"Israel’s Response to Iran's Assault” – HOUR ONE

ICYMI: Hour One of ‘Later, with Mo’Kelly’ Presents – Breaking News coverage, and analysis of ABC News reporting of “Israel launching a missile attack on Isfahan in response to Iran assault” - on KFI AM 640…Live everywhere on the iHeartRadio app

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
You're listening too later with Moe Kellyon demand from KFI AM six forty,
then if you haven't heard the breakingnews at this time, we are following
the events which are unfolding. Asit has been reported by ABC News and
other outlets that Israel has formally respondedand initiated a strike on Iran. It

(00:23):
seems to be a limited strike atthis point. We know that a few
amount of buildings were hit. Wedon't know the nature of the intended targets.
This is what ABC News had tosay so far, as far as
what is known about the nature anddepth of the strike. Our thanks to
Juju for that good evening. Ihave Lindsay Davis for those of you who

(00:43):
are just joining us. We areof course following breaking news. Israel has
retaliated against Iran, and we arelearning from a senior US official Israel.
Israeli missiles have hit a site inIran. There have been explosions heard in
Iraq and Syria. At this hour, it is not clear the cause of
those exs. All of this comesjust days after Iron fired hundreds of ballistic
missiles into Israel. Ninety nine percentof those were intercepted Israel's war cabinet has

(01:10):
spent the better part of the weekdebating a response. There was some talk
of waiting until after the Jewish holidayof Passover. We're waiting for a US
response at this point, but PresidentBiden had told Net and Yahoo that Israel
would have to go at it aloneon any counter strike against Iran. I
want to pivot now and bring inMick mulroy, also an ABC News contributor

(01:30):
and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defensefor the Middle East. How big of
an escalation is this for the region. So if it is true that these
strikes were in Iro, then itis it could be an escalation, But
we have to see what targets werehit. If there were nuclear sites,
that would be a very substantial escalation. If it was a site, say
that was a manufacturer of the Shaheeddrones that attacked Iran, potentially not as

(01:53):
escalatory. But really it does comedown to the perception of Iran right now,
it's really important for us to findout what happened, and I'm sure
that's exactly what the US government isdoing to try to gather this information and
be prepared potentially for a counter attackwhich could have been already prepared by Iron
knowing this was likely coming. Howconcerned are you about the potential for a

(02:15):
full scale regional conflict. I thinkeverybody should be concerned about a full scale
regional conflict right now. This wassubstantial the attack by Iran on Israel.
That's why they felt like they hadto respond. But the biggest concern I
think with all countries involved, includingcountries in the region, was this could

(02:35):
escalate, and it could escalate toa point where it's just NonStop. There
is no calculated return. It isjust an exchange of fire from Iran to
Israel, Israel to Iran, whichof course would be devastating to the region.
And I think that's key the momentwe find out what the intended target
was, the extent of the damage, if there were any fatalities, was

(02:58):
it a limited strike or targeted strike, where they're any key people which are
who were targeted in Israel strike today? I think that would give us all
a clearer sense of where all thisis headed. As you heard ABC News
talk about, if it was atargeted strike against the nuclear capabilities, that
would be a tremendous escalation, andyou have to put it in the context

(03:22):
of what's going on in the region. Obviously we know with Israel and Hamas,
Israel is fighting on one front,and then you have the possibility of
heswel Law also coming into the equationand broadening the scope of this, and
all these things are not necessarily independentof one another. If Iran and Hezballah

(03:46):
and Hamas are working as one ideologicalunit in their opposition to Israel, you
can see how this could expand throughoutthe region very quickly. But that remains
to be seen as we see whatis happening here, and I always caution
not to run too fast to certainconclusions because we simply don't know. The

(04:09):
US, though has confirmed senior USofficials have confirmed that Israel has retaliated against
Iran, so at least the governmentis confident in saying that this is an
actual retaliation by Israel against Iran withrespect to the thwarted attack the hundreds of

(04:30):
drones which were launched against Israel overthe weekend, so this is directly in
relation to that. There has beennothing been said as to whether President Biden,
as of this moment, will makeany statement about it. Obviously,
we don't necessarily know when Israel's PrimeMinister, Benjamin Netan Yahoo may make a

(04:51):
public statement. I would suspect thatboth of nations heads will make some sort
of state and in the next fiveto six hours. It's morning, obviously
in Israel, so there is alonger time in which we may hear something.
We'll definitely know more in the comingminutes and hours. So what I

(05:13):
want you to do is just keepit right here on KFI. We will
continue to follow the discussion, Wewill follow the events in both Israel and
Iran. Let me just repeat thatIsrael has formally retaliated against Iran and Iran's
attack against Israel over the weekend.We don't know at this point how wide

(05:34):
the attack, or I should say, the response by Israel is. At
this point, we don't know howmany missiles, We don't necessarily know how
many targets were intended. We don'tknow the extent of damage, and I
know it seems like we don't knowmore than we actually know, but it's
still very early and this information isjust breaking at this very moment. But

(05:56):
we do know that at least asfar as what the US government is saying,
that this has been confirmed as aformal retaliation by Israel against Iran with
respect to what happened over the weekend. Again, we don't know the amount
of fatalities, if there are anyfatalities, We don't know the extent of

(06:20):
the strike or the intended targets,and we don't know whether there is going
to be an immediate response from Iran. We can gameplay this out militarily and
assume that both sides expected a responseand so there probably will be another response
to this unless cooler heads can prevail. But if you're just tuning in,

(06:42):
we are on the story of what'shappening in the Middle East, as Israel
has formally retaliated against Iran, andas more information comes in, as we
find out about the intended target,as we know about the degree of the
retaliation, how widespread it was,or how much ordinance was used. At

(07:02):
information, we will pass it alongto you. So just keep it right
here. We're going to stay onthis story. We're not going anywhere,
and we will keep you informed everystep of the way. KFI Am six
forty. I'm O Kelly covering itall the news right here. You're listening
to Later with Mo Kelly on demandfrom kfi AM six forty and we are

(07:23):
continuing to follow the events in theMiddle East. If you do not know
breaking news, Israel early Friday morninglocal time launched missiles in what was a
retaliatory strike against Iran. This hasbeen confirmed by senior US officials. ABC
News broke the story. And thismissile launch follows Iran's attack last Saturday.

(07:47):
And you may remember that Iran sentmore than three hundred uncrewed drones and missiles
towards targets throughout the country of Israel, and Israel said at that time they
vowed retaliation. Obviously, they didnot tip their hand as to when or
where, or how extensive in nature. But this is that on some level,

(08:11):
we're still waiting to find out howextensive or expansive this retaliation is.
We don't know the scope of it. We don't know the intended targets.
We do know that the strike wasin within the borders of the country of
Iran, and we do know itoriginated specifically from Israel. Israeli Prime Minister

(08:33):
Benjamin net Yahoo and the country's warcabinet have met several times since the Iran
strikes. We knew that and weknew that some sort of response, a
military response, was coming, Wejust didn't know the size of it,
and obviously we didn't know when itwas going to happen. But sitting here
in America, I think we canlook at this through a number of lenses.

(08:54):
For example, there's what's going onin the Middle East. We know
this in many ways is an extensionof the Israel Hamas war, and how
that is playing out here in Americacan be looked at a number of ways.
If you've been following the news,we know that more than one hundred
people were arrested on the campus ofColumbia University today in protests about what has

(09:20):
been going on in the Middle East, the US response to it. Also,
how quote unquote free speech? DidI say free speech because you don't
have a constitutional right to say justwhatever, even if it's in protests on
a college campus. But that issueis front and center stage on all college

(09:41):
campuses right about now. And youmay remember our conversation yesterday talking about USC
and how it's handling the I wouldsay, the decision to not allow the
valedictorian to speak at the commencement nextmonth, and we said yesterday, I
remember distinctly saying that part of thereason why I understood the decision from USC

(10:05):
is we don't know where this storywas headed. And I said yesterday we
didn't know the nature. Why shouldsay, excuse me, the means or
I would say, the depth ofthe Israel response to Iran, What that
would mean, how people would perceivethat, how they would respond on college

(10:28):
campuses. Would it be an escalation? Well, what it looks like right
now is it is an escalation onsome level. We don't necessarily know what
that means for students. We don'tknow whether students will increase their protests,
how that will be received on collegecampuses and USC. Just to remind you

(10:50):
about that story, the university saidthat they did not want this valedictorian,
this Muslim student to speak because therewere concerns about safety and security. Well,
given the events of today, regardlessof whether you agree with why people
should be concerned, I think areasonable person can see that there are legitimate

(11:13):
concerns. There has been an escalationof rhetoric, there has been an escalation
of activity on campuses like Columbia andeven the USC protests today. If you
didn't know there were hundreds of studentsand others who had gathered on USC's campus
to protest the decision of the university, and that was prior to the news

(11:35):
breaking of the Israel strikes against Iran. Here's a little of what was happening
on USC's campus today. Supporters ofUSC valedictorian Asda Tabasa rallied on campus Thursday,
calling on the university to reinstate heras the commencement speaker at next month's
graduation ceremony. The most gifted girlsI've ever met is the university of trying

(12:01):
to silence her, and I justthink it's very unfair and it's injustice to
all of students, especially minority students. On Monday, the university made the
decision to bar the Muslim biomedical engineeringmajor from speaking, citing security concerns.
In letters sent to USC administrators,critics accused her of posting links and views
on social media that promoted anti Semiticand anti Zionist rhetoric. It was a

(12:26):
Lincoln her bio that was educating thepublic. My main point of contention is
the fact that the university would selectsomebody who's so outspoken on such a contentious
and incendiary and polarizing issue right now. Mark Rayan, as senior at USC
who is also Jewish, says hewants USC to apologize for that. He

(12:46):
wrote a letter to Tabasim after thatannouncement, hoping to have a conversation to
try to give her a perspective thatI think she may be lacking. Because
this is such a highly polarized andpoliticized issue, we wouldn't want to give
this platform and the highest honor toour university to someone who not only defies

(13:07):
the university's values and fails to exemplifythose values, but actively promotes that kind
of hate speech. Sabrina Jehan,also a Jewish senior US. He says
she's received threats, she's been harassed, and received backlash after US's decision.
Personally, I do not feel assafe coming to school every day as I

(13:28):
used to to amplify her message andto ensure that her right to speak is
not infringed upon. A letter,though signed by more than fifty student organizations,
was written in support of Tabasum.She spoke earlier this week saying the
university is caving to hatred. I'mjust as committed to the life of Jesus.
I am to Muslims, or toChristians, or to any other faith,

(13:52):
or to any other sort of identity. A change dot org petition has
already gathered nearly four thousand signatures.That you speak, here's the real question.
Did USC have their head in theright place, but then make the
wrong decision in other words, wheresecurity concerns a legitimate reason to change how

(14:18):
that commencement would look, but thenpossibly made the wrong decision in terms of
how they should go about it.Because we said yesterday Tawala that there was
going to be an escalation, wedidn't necessarily know what tomorrow would bring,
and it was literally unfortunately tomorrow thatIsrael responded with this retaliatory strike against Iran.

(14:43):
If I am USC, I ameven more sure that commencement in the
general sense had to be changed.I'm not so sure that they made the
right decision because we saw, havingnothing to do with the strike, we
had hundreds of students protesting today becauseof USC's decision. In other words,
they created more of a situation thanthere was yesterday. We literally called it,

(15:07):
and not to gloat, but tosay these are the things that we
were wondering. Was USC thinking outloud Did they make this decision in a
knee jerk, haphazard matter to say, hey, we have to protect everyone,
We're we're gonna have to pull this. But did they look at the
larger picture? Did they look atall the protests that shut down the freeways

(15:28):
in recent months? Did they lookat the tenor and the tone on social
media regarding all things having to dowith this. Were they not paying attention
to the strikes that happened just afew days before, over the weekend before
making this announcement? Where all thesethings considered before they made this decision?
Because all this decision did, andthis is what I was alluding to,

(15:52):
the protests in New York. Thestrike's happening. Now, did you think
about what you were doing and theunintended consequences, the fallout that was inevitably
going to come. This is today, and these protests today were not connected,

(16:14):
not in response to any actions Israeltook today. I would be interested
to see if you see more proteststomorrow or fewer protests, because what these
students today, by and large,were protesting because they were more people who
were protesting in support of the valedictorianthan who were supporting who are against the

(16:40):
Valedictorian. It'll be interesting to seeif tomorrow, because of the Israeli strike
on Iran, whether that means thatthere will be even more protests or whether
that will inspire people to have alittle bit more sober judgment and calm attitudes.
To see where all this goes.I don't know, but I suspect

(17:02):
it's going to be more of anescalation. Yes, there's the escalation in
the Middle East, but now there'sthe escalation on our college campuses, escalation
in our rhetoric. And that doesnot necessarily portend anything good in the next
few weeks or months. If you'rejust tuning in again the breaking news,
Israel early Friday morning local time,launched missiles in a retaliatory strike against Iran.

(17:29):
It has been confirmed by senior USofficials. We still, at this
point do not know the intended targets. We don't know the extent of the
damage. We don't know if thereare any fatalities. Was it limited to
just military targets or something else thatmight have been targeted. As that information
comes in, I will have thatinformation or Mark Ronner and the KFI twenty

(17:52):
four hour newsroom will have that information, but the whole point is keep it
right here. We'll keep you informed. You're listening to Later with Mo on
Demand from KFI AM six forty tobring you up to date. Israel early
Friday morning local time launched missiles ina retaliatory strike against Iran. This has
been confirmed by senior US officials,and of course we know that this missile

(18:18):
response for retaliatory attack comes on theheels of Iran's attack against Israel over the
weekend, when Iran sent some threehundred uncrewed unmanned drones and missiles towards targets
throughout the country of Israel. Itwas not focused on any particular target or

(18:40):
area of the country. It wasthroughout the country, and we know that
some ninety nine percent were thwarted thanksto the Iron Dome. This attack today
was promised by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamintyahoo he vowed a response. Of course,
he did not say when it wouldbe or how extensive it would be.

(19:00):
But today is at least the firstpart of that retaliation. We don't
know the nature of the damage.We do know that it was very close
to a major international airport in Iranand all flights heading to Tehran East Fahan
where the airport is located in Shiraz, and the airports of the West,

(19:22):
Northwest and Southwest have been suspended.So all civilian flights have been grounded.
And that's coming from the director ofIran's public relations for one of their airport
companies, and that was announced onin an interview with State Run TV.
And we also know that Iran's airdefense systems have been activated in several provinces

(19:45):
of the country, and that's accordingto a report by the State News not
too long ago, Iran's air defensesystems. So this is something that we
know is evolving, where if informationlist trickling out bit by bit, we
know now that it was very close. This attack was very close to a

(20:07):
civilian target, as reported by Iranstate media. That's not something that has
been confirmed by US intelligence or USmedia. I want to make that distinction.
This is something which has been allegedby Iranian state media, and we
don't know what is in that particularvicinity. We don't know if that's close

(20:30):
to a known military installation. Wedon't necessarily know or at least has not
been reported that it was close toknown military targets or what else may be
in the general vicinity, but atthis point we don't see or we don't
have any information of their being continuingattacks by Israel. This seems to be

(20:55):
targeted and focused and singular in nature. As of this moment, there has
not been any official response or militaryresponse from Iran because of this, and
at least from the information which hasbeen given by Iranian state media, they
have not made any indication of anyloss of life or extent of damage.

(21:18):
And those are the pieces of informationI think which are key to determining whether
this would be a major escalation orsomething which can avoid a further conflagration which
would bring possibly other countries in theMiddle East into this fray. Of course,
no one wants that, but thatis the ultimate concern. Whether this

(21:40):
escalates beyond Israel and Iran, whetherthis would be a queue for Hezbollah to
also attack, whether this inspires Hamasto take a more aggressive stance. Even
though they were close to having somesort of negotiation and exchange of hostages,
we don't know how that will affectthis as well. So all of these

(22:03):
variables in moving parts, as youwill hard to see where any of this
is going, and we don't knowif only because we're only maybe forty minutes
in from the initial reports of thisretaliatory attack by Israel on Iran. And
as more information comes in on anyloss of life, or whether there were

(22:26):
military targets involved, or the degreeof damage to the targets in Iran,
then of course we'll pass that onto you. But again, there are
many levels to this. There's what'shappening in Iran, whether Iran will immediately
respond and attack. There's also thequestion of whether Iran proxies will attack on

(22:47):
behalf of Iran, if they'll attackIsrael. There's a question of whether this
was a singular act by Israel orwhether they will press the issue even more.
And there's also the issue of proportionalitywhen discussing whether something is proportional,
proportional in nature or whether this issomething which is going to inspire in estillation.

(23:07):
That is hard to see and hardto say until we know if there's
any loss of life, the typesof targets involved, and the extent of
damage. And as that becomes moreand more clear, I think we'll be
able to make a more educated guessas to what may happen. Next.
It's KFI AM six forty Mo Kellyin for this continuing coverage of the breaking

(23:32):
news of Israel's attack retaliatory attack onIran within the confines of Iran, and
we'll have more in just a moment. You're listening to later with Moe Kelly
on demand from KFI AM six forty. We are continuing to follow the events
in the Middle East. Information islimited at this time, but it has

(23:55):
been confirmed from a senior US officialthat Israel has retaliated against Iran for the
unmanned drone strikes intended strikes on Israelover the weekend. And if you look
at the fullness of the situation,it's not something we can look at in
a vacuum. We can go backto Israel's attack on the Iranian consulate and

(24:22):
you can say maybe that was theprecipitating event before Iran's attack on Israel,
or you can go back to Hamas'sattack on Israel in October and so forth.
I don't know if there's a beginningpoint, but each successive strike is
in response to the preceding event.What we don't know, and I've said

(24:42):
before, I think it bears mentioningagain, we don't know the extent of
damage in Iran. Iran state mediahas not made any indication of there being
any victims or whether there was amilitary or a civilian location which was struck.

(25:03):
We know that from public reports thatpeople in Iran have said that they
heard explosions. No video, tomy mind, has come out. No
firsthand accounts of people on the groundin the immediate vicinity have offered any specifics
about what was hit or the extentof damage, which could be interpreted a

(25:26):
number of ways. And let mebe very careful. I'm just looking for
certain indicators. I'm looking for anindicator whether this was specifically designed to destroy
a particular location, was it supposedto inflict maximum damage and casualties or something

(25:48):
else. And at this point itdoes not seem as if there are maximum
casualties. And I say that withgreat caution, but only because no fatalities
have been remarked or reported on atthis point, even from Iranian state media.
All we know that it has beenconfirmed that Israel has attacked Iran.

(26:14):
Israel vowed a retaliatory response. Thisseems to be it, but it's unclear
whether there is any type of militaryhigh value target in the particular region where
these explosions were heard, quoting reportson CNN and ABC News and as a
matter of fact, let me checkingthe ABC News. So own government'sn't going
to do anything that at least Iranhas taken the fight to Israel. What

(26:36):
that means to Lebanon note is itcould get dragged into a roar, which
it really kind of affords it.James longman on the ground force there in
Lebanon, James, thank you.I want to bring in retired General Robert
Abrams, who's also an ABC Newscontributor. General Abrams, in your experience,
what do you think is happening rightnow at the Pentagon and also at
US Central Command, Lady, goodevening. Look, I think they're all

(27:00):
finding out at the same time weare. So you can imagine our operations
center in both locations in Washington atthe Pentagon and Central Command both at their
main headquarters in Florida at Tampa andFord Headquarters in Qatar. They're first and
foremost trying to determine what exactly happened, right James earlier said, we're still

(27:22):
trying to figure out the scope andscale of these explosions and reportedly coming from
Israel into Iran. That's job oneis just let's get the fact straight.
So I think that's where they're focusedright now. And how's the White House
and Department of offens watching this playout in real time? And are they
communicating with Israel. I'm certain thatthere has been ongoing coordination, but as

(27:51):
you know, Israel has been prettyclear about what their plan was in terms
of striking back against Iran, andI'm confident there's been discussions, and I
think it's unknown whether the United Stateshad prior knowledge that they were going to
conduct some sort of brit today,the US has been clear that we would

(28:14):
not help Israel with any new offensives, any kind of retaliation. Who's talking
to whom about perhaps again helping Israeldefensively as we did this past weekend,
especially saying that Iran has already basicallystated the parameters that, look, if
you attack us again, we're goingto respond. Yeah. I think that

(28:36):
some people who were doing the coordinationbefore Iran conducted their counter stripe, right,
So you've got at the Department ofDefense level, the Secretary himself speaking
with his counterpart in Israel, you'vegot the Central Command Commander General Krilla talking
to his counterparts in Israel. I'mcertain that those conversations are going on right

(28:56):
now in terms of preparations, butI will I'd like to highlight this because
I think James mentioned it. Wehave thousands of US troops in the region,
and protecting that force is actually jobone of SIDCOM, of Central US
Central Command. And you know there'sthere's plenty of Well, we'll continue to

(29:19):
follow ABC News, who has seeminglythe lead on this story. They have
the most information. Just want togive you some other information as it comes
in. And if you're just comingin and listening to KFI, let you
know that Israel has launched a missileattack against a site in Iran. It's
unclear what that particular site was,but it is becoming more clear that it

(29:45):
was singular in nature. This wasnot an expansive strike on multiple sites and
locations. Iran's Fars news agency hasreported explosions in the Isfahan province, which
has a major international airport, andthe state television has reported that flights in
several cities have been suspended in response. There were also reports of explosions in

(30:08):
Syria and Iraq. We don't knowwhether it's connected to this. And this
assault, as I said, comesdays after Iron fired a barrage of drones
and missiles at Israel in retaliation fora suspected Israeli attack on its consulate in
Syria back on April first. Sothis is going back and forth. It's

(30:30):
not one incident in a vacuum.It's a series of incidents and responses to
it. We will continue to followthis story and as more information does come
in, either I will give itto you or Mark Ronner in the KFI
twenty four hour newsroom. This KFIAM six forty we're live everywhere on the
iHeartRadio app. Will help you figureit out. It's kind of what we

(30:55):
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