June 18, 2025 • 29 mins
Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, discusses what he believes should happen with the conflict between Iran and Israel.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, thank you, Scott Shannon, and thanks to all
of you for being with us. Right down our toll
free telephone number if you want to be a part
of the program, and say eight hundred and nine to
four one Sean if you'd like to join us. I
know a lot of people a kind of obsessed with
this Karen Reid case and the retrial in the death
of a Boston police officer, John O'Keefe. And she was
(00:24):
found not guilty of second degree murder, not guilty of manslaughter.
And I believe the only thing she might have been
found guilty of what is a duy. I'm not sure
if we have Well, that's actually one other.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Thing that she was guilty of, was driving under the influence.
She was not found guilty on either of the murder charges. Yeah, So,
I mean there's vince.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
I don't know why people get so interested in these
crime cases, but I have friends of mine that are
just absolutely positively obsessed with all of this. Let me
deal with an issue that is come up. We pointed
out yesterday Matt Towry, Robert Kahaley. They pulled Donald Trump
the best is nobody even close? And they did a
(01:10):
poll a joint poll that came out, and the question was,
what is your opinion of President Trump's position that Iran
be prevented from developing a nuclear weapon by any means necessary,
very very pointed question. Seventy four point four percent say
they approve fake news CNN daggery numbers. Eighty three percent
(01:32):
of Republicans, seventy nine percent of Democrats, seventy nine percent
of independence seventy nine percent of all adults op pose
Iran obtaining nuclear weapons. We talked yesterday about the Havevid
Harris poll eighty five percent saying day Ron should never
get a momb. I mean there's nearly full agreement here. Now,
(01:53):
I with some amusement. I mean people have been trying
to drag me into what you know, I think the
over hyping as this maga conservative all right outright war. Well,
if it is, and my name keeps getting mentioned, I'm
not a part of it and barely paying attention to it.
I really don't care that other people have different points
(02:13):
of view than I do. If you're asking me what
my opinion is, I give you my opinion. I actually
support the Trump doctrine on this. Donald Trump did everything
humanly possible to get the Iranians to have peace. He
understands the existential threat that they represent number one state
sponsor of terror. We do support our ally Israel, which
(02:35):
I believe is the right policy decision. And you know,
and and somehow this has evolved into this is not maga.
Well Donald Trump is maga and people, I guess the
memories are short, not really sure why. But this is
the same Donald Trump that defeated the ISIS Caliphate. I
(02:57):
know maybe a lot of people weren't paying attention to it,
but I mean, he wiped them out, and he did
it in record time, and he did it without one
boot on the ground to do it or accomplish it.
He's the same guy that took out like Daddy and
associates again, no boots on the ground, no long term
protracted conflict in the Middle East. He took out Solamani,
(03:20):
you know, the leader of terrorism for Iran for a
long long time. And yeah, every single solitary military effort
has risk. We have got to be very sober when
we're talking about anything involving innocent Americans. And then you
have to calculate you basically, do you know risk management calculation?
(03:43):
And you have to make tough decisions, and that's what
the President I think is rightly done. And I think
the President is one hundred percent right. He's given them
every opportunity. And now it looks like, you know, the
president's demand for unconditional surrender is not going to be
and there is now a moment of truth for the president.
(04:06):
If you ask me, probably a week from now, the
Iranian nuclear program is going to be gone. I mean,
the inner circle of the supreme leader has been houlowed out,
and thanks to you know, Israel and their strength it
should be I mean, how many hundreds of thousands of
rockets should any one country take, all fomented by this sick,
(04:29):
ugly twisted convert or die radical, you know, regime that
believes in a mass holocaust and wiping Israel off the
map and wiping the US off the map. And so anyway,
I had told all his friends have pretty much been
knocked out as senior military officials, his biggest scientists, as
top military commander who took his post four days ago
(04:52):
because his predecessor was also killed in an air strike
by Israel, and Iran's ballistic missile salvos are getting smaller
clearly there's stockpiles are low. The launchers have been also
taken out by the Israelis, and we do have a
window of opportunity here to to rid the world of
any potential threat of Iranians and their radicalism having weapons
(05:14):
of mass destruction. Now, if you ask me what the
Trump doctrine is, I think I sum it up pretty well,
and that is that the president, you know, will go
after these bad actors preemptively in defense of the United States,
like he did the Caliphate isis like he did Bagdaddy
and associates like he did Solomani, and like it appears
(05:38):
he's ready to do with Iran. That that to me
is in keeping with his past history to the t
to the letter. The President also is against extended protracted
conflicts abroad and decades long wars. But you know, I've
been We've been trying to educate people for a long
time now about the next generation a weapon and my
(06:01):
prediction that future wars are never going to be fought
in the battlefield like they were in past in the past,
and that that technology is going to advance even that
more quickly with the with the use of artificial intelligence,
and we better be ahead of the rest of the world,
because it's a dangerous place with a lot of dangerous
evil actors in it. And so do I know for
(06:24):
sure what the President's going to do?
Speaker 3 (06:25):
No?
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Do I have a pretty good idea of where this
is headed.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
I do, because you know, look at what the President
of the United States can go on social media and
tell everyone in Tehran to evacuate, and you have millions
of people on their way out of Iran's capital city,
and the cars are barely moving, and they appear to
be listening to the president, and the mulos of Iran
(06:50):
unfortunately weren't listening. Iran should have signed the deal I
told them to sign. It's a shame, a waste of
human life. Simply stated, Iran cannot have an nuclear weapon.
That would be the Trump doctrine. Also, how often does
Donald Trump talk about the mag of movement being common sense?
It's common sense when people say that they want to
wipe you off the face of the earth, that they
(07:13):
mean what they say, and Iran means what it says.
And the Trump doctrine is clear. They can't have weapons
of mass destruction. They can't. And you know they've fired
hundreds of thousands of weapons provided to their proxies, all
in the sick war against Israel. And if you really
(07:34):
think about it, the President has been saying the exact words.
We went back in time, we found President Trump, then
a private citizen Trump saying that Iran can't have a
nuclear weapon all throughout the years, starting back in twenty eleven.
And the American people overwhelmingly agree with this. And to me,
it's basic, simple common sense. Now, there might be some
(07:56):
people that are completely risk averse, and I ask what
happened if they ever get those weapons of mass destruction?
I would argue that you risk a modern day holocaust,
and that you risk one day as their ballistic missile
capability inevitably if you don't stop them would advance, that
they might be able to hit the continental United States.
(08:18):
So where this appears to be headed. New York Post
had a front page headline today, mulla this over and
President Trump to Iran, surrender or face bunker buster bombs,
you know, And then he even said that he knew
where the Supreme Leader was, but we're letting him live
for now, and you know, we'll see what We'll see
(08:42):
how this unfolds. But I think it is inevitable. I
wouldn't be surprised by next week if they don't have
a weapon of mass destruction and they don't have a
nuclear program, and it is it's going to take. Look
when once you own the skies of a country which
they really own, and the Israelis have successfully you know,
(09:04):
did this. We have one main nuclear facilities. The Israelis
took out the other two. It's the four Daux facility
outside of Tehran and it's three hundred feet inside of
a mountain. It could only be delivered with these bunker
thirty thousand pounds bunker buster bombs. It may take According
(09:25):
to military experts I've been talking to, it may take
as many as as four of them to finish the job.
And when you own the skies, you can pretty safely
go there. Now, from my perspective is this is not
a forever war. Now the President will have to protect
our interest in the region. I think everybody will need
to be on high alert. There's no military action that
(09:47):
is ever without risk. I do not want to minimize
that in any way, shape, matter or form. We have
a lot of assets in the region, and desperate people
are capable of desperate things, and we've got to be
ever vigilant, and we've got to protect every man, woman,
in and around surrounding areas that maybe targets. However, to
(10:09):
do nothing, and you know, to watch the same regime
that has been fomenting terror in the region is to
me a policy of just utter madness.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
It really is.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
By the way, approximately seven hundred thousand Americans are living
in Israel at any one given time. I don't know
how many people know that there's a lot of people
that are living there. You know, I've gone through this,
I've gone through the polling, I've gone over the arguments,
and I don't know how in some people's minds that
this has evolved into the MAGA movement means isolationism. It
(10:42):
does not. That has not been the history. The four
dough and Richmond plant is buried deep under this mountain.
It's south of Tehran. It is believed to be the
most significant secretive nuclear facility inside of Iran, while their
missile defenses are down. If you're ever going to do
it and eliminate the threat of this radical regime having
(11:03):
weapons that could wipe out millions of people, now would
be the time to do it, and I you know,
Israel does not have the critical weapon in their arsenal
to pull this off. And that will be President Trump's decision.
To make all these people that think that they can
sway President Trump.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
I've known him too long.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
You can make your case, but ultimately he decides, you know,
and he, you know, has said they can never have
the nuclear weapon, and I believe them, and he would
deliver the final blow to that in all likelihood. Now
that would end the threat of nuclear terror once and
for all. Not an easy decision, not without as I said, risks.
(11:43):
You know, do the people of Israel and the rest
of the region deserve to live in peace without the
threat of a nuclear armed or ran with the lunatics
that run this that that have run this country and
terrorized the entire region for how many years?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Now? You know, there's an argument to be made.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
You want to talk about forever war, Well, there's been
a kind of forever war being waged against the United
States by the Iranians.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Nobody ever talks about that part.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
And you could take it back to Ayatola Comeni nineteen
seventy nine in the taking of US hostages. And you know,
they've they they've been given a final warning. They want
a full, complete, unconditional surrender. That's what Donald Trump has said.
If they want to avoid what is now becoming inevitable,
(12:30):
that's what it would take. But the Iran hostage crisis
from November to January, November seventy nine to January nineteen
eighty one and held hostage, what was it four hundred
and forty four days? The Beroot Embassy bombing. What did
the nine to eleven Commission reports say? They were at
war with us? We were and at war with them? Yeah,
(12:51):
well that that bombing in Beirut in nineteen eighty three
by his Ballah, Iranian backed and then the Route Marine
Barracks bombing that killed two hundred and forty one Marines
under Reagan's term, the US embassy annex building in Beirut
that killed twenty four We can keep going. Kidnapping of
(13:14):
US citizens in Lebanon, and the Kobar Towers bombing in
ninety six that was in Saudi Arabia, again Hisballah. You know,
then we have arms and training to insurgents in Iraq
targeting Americans during that conflict, and the same in Afghanistan.
Taliban fighters you know, all all of the unrest in
(13:36):
the region has one main common denominator, and that's Iran.
And do I think our America's goals should be a
forever war.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
No.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
But in Iran's forever war against Us, the regime is
targeted and killed Americans worldwide, and they're preparing for missiles
and metality torri strikes. We've got to plan for worst
case scenario that they're going to target Americans. Well, Hannity,
but they might come to America and they commit acts
are terrible. You can thank Joe Biden because they're already here.
(14:11):
I can't believe the level of ignorance of some people.
Democrats in particular, are so stupid. Amazing thing is that
Iran has launched dozens of attacks on US targets that
have killed Tom Cotton said this thousands of Americans. Why
people don't listen to others that say, you know, when
(14:32):
people say death to Israel, death to America, why you
don't take that seriously? I don't know why some people
don't take that seriously. If you want to talk about it.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Forever war.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
They've been waging it against us, certainly against Israel, and
they've been given every opportunity for peace, but they can't
have a nuclear weapon. And if you don't see the
wisdom in that, I'm not gonna I'm not going to
try and convince you. You're entitled to your own opinion.
But only the US military is going to be able
to take out their most dangerous nuclear site. That's just
(15:03):
a fact, and that's the Fourdeaux fuel enrichment plant just
outside of Tehran. Again, we own the skies. It makes
it less risky. Probably the most ideal time ever if
you're going to try to pull this off is now,
which would be the first time since nineteen seventy nine
that we can neutralize what is the number one state
(15:25):
sponsor of terror. And I don't really care what other
people think. You know, the idea that people, you know,
that somehow people have somehow want to identify the president's
mag of movement is isolation is a bizarre to me. Solamani,
(15:46):
you know Bagdadian associates the ISIS Caliphate not exactly isolationism.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Now we have gone over the numbers.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
They are overwhelming, and that is you know, if you
look at even vague news and then you got seventy
nine percent of Democrats seventy nine percent of independence eighty
three percent of Republicans, seventy nine percent of all adults
are saying the same thing, and that is they oppose
(16:15):
Iran obtaining nuclear weapons. I think the definitive poll by
Robert Kahelli of Trafalgar and an Insider Advantage head Matt Towery.
They did a joint poll and the question was very pointed,
what is your opinion of President Trump's position that Iran
must be prevented from develop a developing a nuclear weapon
(16:37):
by any means necessary. Seventy four point four percent said
that they approve and agree with that. And we can
go on to the Havid Harris poll eighty five percent. Yeah,
Tehran must never ever get the bomb. Now, Israel has
taken out two of the three sites, there's one site remaining,
(16:59):
and it's it seems that that site, the Bordeaux site
that we keep talking about, would need American assistance to
make this happen, and hence the decision that the President
will have to make. And I have every confidence that
the President understands he's been saying since twenty eleven that
(17:23):
Iran could not have a nuclear weapon. One of the
more bizarre conversations to arise out of this is this
is against MAGA. Donald Trump is against forever wars. You're right,
so am I I'm against forever wars, and with military technology,
I don't think they're ever going to be fought the
same way again. But it's the same Donald Trump that
(17:45):
took out Solomani on the tarmac, and that was you know,
that was done, and all the predictions of doom and
gloom and retribution. Any military effort has risk associated with it.
But then you have the factor in the risk of
a nuclear armed Iran, the number one state sponsor of terror,
that has fired hundreds of thousands of missiles. They're firing
(18:07):
them right now into Jerusalem as we speak. They've been
firing him too heavily civilian areas, populated civilian areas like
Tel Aviv, And they have sworn to wipe Israel off
the map in the United States, off the map. They've
made these threats repeatedly. But it's also the same Donald
(18:27):
Trump that wiped out the Caliphate, the same Donald Trump
that took out Bagdaddian associates. I'm not sure how some
are saying that the MAGA movement is an isolationist movement,
which means no involvement at all.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
It's not.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
It is no way contradictory to say that this one
remaining site needs to be taken out. And if it's
the United States at a time when their air defense
systems are down, it's the safest it's ever gonna be.
But there's always risk with any military operation. And take
it out and forever end the threat of iranium Mullah's
(19:03):
married to their sick converter die ideology, and forever remove
that threat of a modern day holocaust, to me, is basic,
simple common sense. Yeah, that also would be part of
the Trump doctrine, and Donald Trump is it's not inconsistent
if you take out those sites the way you took
out Solomany Bagdaddy and associates, and also the ISIS Caliphate
(19:26):
and not have a forever war. Nobody wants that. I
definitely don't anyway. Senator Lindsay Graham, South Carolina is with
a senator, how are you good?
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Let's get your take on all of this. To me,
it's a window of opportunity. Their air defenses are down.
The president has been clear what his policy is. They
can't have a nuclear weapon. He's been saying it since
twenty eleven and hundreds of times since. It seems like
the moment is here.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Yeah, the forever war is started in nineteen seventy nine
and when the Ayatola replaced the Shaw, they held our
embassy personnel hostage. Since nineteen seventy nine, Iran has been
waging war through Amases blah and the hoodies against Israel.
They have American blood on their hands. So that's the
(20:18):
war I'd like to end. And if you don't believe
Iran would use a nuclear weapon to destroy Israel, you're
not listening to what they're saying. If you don't believe
they would use a nuclear weapon to come after us
to infidel you're not listening to what they say. November
fourth and Iran is commonly referred to as Death to
America Day. In nineteen eighty seven, they made that a holiday.
(20:40):
That was the day they took over our embassy. We
have a military for reasons, to protect our way of life,
protect our homeland, and protect our allies. You know, when
my dad was drafted World War II, the term was
called the duration we're going to fight? Do we beat
the Nazis took Berlin and took Tokyo, and we did
in this war. We're not going to have ground troops
(21:02):
and it won't last forever because they have the capability
to destroy the Iranian nuclear program. Working with Israel fairly quickly,
we're down to one site deep underground, about a half
a mile under the ground. We have technology and bombs
and capability. Israel doesn't. It is my advice to President Trump,
help Israel finish the job. Go all in to destroy
(21:26):
the last nuclear site. If we take this program on
and we don't finish it, it will be a disaster.
So let's finish the job.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
I agree with you, and I actually think that the
Israelis have done a spectacular job on their own. Now
we have to factor in that Iran and I ran
through their proxies. And I've been to Israel a number
of times, as you have been there, many many times,
many many times more than me. I mean, I went
(21:55):
to one border town with Gaza at the time, and
I think twenty fifteen had been hit with ten thousand
rockets in ten years. They have withstood Huti rebel rockets,
his Bola rockets, Islamic Jihad rockets, Hamas rockets, Kuds forces,
Iranian Revolutionary Guards forces helped develop the October seventh attack
(22:16):
against Israel. They provided the weaponry for that. They've been
fomenting terror, not just in the region, but around the world.
There's not a single country that wants to come to
Iran's defense, and we now find ourselves with a window
of opportunity to forever remove any possibility they'd have this
weapon of mass destruction married to their ideology. Now, how
(22:38):
is that any different than taking out solomani al Baghdadian
associates or beating the caliphate. I don't see that as
inconsistent at all.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Well, I think, yeah, you're dead right. The primary job
the beating commander in chief president the United States is
to protect us our homeland from existential threats and to
protect our allies. And we have no better allies than
the state of Israel. Iran has nine hundred pounds of
highly enriched uranium that could make about a dozen bombs
(23:10):
if they went to the last mile. They're at sixty percent.
To get to ninety percent is weeks, not years. They
have one savine reactor. They haven't used any of the
enriched uranium to run that reactor. They get their fuel
from Russia, so this is weapons grade material in large quantity.
They've been doing this for decades and their goal is
(23:33):
to develop a nucle weapons force to use as part
of their ideology. I don't think Rocketman's going to attack America.
I don't believe Putin's ambition is to destroy it or
destroy the United States. Nor do I believe that about China.
I think they're mercantile. I think they're an adversary. But
I believe this regime is founded on a religious ideology
(23:57):
that makes them religious Nazis. Their being told by their
version of Islam to destroy the Jewish State, to drive
out the infidels, and to purify Islam. They're not elected.
It's a theocracy. They mean what they say. For presidents
have said Aroan can't have a nuclear weapon. It will
(24:17):
be Donald J. Trump who makes that a reality. Period.
All we need to do is help Israel finish the
last site and wait and see what happens after that.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Is that in your mind, and obviously protecting our interests
in the region, Is that basically the job that you
want President Trump to accomplish. For example, there are other targets.
I mean, most of their refineries are on this one island,
and you can wipe out any ability of them in
the future to make money. The Israelis could do that
(24:53):
on their own. They don't need our helper assistance for that.
Certainly they can knock out their gas power grid and
the entire country will be without power. That's another easy
target because the Israelis own the sky over Iran. So
you know, once the nuclear component is out of the way,
I guess at that point it's going to be up
(25:14):
to Israel what they decide to do in their conflict
with Iran. And frankly, with all the weapons they've fired
into Israel, I wouldn't I wouldn't put it past them to.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Take it all out.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Well, so here's the question for Israel and really the world.
We can destroy their infrastructure to enrich uranium. There's one
site left, but as long as the regime is in power,
they'll rebuild it over time. And President Trump is not
going to be present forever. So the question for the world.
(25:47):
The largest state sponsor of terrorism is a run under
US law. They have a policy to decimate Israel and
to reshape the entire faith in a way to exclude us.
Bird or die is their ideology. Wouldn't it be great
for the people of Iran and the world if this
regime went away? And people say, well, what will come next?
(26:11):
Here's what I'm going to tell you. The guy in
charge wants to kill all the Jews. He wants to
kill us. They beat a young girl with death on
a bus in Iran because she didn't cover her head.
I'm willing to risk it won't be any worse than
that guy. So the bottom line is I hope and
pray that the Iranian people will know freedom. It will
(26:32):
be up to them to take the regime down. But
Israel will not tolerate living this way anymore. The Jews
and Israel are oppressed by everybody around them. They have
lived in fear, they have lived in an oppressive environment
since this founding October the seventh, children were murdered, women
(26:56):
are raped in front of their children. They've had it,
have it. I am tired of living this way. To
our friends in Israel, do what you have to do
to be safe, and they're making us safer. The people
they're finding want to kill us two and to all
these people sitting in the stands second guests in Trump,
you have no idea what you're talking about. You would
(27:16):
know the erring of Sunni and Ashia than anything. So
this is a religious deocracy. They're fanatics. They're dedicated to
killing all the Jews and coming after us. They meant
it when they say death Israel, death to America. So
I'm hoping, in praying we take their nuclear program down.
And if Israel wants to take the regime's ability to
(27:36):
wage war down by destroying their refineries, destroying their ability
to wage war, so be it.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Well at that point if the United States, in a
joint military operation helps take out this final nuclear facility,
and it really comes down to the Israelis and how
far they want to go. I don't think President Trump
has not expressed any desire for resion change even identified
that they know where the Supreme Leader is, but they're
not going to kill him. But he did say, and
(28:06):
he has said consistently for now decades, that they can't
have a nuclear weapon and that would be in the
best interests of the United States. And at that point
the Israelis, I mean, after all that Iran has done
to murder and rape, and you're right, on October seventh.
But it's an ongoing, never ending you know, missile barrage
(28:28):
funded by Iran and their proxies.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Well so, President Trump has told the Iaitola if you
attack American bases or interest, that will be the end
of view. That will be regime change. If they come
after our forces in the region, that will be the
end of the Iahtolas. But put yourself in israel shoes
for a moment. What is the right response when people
love rockets consistently at Savilan populations, they raide your country,
(28:58):
They murder, rape children, women, they have people hostage. What
would we do if one country, if a country sent
one rocket in to America, Well.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
I have to go one rocket. I've been making the
same argument. We would demand immediate military action. General Lindsey Graham,
appreciate you being with us. It's going to be an
interesting week ahead, There's no doubt about it.
All right, thank you, Scott Shannon, and thanks to all
of you for being with us. Right down our toll
free telephone number if you want to be a part
of the program, and say eight hundred and nine to
four one Sean if you'd like to join us. I
know a lot of people a kind of obsessed with
this Karen Reid case and the retrial in the death
of a Boston police officer, John O'Keefe. And she was
(00:24):
found not guilty of second degree murder, not guilty of manslaughter.
And I believe the only thing she might have been
found guilty of what is a duy. I'm not sure
if we have Well, that's actually one other.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
Thing that she was guilty of, was driving under the influence.
She was not found guilty on either of the murder charges. Yeah, So,
I mean there's vince.
Speaker 1 (00:48):
I don't know why people get so interested in these
crime cases, but I have friends of mine that are
just absolutely positively obsessed with all of this. Let me
deal with an issue that is come up. We pointed
out yesterday Matt Towry, Robert Kahaley. They pulled Donald Trump
the best is nobody even close? And they did a
(01:10):
poll a joint poll that came out, and the question was,
what is your opinion of President Trump's position that Iran
be prevented from developing a nuclear weapon by any means necessary,
very very pointed question. Seventy four point four percent say
they approve fake news CNN daggery numbers. Eighty three percent
(01:32):
of Republicans, seventy nine percent of Democrats, seventy nine percent
of independence seventy nine percent of all adults op pose
Iran obtaining nuclear weapons. We talked yesterday about the Havevid
Harris poll eighty five percent saying day Ron should never
get a momb. I mean there's nearly full agreement here. Now,
(01:53):
I with some amusement. I mean people have been trying
to drag me into what you know, I think the
over hyping as this maga conservative all right outright war. Well,
if it is, and my name keeps getting mentioned, I'm
not a part of it and barely paying attention to it.
I really don't care that other people have different points
(02:13):
of view than I do. If you're asking me what
my opinion is, I give you my opinion. I actually
support the Trump doctrine on this. Donald Trump did everything
humanly possible to get the Iranians to have peace. He
understands the existential threat that they represent number one state
sponsor of terror. We do support our ally Israel, which
(02:35):
I believe is the right policy decision. And you know,
and and somehow this has evolved into this is not maga.
Well Donald Trump is maga and people, I guess the
memories are short, not really sure why. But this is
the same Donald Trump that defeated the ISIS Caliphate. I
(02:57):
know maybe a lot of people weren't paying attention to it,
but I mean, he wiped them out, and he did
it in record time, and he did it without one
boot on the ground to do it or accomplish it.
He's the same guy that took out like Daddy and
associates again, no boots on the ground, no long term
protracted conflict in the Middle East. He took out Solamani,
(03:20):
you know, the leader of terrorism for Iran for a
long long time. And yeah, every single solitary military effort
has risk. We have got to be very sober when
we're talking about anything involving innocent Americans. And then you
have to calculate you basically, do you know risk management calculation?
(03:43):
And you have to make tough decisions, and that's what
the President I think is rightly done. And I think
the President is one hundred percent right. He's given them
every opportunity. And now it looks like, you know, the
president's demand for unconditional surrender is not going to be
and there is now a moment of truth for the president.
(04:06):
If you ask me, probably a week from now, the
Iranian nuclear program is going to be gone. I mean,
the inner circle of the supreme leader has been houlowed out,
and thanks to you know, Israel and their strength it
should be I mean, how many hundreds of thousands of
rockets should any one country take, all fomented by this sick,
(04:29):
ugly twisted convert or die radical, you know, regime that
believes in a mass holocaust and wiping Israel off the
map and wiping the US off the map. And so anyway,
I had told all his friends have pretty much been
knocked out as senior military officials, his biggest scientists, as
top military commander who took his post four days ago
(04:52):
because his predecessor was also killed in an air strike
by Israel, and Iran's ballistic missile salvos are getting smaller
clearly there's stockpiles are low. The launchers have been also
taken out by the Israelis, and we do have a
window of opportunity here to to rid the world of
any potential threat of Iranians and their radicalism having weapons
(05:14):
of mass destruction. Now, if you ask me what the
Trump doctrine is, I think I sum it up pretty well,
and that is that the president, you know, will go
after these bad actors preemptively in defense of the United States,
like he did the Caliphate isis like he did Bagdaddy
and associates like he did Solomani, and like it appears
(05:38):
he's ready to do with Iran. That that to me
is in keeping with his past history to the t
to the letter. The President also is against extended protracted
conflicts abroad and decades long wars. But you know, I've
been We've been trying to educate people for a long
time now about the next generation a weapon and my
(06:01):
prediction that future wars are never going to be fought
in the battlefield like they were in past in the past,
and that that technology is going to advance even that
more quickly with the with the use of artificial intelligence,
and we better be ahead of the rest of the world,
because it's a dangerous place with a lot of dangerous
evil actors in it. And so do I know for
(06:24):
sure what the President's going to do?
Speaker 3 (06:25):
No?
Speaker 2 (06:25):
Do I have a pretty good idea of where this
is headed.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
I do, because you know, look at what the President
of the United States can go on social media and
tell everyone in Tehran to evacuate, and you have millions
of people on their way out of Iran's capital city,
and the cars are barely moving, and they appear to
be listening to the president, and the mulos of Iran
(06:50):
unfortunately weren't listening. Iran should have signed the deal I
told them to sign. It's a shame, a waste of
human life. Simply stated, Iran cannot have an nuclear weapon.
That would be the Trump doctrine. Also, how often does
Donald Trump talk about the mag of movement being common sense?
It's common sense when people say that they want to
wipe you off the face of the earth, that they
(07:13):
mean what they say, and Iran means what it says.
And the Trump doctrine is clear. They can't have weapons
of mass destruction. They can't. And you know they've fired
hundreds of thousands of weapons provided to their proxies, all
in the sick war against Israel. And if you really
(07:34):
think about it, the President has been saying the exact words.
We went back in time, we found President Trump, then
a private citizen Trump saying that Iran can't have a
nuclear weapon all throughout the years, starting back in twenty eleven.
And the American people overwhelmingly agree with this. And to me,
it's basic, simple common sense. Now, there might be some
(07:56):
people that are completely risk averse, and I ask what
happened if they ever get those weapons of mass destruction?
I would argue that you risk a modern day holocaust,
and that you risk one day as their ballistic missile
capability inevitably if you don't stop them would advance, that
they might be able to hit the continental United States.
(08:18):
So where this appears to be headed. New York Post
had a front page headline today, mulla this over and
President Trump to Iran, surrender or face bunker buster bombs,
you know, And then he even said that he knew
where the Supreme Leader was, but we're letting him live
for now, and you know, we'll see what We'll see
(08:42):
how this unfolds. But I think it is inevitable. I
wouldn't be surprised by next week if they don't have
a weapon of mass destruction and they don't have a
nuclear program, and it is it's going to take. Look
when once you own the skies of a country which
they really own, and the Israelis have successfully you know,
(09:04):
did this. We have one main nuclear facilities. The Israelis
took out the other two. It's the four Daux facility
outside of Tehran and it's three hundred feet inside of
a mountain. It could only be delivered with these bunker
thirty thousand pounds bunker buster bombs. It may take According
(09:25):
to military experts I've been talking to, it may take
as many as as four of them to finish the job.
And when you own the skies, you can pretty safely
go there. Now, from my perspective is this is not
a forever war. Now the President will have to protect
our interest in the region. I think everybody will need
to be on high alert. There's no military action that
(09:47):
is ever without risk. I do not want to minimize
that in any way, shape, matter or form. We have
a lot of assets in the region, and desperate people
are capable of desperate things, and we've got to be
ever vigilant, and we've got to protect every man, woman,
in and around surrounding areas that maybe targets. However, to
(10:09):
do nothing, and you know, to watch the same regime
that has been fomenting terror in the region is to
me a policy of just utter madness.
Speaker 2 (10:19):
It really is.
Speaker 1 (10:20):
By the way, approximately seven hundred thousand Americans are living
in Israel at any one given time. I don't know
how many people know that there's a lot of people
that are living there. You know, I've gone through this,
I've gone through the polling, I've gone over the arguments,
and I don't know how in some people's minds that
this has evolved into the MAGA movement means isolationism. It
(10:42):
does not. That has not been the history. The four
dough and Richmond plant is buried deep under this mountain.
It's south of Tehran. It is believed to be the
most significant secretive nuclear facility inside of Iran, while their
missile defenses are down. If you're ever going to do
it and eliminate the threat of this radical regime having
(11:03):
weapons that could wipe out millions of people, now would
be the time to do it, and I you know,
Israel does not have the critical weapon in their arsenal
to pull this off. And that will be President Trump's decision.
To make all these people that think that they can
sway President Trump.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
I've known him too long.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
You can make your case, but ultimately he decides, you know,
and he, you know, has said they can never have
the nuclear weapon, and I believe them, and he would
deliver the final blow to that in all likelihood. Now
that would end the threat of nuclear terror once and
for all. Not an easy decision, not without as I said, risks.
(11:43):
You know, do the people of Israel and the rest
of the region deserve to live in peace without the
threat of a nuclear armed or ran with the lunatics
that run this that that have run this country and
terrorized the entire region for how many years?
Speaker 2 (11:57):
Now? You know, there's an argument to be made.
Speaker 1 (11:59):
You want to talk about forever war, Well, there's been
a kind of forever war being waged against the United
States by the Iranians.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Nobody ever talks about that part.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
And you could take it back to Ayatola Comeni nineteen
seventy nine in the taking of US hostages. And you know,
they've they they've been given a final warning. They want
a full, complete, unconditional surrender. That's what Donald Trump has said.
If they want to avoid what is now becoming inevitable,
(12:30):
that's what it would take. But the Iran hostage crisis
from November to January, November seventy nine to January nineteen
eighty one and held hostage, what was it four hundred
and forty four days? The Beroot Embassy bombing. What did
the nine to eleven Commission reports say? They were at
war with us? We were and at war with them? Yeah,
(12:51):
well that that bombing in Beirut in nineteen eighty three
by his Ballah, Iranian backed and then the Route Marine
Barracks bombing that killed two hundred and forty one Marines
under Reagan's term, the US embassy annex building in Beirut
that killed twenty four We can keep going. Kidnapping of
(13:14):
US citizens in Lebanon, and the Kobar Towers bombing in
ninety six that was in Saudi Arabia, again Hisballah. You know,
then we have arms and training to insurgents in Iraq
targeting Americans during that conflict, and the same in Afghanistan.
Taliban fighters you know, all all of the unrest in
(13:36):
the region has one main common denominator, and that's Iran.
And do I think our America's goals should be a
forever war.
Speaker 2 (13:48):
No.
Speaker 1 (13:49):
But in Iran's forever war against Us, the regime is
targeted and killed Americans worldwide, and they're preparing for missiles
and metality torri strikes. We've got to plan for worst
case scenario that they're going to target Americans. Well, Hannity,
but they might come to America and they commit acts
are terrible. You can thank Joe Biden because they're already here.
(14:11):
I can't believe the level of ignorance of some people.
Democrats in particular, are so stupid. Amazing thing is that
Iran has launched dozens of attacks on US targets that
have killed Tom Cotton said this thousands of Americans. Why
people don't listen to others that say, you know, when
(14:32):
people say death to Israel, death to America, why you
don't take that seriously? I don't know why some people
don't take that seriously. If you want to talk about it.
Speaker 2 (14:41):
Forever war.
Speaker 1 (14:41):
They've been waging it against us, certainly against Israel, and
they've been given every opportunity for peace, but they can't
have a nuclear weapon. And if you don't see the
wisdom in that, I'm not gonna I'm not going to
try and convince you. You're entitled to your own opinion.
But only the US military is going to be able
to take out their most dangerous nuclear site. That's just
(15:03):
a fact, and that's the Fourdeaux fuel enrichment plant just
outside of Tehran. Again, we own the skies. It makes
it less risky. Probably the most ideal time ever if
you're going to try to pull this off is now,
which would be the first time since nineteen seventy nine
that we can neutralize what is the number one state
(15:25):
sponsor of terror. And I don't really care what other
people think. You know, the idea that people, you know,
that somehow people have somehow want to identify the president's
mag of movement is isolation is a bizarre to me. Solamani,
(15:46):
you know Bagdadian associates the ISIS Caliphate not exactly isolationism.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
Now we have gone over the numbers.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
They are overwhelming, and that is you know, if you
look at even vague news and then you got seventy
nine percent of Democrats seventy nine percent of independence eighty
three percent of Republicans, seventy nine percent of all adults
are saying the same thing, and that is they oppose
(16:15):
Iran obtaining nuclear weapons. I think the definitive poll by
Robert Kahelli of Trafalgar and an Insider Advantage head Matt Towery.
They did a joint poll and the question was very pointed,
what is your opinion of President Trump's position that Iran
must be prevented from develop a developing a nuclear weapon
(16:37):
by any means necessary. Seventy four point four percent said
that they approve and agree with that. And we can
go on to the Havid Harris poll eighty five percent. Yeah,
Tehran must never ever get the bomb. Now, Israel has
taken out two of the three sites, there's one site remaining,
(16:59):
and it's it seems that that site, the Bordeaux site
that we keep talking about, would need American assistance to
make this happen, and hence the decision that the President
will have to make. And I have every confidence that
the President understands he's been saying since twenty eleven that
(17:23):
Iran could not have a nuclear weapon. One of the
more bizarre conversations to arise out of this is this
is against MAGA. Donald Trump is against forever wars. You're right,
so am I I'm against forever wars, and with military technology,
I don't think they're ever going to be fought the
same way again. But it's the same Donald Trump that
(17:45):
took out Solomani on the tarmac, and that was you know,
that was done, and all the predictions of doom and
gloom and retribution. Any military effort has risk associated with it.
But then you have the factor in the risk of
a nuclear armed Iran, the number one state sponsor of terror,
that has fired hundreds of thousands of missiles. They're firing
(18:07):
them right now into Jerusalem as we speak. They've been
firing him too heavily civilian areas, populated civilian areas like
Tel Aviv, And they have sworn to wipe Israel off
the map in the United States, off the map. They've
made these threats repeatedly. But it's also the same Donald
(18:27):
Trump that wiped out the Caliphate, the same Donald Trump
that took out Bagdaddian associates. I'm not sure how some
are saying that the MAGA movement is an isolationist movement,
which means no involvement at all.
Speaker 2 (18:40):
It's not.
Speaker 1 (18:42):
It is no way contradictory to say that this one
remaining site needs to be taken out. And if it's
the United States at a time when their air defense
systems are down, it's the safest it's ever gonna be.
But there's always risk with any military operation. And take
it out and forever end the threat of iranium Mullah's
(19:03):
married to their sick converter die ideology, and forever remove
that threat of a modern day holocaust, to me, is basic,
simple common sense. Yeah, that also would be part of
the Trump doctrine, and Donald Trump is it's not inconsistent
if you take out those sites the way you took
out Solomany Bagdaddy and associates, and also the ISIS Caliphate
(19:26):
and not have a forever war. Nobody wants that. I
definitely don't anyway. Senator Lindsay Graham, South Carolina is with
a senator, how are you good?
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Thanks so much for having me.
Speaker 1 (19:38):
Let's get your take on all of this. To me,
it's a window of opportunity. Their air defenses are down.
The president has been clear what his policy is. They
can't have a nuclear weapon. He's been saying it since
twenty eleven and hundreds of times since. It seems like
the moment is here.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
Yeah, the forever war is started in nineteen seventy nine
and when the Ayatola replaced the Shaw, they held our
embassy personnel hostage. Since nineteen seventy nine, Iran has been
waging war through Amases blah and the hoodies against Israel.
They have American blood on their hands. So that's the
(20:18):
war I'd like to end. And if you don't believe
Iran would use a nuclear weapon to destroy Israel, you're
not listening to what they're saying. If you don't believe
they would use a nuclear weapon to come after us
to infidel you're not listening to what they say. November
fourth and Iran is commonly referred to as Death to
America Day. In nineteen eighty seven, they made that a holiday.
(20:40):
That was the day they took over our embassy. We
have a military for reasons, to protect our way of life,
protect our homeland, and protect our allies. You know, when
my dad was drafted World War II, the term was
called the duration we're going to fight? Do we beat
the Nazis took Berlin and took Tokyo, and we did
in this war. We're not going to have ground troops
(21:02):
and it won't last forever because they have the capability
to destroy the Iranian nuclear program. Working with Israel fairly quickly,
we're down to one site deep underground, about a half
a mile under the ground. We have technology and bombs
and capability. Israel doesn't. It is my advice to President Trump,
help Israel finish the job. Go all in to destroy
(21:26):
the last nuclear site. If we take this program on
and we don't finish it, it will be a disaster.
So let's finish the job.
Speaker 1 (21:35):
I agree with you, and I actually think that the
Israelis have done a spectacular job on their own. Now
we have to factor in that Iran and I ran
through their proxies. And I've been to Israel a number
of times, as you have been there, many many times,
many many times more than me. I mean, I went
(21:55):
to one border town with Gaza at the time, and
I think twenty fifteen had been hit with ten thousand
rockets in ten years. They have withstood Huti rebel rockets,
his Bola rockets, Islamic Jihad rockets, Hamas rockets, Kuds forces,
Iranian Revolutionary Guards forces helped develop the October seventh attack
(22:16):
against Israel. They provided the weaponry for that. They've been
fomenting terror, not just in the region, but around the world.
There's not a single country that wants to come to
Iran's defense, and we now find ourselves with a window
of opportunity to forever remove any possibility they'd have this
weapon of mass destruction married to their ideology. Now, how
(22:38):
is that any different than taking out solomani al Baghdadian
associates or beating the caliphate. I don't see that as
inconsistent at all.
Speaker 3 (22:48):
Well, I think, yeah, you're dead right. The primary job
the beating commander in chief president the United States is
to protect us our homeland from existential threats and to
protect our allies. And we have no better allies than
the state of Israel. Iran has nine hundred pounds of
highly enriched uranium that could make about a dozen bombs
(23:10):
if they went to the last mile. They're at sixty percent.
To get to ninety percent is weeks, not years. They
have one savine reactor. They haven't used any of the
enriched uranium to run that reactor. They get their fuel
from Russia, so this is weapons grade material in large quantity.
They've been doing this for decades and their goal is
(23:33):
to develop a nucle weapons force to use as part
of their ideology. I don't think Rocketman's going to attack America.
I don't believe Putin's ambition is to destroy it or
destroy the United States. Nor do I believe that about China.
I think they're mercantile. I think they're an adversary. But
I believe this regime is founded on a religious ideology
(23:57):
that makes them religious Nazis. Their being told by their
version of Islam to destroy the Jewish State, to drive
out the infidels, and to purify Islam. They're not elected.
It's a theocracy. They mean what they say. For presidents
have said Aroan can't have a nuclear weapon. It will
(24:17):
be Donald J. Trump who makes that a reality. Period.
All we need to do is help Israel finish the
last site and wait and see what happens after that.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Is that in your mind, and obviously protecting our interests
in the region, Is that basically the job that you
want President Trump to accomplish. For example, there are other targets.
I mean, most of their refineries are on this one island,
and you can wipe out any ability of them in
the future to make money. The Israelis could do that
(24:53):
on their own. They don't need our helper assistance for that.
Certainly they can knock out their gas power grid and
the entire country will be without power. That's another easy
target because the Israelis own the sky over Iran. So
you know, once the nuclear component is out of the way,
I guess at that point it's going to be up
(25:14):
to Israel what they decide to do in their conflict
with Iran. And frankly, with all the weapons they've fired
into Israel, I wouldn't I wouldn't put it past them to.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Take it all out.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Well, so here's the question for Israel and really the world.
We can destroy their infrastructure to enrich uranium. There's one
site left, but as long as the regime is in power,
they'll rebuild it over time. And President Trump is not
going to be present forever. So the question for the world.
(25:47):
The largest state sponsor of terrorism is a run under
US law. They have a policy to decimate Israel and
to reshape the entire faith in a way to exclude us.
Bird or die is their ideology. Wouldn't it be great
for the people of Iran and the world if this
regime went away? And people say, well, what will come next?
(26:11):
Here's what I'm going to tell you. The guy in
charge wants to kill all the Jews. He wants to
kill us. They beat a young girl with death on
a bus in Iran because she didn't cover her head.
I'm willing to risk it won't be any worse than
that guy. So the bottom line is I hope and
pray that the Iranian people will know freedom. It will
(26:32):
be up to them to take the regime down. But
Israel will not tolerate living this way anymore. The Jews
and Israel are oppressed by everybody around them. They have
lived in fear, they have lived in an oppressive environment
since this founding October the seventh, children were murdered, women
(26:56):
are raped in front of their children. They've had it,
have it. I am tired of living this way. To
our friends in Israel, do what you have to do
to be safe, and they're making us safer. The people
they're finding want to kill us two and to all
these people sitting in the stands second guests in Trump,
you have no idea what you're talking about. You would
(27:16):
know the erring of Sunni and Ashia than anything. So
this is a religious deocracy. They're fanatics. They're dedicated to
killing all the Jews and coming after us. They meant
it when they say death Israel, death to America. So
I'm hoping, in praying we take their nuclear program down.
And if Israel wants to take the regime's ability to
(27:36):
wage war down by destroying their refineries, destroying their ability
to wage war, so be it.
Speaker 1 (27:44):
Well at that point if the United States, in a
joint military operation helps take out this final nuclear facility,
and it really comes down to the Israelis and how
far they want to go. I don't think President Trump
has not expressed any desire for resion change even identified
that they know where the Supreme Leader is, but they're
not going to kill him. But he did say, and
(28:06):
he has said consistently for now decades, that they can't
have a nuclear weapon and that would be in the
best interests of the United States. And at that point
the Israelis, I mean, after all that Iran has done
to murder and rape, and you're right, on October seventh.
But it's an ongoing, never ending you know, missile barrage
(28:28):
funded by Iran and their proxies.
Speaker 3 (28:33):
Well so, President Trump has told the Iaitola if you
attack American bases or interest, that will be the end
of view. That will be regime change. If they come
after our forces in the region, that will be the
end of the Iahtolas. But put yourself in israel shoes
for a moment. What is the right response when people
love rockets consistently at Savilan populations, they raide your country,
(28:58):
They murder, rape children, women, they have people hostage. What
would we do if one country, if a country sent
one rocket in to America, Well.
Speaker 1 (29:10):
I have to go one rocket. I've been making the
same argument. We would demand immediate military action. General Lindsey Graham,
appreciate you being with us. It's going to be an
interesting week ahead, There's no doubt about it.
The Sean Hannity Show News
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