February 27, 2026 • 29 mins
Sean Hannity sounds the alarm as nuclear negotiations with Iran collapse and President Trump’s deadline rapidly approaches. With U.S. naval strike groups positioned across the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean, Hannity outlines why he believes the Trump Doctrine—no forever wars, no boots on the ground—still demands decisive action against the world’s leading state sponsor of terror. He walks listeners through the military buildup, Iran’s refusal to halt uranium enrichment, and the growing threat of advanced ballistic missiles aimed at Israel and potentially the U.S. homeland.
Hannity also breaks down why appeasement failed under prior administrations and argues that strength—not concession—is the only language Tehran understands. Featuring analysis from Ambassador Nathan Sales, the hour explores whether regime collapse is possible and what a targeted strike could mean for the region. As tensions rise, Hannity urges listeners to pray for American troops and stand firm against radical Islamic terrorism. This is a defining geopolitical moment—peace through strength is once again being tested.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Thanks to all of you for being with us. Right
down our toll free telephone number this Friday. It's eight
hundred and nine to four one Sean if you want
to be a part of the program. Headline New York
Post today nuclear talks strike out goes on to say
Ran left talks with the US. This is Switzerland in
Geneva without a deal to end their nuclear program. State
(00:25):
Run TV actually confirmed that they'll never give up their
right to enrich uranium. And with President Trump's self imposed
deadline to reach an agreement now coming to an end
as soon as this weekend. I think Donald Trump is
pretty predictable, and we now know what is likely to
(00:45):
happen next. We're going to full report throughout the show.
We're going to be monitoring the situation on the ground.
I can tell you both the State Department and that
Secretary of State Mark or Rubio, and also the US
Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee said, if you want to
get out, get out now. There was a picture in
this New York Post a stark, huge anti American message
(01:08):
displayed in the Iranian capital of Tehran. As these tensions mount,
the President did say help is on the way, and
the President said he prefers peace, but he said that
the last time too, before Operation Midnight Hammer knocked out
and obliterated their nuclear facilities. Now we do know that
the uranium that the Iranians had, uranium that had been enriched,
(01:32):
that they had moved to other locations. We don't know
how much they have, although Steve Witkoff, the Middle Eastern envoy,
has said that, you know, he believes that they might
have much more than we knew, and that makes it
an even you know, greater pressure cooker, if you will.
But as this deadline, pressure mounts, and you know, yesterday's
(01:56):
meeting took place one week after President Trump told the
Bar to Peace that he would decide whether to hit
this radicals, you know, Islamic fascist regime. By the way,
we're talking about radical Islamis. I'm not talking about anything
other than that. We know what Iran is, the number
(02:16):
one state sponsor of terror. They have been fomenting nothing
but death and terror in the region for a long time,
serving as the proxies. You know, they have their proxies
all out throughout the region, Amasa and Gaza has Balah
in Lebanon, the Huti rebels. This is if I had
to guess this will be the end of this regime,
(02:40):
I don't think they will be able to survive. We
have the largest military presence build up in the region
that we've had.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Since the Gulf War.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
And if you remember shock and Awe, I think Donald
Trump has already proven he's a shock and all guy,
and in keeping with the Trump doctrite. Now, I know
there are some that claim that the Trump doctrine and
they clearly don't understand it because they clearly don't comprehend
(03:10):
how Donald Trump is rolling. Whatever he does do, I
believe will be consistent with the Trump doctrine of no
forever war and no forever wars period and no boots
on the ground period. And I've been telling people for
the longest time the future wars and conflicts are likely
(03:32):
not going to be fought conventionally on battlefields, especially with
emerging technology, the next generation of weaponry. And you can
already see this unfold. I mean, you know, in the
Twelve Day War, when Iran was firing all these two
thousand pound ballistic missiles, now they have four thousand pound
(03:52):
ballistic missiles. According to intelligence and reports that have been
made public that this is a regime held on death.
And you would think after fourteen bunker buster bombs were
dropped on their nuclear facilities, and the fact that the
Israelis were so sophisticated they even took out the scientists
(04:14):
responsible for the nuclear program, just like they took out
like the top ten leaders of Hamas, and they took
out an Isralla in Lebanon, and they had the whole
Pager incident. You think that some of these people might
wise up and learn their lesson, because this is an
almost certain death sentence to the Iadtolas and the Mullos
(04:36):
in Iran. And it's certainly a different course than say
Obama or Biden took, which is, oh, just pretty please.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
With sugar on top.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
You know, promise us that you're never gonna, you know,
pursue a nuclear weapons program. And then they, you know,
send in cargo planes full of cash and other currencies
to the tune of billions and billions of dollars.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
That is madness, and there was a deadline on it.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
In other words, they can reconstitute the nuclear program after
they got the billions. How stupid, how weak? I doan't talk
about the very definition of appeasement. That's it now there is.
This is a different day, a different time, and a
very different tune and a very different president. And let
me remind some of you that don't understand the Trump doctrine,
(05:25):
no forever wars, no American boots on the ground, that
does not mean isolation ism. Can anyone dispute that Donald
Trump obliterating Iran's nuclear weapons program does not make the
world a safer place. You can't intelligently make that argument.
I'm not a warmonger. I hate the fact that I
(05:46):
ask everybody to pray for our brave men and women
that are in the military, because you know their lives
will always be in jeopardy if there's a conflict, and
I don't want that. I wish evil didn't exist in
the world, but it does. And if we didn't learn
anything from the last hundred years between Mao and China
(06:07):
and Stalin and Russia, and Hitler in Germany and Mussolini
in Italy and Tojo in Japan and Paul pot in
the killing Fields and one hundred million human souls dead
because of one evil ism after another, I don't know
how you're ever gonna learn that lesson again. I mean,
(06:27):
you have idiots out there. Well, if you think that
you know, radical Islamic terrorism is a threat to us,
you're stupid.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Okay, go back to nine to eleven. Oh one.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Maybe it's a while ago. It's twenty five years since that.
This is the twenty fifty year anniversary of nine to eleven.
I remember it as vividly as a day it happened.
I've not forgotten one bit. And for the families that
lost love with they haven't forgotten either. This is what
infuriates me about these anti Semitic bigots in the halls
(06:56):
of Congress college campuses. It's now growing world wide, growing
in the punditry class, and these morons that don't have
a clue Israel, the only democracy in the region, and
what happened to them, and what they've been living through
for decades and decades and decades. And I've been to
Israel many times. I've been in this network of terror tunnels.
(07:17):
You know, Linda, you were on one of those trips.
I think you actually were there when that one rocket
landed what one hundred yards from us. Yeah, And this
is what the people of Israel lived, you know, every
single day they live with. And you went down on
the terror tunnel. Don't you think you did?
Speaker 2 (07:34):
No, they only took you. They only took you, you
and a cameraman. Well, they don't trust you. I mean,
I get it. No, I'm kidding.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
I'm only kidding. But you saw the images of it.
I mean, and think about there are hundreds of them.
This was humanitarian aid given to the people in Gaza,
so they can build hospitals and schools and get them
food and nutrition, medicines and so on and so forth. No,
(08:02):
they instead they build out a sophisticated network of terror
tunnels so they can foment terror and try and kill
as many Jews as they want. And what happened on
October seventh, this is what I cannot comprehend from you
anti Semites out there, and I want no part of
any of you. I will have nothing to do with
those people. And we know who they are. And I'm
(08:24):
just telling you it is disgusting because what happened on
October seven, twenty twenty three in the IDF they did
share with members of the media for those that had
the stomach to watch it. I know that some of
my colleagues at Fox that were being shown by Israel
these videos. Now Hamas terrorists were taking the images of this.
(08:46):
We have phone calls recorded that were, you know, through
surveillance of these Hamas killers, you know, calling home to
mom and dad, I just killed six Jews. I just
killed six of them. Lost over it thousand people. Here's
the difference. We lost twenty nine hundred and seventy seven
Americans on nine to elevenh one. By the way, Prime
(09:08):
Minister net and Yahoo he stood with us and in
solidarity with the United States on October seven, twenty twenty three.
They have less than ten million people that live in Israel.
That's it. That's the population size. And what they are
able to do militarily being surrounded by enemies is beyond
(09:29):
the human imagination. You want to know why they're so
innovative because they have to be to survive. They've been
surrounded by enemies that want to destroy them forever. And
it's the size of New Jersey, the entire country of Israel.
It's unbelievably inspiring what they're capable of doing. You know,
watching the Patriot missile system. Now they have new the
(09:51):
next generations of missile defense systems that have been set up,
and they're building out the next next generation of missile
defense systems. They weren't even during the Twelve Day War
able to stop every missile, but they you know, and
then you know what happened. If you extrapolate out the
population of Israel under ten million, and you compare it
(10:12):
to our population, what is it about three hundred and
sixty million that you know more than me? And that
would be the equivalent of losing about forty thousand Americans
in a single day. And then you look at these videos,
and some of my colleagues did they they had to
walk out, and some people were just crying because you
saw on video murder and murder of young children, and
(10:36):
rape and torture and kidnapping and parents, you know, losing
their children to these kidnapper terrorists. You know, if you
do want to understand the Trump doctrine, look what he
did in his first term. He took out the isis
Caliphate that grew under Obama and Biden. He just wiped
them out because he understood the existential threat that is
(10:57):
radical islamis to believe in, convert or die. He took
out Solomani, the world's number one worst terrorists responsible for
killing Americans. He took him out on that tarmac. As
soon as that plane landed, and as soon as the
he was id on the ground, boom. They took him out.
They were ready for him. They followed him for two weeks.
I got the backstory. They did the same with Bagdaddy
(11:21):
and associates. During his first term, he dropped the mother
of all bombs on Afghanistan. He took out the Iranian
nuclear sites with Operation Midnight Hammer. Now if you look
at a map and where we are with this, and
this matters right now, in the Arabian Sea, we have
(11:41):
the USS Abraham Lincoln. Now this is you know, to
the south kind of as I'm looking at the map
that I'm in front of me, we have the USS
Abraham Lincoln and we have three destroyers there. And then
if you look, you know, off the coast of Kuwai
and off the coast of Saudi Arabia in the Persian
(12:04):
Gulf where Cutter and we have our largest military base
and UAE, we have in that area five destroyers, three
combat ships. So we're covering three huge sides of Iran.
Now off the coast of Israel and Lebanon and you know,
(12:24):
just outside the Mediterranean Sea, we've got the US S
Gerald R. Ford and three destroyers there. Never mind fighter jets, drones, helicopters,
you name it. All of this is is up ready
to go. You know, we have airborne radar aircraft, and
we're gonna We're gonna have plenty of firepower, the most
(12:46):
firepower we've ever assembled since the Gulf War. Now are
we going to have our national treasure, our brave men
and women going door to door, stepping over IDs. Now
that those days are gone and the presidents were to
not have forever wars, the president's right also to not
put boots on the ground. Now, after publicly giving Iran
(13:08):
ten to fifteen days to reach this agreement, I don't
think you can make an agreement. I said it from
the beginning. You can't trust the Iranians. They've proven themselves untrustworthy,
you know. But he said, I will never allow the
world's number one state sponsor of terror to have a
nuclear weapon. He said it again Tuesday night in the
(13:29):
State of the Union address, and the President first outlined
the short timeline, saying that the world would know within
probably ten days whether Tehran was prepared to strike what
he called a meaningful deal. So they met in Geneva
yesterday and then they go on State TV. It's like
they've been saber rattling all over State TV about you know,
(13:50):
showing images of taking out American ships and you know,
making proclamations that Donald Trump will be you know, in
his cough in a number of days.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Okay, I'm not.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Sure what part of fourteen Bunker Busters they didn't learn
a lesson from, but it is what it is. Prince
Reza Pallavi, who's been on this program before, he said
he thinks the regime is about to collapse as the
economic crisis deepens. They've also had a major water shortage
and they've had to like move out the entire city
(14:25):
of Tehran. Anyway, we watch, We'll pray for our troops.
Please everybody listening, you know, pray for those brave men
and women. Pray for Israel, Pray for you know, that
innocent life gets protected, and pray for a safer world.
We are watching what's going on in Iran as we
have been discussing, and we have joining us now Ambassador
(14:48):
Nathan Seals. He served in the first Trump administration as
Ambassador at Large for counter Terrorism. Acting under Secretary of State,
played a key role in the maximum pressure CAMPAIG against
the Iranian regime their terror proxies. In twenty twenty two,
he was sanctioned by Iran. Knows the country well. He
(15:09):
joins US today. As the Iranians have rejected the list
of agenda items that Donald Trump was insisting on if
they wanted to make a deal with the US, the
President put a timeline on it. That timeline is ending
very quickly. And as I just laid out for you,
we have the largest military presence in the region since
(15:33):
the Gulf War and the build up in the Gulf War.
I mean, if you look off, for example, in the
Arabian Sea, off the coast of Pakistan and Iran, you've got,
you know, in that case, the USS Abraham Lincoln and
three destroyers. If you look in the Persian Golf off
the coast of Kuwait, Cutter and the UAE, you got
five destroyers, three combat ships. If you look off the
(15:55):
coast of Lebanon, Israel and the Mediterranean, you know you
got let's see the USS Gerald R. Ford and three
destroyers there. And you got a ton of air bases
in the region and fighter jets and drones and helicopters.
I don't know what part of Donald Trump they don't
take seriously.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
He gave him on deadline.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Fifty days the last time Dave fifty one, Israel you know,
started wiping him out. That's pretty remarkable to me. Seventy
to nine percent of Americans do fear a nuclear armed
Iran and that opposes a direct threat to our country.
Eighty nine percent view Iran as an enemy and not friendly.
(16:40):
Those are smart people, and you know so, I don't
think the president has any choice, just like he didn't
have any choice with Operation Midnight Hammer. The Israelis did
not have the military capability of dropping fourteen bunker buster
bombs to take out and obliterate those nuclear facilities. Now,
(17:01):
whatever uranium they had stored elsewhere in the country, I
don't know. Steve Witkoff seems to think that they're on
the verge of potentially building out a weapon. He's the
Middle Eastern envoy. Is nothing that they seems they won't
do to get nuclear weapons, and they just hell bent
on it anyway, Ambassador Sales, great to have you, Baxtar,
(17:21):
Thank you for being with us. Our prayers are with
our US men and women in the region. Of course,
the President has said he'd prefer peace. I prefer peace.
But the President has shown that the Trump doctrine is
not isolationism. Yeah, means no boots on the ground, no
forever wars. But he did take out around, he did
take out Isis, He took out the Iranian nuclear sites,
(17:43):
he took out Solomani Bagdaddy and all his pals, and
dropped the mother of all bombs on Afghanistan. Sall, they
shouldn't be surprised when this deadline comes that Donald Trump's
gonna act.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Well, Shan, thanks for having me on. I think you're
exactly right. The Iranians are exceptionally bad at reading the room.
The President isn't exactly being ambiguous here, He's being very clear.
We want a diplomatic resolution. That's plan A, but we've
got a Plan B. And that Plan B is floating
off your coast with the ability to deliver overwhelming firepower
(18:17):
like you. I hope the Iranians come to their senses
and negotiate an end to the nuclear program. But what
does it say about their priorities that they're prepared to
take their country and the entire region to the brink
of a war. They're not doing that because they want
nuclear energy. They're not doing it because they want to
lower energy prices for Iranian consumers. They're doing it because
(18:37):
they want to preserve a pathway to a bomb. And
that's why the administrations demand no domestic uranium enrichment of
any kind. That's why that's so important. The only reason
the Iranians could have for wanting to enrich uranium is
because they want to preserve a pathway to a bomb.
And that's the one thing the administration has said is
completely out of bounds.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
All right, as you look at the firepower we have
in the region, and I can add to that high
end F twenty two fighter jets at an Israeli air
base prepared for combat. On top of it, then you
have the Ambassador to Israel, friend of this program, Mike Hackabee,
(19:19):
sent an email to embassy staff telling them today that
there's no need to panic, but if they want to
leave Israel, they quote should do so today. According to
a US official, it follows orders of a partial evacuation
of the embassy and embassy personnel in Lebanon on February
(19:39):
twenty third, The timing of any military action against Iran
will always remain unknown. According to reports, Secretary of State
Mark or Rubio plans to visit Israel on Monday to
brief Israeli leaders on Iranian talks. We already know that
they kind of, you know, failed, yo.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
All this is consistent, by the.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Way, and we didn't fail. They just are stubbornness and stupid.
But we didn't fail on our m We did our part.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Well, that's right. It takes two to tango. We're extending
an olive branch, but we also have an eagle's claw
full of arrows that are ready to go, and it's
the Iranian's choice which one they're going to deal with.
All this is consistent with the administration's approach that you know,
we're serious about diplomacy, but we're not bluffing. We're not
(20:28):
moving people out of the region because we're trying to
send a message. We're moving people out of the region
because this could get real very quickly. And it's ultimately
up to the Iranians whether they want to pursue a
path of peace or whether they dig in their heels
and risk their regime and risk their lives because they're
so committed to an apocalyptic vision of a nuclear armed Iran.
(20:50):
You know, they always say they don't want a nuclear weapon,
but I don't think they've earned the right to be trusted.
Nobody should take that claim to the bank, because their
actions speak loud other than their words, and the fact
that they are prepared to risk war again over uranium
tells you that that is not a peaceful nuclear program.
It's only useful to them to the extent that it
(21:12):
enables them to seek a bomb.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Did you hear about this story?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
An alleged Iranian backed terrorist bizarrely thought he could put
a bargain priced hit out on Donald Trump, paying two
men amasingly five thousand dollars up front and coming up
with this insane plot that you know, by placing a
vape on a napkin to denote his target, meaning President Trump.
(21:40):
According to details that were just released yesterday, this is
the target. How will it die? And this idiot said,
you know, as he gestured, you know, to a creamsicle
colored smoking device inside a hotel room filled with FBI
secret cameras and footage played for a Brooklyn jury. Apparently,
(22:03):
I mean, I mean, we have to understand among the
many people unvetted that Biden and Harris led in this
country are known terrorists from over two hundred countries, over
twelve million people, murderers, rapists, known terrorists, you know, child molesters,
cartel members, gang members, other violent criminals, drug dealers.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
This is insane.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
And the Iranian regime is very, very capable at the
dark arts of assassination and terrorism. It's one of their
preferred foreign policy tools is using terrorist proxies to carry
out violent reprisals all around the world. And so, you know,
we can sit here and laugh at the incompetence on
(22:43):
display in.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
This oh this is a real, clear present danger to
our country and the people in this country.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
I once had a flat wall on my head. I
know I've lived it.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Exactly exactly, and we should never take our eyes off
the fact that as we speak, there are Iranian plots
actively targeting a number of Americans just for doing their
jobs as government officials. President Trump, former Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo, former National Security Advisor John Bolden. All of
these people live with a death sentence because they had
(23:13):
the nerve to defend America from Iran and I Ran
will do what they have to to try and execute
these plots. We have to remain vigilized. I'm glad to
see this case proceeding because it's just the tip of
the iceberg. The Iranians are playing for keeps when it
comes to assassinations and terrorism.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Do you think there's any scenario under which the Iranians
can survive what is likely to come their way assuming
they don't agree to what President Trump is demanding.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
It's a great question, and I think it really depends
on how ambitious a strike the president orders. If he
does order a strike, you know, one option is to
go for a decapitation strike and take out regime leadership figures.
A more modest approach would be directed specifically the nuclear
weapons program and you know some of the regime security
(24:04):
elements that were responsible for brutally murdering thousands and thousands
of protesters not too long ago. If the administration goes
for the middle approach, you know, going after the nuclear
program and the regime officials, that doesn't necessarily mean that
the Supreme Leader is safe. It might precipitate an uprising
among the people who take matters into their own hands
(24:26):
and bring about regime change on their own. That's not
something that the American people can decide for Iran. That's
something for the Iranian people to decide. But they may
well rise up depending on how weak the regime looks
in the aftermath of a possible US strike.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Now, I'll just give people some information. I at the
time never shared it with this audience because I was
told not to. The Masade contacted Box Security and the NYPD,
and they said that there's a fotlaw that will issued
by some a mom against me, And you know, I'm
(25:05):
grateful that they gave me the heads up. I'm grateful
that the NYPD gave me a heads up. I'm grateful
Fox provided security for an extended period of time with
me at all times and around my house and protecting
my children. And it was and what I was told
at the time is this is very real. This is
(25:26):
not a game. Take it seriously. And the order was
to put my head on a spike. Wouldn't have been
that attractive, I don't think. But I took it seriously.
And you know, it ends up this particularly mom is dead.
But the idea that there are cells in the US,
that there were people that be sympathetic to this type
(25:49):
of order given and for you know, me being told
to take it seriously is chilling, especially in light of
you know, in the case of President Trump, far more
important than lilol Sean. You know, we've had two you know,
would be assassins against Timmy came within a millimeter of
losing his life.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
That's scary stuff, Sean, a really really chilling story. And unfortunately,
this is the kind of stuff that the Iranian regime
specializes in. You know, we talked about the plot against
John Bolton. This is why the southern border is so
important and why it's essential to secure the southern border.
The plot against Bolton, the Iranian regime reached out to
(26:28):
Mexican cartels with instructions to try and come to the
US and carry out an assassination. And the same thing
happened more than a decade ago. They tried to blow
up a restaurant in Washington, d C. To kill the
Saudi ambassador. And guess who they were working with there again,
Mexican cartels on the southern side of the border. So
that border has to be locked down, not just for
(26:49):
immigration reasons and a million other reasons, but because we
can't afford to expose a vulnerability to Iranian back terrorists.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
You know, I've been friends with Prime Minister Natanyahu for
thirty years, and I've been over to Israel a number
of times, as I know you have been, and I've
been in the terror tunnels, and I've been to border cities.
That one city in particulars Deroute, hit with ten thousand
rockets in ten years, if you can believe it. Kids
can't even play outside. They played in underground bunker playgrounds.
(27:18):
And I've told that story many times. But you know,
the amount of security that the Prime Minister lives with
every day is beyond any comprehension people can have. Let's
put it that way, because if they could, they would
want to take him out.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
They would, and frankly, they're less capable of doing that
today than they were two or three years ago. And
the reason for that is because after October seventh, Israel
fought back and really decimated a number of the Iranian
regimes frontline terror proxies. Has Blah in Lebanon has been
reduced to a shadow of its former self. Hamas has
(27:59):
been Stazala's.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Dead to the top ten leaders of HAMAS dead. They
got them all. They got the nuclear scientists, they're dead.
They took down their air defense systems and a lot
of their missile battery systems.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Exactly right. Iran is really on its back foot because
Israel kept its eye on the ball and applied pressure
to all of those different tentacles of the Iranian regimes
campaign against it. They tried to encircle Israel with a
ring of fire, and Israel was able to fight back
and successfully defend itself against all those different threats. That
(28:35):
doesn't mean Iran is not a threat. They are, but
they are in a much weaker position today than they
were maybe at any time since the revolution. They're weaker abroad,
their proxies are in tatters, and at home they have
no le whatsoever. Among the Iranian people. You have protesters
out on the streets lighting their cigarettes with pictures of
the Supreme Leader. That tells everything you need to know
(28:58):
about this regime.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
All right.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Our prayers are with our brave men and women in
the region if they are called to duty. Nathan Sal's ambassador,
thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate
your time.
Thanks to all of you for being with us. Right
down our toll free telephone number this Friday. It's eight
hundred and nine to four one Sean if you want
to be a part of the program. Headline New York
Post today nuclear talks strike out goes on to say
Ran left talks with the US. This is Switzerland in
Geneva without a deal to end their nuclear program. State
(00:25):
Run TV actually confirmed that they'll never give up their
right to enrich uranium. And with President Trump's self imposed
deadline to reach an agreement now coming to an end
as soon as this weekend. I think Donald Trump is
pretty predictable, and we now know what is likely to
(00:45):
happen next. We're going to full report throughout the show.
We're going to be monitoring the situation on the ground.
I can tell you both the State Department and that
Secretary of State Mark or Rubio, and also the US
Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee said, if you want to
get out, get out now. There was a picture in
this New York Post a stark, huge anti American message
(01:08):
displayed in the Iranian capital of Tehran. As these tensions mount,
the President did say help is on the way, and
the President said he prefers peace, but he said that
the last time too, before Operation Midnight Hammer knocked out
and obliterated their nuclear facilities. Now we do know that
the uranium that the Iranians had, uranium that had been enriched,
(01:32):
that they had moved to other locations. We don't know
how much they have, although Steve Witkoff, the Middle Eastern envoy,
has said that, you know, he believes that they might
have much more than we knew, and that makes it
an even you know, greater pressure cooker, if you will.
But as this deadline, pressure mounts, and you know, yesterday's
(01:56):
meeting took place one week after President Trump told the
Bar to Peace that he would decide whether to hit
this radicals, you know, Islamic fascist regime. By the way,
we're talking about radical Islamis. I'm not talking about anything
other than that. We know what Iran is, the number
(02:16):
one state sponsor of terror. They have been fomenting nothing
but death and terror in the region for a long time,
serving as the proxies. You know, they have their proxies
all out throughout the region, Amasa and Gaza has Balah
in Lebanon, the Huti rebels. This is if I had
to guess this will be the end of this regime,
(02:40):
I don't think they will be able to survive. We
have the largest military presence build up in the region
that we've had.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
Since the Gulf War.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
And if you remember shock and Awe, I think Donald
Trump has already proven he's a shock and all guy,
and in keeping with the Trump doctrite. Now, I know
there are some that claim that the Trump doctrine and
they clearly don't understand it because they clearly don't comprehend
(03:10):
how Donald Trump is rolling. Whatever he does do, I
believe will be consistent with the Trump doctrine of no
forever war and no forever wars period and no boots
on the ground period. And I've been telling people for
the longest time the future wars and conflicts are likely
(03:32):
not going to be fought conventionally on battlefields, especially with
emerging technology, the next generation of weaponry. And you can
already see this unfold. I mean, you know, in the
Twelve Day War, when Iran was firing all these two
thousand pound ballistic missiles, now they have four thousand pound
(03:52):
ballistic missiles. According to intelligence and reports that have been
made public that this is a regime held on death.
And you would think after fourteen bunker buster bombs were
dropped on their nuclear facilities, and the fact that the
Israelis were so sophisticated they even took out the scientists
(04:14):
responsible for the nuclear program, just like they took out
like the top ten leaders of Hamas, and they took
out an Isralla in Lebanon, and they had the whole
Pager incident. You think that some of these people might
wise up and learn their lesson, because this is an
almost certain death sentence to the Iadtolas and the Mullos
(04:36):
in Iran. And it's certainly a different course than say
Obama or Biden took, which is, oh, just pretty please.
Speaker 2 (04:44):
With sugar on top.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
You know, promise us that you're never gonna, you know,
pursue a nuclear weapons program. And then they, you know,
send in cargo planes full of cash and other currencies
to the tune of billions and billions of dollars.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
That is madness, and there was a deadline on it.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
In other words, they can reconstitute the nuclear program after
they got the billions. How stupid, how weak? I doan't talk
about the very definition of appeasement. That's it now there is.
This is a different day, a different time, and a
very different tune and a very different president. And let
me remind some of you that don't understand the Trump doctrine,
(05:25):
no forever wars, no American boots on the ground, that
does not mean isolation ism. Can anyone dispute that Donald
Trump obliterating Iran's nuclear weapons program does not make the
world a safer place. You can't intelligently make that argument.
I'm not a warmonger. I hate the fact that I
(05:46):
ask everybody to pray for our brave men and women
that are in the military, because you know their lives
will always be in jeopardy if there's a conflict, and
I don't want that. I wish evil didn't exist in
the world, but it does. And if we didn't learn
anything from the last hundred years between Mao and China
(06:07):
and Stalin and Russia, and Hitler in Germany and Mussolini
in Italy and Tojo in Japan and Paul pot in
the killing Fields and one hundred million human souls dead
because of one evil ism after another, I don't know
how you're ever gonna learn that lesson again. I mean,
(06:27):
you have idiots out there. Well, if you think that
you know, radical Islamic terrorism is a threat to us,
you're stupid.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
Okay, go back to nine to eleven. Oh one.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
Maybe it's a while ago. It's twenty five years since that.
This is the twenty fifty year anniversary of nine to eleven.
I remember it as vividly as a day it happened.
I've not forgotten one bit. And for the families that
lost love with they haven't forgotten either. This is what
infuriates me about these anti Semitic bigots in the halls
(06:56):
of Congress college campuses. It's now growing world wide, growing
in the punditry class, and these morons that don't have
a clue Israel, the only democracy in the region, and
what happened to them, and what they've been living through
for decades and decades and decades. And I've been to
Israel many times. I've been in this network of terror tunnels.
(07:17):
You know, Linda, you were on one of those trips.
I think you actually were there when that one rocket
landed what one hundred yards from us. Yeah, And this
is what the people of Israel lived, you know, every
single day they live with. And you went down on
the terror tunnel. Don't you think you did?
Speaker 2 (07:34):
No, they only took you. They only took you, you
and a cameraman. Well, they don't trust you. I mean,
I get it. No, I'm kidding.
Speaker 1 (07:41):
I'm only kidding. But you saw the images of it.
I mean, and think about there are hundreds of them.
This was humanitarian aid given to the people in Gaza,
so they can build hospitals and schools and get them
food and nutrition, medicines and so on and so forth. No,
(08:02):
they instead they build out a sophisticated network of terror
tunnels so they can foment terror and try and kill
as many Jews as they want. And what happened on
October seventh, this is what I cannot comprehend from you
anti Semites out there, and I want no part of
any of you. I will have nothing to do with
those people. And we know who they are. And I'm
(08:24):
just telling you it is disgusting because what happened on
October seven, twenty twenty three in the IDF they did
share with members of the media for those that had
the stomach to watch it. I know that some of
my colleagues at Fox that were being shown by Israel
these videos. Now Hamas terrorists were taking the images of this.
(08:46):
We have phone calls recorded that were, you know, through
surveillance of these Hamas killers, you know, calling home to
mom and dad, I just killed six Jews. I just
killed six of them. Lost over it thousand people. Here's
the difference. We lost twenty nine hundred and seventy seven
Americans on nine to elevenh one. By the way, Prime
(09:08):
Minister net and Yahoo he stood with us and in
solidarity with the United States on October seven, twenty twenty three.
They have less than ten million people that live in Israel.
That's it. That's the population size. And what they are
able to do militarily being surrounded by enemies is beyond
(09:29):
the human imagination. You want to know why they're so
innovative because they have to be to survive. They've been
surrounded by enemies that want to destroy them forever. And
it's the size of New Jersey, the entire country of Israel.
It's unbelievably inspiring what they're capable of doing. You know,
watching the Patriot missile system. Now they have new the
(09:51):
next generations of missile defense systems that have been set up,
and they're building out the next next generation of missile
defense systems. They weren't even during the Twelve Day War
able to stop every missile, but they you know, and
then you know what happened. If you extrapolate out the
population of Israel under ten million, and you compare it
(10:12):
to our population, what is it about three hundred and
sixty million that you know more than me? And that
would be the equivalent of losing about forty thousand Americans
in a single day. And then you look at these videos,
and some of my colleagues did they they had to
walk out, and some people were just crying because you
saw on video murder and murder of young children, and
(10:36):
rape and torture and kidnapping and parents, you know, losing
their children to these kidnapper terrorists. You know, if you
do want to understand the Trump doctrine, look what he
did in his first term. He took out the isis
Caliphate that grew under Obama and Biden. He just wiped
them out because he understood the existential threat that is
(10:57):
radical islamis to believe in, convert or die. He took
out Solomani, the world's number one worst terrorists responsible for
killing Americans. He took him out on that tarmac. As
soon as that plane landed, and as soon as the
he was id on the ground, boom. They took him out.
They were ready for him. They followed him for two weeks.
I got the backstory. They did the same with Bagdaddy
(11:21):
and associates. During his first term, he dropped the mother
of all bombs on Afghanistan. He took out the Iranian
nuclear sites with Operation Midnight Hammer. Now if you look
at a map and where we are with this, and
this matters right now, in the Arabian Sea, we have
(11:41):
the USS Abraham Lincoln. Now this is you know, to
the south kind of as I'm looking at the map
that I'm in front of me, we have the USS
Abraham Lincoln and we have three destroyers there. And then
if you look, you know, off the coast of Kuwai
and off the coast of Saudi Arabia in the Persian
(12:04):
Gulf where Cutter and we have our largest military base
and UAE, we have in that area five destroyers, three
combat ships. So we're covering three huge sides of Iran.
Now off the coast of Israel and Lebanon and you know,
(12:24):
just outside the Mediterranean Sea, we've got the US S
Gerald R. Ford and three destroyers there. Never mind fighter jets, drones, helicopters,
you name it. All of this is is up ready
to go. You know, we have airborne radar aircraft, and
we're gonna We're gonna have plenty of firepower, the most
(12:46):
firepower we've ever assembled since the Gulf War. Now are
we going to have our national treasure, our brave men
and women going door to door, stepping over IDs. Now
that those days are gone and the presidents were to
not have forever wars, the president's right also to not
put boots on the ground. Now, after publicly giving Iran
(13:08):
ten to fifteen days to reach this agreement, I don't
think you can make an agreement. I said it from
the beginning. You can't trust the Iranians. They've proven themselves untrustworthy,
you know. But he said, I will never allow the
world's number one state sponsor of terror to have a
nuclear weapon. He said it again Tuesday night in the
(13:29):
State of the Union address, and the President first outlined
the short timeline, saying that the world would know within
probably ten days whether Tehran was prepared to strike what
he called a meaningful deal. So they met in Geneva
yesterday and then they go on State TV. It's like
they've been saber rattling all over State TV about you know,
(13:50):
showing images of taking out American ships and you know,
making proclamations that Donald Trump will be you know, in
his cough in a number of days.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
Okay, I'm not.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Sure what part of fourteen Bunker Busters they didn't learn
a lesson from, but it is what it is. Prince
Reza Pallavi, who's been on this program before, he said
he thinks the regime is about to collapse as the
economic crisis deepens. They've also had a major water shortage
and they've had to like move out the entire city
(14:25):
of Tehran. Anyway, we watch, We'll pray for our troops.
Please everybody listening, you know, pray for those brave men
and women. Pray for Israel, Pray for you know, that
innocent life gets protected, and pray for a safer world.
We are watching what's going on in Iran as we
have been discussing, and we have joining us now Ambassador
(14:48):
Nathan Seals. He served in the first Trump administration as
Ambassador at Large for counter Terrorism. Acting under Secretary of State,
played a key role in the maximum pressure CAMPAIG against
the Iranian regime their terror proxies. In twenty twenty two,
he was sanctioned by Iran. Knows the country well. He
(15:09):
joins US today. As the Iranians have rejected the list
of agenda items that Donald Trump was insisting on if
they wanted to make a deal with the US, the
President put a timeline on it. That timeline is ending
very quickly. And as I just laid out for you,
we have the largest military presence in the region since
(15:33):
the Gulf War and the build up in the Gulf War.
I mean, if you look off, for example, in the
Arabian Sea, off the coast of Pakistan and Iran, you've got,
you know, in that case, the USS Abraham Lincoln and
three destroyers. If you look in the Persian Golf off
the coast of Kuwait, Cutter and the UAE, you got
five destroyers, three combat ships. If you look off the
(15:55):
coast of Lebanon, Israel and the Mediterranean, you know you
got let's see the USS Gerald R. Ford and three
destroyers there. And you got a ton of air bases
in the region and fighter jets and drones and helicopters.
I don't know what part of Donald Trump they don't
take seriously.
Speaker 2 (16:17):
He gave him on deadline.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Fifty days the last time Dave fifty one, Israel you know,
started wiping him out. That's pretty remarkable to me. Seventy
to nine percent of Americans do fear a nuclear armed
Iran and that opposes a direct threat to our country.
Eighty nine percent view Iran as an enemy and not friendly.
(16:40):
Those are smart people, and you know so, I don't
think the president has any choice, just like he didn't
have any choice with Operation Midnight Hammer. The Israelis did
not have the military capability of dropping fourteen bunker buster
bombs to take out and obliterate those nuclear facilities. Now,
(17:01):
whatever uranium they had stored elsewhere in the country, I
don't know. Steve Witkoff seems to think that they're on
the verge of potentially building out a weapon. He's the
Middle Eastern envoy. Is nothing that they seems they won't
do to get nuclear weapons, and they just hell bent
on it anyway, Ambassador Sales, great to have you, Baxtar,
(17:21):
Thank you for being with us. Our prayers are with
our US men and women in the region. Of course,
the President has said he'd prefer peace. I prefer peace.
But the President has shown that the Trump doctrine is
not isolationism. Yeah, means no boots on the ground, no
forever wars. But he did take out around, he did
take out Isis, He took out the Iranian nuclear sites,
(17:43):
he took out Solomani Bagdaddy and all his pals, and
dropped the mother of all bombs on Afghanistan. Sall, they
shouldn't be surprised when this deadline comes that Donald Trump's
gonna act.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Well, Shan, thanks for having me on. I think you're
exactly right. The Iranians are exceptionally bad at reading the room.
The President isn't exactly being ambiguous here, He's being very clear.
We want a diplomatic resolution. That's plan A, but we've
got a Plan B. And that Plan B is floating
off your coast with the ability to deliver overwhelming firepower
(18:17):
like you. I hope the Iranians come to their senses
and negotiate an end to the nuclear program. But what
does it say about their priorities that they're prepared to
take their country and the entire region to the brink
of a war. They're not doing that because they want
nuclear energy. They're not doing it because they want to
lower energy prices for Iranian consumers. They're doing it because
(18:37):
they want to preserve a pathway to a bomb. And
that's why the administrations demand no domestic uranium enrichment of
any kind. That's why that's so important. The only reason
the Iranians could have for wanting to enrich uranium is
because they want to preserve a pathway to a bomb.
And that's the one thing the administration has said is
completely out of bounds.
Speaker 1 (18:59):
All right, as you look at the firepower we have
in the region, and I can add to that high
end F twenty two fighter jets at an Israeli air
base prepared for combat. On top of it, then you
have the Ambassador to Israel, friend of this program, Mike Hackabee,
(19:19):
sent an email to embassy staff telling them today that
there's no need to panic, but if they want to
leave Israel, they quote should do so today. According to
a US official, it follows orders of a partial evacuation
of the embassy and embassy personnel in Lebanon on February
(19:39):
twenty third, The timing of any military action against Iran
will always remain unknown. According to reports, Secretary of State
Mark or Rubio plans to visit Israel on Monday to
brief Israeli leaders on Iranian talks. We already know that
they kind of, you know, failed, yo.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
All this is consistent, by the.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Way, and we didn't fail. They just are stubbornness and stupid.
But we didn't fail on our m We did our part.
Speaker 3 (20:08):
Well, that's right. It takes two to tango. We're extending
an olive branch, but we also have an eagle's claw
full of arrows that are ready to go, and it's
the Iranian's choice which one they're going to deal with.
All this is consistent with the administration's approach that you know,
we're serious about diplomacy, but we're not bluffing. We're not
(20:28):
moving people out of the region because we're trying to
send a message. We're moving people out of the region
because this could get real very quickly. And it's ultimately
up to the Iranians whether they want to pursue a
path of peace or whether they dig in their heels
and risk their regime and risk their lives because they're
so committed to an apocalyptic vision of a nuclear armed Iran.
(20:50):
You know, they always say they don't want a nuclear weapon,
but I don't think they've earned the right to be trusted.
Nobody should take that claim to the bank, because their
actions speak loud other than their words, and the fact
that they are prepared to risk war again over uranium
tells you that that is not a peaceful nuclear program.
It's only useful to them to the extent that it
(21:12):
enables them to seek a bomb.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Did you hear about this story?
Speaker 1 (21:17):
An alleged Iranian backed terrorist bizarrely thought he could put
a bargain priced hit out on Donald Trump, paying two
men amasingly five thousand dollars up front and coming up
with this insane plot that you know, by placing a
vape on a napkin to denote his target, meaning President Trump.
(21:40):
According to details that were just released yesterday, this is
the target. How will it die? And this idiot said,
you know, as he gestured, you know, to a creamsicle
colored smoking device inside a hotel room filled with FBI
secret cameras and footage played for a Brooklyn jury. Apparently,
(22:03):
I mean, I mean, we have to understand among the
many people unvetted that Biden and Harris led in this
country are known terrorists from over two hundred countries, over
twelve million people, murderers, rapists, known terrorists, you know, child molesters,
cartel members, gang members, other violent criminals, drug dealers.
Speaker 2 (22:21):
This is insane.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
And the Iranian regime is very, very capable at the
dark arts of assassination and terrorism. It's one of their
preferred foreign policy tools is using terrorist proxies to carry
out violent reprisals all around the world. And so, you know,
we can sit here and laugh at the incompetence on
(22:43):
display in.
Speaker 1 (22:44):
This oh this is a real, clear present danger to
our country and the people in this country.
Speaker 2 (22:49):
I once had a flat wall on my head. I
know I've lived it.
Speaker 3 (22:53):
Exactly exactly, and we should never take our eyes off
the fact that as we speak, there are Iranian plots
actively targeting a number of Americans just for doing their
jobs as government officials. President Trump, former Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo, former National Security Advisor John Bolden. All of
these people live with a death sentence because they had
(23:13):
the nerve to defend America from Iran and I Ran
will do what they have to to try and execute
these plots. We have to remain vigilized. I'm glad to
see this case proceeding because it's just the tip of
the iceberg. The Iranians are playing for keeps when it
comes to assassinations and terrorism.
Speaker 1 (23:29):
Do you think there's any scenario under which the Iranians
can survive what is likely to come their way assuming
they don't agree to what President Trump is demanding.
Speaker 3 (23:42):
It's a great question, and I think it really depends
on how ambitious a strike the president orders. If he
does order a strike, you know, one option is to
go for a decapitation strike and take out regime leadership figures.
A more modest approach would be directed specifically the nuclear
weapons program and you know some of the regime security
(24:04):
elements that were responsible for brutally murdering thousands and thousands
of protesters not too long ago. If the administration goes
for the middle approach, you know, going after the nuclear
program and the regime officials, that doesn't necessarily mean that
the Supreme Leader is safe. It might precipitate an uprising
among the people who take matters into their own hands
(24:26):
and bring about regime change on their own. That's not
something that the American people can decide for Iran. That's
something for the Iranian people to decide. But they may
well rise up depending on how weak the regime looks
in the aftermath of a possible US strike.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Now, I'll just give people some information. I at the
time never shared it with this audience because I was
told not to. The Masade contacted Box Security and the NYPD,
and they said that there's a fotlaw that will issued
by some a mom against me, And you know, I'm
(25:05):
grateful that they gave me the heads up. I'm grateful
that the NYPD gave me a heads up. I'm grateful
Fox provided security for an extended period of time with
me at all times and around my house and protecting
my children. And it was and what I was told
at the time is this is very real. This is
(25:26):
not a game. Take it seriously. And the order was
to put my head on a spike. Wouldn't have been
that attractive, I don't think. But I took it seriously.
And you know, it ends up this particularly mom is dead.
But the idea that there are cells in the US,
that there were people that be sympathetic to this type
(25:49):
of order given and for you know, me being told
to take it seriously is chilling, especially in light of
you know, in the case of President Trump, far more
important than lilol Sean. You know, we've had two you know,
would be assassins against Timmy came within a millimeter of
losing his life.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
That's scary stuff, Sean, a really really chilling story. And unfortunately,
this is the kind of stuff that the Iranian regime
specializes in. You know, we talked about the plot against
John Bolton. This is why the southern border is so
important and why it's essential to secure the southern border.
The plot against Bolton, the Iranian regime reached out to
(26:28):
Mexican cartels with instructions to try and come to the
US and carry out an assassination. And the same thing
happened more than a decade ago. They tried to blow
up a restaurant in Washington, d C. To kill the
Saudi ambassador. And guess who they were working with there again,
Mexican cartels on the southern side of the border. So
that border has to be locked down, not just for
(26:49):
immigration reasons and a million other reasons, but because we
can't afford to expose a vulnerability to Iranian back terrorists.
Speaker 1 (26:56):
You know, I've been friends with Prime Minister Natanyahu for
thirty years, and I've been over to Israel a number
of times, as I know you have been, and I've
been in the terror tunnels, and I've been to border cities.
That one city in particulars Deroute, hit with ten thousand
rockets in ten years, if you can believe it. Kids
can't even play outside. They played in underground bunker playgrounds.
(27:18):
And I've told that story many times. But you know,
the amount of security that the Prime Minister lives with
every day is beyond any comprehension people can have. Let's
put it that way, because if they could, they would
want to take him out.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
They would, and frankly, they're less capable of doing that
today than they were two or three years ago. And
the reason for that is because after October seventh, Israel
fought back and really decimated a number of the Iranian
regimes frontline terror proxies. Has Blah in Lebanon has been
reduced to a shadow of its former self. Hamas has
(27:59):
been Stazala's.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
Dead to the top ten leaders of HAMAS dead. They
got them all. They got the nuclear scientists, they're dead.
They took down their air defense systems and a lot
of their missile battery systems.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Exactly right. Iran is really on its back foot because
Israel kept its eye on the ball and applied pressure
to all of those different tentacles of the Iranian regimes
campaign against it. They tried to encircle Israel with a
ring of fire, and Israel was able to fight back
and successfully defend itself against all those different threats. That
(28:35):
doesn't mean Iran is not a threat. They are, but
they are in a much weaker position today than they
were maybe at any time since the revolution. They're weaker abroad,
their proxies are in tatters, and at home they have
no le whatsoever. Among the Iranian people. You have protesters
out on the streets lighting their cigarettes with pictures of
the Supreme Leader. That tells everything you need to know
(28:58):
about this regime.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
All right.
Speaker 1 (29:00):
Our prayers are with our brave men and women in
the region if they are called to duty. Nathan Sal's ambassador,
thank you so much for being with us. We appreciate
your time.
The Sean Hannity Show News
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Sean Hannity
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