Iran’s Regime Collapsing: The Secret Airstrike on Tehran

From the Fox News Radio Studios in Midtown Manhattan, it's the fastest growing radio talk show. Brian Kilmead. All right, here we go. We're on the war footing. Lieutenant Colonel Alan West has been on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan.

What was it like in Iran? Does he know the people that have been maimed or some of the 603 that have been killed during the Iraq war thanks to Iranian EFPs or their militias? Also, standing by Ambassador Dennis Ross, you know, he wrote Stagecraft 2.0. He's worked for Republican and Democratic presidents. And I would argue that few in America know more about the Middle East than him.

And we have a lot to report. Number one, right now it looks as though, according to Reports over 1,100 Iranians have been killed, including 49 leaders. The Red Crescent says about 720. Their currency continues to plummet is basically worthless. Was the IRGC going to continue to fight and not get paid?

Also, how about this? Israel is warning everyone in residence who lives near the Evan prison, that infamous prison for its horrific conditions and tortures and beatings, to get out. And my hope is, and my thought is that the next leader of Iran has probably been in prison because if you've been a threat, they salted you away. They killed you, but some didn't get killed. My hope is if you could open up that prison, you're not opening it up for criminals, you're opening up for political prisoners who actually want a better day for them for the Iranian people.

And that's really one of the primary goals. Let's bring in Dennis Ross. Ambassador, welcome back. Always good to be with you. Thanks, Brian.

Yeah, so here we are in day three of this war, taking out Iran. What's the impact on the region already? I think one of the most interesting things that's happened is that the the kind of rivalry and feud that we've seen emerge between Saudi Arabia and UAE, that's gone. Number one. Number two, because Iran's strategy seems to be hit the Gulf States so that they will put pressure on President Trump and the war, because the price of oil is going up although gradually, because pressure to within these countries, they have an ability to defend themselves to an extent.

But these are you look at the UAE, you look at Bahrain, you look at Qatar, Very small countries geographically, very concentrated developmental economic infrastructure. The risk to them of this kind of a conflict is quite high. And the expectation I think the Iranians had is, okay, the way we'll get the Americans to stop is we'll get the Gulf states to pressure them. And rather than creating that pressure on us, It's created a coalescence among the GCC states, who have their own kinds of rivalries. It's made them, in a sense, even more dependent on the United States.

And the result is Iran is more isolated than ever. And it's isolated within the region with countries that basically had been developing relations with them. And they've now all been reminded of what they knew. They knew you couldn't trust the Iranians, but right now they understand to give in to the Iranian pressure is basically to make life worse for themselves.

So we have a kind of unity. We have a potential when this is over, and again, we have to define how it's going to end, but we have a potential when this is over to create much greater regional integration, including with Israel. And one last point, Brian. Think about it. These are countries right now That are warning the Iranians, if this continues, they will engage in offensive operations against Iran.

The idea that they would join the US and Israel. As opposed to the U.S. and Israel acting in a way they would create distance from, that's quite a remarkable development. And I could say we owe this to the Iranians.

So the Wall Street Journal op-ed headline is: Iran expands the Trump War Coalition. Their retaliation since the U.S. bombing is so far helping to build the coalition against the ruling regime. And let's bring it to this. Dennis, did you know?

Is that behind the scenes, the Saudi-Iran rivalry is so real. And it was MBS who kept talking to the president and saying, this is the time. I need you to do this because they're vulnerable and they're going to reconstitute their nuclear program and they probably have other things to say. But do you think, does that sound right to you, what the Washington Post had? I think it's probably a little bit more nuanced than that.

I think their their message was look, if you're going to do it, you have to do it. Don't start this thing and just and limit it, because then we'll be left with the consequence of that. If you're not going to go all out, then better for you not to do it at all. That, I think, was the essence of the message.

So it's consistent with what was described, but it's, as I said, a bit more nuanced.

So the Gulf States are angry, according to the President. It says they want to fight. If true, That means they're not only going to withstand the pain and stand strong, they want to fight back. And I was talking to an Air Force general today. He said, Yeah, we would take the help.

I go, Really? It wouldn't just be symbolic? He goes, No, we would absolutely use the help. But more importantly, we want to use their bases. And remember, before this started, they gave lip service.

Maybe it was real. I never know what to believe. But that they said, if you do this, you can't use our bases. And now it looks like the UK has backed off that, France has backed off that. And maybe the Gulf states have backed off that.

What do you think?

Well, I think that is true. I mean, first of all, they all can rationalize it now. Again, I come back to this notion, if you're there and you're close and the U. S. is going to take a partial step towards Iran, then you're left with the consequence after that.

Your vulnerability still exists, but you're more exposed. But if but in a sense, Iran has removed that kind of a calculation. because they're not just attacking the bases, they're hitting almost exclusively civilian targets. If this was just about here are the countries that have American bases and we're just going to hit the bases, That would be one thing. It would be bad enough from those state standpoint, but it would be one thing.

But then they go and deliberately hit. what are civilian targets, and they've been targeting, clearly, to some extent, oil and natural gas infrastructure.

So you live there and you say, okay, We now have a justification, and it's more than that. We don't have a choice. The Iranians removed their choice. Prior to this, they had a choice. And their choice was, we prefer to stay out of this.

We prefer to stay out of this because our priority is developing our economies, creating a digital basis for these economies, becoming international and regional hubs for AI. That's our priority. We prefer calm. But the Iranians removed the choice. They didn't give them a choice.

So we're in a very different situation where it's not just that the Iranians have isolated themselves. They have created a coalescence in a way where we now have many more partners than we would have had. Because they're at risk anyway, they will allow their bases to be used. That may be even more important. One thing that with the Israelis, we're so coordinated with the Israelis.

We've run so many joint exercises with the Israelis. We can do this, and this is a complete partnership. We have run air defense, missile defense exercises with the Gulf states. That is very closely coordinated. And you've seen they've been quite effective.

They've been knocking down about 90%. Mm-hmm. What's being targeted against them, although you and I should get into this issue of the number of interceptors they have, it's not a cost-benefit that works. The cost of the drones is really $20,000 compared to $4 million for an interceptor. Exactly.

But you know, here's where the Israelis developed the Iron Beam. The Iron Beam is extremely effective against the drones. You'll note that it's easier for the Israelis because the drones have to come a long ways and they can be picked up en route. But the Israelis use the Iron Beam, which is a laser, and it intercepts it. And there's no cost because the sunk cost, that's already been invested.

All they've got to do is plug it in. They've already paid for it. One of the things that shit needs to be shared with these Gulf states is the Iron Beam, because the big threat to them are the drones. The missiles are much less of a threat. The drones are a very big threat, and the Iranians obviously have thousands of them.

This is what they're exporting. The Shaheeds, what they're exporting to. The Russians.

So they have thousands of them, and from their standpoint, they don't have a choice, but they will have a problem because they're going to run out of interceptors. Here's what Marco Rubio said yesterday about why they needed to do this Cut 7. There absolutely was an imminent threat, and the imminent threat was that we knew that if Iran was attacked, and we believed they would be attacked, that they would immediately come after us. And we were not going to sit there and absorb a blow before we responded. Because the Department of War assessed that if we did that, if we waited for them to hit us first after they were attacked, and by someone else, Israel attacked them.

And because Israel was going to take evidently they had plans to attack in the spring, and there was some pushback from the IDF saying to Netanyahu, I'm not sure we're going to be too effective. But they saw that there was construction beginning again on two nuclear sites. They built a roof over him, but they could see what was happening. Who knows? They probably have eyes on the ground.

I think the Mossad does nothing without their reach, you know, without their access.

So I'm in awe of them.

So they said we're going to have to hit him. Yeah. The only thing I didn't like about the way that was presented, it was as if it was the Israelis who decided to do this. No, we built up a huge force out there over a period of time. The Israelis didn't have us build up that huge force.

We built up that huge force. The idea that we had to do it because Israel was going to hit, if President Trump had said to Prime Minister Netanyahu, I don't want to hit, he would not have hit.

So let's be honest about this. This was us. This was our decision. This was not an Israeli decision. Framing of the issue, I have to be honest with you, really bothered me.

It should. It bothered me too, and I can't believe it's getting that much traction. But they just have, some people just have a hatred for the Prime Minister. And he's going to be one of the most consequential leaders of his generation. And you know what they also did?

The IRGC just made it easier for Israel to finish off Hezbollah. Because Hezbollah originally said they're going to stay out of this. And word is IRGC was so frustrated with Hezbollah being slow to rearm and re-up and stand up, they took over. Yeah. And next thing you know, rockets are flying into Israel.

And Israel says, great, now I'll finish you guys off. And he called on the Lebanese prime minister to stand up against Hezbollah. And he's trying to.

So that's the dynamic that Israel has to change if they ever want to live in peace. 100%. Look, what's also clear, just so you know, there was a complete split within his bullow over this. Did I know that? And basically, you had more the military wing of Hezbollah that was.

Not just subservient to the IRGC, the IRGC tells them what to do. The political side of this didn't even know they were going to do it. They were issuing statements, and suddenly, the next thing they know, You know, they've launched the missiles have been launched, including, just to be clear, some of the missiles that were launched by Hezbollah were below the Latani River.

Now, the LAF had said they had cleared the whole area below the Latani River.

Some of the missiles fired were from there.

Now, and indeed, you have it exactly right. The IDF for some time has said, look, the Lebanese army is not doing what it needs to do. They have been consistently warning: if you don't do what you need to do, we will come and act again. And Hezbollah created the perfect pretext for them to go ahead and do this. And the truth is, what they're doing is they're giving the Lebanese government the chance to reassert Lebanon's sovereignty and to be free of the stranglehold that Hezbollah has imposed on them.

Think about this, where we were October 7th, a few years ago, where Syria was an enemy, Iran was there, Syria, Lebanon, was an enemy, Hezbollah was there, Hamas lived to the day in which they could kill more Israelis. Let alone the Islamic Jihad, and then, of course, Iran. And now Syria has flipped leadership. They're no longer a threat. Hezbollah has been defanged and blown up and hopefully will be finished.

And Hamas has got they're on the clock now. If they don't disarm, they're going to be destroyed because the gloves are off for Israel right now and there's no hostages to shield them. But lastly, who do you think could possibly emerge As a leader in Iran, you know these guys. Rouhani, people say, might be a moderate. You tell me.

They say that. Khomeini's son, they say he's been inadequate and unimpressive, and Khomeini's grandson. might be emerging. What do you think?

Yeah. Well Khomeini's grandson, it would be interesting because he does have a tradition of having been highly critical. You go back and look what his posture was after the elections in 2009, the fraudulent elections, and then you had millions of people in the street. He was on the side of the people who were protesting on the issue of a stolen election. Wow.

So he's interesting because certainly for some of those who are more devout, He would have a built-in kind of credibility, but he obviously has connections to some of the people. You know, who are still under house arrest. Mousavi. Interesting thing about Mousavi. Mousavi was the prime minister in 1988.

Why do I raise this? When the U.S. reflagged the ships under the Reagan administration, we reflagged all tankers going into the Gulf because the Iranians were attacking the tankers to cut off all the revenue to Iraq. Saddam Hussein had invaded Iran. Khomeini said, We will fight this war however long it takes.

And Mousavi is the prime minister. When the Iranians go ahead and start attacking the U.S. flag ships, we sink that part of the Iranian Navy that attacks us. We sink oil platforms. We inadvertently, although they don't think it's inadvertent, we shoot down an Iranian civilian airliner.

Mousavi, with Rafsanjani, and Mousavi, Rafsanjani is dead, but Mousavi is under house arrest because he was one of the candidates in 2009. And Mousavi and Rafsanjani go. To Khomeini and they say, we can't fight the Americans, it will destroy and bring down the Islamic Republic.

So, Homini comes out and announces he's ending the war, and he says it's like drinking poison from a chalice.

So, if you really want to look at someone who is potentially, obviously, it'd have to be a transitional arrangement, but he, if he comes out of prison, he and Karubi, also someone who both they ran and lost in 2009, they both said it was a fraud, they both have been under internal house arrest, they might be the people who could be on a transitional basis a new leadership. Dennis Ross, real quick, last question. I always believe that maybe the next leader is in prison. The Evan Prison. And I told you when I started this segment that Israel has given word to the citizens of that area: don't live there, you know, get out.

That means you're going to try to blow open the prison. Yeah. Look, you could be right. Think about it. The next whoever emerges, and let's not assume this is happening yet.

This is a regime that is going to do whatever it can to hold on. But if, in fact, there's a collapse, or if even from within the regime itself, there's a recognition, look, we've got to find a way out of this because everything's going to come down. We're going to see everything collapse unless we do. You're going to need some kind of coalition. You're going to need to have some kind of collective leadership.

Those who have been in prison, just like I said, Kurubi and Mousavi, who've been under house arrest, they have a built-in kind of credibility. 'Cause they demonstrated their attitude towards the regime. And they took punishment for it, yeah. Yes. I can see I could see some kind of collective.

In any case, you'd need a collective at a time of you have a vacuum and you need to build legitimacy. Hey, Ambassador, I could talk to you forever. Thanks so much, though. I mean, it's an exciting time. This thing has been stagnant for so long, and this President is just taking action.

I know it's risky, but I think it's worth the risk. Dennis Ross, thanks so much. My pleasure. Back in a moment. It's Brian Killmade.

This is Ainslie Earhart. Thank you for joining me for the 52-episode podcast series, The Life of Jesus. A listening experience that will provide hope, comfort, and understanding of the greatest story ever told. Listen and follow now at FoxnewsPodcasts.com or wherever you listen to podcasts. A radio show like no other.

It's Brian Killmead.

So, wait a minute, wait a minute, let me get this straight. America and Israel attack Iraq. And Iran's answer is to just attack everybody. You know, how Having been in a bar fight or two in my life, I'm pretty sure the worst thing you can do during a two-on-one beatdown is slap everyone else. Hey, hey.

Not every part of me getting punched. What are you doing? What are you doing? It's a great line. But you know what I want to point to too?

I was telling Allison this, Eric. Did you watch the show? I watched the show. I you know, in the morning, I always try to watch on Tuesday mornings because Jon Stewart is clearly Jon Stewart still. And way to the left, I don't care, he's funny.

And they just had his first guest on. He's Iranian, who's been exiled for 20 years. He couldn't direct a movie. And he just talked about how the bad things are in Iran and how you wouldn't be able in Iran to do what you did.

So if you're critical of President Trump, I'm sorry to ruin your show, but I'm not. And that's just a short course. And I think it kind of set him on his heels just a little bit. But that was a very funny line, and it's 100% true, what you just played. Lieutenant Colonel Alan West on the reality on the ground next.

The more you listen, the more you'll know. It's Brian Killmead.

The administration has a challenge. It needs to do several things at once. It needs to carve away enough of the radical hardline leadership to enable an element of the remaining leadership to make significant concessions on Iran's nuclear, missile, and regional adventurism to satisfy the national security objectives of the United States. It needs to, however, at the same time, leave in place sufficient elements of the regime so that they can control the armed elements of the IRGC to prevent them from turning on unarmed protesters and preventing a civil war. At the same time, you want to have a deal with the government, but you don't want to enable chaos in the country.

tree.

So yes, in other words, we don't want to pick up the trash. We don't want to write the checks to so their social security checks. But we do want regime change without saying it. That is a third rail in conversation. But for any element of the Of this Iranian government to stay in place when this is done, and that it's going to crack down.

Like they did after the First Persian Gulf War, when Saddam Hussein cracked down on the Shia, who were told to rise up. And all the celebrations, and the Iranians, and people in the region that saw the oppression. And thought that the U.S. was there to save the day. I think it could boomerang or dissipate.

That is Norman Ruhl, former CIA officer, guy that fights on the ground. Lieutenant Colonel Alan West, knows the region well, Iraq and Afghanistan, and also knows what the EFPs did to so many of the people he served with. Those are IEDs on steroids. Joins us now. Colonel, your thoughts, here we are three days into the campaign and what Norman Ruhl was saying about some of the difficulties that could lie ahead, some of the nuances.

Well, without a doubt, you have to be concerned about, you know, that follow-on aspect of leadership. A lot of people are concerned about that in Venezuela. And so far, it seems that everything has worked out fine. But you cannot have any more hardliners, Ayatollah, Moolah's that are going to be left in a remnant of this government because that's exactly what got us in the position that we've been in for the past 47 years.

So I think somehow we have to set the conditions for the turning of the page. And I believe that right now, what you see, the United States and Israel. and potentially the Gulf Council states are going to join into this because of the attacks that they're receiving, is to strip away this ballistic missile capability, strip away the maritime capabilities that threaten the open shipping lanes and things of this nature, but also to make sure that this radical theocratic regime is not in power.

So I think those are the critical overarching strategic goals. How that is achieved tactically, we don't want to get down on the ground. We don't need to see too many troops on the ground. The only thing I could see us putting boots on the ground about is to establish hunter-killer teams to go after some of these drone launch sites. That's a little bit more elusive, I think.

Yeah, there's no doubt about it. I think everybody knows that Iran is the most persistent, consistent, insistent, chronic problem in the Middle East. Everybody.

So, when I see Blumenthal, yeah, when Blumenthal, Senator Blumenthal, has spent so many years on foreign relations, travels a lot with Republican Senator Windsor Graham. What I see. When I see Senator Mark Warner has got the highest level of security clearance, say there's no reason for this war? I gotta laugh. If you want to say we gotta execute it, if we do it wrong, we should learn our lesson.

I got it. But to not identify this as a chronic problem that will always be facing America unless we deal with it at some point, that's what I find so disappointing and irresponsible.

Well, it's delusional. I mean, we don't have to go that far back in history to remember that there once upon a time were direct flights from Tehran, Iran to Caracas, Venezuela because of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez and their alliance. And of course, we had Hezbollah that were coming into that region into South America, and that is a threat to us. We're peeling that onion back. And if you think about, you know, the aspect of Islamic terrorism, that's Iran.

So Hamas, Hezbollah, Islami Jihad, all of these, the proliferation of Islamic terrorism across the world, it stems from Iran. When you look at who is supporting Russia with these militarized drones, that's Iran. When you look at who is propping up China with oil and gas resources, that's Iran.

So to sit around and say that, you know, Iran is not a threat, Iran is a geopolitical threat. Iran is a pariah. Iran is a threat to humanity. The fact that they would kill, what, 20,000, 30,000 of their own people here in just a year. The last two and a half months, that shows you the brutality.

And where are all these feminists? You know, let's talk about the aspect of women's rights. Wouldn't they like to see the women of Iran have the same type of freedoms and liberties that the women have in America and the West?

So, no, this is about hating Trump, and anything that Trump does is bad. And you're a guy that actually fights wars, was on the ground in the first Persian Gulf War as well as a contractor in Afghanistan.

So these are people that you grew up with almost, your young adulthood to today.

So you don't say that haphazardly. And when I tell you about, when I talk about IEDs in Iraq, that's personal, right? Yeah, it's very personal. And you bring up a great part of my history. The Beirut bombing attack, barracks attack that happened on October 23rd, 1983, seven days later, I signed in on active duty at Fort Sill, Oklahoma.

And then in 2003, you know, I'm back over there in Iraq as a battalion commander. I've gone from second lieutenant to lieutenant colonel. And I'm still dealing with the same issue, Iran. Iranian agents that were there in our area of operations, we started to see the increase of these, like you say, the explosive force penetrators, which, as you said, hundreds were killed, thousands were killed because of that. In Maine, tens of thousands.

So we've been dealing with Iran. My entire military. Career, I had to deal with Iran. And now, finally, we are taking an action. And remember how we pulled out of Beirut, and that was not the right response.

And I think Ronald Reagan regretted that because it made it seem as though we would not stand up to Islamic terrorism, which, again, it goes back to Iran. Yeah, and by the way, that's just the wrong message. The wrong message is: okay, we keep doing this, we could push America out. Think about how things have changed. Saudi Arabia, afraid to admit that we had a base there, has temporarily said we got to pull out and not talk about it.

And now we have a situation where we got bases in Qatar, we got bases in the UAE, a huge base in Qatar, and then we got bases in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. We have the Fifth Fleet.

So people should realize, I know it wasn't a one-day decision, but gradually people know that we're not the problem. And I got to give credit to President Trump here. President Trump won and has these personal relationships with these guys, these leaders. He didn't judge their democracy. His approach was, how can we do business?

How do we get business going here? What do you need? What do we have? And he went and made that one of his first visits. And then, when you kill Salamani and you follow through and wipe out their nuclear program and obliterate it.

He goes, okay, this guy kind of follows through what he says.

Now, think about what Joe Biden did. Joe Biden said: the Houthis, you're no longer on the terror list. And Saudi, you're a pariah nation. And in Iran, let's get back into a new version of the JCPOA. That was the exact message.

They laid the groundwork for Iran to get their mojo back. and their and their bulligent behavior front and center. Yeah, absolutely. And don't forget the lifting of the sanctions that we had that the Trump administration, the first Trump administration, put in place against Iran.

So now all of a sudden billions of dollars are falling back into their coffers. But let's not forget the pallets of cash that Barack Obama sent to Iran in the middle of the night on an unmarked airplane.

So, you know, the left does not have any moral high ground to talk about this issue because in every single way, shape, form, and fashion, they have enabled Iran. They have enabled Islamic terrorism, jihadism. Look, ISIS came about because of the stupid decision of Barack Obama and Joe Biden to completely create a void. Right after the surge. Right after the surge, they got to calm Iraq.

and they were about to have free and fair elections where the actual runner-up won. Think about that. Iraq had an election where the runner-up won. That's how real it was. And then he says, time to pull all the troops out.

And the next thing you know, we had to fly back in there to save Baghdad because they were about to lose it to this new group called ISIS. And think about the scourge of ISIS and how it expanded, not just there in Iraq, but all the way up to Syria and across Syria and even into northern Africa. And then the other thing is this whole talk about war powers resolution, authorized use of military force, AUMF. Where were the Democrats? I mean, where were Mark Warner, Blumenthal, when Barack Obama was outsourcing our military to Islamic terrorists to get rid of Muammar Gaddafi in Libya?

And then, of course, what was the end result of that? We lose an ambassador. We have an attack against a consulate in Benghazi. Nobody's held accountable.

So again, I think this is where the Republicans need to bring these points up and put it in the face of the Democrats say that you guys are really a cause for a lot of the problems that we have here in the Middle East. Not to mention going all the way back to Jimmy Carter, if he had just had the Cojonas to support the Shah of Iran, we never would have had the Ayatollah. 100 percent true. Just want you to hear what some Democrats are saying. Here is Cut 33.

I think the president has started a war of choice. There was no Imminent threat. to the United States. Let me say this. Khomeini was a brutal dictator, but Americans are not safer today.

This is an illegal war. The Constitution says no declaration of war without Congress.

So there you go. That's what's going to be the debate. Yeah, we hadn't declared war. And if you really want to be truthful, Iran has been at war with the United States for 47 years. We have just been too oblivious to accept that reality.

And why would the Democrats at this point in time, why wouldn't they stand with our country? Why wouldn't they stand with our troops that are out there in harm's way? And to each one of the voices that you played, go and talk to a young man or young woman who lost a limb because of an explosive force penetrator. Go and talk to the family who lost a loved one because of an explosive force penetrator and tell them that Iran is not a threat.

So today is the Texas primary, and we're going to see three: Wesley Hunt. Senator John Cornyn and A.G. Ken Paxson. On the left, Jasmine Crockett and James Tallarico. Here's James Tallarico's take on the war, Cut 42.

As a millennial, I saw how military disasters like the Iraq War robbed this nation of young lives, of billions of dollars, and of our moral standing in the world. Last week I was in Sand Branch, Texas, which doesn't have any running water, doesn't have basic sewer infrastructure. Every dollar that we spend bombing people in the Middle East is a dollar that we are not spending on our communities right here at home. Not only have American troops lost their lives in the Middle East this weekend, but so did innocent school children in Iran. By the way, that's a totally fictitious story.

If they did die, it's the Iranians that hit him. But go ahead. Yes. Well, first and foremost, I'm glad that this guy, Tyler Rico, wasn't around 82 years ago with D-Day. Sadly, we have lost six of our military members.

But having raised my right hand and having a dad who served in World War II, an older brother who served in Vietnam, a father-in-law who served in Vietnam, we understand the risk. And we don't need cowards like a Tylerico, who obviously doesn't understand the delineation of government. The federal government is not really responsible for water and sewage in a small town in Texas. Maybe he should be talking to his state representative, or he was a state senator. Maybe that's something he should have been doing.

So this is not the type of guy that Texas needs because he's for open borders. He will undermine our oil and gas industry. He will make us and put us right back in the same position where a country like Iran or some of these other OPEC nations will be dictating policy towards us. We want a strong America. That means our energy security.

Economic security and national security. All right, so in Texas right now, it's almost too close to call with him and Crockett. Who do you think is going to win? You're on the ground there? Yeah, I think that he will end up pulling it out because from the national level down, I think the Democrats realize that Jasmine Crockett is an accident waiting to happen if she's out there running for United States Senate.

So they will try to bring Mr. Woke Jesus, that's what I call James Tallerico, and get him over the hump.

So I see him, maybe he'll go to runoff, but I do see him being the standard bearer and getting their nomination on the Democrat side. On the Republican side, the University of Texas, Texas Politics Project has the primary last poll, 36% for Paxson, 34% for Cornyn, 26% for Hunt. How do you see it? It's always we've always known it's going to be a runoff, Paxson against who. And I think that right now, going into this, it will probably be Paxson against Cornyn.

But you never know. I mean, Wesley Hunt could close that gap and come in into second place, but I think that's a long shot. President staying out of it. Is that smart? I think it is.

I think let Texas decide because he does not want to be the one that appears to have influenced an election in the wrong way. Why don't people show up in Texas? Why aren't Republicans showing up in Texas to almost any election since Trump won? Republicans are just not good at early voting. They just aren't.

So we'll see what happens today. But I think, again, this is the issue that the Republican Party has to be concerned about: we can't be focused on a person. We have to be focused on our principles, our values, and the Constitution and the rule of law going forward. That's the important thing. Donald Trump is not going to be there forever, and we need to make sure that we are supporting the candidates that can keep liberty and freedom alive here in the United States.

Colonel Alan West, thanks so much. Always a pleasure. God bless you, Brian.

Okay. Thank you. Back at you. When we come back, we'll squeeze in some calls: 1-866-408-7669. Diving deep into today's top stories, it's Brian Kilmead.

Yes. Bye. If you're interested in it, Brian's talking about it. You're with Brian Kilmead. Hey, we are back last night.

Jon Stewart came on, mocked Donald Trump. For the most part, for starting a war. And as usual, it was predictable. There were some humorous moments in it, but I think he was shocked when his first guest, an Iranian filmmaker who has been jailed and prevented from making films, and he talked him up big in the very cold open, I watched this. This is how the interview started.

After Jon Stewart rips Donald Trump, and then he talks about how Donald Trump's taken away freedoms for everyone. This is the question and the answer through an interpreter. Because he does not speak English, but listen. You've been banned from making filmmaking for 20 years, yes? I had a 20-year sentence that banned me from making films, writing scripts, and traveling abroad.

I was watching your show now. If you say 100th of what you just said in Iran, the sentence will be execution. I would not be killed. Because in our films, we don't even get to 100th of what you said here. There are many Iranian filmmakers now who are in prison.

Yes. And in the past two months that there were protests, one of our filmmaker friends got killed. Oh, you're dealing with a state, with a regime that will not allow you to even say 100th of what you just said. And people are on the street now because they want to reach a point that they could criticize anyone. But they will not even tolerate a peaceful protest.

And that's why they start shooting people en masse and committing mass murders. I'm sorry if I messed up. the mood of your show. Not even close. I'm in awe of your courage.

You're right. We often take for granted, even the most. Our fear is we're heading in the wrong direction in terms of being censored and those types of things. But so clearly, our perspective is warped because in our country, freedom is, we consider it a birthright and settled law, and why we fight so hard to preserve it when we see it threatened.

So I think he was a little shocked by that, right?

So it's to see it threatened. I mean, you have all these people, eighty five percent of the media criticize Trump. What do you feel threatened? What he's the most powerful guy in the United States, but he calls him out and Jon Stewart's not alone. Rob Ryder was another.

Um you have Robert Zaniero in tears. Where freedoms have been taken away, but get a perspective. You want freedoms taken away. Look at what Iran goes through. Look at what you go to crazy, everyone's going crazy.

We're going to go to bat for the Palestinians. If you go to bat for the Palestinians and like women's rights, I'm pretty sure you couldn't live with both. You'd have to make a decision. If you really said to yourself, Iran should be left alone. And we should let them kill 35,000 people.

Just so you know, when you go to bat against us, you're also going to bat against women and gays because they kill them if they do anything out of line. Like, for example, now we're a hijab. From high atop Fox News headquarters in New York City, always seeking solutions, never sowing division. It's Brian Kilmead.

So glad you're there. We come to you from 40th and 6th in Midtown Manhattan, where the FBI as well as the NYPD has made it clear they're on the lookout. They're on the lookout for any possible attacks as it relates to the war here. Just the same thing when the Gaza thing was happening, the NYPD is on high alert. They have a great terrorist task force.

And you saw what happened in Austin, Texas, with that shooter from Senegal, who obviously had some legal problems in New York, too. He was, you know, he just starts killing people, and he's wearing a shirt that basically says, I'm a terrorist. Marcus Komonis is going to be on this hour, and Senator John Cornyn is going to be with us this hour. And Brian Hook is standing by as we look at the war in Iran right now, and we're looking to make great progress. It seems as though most of the reports are very positive as Iran continues to aim at Israel as well as the Gulf states in the region.

Joining us now is Brian Hook, former U.S. Special Rep for Iran, who, by the way, they basically put a bounty on him, John Bolton, and Mike Pompeo, as well as the President of the United States. And it hasn't deterred him from speaking out. Brian Hook, welcome back. Thanks, Brian.

Good to be with you.

So when you thought about Iran over the course of years, through your career, you must have thought about what would war with them look like, and maybe people at home should understand what they did to deserve this. You know, going back to 1979, I think you and I are old enough to remember when they, the first thing that this government did was take our diplomats hostage. And in the world of sort of diplomacy, the one thing you leave the diplomats alone. And that was the first thing they did. And they took all of our diplomats hostage.

And it wasn't until they were released by President Reagan. Since that time, the Iranian regime is responsible for the deaths of over 1,000 Americans. In Iraq alone, Qasem Suleimani killed over 600 Americans. And then you think about all of the thousands of people who today are suffering with debilitating injuries. Iran is responsible for the creation of Hamas, of Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen, and these proxies that terrorize the region.

And I think President Trump recognized that now, thanks to. President Trump, what he did in the first term. And now in the second term, Iran has never been weaker, and this was the time to make a permanent shift in the balance of power. And that's something the President had thought about. He was presenting a few war plans.

Why do you think this was the moment? To do it. Because Iran because of the Twelve Day War. Iran proved to be a paper tiger. And Iran relied, its entire power projection was based on missiles and proxies.

And the third leg of the stool that they wanted to add to it. is the nuclear program. And what President Trump is doing in this war is addressing all three of these drivers of terrorism and violence once and for all. And I think because of the Twelve Day War, It was revealed that this Mythology that the Iranian regime had built around itself as being invincible, and they had all these proxies. That evaporated.

It has collapsed. The whole mythology around their deterrent capabilities has collapsed. And so. This was the time to really do something about these threats to peace and security.

So here's what Marco Rubio said when he talked about timing Cut 6. The assessment that was made. that if we stood and waited for that attack to come first before we hit them, we would suffer much higher casualties. And so the President made the very wise decision. We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action.

We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces. And we knew that if we didn't preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties and perhaps even higher those killed. And then we would all be here answering questions about why we knew that and didn't act. Yeah, and I think on top of that, too, when they have those nuclear talks and they say they have enriched uranium, and when they say they won't put ballistic missiles As well as support for proxy groups on the table, you really get the sense they were just doing delay of game tactics. President Trump deserves a lot of credit for not falling into the Iran negotiating trap.

And it has worked across for decades with all sorts of U. S. Presidents. And it's the thing where Iran buys time at the negotiating table, wins sanctions relief, And then they use the relief to finance terrorism. That kills American troops and money for their nuclear program.

And so President Trump, through his through Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, through many rounds of talks over the course of the second term, gave Iran every opportunity To come to the table, we made clear what our red lines were. And it was clear, after only a few rounds of talks, that Iran was operating in bad faith.

So when we look at what's going to happen now, we have Ala Ra Rashanjani, who seems to be in charge. He was the one who supervised the crackdown that could have killed as many as thirty southern, some say fifty thousand of the protesters over the last month. This is somebody I think who was told to me we are choosing to allow to live. What do you know about him?

Well, it's exactly what you describe. And one of the things that people forget is. In Tenaman Square? Ten thousand people were killed. And in this latest round of attacks, there were 32,000 Iranians who were killed.

The scale of this, it is the greatest mass atrocity in decades. And so Laranjani is one of the people behind it. And I think he is deeply detested by the Iranian people for his brutality. And for Taking a country of great natural wealth, It is such a wealthy country, and they squander it on proxies and on missiles and drones. and their nuclear program, and they don't invest it in their own people.

They have a worthless currency right now. They have no water in Tehran, but yet they've given a billion dollars to Hezbollah over in Lebanon. And who knows how much money, less money, but more money over to Hamas, let alone helping them script the October 7th attacks.

So when we look at the big picture, people also say one of the big losers here is China. Because they buy 80% of Iran-sanctioned oil and they get it at a discount, just like they did Venezuela. Do you see China as a loser here too? China is a very big loser, in the same way they were a loser in Venezuela. Yeah.

And China made a very big diplomatic gamble on deepening ties with Venezuela and Iran. And President Trump has now taken that Chinese pawn off the table. China, as you said, Brian, they buy 80, maybe even 90% of Iran's oil at a very steep discount. And I think those days are probably over. And China announced like a $400 billion partnership with Iran.

Their Huawei systems are all over Iran. There is an enormous dependency. And China tried to turn Iran into a client state through its usual predatory economics. And now Iran is no longer going to be in the Chinese orbit. It's an entirely different world in the same way that Venezuela is no longer in the Chinese orbit.

So, this is, for President Trump's part, a very geostrategic move. It's not just about Iran, it's about Russia, it's about the war in Ukraine, it's about China, it's about Really protecting American lives against threats that Iran has presented.

So, Brian Hook is our guest. He's the former U.S. Special Representative for Iran, was very much a lot to do with the killing of Soleimani. And by the way, Iran's never recovered from that. They've never organized their terror groups the same way.

This guy was a forward thinker in evil ways, but he was forward and he was organized. And he was a true leader over there. Thankfully, they would have been unable to replace him. What challenges do you see going ahead? And I'm just talking to people like Dennis Ross.

He says Karubi is somebody that was somewhat of a reformer and got put onto house arrest. Mousavi is somebody who ran for president and was critical of the way the elections were held there. And he is basically either in prison or on house arrest. Is there somebody out there that would be less repressive and wouldn't look at us as Satan and Israel the same way? The the short answer to that question is is all 90 million Iranians.

Um the Iranian people Two-thirds of this of Iranians were born after the revolution. It's not something that means anything to them. And they look across the Gulf at all of their Arab neighbors who are very prosperous. And they want lives that are pre-revolution lives, that are based on freedom of worship. and economic growth.

And no more of this exporting revolution and violence. And there are many people, I think, in the Iranian system who could step forward. You mentioned some of them. But ultimately This regime has been incredibly effective at crushing dissent. And any time anybody has appeared in opposition, they are either jailed or killed.

So the Evan Prison is located wherever it's located in the Capitol. That's an infamous prison for known for its brutality. It looks like the Israelis have informed people in that area to get away from it. And I think they're going to try to blow it open. I think they blew the doors open last time in the 12-day war.

Yeah, they did. I think they might find the next leader there. Am I wrong, Brian Hook? That's a great observation, because many of the political opponents of the regime, if they didn't kill them, they put him in Evan prison. And so that could be an opportunity.

And I'm sure Israel has thought through this extensively. Their planning is just masterful, and the way that they think 10 steps ahead is extraordinary. I've never seen a partnership like this. We've already been in awe of what they've been able to do militarily over the last year because since they were attacked in 2023, at least I am. And then to be able to work shoulder to shoulder with such a competent fighting force without having to lean on Europe.

Can you put that in perspective throughout your career? Usually it's coalition building first. You sell American people on a game plan and a war plan, and then you execute that plan. That's what we're used to leading up to Afghanistan and Iraq and the First Persian Gulf War. Not this time.

and not with the normal partners who seem to be coming along, but For someone who's had such a career as you have, describe how different that is. That's a great question, Brian. It wasn't that long ago when we were looking at like the first Gulf War about the coalition building that Jim Baker and George Bush Forty One put together. And now this coalition is largely the United States and Israel operating with Incredible interoperability. And that's one of the challenges that even our military has faced that we've worked through.

We even have a challenge we've had in the past: getting all of our different armed forces to be able to work together in a war. We not only have achieved that, we are in complete sync and interoperability with Israel's military. And now I am hopeful, Brian. That Iran's attacks on all of our Gulf partners will have the unifying effect of bringing them off the fence and fully engaged. I mean, what they've been doing attacking all these civilian centers around the Gulf is barbaric, and I think it's going to backfire.

It sort of seems like Iran is panicking. And now I think the coalition is going to get larger. Brian Hook, thanks so much. When someone puts a bounty on your life, you reacted so cool and calmly, but it must be a satisfying feeling knowing that a lot of those people are dead. Brian Hook, thanks so much.

Thanks, Brian. Back in a moment. Don't go anywhere. Brian Kilmead will be right back. Radio that makes you think.

This is the Brian Kill Me Show. Hey, Marcus Lumonis is in the studio. If you're smart enough to watch the stream, you notice he's the Fox News contributor now, host of The Fixture on Fox Business, and also on Fox Network, and chairman and CEO of Bed, Bath, and Beyond. Marcus, first off, it's impossible not to talk about the economic impact of this war so far. The market today is down 1,200 points, mostly energy.

Related?

Well, look, here's what I want to get everybody focused on. I don't want this to become an economic decision. I want this to become a sensible decision when we know that Iran is touting that they have nuclear weapons. We need to not worry about the stock market being up or down for a day. We need to worry about are people going to live?

And the threat of total annihilation is more frightening to me. And if you told the average American that there's going to be temporary financial pain with the markets. And maybe the gas prices were going to go up 30 cents or 50 cents while we eliminated the possibility of being wiped off the face of the earth. Most sensible people would go with that. Trevor Burrus, Jr.: Right.

So we're focusing on right now, they said 20% of the world's oil flows through the Strait of Vermuz. And Iran says we're not going to let anybody through there. And insurance says we're not going to finance any merchant ships going through there.

So is that why the market's reacting the way it is?

Well, the 20% largely funds and is siphoned to China. And as everybody knows, China's been buying that oil at below market.

So we've been almost feeding their economy. But I want Americans to clearly hear this. This war is not about oil. And I've heard many people, particularly on the left, saying that this is a money grab and we're capitalistic and we're trying to make this about oil. This is about protecting lives across the globe.

And protecting our Americans. It's not about money. Money, unfortunately, is always the byproduct. The tension between all of those things and the oil prices are real. The challenge for me, Brian, is if the oil prices continue to go up, it's going to show up at the pump.

For every $10 a barrel, write this down, for every $10 a barrel that it goes up, gas prices will go up 30 cents. If the average American drives whatever they drive, it's about $300 a year.

So $30 a barrel is $1,000. Wealthy people may minimize that. People that are trying to figure out how to pay their bills and pay their mortgage, they're going to struggle.

So, this is a real thing that we just can't ignore. But I hate to say it. You've got to choose life over 30 cents. And knowing the president said it's going to be a four-week operation, by the way, this just in. The Iran has struck Iranians' leadership meeting about replacing Homani.

So mostly the other leaders are there. Hopefully they're all dead. But knowing this will be a four weeks, we're not looking to put ground troops in. Could this be a buying opportunity for savvy investors? Not for Mr.

and Mrs. Jones on a 401k. It's a worry who want to fill up their gas tank on a leased car. But what about others?

Well, I think people have to first believe that it's four weeks. I believe it. I appreciated the president outlining a framework that says it's in and it's out, and this is why it's being done this way, as opposed to we have no idea. But you're already starting to hear rumblings that maybe it's five weeks, maybe it's six weeks, maybe it's going to be more complicated. If you were playing the swing trade, You'd have to really ask yourself, where is the right place to play?

And I would caution. everybody, even the most sophisticated investor, to be very careful and allow things, allow the dust to settle. If you are a cavalier investor, one that just likes to gamble, then yes, sure, maybe you play the energy stocks that are ripped down. What about defense stocks? In what sense, Brian?

People that make weapons, make rockets, make drones.

Well, we know we're going to have a munitions problem, and so there's going to need to be the production of all those things as we burn through a lot of different weapons with all the wars that have happened, with all the strikes that have happened. I guess. It's always hard for me as a capitalist to put my mind into capitalism around war, around exploitation. But if you are a really savvy investor, you may do so. I could see the Raytheon trade.

I could see the Chevron trade. I struggle with it as a capitalist just because I don't ever want to make money off of people's death. I remember I talked to Ray Dalio, and he says, and he's one of the world's most famous hedge fund owners. He said, I look up in history during wars, like where do they need the money? Because those defense contractors also need the investment.

So, you need the working capital to be able to provide.

Somebody makes money during wars.

So, that's where the investment is. It's a very strong thesis. It's one that's hard to. You see Americans dying and other folks dying. It's hard to clear your head, but if you really do look at history, you'll see it.

It is an energy. Always in energy, and it is in the defense stocks. Also, the fact that Iran wasn't in the global market, they could just hurt the global market. The fact that they were so sanctioned with oil, it's not like we're going to miss their contribution, correct? Here's what's interesting to me.

If you put the domino effect in of Venezuela, Venezuela, the change in Venezuela had to be part of the strategy. prior to Iran because you knew that you were going to be able to increase capacity in Venezuela, increase capacity here, knowing that what would happen in Iran would not affect Americans as much as it would have if we were still under the Biden administration, where we're thinking about giving everybody a hug for the air in the sky. Marcus Omonis, you're officially invited to the Christmas party because you're a Fox News contributor now, and you can finally make ends meet. That's great to know. I appreciate it.

Thank you, buddy. You got it. Hopefully, we'll do a lot of these. When we come back, Senator John Cornyn of Texas, he wants to keep that job. Today's Election Day.

Breaking news, unique opinions. Hear it all on the Brian Kill Me Joe. This is the number one state sponsor of international terrorism.

So I support President Strike. We cannot allow an Iran with a nuclear weapon. I think we should trust President Trump, especially when it comes to foreign policy. How many people are going to have to die because this president just decided that he was going to do whatever he wanted to and to ignore our congressional authority? Every dollar that we spend.

Bombing people in the Middle East is a dollar that we are not spending on our communities right here at home. And that last voice you probably don't know, Congressman James Tallarico. Yeah, he's with state Congressman. And Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, they're running for the Democratic nomination. On the other side, the first three names, Senator John Cornyn's got the job.

Ken Paxton and Wesley Hunt want the job, and they first want the nomination. Today is Election Day in Texas. And joining us now is Senator John Cornyn. Senator, your thoughts about, number one, how you feel about the war today? We just got word that the meeting they were having to replace Homene was just bombed by the Israelis.

So my hope is every future leader just died there. Yeah, you know, that's, I mean, I am, I'm just amazed at the incredible skill and proficiency of the United States military and, of course, working with our closest ally in the Middle East, Israel. But, you know, I think the narrative that some people have about this is wrong. Iran's been at war with the West, including the United States and Israel, since 1979. And it has American blood on their hands, Marines and the cobar towers, IEDs, roadside bombs in Iraq, and building a nuclear weapon potentially.

And of course, the ballistic missiles necessary to deliver those weapons to Israel and the larger region.

So I applaud President Trump's courage. And it takes courage to make a decision like this, but he knew he had the full might and power of the United States military behind him, along with our allies. And so I'm optimistic about the outcome. How about the outcome today? Wesley Hunt, who I know you know and probably like, and Ken Paxson and you, they both want your job.

The top two, if you don't get 50%, have a runoff in May. Right now, in most polls, you're just barely trailing. Yeah, well I think it's going to be a runoff between me and Ken Paxton. That's what happens when no individual gets more than 50%. But Republicans have to decide: do we want to win?

And I'm not talking about the primary alone, I'm talking about November. I think I can help with the down ballot races. I can make sure that we keep this Senate seat in Republican hands, and I can make sure that we continue, I can continue to help President Trump with his second term agenda. If we lose his seat, well, I think that's all jeopardized. Does it concern you how low the turnout has been for Republicans in small and big elections since President Trump won?

No. This is strange to see the Democrats out voting Republicans in the primary. They're clearly energized. But, Brian, the reason they're energized, I believe, is because they see an opportunity to take this Senate seat if Ken Paxson's the nominee. Jasmine Crockett has said, if I'm the nominee, Democrats can't win.

But then you would wonder why in the world would she get in the race?

Well, she's in the race because of the off chance that Paxton might be the nominee. Same with Tallarico. But they're running for the Senate in the wrong state. I mean, given their policies, and they should be running in California or some blue state, not Texas. They can't win here in November if I'm the nominee.

So Tallarico seems to have the blessing of Hollywood. Stephen Colbert went out of his way to give him a big boost. They think he's a religious person on the left who very rarely do you see that. He's always talking about how important his religion is to him. And for the most part, I don't see any Democrat talking about that.

So does he remind you a little of Beto or Rourke in some ways?

Well, I think he's Beto Rourke 2.0. He's very slick, but he says very strange things. When he says that God is not binary, when he says that the Bible approves of abortions. I mean, this is not the same Bible I've read and read. And I think he just needs to be called out.

I think he's a phony. And certainly he's out of step with where Texans are. Senator John Cornyn's with us now, but if you want to watch on the Fox News app, we're streaming, but you can always hear on our radio station. Senator, when you look at the Hispanic vote, people have said that the Minneapolis, the situation in Minneapolis cracking down on illegals, many of which are Hispanic, is hurting the Republican Party. We see Tom Holman came in, tactics have changed to a degree.

But I also know Texas is a country to itself. How is that resonating? Because I think the Hispanic vote president made huge inroads. And some have said and some polls might indicate, and you know the polls better than anyone, you got the insider polls, and some have said that you guys have shed Hispanic support.

Well, I know President Trump gets strong Hispanic support and certainly did in his last election. I've always done relatively well, better than most in terms of the Hispanic vote. They're a really important part of our state, a growing demographic. And I think a lot of the success that I personally have had is based on trust. And it's a relationship.

It's not necessarily because of political parties, because traditionally Hispanics have been Democrats, but they're conservative, they're people of faith, they're hardworking people, and I think those relationships count for a lot.

So I do think That the enforcement of immigration laws remains critical. That's the reason President Trump got elected, because Biden did not enforce our immigration laws. And I think this is where the Democrats and the mainstream media get it exactly wrong. They think that Hispanics like open borders and non-enforcement of immigration laws. In fact, it's the opposite.

They believe in law and order. They believe in enforcing the law. They want to be sure that the country is not overrun with people who are unvetted and who basically overwhelm the border patrol and national security.

So the Hispanic. Population, the voters are important, and I continue to work with them and seek their support, and I'm optimistic they'll show up in November. Senator, you've had very hard jobs, one of which is trying to flip back and hold on to the Senate for Republicans. Looking at the midterm elections, I know about history. But where do you think you guys are at in the big picture and holding the Senate and holding the House?

I know what you want, but where do you think you're at? Yeah, I think the House is touch and go, Brian, to be honest. And as you point out, history is not on our side because historically, you know, the party in power loses those seats in the midterm. But I don't think we've seen President Trump quite yet hit the campaign trail like he's capable of it, like he enjoys doing, and rallying the troops. The problem is he's not going to be at the top of the ticket, but clearly his agenda and his remaining two years in office are on the ballot.

And so, I think he can help quite a bit. But we've got a lot of work to do. And I think, you know, what's amazing to me is that Democrats, when given a choice, they choose exactly the wrong thing. You remember at the State of the Union when the president asked them to stand if they supported law enforcement against illegal immigrants, and they all sat on their hands. It was.

should have been embarrassing to them. And the same thing now with Iran. It is eliminating this threat of a nuclear armed Iran and a number one state sponsor of international terrorism. Democrats, which side do they choose? They choose Iran's side.

I just don't get it. I think President Trump is right. The Democratic leaders in Washington, D.C. have just gone crazy.

Well, here's what Tallarico would do. Listen to him talk yesterday, CUP 44.

Well, I think it's underscored the stakes. You know, these are not ordinary times in our politics. And I think people across the state of Texas, across the country, understand that we need to meet this historic moment. And it's why we have to bring people together. That's the only way we're going to win political power.

It's the only way we're going to check this rogue executive branch. It's the only way we're going to get back to our constitutional principles. He's talking about checking the President with the War Powers Act. Senator, the War Powers Act is not there. That doesn't apply.

You can't stop the President from continuing to wield aggression in this com in conflict, right? Yeah, he's got Article II of the Constitution. This is a debate that goes on and on and has for years between the executive branch and the legislative branch. But we're going to get all the information through the briefings by the administration that I think Congress needs. We are going to have a debate, which I think is healthy, but I think the president's got the right side of this.

And obviously, if it had leaked the decision the president made to go to take out the Supreme Leader and the leadership of the IRGC and others, and that is what would happen if 550 members of Congress had been notified ahead of time, that would have destroyed that unique opportunity to decapitate the leadership and defeat the number one state sponsor of terrorism. Yeah, I only have 45 seconds left, but what are the chances that Senator John Cornyn helps the SAVE Act get across the finish line and getting some Democrats to support it? I'm a co-sponsor, and I believe it's this, again, this should not be controversial. Only American citizens vote, voter ID at the polling place. And as the polls back that up on a bipartisan basis, this just to me shows how extreme the Democrats are, and I think we need to put them on record.

Go get them. Senator John Corner, best of luck in today's election, and if the runoff shouldn't be necessary. Thanks so much, Senator. Thank you, Brian. You got it.

Back in a moment, we're going to go live with Stuart Varney, Simulcast. It's going to be fun. We're also following the latest Christine Ohm testimony, trying to get Homeland Fananced again.

Now, the Brian Kilmead Show joins Fox Business's Varney and Company with Stuart Varney. Live on your radio and on Fox Business. Here's Brian Kilmead. Yeah, in a matter of moments, I'll be going on with Stuart Varney talking about this. This new report just came out.

I don't know if we're going to bring this up, but the group that was meeting to decide who's going to replace the supreme leader just got blown up by the Israelis. I mean, their intelligence. inside Iran is better than Iran.

So they've been shut down, communication's been limited, and they know they shut down the ability of the people to go on the Internet. But now it seems like Iran knows Israel knows exactly what the Iranians are up to. It would be great if they all were in the meeting again.

Well, let's listen to it one. Brian Kilmey joining us as of right now. Brian, look, we've just learned that Israel struck a meeting of the Iranian Supreme Council. They were in the middle of counting votes to appoint a new leader. What do we know about potential replacements for Khomeini?

Well, I mean, we got a bunch of names that the average American does not know. I was talking to Dennis Ross, the ambassador that worked for four different presidents and wrote a myriad of books on the Palestinians Iran situation and all the problems in the Middle East. He says there's a, by the way, for that explosion, let's hope every leader was there that was still alive and they're all dead. Because there's so much evil in that higher up. And if you were somebody who wanted to break away or reach out to Israel or to the US or to any of the Gulf states, you were put in jail or you were put on house arrest.

So let's hope all those people are gone. And we got 49 already. And those are the people that are repressing all the Iranians. And if you should know this, for the most part, on the more positive side, only 15% of the population at most supports that government.

So we're not picking the next government, but the Iranian people certainly didn't pick this government. But they have brought up a couple of names to me. Mousavi is somebody who ran for president, and he actually complained about the voting process and complained about the negotiation process, and they put him on house arrest. And Karubi is somebody else that Dennis Ross says to me has looked at somewhat of a moderate amongst those to the point where he was also put in prison for a while and not allowed to be part of the political process. But maybe that person is in the Evan prison, that notorious prison, Stuart Barney, where they keep all the political prisoners.

And they like to torture and kill and hang. But the word is: Israel has told people in the surrounding area: get away. And I think they're going to try to blow it open. And to me, they blew the doors off last time in the 12-day war. Why wouldn't they go back there?

Maybe the next political leader is in jail right now. That's fascinating. That is absolutely fascinating. Let me change the subject just a little, Brian. The View co-host, Anna Navarro, says Trump's attack on Iran is all about conquering the world.

Gotta watch this. Venezuela was one and done. They went in there, they extricated Maduro, and that was the end of that. This certainly is not that. He's already told us it could be four or five more weeks of strikes.

We are seeing retaliation by the Iranians that the Venezuelans didn't have the ability to do.

So I think that he's in love with this idea of being the conqueror and the emperor after Venezuela. He's got this Napoleonic complex. He thinks he's Alexander the Great. But Venezuela is not Iran. In O'Brien it's just this simple they simply hate Trump.

That's the story. Number one, if you want to be president, you got to have confidence in yourself. President Trump's got confidence in himself. Napoleonic complex is for short people, the president 6.2, 6.3. Number one is: if you want to do something that's going to make you more popular, you don't do this.

They just did a poll. 43% of Americans, according to Reuters, is against this move. But the president came out, and I'll just paraphrase. He said, it doesn't mean I didn't do the right thing. I sometimes have to do the right thing.

And he goes, and the polls will come after. And that's what he did. It took courage. This is a big decision. But this is a decision that seven presidents had to deal with.

What are you going to do with Iran, Ronald Reagan? What are you going to do with Iran, George H.W. Bush? Hey, Jimmy Carter, what did Iran do to you? And what about George W.

Bush? When they got into the insurgency, what decision are you going to make? Are you going to widen this war or are you going to just try to protect yourself against what Iran's been perpetrating? And they also are trying to end our needs in Afghanistan. Every president dealt with it.

This president says, you know why I'm going to deal with it? I'm not going to ignore it. I'm going to deal with it head on. I'm going to pick the best military partner possible in Israel. I'm not even going to beg the Europeans to form some major coalition where they give symbolic support.

We're going to go and pull this off because this is a unique opportunity with their refusal to do anything on talks, the nuclear program, rebuilding two different sites. I got to walk through that door. I've been saying throughout the program that I am optimistic about a quick resolution to this war in Iran. Give me 30 seconds because I think I'm right. What say you?

I do too. But I think quick four to six weeks. I do. I see the markets taking a beating, but I think you know better than anyone, Stuart. I think that's temporary.

They're worried about the oil and gas and energy and the iron that goes through there. I got it. But for the most part, you have extremely organized opposition in the U.S. and Israel together coordinating.

Now you have five Gulf states who want to offer their military, and these guys have no friends, possibly Turkey, possibly China. But they are right now laying low. And my sense is this unpopular government, if you give the people a chance. They will take it over and maybe Iran will be in our sphere of influence instead of against it. I'm hopeful.

Brian Kilmood, good stuff. Thanks very much for joining us. See you again soon. Yep. And look, I know there's a lot of risk, and of course, politics, everyone says think about the economy, but the world has a vote too.

Venezuela is a problem. You know what's going to happen next? We're going to pivot towards the economy. Hopefully, things will settle down in Iran. And their cube is going to fall.

This is all great news. But it makes people say, well, you should be focusing on affordability.

Well, if a nation is a communist nation housing Chinese and Russian agents that is a listening post for Chinese To use their intelligence to find out what we're up to from Miami to Washington. And they're no longer welcome there, and they become an ally of ours. Can you please tell me why that's a bad thing? I don't see it as a bad thing at all. I see it as a good thing.

But the big news is we bombed that building where the Iranians were stupid enough. Don't they ever hear of Zoom? If they did actually get together to pick a new supreme leader in the middle of a war zone where they've hit over a thousand targets and already lost 1,100 security force members, if they're going to get together again, They deserve their fate and hopefully everyone's gone there. Because the more Of the IRGC and the more of Supreme Allied the Supreme Leader's Command that's killed, the better chance you have to turn the page and give it to people that really want to give women. And all minorities a shot at a decent existence.

All right, don't forget, go to BrianKillme.com, find out when I'm going to be in Reno, May 30th, and find out when I'm going to be in Evansville, Indiana, over in July, July 11th. And of course, don't forget One Nation Sunday at 10. If you listen to the Brian Kill Me Show, don't move.

Okay. From the Fox News Radio Studios in Mid. Town Manhattan. It's the fastest growing radio talk show. Brian Kilmead.

Hi everyone, so glad you're there. It's Brian Kilmey coming to you from 48th and 6th in Midtown Manhattan, heard around the country, around the world. We're following these events, and this is great news. It looks like the Israelis found out when they were having the meeting to elect the next supreme leader. And they blew up the building.

My hope is every leader was there. Mm-hmm. Every leader, because the only way to have some semblance of hope for the Iranian people, because we're not into picking their leaders. But if they don't have any guns to fight, And the IRGC and the Bashet, this secret police force, brutal police force, and they got about a million people in their security forces. If they are armed, And the people aren't.

You could have as many they'll just shoot everybody because they got nothing to live for. I mean, where are they falling back to?

Some peaceful retirement in the retirement community in Iran? There is none. We blew them all up.

So that's my hope. that we kill so many layers of leaders. That they'll have no choice but to turn the page. Jennifer Griffin's got the latest from the Pentagon. She's going to be joining us in 30 minutes.

With me right now is Senator Mark Wayne Mullen. Senator, Have you found on Capitol Hill uh Are you surprised that these Democrats are not open at all to this military action outside Senator John Fetterman at all? I'm not surprised at all with the actions of the Democrat Party right now, Brian. You know, you have been, I mean, reporting from this from get-go. I don't even know how if you've even slept.

I saw you walk into the studio with a cup of coffee. I'm surprised you don't have an ID with a coffee drip on you. But it's been, it's amazing because immediately after the president ordered this strike, which by the way, we went through seven presidents, seven presidents, going from Jimmy Carter all the way to Biden and 47 years of this regime attacking Americans since November of 1979 to as late as June of 25. We knew they've been a threat. We've known they've been a problem.

We just couldn't figure out how to handle it. And finally, President Trump had the backbone to do it. And immediately, the Democrats come out and start saying it's illegal and it's unconstitutional. And you go, well, what's illegal about it? Because this is what the Democrats do.

They go out and they say it's illegal, it's unconstitutional, but they don't give you specifics on why it's illegal, why it's unconstitutional, because they can't. I mean, think about the Arab Spring. Mm-hmm. At the airspring in 2013, just start with Libya or Syria, either one you want. Barack Obama started it.

Were Syria and Libya a direct threat to us like Iran was? The answer to that is no. If you start looking at Barack Obama in 2016, he dropped 26,000 bombs in the year of 2016 against six different countries. Not one single Democrat who is now crying foul ever said one single thing about that. And then you start going to where we are today.

There is no question Iran was an existential threat to the United States. They have been a threat for 47 years. There's no question that they're a threat to our assets, our assets in that region. And there's no question they've been attacking us over and over and over again. And there's no question that they've been the number one sponsor of terror around the world for 47 years.

So why? Is it that it's a bad thing we took out the Ayatollah and all his leaders? And then another thing, what you just said to Sego Brian. How stupid do you have to be? To have a meeting while we're bombing you, to elect your next leader?

Do you not think if we could take out Ayatollah and all the people around him that we wouldn't know that when you had this meeting that we would know where to hit you and when to hit you? But that's just the Arrogance of this regime.

So, Senator Mullen, the thing is about the Democrats, there are some that don't know, like people have different expertise. When I look at people that have had high-level security clearances, like Senator Warner, Senator Durbin, Senator Blumenthal on the left, they know. How dangerous they've been. They know that every president has been really. been really hamstrung by this Iranian The regime.

I mean, in 2009, they rose up and they took over the streets and they asked for Obama's help. He chose not to help them and to cut a deal. That was consequential. Ronald Reagan heard about moderates in Iran, and he reached out to him, took tremendous risk. There was some covert operation.

Iran-Contra almost destroyed his second term and stopped HW from ever becoming president. And then you have Soleimani's death, and they put a bounty on our president's head, Brian Hook, John Bolton.

So every president's had to deal with this. And Blumenthal and Warner and these guys know it. How do they sleep at night playing politics when it comes to national security? I don't understand it. I just came out of a hearing on Senate Armed Services, and this is exactly what I went after my colleagues about, because Senator Peters was up there accusing the President of playing politics with Iran, and I said, Yeah, we just froze up.

We'll usually bounce right back. He'll come back in a second. Senator Mark Waymone is kind enough to stream, and sometimes the stream gets stuck. He's out in Oklahoma. He's going to be back in town tomorrow.

So we'll get him up in a second to let him finish. And my point was. that these guys know the answer. If you were talking about you know, what's going on in tech. You know, if you're talking about anything political, even if you're talking about ICE and other things.

But Senator Warner, just to finish your, Mark Wayne Mullen, just to finish your thoughts about Warner and Durbin and Blumenthal.

So, I was just saying, I just finished a hearing in the Senate Armed Service Committee, and I went after Warner and Peters and Kane about their hypocrisy on this because there's no way that they can sit there with a straight face and say that Iran isn't a threat to us. There's no way they can say that they're not a threat to us at home and abroad. And there's no way they can say that if or when they had an opportunity to attack us, they wouldn't attack us. And you have to remind people that after 9-11, we were very resolved in saying never again, never again will we pay ignore a threat like Osama bin Laden, because he had attacked us before and we continued to ignore until one day he attacked us right in the heart of New York City. And so, ever since then, we have been somewhat proactive.

But finally, the president said we can no longer wait because they're building their missile defense and they have a desire to get a missile that can reach not just our assets in the region, but reach the homeland inside the United States. And it's not that they're just wanting to have a nuclear program, they want to have. Have nuclear weapons, and this is Ayatollah's dream since 1979 to have the nuclear weapons. And so, when you're talking to the Democrats, you're trying to talk sense into them, but you're right. They know about it.

They've said in these classified briefings, that's why it's so ridiculous that they're playing politics with their real threat into the United States, and they should be praising President Trump for being the first president in 47 years to do something about it.

So, Senator. I've had a chance to talk to Palmer Lucky, some of the guys at Palantir, and they're doing a they have a new way of working with the Defense Department, you have armed services. The one thing is clear, the Wall Street Journal wrote about it, maybe exaggerated it, but we do not have enough missile defense, and everybody wants to pay. Taiwan will pay. Qatar will pay.

UAE will pay. But we're not making enough of them quick enough. Our military industrial complex is not only not a threat, it's not big enough and there's no incentives. What can we do to change that? Are you encouraging the President through the Defense Production Act to make them make things faster and better?

Well, our defense industry has been slow ever since the Last Supper when we consolidated back in 1993. And we have to do something better. It's not working. And the definition of insanity is doing the same thing, expecting different results. The defense industry has to allow smaller companies to come in, compete, bring down the price, and start delivering what we need.

Don't tell us it's going to be three to five years before it's made. And then they're off-budget and doesn't deliver on time. It doesn't work. The way our defense companies. What do they say, Senator, when you tell them that?

When you tell them that. Right, and you see the Raytheons in Well, I'll tell you, some of them have literally, I wouldn't say blacklisted me, but have pushed away from me. I had one even one, a large defense contractor actually send word to my chief of staff just last week that said, we're just going to wait Mullen and Heg Seth out, which goes to tell you that they don't really see the threat. It's all about the financial returns, not pro-American. Yeah, we froze again for a second.

Uh it's a shame that they can do that. And you just can't pull the contract away. and let them lose all their money. The one thing I want to get one more topic up, if we can unfreeze them and get him back. And I want to talk about what China.

I want you to hear what Gordon Chang said yesterday. I'll recap it for Senator Mullen if he doesn't hear it, but cut 16.

Well, China has diversified supplies, so it gets a lot from Russia. But remember, it's also lost its Venezuelan oil. And Venezuelan and Iranian oil goes to China at heavily discounted rates.

So for instance, the teapot refiners, the so-called Independents, they rely on this sanctioned oil that comes in at really low rates. And they're about 25% of China's refining capacity.

So that is significant. And by the way, you're talking about the closing of straight-off removes, and we can't get insurers to. Insure these ships because there's too much of a chance of these ships being blown up and they're going to have to pay for it.

So the question is How does Russia and China feel about the oil coming through?

Well, China especially, Russia has their own oil. But China, if they got to get their oil out of the Persian Gulf and it's got to go through the Strait of Hormuz, are they going to lose another Another source of oil? How long can they take it?

So, if they have a problem with that, they got to talk to Iran and say, do not close down the Strait of Formuzz, because. That means I can't get Qatar natural gas, I can't get Saudi Arabia oil, and I can't get your oil because nothing's going to get through there. We're perhaps going to get through there, but if it does get through there, we're going to actually take the ship.

So that's what's up. All right, we're probably not going to get him back.

So when we come back, it's your chance to take to get online: 1-866-408-7669. Bottom of the arrow, get the latest on the war and that strike at that meeting to replace the Supreme Allied Commander in just a moment. You'll listen to the Brian Kilmeat show. From breaking news to big name guests, Brian brings you insight you won't hear anywhere else. You're listening to the Brian Kill Meat Show.

I don't know. The fastest three hours in radio. You're with Brian Kilmead. We would love to see this regime be replaced. As the President said, he would love for the people of Iran to use this as an opportunity to rise up and remove these leaders.

They've been wanting to remove them for a long time. We've seen successive waves of protests. The bottom line is: no matter who governs that country a year from now, they're not going to have these ballistic missiles and they're not going to have these drones to threaten us. That's the objective of this mission. And that's it.

And we got to control what the weapons go in there and what weapons don't go in there. And I think the Middle East, the first time in my lifetime, they're focused more on their economy than they are on ideology. And of course, there's probably terrorists amongst them, no question. But if you look at Syria, not run by Assad anymore, run by a guy who used to be at Al-Qaeda, but Syria was hit yesterday by Iran, too. And they used to be allies with one thing they agreed on: that Israel is a problem.

Now that's not a problem. You have the Lebanese trying to take control of their country, as they basically were told by Israel since we've been brocketed again. Get out of the way, we're going in. I think they're going to finish them off. And if Hamas doesn't lay down their arms, when this whole thing is done in a month or so, they're going to get annihilated too.

And what's the point? Israel will not attack anybody unless their sovereignty is threatened. They just want they are an innovative nation. They are an economic powerhouse, especially they hit way above their weight militarily and economically. And they want to set up some ties.

I mean, after a while, don't you get tired of living in taking a vow of poverty and saying this life is terrible, the next life is great? And sooner or later, people read books, they get online and they realize that life could be better. And in Iran, They're still holding on to the 1960s government. They have Soviet planes, they have F-6s of ours. Because they weren't able to deliver new planes.

The people that are arming them up are the Chinese. And they are the big losers so far. Think about Venezuela. Think about China. Here's Gordon Chang on that Cut 17.

The polymarket Inc. is betting that there very well may not be a meeting because the chances of a meeting are going down. And I think that if, for instance, you have American service members killed by Chinese-made weapons, then President Trump, for many reasons, both strategic and moral, should not go to China. We know that the Chinese radars failed. We took them out as they powered up.

But we also know that China supplied those supersonic and maybe hypersonic missiles that are meant to take out ships.

So there's a number of things that could happen in the next weeks that could very well derail that meeting in Beijing. Yes, I'm very curious because they've withstood a few things to make sure that meeting happened. Number one, the President's had frequent phone calls with President Xi. Number two is they asked to delay the Taiwan's weapon shipment, which we did. Don't love that, but we did $15 billion worth, I think, to make this work.

So. Technically China and Iran, yeah, they're allies, but just basically making him a vassal state. But it's their belligerence and they're continuing to threaten us, which we have to take care of.

So, the only thing I'd be shocked if they did just cancel it, if they just did cancel it. That would tank the market because it would look like we're going to go to an economic war. We're somewhat of a Cold War again. With China. Not sure they're looking to do that yet.

So If you look at what Israel Is dealing with? It's dealing with in Iran. It's got two allies: China, Turkey, three allies, China, Turkey. And Russia. And what they're doing is making a ton of money letting Russia buy their Shaheen drones.

And they're using them now and they're diverse and they're good, but now Ukraine has f worked up a missile shield. In order to start to thwart them and nullify them. And they offered their services to President Zelensky, to the UAE, who has been a help to them. They say, listen, we have a way to stop them. Benjamin Netanyahu was on last night, and he talked about on with Sean Hannity last night, and he talked about the decision that Iran made to bomb the other Gulf states.

I mean, literally. They were bombing Bahrain. They had 100 drones go into Qatar. They had Multiple hits, and they tried to blow up our embassy in the U.S. embassy over in Saudi Arabia.

So they even hit Oman, and they admitted later, oh, that's kind of a mistake.

So our allies in the area have been hit. And instead of them saying, okay, U.S., call it off. Know what they're saying? We want to fight too. The UAE said it's detected 174 ballistic missiles shot toward them.

They destroyed 161. 13 fell into the sea. Qatar said it allowed two Iranian S, they blew up two Iranian SU-24 fighters jets. They're from the Soviets.

Soviets. And they intercepted seven ballistic missiles and five drones. Bahrain said their air defenses intercepted 70 missiles and 59 drones, and they had some exact hits. Here's what Benjamin Yetanyahu said. Cut Thirty-one.

And Iran today just bombed with these ballistic missiles, these weapons of mass death, these weapons of terror, they're terror weapons. They bombed all these countries. They bombed Cyprus, which is Europe. I've said it won't take very long. They're bombing us, they'll bomb Europe, and when they develop the intercontinental ballistic missiles and the nuclear wars to fit on these ballistic missiles, they'll threaten you and eventually they'll bomb you.

This is what President Trump understood. and alone among U.S. presidents that I've worked with. He took action. And uh We're all very, very lucky.

That he did. And U. S. embassies across the Middle East just to make sure, I've been told, basically, to shut down. She's gonna blow up a building, we'll fix it.

Go ahead. Good luck with that. Yeah, I feel bad for people. In these cities who are on vacation, they can't go home because they basically stopped all flights. And now, all of a sudden, that cushy apartment or that stay at the beach or that resort is now dangerous.

It's dangerous because Uh Iran is not aiming for our military installations, which we thought they were. The question is, are they doing it on purpose? Are they trying to rattle the cities and make secure places feel insecure? Or are they just there is the GPS and satellite coordination just that far off? that they're not able to hit our assets.

But keep in mind, when Cutter says that we got hit, After after we uh After we bombed both their nuclear sites, they hit our military base. Cutter took it personal. Just because it's ours, it doesn't mean it's not their country.

So now these guys are really these nations are really incense Instead of knuckling under and saying you better stop. They're saying, hey, U.S., let us join. Love that response. Jennifer Griffin's next. She listened to the Brian Killmeat show.

So glad you're here. The talk show that's getting you talking. You're with Brian Kilmead. We have the strongest and most powerful by far. military in the world.

and we will easily prevail. Yeah. Already Yeah. substantially ahead of our time projections. But whatever the time is, It's okay, whatever it takes, we will always.

And we have from right from the beginning, we projected four to five weeks. But uh we have capability to go far longer than that. We'll do it.

Somebody said today, they said, Oh, well, if the president wants to do it really quickly, after that, he'll get bored. I don't get bored. There's nothing boring about this. President of the United States speaking yesterday at a Congressional Medal of Honor ceremony of honoring some heroes in battle and their families. And he also made a statement about the war little by little.

You got Marco Rubio, you got the Secretary of Defense, you have the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, you have the Vice President come out, Benjamin Hetanyah, who explained things.

So it's not the typical way you do things going into a conflict, but it's the Trump way of doing things. And how are we doing now as we start our fourth day? Let's bring in Jennifer Griffin. Jennifer Griffin is Fox News' national security correspondent, and I have not met anyone more connected to the Pentagon and the men and women who fight. Jennifer, how would you characterize today's action?

I look at the headline, and it seems to be the Iranians, the Israelis have located where Iran was meeting to replace their supreme leader. Uh have you heard that too? Yes, in fact, we've seen the visuals and the Israelis have put out a release saying that they targeted this incredible meeting that was taking place of top religious scholars in Iran to choose the next supreme leader to replace Ali Khamenei, who had been in position since 1989 and was killed, of course, on Saturday in that extraordinary airstrike on the meeting in downtown Tehran, where 49 leaders were getting together, including the defense minister, intelligence minister, and others. And so this is a second targeted strike with incredible intelligence, knowing where this group of leaders was meeting. What's amazing is just yesterday, one of the Ayatollahs had put out a fatwa against all Americans and Israelis calling for people to be killed and attacked around the world.

One of those Ayatollahs was probably in this meeting because these were the top religious. Religious scholars who really can choose the next leader of this theocracy.

So, this was a very bold strike. It's very important to point out that the U.S. is not involved in terms of militarily in striking the leadership and the regime leaders in Iran. There's been a division of labor between Israel and the U.S. on that front.

And the U.S. is focusing more on, as you heard the President say, on ballistic missile launchers, ballistic missile stores that can threaten the region, and also military sites, the Navy bases, Navy vessels. And then we heard the President expand to a fourth objective. We heard him say to the Wall Street Journal that the U.S. is also going to be targeting Iranian proxies.

That is different from what we heard yesterday at the Pentagon.

Well yeah, that would be interesting.

So that's the Houthi rebels, obviously. It looks like the Israelis got uh are zeroing in on Hezbollah. I don't know if they would ever hit Hamas, but the Islamic Jihad, I guess, too.

So that would put him in. I think what you're probably looking at, what's happening in Iraq in terms of Shia Bazaar militias that are attacking U.S. bases there in Erbil, particularly, they've been under almost daily missile fire and drone fire, and we have a lot of U.S. troops up there. I think that Iraq is a real focus right now.

We haven't heard much from the Houthis. They have not fired anything since this has begun. But it is notable, Ryan, that the Israeli military has sent ground forces back into Lebanon and about 30,000 Lebanese were forced to move north out of the south, where, of course, Hezbollah controls the land there and has a lot of their missile launchers.

So the Israelis, again, having to go back in, even after a year ago decapitating the Hezbollah leadership, they still are facing a threat from Hezbollah missiles.

So I'm looking at Arab news. I know it's written for English speakers, and it says Iran's own. goal had Tehran lost the Gulf. Hitting these Gulf states and hitting them in their cities and hitting at airports and five-star hotels. Has done more to alienate them and put them with the U.S.

and Israel than anything else. Is that how you read it?

Well, I've been reporting this morning that Saudi Arabia is very close to allowing its Air Force to strike targets inside Iran after facing just unprecedented missile and drone attacks on its civilian targets over the last few days, but particularly yesterday when the U.S. Embassy was struck in Riyadh and today incoming missiles and drones into Daman, its fifth largest city. Saudi Arabia is furious and I have been speaking to Gulf officials who say the next 24 hours is going to be intense and that a line has been crossed by Iran.

So Larshan Jani, I guess, is calling the shots there in the National Security Council with Iran. He said, quote, we don't believe in, nor do we intend to attack.

However, when the bases located in your countries are used against us, and when the United States relies on these forces to carry out operations in the region, they will target those bases. And of course, the comeback is that why are you hitting hotels and not the bases? And number two is, I'm not sure how much we're using those bases. What do you hear?

Well, we're certainly using bases in Saudi Arabia that have been targeted. We moved a lot of the aircraft, the warplanes from Al-Udid and al-Dhafra because we knew those were going to be a logical target. And a lot of the Navy vessels were removed from Bahrain, where the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet is headquartered.

So there was some readjustment of forces. But I think what is interesting is that this is really a next layer down in terms of leadership making pronouncements from Tehran. If Rafsanjani is in charge, he was really quite, he was a former president, but really kind of out of the decision-making until the top leaders had been killed. What I do know, and then we heard from the president, Pazeshkin, the current president who did survive Saturday's attack, that he was decentralized. Centralizing decision-making down to the governor level, that suggests that the centralized decision-making really is not functioning right now.

And of course, the U.S. military off the get-go, one of the first places that it struck with its Tomahawk missiles was the IRGC headquarters.

So, the top leadership of the IRGC and the commanding control, that would have been among the early strikes. And the reason we're seeing so many willy-nilly missiles and drone fire at just some of it is very targeted and some of it is kind of random. It's because the IRGC says that it had put three commanders for each unit in case a top commander was killed.

So, they decentralized these missile units and they were just given pre-strike orders to just hit whatever they could if there were an attack on, say, the top leadership of the IRGC, which there has been. Right. Did you get to hear anything new about how the Kuwaitis got to targeting our F-SIDS? Yeah. Unfortunately, this happens unfortunately in war, the friendly fire incidents.

There's so much in the air right now. My understanding is that this Kuwaiti air defense system was set on automatic and there was a breakdown in communication. And somehow, you know, you can have a human being in the loop, but if they don't communicate to the machine, the machine sees something in the air and it fires. And I'm afraid that's what happened and brought down those three F-15s. Fortunately, the six American pilots are safe and they were able to get out of those planes with parachutes.

So the B-1 bombers joined the fight. They carry 75,000 pounds of payload and targeting the Iranians' ballistic missile launchers and not necessarily the nuclear sites. Do you know how successful they've been? I know that it looks like the Iranians have put their drones underground too. Uh do you have any idea how successful these bombing runs were?

Well, I think initially, well, first of all, anytime you use the, we saw the B-2s used, that's a 37-hour round trip flight carrying, I think it's dozens of 2,000-pound bombs.

So the B-2s, four B-2s flew on the Sunday to round trip to Iran and took out some of the missile launch sites. For the B-1s to be involved, that's a 34-hour round trip from South Dakota using the same air refueling bridge, those dozens of air tankers along the way through the Mediterranean, across the Middle East. No country and no military in the world can do what those B-1s and B-2s do and the air refueling. Nobody has the air refueling capability that the U.S. military has.

So that really is a stunning use of U.S. military equipment. Those ballistic missile launchers, some of them are deep tunnels and silos underground.

So that's why you would bring in a heavy strategic weapon like that. They have We had always understood that there were hundreds, possibly 300 of these kind of big missile launchers. But then you also have mobile ballistic missile launchers, and they can be moved and they're very hard to target. And that's where you usually bring in like a stealth F-22 or you have units on the ground. That's why you might be hearing the President talk about possible ground forces, special operations unit, that units that know how to track those mobile missile launchers.

My guess is that is what is either happening or coming soon, because the mobile missile launchers are much, much harder to take out.

So I think they're having a lot of success in taking out the fixed missile launchers. But then you also have a situation where those mobile launchers can retreat back into caves, and they are very hard to reach inside those caves. As we've seen, even our bunker buster bombs can't reach inside the caves.

So Jennifer Griffin, our guest. Jennifer, would the President say he's going to bump up the force threat? Thanks. What are they lacking now or what are they looking to add? Do you have any idea?

Well, my guess is, I don't know for certain, but my guess is the change in the last 48 hours with the British allowing for the U.S. to use its base at Diego Garcia, that's someplace where you can forward deploy B-52s, even B-2 bombers, and F-16s. And originally the Brits had said that we could use the base for search and rescue, you know, recovery of any downed aircraft, or it was more defensive. They were very clear in the beginning. But once Iran started striking allied countries in the Gulf, and also, remember, several ballistic missiles have been fired at Cyprus, where the Brits have a base at Akratiri, and they have typhoon warplanes there.

So that allowed Kirst Armer, the prime minister, to shift and allow the U.S. to use that base for offensive operations. Still, some limits to those operations. They can go after the ballistic missile sites and the ballistic stockpiles because that is what's threatening the region and threatening allies.

So, the Brits are not authorizing that base to be used, for instance, to strike the nuclear sites. It's interesting to note the U.S. has not struck the nuclear sites as of yet. I'm not sure the reason why. The Natans, there have been some airstrikes on Natans, but I'm told that is likely carried out by the Israelis.

And those strikes were just at the entrance where there was some activity to the tunnels where it was long suspected that maybe some of the highly enriched uranium was either buried there or had been moved from that site.

So, the U.S. is still very carefully limited to striking ballistic missile facilities and warehouses and launchers, as well as the Navy. And then we are all now hearing that they may be going after proxies.

So we see that the UK has been basically on the fence, I guess giving a little bit, say they're going to look to defend themselves. But Germany and France have a much more supportive tone anyway. What do you think that meeting's going to be like? Going in, I'm optimistic they'll come out and talk about what they could do together. I think the Germans understand the threat of Iran.

Well, I do think so. The the Brits have laws on the books that unless you are attacked by international law, You can't carry out a preemptive strike. And I think that's what got them tangled up in the beginning in terms of authorizing the use of the Diego Garcia base. But it certainly has left a rift between the White House and the British government right now. You heard the president take to the Sun newspaper in Britain criticizing Keir Starmer and saying that the special relationship was a bit frayed right now.

But I think it might be a little bit, I don't know. I think the Brits will be there. Brits are often, you know, they have typhoon warplanes in the region. They're a pretty capable ally. And certainly in terms of sharing intelligence, they are part of the five eyes.

So it's important to have that ally in the mix. Jennifer Griffin, we've reportedly knocked out 11 of the Iranian ships. What's it going to take to what is the Iranian Navy made of, and how many more ships do they have?

Well, they don't have any more large Navy vessels, so that's really significant. Those 11 are now on the seafloor in the Gulf of Oman. But what really makes the Iranian Navy dangerous are those small IRGC fastboats that can threaten shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. And then also they have units that are mine-laying units, and often they use civilian ships that are hard to detect to do so.

Now, there is no evidence right now that they have taken a decision to mine the Strait of Hormuz. I think that would be a last resort. They would certainly be shooting themselves in the foot because they have to get their own oil out of there or else they're going to be in big trouble.

So if you start seeing, but certainly the U.S. military and part of the effort is to prevent the Iranians from being able to mine the straits or close the straits. And so I think you'll see more of the bases being hit. All the facilities that you might launch any vessels from, you might see more subversive activity to take out some of their. submersible uh drones as well.

Jennifer, you got your hands full. Doing an incredible job. This is one of those. Yeah, this is a time we're always going to remember. Jennifer Griffin, thanks so much.

Thank you, Brian. 1-866-408-7669. From breaking news to big name guests, Brian brings you insight you won't hear anywhere else. You're listening to the Brian Kill Meat Show. Ah.

He's so busy, he'll make your hat spin. It's Brian Kilmead.

Sponsored by Previgen. Previgen, made for your brain. They have no navy, it's been knocked out. They have no Air Force that's been knocked out. They have no air detection that's been knocked out.

Their radar has been knocked out. And uh Just about everything's been knocked out.

So we'll see how we do. But we're doing very well. We have a great military.

So the President of the United States sitting down with Chancellor Mertz of Germany. It was a prearranged meeting. He comes over. Look, he came out and said there's a new world order, and he said some things that the U.S. is stepping back, they're letting Europe it was up for Europe to step up.

But he wasn't doing it insulting to the United States. He was just saying he notices different posture. And when this war came up, he said the most positive things. And if you watch, just if you don't believe me, watch the 60 Minutes. They did a whole special for the first time since World War II.

Since Hitler was uh was uh in charge. They are building up their military. You know, constitutionally, they're not supposed to. There are delete ways to build only to a certain strength level. I'm pretty sure when it comes to Japan and Germany, we've turned the page.

So it's been 80 years, and the president appreciates that. Because Germany's got a great economy. They're very industrious. They can come up with their own material. They'll buy a lot from us.

And then they'll start training their people. And you can see what that's like.

Meanwhile, don't forget to go to brandkillme.com, find out when I'm going to be in Reno, and then over in July, I'm going to be in Evansville, Indiana. Who's in the Brand Kill Me show? Keep it here. Yeah.