Larry Mendte goes over the US strikes on Iran nuclear facilities, the start of a dangerous heat wave, and the release of Mahmoud Khalil from jail. Ben Cohen joins Larry to talk about the state of the Iranian nuclear program. Mike Kelly speaks about the release of Mahmoud Khalil from jail.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And good morning to you. What a newsday today is.
It's also going to be a record heat starting today,
so stay inside as much as you can. Record heat
possible today, a record heat expected tomorrow through the week
right through Thursday, so please try to stay inside. If
(00:23):
you don't have air conditioning. There are senior centers open
for air conditioning and cooler centers. But the Big Three
starts with the United States launching an attack on Iran's
nuclear weapons facilities.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Random bully of the Middle East must now make peace.
If they do not, future attacks would be far greater
and a lot easier.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
It was several successful strikes in Iran, crippling their nuclear
weapons program and exposing the rogue country. The regime itself
is very weak. You have Israel with air dominance over
the entire country of Iran, that it really is kind
of mind boggling how weak they are. And they didn't
get off a single shot against US, no planes, no missiles, nothing.
(01:06):
But now the United States braces for retaliation. Any retaliation
by iron against the United States of America will be
met with force far greater than what was witnessed tonight. We,
of course, I'll be talking about this all morning. We
have Jordannah Miller live in Jerusalem with reaction from Israel
coming up in just a half an hour. We are
(01:28):
at the very beginning also of a dangerous heat wave.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
These conditions could be deadly and life threatening if you
are not prepared.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
And we have meteorologists raised stagic giving an extended forecast
coming up in just fifteen minutes. Another district court judge
who thinks he's president has released anti Semite and non
citizen mock Mood Khalil from jail.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Not only if they threatened me with detention, even if
they would kill me, I would still speak up for Padestan.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Yeah, it's a little over dramatic. Khalil is free until
a hearing. Tomorrow is primary election day in New York,
with all eyes on the Democratic mayoral race, and former
Governor Andrew Cuomo, who resigned in disgrace, is talking about
e bikes causing chaos. We need rules in force.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
You can't be on the sidewalk and on the street
and going against traffic. And that's part of the feel
of the chaos that is out there.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
And the NBA has a champion.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
The Thunder.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
I've taken the NBA by store for the first time
the NBA champion resides in Oklahoma City.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
The story book season is complete.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
That was the Oklahoma City thunder Mended. They celebrated Oklahoma
City as the city won its first NBA championship. Congratulations,
this is definitely a day when we need to hear
from you. Leave us a talk back by going to
seven to ten WOR on the High Art Radio app
and tell us how you're feeling today after those air
(03:12):
strikes on Iran. Let's give the details about the mission.
The mission was called Midnight Hammer and it was the
largest B two military strike in United States history. This
included seven B two bombers. That wasn't all. There were
missiles that were sent. There were we didn't hear too
much about that. There were missiles that were shot. There
(03:33):
were other jets involved, many of them just as decoys.
But it was a stunningly successful operation pummeling nuclear sites
in fodh Ntans and Isfahana. It started at five o'clock
New York time Saturday, when a US submarine launched more
(03:55):
than two dozen Tomahawk missiles at the nuclear site in
this sac Fahan. So that wasn't that wasn't the target
of the B two bombers. They were hit by missiles
at about six forty or our time or about two
to ten Iran time, the B two bombers started dropping
(04:16):
those bunker buster bombs, fourteen of them in all on
ford Ho and Nayton's. We still need damage assessments to
determine the success, but early reports are that everything was demolished.
There were decoys, as I said, there were one hundred
and twenty five aircraft and missile decoys and actual strikes.
(04:42):
But here is the shocking truth about the whole thing.
Iran never got off a shot or sent an attack aircraft.
Now we're trying to figure out why that happened. Are
they that weakened by the Israeli attacks where they that
taken by surprise because of the stealth B two bombers.
(05:05):
Why did they just sit there and take it. It
seems that Iran is much weaker than we estimated. And
so the question then is what are they going to
do now? After not being able to get off one
shot against a nation attacking its nation. Iraq is surprisingly
(05:29):
weak right after the attacks. Of course, Donald Trump addressed
the nation.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
There's no military in the world that could have done
what we did tonight, not even close. There has never
been a military that could do what took place just
a little while ago.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
I'll tell you what. He had every right to brag.
It was a stunningly successful, near perfect military operation. And now,
of course, the concern is what comes next, because Iran
says it's going to respond, and the question is what
can it do. It has no missiles that can reach
us right now that we know of, at least. The
(06:08):
military is decimated, So what are they going to be
able to do? They're gonna probably strike American assets in
the region, but we just we sent forty thousand troops,
We have two aircraft carrier strike forces, we have five destroyers.
What are they going to do? They've already shown how
(06:28):
weak they are, and if they do strike, there is
going to be massive retaliation.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Remember, there are many targets left. Tonight's was the most
difficult of them all by far, and perhaps the most lethal.
But if peace does not come quickly, we will go
after those are the targets with precision, speed and skill.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Look, Israel is thrilled about this, right that we got involved, finally,
that we did what they weren't able to do. They
were able to take out a lot, they weren't able
to get to the nuclear program because we're the only
ones in the world that have these punker busters. And
the Consul General of Israel, who's in New York because
(07:15):
he goes to the un ofir Acunis, talked about the
fact how this was important not only for Israel but
for the United States.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
It's just the beginning. What's the reason that the Iranian
regime wants intercontinental ballistic missiles. They don't need intercontinental ballistic
missiles to hit Tel avivf they can use the ordinary
ballistic missions to hit Tel Aviv. They want their ballistic
missair intercontinentum ballistic missiles to use them first of all,
(07:47):
as I said, toward Europe and then toward Manhattan.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
So the Iran is promising retaliation. A rude Argatchi is
the foreign Minister of Iran, and he was the one
that was sent out because the Supreme leader is still
hiding way deep in a bunker. He was the one
that was sent out to give a threat to the
United States.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
Iran reserves all options to defend its security interests and people.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
And of course the media and the Democrats are in
a frenzy. What did he do? He got us in
the World War three? This is going to be horrible.
Did you see what happened? Did you see our overwhelming force?
Do you see our dominance, our military dominance. Compare that
to what, for instance, Russia is going through. We see
(08:43):
how weak they are. We overestimated just about everyone. We
have the strongest military in the world. And yet the
overreaction in the media is amazing. Question, is the United
States now at war with Iran? No, We're not at
(09:04):
war with Iran, John, We're at war with Iran's.
Speaker 5 (09:06):
Nuclear program, and I think the President took decisive action
to destroy that program last night.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Didn't you see what happened? Iran can't go to war
with us. They would be annihilated, They'd be destroyed. We'd
have a new regime in there in a minute. There's
a whole lot of people that were exiled from Iran
that want to get back into power, and it would
be good for us and it would be good for
(09:32):
the world. But the administration has made it clear they
aren't trying to kick out this regime. They just want
to make sure they don't have nuclear weapons. If this
regime wants to exist, they have to give an unconditional surrender.
It would be the smartest thing that Iran could do
right now, but they've never done the smartest thing. So
(09:57):
we'll talk about possible retaliation as we go through the morning.
And everybody, of course is afraid of sleeper cells in
this country that were let in by Joe Biden over
the last four years, because anybody could get across that border.
But there are some people that doubt that's even possible
at this point. The other big story, by the way,
(10:18):
is that we are at the very beginning of a
dangerous heat wave, and we'll get details of how hot
it's going to get and for how long from meteorologist
Race Stagic next. Plus, we got tickets to see the
Steve Miller band at a twenty five stay with us. Well,
there is a fascinating piece in the New York Post
that I suggest you read. It's called us delt. Iran's
(10:39):
Nuke's a major blow. But here's why the cheers may
be premature. And it was a balanced, well thought out
article about the nuclear program and how we should be
careful of taking a big victory lap right now. There
may be more to be done. The author was Ben Cohen,
(11:00):
Senior analyst and Rapid Response Director at the Foundation for
Defense of Democracies. Ben thanks so much for joining us
this morning.
Speaker 6 (11:10):
Larry, great to be with you.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
I talk about your concerns.
Speaker 6 (11:15):
Well, look, you mentioned just now that it's too premature
to be doing a victory lap. I very much hope
that we will be doing a victory lap and despite
the but I think the issue is this. You know,
these were very audacious and necessary strikes that occurred on
Saturday night, and if you listen to what the head
(11:37):
of the International Atomic Energy Agency was saying this morning,
there does seems to be good reason to believe that
the four Though Enrichment facility, the underground, the underground facility
that's buried beneath the mountain, that that was badly damaged.
But there are still some, as you say, some outstanding
questions here. I think one of them relate to the
(12:01):
enriched uranium that Iran already has. We know that at
least two sites at Fourdal and at Isfahan, which are
sort of in the central western part of Iran, both
our nuclear facilities, there's several hundred kilograms of sixty percent
(12:21):
enriched uranium at Isfahan, that's almost nuclear weapons grade. Very
it's a short skip and jump to get that up
to weapons grade uranium. And then also at four DW
there was talk today that there were trucks seen at
the facility a few minutes before the strikes began on
(12:42):
Saturday night, and the theory is that they may have
been moving nuclear material out. So that's a really big worry.
And then you have the sort of broader geopolitical consideration.
Iran has all these proxies around the Middle East, in Gaza,
in Lebanon, in Yemen. We have forty thousand troops US
in the Middle East, So all these are targets for
(13:04):
retaliation right now.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
No, these are major concerns that you bring up. Do
you have any reason to believe before the damage assessment
that we didn't at least badly downgrade their nuclear weapons capabilities.
Speaker 6 (13:18):
Look, I think there is good reason to believe that
that has happened. I saw, in fact, even before the
strikes on Saturday night, the Israeli Foreign Minister was saying
that he, by his estimation, they had they had set
the Iranian nuclear program back by one two three years
I think was his estimate. And that was before the
(13:42):
US strikes, but after the Israelis had engaged in nine
days of extensive but targeted strikes. So yeah, I think
an enormous amount of damage has been accumulated in human
and physical terms to the nuclear program and to the
Uranian military.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
But we would be nail eve are you saying to
think it was eliminated.
Speaker 6 (14:04):
I don't know that we would be naive in saying that.
I think we might be overly optimistic in saying that
there's still As I said, there's still a lot of
a lot of material where we simply don't know where
they may have moved it to. The IAEA, the International
Atomic Energy Agency, is theoretically responsible for monitoring that, but
(14:25):
they're saying this morning, look, they're not telling us what
they've done with this, and we have no idea where
this was shipped to if it was shipped safely. I
think the other point, of course is that is that
they still do have, you know, hundreds of ballistic missiles.
They've been targeting those at Israel this morning. But they
may in particularly if the regime feels that this is
(14:46):
the end and it's going to collapse, they may decide,
as I said in that New York Post piece to
go out in a in a blaze of glory with
martyrdom and attack lots of wider targets as well.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Right, So you believe that where would the attacks be
in this country or military assets?
Speaker 6 (15:08):
I think I think there's a range of targets. I
think foremost are those military assets that we have in
the Middle East, the basis that we have in Syria
and Iraq, the basis that we have potentially even in
the Gulf in Katar, which you know, Katar is a
supporter of Hamas. It's been aligned with with Iran, but
it's still home to scentko On, the main US forward
(15:31):
base in the Middle East. It's also home to the
Al U Daid Air Base. So there's a bunch of
targets in the region that the Iranians could target. Further out,
you know, there is the use of proxies in Lebanon.
His Bolla has been very quiet so far because they
took a pasting from the Israelis last year, but they're
(15:53):
not out of the fight. Har Maas is still present
in Gaza. You have the hooties in rebels in Yemen.
They we've already for most of last years shut down
the traffic through the Red Sea towards the Sewerz Canal.
That has caused unbelievable fiscal pain for the global shipping industry.
(16:14):
You know, something like twenty percent of the world's oil
is transited through there, So yeah, those are targets. And
then further, even further afield, you know, synagogues, temples, schools, churches,
even in Europe, North America and elsewhere, those are also
in the targets. And Iran has proven over the last
forty fifty years since this revolution there took place, that
(16:37):
it's willing to attack soft targets like that.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Do you buy into the argument that there could be
sleeper cells in this country that came across the southern
border in the last four years, Yes, I do.
Speaker 6 (16:48):
I do buy that because I think we've already had
evidence of that. You know, we've had an Iranian assassination
plot against President Trump himself. We've also had a ten
to kill to assassinate John Bolton, who was former UN
ambassador for the US and an advisor to Trump. Massi Alinajad,
who is a very well known Iranian dissident based in
(17:12):
New York. All these people have been targeted by the Iranians,
and if you look at Europe, in Sweden, for example,
Iran has been using criminal gangs to attack dissidents in Sweden.
In London, where a lot of the Iranian opposition media
is based, you actually had last year an incident where
an Iranian opposition journalist was stabbed outside his place of work.
(17:35):
So yeah, these sleeper cells exist and can be activated,
and I think as the regime feels more and more pressure,
it may well opt to activate them.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Should that be our biggest concern?
Speaker 6 (17:50):
I think, Look, I think if you waken up this
morning in any one of the five boroughs, that is
certainly the most immediate concern. How realistic it is, I
really don't want to predict. I mean, that's the problem
with sleeper cells is very often we don't know who
they are and we don't know the capabilities they have
(18:11):
once they are activated. So you know, here in the city,
the NYPD has elevated security around Jewish community buildings. I
think that's a very sensible measure, and I think people
just have to be vigilant and if you are attending
or working at a particular target, that might be attractive
(18:32):
to the Iranians. Then then yet ask what the security
measures are and are there any more security measures being adopted?
Speaker 1 (18:39):
That's great advice. Ben Cohen, Senior analyst and Rapid Response
Director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Ben would
love to talk to you some more in the weeks
to come, especially when we get these damage assessments.
Speaker 6 (18:53):
Absolutely, I'm always here.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Thank you so much. I appreciate that again, Ben co
and Senior analyst in Rapid Respect bons Director at the
Foundation for Defensive Democracies. Now, let's get to Mike Kelly,
an award winning columnists for North Jersey dot Com and
The Record. Do you care, Mike at all that Oklahoma
City won the NBA Championship?
Speaker 5 (19:13):
No way, no way, it's it's it's it's a it's
one hundred and fifty degrees. You could you could make
a pizza on the sidewalk, and we're playing basketball.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Well in Oklahoma City, you know, the mecca, the metropolitan
of the United States, in Oklahoma City. Uh, I'm telling you.
The NBA they just you know, put their heads in
their hands when they found out it was going to
be Oklahoma City versus Indianapolis. The two smallest markets.
Speaker 5 (19:40):
Say Uh, the labor the point. But the other problem
here is these athletes are really, really in great shape,
but playing that many games for that long, it just
it just knocks their body to death or bodies, I
should say, uh, you know, and it's just not healthy.
And I think the I think they should shorten the
season period.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Well, I'd hate to see Warner's reaction right now as
we continue to talk about this. He's shaking his heads,
his heads in his hands at this point, maybe even
shut off the radio. There are much more important things
to talk about. But what I was really fascinating, and
I guess you told Natalie this. You wrote a column
on Mackmood Khalil, and now now he's been freed from
(20:21):
prison pending a hearing. What is your reaction to that?
Speaker 5 (20:26):
Well, this was a column that I wrote a couple
of months ago, Larry, in which I talked about this
relatively little noticed lawsuit that had been filed in federal
court against Columbia University, in which evidence was presented that
the group that Khalil Makul Khalil was leading at Columba
(20:46):
University was actually in touch with Hamas during the demonstrations.
And you know, I thought the federal prosecutors who argued
this case in Newark, because I was there for some
of that, and they did not make a point of
the connection between Khalil and the Columbia University folks and
(21:10):
the Hamas communications network out of the Middle East, which
I believe, which I know has been funded by Iran.
And subsequently now we have Khalil back on the street.
I don't think this case is over, but I really
think our Justice Department could have done a much better
(21:31):
job in really focusing in on who this guy was
and what he was all about.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Yeah, that's stunning, and I agree with you. Not bringing
that up and hearing is legal malpractice, and I certainly
hope as he goes through the legal process now that
that's brought up. But let's talk about the story of
the day. Because you wrote a book about Iran and terrorism,
So let me ask you, based on your knowledge about
(21:56):
this and Iran's capabilities, were you stunned like the rest
of the world was, like the US military was that
there was not one shot fired, There was not one
plane launched by Iran to stop this.
Speaker 5 (22:11):
Actually, I wasn't stunned. I don't think our country appreciates
how good the US military is and how well equipped
they are, and how and some of the technology that
they have. When I was covering the Iraq war, I
was in Baghdad and to look at the bomb damage,
and you know, from the Air Force, they were literally
(22:31):
dropping now this is going back fifteen years ago, dropping
smart bombs through the roof of one of Saddam Hussein's
palaces to you know, knock out, you know, a specific
target in the in those buildings. There is really some
impressive technology that our US military has. So when I
(22:51):
heard that they made it back just fine. They were
able to sneak into Iranian airspace without being detected and
nobody fire a shot at them, I was, I was.
I was really not that surprised. We have the technology
and the ability to do some pretty good pilots as.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Well, and I think Iran is that weakened as well.
I agree with you the US military stands above all
else in the history of the world at this point.
But but I think Iran is weaker than we thought.
And I do think that the Israel had a major
effect on their defenses, taking out the missile launchers and
taking out some planes, so I'm with you. I wasn't
(23:31):
I guess I wasn't surprised. But but the fact that
they didn't have a plane or a missile go off
in this whole thing is I didn't think that was
going to happen. Let's talk about Iran and terrorism and
what you think might happen next, based on your expertise.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
I think I think Iran is you know, it's it's
an interesting point you raised here, Larry about about Iran
not firing a shot at the US airplanes. What Iran
is not good at is fighting a normal war, that
kind of war where they would shoot at airplanes and
that sort of thing. What they're really good at is terrorism.
(24:11):
And I think what our country needs to be reminded
of is the fact that Iran has been the primary
bank account or banker for terrorism across the Middle East,
and I would argue the world for the last maybe
thirty years. My book focuses on a particular bombing that
(24:32):
took place in Jerusalem that killed a number of American
citizens and how those families sought to find out who
caused this, who was accountable, and they were able to
prove that Iran financed this bombing. Through Hamas and how
did they finance this? I remember sitting with this former
CIA guy and him showing me the linnine and budget
(24:54):
in the Iranian national budget that says Palestinian terrorism. It's
it's right there, wow, black and white for everybody to see.
And our country needs to wake up this. Iran has
been financing and carrying out terrorism for a very long time.
And so don't don't count them out. This is uh
(25:17):
you know. I know, we just had the fiftieth anniversary
of Jaws, and even though they were shooting harpoons and
all kinds of things that at that large shark, it
still managed to eat the boat. So be careful of Iran.
They they're very good at terrorism.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
That's a great analogy. What's the name of the book
in case people want to get it?
Speaker 5 (25:34):
The bus on Jaffa Road.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Mike Kelly Award winning columnists for North Jersey dot Com
and The Record. Well, we talked about the NBA, we
talked about Iran and Khalil. You are You're multifaceted. Thanks
so much, Mike Kelly. Thanks Larry, talked to you next week.
And good morning to you. What a newsday today is.
It's also going to be a record heat starting today,
so stay inside as much as you can. Record heat
possible today, a record heat expected tomorrow through the week
right through Thursday, so please try to stay inside. If
(00:23):
you don't have air conditioning. There are senior centers open
for air conditioning and cooler centers. But the Big Three
starts with the United States launching an attack on Iran's
nuclear weapons facilities.
Speaker 2 (00:35):
Random bully of the Middle East must now make peace.
If they do not, future attacks would be far greater
and a lot easier.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
It was several successful strikes in Iran, crippling their nuclear
weapons program and exposing the rogue country. The regime itself
is very weak. You have Israel with air dominance over
the entire country of Iran, that it really is kind
of mind boggling how weak they are. And they didn't
get off a single shot against US, no planes, no missiles, nothing.
(01:06):
But now the United States braces for retaliation. Any retaliation
by iron against the United States of America will be
met with force far greater than what was witnessed tonight. We,
of course, I'll be talking about this all morning. We
have Jordannah Miller live in Jerusalem with reaction from Israel
coming up in just a half an hour. We are
(01:28):
at the very beginning also of a dangerous heat wave.
Speaker 3 (01:34):
These conditions could be deadly and life threatening if you
are not prepared.
Speaker 1 (01:41):
And we have meteorologists raised stagic giving an extended forecast
coming up in just fifteen minutes. Another district court judge
who thinks he's president has released anti Semite and non
citizen mock Mood Khalil from jail.
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Not only if they threatened me with detention, even if
they would kill me, I would still speak up for Padestan.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Yeah, it's a little over dramatic. Khalil is free until
a hearing. Tomorrow is primary election day in New York,
with all eyes on the Democratic mayoral race, and former
Governor Andrew Cuomo, who resigned in disgrace, is talking about
e bikes causing chaos. We need rules in force.
Speaker 3 (02:25):
You can't be on the sidewalk and on the street
and going against traffic. And that's part of the feel
of the chaos that is out there.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
And the NBA has a champion.
Speaker 5 (02:39):
The Thunder.
Speaker 1 (02:40):
I've taken the NBA by store for the first time
the NBA champion resides in Oklahoma City.
Speaker 5 (02:47):
The story book season is complete.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
That was the Oklahoma City thunder Mended. They celebrated Oklahoma
City as the city won its first NBA championship. Congratulations,
this is definitely a day when we need to hear
from you. Leave us a talk back by going to
seven to ten WOR on the High Art Radio app
and tell us how you're feeling today after those air
(03:12):
strikes on Iran. Let's give the details about the mission.
The mission was called Midnight Hammer and it was the
largest B two military strike in United States history. This
included seven B two bombers. That wasn't all. There were
missiles that were sent. There were we didn't hear too
much about that. There were missiles that were shot. There
(03:33):
were other jets involved, many of them just as decoys.
But it was a stunningly successful operation pummeling nuclear sites
in fodh Ntans and Isfahana. It started at five o'clock
New York time Saturday, when a US submarine launched more
(03:55):
than two dozen Tomahawk missiles at the nuclear site in
this sac Fahan. So that wasn't that wasn't the target
of the B two bombers. They were hit by missiles
at about six forty or our time or about two
to ten Iran time, the B two bombers started dropping
(04:16):
those bunker buster bombs, fourteen of them in all on
ford Ho and Nayton's. We still need damage assessments to
determine the success, but early reports are that everything was demolished.
There were decoys, as I said, there were one hundred
and twenty five aircraft and missile decoys and actual strikes.
(04:42):
But here is the shocking truth about the whole thing.
Iran never got off a shot or sent an attack aircraft.
Now we're trying to figure out why that happened. Are
they that weakened by the Israeli attacks where they that
taken by surprise because of the stealth B two bombers.
(05:05):
Why did they just sit there and take it. It
seems that Iran is much weaker than we estimated. And
so the question then is what are they going to
do now? After not being able to get off one
shot against a nation attacking its nation. Iraq is surprisingly
(05:29):
weak right after the attacks. Of course, Donald Trump addressed
the nation.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
There's no military in the world that could have done
what we did tonight, not even close. There has never
been a military that could do what took place just
a little while ago.
Speaker 1 (05:46):
I'll tell you what. He had every right to brag.
It was a stunningly successful, near perfect military operation. And now,
of course, the concern is what comes next, because Iran
says it's going to respond, and the question is what
can it do. It has no missiles that can reach
us right now that we know of, at least. The
(06:08):
military is decimated, So what are they going to be
able to do? They're gonna probably strike American assets in
the region, but we just we sent forty thousand troops,
We have two aircraft carrier strike forces, we have five destroyers.
What are they going to do? They've already shown how
(06:28):
weak they are, and if they do strike, there is
going to be massive retaliation.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Remember, there are many targets left. Tonight's was the most
difficult of them all by far, and perhaps the most lethal.
But if peace does not come quickly, we will go
after those are the targets with precision, speed and skill.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Look, Israel is thrilled about this, right that we got involved, finally,
that we did what they weren't able to do. They
were able to take out a lot, they weren't able
to get to the nuclear program because we're the only
ones in the world that have these punker busters. And
the Consul General of Israel, who's in New York because
(07:15):
he goes to the un ofir Acunis, talked about the
fact how this was important not only for Israel but
for the United States.
Speaker 4 (07:26):
It's just the beginning. What's the reason that the Iranian
regime wants intercontinental ballistic missiles. They don't need intercontinental ballistic
missiles to hit Tel avivf they can use the ordinary
ballistic missions to hit Tel Aviv. They want their ballistic
missair intercontinentum ballistic missiles to use them first of all,
(07:47):
as I said, toward Europe and then toward Manhattan.
Speaker 1 (07:52):
So the Iran is promising retaliation. A rude Argatchi is
the foreign Minister of Iran, and he was the one
that was sent out because the Supreme leader is still
hiding way deep in a bunker. He was the one
that was sent out to give a threat to the
United States.
Speaker 4 (08:13):
Iran reserves all options to defend its security interests and people.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
And of course the media and the Democrats are in
a frenzy. What did he do? He got us in
the World War three? This is going to be horrible.
Did you see what happened? Did you see our overwhelming force?
Do you see our dominance, our military dominance. Compare that
to what, for instance, Russia is going through. We see
(08:43):
how weak they are. We overestimated just about everyone. We
have the strongest military in the world. And yet the
overreaction in the media is amazing. Question, is the United
States now at war with Iran? No, We're not at
(09:04):
war with Iran, John, We're at war with Iran's.
Speaker 5 (09:06):
Nuclear program, and I think the President took decisive action
to destroy that program last night.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Didn't you see what happened? Iran can't go to war
with us. They would be annihilated, They'd be destroyed. We'd
have a new regime in there in a minute. There's
a whole lot of people that were exiled from Iran
that want to get back into power, and it would
be good for us and it would be good for
(09:32):
the world. But the administration has made it clear they
aren't trying to kick out this regime. They just want
to make sure they don't have nuclear weapons. If this
regime wants to exist, they have to give an unconditional surrender.
It would be the smartest thing that Iran could do
right now, but they've never done the smartest thing. So
(09:57):
we'll talk about possible retaliation as we go through the morning.
And everybody, of course is afraid of sleeper cells in
this country that were let in by Joe Biden over
the last four years, because anybody could get across that border.
But there are some people that doubt that's even possible
at this point. The other big story, by the way,
(10:18):
is that we are at the very beginning of a
dangerous heat wave, and we'll get details of how hot
it's going to get and for how long from meteorologist
Race Stagic next. Plus, we got tickets to see the
Steve Miller band at a twenty five stay with us. Well,
there is a fascinating piece in the New York Post
that I suggest you read. It's called us delt. Iran's
(10:39):
Nuke's a major blow. But here's why the cheers may
be premature. And it was a balanced, well thought out
article about the nuclear program and how we should be
careful of taking a big victory lap right now. There
may be more to be done. The author was Ben Cohen,
(11:00):
Senior analyst and Rapid Response Director at the Foundation for
Defense of Democracies. Ben thanks so much for joining us
this morning.
Speaker 6 (11:10):
Larry, great to be with you.
Speaker 1 (11:11):
I talk about your concerns.
Speaker 6 (11:15):
Well, look, you mentioned just now that it's too premature
to be doing a victory lap. I very much hope
that we will be doing a victory lap and despite
the but I think the issue is this. You know,
these were very audacious and necessary strikes that occurred on
Saturday night, and if you listen to what the head
(11:37):
of the International Atomic Energy Agency was saying this morning,
there does seems to be good reason to believe that
the four Though Enrichment facility, the underground, the underground facility
that's buried beneath the mountain, that that was badly damaged.
But there are still some, as you say, some outstanding
questions here. I think one of them relate to the
(12:01):
enriched uranium that Iran already has. We know that at
least two sites at Fourdal and at Isfahan, which are
sort of in the central western part of Iran, both
our nuclear facilities, there's several hundred kilograms of sixty percent
(12:21):
enriched uranium at Isfahan, that's almost nuclear weapons grade. Very
it's a short skip and jump to get that up
to weapons grade uranium. And then also at four DW
there was talk today that there were trucks seen at
the facility a few minutes before the strikes began on
(12:42):
Saturday night, and the theory is that they may have
been moving nuclear material out. So that's a really big worry.
And then you have the sort of broader geopolitical consideration.
Iran has all these proxies around the Middle East, in Gaza,
in Lebanon, in Yemen. We have forty thousand troops US
in the Middle East, So all these are targets for
(13:04):
retaliation right now.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
No, these are major concerns that you bring up. Do
you have any reason to believe before the damage assessment
that we didn't at least badly downgrade their nuclear weapons capabilities.
Speaker 6 (13:18):
Look, I think there is good reason to believe that
that has happened. I saw, in fact, even before the
strikes on Saturday night, the Israeli Foreign Minister was saying
that he, by his estimation, they had they had set
the Iranian nuclear program back by one two three years
I think was his estimate. And that was before the
(13:42):
US strikes, but after the Israelis had engaged in nine
days of extensive but targeted strikes. So yeah, I think
an enormous amount of damage has been accumulated in human
and physical terms to the nuclear program and to the
Uranian military.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
But we would be nail eve are you saying to
think it was eliminated.
Speaker 6 (14:04):
I don't know that we would be naive in saying that.
I think we might be overly optimistic in saying that
there's still As I said, there's still a lot of
a lot of material where we simply don't know where
they may have moved it to. The IAEA, the International
Atomic Energy Agency, is theoretically responsible for monitoring that, but
(14:25):
they're saying this morning, look, they're not telling us what
they've done with this, and we have no idea where
this was shipped to if it was shipped safely. I
think the other point, of course is that is that
they still do have, you know, hundreds of ballistic missiles.
They've been targeting those at Israel this morning. But they
may in particularly if the regime feels that this is
(14:46):
the end and it's going to collapse, they may decide,
as I said in that New York Post piece to
go out in a in a blaze of glory with
martyrdom and attack lots of wider targets as well.
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Right, So you believe that where would the attacks be
in this country or military assets?
Speaker 6 (15:08):
I think I think there's a range of targets. I
think foremost are those military assets that we have in
the Middle East, the basis that we have in Syria
and Iraq, the basis that we have potentially even in
the Gulf in Katar, which you know, Katar is a
supporter of Hamas. It's been aligned with with Iran, but
it's still home to scentko On, the main US forward
(15:31):
base in the Middle East. It's also home to the
Al U Daid Air Base. So there's a bunch of
targets in the region that the Iranians could target. Further out,
you know, there is the use of proxies in Lebanon.
His Bolla has been very quiet so far because they
took a pasting from the Israelis last year, but they're
(15:53):
not out of the fight. Har Maas is still present
in Gaza. You have the hooties in rebels in Yemen.
They we've already for most of last years shut down
the traffic through the Red Sea towards the Sewerz Canal.
That has caused unbelievable fiscal pain for the global shipping industry.
(16:14):
You know, something like twenty percent of the world's oil
is transited through there, So yeah, those are targets. And
then further, even further afield, you know, synagogues, temples, schools, churches,
even in Europe, North America and elsewhere, those are also
in the targets. And Iran has proven over the last
forty fifty years since this revolution there took place, that
(16:37):
it's willing to attack soft targets like that.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
Do you buy into the argument that there could be
sleeper cells in this country that came across the southern
border in the last four years, Yes, I do.
Speaker 6 (16:48):
I do buy that because I think we've already had
evidence of that. You know, we've had an Iranian assassination
plot against President Trump himself. We've also had a ten
to kill to assassinate John Bolton, who was former UN
ambassador for the US and an advisor to Trump. Massi Alinajad,
who is a very well known Iranian dissident based in
(17:12):
New York. All these people have been targeted by the Iranians,
and if you look at Europe, in Sweden, for example,
Iran has been using criminal gangs to attack dissidents in Sweden.
In London, where a lot of the Iranian opposition media
is based, you actually had last year an incident where
an Iranian opposition journalist was stabbed outside his place of work.
(17:35):
So yeah, these sleeper cells exist and can be activated,
and I think as the regime feels more and more pressure,
it may well opt to activate them.
Speaker 1 (17:47):
Should that be our biggest concern?
Speaker 6 (17:50):
I think, Look, I think if you waken up this
morning in any one of the five boroughs, that is
certainly the most immediate concern. How realistic it is, I
really don't want to predict. I mean, that's the problem
with sleeper cells is very often we don't know who
they are and we don't know the capabilities they have
(18:11):
once they are activated. So you know, here in the city,
the NYPD has elevated security around Jewish community buildings. I
think that's a very sensible measure, and I think people
just have to be vigilant and if you are attending
or working at a particular target, that might be attractive
(18:32):
to the Iranians. Then then yet ask what the security
measures are and are there any more security measures being adopted?
Speaker 1 (18:39):
That's great advice. Ben Cohen, Senior analyst and Rapid Response
Director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. Ben would
love to talk to you some more in the weeks
to come, especially when we get these damage assessments.
Speaker 6 (18:53):
Absolutely, I'm always here.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
Thank you so much. I appreciate that again, Ben co
and Senior analyst in Rapid Respect bons Director at the
Foundation for Defensive Democracies. Now, let's get to Mike Kelly,
an award winning columnists for North Jersey dot Com and
The Record. Do you care, Mike at all that Oklahoma
City won the NBA Championship?
Speaker 5 (19:13):
No way, no way, it's it's it's it's a it's
one hundred and fifty degrees. You could you could make
a pizza on the sidewalk, and we're playing basketball.
Speaker 1 (19:23):
Well in Oklahoma City, you know, the mecca, the metropolitan
of the United States, in Oklahoma City. Uh, I'm telling you.
The NBA they just you know, put their heads in
their hands when they found out it was going to
be Oklahoma City versus Indianapolis. The two smallest markets.
Speaker 5 (19:40):
Say Uh, the labor the point. But the other problem
here is these athletes are really, really in great shape,
but playing that many games for that long, it just
it just knocks their body to death or bodies, I
should say, uh, you know, and it's just not healthy.
And I think the I think they should shorten the
season period.
Speaker 1 (19:59):
Well, I'd hate to see Warner's reaction right now as
we continue to talk about this. He's shaking his heads,
his heads in his hands at this point, maybe even
shut off the radio. There are much more important things
to talk about. But what I was really fascinating, and
I guess you told Natalie this. You wrote a column
on Mackmood Khalil, and now now he's been freed from
(20:21):
prison pending a hearing. What is your reaction to that?
Speaker 5 (20:26):
Well, this was a column that I wrote a couple
of months ago, Larry, in which I talked about this
relatively little noticed lawsuit that had been filed in federal
court against Columbia University, in which evidence was presented that
the group that Khalil Makul Khalil was leading at Columba
(20:46):
University was actually in touch with Hamas during the demonstrations.
And you know, I thought the federal prosecutors who argued
this case in Newark, because I was there for some
of that, and they did not make a point of
the connection between Khalil and the Columbia University folks and
(21:10):
the Hamas communications network out of the Middle East, which
I believe, which I know has been funded by Iran.
And subsequently now we have Khalil back on the street.
I don't think this case is over, but I really
think our Justice Department could have done a much better
(21:31):
job in really focusing in on who this guy was
and what he was all about.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
Yeah, that's stunning, and I agree with you. Not bringing
that up and hearing is legal malpractice, and I certainly
hope as he goes through the legal process now that
that's brought up. But let's talk about the story of
the day. Because you wrote a book about Iran and terrorism,
So let me ask you, based on your knowledge about
(21:56):
this and Iran's capabilities, were you stunned like the rest
of the world was, like the US military was that
there was not one shot fired, There was not one
plane launched by Iran to stop this.
Speaker 5 (22:11):
Actually, I wasn't stunned. I don't think our country appreciates
how good the US military is and how well equipped
they are, and how and some of the technology that
they have. When I was covering the Iraq war, I
was in Baghdad and to look at the bomb damage,
and you know, from the Air Force, they were literally
(22:31):
dropping now this is going back fifteen years ago, dropping
smart bombs through the roof of one of Saddam Hussein's
palaces to you know, knock out, you know, a specific
target in the in those buildings. There is really some
impressive technology that our US military has. So when I
(22:51):
heard that they made it back just fine. They were
able to sneak into Iranian airspace without being detected and
nobody fire a shot at them, I was, I was.
I was really not that surprised. We have the technology
and the ability to do some pretty good pilots as.
Speaker 1 (23:07):
Well, and I think Iran is that weakened as well.
I agree with you the US military stands above all
else in the history of the world at this point.
But but I think Iran is weaker than we thought.
And I do think that the Israel had a major
effect on their defenses, taking out the missile launchers and
taking out some planes, so I'm with you. I wasn't
(23:31):
I guess I wasn't surprised. But but the fact that
they didn't have a plane or a missile go off
in this whole thing is I didn't think that was
going to happen. Let's talk about Iran and terrorism and
what you think might happen next, based on your expertise.
Speaker 5 (23:48):
I think I think Iran is you know, it's it's
an interesting point you raised here, Larry about about Iran
not firing a shot at the US airplanes. What Iran
is not good at is fighting a normal war, that
kind of war where they would shoot at airplanes and
that sort of thing. What they're really good at is terrorism.
(24:11):
And I think what our country needs to be reminded
of is the fact that Iran has been the primary
bank account or banker for terrorism across the Middle East,
and I would argue the world for the last maybe
thirty years. My book focuses on a particular bombing that
(24:32):
took place in Jerusalem that killed a number of American
citizens and how those families sought to find out who
caused this, who was accountable, and they were able to
prove that Iran financed this bombing. Through Hamas and how
did they finance this? I remember sitting with this former
CIA guy and him showing me the linnine and budget
(24:54):
in the Iranian national budget that says Palestinian terrorism. It's
it's right there, wow, black and white for everybody to see.
And our country needs to wake up this. Iran has
been financing and carrying out terrorism for a very long time.
And so don't don't count them out. This is uh
(25:17):
you know. I know, we just had the fiftieth anniversary
of Jaws, and even though they were shooting harpoons and
all kinds of things that at that large shark, it
still managed to eat the boat. So be careful of Iran.
They they're very good at terrorism.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
That's a great analogy. What's the name of the book
in case people want to get it?
Speaker 5 (25:34):
The bus on Jaffa Road.
Speaker 1 (25:36):
Mike Kelly Award winning columnists for North Jersey dot Com
and The Record. Well, we talked about the NBA, we
talked about Iran and Khalil. You are You're multifaceted. Thanks
so much, Mike Kelly. Thanks Larry, talked to you next week.
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