From wars and rumors of war abroad, to the rise of anti-Christian, "woke" ideology here at home, it's clear that Americans are living in perilous and unprecedented times. Some would even say that we're witnessing biblical prophecy unfold in real time. Stakelbeck Tonight will make sense of these stunning developments through a bold and biblical lens.
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Stakelbeck Tonight | Erick Stakelbeck: March 4, 2026 | Stakelbeck Tonight | March 4, 2026
- Welcome to a stackelbeck. tonight, special report
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- Conflict in the middle east. i'm eric stackelbeck coming to
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- You live once again from washington, d.c. when we say
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- That the joint american-israeli operation unfolding in iran
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- Right now is historic, we really mean it. earlier today,
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- We saw the first ever downing of a manned aircraft by an f-35
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- Fighter jet when an israeli f-35 shot down an iranian jet
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- Over tehran in air to air combat. and not only that, for
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- The first time since world war two, an american submarine sank
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- An enemy ship with a torpedo. secretary of war pete hegseth
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- Called it a quiet death for the iranian warship. watch.
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- >> off! combat! ineffective. decimated. destroyed. defeated.
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- Pick your adjective. in fact, last night we sunk their prized
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- Ship, the soleimani. looks like potus got him twice.
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- >> iran. soleimani. warship now sunk, was, of course, named
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- After terror master qassem soleimani, who was eliminated
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- On president trump's order back in 2020. across the board, iran
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- Is suffering heavy blows as operation epic fury continues.
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- We're five days in and already iran's missile and drone
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- Launches have declined dramatically. israel and the us
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- Also have complete air superiority in the skies over
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- Iran. plus, virtually all of iran's top leaders have been
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- Eliminated. and at this point, whoever is in charge is
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- Basically just firing in every direction. in recent days, iran
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- Has targeted some 16 countries with missiles and drones,
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- Including virtually all of the surrounding arab and muslim
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- Nations. so with the regime teetering on the brink, who
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- Exactly is calling the shots in tehran right now? i had a
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- Chance to pose that question and more to white house press
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- Secretary caroline leavitt today at her weekly press
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- Briefing. take a look.
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- >> with that, i'll take your questions. eric, why don't you
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- Kick us off today? thank you for being here.
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- >> caroline, thanks so much for having me. it's great to be
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- Here. as you mentioned,
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- >> iran's regime, its leadership has largely been
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- Decimated. do we have a sense right now of who is actually
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- Calling the shots in iran? and we're also hearing reports that
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- The supreme leader's son may be named his successor. do you
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- Have any more information about that? and i just had a quick
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- Follow up as well.
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- >> sure. we've seen those reports as well, of course. and
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- This is something that our intelligence agencies are
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- Closely monitoring and looking at. we the truth is we'll have
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- To wait and see. the president has said repeatedly that the
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- Objectives of operation epic fury are the four military
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- Objectives that i laid out for you previously to destroy
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- Iran's navy, to destroy their ballistic missile capacity, to
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- Ensure their proxies in the region can no longer harm
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- Americans, and to also ensure that they can never obtain a
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- Nuclear weapon. as for what comes next for iran, the
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- President has said, of course, it's a good thing for the
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- United states to want freedom for the iranian people, and
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- Ultimately we hope that freedom rests in their hands.
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- >> caroline, we see the arab and muslim nations coming under
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- Fire as well. president trump's vision for the region has been
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- To bring the arab and muslim nations to the table together.
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- Abraham accords, obviously, with israel. if this regime
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- Topples, could we see a new day in the region and really a new
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- Middle east come out of this when the dust settles?
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- >> well, though, the greatest deterrent to true and long
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- Lasting peace in the middle east has always been the rogue
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- Iranian terrorist regime and our arab and arab and gulf gulf
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- Partners in the nation admit that as well as, of course, our
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- Close friend and ally, israel. we have seen all of the arab
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- Partners in the region come together during this time on
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- The phone with president trump, many of them commending him for
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- This bold and brave action to protect american troops and our
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- Bases in the region that are housed in many of these arab
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- Gulf states. and i know that many of these regional partners
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- Are contributing their air defense capabilities as well.
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- Jordan, bahrain, saudi arabia, the uae, qatar, kuwait and the
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- President continually continues to be engaged with all of them.
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- >> folks, it was an honor to represent tbn in the new media
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- Seat at the white house press briefing today with caroline.
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- She is very sharp. and by the way, president trump also had
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- Some thoughts on iran's leadership, or lack thereof.
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- Watch.
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- >> their leadership is just rapidly going. everybody that
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- Seems to want to be a leader, they end up dead. and it's it's
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- An amazing, amazing thing that's taking place before your
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- Eyes. because for 47 years we were pushed around and we
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- Shouldn't have been. and i think i can say, and you see it
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- As well as i do, you see the tremendous progress that's
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- Being made. their missiles are being wiped out rapidly. their
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- Launchers are being wiped out.
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- >> now, another key development on the ground has been the
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- Elimination of iran's terror machine. secretary hegseth
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- Announced today that the leader of an iranian assassination
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- Squad that plotted to assassinate president trump
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- Prior to the 2024 election had been hunted down and killed.
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- Heavy blows have also been dealt to iran's islamic
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- Revolutionary guard corps and its basij militia. the main
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- Forces behind the regime's slaughter of at least 32,000
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- Iranians. i'm sorry. over the past several weeks with the
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- Irgc and the basij weakened, the prayer is that the iranian
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- People will be able to take to the streets and finally claim
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- Their freedom. after nearly half a century of brutal
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- Repression, and we may have taken another big step in that
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- Direction. today, fox news is reporting that thousands of
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- Iraqi kurds have crossed into iran and are mounting a ground
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- Offensive. could this help end iran's regime and free the
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- Iranian people? we may soon find out. joining us tonight to
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- Break it down is an all star panel of middle east experts.
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- That's next.
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- That's next.
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- Welcome back to stackelbeck tonight. we are
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- Live here in washington, d.c. breaking down all the latest on
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- Operation epic fury. israel, of course, is calling it operation
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- Roaring lion. and no one knows the us-israel relationship
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- Better than our good friends at the foundation for defense of
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- Democracies, or fdd, right here in washington, d.c. we are
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- Joined now by the founder and president of fdd, cliff may and
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- Executive director of fdd, our good friend jonathan schanzer.
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- Gentlemen, always great to see you, john. you and i were
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- Talking off camera. you've got an update on that kurdish
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- Situation. we mentioned there were reports on fox news of a
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- Kurdish ground offensive, iraqi kurds essentially invading iran,
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- I guess, and mounting an offensive. do we have any new
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- Details on that?
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- >> we do. and it actually looks like less of a story than was
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- Originally reported. this was jen griffin who had come out
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- With the story. initially the kurds were denying this. and
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- Then it turns out, as she got clarification from a senior
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- U.s. official, that these were iranian kurds returning from
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- Their homeland, returning to their homeland, rather, and
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- Their goal still is to try to topple the regime. but these
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- Are not outside kurds, which could make, you know, it could
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- Calm some of the nerves of some of the iranians who were
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- Worried about outsiders coming in to settle their conflict.
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- But, you know, there still will be tensions about the fate of
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- The kurds at the end of all of this. it's always been a sticky
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- Issue inside iran. i expect it will remain to be one.
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- >> john, thank you for that. that's a very important
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- Clarification, no doubt. and cliff, we've been talking as we
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- See, god willing, very soon, a future for the iranian people.
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- Free at last. we've been talking about this succession
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- Right now, after khomeini, there are rumblings that his
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- Son may be named supreme leader in his stead. do we know
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- Anything more about that? who? who's in charge right now?
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- Essentially in tehran. and will khamenei's son take the mantle?
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- Although i have a sneaking suspicion he may not last very
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- Long.
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- >> well, khamenei himself wanted his son to succeed him.
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- That's an interesting thing. and an odd thing, because if
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- You think about it, this the idea that there'd be a dynasty
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- Once again in iran after the after the revolution, which, as
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- I've said for years, was not an iranian revolution, it was an
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- Islamic revolution. but that's still quite, quite something.
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- It's not an election. it's a selection by, i would say, the
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- Very high members of the iranian islamist elite. it's
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- Very hard, as you say, for them to gather together to cast
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- Ballots or say i or nay or whatever it is. the israelis
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- Have been very clear. if this is who turns out to be the new
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- Supreme leader, as they like to say, the new dictator, then he
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- Will be number one on the on the target list. he is not
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- Somebody that president trump will be able to say to, let's
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- Figure this out, sort of what he has done in venezuela, for
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- Example, where delcy rodriguez, who was number two to nicolas
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- Maduro, he made her understand, if we can get along, you'll
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- Survive if we can't get along well, this probably.
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- >> well put. cliff and john, look, it seems that we've seen
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- A pretty noticeable decline today in the missile and drone
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- Launches out of iran. what are you hearing? iran's missile
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- Stockpiles hopefully diminished rapidly over the past few days.
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- Are you hearing anything more about the state of play when it
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- Comes to iran's capabilities at this point?
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- >> yeah, i mean, the numbers right now, i think are rather
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- Stark for the iranian regime. it looks like they've lost, i
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- Think, somewhere around 80% of their stockpile, either by
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- Firing it or by having it destroyed on the ground. now,
- 00:10:29.500 --> 00:10:33.237
- What we know is that the united states has started to help the
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- Israelis in the hunt for these missiles, as we're hearing
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- Right now that the united states has actually bombed some
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- Of the underground facilities housing some of those missiles.
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- And so where there was somewhere between, let's say, 3
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- To 5000 missiles when this thing started, we're down to
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- Pretty low numbers, probably about where things stood at the
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- End of the 12 day war last year, before iran began really trying
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- To ramp back up. but eric, the big thing that we all need to
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- Keep watching is it's actually the number of launchers that
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- Probably matters more now. we have mobile launchers and
- 00:11:07.738 --> 00:11:10.574
- Static launchers, but they all need to be destroyed because if
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- You can't get them up on a launcher, you can't get them up
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- In the air and they're far fewer of these. i understand
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- That that that 300 have already been destroyed and there's
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- Maybe 300, maybe 200 left. the more that the israelis and the
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- United states can take those out, the safer the skies will
- 00:11:27.658 --> 00:11:30.694
- Be in the entire region. now, that does not obviate the
- 00:11:30.694 --> 00:11:36.433
- Concern over drones. there are a lot of drones in iran's
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- Possession and are relatively cheap to make. they're able to
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- Produce them in mass. and so that becomes the next challenge.
- 00:11:43.741 --> 00:11:47.578
- But those are a little bit easier to shoot down with short
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- Range air defense systems. and i suspect it will be easier
- 00:11:50.648 --> 00:11:54.852
- Specifically for the arab countries that have been
- 00:11:54.852 --> 00:11:57.054
- Struggling with the missiles. i think they'll have an easier
- 00:11:57.054 --> 00:11:59.890
- Time intercepting those drones.
- 00:11:59.890 --> 00:12:02.526
- >> yeah, john, speaking of which, and cliff, i should say
- 00:12:02.526 --> 00:12:04.995
- Speaking of which, those drones have targeted us consulates in
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- The region and in particular iran's arab and muslim
- 00:12:07.932 --> 00:12:12.136
- Neighbors. cliff, do you think there's still the possibility
- 00:12:12.136 --> 00:12:14.872
- Perhaps the saudis and others get involved in this fight
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- Against iran? in a military sense?
- 00:12:18.309 --> 00:12:21.145
- >> i think there is that possibility. i think it should
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- Happen. i think president trump should pressure them to do so,
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- Particularly the emiratis and the saudis. they have a lot of
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- Military equipment they bought from america. they should be
- 00:12:31.956 --> 00:12:34.491
- Involved in this. this was a real miscalculation, i suspect,
- 00:12:34.491 --> 00:12:39.763
- On the part of iran's surviving rulers. i think they thought if
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- They could show that the war was spreading, that it was
- 00:12:43.167 --> 00:12:46.403
- Going to be out of control, then the various leaders and
- 00:12:46.403 --> 00:12:50.007
- Rulers in the arab world would come to trump and say, you have
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- To stop this right now because it's hitting us. i don't think
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- He sees it quite that way, and i don't even think they see it
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- Quite that way. i think they now recognize in a way they
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- Hadn't before, that this regime is a danger to them as much as
- 00:13:02.786 --> 00:13:06.590
- It is to israel and to and to america.
- 00:13:06.590 --> 00:13:11.228
- >> yeah. john, about a minute or so left. okay. the arab
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- Nations are getting that. has europe received the memo that
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- Iran is an existential threat to the west? keir starmer,
- 00:13:17.968 --> 00:13:21.672
- Obviously spain, president trump has been highly critical
- 00:13:21.672 --> 00:13:24.241
- Of both and for good reason. what are you seeing right now
- 00:13:24.241 --> 00:13:27.211
- Out of europe and their response to all of this? about
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- A minute left.
- 00:13:30.147 --> 00:13:31.315
- >> sure. i mean, i think it's fascinating. you know, the
- 00:13:31.315 --> 00:13:33.284
- French on the one hand, are trying to run interference for
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- Hezbollah. they're trying to prevent the israelis from
- 00:13:36.754 --> 00:13:38.255
- Attacking, and they are attacking right now, but
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- They're also sending aircraft to the uae to try to protect
- 00:13:41.125 --> 00:13:45.763
- Their skies. the brits are in cyprus trying to shoot down
- 00:13:45.763 --> 00:13:50.434
- Hizbollah rockets and drones that have been fired, but also
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- Some of the iranians. so we're seeing some of these european
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- Countries slowly come around to the understanding that this
- 00:13:56.807 --> 00:14:00.611
- Regime is a problem, that it needs to be countered. i still
- 00:14:00.611 --> 00:14:03.781
- Have hope that we'll be able to reach some kind of consensus
- 00:14:03.781 --> 00:14:06.450
- Here, even if they're not all on board the trump train, they
- 00:14:06.450 --> 00:14:09.586
- May be able to get behind this operation specifically, as the
- 00:14:09.586 --> 00:14:13.824
- Arab states really begin to band together behind this us
- 00:14:13.824 --> 00:14:17.761
- Operation.
- 00:14:17.761 --> 00:14:19.229
- >> yeah. john, great breakdown. you mentioned hezbollah after
- 00:14:19.229 --> 00:14:21.899
- The break. i want to get into that. their role in all this
- 00:14:21.899 --> 00:14:24.635
- Things heating up to israel's north, of course. and what's
- 00:14:24.635 --> 00:14:27.538
- The state of iran's ring of fire, that terror axis right
- 00:14:27.538 --> 00:14:31.575
- Now, folks, no one does it better than this all star panel.
- 00:14:31.575 --> 00:14:34.411
- It's phd. org, the foundation for defense of democracies.
- 00:14:34.411 --> 00:14:38.349
- Cliff may john chonda follow them ex across social media.
- 00:14:38.349 --> 00:14:41.685
- And after the break, our panel will be back again. hezbollah.
- 00:14:41.685 --> 00:14:45.823
- And what about that trump netanyahu alliance? is this a
- 00:14:45.823 --> 00:14:48.926
- Pair of churchills? is this a modern day reagan thatcher
- 00:14:48.926 --> 00:14:52.663
- Tandem? more with our panel after the break. stick around.
- 00:14:52.663 --> 00:14:59.009
- Tandem? more with our panel after the break. stick around.
- 00:14:59.009 --> 00:15:01.141
- Welcome back to stackelbeck. tonight we are coming to you
- 00:15:02.209 --> 00:15:04.378
- Live from washington, dc with a special report, conflict in the
- 00:15:04.378 --> 00:15:07.614
- Middle east. and we are joined once again by our all star
- 00:15:07.614 --> 00:15:11.184
- Panel, cliff may and jonathan schanzer of the foundation for
- 00:15:11.184 --> 00:15:14.021
- Defense of democracies, phd in dc. gentlemen, this
- 00:15:14.021 --> 00:15:18.692
- Relationship between prime minister netanyahu and
- 00:15:18.692 --> 00:15:21.995
- President trump, i think it's safe to say at this point, even
- 00:15:21.995 --> 00:15:25.198
- After the events of june, the 12 day war, midnight hammer,
- 00:15:25.198 --> 00:15:28.068
- This is an historic partnership, cliff. we think of reagan,
- 00:15:28.068 --> 00:15:32.039
- Thatcher bringing down the soviet empire. you think of
- 00:15:32.039 --> 00:15:34.908
- Churchill. is this tandem going to go down in history as really
- 00:15:34.908 --> 00:15:38.612
- The duo that brought down iran's terror empire, and that
- 00:15:38.612 --> 00:15:41.548
- Would really carve out, i think, a unique place in history for
- 00:15:41.548 --> 00:15:44.951
- Them.
- 00:15:44.951 --> 00:15:46.219
- >> i certainly hope so. i think look, at the very least, what
- 00:15:46.219 --> 00:15:49.790
- You want to see is that the islamic republic of iran, after
- 00:15:49.790 --> 00:15:53.660
- All these 47 years taking the hostages, killing americans,
- 00:15:53.660 --> 00:15:58.432
- Assassinations, assassination plots, supplying ieds to shia
- 00:15:58.432 --> 00:16:04.071
- Militias to kill americans in during the iraq war? i could go
- 00:16:04.071 --> 00:16:06.940
- On and on. this will finally at least be enfeebled, hopefully
- 00:16:06.940 --> 00:16:10.544
- Will be out of power entirely. that, by the way, will give the
- 00:16:10.544 --> 00:16:14.848
- Chance, at least a chance to the people of lebanon, the
- 00:16:14.848 --> 00:16:17.317
- People of yemen, the people of iraq, to be free as opposed to
- 00:16:17.317 --> 00:16:22.055
- Being vassal states under a blood soaked islamic empire.
- 00:16:22.055 --> 00:16:27.427
- All that is possible. and there's one other thing. the
- 00:16:27.427 --> 00:16:30.797
- Pentagon and i think president trump as well, correct me if
- 00:16:30.797 --> 00:16:33.266
- I'm wrong. they've now called israel the model ally. what
- 00:16:33.266 --> 00:16:37.237
- Does that mean? it's a model that can fight for itself and
- 00:16:37.237 --> 00:16:41.174
- Fight common enemies. the president wants to see
- 00:16:41.174 --> 00:16:45.178
- Europeans also take the lead against common enemies. that
- 00:16:45.178 --> 00:16:48.315
- Would be russia, and certainly japan, for example. and to help
- 00:16:48.315 --> 00:16:53.120
- In the pacific, there's we have what we call an fd, an axis of
- 00:16:53.120 --> 00:16:58.758
- Aggressors. beijing, moscow, tehran, pyongyang. america
- 00:16:58.758 --> 00:17:03.130
- Can't and shouldn't have to do it alone. our our our our
- 00:17:03.130 --> 00:17:06.399
- Allies need to be partners as israel is not dependents.
- 00:17:06.399 --> 00:17:12.105
- >> yeah, cliff. well said. look, israel, the first line of
- 00:17:12.105 --> 00:17:14.608
- Defense for western civilization, the united
- 00:17:14.608 --> 00:17:17.144
- States under president trump, in particular, the
- 00:17:17.144 --> 00:17:19.346
- Last line of defense, john cliff mentioned lebanon and
- 00:17:19.346 --> 00:17:22.349
- Shared enemies. and we got o talk about hezbollah, if that's
- 00:17:22.349 --> 00:17:25.452
- The case, launching rockets earlier today in tandem with
- 00:17:25.452 --> 00:17:30.190
- Iran and throwing their hat in the ring a bit here, hezbollah,
- 00:17:30.190 --> 00:17:33.560
- But they're not what they were. clearly, what's the state of
- 00:17:33.560 --> 00:17:36.596
- Things up north with hezbollah?
- 00:17:36.596 --> 00:17:39.466
- >> sure. well, i mean, it started with a couple of
- 00:17:39.466 --> 00:17:41.635
- Rockets that hezbollah fired, and this came after something
- 00:17:41.635 --> 00:17:45.071
- Like 500 violations of the cease fire agreement. i mean,
- 00:17:45.071 --> 00:17:49.843
- The israelis have had to just keep chipping away at hezbollah.
- 00:17:49.843 --> 00:17:52.779
- They've tried to keep things kind of contained. but i think
- 00:17:52.779 --> 00:17:56.850
- The sense in israel is, you know, this threat is not going
- 00:17:56.850 --> 00:18:00.720
- Away. hezbollah still has something like 20% of its
- 00:18:00.720 --> 00:18:04.391
- Arsenal from before when the war began, which means they've
- 00:18:04.391 --> 00:18:07.160
- Got something like 30,000 rockets at their disposal, some
- 00:18:07.160 --> 00:18:10.864
- Of them long range, some of them quite lethal. and so i
- 00:18:10.864 --> 00:18:14.067
- Think the israelis arrived at the conclusion very soon after
- 00:18:14.067 --> 00:18:18.371
- That, that first round of rocket attacks, that it was go
- 00:18:18.371 --> 00:18:21.608
- Time, that they were already mobilized. they were going
- 00:18:21.608 --> 00:18:24.144
- After the iranian regime, that this was house cleaning time.
- 00:18:24.144 --> 00:18:27.380
- This is like that scene in the godfather. all the enemies are
- 00:18:27.380 --> 00:18:30.617
- Going down if they trifle with the israelis. and so what we've
- 00:18:30.617 --> 00:18:34.588
- Seen actually now is the head of the hezbollah intelligence
- 00:18:34.588 --> 00:18:38.291
- Has been killed. there have been a number of significant
- 00:18:38.291 --> 00:18:41.394
- Strikes, including this evening on what the israelis are
- 00:18:41.394 --> 00:18:44.331
- Calling hezbollah core infrastructure in beirut. so
- 00:18:44.331 --> 00:18:48.201
- They're attacking the headquarters of hezbollah in
- 00:18:48.201 --> 00:18:51.938
- The capital of lebanon. the lebanese are saying that they
- 00:18:51.938 --> 00:18:56.176
- Have had it with hezbollah, too, that they want to dismantle
- 00:18:56.176 --> 00:18:59.746
- This group once and for all. and i think we're starting to
- 00:18:59.746 --> 00:19:03.183
- See at least some signs of support from abroad as well. so
- 00:19:03.183 --> 00:19:07.320
- I suspect this is going to open up into a full second front.
- 00:19:07.320 --> 00:19:10.757
- And yes, hezbollah is firing rockets on top of the missiles
- 00:19:10.757 --> 00:19:15.228
- That are being launched out of iran in an attempt to confuse
- 00:19:15.228 --> 00:19:19.165
- Israeli missile defense. it doesn't look like it's working
- 00:19:19.165 --> 00:19:21.768
- Yet, but there's a lot of action in the skies over israel.
- 00:19:21.768 --> 00:19:25.639
- >> you know, guys, it's amazing. hamas carries out the massacre
- 00:19:25.639 --> 00:19:29.242
- Of october 7th. little did they know it would lead to the
- 00:19:29.242 --> 00:19:32.579
- Downfall of the entire iranian terror empire. less than two
- 00:19:32.579 --> 00:19:36.283
- And a half years later. amazing. cliff, there's been some
- 00:19:36.283 --> 00:19:39.753
- Opposition to this joint operation. the woke right, the
- 00:19:39.753 --> 00:19:42.689
- Tucker carlson's of the world, we expect, and the left as well.
- 00:19:42.689 --> 00:19:46.192
- But their arguments don't seem to hold water. that's an
- 00:19:46.192 --> 00:19:48.895
- Illegal war, etc. can you break down a bit why? this is
- 00:19:48.895 --> 00:19:52.165
- Perfectly justified. this operation ordered by president
- 00:19:52.165 --> 00:19:55.168
- Trump?
- 00:19:55.168 --> 00:19:56.603
- >> yes. it's really amazing that you have these people in
- 00:19:56.603 --> 00:19:59.205
- The tucker carlson ilk who who really are making the same
- 00:19:59.205 --> 00:20:03.009
- Arguments that bernie sanders is, that rashida tlaib is that
- 00:20:03.009 --> 00:20:07.013
- Code pink is all the same arguments, but i'll let me take
- 00:20:07.013 --> 00:20:11.017
- It the other direction and say that when america has an enemy.
- 00:20:11.017 --> 00:20:14.521
- And again, we talked about this, and this has been an enemy
- 00:20:14.521 --> 00:20:17.490
- Since 1979. i was there for the revolution. they began to chant
- 00:20:17.490 --> 00:20:22.529
- Death to america. and then the question arises, how do we
- 00:20:22.529 --> 00:20:25.665
- Achieve that? i'm not saying one nuclear weapon on an
- 00:20:25.665 --> 00:20:30.437
- Intercontinental ballistic missile hitting an american
- 00:20:30.437 --> 00:20:32.972
- City would wipe out america. would it be an existential
- 00:20:32.972 --> 00:20:35.508
- Threat? but america would never be the same. and even hitting
- 00:20:35.508 --> 00:20:39.079
- Israel was meant to be an attack on america, because
- 00:20:39.079 --> 00:20:41.781
- There's the great satan, america and the little satan
- 00:20:41.781 --> 00:20:44.451
- Israel. israel is seen as an extension of judeo-christian
- 00:20:44.451 --> 00:20:48.455
- Values in the middle east. they want it wiped out, and they
- 00:20:48.455 --> 00:20:52.359
- Have been killing americans more than 600 during the iraq
- 00:20:52.359 --> 00:20:55.662
- War. they have tried to assassinate and kidnap
- 00:20:55.662 --> 00:20:59.599
- Americans on their soil. you can go. i could go on all day
- 00:20:59.599 --> 00:21:02.936
- About it. so what's the president doing? he's saying,
- 00:21:02.936 --> 00:21:05.071
- We're not going to take this. he's saying we are going to
- 00:21:05.071 --> 00:21:08.007
- Confront our enemies, not make concessions, not send pallets
- 00:21:08.007 --> 00:21:10.877
- Of cash. we're going to confront them, and we are going
- 00:21:10.877 --> 00:21:13.680
- To defeat them. that's putting america first. and it's make
- 00:21:13.680 --> 00:21:17.617
- America great again. when the american military is as
- 00:21:17.617 --> 00:21:20.520
- Powerful as it is, and it can and can hit an enemy with such
- 00:21:20.520 --> 00:21:24.824
- Precision that there are iranians in the streets dancing
- 00:21:24.824 --> 00:21:27.694
- While the bombs are falling, because they know that
- 00:21:27.694 --> 00:21:30.563
- President trump is not trying to hit them. he would like, if
- 00:21:30.563 --> 00:21:33.666
- He possibly can, to liberate them. what he's told them is,
- 00:21:33.666 --> 00:21:37.070
- Look, after this, it will be up to you to try to have a decent
- 00:21:37.070 --> 00:21:41.741
- Country. we'll help. we can't do it for you, but we can help.
- 00:21:41.741 --> 00:21:44.677
- Boy, if that's not america first. if that's not make
- 00:21:44.677 --> 00:21:47.547
- America great again, i don't know what could be. yeah, cliff.
- 00:21:47.547 --> 00:21:51.117
- >> well said. and look, it's been essentially a half a
- 00:21:51.117 --> 00:21:53.753
- Century, nearly of jihad by the iranian regime against the
- 00:21:53.753 --> 00:21:57.290
- United states. trump said enough is enough. finally, john,
- 00:21:57.290 --> 00:22:00.560
- About a minute left, speaking of president trump, his vision
- 00:22:00.560 --> 00:22:03.463
- For the region, the abraham accords, are they very much
- 00:22:03.463 --> 00:22:06.900
- Back on the table if and when, god willing, this regime in
- 00:22:06.900 --> 00:22:10.537
- Tehran collapses about a minute left?
- 00:22:10.537 --> 00:22:13.373
- >> yeah. i mean, i got to say, i like the prospects of it a
- 00:22:13.373 --> 00:22:16.976
- Lot more right now than i did just even a couple of short
- 00:22:16.976 --> 00:22:20.547
- Weeks ago. you know, a couple of weeks ago, we were watching
- 00:22:20.547 --> 00:22:23.583
- The saudis and the emiratis fight and point fingers at each
- 00:22:23.583 --> 00:22:26.786
- Other. right now, they're fully aligned again, you know, in in
- 00:22:26.786 --> 00:22:30.323
- Defiance of this common threat from the islamic republic.
- 00:22:30.323 --> 00:22:33.893
- That's a good sign. i want the saudis to see themselves as
- 00:22:33.893 --> 00:22:37.597
- Being aligned with the uae, which has a terrific, warm
- 00:22:37.597 --> 00:22:41.167
- Relationship with the israelis. and as we've talked about eric
- 00:22:41.167 --> 00:22:43.736
- For a long time, the minute the saudis enter into some kind of
- 00:22:43.736 --> 00:22:47.540
- Alliance with the united states, that's when the dominoes start
- 00:22:47.540 --> 00:22:50.243
- To fall. other countries around the muslim world will do the
- 00:22:50.243 --> 00:22:53.046
- Same thing. i like right now that you've got a bunch of arab
- 00:22:53.046 --> 00:22:56.649
- Countries, whether they know it or not, whether they want to
- 00:22:56.649 --> 00:22:59.319
- Admit it or not, they're fighting on the same side as
- 00:22:59.319 --> 00:23:02.255
- Israel and the united states. that's a good sign, i think,
- 00:23:02.255 --> 00:23:05.291
- For the future of the region.
- 00:23:05.291 --> 00:23:08.194
- >> john cliff may great analysis, my friends, folks,
- 00:23:08.194 --> 00:23:11.498
- Check them out across social media as well. gentlemen. great
- 00:23:11.498 --> 00:23:14.234
- Job. god bless. we'll see you again soon. and coming up after
- 00:23:14.234 --> 00:23:17.170
- The break from washington, d.c. my final thoughts on the state
- 00:23:17.170 --> 00:23:20.807
- Of play in the middle east. that's next. don't move.
- 00:23:20.807 --> 00:23:26.008
- Of play in the middle east. that's next. don't move.
- 00:23:26.008 --> 00:23:27.721
- Welcome back to stackelbeck tonight, coming to you from the
- 00:23:28.855 --> 00:23:31.224
- Nation's capital. and folks, we see, i believe, a new middle
- 00:23:31.224 --> 00:23:35.962
- East shaping up before our eyes right now. this is an historic
- 00:23:35.962 --> 00:23:40.667
- Moment. look, if the iranian regime topples, it opens up all
- 00:23:40.667 --> 00:23:44.604
- Sorts of possibilities. think about it. iran and its axis of
- 00:23:44.604 --> 00:23:48.975
- Evil. we're talking hamas, hezbollah, the houthis, these
- 00:23:48.975 --> 00:23:52.178
- Militias in iraq and syria. they've caused mayhem, murder,
- 00:23:52.178 --> 00:23:57.951
- Carnage for nearly 50 years. and it's really been a sticking
- 00:23:57.951 --> 00:24:02.689
- Point, a blocker of sorts for the region, because every time
- 00:24:02.689 --> 00:24:06.927
- Someone say wants to make peace with israel or wants to make
- 00:24:06.927 --> 00:24:10.096
- Peace with the united states, have good relations with the
- 00:24:10.096 --> 00:24:12.299
- West, the iranian regime is there to literally attack them
- 00:24:12.299 --> 00:24:15.635
- And try to dissuade them from doing that. president trump's
- 00:24:15.635 --> 00:24:18.305
- Got a vision for the middle east. he wants peace in the
- 00:24:18.305 --> 00:24:21.775
- Region. now, as a follower of jesus, i know only he, when he
- 00:24:21.775 --> 00:24:25.278
- Returns, will bring that lasting peace. but in the
- 00:24:25.278 --> 00:24:28.181
- Meantime, there can be, i think, a period of peace here with the
- 00:24:28.181 --> 00:24:33.987
- Fall of the iranian regime. i think the abraham accords will
- 00:24:33.987 --> 00:24:37.223
- Be very much back on the table. iran again was standing in the
- 00:24:37.223 --> 00:24:41.194
- Way of some great things that can happen in the region. so
- 00:24:41.194 --> 00:24:44.864
- Fasten your seatbelts. these are bible times. it's an
- 00:24:44.864 --> 00:24:47.334
- Exciting time to be alive. by the way, if you are an american
- 00:24:47.334 --> 00:24:51.004
- In the middle east, anywhere israel, anywhere in the middle
- 00:24:51.004 --> 00:24:53.206
- East, we want to share this emergency assistance number for
- 00:24:53.206 --> 00:24:56.042
- You, the state department, saying you need to get out now.r
- 00:24:56.042 --> 00:25:08.188
- Step.state.gov if you need it. sadly folks, great being with
- 00:25:09.389 --> 00:25:11.925
- You tonight and we're not done. our coverage continues coming
- 00:25:11.925 --> 00:25:15.695
- Our coverage continues coming
- 00:25:15.795 --> 00:25:17.897
