. But I
understand why the Secretary of State didn't do that, which
is that he's concerned that Iran may strike at US
military forces. Now, in my view, the way to prevent
(31:56):
that is not to say to Iran, hey, we had
nothing to do with That was the main theme of
the Secretary of State's statement, but rather to say, if
you attack US forces, the consequences will be overwhelming. I
think Iran responds more to stick than the carrot. But
(32:17):
we shall see. And it is any way you look
at it, on unbelievably dangerous time.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Senator, let's talk about some of the people that have
been taken out here. There's two aspects of these strikes. One,
nuclear scientists are being reported that they were targeted and
have been killed, and that is the brains of the
nuclear program. If you want to stop Iran from doing this,
taking out new nuclear scientists is absolutely brilliant. It's the
computer system, the nervous system of everything they're trying to accomplish.
(32:47):
That's incredible. But we also now know from virtually every
news agency is reporting this that the IRGC tear chief Salami,
has also been eliminated.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
That is significant as well.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
Well. We now know that Hussein Salami is lunch meat
and I feel a little cheesy making fun of him,
but then again, the guy is a racist, genocidal, homicidal lunatic.
So I hope after Salami, Beloni and Pastrami both get
eliminated as well. And if you look at the head
(33:24):
of the IRGC, he has responsibility for murdering over six
hundred US servicemen and women. So if you love the
men and women of the Armed Services, if you are
grateful for friends, family, loved ones who served defending this nation,
then you ought to say tonight to the nation of Israel,
(33:46):
thank you, thank you for taking out the head of
the IRGC that is responsible for murdering hundreds of American
servicemen and women. President Trump when he was president the
first time, he took out General Solimani, and now today
the Israelis have taken out Salami, a successor who is
(34:06):
the terror chief of the IRGC, and he is now
with his seventy two versions, so that, I will tell you,
much to his dismay, those virgins are all Gomer Pyle
and it's not what he hoped for.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
I got to say.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
One of the best parts about this story just side note,
if you look up Insallami on his pages on the Wikipedia,
it already says he's like the former guy in charge
of the IRGC. I love the Internet when they get
it right really quickly. Center. It is amazing to see
this moment in history, because this is a moment in history.
(34:39):
And I got to ask you this, Aran now is
going to respond. I'm sure in some way. I'm sure
Israel is expecting that you made it very clear to
night America's warning and from this administration, what happens next
and what is Israel expecting in your mind.
Speaker 4 (34:58):
Well, it depends on the escalation. I think it is
one hundred percent certain that Iran will respond by firing
missiles at Israel. Israel gets that, they understand that they're
ready for that. There is some real possibility that Iran
will respond by firing missiles or other weapons at Americans.
And I think if they do that, they will dramatically
(35:20):
escalate this conflict. I think they will provoke. If they
murder American servicemen and women, I think you will see
President Trump respond with devastating force. And so again my
message to the Iatolas, do not do that their response
to Israel. I don't know what it will be. There
is a risk that their response is devastating, that it
(35:40):
is overwhelming. They have a massive number of ballistic missiles,
so if they fire them, all the odds are significant
that we will see a very large number of Israelis murdered.
What I'm saying, Prime Minister net Yahoo understands. He knows that.
He knows that, but by virtue of engaging this attack tonight,
there's a real risk of a significant number of Israelis
(36:03):
being murdered. But he did this because he knows that
if Iran has a nuclear weapon, many many more Israelis
and many many more Americans are at risk of being murdered.
Look the Iatola chance death to America and death to Israel.
I believe he believes that, and so acquiring a nuclear
(36:24):
weapon is not just an academic question. If he gets
a nuclear weapon, I believe he is trying to acquire
one because he wants to carry out his promises of
death to Israel and death to America. And that's precisely
why Israel has launched this attack, to stop him from
getting that capability.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
I also center want to play for you what the
Israeli ambassador the United Nations had to say on CNN earlier.
Here is what he had to say when he was
asked a couple of different questions about this strike.
Speaker 5 (36:52):
Also joining me is Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations,
Danny Denone. And Ambassador, it's great to have you here, sir.
Just first on the strike that we were seeing plays
ou tonight and what this means should we now consider
is real to be at war with Iran?
Speaker 6 (37:06):
And I was very clear, we took a preemptive attack
to defense ourselves, to defend ourselves, and we are targeting
the nuclear facilities and the ballistic mission centers in Iran.
So We don't go into declarations. Now, we take actions.
We decided not to wait for Iran to attack us
with nuclear capabilities. We knew that they were plotting to
(37:30):
do that, and while they were talking with many countries
and negotiating, they moved secretly with a military plan to
attack as well. And what we did was an act
of self defense. And we have abilities, you know, okay,
clean eighty years ago, when Auschwitz was liberated, we required
the support of the allies to protect our people. But
(37:50):
today we have our own state, our own military, our
own air force, and today we are protecting ourselves from
another holocaust.
Speaker 5 (38:00):
Are much wider than the preemptive strikes based on what
we've seen so far, especially in terms of targeting around
top military leaders as well as senior nuclear scientists, kind
of a mass based on what we have heard, do
you know how many of those top military leaders and
nuclear scientists and run the strikes against the more successful,
How many of them have been eliminated tonight?
Speaker 6 (38:21):
No, I cannot go into those details, but I can
tell you one thing. Those people who were involved in
the nuclear production, those who were putting together the ballistic missiles,
there are targets. They are part of the machine that
threatened as well in other countries in the world. You know,
if you look back at attack that if well took,
(38:41):
whether it was against the Iraqi or see yeah, we
try to develop a nuclear reactors. I think today everybody
can thank it well for those actions. So maybe today
some people are not sure about why we're doing it today,
but down the world a few years from today, the
world will thank it well for the actually we took todaight.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
The world will think Israel for the actions taking tonight.
Is that the big takeaway from all of this.
Speaker 4 (39:07):
It should be. But understand that the pro Hamas radical
left in the Democrat Party is cheering on exactly the
opposite side. So Ben Rhodes, many of you all listening
know who Ben Roads is. Ben Rhodes was a top
national security official in the Barack Obama National Security Council.
He is the lead architect of the Obama Iran nuclear deal.
(39:32):
He is a hardcore leftist and tonight he's miserable. So
Ben Rhodes. Late Thursday night, he tweeted out, quote, this
is all so unnecessary, all of it everywhere. Understand when
Israel attacks Iran to take out the nuclear capacities. Ben Rhodes,
(39:53):
the leading national security official for Barack Obama, is I
think Ben is in tears right now. And listen, the
Iran nuclear deal under Obama was a disaster. Under Joe Biden,
their top foreign policy objective was to have another Iran
nuclear deal. The only thing that stopped it is Iran
was so unreasonable they would not accept it. And there
(40:17):
are so many in the Democrat Party right now that
are cheering for Iran. I'll tell you what I'm cheering
for America, dammit, and I'm cheering for Israel and people
who are theocratic lunatics who say they want to murder us.
I am not dismayed that we are seeing a military
force stand up and take them out, and in particular,
(40:38):
take out their nuclear capacity. That is critically important. We
do not want people who want to murder us to
have the tools to do so. And I think Israel's
attack did enormous benefit to America.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
You mentioned taking away their tools, and one of their
tools was going after their scientists. I mean, this is
the brains behind everything. This took a lot of planning
and apparently it was incredibly successful as well. I mean,
this is taking out their nervous system of the computer system,
whatever you want to call it, for their nuclear program
(41:15):
by going after the scientists. It's absolutely brilliant, and they
pulled it off.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
They did.
Speaker 4 (41:20):
It was executed with amazing precision. Now it's early. Look,
you and I are both talking early in the morning,
Friday morning. It is possible that that problems developed later Friday,
later Saturday, later Sunday. One of the challenges of doing
a show like this at the beginning of military conflict
is you don't know how things will shake out. But
(41:41):
I will say this, so Benjamin Netanya who is a
strong conservative, One of his predecessors as Israeli Prime minister
was Enough Tolly Bennett. Now enough Tolly had been previously Netanyah,
who's chief of staff. But then but then Bennett broke
with nen Yahoo and ended up becoming prime minister himself
(42:04):
in significant part by opposing nen Nyahu. But I want
you to listen to this clip of former Israeli Prime
minister and nough Tlly Bennett talking about what this is
all about. Give a listen.
Speaker 7 (42:16):
Well, the Israeli had a siren across the country indicating
that Israel's air force is conducting a prempt to strike
against Iran's military facilities and perhaps also the nuclear facilities.
I want to remind you that Iran's about a week
(42:36):
away from being able to obtain the amount of enriched
uranium for ten bombs. So this is not me saying,
this is the international nuclear community and the goal ultimately
will be to remove the nuclear.
Speaker 8 (42:56):
Threat from the Middle East. And sitting the head of
the octaple of Terra that should have been causing all
of the mess we've seen over the past couple of
years in the region, I mean, there it is.
Speaker 4 (43:10):
And I will say when today's Democrats in the Senate
and House are to the left of that are saying
do not attack Iran, and we're going to see I'm
going to make a prediction in the hours and days ahead,
We're going to see a massive rise in the attacks
from the anti Semitic left. And the anti Semitic left
is growing bigger and bigger, and so those who hate
(43:32):
Israel will be really vocal, and unfortunately there's also a
contingent on the anti Semitic right. The anti Semitic right
is smaller than the left, but both of them are
absolutely wrong, and you're going to see online people say
the Israelis are dragging us into war. I'm here to
tell you the Israelis are acting to prevent war, to
(43:53):
prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons, and those nuclear weapons
could well be used to murder millions of Israelis or
millions of Americans. And so Israel is acting in self defense.
And and I want to be clear, America stands with Israel.
Speaker 3 (44:12):
Don't forget.
Speaker 1 (44:13):
Share this podcast with your family and friends, share it
on social media, please, and I'll see you back here
tomorrow
We start with the big breaking news and that is
coming out of Israel. Israel has struck Iran, and Iran
is now confirming that the IRGC terar chief Salami has
also been eliminated. Benjamin Nettnahu announcing the operation as well,
(00:21):
talking about what this means. And we also have found
out that not only did Iran state run Islamic Republic
News agency confirm in the early hours of Friday morning
that the Israeli airstrike on targets in the country eliminated
the major General Salami, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard.
(00:41):
Other arms of Iran state news apparatus also confirm this.
Several high profile regime members, including not one, but two
of their top nuclear scientists. Now this is obviously massive
because if you want to take out their nuclear program,
taking out the scientist behind it is huge. It's very
(01:03):
hard to get nuclear scientists to defect and come to Iran,
so taking them out could put back their program literally years.
They were killed in these strikes, and that is again massive. Now,
Islami may be by far one of the highest ranking
Iranian regime officials who have been targeted successfully in the operation.
(01:27):
He is one of those that was important to take out,
and Israel had planned this for quite some time and
they were able to do it. Salami had to stay
in a place. As one of the most prominent and
also belligerent senior leaders in the Iranian Islamic regime. He
regularly threatened attacks on America and Israel, and what was
(01:47):
perhaps his final public appearance on Thursday, Salami declared that
his forces were quote war tested and experienced, prepared for
war against its enemies. Now that was just twenty four
hours ago. He said that publicly now, the IRGC is
both a US designated terrorist organization he was in charge
(02:09):
of it, and a formal wing of the Iranian Armed Forces.
Among its chief operations is to sustain relations between the
Iranian terror state and its Jihadis proxies who does That
include the Huthis and Yemen, the Lebanese Hesblah, and with
fellow rogue states such as Venezuela and Cuba. The IRNA
(02:31):
confirmed Solami's death and a brief message that offered no
details on the occurrence. It just confirmed that Salami died
in Tehran and claimed him a victim of assassination. Their
words now also in a separate report, the state news
outlet confirmed a barrage of air strikes over the capital
city by the Israeli Air Force. Another Iranian state media outlet,
(02:55):
press TV, reported early Friday that the strikes had march
several other senior IRGC commanders and nuclear scientists. So we're
getting lots of confirmation about how deadly and how surgical
these strikes were on the top leadership in Iran veteran
nuclear scientists. Two of them, in fact, they, as they
(03:19):
described it, were martyred in the attack. Press TV reported,
adding confirmation from now that at least one Iranian military leader,
the chief of the Iranian Armed Forces also a major
General Bagherry, is still alive and in Iran's war room
quote plotting the nation's response. Now, The Times of Israel,
(03:41):
citing Iranian state television, reported that Israel apparently also bombed
one of the most prominent uranium enrichment facilities in the country,
the facility known as the Natanz facility, and there was
several hits apparently on that facility. It was scattered among
(04:03):
anonymous reports as well on social media that this had
also happened, and we also been told that there was
disruptions and Iran by undercover MASAD agents have also now
surfaced that Israel has not confirmed that. I want to
be clear now. The Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Nettna who
also confirmed the airstrikes during a national address on Friday morning,
(04:24):
identifying the strikes as Operation Rising Lion. I want you
to hear what Netnya who had to say as he
addressed not only the people of Israel, but also the
people of the world.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
Moments ago, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, a targeted military
operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel's very survival.
This operation will continue for as many days as it
takes to remove this threat. For decades, the tyrants of
Tehran have brazenly openly called for Israel's destruction. They've backed
(05:02):
up their genocidal rhetoric with a program to develop nuclear weapons.
In recent years, Iran is produced enough highly enriched uranium
for nine atom bombs. Nine In recent months, Iran has
taken steps that it has never taken before, steps to
weaponize this enriched uranium, and if not stopped, Iran could
(05:25):
produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time. It
could be a year. It could be within a few months,
less than a year. This is a clear and present
danger to Israel's very survival. Eighty years ago, the Jewish
people were the victims of a holocaust perpetrated by the
Nazi regime. Today, the Jewish state refuses to be a
(05:47):
victim of a nuclear holocaust perpetrated by the Uranian regime. Now,
as Prime Minister, I've made it clear time it again.
Israel will never allow those who call for our annihilation
to develop the means to achieve that goal. Tonight, Israel
backs those words with action. We struck at the heart
(06:08):
of Iran's nuclear enrichment program. We struck at the heart
of Iran's nuclear weaponization program. We targeted Iran's main enrichment
facility in Atans. We targeted Iran's leading nuclear scientists working
on the Iranian bomb. We also struck at the heart
of Iran's ballistic missile program. Last year, Iran fired three
(06:29):
hundred ballistic missiles at Israel. Each of these missiles carries
a ton of explosives and threatens the lives of hundreds
of people. Soon, those missiles could carry a nuclear payload,
threatening the lives not of hundreds, but of millions. Iran
is gearing up to produce ten thousands of those ballistic
(06:50):
missiles within three years.
Speaker 3 (06:54):
Now.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
Just imagine imagine ten thousand tons of TNT landing on
a country the size of New Jersey. This is an
intolerable threat. It too must be stopped. Iran is now
working on what it calls the new plan to destroy Israel.
See the old plan failed. Iran and its proxies try
(07:16):
to encircle Israel with a ring of fire and to
attack us with the horrible attack of October seventh. But
the people of Israel, the soldiers of Israel, rose like
lions to defend our country. We crushed from as we
devastated Ribalah, We hid Iranian proxies in Syria and Yemen,
and when Iran directly attacked us twice last year, we
(07:37):
struck back inside Iran itself. Yet in defending ourselves, we
also defend others. We defend our Arab neighbors. They too
have suffered from Iran's campaign of chaos and carnage. Our
actions against Iran's proxy Hizballah led to the establishment of
a new government in Lebanon and the collapse of Asad's
(07:58):
murderous regime in Syria. The peoples of those two countries
now have a chance for a different future, a better future.
So too, to the brave people of Iran, and I
have a message for them. Our fight is not with you.
Our fight is with the brutal dictatorship that has oppressed
you for forty six years. I believe that the day
(08:21):
of your liberation is near, and when that happens, the
great friendship between our two ancient peoples will flourish once again.
I want to assure the civilized world we will not
let the world's most dangerous regime get the world's most
dangerous weapons. And Iran plans to give those weapons nuclear
(08:41):
weapons to its terrorist proxies that would make the nightmare
of nuclear terrorism all too real. The increasing range of
Iran's ballistic missiles would bring that nuclear nightmare to the
cities of Europe and eventually to America.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Now the Israeli Prime Minister net Now who also confirmed
that these air strikes may not just be a one
day and done, saying quote, this operation will continue for
as many days as it takes, stating that the Iranian
officials were actively taking steps to weaponize it's enriched uranium
stockpile and calling on Tehran and saying they're a clear
and present danger to Israel's survival and also to others
(09:22):
in the world. Now, Center Cruz and I set down
for our podcast that we do Verticquate Tech. Cruz and
I want to play for you what we had to say,
because he had just gotten off the phone with the
Israeli ambassador and had had a briefing on this attack
and what is next, and I want you to hear
what was said.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
So take a listen.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
We are gathered right now at a time of war,
that time when Israel is striking back at Iran, striking
back to ensure that Iran does not acquire nuclear weapons.
And you and I are recording this podcast at is
twelve oh seven am on Friday morning, So the events
may change in the next forty eight hours, but at
twelve oh seven am, the war is just unfolding and
(10:05):
we're seeing what's happening, and what's happening so far israel strikes,
by the early reports, have been enormously effective. Israel has
taken out the chief of the IRGC. Israel has taken
out the successor to the chief of the IRGC. Israel
has decimated Tons, a major nuclear site in Iran, and
(10:28):
Israel is carrying out multiple military strikes right now as
we speak. Now, I will say, by the time you
listen to this podcast, it may be Friday during the
day and you're listening to the podcast. It may be
Saturday or Sunday and you're listening to this show on
the radio. Things may have changed by then. But right
now we are seeing war in the Middle East. We
(10:48):
are seeing Israel acting decisively to protect yourself. And I
will say there are several messages that every one of
us need to hear, but the two that are most
important our number one, America stands unequivocally with the state
of Israel. We are with Israel and her right to
defend herself with no daylight whatsoever. And number two, a
(11:12):
message to the Ayatola. We have an enormous number of
American servicemen and women in harm's way in the Middle East.
The Iahtola needs to understand if you strike out and
attack American servicemen and women, if you kill even a
single American servicemen or women, I am absolutely confident President
(11:32):
Trump will respond with overwhelming force. And so the Iyahtola
should know, do not attack America as a response to
this military assault.
Speaker 1 (11:43):
Amen to that. And look, this is such a hard
time right now for so many in Israel, and so
many that listen to the show have asks what can
I do to help? How do I stand with the
people in Israel? They need her help now more than ever.
And that's why I want you to get involved with
an organization that I'm heavily involved with. It's called the
International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. And we are seeing
(12:05):
something that's disturbing, anti Semitism on the rise around the world.
Sadly right here in America. You have seen Jewish schools
that have been targeted, synagogues that have been threatened, families
that are living in fear. And that's happening in the US.
Imagine what's happening right now in Israel. And that's why
I want you to know about the International Fellowship of
(12:25):
Christians and Jews. They're on the front lines and they're
providing hope and help when it is needed the most,
especially right now. They're giving food and shelter to Jewish
families that are under threat. They are building countless bomb
shelters for children to keep them safe. In Israel, they're
helping survivors of hate rebuild their lives. And they don't
(12:47):
just respond to crisis, they work every day to prevent it. Now,
your gift of only forty five dollars not only will
help support life saving work by providing food and shelter
and bombshells and armored vehicles, but it will give them
peace knowing that there are people standing with the people
in Israel. So if you've thought about helping, now is
(13:11):
the time to do it. Call them and make a
donation eight eight eight four eight eight IFCJ.
Speaker 3 (13:18):
That's eight eight eight four eight eight four three two five.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
You can also go online to IFCJ dot org.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
Every dollar truly does help.
Speaker 1 (13:30):
Don't wait be the difference of his IFCJ dot orger
eight a eight four eight eight IFCJ. Right now, all right, Senator,
So let's start with the basic question, and that is
what how did this begin? What have you learned being
in Washington, d C. About this strike on these Iranian
(13:51):
nuclear sites and military targets. What do you know tonight
that that you can tell people listening?
Speaker 4 (13:58):
Well, let me say, first of all, I believe this
attack was inevitable that Iran was hell bent on acquiring
nuclear weapons. President Trump said repeatedly and unequivocally that the
only option for Iran was a complete and total dismantlement
of their centrifuges, of their enrichment capacity, of their ability
(14:20):
to enrich uranium. I led a letter with fifty two
Republican senators where we said, united, we agree with President Trump.
This is the red line, complete and total dismantlement of
their nuclear capacity. Now, what President Trump said is there's
two ways they can do this. One they can do
so peacefully through negotiations, and that's what the Trump administration
(14:43):
was trying to do. Or two, if they refuse to dismantle,
they will have the centrifugions dismantled through warfare. Well, this morning,
the Iranian regime announced it was not going to shut
down even in a single centrifuge. Instead, it was going
to build more. That they were hell bent on building
(15:05):
more centrifuges, enriching more uranium, and they were on the
path to a nuclear weapon. And I got to say, Ben,
the consequences of the statements this morning, we're number one.
There were a gigantic middle Frank Finger to President Trump.
They were saying, we don't care what you say. We
want nuclear weapons, and we're not gonna be dissuaded. We're
(15:27):
not going to be deterred. But number two, they were
a very clear message to Israel, attack us now, because
we are barreling towards acquiring a nuclear weapon, and if
you wait, you may find yourself with an enemy that
has a nuclear weapon and that can detonated over the
skies of Israel and kill millions of Israelis. And so
(15:47):
Iran set us on this course, and the government of
Israel is acting to keep the people of Israel safe.
But it is nonetheless an extraordinarily perilous time for Israel,
for America and for the world.
Speaker 1 (16:02):
Say, you just mentioned that this was inevitable, and it
does feel like it was a long time coming, and
there was a question of who was going to do it.
Was it going to be America, was it going to
be Israel. Clearly now we know this as Israel is
launching this preemptive strike, and some would even argue this
was long overdue.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Yes, And I will say President Trump announced on April
twelfth that Iran has sixty days to negotiate and agree
to this sixty days. This attack was launched on June twelfth, Thursday,
June twelfth, exactly sixty days after that. That is not
an accident. Iran understood they had a timeframe, but you
(16:42):
got to understand the Iranians when they negotiate, they want
to delay. They wanted to delay, they want to continue
to reap the benefits of Joe Biden and the Democrats
weakness and appeasement and fuel the money that they received
into developing nuclear weapons. And so Israel made the decision.
They made the decision they were going to attack. They
were going to attack on exactly the sixty day expiration
(17:05):
of President Trump's deadline. And I think that was driven
by Iran beginning Thursday by saying we're not changing a
damn thing. We're gonna keep building centrifuges and effectively we
want a nuclear weapon and there's nothing you can do
to stop us. Israel acted to demonstrate that was not right.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
Senator, I want to also remind people we do the
show as a podcast, so you can grab it three
days a week wherever you get your podcasts. Don't forget
subscribe to vertict with tech Cruise and let's get into
what Netnya who had to say as well Senator Netnak
who came out and was and spoke very boldly, not
just to the people in Israel, but also to the world.
Speaker 4 (17:43):
So on Thursday evening, as the military strike was beginning,
Prime Minister Netnyah who addressed Israel and addressed the world.
Here's what he had to say.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
Moments ago, Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, a targeted military
operation to roll back the Uranian threat to Israel's very survival.
This operation will continue for as many days as it
takes to remove this threat. For decades, the tyrants of
Tehran have brazenly openly called for Israel's destruction. They've backed
(18:17):
up their genocidal rhetoric with a program to develop nuclear weapons.
In recent years, Iran has produced enough highly enriched uranium
for nine atom bombs. Nine In recent months, Iran has
taken steps that it has never taken before, steps to
weaponize this enriched uranium. And if not stopped, Iran could
(18:40):
produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time. It
could be a year, it could be within a few months,
less than a year. This is a clear and present
danger to Israel's very survival. Eighty years ago, the Jewish
people were the victims of a holocaust perpetrated by the
Nazi regime. Today, the Jewish state refuses to be a
(19:02):
victim of a nuclear holocaust perporpated by the Iranian regime. Now,
as Prime Minister, I've made it clear time and again,
Israel will never allow those who call for our annihilation
to develop the means to achieve that goal. Tonight, Israel
backs those words with action. We struck at the heart
(19:23):
of Iran's nuclear enrichment program. We struck at the heart
of Iran's nuclear weaponization program. We targeted Iran's main enrichment
facility in Atans. We targeted Iran's leading nuclear scientists working
on the Iranian bomb. We also struck at the heart
of Iran's ballistic missile program. Last year, Iran fired three
(19:44):
hundred ballistic missiles at Israel. Each of these missiles carries
a ton of explosives and threatens the lives of hundreds
of people. Soon, those missiles could carry a nuclear payload,
threatening the lives not of hundreds, but of millions. Iran
is gearing up to produce ten thousands of those ballistic
(20:05):
missiles within three years now. Just imagine, imagine ten thousand
tons of TNT landing on a country the size of
New Jersey. This is an intolerable threat. It too must
be stopped.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
You listen to Netnyahu there, and not only was he
very clear and direct, but it was I think a
argument that if you're a sane person wherever you are
in the world, and you're looking at the position that
Israel is in with a Ran next door, they had
no choice but.
Speaker 3 (20:38):
To do this.
Speaker 4 (20:39):
Yes, Look, as you know, I know Prime Minister Netneho
very well. He is a friend. We've spent a lot
of time together. When he was in DC last month,
he and I spent two, almost two and a half
hours together, just one on one. I will tell you,
in the thirteen years i've been in the Senate, I've
met a lot of world leaders. That's part of a job,
(21:00):
as you meet the leaders of foreign countries. There is
only one who has taking my breath away. I think
Prime Minister netanya who the adjective I've used for him
I've not used for anyone else is Churchillian, because I
think he has a seriousness of purpose. I think he
has a gravitas. He understands that he is facing literally
(21:22):
a threat to annihilate the people of his country, and
he is committed to doing everything necessary to prevent it.
You know, I'll tell you when Obama was president, and
when Obama was negotiating and announcing the Obama Iran nuclear Deal,
which was catastrophically devastating, the House of Representatives invited Prime
(21:44):
Minister Netna who to come and address a joint session
of Congress. And when that happened, I invited Ellie Wizzell,
who is the Nobel Laureate, incredible, incredible man, to come
participate in a conversation with me on what the threat
of a nuclear was.
Speaker 2 (22:01):
Now.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
Ellie, he wanted it to be very mache bipartisan event.
So I invited Chuck Schumer to participate. He said no.
I invited multiple Democrats to participate, one after the other
after the other. They sayed said no. Finally I told Ellie,
no Democrat will participate. We did a gathering in the capital.
(22:23):
We had over five hundred people come in the capital. Listen.
Ellie was l talk about his experiences seeing the horrors
of the Holocaust, seeing the horrors of evil and Nazi Germany,
and I got to say when Ellie was l talked
about never again means never again, and the greatest threat
(22:45):
of another holocaust on planet Earth is a nuclear Iran,
where these theocratic lunatics use nuclear weapons to murder millions
of Israelis. It was powerful. It took my breath away
to be sitting at the table with him. But it
also spoke volumes that not a single Democrat was willing
(23:06):
to be in the room. And I'll tell you ben
So on that speech on the Senate floor, I was there.
I listened to Prime Minister Netyahu's speech, which was powerful,
it was incredibly important, and we saw a vast number
of Democrats boycott the speech, refuse to attend. We saw
that again when when when the Prime Minister addressed Congress
more recently, and again Democrats boycott of the speech. Kamala
(23:30):
Harris boycott of the speech, refused to listen to the
democratically elected leader of Israel. And it is a sad
dynamic that today's Democrat party is dominated by the Prohamas faction.
Today's Democrat Party isn't panic because right now, far too
many of their radicals sympathize with Iran over Israel. And
(23:53):
that that may sound like hyperbole, but you know what
we are going to see. I'm going to predict this,
you and I. This is this is early Friday morning.
We are going to see Democrat after Democrat saying to Israel,
you need to restrain yourself, not calling out a Ran,
but calling out Israel because that.
Speaker 3 (24:12):
Is where the bank on Israel.
Speaker 4 (24:14):
That party is.
Speaker 3 (24:15):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (24:15):
Yeah, after the attack, they've came out and said they
must show restraint. Before they'd even been able to figure
out what had happened in Israel, They're like, well, they
need to show restraint, they must show restrained.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
Everything the Biden administration over and over again said do
not kill the terrorists, do not kill the terrorists. They
cut off weapons to Israel. The radical left in the
Democrat Party hates Israel and that battle is only gonna
get worse.
Speaker 3 (24:38):
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Speaker 1 (24:40):
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I use Patriot Mobile and half for years.
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They can even put a second number on a different
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It's like carrying two phones in one. You can have
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nine seven to two Patriot. One of the things I
love about doing the show Center is moments after this
attack took place Israel on Iran, you were actually on
(26:43):
the phone with the ambassador from Israel. What did he
tell you about this attack? How long had they been
planning this? What was the final decision that made this
happen in the last several hours.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
Well, understand, this show happens real time. It happens real
time and life. You and I are recording this early
in the morning Friday morning. This podcast will come out
later in the day on Friday, So some of you
will be listening to this on Friday, others of you
will be hearing this on radio on Saturday or Sunday.
And so the world may have changed forty eight hours.
At the time. When a war is initiating, it is
(27:19):
a mountain of time. What I can tell you is
late Thursday night, as Israel was launching it its attacks,
before Iran has engaged in a counterattack, I was on
the phone with the Israeli ambassador of the United States
and he told me that the attack, at least so far,
had gone extraordinarily well, that they'd taken out senior leadership
(27:41):
of the IRGC. And I got to say, by the way,
that's a huge victory for the United States of America.
The IRGC has murdered over six hundred American servicemen and women.
They are grotesquely hostile to the United States, and for
Israel to take them out enormous benefit to America. But
(28:02):
at the same time, the Israeli ambassador told me that
the instruction had gone out in Israel to the people
of Israel go to a bomb shelter, either be in
a bomb shelter or be very near a bomb shelter,
because they are anticipating early in the morning Friday morning,
that Iran is going to launch a massive counter attack
(28:24):
with ballistic weapons. And Israel has extensive anti missile defenses,
but Iran has sufficient volume that if they launch everything,
they have the capacity to overwhelm the defenses, and so
there is a very real possibility. The people of Israel
are braced. They understand. Look, look, they're not playing they're
(28:45):
not playing games that they are playing with real stakes.
They're playing with live rounds. The people of Israel understand
right now, as you and I are recording this, that
we may see Israeli's die right now, because Iran has
enough missiles that if they launched them all there will
be Israeli's murdered in the minutes and hours ahead of us.
(29:08):
But at the same time, Prime Minister Netanyah, who made
the decision, it's a decision I agree with. It's a
decision that I think was right. Which is the risk
of Israelis dying and of Americans dying if Iran acquires
a nuclear weapon is qualitatively different that we could face.
With an Iranian nuclear weapon, we could face millions murdered.
(29:33):
And so listen, I want to underscore what I said
at the beginning of this podcast. Pray for the people
of Israel and pray for our servicemen and women in
har harm's way, because this is a very very dangerous
time right now.
Speaker 1 (29:47):
Well, let's talk about who is targeted and what this
looks like moving forward from the standpoint of Israel. I mean,
the objective here is clearly to put them back when
it comes to their nuclear program. But they also went
after people that were involved in that program, which is
a really big way to move things backwards.
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (30:04):
Look, this was a decapitation strike. It was targeted the
senior military leaders in Iran. It was targeted at the
nuclear facilities in Iran. It was targeted at the anti
air assault facilities in Iran. It was a very targeted
but massively effective strike. Now Iran is going to strike back.
(30:27):
Understand that that that's not a possibility or a probability.
It is a certainty that Iran will hit back. Now,
what I hope Iran understands is they should not hit
back at America. Hitting back at America would escalate this dramatically.
And I will say the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio,
he put out a statement Thursday night. Let me read
(30:49):
his statement. Quote tonight, Israel took unilateral action against Iran.
We were not involved in strikes against Iran, and our
top priority is protecting American forces in the region. Israel
advised us that they believe this action was necessary for
its self defense. President Trump and the administration have taken
(31:11):
all necessary steps to protect our forces and remain in
close contact with our regional partners. Let me be clear,
Iran should not target US interests or personnel. Now, look,
I'm glad that the Secretary of State was putting out
that statement defending our servicemen and women. I wish there
(31:33):
had been more in that statement saying we stand with Israel.
That was missing from the statement, and it shouldn't have been.
From my perspective, we stand unequivocally with Israel. But I
understand why the Secretary of State didn't do that, which
is that he's concerned that Iran may strike at US
military forces. Now, in my view, the way to prevent
(31:56):
that is not to say to Iran, hey, we had
nothing to do with That was the main theme of
the Secretary of State's statement, but rather to say, if
you attack US forces, the consequences will be overwhelming. I
think Iran responds more to stick than the carrot. But
(32:17):
we shall see. And it is any way you look
at it, on unbelievably dangerous time.
Speaker 1 (32:23):
Senator, let's talk about some of the people that have
been taken out here. There's two aspects of these strikes. One,
nuclear scientists are being reported that they were targeted and
have been killed, and that is the brains of the
nuclear program. If you want to stop Iran from doing this,
taking out new nuclear scientists is absolutely brilliant. It's the
computer system, the nervous system of everything they're trying to accomplish.
(32:47):
That's incredible. But we also now know from virtually every
news agency is reporting this that the IRGC tear chief Salami,
has also been eliminated.
Speaker 3 (32:58):
That is significant as well.
Speaker 4 (33:00):
Well. We now know that Hussein Salami is lunch meat
and I feel a little cheesy making fun of him,
but then again, the guy is a racist, genocidal, homicidal lunatic.
So I hope after Salami, Beloni and Pastrami both get
eliminated as well. And if you look at the head
(33:24):
of the IRGC, he has responsibility for murdering over six
hundred US servicemen and women. So if you love the
men and women of the Armed Services, if you are
grateful for friends, family, loved ones who served defending this nation,
then you ought to say tonight to the nation of Israel,
(33:46):
thank you, thank you for taking out the head of
the IRGC that is responsible for murdering hundreds of American
servicemen and women. President Trump when he was president the
first time, he took out General Solimani, and now today
the Israelis have taken out Salami, a successor who is
(34:06):
the terror chief of the IRGC, and he is now
with his seventy two versions, so that, I will tell you,
much to his dismay, those virgins are all Gomer Pyle
and it's not what he hoped for.
Speaker 3 (34:18):
I got to say.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
One of the best parts about this story just side note,
if you look up Insallami on his pages on the Wikipedia,
it already says he's like the former guy in charge
of the IRGC. I love the Internet when they get
it right really quickly. Center. It is amazing to see
this moment in history, because this is a moment in history.
(34:39):
And I got to ask you this, Aran now is
going to respond. I'm sure in some way. I'm sure
Israel is expecting that you made it very clear to
night America's warning and from this administration, what happens next
and what is Israel expecting in your mind.
Speaker 4 (34:58):
Well, it depends on the escalation. I think it is
one hundred percent certain that Iran will respond by firing
missiles at Israel. Israel gets that, they understand that they're
ready for that. There is some real possibility that Iran
will respond by firing missiles or other weapons at Americans.
And I think if they do that, they will dramatically
(35:20):
escalate this conflict. I think they will provoke. If they
murder American servicemen and women, I think you will see
President Trump respond with devastating force. And so again my
message to the Iatolas, do not do that their response
to Israel. I don't know what it will be. There
is a risk that their response is devastating, that it
(35:40):
is overwhelming. They have a massive number of ballistic missiles,
so if they fire them, all the odds are significant
that we will see a very large number of Israelis murdered.
What I'm saying, Prime Minister net Yahoo understands. He knows that.
He knows that, but by virtue of engaging this attack tonight,
there's a real risk of a significant number of Israelis
(36:03):
being murdered. But he did this because he knows that
if Iran has a nuclear weapon, many many more Israelis
and many many more Americans are at risk of being murdered.
Look the Iatola chance death to America and death to Israel.
I believe he believes that, and so acquiring a nuclear
(36:24):
weapon is not just an academic question. If he gets
a nuclear weapon, I believe he is trying to acquire
one because he wants to carry out his promises of
death to Israel and death to America. And that's precisely
why Israel has launched this attack, to stop him from
getting that capability.
Speaker 1 (36:41):
I also center want to play for you what the
Israeli ambassador the United Nations had to say on CNN earlier.
Here is what he had to say when he was
asked a couple of different questions about this strike.
Speaker 5 (36:52):
Also joining me is Israel's Ambassador to the United Nations,
Danny Denone. And Ambassador, it's great to have you here, sir.
Just first on the strike that we were seeing plays
ou tonight and what this means should we now consider
is real to be at war with Iran?
Speaker 6 (37:06):
And I was very clear, we took a preemptive attack
to defense ourselves, to defend ourselves, and we are targeting
the nuclear facilities and the ballistic mission centers in Iran.
So We don't go into declarations. Now, we take actions.
We decided not to wait for Iran to attack us
with nuclear capabilities. We knew that they were plotting to
(37:30):
do that, and while they were talking with many countries
and negotiating, they moved secretly with a military plan to
attack as well. And what we did was an act
of self defense. And we have abilities, you know, okay,
clean eighty years ago, when Auschwitz was liberated, we required
the support of the allies to protect our people. But
(37:50):
today we have our own state, our own military, our
own air force, and today we are protecting ourselves from
another holocaust.
Speaker 5 (38:00):
Are much wider than the preemptive strikes based on what
we've seen so far, especially in terms of targeting around
top military leaders as well as senior nuclear scientists, kind
of a mass based on what we have heard, do
you know how many of those top military leaders and
nuclear scientists and run the strikes against the more successful,
How many of them have been eliminated tonight?
Speaker 6 (38:21):
No, I cannot go into those details, but I can
tell you one thing. Those people who were involved in
the nuclear production, those who were putting together the ballistic missiles,
there are targets. They are part of the machine that
threatened as well in other countries in the world. You know,
if you look back at attack that if well took,
(38:41):
whether it was against the Iraqi or see yeah, we
try to develop a nuclear reactors. I think today everybody
can thank it well for those actions. So maybe today
some people are not sure about why we're doing it today,
but down the world a few years from today, the
world will thank it well for the actually we took todaight.
Speaker 1 (39:01):
The world will think Israel for the actions taking tonight.
Is that the big takeaway from all of this.
Speaker 4 (39:07):
It should be. But understand that the pro Hamas radical
left in the Democrat Party is cheering on exactly the
opposite side. So Ben Rhodes, many of you all listening
know who Ben Roads is. Ben Rhodes was a top
national security official in the Barack Obama National Security Council.
He is the lead architect of the Obama Iran nuclear deal.
(39:32):
He is a hardcore leftist and tonight he's miserable. So
Ben Rhodes. Late Thursday night, he tweeted out, quote, this
is all so unnecessary, all of it everywhere. Understand when
Israel attacks Iran to take out the nuclear capacities. Ben Rhodes,
(39:53):
the leading national security official for Barack Obama, is I
think Ben is in tears right now. And listen, the
Iran nuclear deal under Obama was a disaster. Under Joe Biden,
their top foreign policy objective was to have another Iran
nuclear deal. The only thing that stopped it is Iran
was so unreasonable they would not accept it. And there
(40:17):
are so many in the Democrat Party right now that
are cheering for Iran. I'll tell you what I'm cheering
for America, dammit, and I'm cheering for Israel and people
who are theocratic lunatics who say they want to murder us.
I am not dismayed that we are seeing a military
force stand up and take them out, and in particular,
(40:38):
take out their nuclear capacity. That is critically important. We
do not want people who want to murder us to
have the tools to do so. And I think Israel's
attack did enormous benefit to America.
Speaker 1 (40:54):
You mentioned taking away their tools, and one of their
tools was going after their scientists. I mean, this is
the brains behind everything. This took a lot of planning
and apparently it was incredibly successful as well. I mean,
this is taking out their nervous system of the computer system,
whatever you want to call it, for their nuclear program
(41:15):
by going after the scientists. It's absolutely brilliant, and they
pulled it off.
Speaker 2 (41:19):
They did.
Speaker 4 (41:20):
It was executed with amazing precision. Now it's early. Look,
you and I are both talking early in the morning,
Friday morning. It is possible that that problems developed later Friday,
later Saturday, later Sunday. One of the challenges of doing
a show like this at the beginning of military conflict
is you don't know how things will shake out. But
(41:41):
I will say this, so Benjamin Netanya who is a
strong conservative, One of his predecessors as Israeli Prime minister
was Enough Tolly Bennett. Now enough Tolly had been previously Netanyah,
who's chief of staff. But then but then Bennett broke
with nen Yahoo and ended up becoming prime minister himself
(42:04):
in significant part by opposing nen Nyahu. But I want
you to listen to this clip of former Israeli Prime
minister and nough Tlly Bennett talking about what this is
all about. Give a listen.
Speaker 7 (42:16):
Well, the Israeli had a siren across the country indicating
that Israel's air force is conducting a prempt to strike
against Iran's military facilities and perhaps also the nuclear facilities.
I want to remind you that Iran's about a week
(42:36):
away from being able to obtain the amount of enriched
uranium for ten bombs. So this is not me saying,
this is the international nuclear community and the goal ultimately
will be to remove the nuclear.
Speaker 8 (42:56):
Threat from the Middle East. And sitting the head of
the octaple of Terra that should have been causing all
of the mess we've seen over the past couple of
years in the region, I mean, there it is.
Speaker 4 (43:10):
And I will say when today's Democrats in the Senate
and House are to the left of that are saying
do not attack Iran, and we're going to see I'm
going to make a prediction in the hours and days ahead,
We're going to see a massive rise in the attacks
from the anti Semitic left. And the anti Semitic left
is growing bigger and bigger, and so those who hate
(43:32):
Israel will be really vocal, and unfortunately there's also a
contingent on the anti Semitic right. The anti Semitic right
is smaller than the left, but both of them are
absolutely wrong, and you're going to see online people say
the Israelis are dragging us into war. I'm here to
tell you the Israelis are acting to prevent war, to
(43:53):
prevent Iran from getting nuclear weapons, and those nuclear weapons
could well be used to murder millions of Israelis or
millions of Americans. And so Israel is acting in self defense.
And and I want to be clear, America stands with Israel.
Speaker 3 (44:12):
Don't forget.
Speaker 1 (44:13):
Share this podcast with your family and friends, share it
on social media, please, and I'll see you back here
tomorrow
Host
Ben Ferguson
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