March 3, 2026 • 42 mins
In this BONUS episode of Verdict with Ted Cruz, Senator Ted Cruz and co-host Ben Ferguson cover:
- Major U.S.–Israel Strike on Iran
- President Trump ordered a large-scale coordinated U.S. and Israeli bombing campaign on Iran.
- Over 900 U.S. airstrikes and ~1,200 Israeli strikes occurred within the first day.
- The attack reportedly killed Iran’s Supreme Leader and several senior Iranian officials.
- The hosts emphasize that intelligence was “exquisite,” enabling targeted strikes on leadership meetings.
2. Rationale for the Attack (as described by the speakers)
- Iran is portrayed as:
- Leading state sponsor of terrorism for decades.
- Responsible for killing ~1,000 Americans historically.
- Financing Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.
- Claims that Iran’s nuclear program was being rebuilt after earlier strikes.
- Trump reportedly consulted senators on Air Force One before the strike.
- The speakers describe Iran as militarily weakened from a previous “Twelve-Day War.”
3. Expected Global and U.S. Consequences
- Escalation risk is stressed, particularly:
- Terror attacks from Iran-backed proxies (Hamas, Hezbollah, Houthis).
- Possible retaliation within the U.S.
- Middle Eastern airspace and the Strait of Hormuz were reportedly shut down amid fears of mines and missile activity.
4. Austin, Texas Mass Shooting
- Separate event discussed as possibly terrorism-related, though not confirmed.
- Shooter:
- 53‑year‑old naturalized U.S. citizen from Senegal.
- Wore clothing with “Property of Allah” and an Iranian flag underneath.
- Fired into a crowded bar district; killed 2 victims and was shot by police.
- Authorities had not yet confirmed motive at the time of reporting; investigation is ongoing.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
It is Verdict with Center, Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you,
and obviously this is a very big show. Man. If
you may have not ever listened to this show before,
we want to welcome you as we're obviously going to
be talking a lot about the attack on Iran and
what is happening. So if you're joining us for the
very first time, it's nice to have you. Don't forget
hit that subscriber auto download button wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Center.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
This is obviously a very big show, and it's an
important one because the world is changing before our very eyes.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
On Saturday, President Trump launched a major military attack on Iran,
a bombing, bombing from the sky, bombing from naval vessels.
It was done in close coordination with Israel, that likewise
launched a bombing attack. In the opening minutes and hours
of the attack, the Ayatola Kameinee was killed. Other major
(00:53):
leaders of Iran were killed. The bombing is ongoing. You
and I are recording this Sunday afternoon, and of right now,
over nine hundred bombing strikes have been carried out by
the United States. Over one two hundred bombing strikes have
been carried out by israel I. Spent the entire day
on Friday with President Trump. The day before the attack,
(01:16):
we spent much of the time discussing the attack that
was coming. This podcast, we're going to try to explain
exactly what's happening, why President Trump attacked Iran, what is
likely to happen as a result, and what the next
stages are. We're also going to talk about the mass
shooting that occurred at two am Sunday morning in Austin, Texas,
(01:39):
in a bar on Sixth Street, where a gunman murdered
two other people and injured seventeen. That gunman, in turn,
was shot and killed by Austin police early in dish
ye make it appear that this was a terrorist attack.
He was wearing a sweatshirt that said property of Allah.
He was wearing a shirt with the Iranian flat on it.
(02:00):
It is still early. I spoke today with Cash Patel,
the director of the FBI. We're gonna break that down
as well. This is gonna be a podcast where we
try to examine everything you need to know about what
is happening in Iran, how it is going to impact
the United States, and what's coming next.
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Promo code verdict. So, Senator, you mentioned earlier that you
were on the plane with President Trump air Force one.
(04:06):
We're going to get to that and what was discussed
on the plane a moment because a lot of people
listening they're going to want to hear that. But let's
talk about the biggest news now. And you actually were
on Face the Nation earlier today and had a lot
to say about this attack on Iran and how successful
it's been so far. So take a listen to what
Senator Cruise had to say earlier today on Face the Nation.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
Senator, just looking at the global environment right now. Saint
Com announced three Americans were killed and five seriously wounded
in this operation. President Trump and President Vice President Vance
campaigned on not getting America involved in new wars. What
do you say to Americans this morning who are asking
why we are in this conflict now?
Speaker 3 (04:50):
President Trump's decision to launch this decisive action against Iran
is the single most important decision of his presidency. I
think he laid out powerfully and effectively why he is
taking this action. He's taking this action because the government
of Iran is a profound and malign influence. They have
(05:10):
been the leading state sponsor of terrorism for forty seven years.
They have over that time killed nearly one thousand Americans.
They provide more than ninety percent of the funding for Hamas.
They provide more than ninety percent of the funding for Hesbolah.
(05:31):
The Iranian Ayatola was until yesterday, actively trying to murder
the President of the United States Donald J.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Trump.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I spent the entire day with President Trump on Friday,
right before he launched these attacks. He and I discussed
this at length on Friday. My council to him was
that the Iranian regime has never been weaker, that it
was teetering, and now was the time. My advice was
do not miss this opportunity. I think the President has
(06:02):
acted boldly, He's acted decisively, and Iran no longer being
led by a theocratic, murderous dictator. That makes America much
much safer.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
Senator, you are not going to find a lot of
people in any way defending the Supreme Leader, that is
for sure. However, putting Americans in harm way is what
I'm pressing you on.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Here.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
Did the President explain to you why he called off
active diplomacy Because at the very same time he was
on that plane, the Vice President of the United States
was talking to the Omani mediator who was trying to
get a deal, and told us that they were close
to one. Why not choose diplomacy.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Because the diplomacy was an abject failure. The Iranians approached
the diplomacy with arrogance, which with absolute hubris. They said
they would not stop enriching. No matter what, they were
going to continue to enrich uranium. They would not discuss
zero enrichment. They claimed a right to enrich uranium in
(07:11):
underground bunkers with no supervision. As President Trump said on
Friday when he was with me in Texas, his line
was zero enrichments, and the Iranians refused to discuss it.
They also refused to discuss their proxies. They refused to
discuss Hamas and Hesbela and the Huthis, and President Trump
(07:31):
understood that the Iranian quote negotiation was just a stall
tactic and that the only response my advice to him,
I said, there's only one deal you should accept, and
it's the deal that you offered Maduro, which is if
you want to leave and flee the country, you can
do so. Anything else is unacceptable, and COMMANI made his choice.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
Well, there's disputes there in terms of your characterization of
what was actually on the table and what the administration
had indicated it was willing to accept in terms of
allowing enrichment for medical purposes and the like. But that's
now obviously so margin what I.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Just told you.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
What I just told you is almost word for word
what Secretary of State Marco Rubio told me yesterday.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
Can you tell us now if you believe that there
was an ongoing nuclear weapons program. One of the top
arms arms control experts out there, David Albright, has written
there should be an immediate priority on rapid response operations
to secure Iran's nuclear stockpiles right now, can you assure
the public that it will be secured and if so,
(08:43):
who is doing it? If there are no Israeli or
US forces on the ground.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
So there is no doubt that a year ago Iran
had an active and ongoing nuclear weapons program. We took
out the vast majority of that at the end of
the Twelve Day war.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
US intelligence assessment was not made public. If that is
what was brief to you.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
We took out We launched targeted bombs at the end
of the Twelve day war, where we dropped the equivalent
of about a third of a nuclear weapon on those
underground facilities, facilities like Forida, which was built into the
base of a mountain. The bunker buster bombs we used.
Israel doesn't have those bombs. No other country has those bombs.
(09:27):
We took them out last year. The Iranians were still
hell bent on rebuilding them. And one of the things
we are doing right now is taking out their missiles,
in particular the Southern missile belt. Right now, Iran is
building roughly one hundred missiles a month. They're actively building
missiles to threaten their neighbors, and they're firing.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
Some of them right now at their neighbors.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Yeah, at our allies.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
They're illustrating powerfully. They're attacking virtually every Arab neighbor that
surrounds them. They are firing missiles that it's almost like
they want to illustrate to the world just how malign
they are.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
But in terms of containing the risk, who's securing the
nuclear material that you say still exists within Iran? Who's
doing that? Look?
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Look the quantity of nuclear material. I didn't say one
anything one way or another on that. What I said
is they were building nuclear weapons a year ago and
our bombing took that out. They also had an ongoing
desire to rebuild them. I don't have present day intelligence
on what progress they had made towards rebuilding nuclear weapons
(10:34):
since we bomb their facilities, I have no indication that
they were anywhere close to getting nuclear weapons because our
bombing was devastating, And Margaret, that's one of the reasons
I urged President Trump. Now is the time. You know,
dictatorships survive because they're perceived as invulnerable, and in this instance,
(10:56):
Iran decisively lost the twelve day war that week in
the regime and set up what the president is doing.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Now, Senter.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
I found it very interesting just how much she wanted
to say that somehow.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Her sources are better than your sources.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
When you were just with the President United States of
America had just talked directly to Marco Rubio.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
It was pretty hilarious.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
She's like, well, that's not why all the intelligence says,
and you're like, no, like, I just talked to the
people where the intelligence is coming from. If you this why,
I go back and say, you don't hate the media enough.
This is what they do. By the way, we saw
this with headlines today New York Times is a great
example of the propaganda of how they're like still standing
there acting like the Iatola was some sort of like
decent and humane individual that was taken out. This is
(11:41):
the narrative, and you witnessed it right there in that
interview with you.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
Well, the New York Times headline says, Ayatola Ali Kameni,
hardline cleric who made ran a regional power, is dead
at eighty six, which is just redics And and I'll
say Mark Alprin had had an amusing take on it.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
He said that headline was a little bit like a
headline quote Jeffrey Dahmer, hungry Wisconsin man passes away.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Yeah, that's it's not far off.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
While technically accurate, it conveys, you know, approval of the conduct.
And and in fact, I want to in fact that
that New York Times headline is as ridiculous as as
the older Washington Post headline. Uh that that that read
(12:38):
a boo Baker al Baghdaddy, austere religious scholar at the
helm of Islamic State, dies at forty eight. I mean,
it's just absurd, but but it but it's actually it's
not the worst. The Washington Post wrote an obituary for
the Ayatola that if Saturday Night Live had done this,
(13:02):
they couldn't have made it more absurd. I'm going to
read you a paragraph from it. With his bushy white
beard an easy smile, Iatola Kameni cut a more avuncular
figure in public than his perpetually scowling but much more
revered mentor, and he was known to be fond of
Persian poetry and classic Western novels, especially Victor Hugo's Les Miserab.
(13:30):
Some Iranians knew Iatola Kameni before he became Supreme Leader
described him as a quote closet moderate. Look, that is sick.
This is the same Iatola who regularly chants death to
America and death to Israel. This is the same Iatola
(13:51):
that set the goal of creating nuclear weapons, I believe,
for the purpose of using those nuclear weapons. This is
the same Iotolia who is responsible for killing nearly one
thousand Americans, for waging war on America relentlessly, for funding
hamas Hesbla. The houthis ninety percent of their funding comes
(14:14):
from Iran. This is the same Iatola. Look. One of
the reasons we went into Venezuela is Iran had a
major beachhead in Venezuela. Maduro allowed Iran in there. Hesbola
had a major beachhead to wage war in Venezuela, to
attack the United States. Look, this evuncular man with a
(14:38):
bushy white beard, as the numbskulls at the Washington Post
put it, until yesterday, was actively trying to murder President
Donald Trump. Had hired hitman, had put out a video,
an animation showing a drone going to mar A Lago
and killing President Trump on the golf course. You know
(15:02):
the phrase for the media that's been used more than
once is useful idiots, and I think sometimes headline writers
decide they haven't given us enough material. They need to
be even more ridiculous, cheering for our enemies.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
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Speaker 1 (15:26):
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IFCJ dot org. That's IFCJ dot org. All right, I
got a lot of questions Center, and everybody listening right now,
I know, is gonna want to ask the same one
that I'm gonna ask. You're on Air Force one, You
were in DC, you flew with the President back to Texas.
How much of the conversation on Air Force one was
about this becoming a reality twenty four hours later? Less
(16:55):
than twenty four hours later? You guys either had great
poker faces when you were down there in front of
that ship that we had sees in Venezuela and the
oil and what you were doing on that trip, because
clearly this was in the final moments of the planning
stages or execution, I should say stages of this plan.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
What all was discussed on that that you can talk
to us about.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Yeah, So I was on Air Force one with President Trump,
flying from Washington, d C. Down to Texas to Corpus Christy.
I was joined by my colleague, Senator John Cornyn, and
then there were multiple members of Congress that were there. Uh,
And the President came and was talking with us and
asking about Iran, and he went around the room and
he said said, should we strike?
Speaker 1 (17:34):
What do you think?
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Should we strike? Should we hit them hard? Or should
should we go and and and keep trying to cut
a deal? What do you think? I will tell you
every one of us that was on the plane, it
was unanimous. We said hit them and hit them hard.
That that that was the assessment. And look, Trump often
when he's making decisions and talking to people who he trusts,
he tries to get their their taken there. Yeah, yeah,
(17:57):
he wants a barometer. Is this a good idea? What
the risk? What should we do? So we talked quite
a bit on Air Force one about it, and then
when we landed, the President waved me over to join
him in the Beast, and so he and I drove
from the tarmac to the event. It was probably fifteen
twenty minutes and it was just the two of us
and the Beast. We were the only two, and we
(18:19):
spent almost the entire time talking about Iran further. And
so that was one on one and in that context
I was leaning in even more vigorously than I had
on Air Force One and was saying, listen, this is
a moment in time which we've never had like this before.
This regime is so weak, you know, dictatorships, and this
(18:44):
is true. This is true of the Soviet Union, this
is true of communist China, this is true of Hugo
Chavez and Nicholas Maduro, this is true of the communist
regime in Cuba, and this is true of Iran. Dictatorships
depend upon convincing their citizens there invulnerable, that nothing can
defeat them. That's part of how you keep ninety two
(19:04):
million Iranians subjugated is the feeling that it's hopeless, we
cannot overthrow these tyrants. And understand, the Iatola was a tyrant.
He regularly murdered his own citizens, tortured his own citizens,
stripped them of their freedom. I mean, the abuses were
horrific directed to his own citizens, much less the murder
(19:25):
and terror that he projected outward. And last year when
the twelve Day war happened, you know, it's interesting some
folks in politics behave like everything is is communications, everything
is calms and messaging and spin. There are very real
world effects when you lose a war. There was a
(19:46):
war for twelve days, and Iran utterly and completely got
its ass kicked. And if there's anything worse, if you're
an Islamist dictator, if you're trying to envision a world,
that is worse than losing a war, it's losing a
war to Israel. It was Israel that completely and totally
(20:07):
decimated them, that took out their air defenses, took out
the leadership of the IRGC. And by the way, day
after day the Iatola would appoint a new leader of
the IRGC the next day that guy was dead, that
he'd appoint a new one the next day that guy
was dead. It demonstrated complete and total penetration by the
Masad and by American intelligence of Iran, knowing where everybody
(20:31):
was and that and obviously it culminated with President Trump
launching the bombing run, taking out the underground nuclear facilities.
That when that happened, you and I on this podcast said,
in the wake of that, we predicted this regime is
going to fall, and I said it, they are so weak.
Now the Iranian people rose up, rose up in massive numbers,
(20:53):
over a million Iranians in protests. And by the way,
the response of the Ayatola was to order his soul.
There's just a fire machine guns at them, killing anywhere
between ten thousand and forty thousand protesters. We don't have
I haven't seen really firm estimates. I think it is
at least ten thousand. It could be as high as
forty thousand. But that shows the level of terarity when
(21:14):
you say, just unload and fire into the crowd and
kill as many as you can. That's what they were doing.
President Trump's actions this weekend levels the playing field and
is taken out by the way. It's also an illustration
of exquisite intelligence. The early bombing strike that occurred that
(21:38):
killed Iatola Kamini. The reporting we're getting, and this is
open source. I don't have any classified information on this,
but the public reporting is that there was a meeting
of the Ayatola along with basically as National Security Council,
as top military advisors. And that's the meeting that Israel
(22:00):
druck and and and took him out. And so they
knew exactly where where he was. They knew where his
senior leaders were, that is, and so so when when
I was riding in the beast with the President, I
was urging him this is the moment, and he's like, well,
what do you think of of the negotiations, And I said,
mister President, they're just dragging it out. It's just a
delay tactic. They think they can delay and and and
(22:22):
that you'll let the moment pass and and listen is
their risk. Of course, there's risk having.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
There's even more risk if you don't act right. I mean,
that's how you look at this. I mean when people
say I don't I don't like war, you know, I
can't believe you're advocating this. I don't like war either,
but I really don't like a war where Ran starts
at and Iran has a nuclear weapon, and Iran kills
countlessness and people, whether a dirty bomb or Israel or
wherever they decided to do it in the world, or
have one of their proxies. That was the biggest thing
(22:50):
that I don't think people understood about Iran. Iran getting
a nuclear weapon center is not just them having it.
It's that they have these proxies. They could also give
them to and dirty bombs could go. That's a major
concern that a lot of people don't think understood. In
the complexity of Iran, They're not the one that always
has to shoot. They may give the supplies needed someone
else to do it for them.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Well, that's right, and that's one of the real risks
of escalation in the coming days is those proxies Hamas
and HEZBLA and the huthis engaging in acts of violence,
engaging in acts of terrorism and targeting Americans. We have
three American servicemen who have already been killed and listened
military conflict. Tragically, casualties can be part of military conflict.
(23:33):
We also have the shooting that occurred in Austin, Texas,
and it is still early. Our reports are preliminary, but
from the preliminary reports, it certainly appears that this was
terrorism and terrorism directly related to what occurred. So here's
what we know right now. The shooting took place at
(23:57):
one fifty nine am on March first, at Buford's Backyard
Beer Garden, which is on West sixth Street in downtown Austin.
And you and I have both been in an Austin
bar at two in the morning on a Saturday night
many many times. The Austin sixth Street scene is a
(24:17):
lively scene. Or here's what we know so far. Three
individuals are dead, one of whom is the shooter. Fourteen
people were injured and transported to local hospitals. Three of
the injured as of right now, remain in critical condition.
Two weapons were recovered from the scene, a pistol and
(24:38):
a rifle, and evidence from it from the sub suv
and nearby cameras is still being processed. Law enforcements and
FBI agents at the scene has gone to the residence
and two different residences of the individual that was the shooter. Now,
(25:00):
now what's been publicly reported is the shooter is a
man name in Diaga Diagny, who is a fifty three
year old naturalized US citizen born in Senegal and residing
in Flugerville, which is a town just north of Austin.
(25:20):
He came to the United States during the Obama presidency.
Reports indicated that the shooter was armed and he was
wearing a sweater that's with the phrase Property of Allah
across the front of the sweater. He was also reportedly
wearing an undershirt with an Iranian flag on it underneath
(25:42):
that shirt and a Quran was found in the car. Now,
I spoke this afternoon with the Mayor of Austin. I
spoke this afternoon with Cash Betel, the director of the
FBI as of Sunday afternoon, they do not have clear
evidence of motive from so they're right now carrying out
(26:03):
the search warrants on his residence. They're examining his social media,
they're examining phone calls. That that they're putting together the evidence.
That putting together the evidence to to determine what went on,
if he acted alone, what the precise motivation was. That
being said, Uh, given the sweatshirt and shirt he was wearing,
and and given given his origin from Senegal, I think
(26:26):
it is very likely this is terrorism. That that that
that it is not a coincidence. I believe that he's
wearing an Iranian flag while he is opening fire. That
evidence has not conclusively been proven yet, but I expect
that it will be. Interestingly, he did not enter the bar.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
He opened fire from outside, from from the street and sidewalk,
opened fire and shot into the bar uh and and
three Austin police officers took him out, killed him, shot
him on the street.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
The mayor told me that the Austin police was there
within a minute. So it was very fast, very fast
response and took him.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Out, Thank goodness, saved a lot of lives, you.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
Know, and I'm told the video there's videos that will
be released, show chaos, show people running, and in fact,
some of the people are running actually towards the shooter
because they heard gunshots but did not know where they
were coming from, and so they were running, but accidentally
running the wrong way. I think it is very clear
if law enforcement had not acted quickly, many more people
(27:33):
would have been killed and injured.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
But this.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Look from his clothing, it certainly appears this is terrorism.
And tragically, this may not be the last incident of
terrorism that occurs. That's one of the real dangers of escalation,
either from hamas Hezbelo the Who East or from sympathizers
in the United States.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Well, let's go back to the Middle East for a moment.
One of the things that we talk about, you know,
the Iotolin and his team they're there. They're homicidal and
and you could also even say suicidal.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
And their obsession with killing you know, innocent people in
their own country, uh, going after Americans, going after Israelis
as well. But one of the things that I was
even a little bit shocked by was how quickly they
decided to bring in every other country on the side
of Israel in the US by attacking these other Middle
Eastern nations around them that weren't involved, right, they were,
(28:26):
they were outside. I were you as shocked as I
was that they just decided, all right, like whoever's still
left standing, let's just go after Bahrain, Let's go after Guitar,
let's go after I mean, the list is pretty long.
Now if countries they've attacked, and now they brought them
into the fold. I I mean that that to me
just seems like a suicidal mission on their port.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Yeah, I will admit I was surprised by that. There's
been a lot of public reporting that suggested that other
Middle Eastern nations were discouraging President Trump uh from going
after Iran. I'm a little bit skeptical of that. I
have not recently had those conversations with other Middle Eastern nations,
but I've had many conversations with the Saudis, Yue Bahrain,
(29:09):
and and they have always been very focused on number one,
doing everything necessary to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
The Saudis have said publicly if Iran ever got a
nuclear weapon, that they would do everything possible to get
a nuke themselves. To defend themselves from Iran. Uh And
so I don't know if it's true or not that
(29:30):
in the recent weeks Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern
countries were urging Trump not to attack. But but I
do know that Iran's behavior so they fire, fired missiles
and sent drones and had attacks at almost every single
Arab country all throughout the Middle East. So they've attacked
Saudi Arabia, they've attacked UAE, they've attacked Kuwait, they've attacked Cutter,
(29:51):
they've attacked Bahrain, they've attacked Jordan. And we've seen statements
from many of those other Middle Eastern countries, mostly Arab countries,
expressing condemning, condemning Iran's response. And and you know, in
my view that they're just indiscriminately firing, firing abroad. And
(30:17):
I think their reasoning was that if the United States
and or Israel hit them, that they wanted to make
it as painful as possible for the entirety of the region.
What they have ensured is is that there's basically nobody
standing up and siding with the Iranians. They're demonstrating essentially
they're willing to kill anybody and everybody. I got to say,
(30:40):
that's also a really powerful illustration if that's what they
do now.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Yeah, they have done with a nuclear weapon.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Yeah, can you imagine how much worse if they had
a nuclear weapon. And during the whole go back to
Obama and the debates on Obama's terrible Iran nuclear deal,
I always said, most of the debate rotated around, well,
if they had a nuclear weapon, it would change the
balance of power, it would make them more aggressive, they
would fund more terrorism. And I always said, look, that's
(31:09):
the best case scenario. The best case scenario is a
horrible situation. The worst case is that they would actually
use the nuclear weapon. And everyone operates under an assumption
while having a nuclear weapon doesn't mean you use it.
Listen when the Iotola chance death to Israel and death
to America. I believe him when he calls Israel the
(31:32):
little Satan and America the great Satan. I believe him.
And I think the odds are unacceptably high. I don't
know what they were, but they were unacceptably high that
the Iotola, if he had a nuclear weapon, would detonate it,
maybe in Tel Aviv, or maybe in New York or
Los Angeles, and I don't want to wake up and
(31:52):
discover uh oh, the predictions were wrong because we have
a mushroom cloud and hundreds of thousands, even millions of
Americans being killed the reason and by the way, I've
got to say a lot of the the news reporting
is challenging. Why would Trump do this attack? You heard
Margaret Brennan there say say Trump campaigned on on not
(32:16):
getting in wars. I did after Face the Nation. I
also did State of the Union with Dana Bash, and
Dana Bash asked a question of me. She said, you know,
President Trump campaigned on no more wars. And I in
my response, I said, well, Danna, you actually misquoted what
the president said. What the President said was no more
(32:37):
forever wars.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Yeah, I can in Afghanistan totally, and troops on the ground.
This completely different doctrine, you can tell.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
Yeah, And I said, listen, we're not going to see
troops on the ground in Iran. We're not going to
see hundreds of thousands of Americans there for an extended
period of time. I don't think we'll see that at all.
That is very different. And I said, look, they're isolationists
who want want America to withdraw from the world. Donald
Trump has never been an isolationist, and he is acting
(33:08):
to protect America. This is America first. The reason we
are striking Iran right now is because the odds are
unacceptably high. Iran has already killed nearly a thousand Americans
and they have every desire to kill more. As I
told the President driving in the beast, I said, if
the Iyatola could kill the two of us right.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Now, he would.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
The only thing that is preventing him is that he's
not able to because he is trying. And so if
we have an opportunity to take out this regime, and look,
my hope is we see a new government in Iran
that wants to be friends with America. That would make
this country massively safer. Removing these psycho paths from power
(33:53):
and replacing them with anything resembling a normal government would
massively improve the safety of every American.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
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Speaker 1 (35:37):
Two questions to wrap things up.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Number one, I thought it was really interesting to see
the comparing contrasts of the women standing up for themselves
in Iran on the streets, risking their lives, while women
in America were actually standing up angry at America for
going into Ran. We saw that in New York City,
for example. We saw it in some other college campuses.
The disconnect from reality from some of these leftists is amazing.
(36:00):
I want to get your take on that real quick.
And then also I want to talk about the possible
closing strait of our moves and what that means in
what America's role could be in that as well.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
Yeah, so today, Comrade Mandami put out a statement that
I want to read to you. Today's military strikes on Iran,
carried out by the United States and Israel, mark a
catastrophic escalation of an illegal war of aggression, bombing cities,
killing civilians, opening a new theater of war. Americans do
(36:30):
not want this. They do not want another war in
pursuit of regime change. They want relief from the affordability crisis.
They want peace. I am focused on making sure every
New Yorker is safe. I've been in contact with our
Police Commissioner and emergency management officials. We are taking proactive steps,
including increasing coordination across agencies and enhancing patrols of sensitive
(36:53):
locations out of an abundance of conscience caution. Additionally, I
want to speak directly to Iranian New York. You are
part of the fabric of this city. You are our
neighbor's small business owner, students, artist, workers, and community leaders.
You will be safe here. Look, this is Comrade Mondami
cheering for the Ayatola. Yeah, because they are both Jahadists,
(37:16):
and they both want to see the great Satan of America.
They want to see this country fundamentally change and to
become an Islamic caliphate. That was the Iatola's objective. That
what that, sadly, I believe is Comrade Mandami's objective. And
I want to contrast that with the reaction of protesters
(37:40):
Iranians like his line to Iranians, you will be safe here.
The the I know a great many Iranians. Every every
Iranian I know hates the regime is cheering and I
want you to watch in particular, this scene that played
out on the ground in Austin, Texas, and and and
a CBS news reporter who was told, don't cover the
(38:01):
protests celebrating the Iatola being killed. Cover that up, and
this brave reporter didn't do that. Give a listen, give
a watch made on one of the books on I am.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
It's incredible there.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
And again for people that can't see the video, you
have this Austin CBS reporter. He was handed the phone
from his cameraman and he reads it and he's like,
what does that mean? And the cameraman responds, they don't
want us to focus on this, and this brave local
reporter said, all right, well I am. And now it's
out there on the Internet of him having this moment.
(38:53):
It's sad that you've got to be this brave in
America a local affiliate to report the news, which was
the news that you had people's celebrating and waving American
flags and Iranian flags and standing out for the people
in the innocent people in Iran. And they're like, no, no, no,
we don't want you to focus on that.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
At CBS.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
Yeah, look, this is happening all all over the country,
all over America. It's happening on the ground, on the
streets of Iran, It's happening around the world. You know.
Kamala Harris today put out a statement quote, Donald Trump
is dragging the United States into a war the American
people do not want. Let me be clear, I am
opposed to a regime change war in Iran, and our
troops are being put in harm's way for the sake
(39:33):
of Trump's war of choice. Now, I will tell you
I responded to her on X and I said, your
administration gave over one hundred billion dollars to the Ayatola
who kept killing Americans. We know you're sad that your
friend isn't with us anymore. Look, the Democrat Party was
(39:57):
all in in support of the Ayatola. Now some some
times they pretended they weren't. But when Joe Biden and
Kamala Harris sent over one hundred billion dollars flowed that
money into the Ayatola, they funded his terror.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (40:09):
The the Obama Iran nuclear deal was designed to inevitably
lead to a nuclear Iran to the Ayatola with nuclear weapons.
And and so this is I'll tell you and and
and folks that that deal with with conflict in the
Middle East, and that that deal with foreign policy. UH
frequently refer to Iran as quote the head of the snake.
(40:31):
Why do they call it the head of the snake
because it's it is what is leading and directing and
funding the vast majority of the terrorism you see. Without Iran,
Hamas has no resources. Without Iran, Hesbeal and the Huthis
have no resources. And so what what President Trump is
doing here is is being a strong commander in chief
(40:52):
and making Americans safer.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Final question on this shra of the horror moves and
the reality of what's happening there, give us your your
thoughts and and perspective on that and what you think
can happen moving forward.
Speaker 3 (41:03):
So we don't know that there is reporting that the
Iranians may have mine the Straits of Hormuse. So we
don't have an answer to that right now. Right now,
there's not shipping. There are not ships going through the
Straits of Hormus until it is determined whether or not
they have mined it.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
To be clear, that's significant.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
People that just don't understand how important it is a
significant amount of oil world which probably goes through there.
Speaker 3 (41:27):
Yeah, so right now that is shut down. By the way,
right now, civilian air traffic is shut down throughout the
Middle East. You can't get on an airline and fly
into and out of most of the cities in the
Middle East because you've got missiles flying everywhere, and so
and so all of the countries have understandably shut their
airspace down. And so I am confident that we will
(41:50):
have mind sweepers go into the straits of Horm moves
that may be happening now, I don't know, and examine
and determine if their mind's there. But at least right
now you're not seeing ships go through there because these
guys are just crazy enough to have put minds there,
and so no one wants to risk it until it's
determined one way or another whether it's safe.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Yeah, it really is incredible. Well, we're going to keep
you updated on all this all week long. I can
promise you don't miss an episode of verdqu with Ted Creers.
Wherever you get your podcasts, hit that subscribe auto download
button in the center, and I will see you back
here on Wednesday morning. And if something massive breaks, will
probably be back before then as well. So don't miss
an episode. You can also watch us on YouTube. This
episode is up on YouTube and on Facebook, so you
(42:29):
can grab it there and on Rumble and The Center.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
I will see you back here in a couple of
days
Welcome.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
It is Verdict with Center, Ted Cruz, Ben Ferguson with you,
and obviously this is a very big show. Man. If
you may have not ever listened to this show before,
we want to welcome you as we're obviously going to
be talking a lot about the attack on Iran and
what is happening. So if you're joining us for the
very first time, it's nice to have you. Don't forget
hit that subscriber auto download button wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
Center.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
This is obviously a very big show, and it's an
important one because the world is changing before our very eyes.
Speaker 3 (00:30):
On Saturday, President Trump launched a major military attack on Iran,
a bombing, bombing from the sky, bombing from naval vessels.
It was done in close coordination with Israel, that likewise
launched a bombing attack. In the opening minutes and hours
of the attack, the Ayatola Kameinee was killed. Other major
(00:53):
leaders of Iran were killed. The bombing is ongoing. You
and I are recording this Sunday afternoon, and of right now,
over nine hundred bombing strikes have been carried out by
the United States. Over one two hundred bombing strikes have
been carried out by israel I. Spent the entire day
on Friday with President Trump. The day before the attack,
(01:16):
we spent much of the time discussing the attack that
was coming. This podcast, we're going to try to explain
exactly what's happening, why President Trump attacked Iran, what is
likely to happen as a result, and what the next
stages are. We're also going to talk about the mass
shooting that occurred at two am Sunday morning in Austin, Texas,
(01:39):
in a bar on Sixth Street, where a gunman murdered
two other people and injured seventeen. That gunman, in turn,
was shot and killed by Austin police early in dish
ye make it appear that this was a terrorist attack.
He was wearing a sweatshirt that said property of Allah.
He was wearing a shirt with the Iranian flat on it.
(02:00):
It is still early. I spoke today with Cash Patel,
the director of the FBI. We're gonna break that down
as well. This is gonna be a podcast where we
try to examine everything you need to know about what
is happening in Iran, how it is going to impact
the United States, and what's coming next.
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Promo code verdict. So, Senator, you mentioned earlier that you
were on the plane with President Trump air Force one.
(04:06):
We're going to get to that and what was discussed
on the plane a moment because a lot of people
listening they're going to want to hear that. But let's
talk about the biggest news now. And you actually were
on Face the Nation earlier today and had a lot
to say about this attack on Iran and how successful
it's been so far. So take a listen to what
Senator Cruise had to say earlier today on Face the Nation.
Speaker 4 (04:26):
Senator, just looking at the global environment right now. Saint
Com announced three Americans were killed and five seriously wounded
in this operation. President Trump and President Vice President Vance
campaigned on not getting America involved in new wars. What
do you say to Americans this morning who are asking
why we are in this conflict now?
Speaker 3 (04:50):
President Trump's decision to launch this decisive action against Iran
is the single most important decision of his presidency. I
think he laid out powerfully and effectively why he is
taking this action. He's taking this action because the government
of Iran is a profound and malign influence. They have
(05:10):
been the leading state sponsor of terrorism for forty seven years.
They have over that time killed nearly one thousand Americans.
They provide more than ninety percent of the funding for Hamas.
They provide more than ninety percent of the funding for Hesbolah.
(05:31):
The Iranian Ayatola was until yesterday, actively trying to murder
the President of the United States Donald J.
Speaker 1 (05:38):
Trump.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
I spent the entire day with President Trump on Friday,
right before he launched these attacks. He and I discussed
this at length on Friday. My council to him was
that the Iranian regime has never been weaker, that it
was teetering, and now was the time. My advice was
do not miss this opportunity. I think the President has
(06:02):
acted boldly, He's acted decisively, and Iran no longer being
led by a theocratic, murderous dictator. That makes America much
much safer.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
Senator, you are not going to find a lot of
people in any way defending the Supreme Leader, that is
for sure. However, putting Americans in harm way is what
I'm pressing you on.
Speaker 3 (06:28):
Here.
Speaker 4 (06:29):
Did the President explain to you why he called off
active diplomacy Because at the very same time he was
on that plane, the Vice President of the United States
was talking to the Omani mediator who was trying to
get a deal, and told us that they were close
to one. Why not choose diplomacy.
Speaker 3 (06:48):
Because the diplomacy was an abject failure. The Iranians approached
the diplomacy with arrogance, which with absolute hubris. They said
they would not stop enriching. No matter what, they were
going to continue to enrich uranium. They would not discuss
zero enrichment. They claimed a right to enrich uranium in
(07:11):
underground bunkers with no supervision. As President Trump said on
Friday when he was with me in Texas, his line
was zero enrichments, and the Iranians refused to discuss it.
They also refused to discuss their proxies. They refused to
discuss Hamas and Hesbela and the Huthis, and President Trump
(07:31):
understood that the Iranian quote negotiation was just a stall
tactic and that the only response my advice to him,
I said, there's only one deal you should accept, and
it's the deal that you offered Maduro, which is if
you want to leave and flee the country, you can
do so. Anything else is unacceptable, and COMMANI made his choice.
Speaker 4 (07:55):
Well, there's disputes there in terms of your characterization of
what was actually on the table and what the administration
had indicated it was willing to accept in terms of
allowing enrichment for medical purposes and the like. But that's
now obviously so margin what I.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
Just told you.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
What I just told you is almost word for word
what Secretary of State Marco Rubio told me yesterday.
Speaker 4 (08:21):
Can you tell us now if you believe that there
was an ongoing nuclear weapons program. One of the top
arms arms control experts out there, David Albright, has written
there should be an immediate priority on rapid response operations
to secure Iran's nuclear stockpiles right now, can you assure
the public that it will be secured and if so,
(08:43):
who is doing it? If there are no Israeli or
US forces on the ground.
Speaker 3 (08:49):
So there is no doubt that a year ago Iran
had an active and ongoing nuclear weapons program. We took
out the vast majority of that at the end of
the Twelve Day war.
Speaker 4 (09:00):
US intelligence assessment was not made public. If that is
what was brief to you.
Speaker 3 (09:05):
We took out We launched targeted bombs at the end
of the Twelve day war, where we dropped the equivalent
of about a third of a nuclear weapon on those
underground facilities, facilities like Forida, which was built into the
base of a mountain. The bunker buster bombs we used.
Israel doesn't have those bombs. No other country has those bombs.
(09:27):
We took them out last year. The Iranians were still
hell bent on rebuilding them. And one of the things
we are doing right now is taking out their missiles,
in particular the Southern missile belt. Right now, Iran is
building roughly one hundred missiles a month. They're actively building
missiles to threaten their neighbors, and they're firing.
Speaker 4 (09:48):
Some of them right now at their neighbors.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Yeah, at our allies.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
They're illustrating powerfully. They're attacking virtually every Arab neighbor that
surrounds them. They are firing missiles that it's almost like
they want to illustrate to the world just how malign
they are.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
But in terms of containing the risk, who's securing the
nuclear material that you say still exists within Iran? Who's
doing that? Look?
Speaker 3 (10:12):
Look the quantity of nuclear material. I didn't say one
anything one way or another on that. What I said
is they were building nuclear weapons a year ago and
our bombing took that out. They also had an ongoing
desire to rebuild them. I don't have present day intelligence
on what progress they had made towards rebuilding nuclear weapons
(10:34):
since we bomb their facilities, I have no indication that
they were anywhere close to getting nuclear weapons because our
bombing was devastating, And Margaret, that's one of the reasons
I urged President Trump. Now is the time. You know,
dictatorships survive because they're perceived as invulnerable, and in this instance,
(10:56):
Iran decisively lost the twelve day war that week in
the regime and set up what the president is doing.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
Now, Senter.
Speaker 2 (11:04):
I found it very interesting just how much she wanted
to say that somehow.
Speaker 1 (11:08):
Her sources are better than your sources.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
When you were just with the President United States of
America had just talked directly to Marco Rubio.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
It was pretty hilarious.
Speaker 2 (11:16):
She's like, well, that's not why all the intelligence says,
and you're like, no, like, I just talked to the
people where the intelligence is coming from. If you this why,
I go back and say, you don't hate the media enough.
This is what they do. By the way, we saw
this with headlines today New York Times is a great
example of the propaganda of how they're like still standing
there acting like the Iatola was some sort of like
decent and humane individual that was taken out. This is
(11:41):
the narrative, and you witnessed it right there in that
interview with you.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
Well, the New York Times headline says, Ayatola Ali Kameni,
hardline cleric who made ran a regional power, is dead
at eighty six, which is just redics And and I'll
say Mark Alprin had had an amusing take on it.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (12:06):
He said that headline was a little bit like a
headline quote Jeffrey Dahmer, hungry Wisconsin man passes away.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
Yeah, that's it's not far off.
Speaker 3 (12:17):
While technically accurate, it conveys, you know, approval of the conduct.
And and in fact, I want to in fact that
that New York Times headline is as ridiculous as as
the older Washington Post headline. Uh that that that read
(12:38):
a boo Baker al Baghdaddy, austere religious scholar at the
helm of Islamic State, dies at forty eight. I mean,
it's just absurd, but but it but it's actually it's
not the worst. The Washington Post wrote an obituary for
the Ayatola that if Saturday Night Live had done this,
(13:02):
they couldn't have made it more absurd. I'm going to
read you a paragraph from it. With his bushy white
beard an easy smile, Iatola Kameni cut a more avuncular
figure in public than his perpetually scowling but much more
revered mentor, and he was known to be fond of
Persian poetry and classic Western novels, especially Victor Hugo's Les Miserab.
(13:30):
Some Iranians knew Iatola Kameni before he became Supreme Leader
described him as a quote closet moderate. Look, that is sick.
This is the same Iatola who regularly chants death to
America and death to Israel. This is the same Iatola
(13:51):
that set the goal of creating nuclear weapons, I believe,
for the purpose of using those nuclear weapons. This is
the same Iotolia who is responsible for killing nearly one
thousand Americans, for waging war on America relentlessly, for funding
hamas Hesbla. The houthis ninety percent of their funding comes
(14:14):
from Iran. This is the same Iatola. Look. One of
the reasons we went into Venezuela is Iran had a
major beachhead in Venezuela. Maduro allowed Iran in there. Hesbola
had a major beachhead to wage war in Venezuela, to
attack the United States. Look, this evuncular man with a
(14:38):
bushy white beard, as the numbskulls at the Washington Post
put it, until yesterday, was actively trying to murder President
Donald Trump. Had hired hitman, had put out a video,
an animation showing a drone going to mar A Lago
and killing President Trump on the golf course. You know
(15:02):
the phrase for the media that's been used more than
once is useful idiots, and I think sometimes headline writers
decide they haven't given us enough material. They need to
be even more ridiculous, cheering for our enemies.
Speaker 2 (15:15):
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eight eight four eight eight IFCJ. Or give online at
(16:31):
IFCJ dot org. That's IFCJ dot org. All right, I
got a lot of questions Center, and everybody listening right now,
I know, is gonna want to ask the same one
that I'm gonna ask. You're on Air Force one, You
were in DC, you flew with the President back to Texas.
How much of the conversation on Air Force one was
about this becoming a reality twenty four hours later? Less
(16:55):
than twenty four hours later? You guys either had great
poker faces when you were down there in front of
that ship that we had sees in Venezuela and the
oil and what you were doing on that trip, because
clearly this was in the final moments of the planning
stages or execution, I should say stages of this plan.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
What all was discussed on that that you can talk
to us about.
Speaker 3 (17:15):
Yeah, So I was on Air Force one with President Trump,
flying from Washington, d C. Down to Texas to Corpus Christy.
I was joined by my colleague, Senator John Cornyn, and
then there were multiple members of Congress that were there. Uh,
And the President came and was talking with us and
asking about Iran, and he went around the room and
he said said, should we strike?
Speaker 1 (17:34):
What do you think?
Speaker 3 (17:35):
Should we strike? Should we hit them hard? Or should
should we go and and and keep trying to cut
a deal? What do you think? I will tell you
every one of us that was on the plane, it
was unanimous. We said hit them and hit them hard.
That that that was the assessment. And look, Trump often
when he's making decisions and talking to people who he trusts,
he tries to get their their taken there. Yeah, yeah,
(17:57):
he wants a barometer. Is this a good idea? What
the risk? What should we do? So we talked quite
a bit on Air Force one about it, and then
when we landed, the President waved me over to join
him in the Beast, and so he and I drove
from the tarmac to the event. It was probably fifteen
twenty minutes and it was just the two of us
and the Beast. We were the only two, and we
(18:19):
spent almost the entire time talking about Iran further. And
so that was one on one and in that context
I was leaning in even more vigorously than I had
on Air Force One and was saying, listen, this is
a moment in time which we've never had like this before.
This regime is so weak, you know, dictatorships, and this
(18:44):
is true. This is true of the Soviet Union, this
is true of communist China, this is true of Hugo
Chavez and Nicholas Maduro, this is true of the communist
regime in Cuba, and this is true of Iran. Dictatorships
depend upon convincing their citizens there invulnerable, that nothing can
defeat them. That's part of how you keep ninety two
(19:04):
million Iranians subjugated is the feeling that it's hopeless, we
cannot overthrow these tyrants. And understand, the Iatola was a tyrant.
He regularly murdered his own citizens, tortured his own citizens,
stripped them of their freedom. I mean, the abuses were
horrific directed to his own citizens, much less the murder
(19:25):
and terror that he projected outward. And last year when
the twelve Day war happened, you know, it's interesting some
folks in politics behave like everything is is communications, everything
is calms and messaging and spin. There are very real
world effects when you lose a war. There was a
(19:46):
war for twelve days, and Iran utterly and completely got
its ass kicked. And if there's anything worse, if you're
an Islamist dictator, if you're trying to envision a world,
that is worse than losing a war, it's losing a
war to Israel. It was Israel that completely and totally
(20:07):
decimated them, that took out their air defenses, took out
the leadership of the IRGC. And by the way, day
after day the Iatola would appoint a new leader of
the IRGC the next day that guy was dead, that
he'd appoint a new one the next day that guy
was dead. It demonstrated complete and total penetration by the
Masad and by American intelligence of Iran, knowing where everybody
(20:31):
was and that and obviously it culminated with President Trump
launching the bombing run, taking out the underground nuclear facilities.
That when that happened, you and I on this podcast said,
in the wake of that, we predicted this regime is
going to fall, and I said it, they are so weak.
Now the Iranian people rose up, rose up in massive numbers,
(20:53):
over a million Iranians in protests. And by the way,
the response of the Ayatola was to order his soul.
There's just a fire machine guns at them, killing anywhere
between ten thousand and forty thousand protesters. We don't have
I haven't seen really firm estimates. I think it is
at least ten thousand. It could be as high as
forty thousand. But that shows the level of terarity when
(21:14):
you say, just unload and fire into the crowd and
kill as many as you can. That's what they were doing.
President Trump's actions this weekend levels the playing field and
is taken out by the way. It's also an illustration
of exquisite intelligence. The early bombing strike that occurred that
(21:38):
killed Iatola Kamini. The reporting we're getting, and this is
open source. I don't have any classified information on this,
but the public reporting is that there was a meeting
of the Ayatola along with basically as National Security Council,
as top military advisors. And that's the meeting that Israel
(22:00):
druck and and and took him out. And so they
knew exactly where where he was. They knew where his
senior leaders were, that is, and so so when when
I was riding in the beast with the President, I
was urging him this is the moment, and he's like, well,
what do you think of of the negotiations, And I said,
mister President, they're just dragging it out. It's just a
delay tactic. They think they can delay and and and
(22:22):
that you'll let the moment pass and and listen is
their risk. Of course, there's risk having.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
There's even more risk if you don't act right. I mean,
that's how you look at this. I mean when people
say I don't I don't like war, you know, I
can't believe you're advocating this. I don't like war either,
but I really don't like a war where Ran starts
at and Iran has a nuclear weapon, and Iran kills
countlessness and people, whether a dirty bomb or Israel or
wherever they decided to do it in the world, or
have one of their proxies. That was the biggest thing
(22:50):
that I don't think people understood about Iran. Iran getting
a nuclear weapon center is not just them having it.
It's that they have these proxies. They could also give
them to and dirty bombs could go. That's a major
concern that a lot of people don't think understood. In
the complexity of Iran, They're not the one that always
has to shoot. They may give the supplies needed someone
else to do it for them.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Well, that's right, and that's one of the real risks
of escalation in the coming days is those proxies Hamas
and HEZBLA and the huthis engaging in acts of violence,
engaging in acts of terrorism and targeting Americans. We have
three American servicemen who have already been killed and listened
military conflict. Tragically, casualties can be part of military conflict.
(23:33):
We also have the shooting that occurred in Austin, Texas,
and it is still early. Our reports are preliminary, but
from the preliminary reports, it certainly appears that this was
terrorism and terrorism directly related to what occurred. So here's
what we know right now. The shooting took place at
(23:57):
one fifty nine am on March first, at Buford's Backyard
Beer Garden, which is on West sixth Street in downtown Austin.
And you and I have both been in an Austin
bar at two in the morning on a Saturday night
many many times. The Austin sixth Street scene is a
(24:17):
lively scene. Or here's what we know so far. Three
individuals are dead, one of whom is the shooter. Fourteen
people were injured and transported to local hospitals. Three of
the injured as of right now, remain in critical condition.
Two weapons were recovered from the scene, a pistol and
(24:38):
a rifle, and evidence from it from the sub suv
and nearby cameras is still being processed. Law enforcements and
FBI agents at the scene has gone to the residence
and two different residences of the individual that was the shooter. Now,
(25:00):
now what's been publicly reported is the shooter is a
man name in Diaga Diagny, who is a fifty three
year old naturalized US citizen born in Senegal and residing
in Flugerville, which is a town just north of Austin.
(25:20):
He came to the United States during the Obama presidency.
Reports indicated that the shooter was armed and he was
wearing a sweater that's with the phrase Property of Allah
across the front of the sweater. He was also reportedly
wearing an undershirt with an Iranian flag on it underneath
(25:42):
that shirt and a Quran was found in the car. Now,
I spoke this afternoon with the Mayor of Austin. I
spoke this afternoon with Cash Betel, the director of the
FBI as of Sunday afternoon, they do not have clear
evidence of motive from so they're right now carrying out
(26:03):
the search warrants on his residence. They're examining his social media,
they're examining phone calls. That that they're putting together the evidence.
That putting together the evidence to to determine what went on,
if he acted alone, what the precise motivation was. That
being said, Uh, given the sweatshirt and shirt he was wearing,
and and given given his origin from Senegal, I think
(26:26):
it is very likely this is terrorism. That that that
that it is not a coincidence. I believe that he's
wearing an Iranian flag while he is opening fire. That
evidence has not conclusively been proven yet, but I expect
that it will be. Interestingly, he did not enter the bar.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (26:45):
He opened fire from outside, from from the street and sidewalk,
opened fire and shot into the bar uh and and
three Austin police officers took him out, killed him, shot
him on the street.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
The mayor told me that the Austin police was there
within a minute. So it was very fast, very fast
response and took him.
Speaker 1 (27:06):
Out, Thank goodness, saved a lot of lives, you.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
Know, and I'm told the video there's videos that will
be released, show chaos, show people running, and in fact,
some of the people are running actually towards the shooter
because they heard gunshots but did not know where they
were coming from, and so they were running, but accidentally
running the wrong way. I think it is very clear
if law enforcement had not acted quickly, many more people
(27:33):
would have been killed and injured.
Speaker 1 (27:35):
But this.
Speaker 3 (27:37):
Look from his clothing, it certainly appears this is terrorism.
And tragically, this may not be the last incident of
terrorism that occurs. That's one of the real dangers of escalation,
either from hamas Hezbelo the Who East or from sympathizers
in the United States.
Speaker 2 (27:55):
Well, let's go back to the Middle East for a moment.
One of the things that we talk about, you know,
the Iotolin and his team they're there. They're homicidal and
and you could also even say suicidal.
Speaker 3 (28:05):
Uh.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
And their obsession with killing you know, innocent people in
their own country, uh, going after Americans, going after Israelis
as well. But one of the things that I was
even a little bit shocked by was how quickly they
decided to bring in every other country on the side
of Israel in the US by attacking these other Middle
Eastern nations around them that weren't involved, right, they were,
(28:26):
they were outside. I were you as shocked as I
was that they just decided, all right, like whoever's still
left standing, let's just go after Bahrain, Let's go after Guitar,
let's go after I mean, the list is pretty long.
Now if countries they've attacked, and now they brought them
into the fold. I I mean that that to me
just seems like a suicidal mission on their port.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
Yeah, I will admit I was surprised by that. There's
been a lot of public reporting that suggested that other
Middle Eastern nations were discouraging President Trump uh from going
after Iran. I'm a little bit skeptical of that. I
have not recently had those conversations with other Middle Eastern nations,
but I've had many conversations with the Saudis, Yue Bahrain,
(29:09):
and and they have always been very focused on number one,
doing everything necessary to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
The Saudis have said publicly if Iran ever got a
nuclear weapon, that they would do everything possible to get
a nuke themselves. To defend themselves from Iran. Uh And
so I don't know if it's true or not that
(29:30):
in the recent weeks Saudi Arabia and other Middle Eastern
countries were urging Trump not to attack. But but I
do know that Iran's behavior so they fire, fired missiles
and sent drones and had attacks at almost every single
Arab country all throughout the Middle East. So they've attacked
Saudi Arabia, they've attacked UAE, they've attacked Kuwait, they've attacked Cutter,
(29:51):
they've attacked Bahrain, they've attacked Jordan. And we've seen statements
from many of those other Middle Eastern countries, mostly Arab countries,
expressing condemning, condemning Iran's response. And and you know, in
my view that they're just indiscriminately firing, firing abroad. And
(30:17):
I think their reasoning was that if the United States
and or Israel hit them, that they wanted to make
it as painful as possible for the entirety of the region.
What they have ensured is is that there's basically nobody
standing up and siding with the Iranians. They're demonstrating essentially
they're willing to kill anybody and everybody. I got to say,
(30:40):
that's also a really powerful illustration if that's what they
do now.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Yeah, they have done with a nuclear weapon.
Speaker 3 (30:47):
Yeah, can you imagine how much worse if they had
a nuclear weapon. And during the whole go back to
Obama and the debates on Obama's terrible Iran nuclear deal,
I always said, most of the debate rotated around, well,
if they had a nuclear weapon, it would change the
balance of power, it would make them more aggressive, they
would fund more terrorism. And I always said, look, that's
(31:09):
the best case scenario. The best case scenario is a
horrible situation. The worst case is that they would actually
use the nuclear weapon. And everyone operates under an assumption
while having a nuclear weapon doesn't mean you use it.
Listen when the Iotola chance death to Israel and death
to America. I believe him when he calls Israel the
(31:32):
little Satan and America the great Satan. I believe him.
And I think the odds are unacceptably high. I don't
know what they were, but they were unacceptably high that
the Iotola, if he had a nuclear weapon, would detonate it,
maybe in Tel Aviv, or maybe in New York or
Los Angeles, and I don't want to wake up and
(31:52):
discover uh oh, the predictions were wrong because we have
a mushroom cloud and hundreds of thousands, even millions of
Americans being killed the reason and by the way, I've
got to say a lot of the the news reporting
is challenging. Why would Trump do this attack? You heard
Margaret Brennan there say say Trump campaigned on on not
(32:16):
getting in wars. I did after Face the Nation. I
also did State of the Union with Dana Bash, and
Dana Bash asked a question of me. She said, you know,
President Trump campaigned on no more wars. And I in
my response, I said, well, Danna, you actually misquoted what
the president said. What the President said was no more
(32:37):
forever wars.
Speaker 2 (32:38):
Yeah, I can in Afghanistan totally, and troops on the ground.
This completely different doctrine, you can tell.
Speaker 3 (32:45):
Yeah, And I said, listen, we're not going to see
troops on the ground in Iran. We're not going to
see hundreds of thousands of Americans there for an extended
period of time. I don't think we'll see that at all.
That is very different. And I said, look, they're isolationists
who want want America to withdraw from the world. Donald
Trump has never been an isolationist, and he is acting
(33:08):
to protect America. This is America first. The reason we
are striking Iran right now is because the odds are
unacceptably high. Iran has already killed nearly a thousand Americans
and they have every desire to kill more. As I
told the President driving in the beast, I said, if
the Iyatola could kill the two of us right.
Speaker 1 (33:27):
Now, he would.
Speaker 3 (33:29):
The only thing that is preventing him is that he's
not able to because he is trying. And so if
we have an opportunity to take out this regime, and look,
my hope is we see a new government in Iran
that wants to be friends with America. That would make
this country massively safer. Removing these psycho paths from power
(33:53):
and replacing them with anything resembling a normal government would
massively improve the safety of every American.
Speaker 2 (34:01):
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Speaker 1 (35:37):
Two questions to wrap things up.
Speaker 2 (35:39):
Number one, I thought it was really interesting to see
the comparing contrasts of the women standing up for themselves
in Iran on the streets, risking their lives, while women
in America were actually standing up angry at America for
going into Ran. We saw that in New York City,
for example. We saw it in some other college campuses.
The disconnect from reality from some of these leftists is amazing.
(36:00):
I want to get your take on that real quick.
And then also I want to talk about the possible
closing strait of our moves and what that means in
what America's role could be in that as well.
Speaker 3 (36:08):
Yeah, so today, Comrade Mandami put out a statement that
I want to read to you. Today's military strikes on Iran,
carried out by the United States and Israel, mark a
catastrophic escalation of an illegal war of aggression, bombing cities,
killing civilians, opening a new theater of war. Americans do
(36:30):
not want this. They do not want another war in
pursuit of regime change. They want relief from the affordability crisis.
They want peace. I am focused on making sure every
New Yorker is safe. I've been in contact with our
Police Commissioner and emergency management officials. We are taking proactive steps,
including increasing coordination across agencies and enhancing patrols of sensitive
(36:53):
locations out of an abundance of conscience caution. Additionally, I
want to speak directly to Iranian New York. You are
part of the fabric of this city. You are our
neighbor's small business owner, students, artist, workers, and community leaders.
You will be safe here. Look, this is Comrade Mondami
cheering for the Ayatola. Yeah, because they are both Jahadists,
(37:16):
and they both want to see the great Satan of America.
They want to see this country fundamentally change and to
become an Islamic caliphate. That was the Iatola's objective. That
what that, sadly, I believe is Comrade Mandami's objective. And
I want to contrast that with the reaction of protesters
(37:40):
Iranians like his line to Iranians, you will be safe here.
The the I know a great many Iranians. Every every
Iranian I know hates the regime is cheering and I
want you to watch in particular, this scene that played
out on the ground in Austin, Texas, and and and
a CBS news reporter who was told, don't cover the
(38:01):
protests celebrating the Iatola being killed. Cover that up, and
this brave reporter didn't do that. Give a listen, give
a watch made on one of the books on I am.
Speaker 1 (38:30):
It's incredible there.
Speaker 2 (38:32):
And again for people that can't see the video, you
have this Austin CBS reporter. He was handed the phone
from his cameraman and he reads it and he's like,
what does that mean? And the cameraman responds, they don't
want us to focus on this, and this brave local
reporter said, all right, well I am. And now it's
out there on the Internet of him having this moment.
(38:53):
It's sad that you've got to be this brave in
America a local affiliate to report the news, which was
the news that you had people's celebrating and waving American
flags and Iranian flags and standing out for the people
in the innocent people in Iran. And they're like, no, no, no,
we don't want you to focus on that.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
At CBS.
Speaker 3 (39:10):
Yeah, look, this is happening all all over the country,
all over America. It's happening on the ground, on the
streets of Iran, It's happening around the world. You know.
Kamala Harris today put out a statement quote, Donald Trump
is dragging the United States into a war the American
people do not want. Let me be clear, I am
opposed to a regime change war in Iran, and our
troops are being put in harm's way for the sake
(39:33):
of Trump's war of choice. Now, I will tell you
I responded to her on X and I said, your
administration gave over one hundred billion dollars to the Ayatola
who kept killing Americans. We know you're sad that your
friend isn't with us anymore. Look, the Democrat Party was
(39:57):
all in in support of the Ayatola. Now some some
times they pretended they weren't. But when Joe Biden and
Kamala Harris sent over one hundred billion dollars flowed that
money into the Ayatola, they funded his terror.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (40:09):
The the Obama Iran nuclear deal was designed to inevitably
lead to a nuclear Iran to the Ayatola with nuclear weapons.
And and so this is I'll tell you and and
and folks that that deal with with conflict in the
Middle East, and that that deal with foreign policy. UH
frequently refer to Iran as quote the head of the snake.
(40:31):
Why do they call it the head of the snake
because it's it is what is leading and directing and
funding the vast majority of the terrorism you see. Without Iran,
Hamas has no resources. Without Iran, Hesbeal and the Huthis
have no resources. And so what what President Trump is
doing here is is being a strong commander in chief
(40:52):
and making Americans safer.
Speaker 2 (40:55):
Final question on this shra of the horror moves and
the reality of what's happening there, give us your your
thoughts and and perspective on that and what you think
can happen moving forward.
Speaker 3 (41:03):
So we don't know that there is reporting that the
Iranians may have mine the Straits of Hormuse. So we
don't have an answer to that right now. Right now,
there's not shipping. There are not ships going through the
Straits of Hormus until it is determined whether or not
they have mined it.
Speaker 1 (41:19):
To be clear, that's significant.
Speaker 2 (41:21):
People that just don't understand how important it is a
significant amount of oil world which probably goes through there.
Speaker 3 (41:27):
Yeah, so right now that is shut down. By the way,
right now, civilian air traffic is shut down throughout the
Middle East. You can't get on an airline and fly
into and out of most of the cities in the
Middle East because you've got missiles flying everywhere, and so
and so all of the countries have understandably shut their
airspace down. And so I am confident that we will
(41:50):
have mind sweepers go into the straits of Horm moves
that may be happening now, I don't know, and examine
and determine if their mind's there. But at least right
now you're not seeing ships go through there because these
guys are just crazy enough to have put minds there,
and so no one wants to risk it until it's
determined one way or another whether it's safe.
Speaker 2 (42:09):
Yeah, it really is incredible. Well, we're going to keep
you updated on all this all week long. I can
promise you don't miss an episode of verdqu with Ted Creers.
Wherever you get your podcasts, hit that subscribe auto download
button in the center, and I will see you back
here on Wednesday morning. And if something massive breaks, will
probably be back before then as well. So don't miss
an episode. You can also watch us on YouTube. This
episode is up on YouTube and on Facebook, so you
(42:29):
can grab it there and on Rumble and The Center.
Speaker 1 (42:31):
I will see you back here in a couple of
days
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