The RAN is going fine, going just absolutely fine, we totally control the Straight of hormones, we have control over it. Nobody else, only us. Our Navy is unbelievable. And things are going great for our country. I don't trust Iran.
Why? Are you saying I trust Iran? I'm the last person to trust Iran. They've lied to me constantly. We have total control over the Harmu Strait right now.
They don't have control. We have total control. We own it. And at some point maybe they'll do something and then they get blown away. But uh we right now we're in a very good position.
But right now, we can't get merchant ships through the straits.
So therefore, instead of getting one hundred ships through, we're getting maybe eight to ten. And we're doing it going through the other st side of the strait, the Oman side of the strait.
Well, Oman and Iran talk to each other about how they're going to run it.
Meanwhile, we'll never sign off on it.
Well, yesterday in the Wall Street Journal, Gulf States came together and said they basically have come to the reality that they believe that they're never going to get back freeze transit to the Strait of Hermuz. What's the reality? Rebecca Heinrich joins us now, senior fellow at the Hudson Institute. Rebecca, welcome back. President said he owns the strait.
We do have a blockade on a blockade. But reality is we're not getting much transit through there. Yes.
So Secretary Wright, Brian, yesterday came out pretty hard on X and other platforms, really trying to get skeptics to understand that though we do not have all of the oil flowing through the strait that we want, we basically have levels That are good enough that's going to keep voters happy. It's going to keep the price of gasoline low enough to getting through the election. And that gives the administration some confidence to keep the current strategy in place for now. And then that clip you just played of President Trump, where he was saying, look, Essentially, the Iranians may do something stupid, and then we may, you know, go through the military option. Yeah, that basically that kind of seems a strategy.
We're going to keep doing what we're doing. Basically, Project Freedom ushers ships through the strait. And then, if the Iranians do something really foolish again, you know, a striking a U.S. ship or trying to, then the United States may go the route that I think Trump really wants to do, which is a much more significant military option. I mean, what they would like to do is create as much turmulous as possible leading up to the midterms.
They would like to see Donald Trump when any other president, including Jimmy Carter, really make sure he does not have the same power afterwards, after the midterm elections. Yeah, that's basically the dilemma that we're in. Because the Trump administration's strategy is to manage the problem through the election, the Iranians totally know that.
So they're going to make it as painful and embarrassing for President Trump and his team as they possibly can, which is why I think you're seeing a change in the tone of President Trump. You saw Vice President. Advance just a few weeks ago saying that he believed that the Iranians wanted a change of course, that they didn't want to pursue the same path they've had for 47 years. I mean, that's absurd. There's no evidence that demonstrates that.
We just had another credible assassination attempt or plan on President Trump's life while these negotiations were ongoing.
So clearly, President Trump is now communicating to the American people. He doesn't trust these guys at all.
So where do you think the state of the Red Sea is, the other strait, Bab el Mandeb Strait? where the Houthis are beginning to create some turbulence. Yeah, so the Houthis, just to keep in mind, the Houthis are just an Iranian proxy.
So whatever the Houthis are doing, it's because they're basically being directed by the IRGC.
So when the Houthis are standing down, I suspect that that's due to heavy diplomatic pressure or they're being paid off by different factions in the region, different Gulf states not to fire into the street. If the Houthis are firing into the Red Sea, it means they're being paid by the IRGC and directed. This is why, Brian, any kind of sanctions relief, like that MOU was a disaster, even though it was short-lived, only lasted three weeks. But it gave Iran about $5 billion of sanctions relief that they could use to fund proxy groups like the Houthis. And then this is the result.
So six people were killed over there, and the Houthi forces fired missiles at a commercial vessel doing that, the three of which were Pakistanis. How much does this have to do with Their problem with Saudi Arabia. And just so happens it's happening at the same time as we have a problem with Iran, or is it just coordinated? I mean, I think it's coordinated. I mean, the Houthis, I mean, look, this is all good.
The big picture is Iran wants to establish hegemony over the region, so over these Sunni states, including Saudi Arabia, which is why Saudi Arabia's passivity is what I would call it now, describe it. I mean, Saudis are the ones that are pressuring President Trump to call off military strikes. They're getting cold feet in part because they think that the Trump administration isn't going to really do fully what is necessary to degrade the Iranians. And so Iranian proxies vis-a-vis the Houthis continue to give major problems against Saudi Arabia. But the Saudis are going to keep putting up with these people long term unless the Saudis get some courage to back the United States doing what is necessary to put an end to the Iran regime.
So do you think that we should take military action against the Houthis if this continues? Because you can't have two straight shutdowns. Oh, absolutely. And, you know, and I will say, since I'm just kind of beating up on the Saudis right now and their passivity, the Saudis, to their credit, really are trying to get a coalition together now to prevent the Red Sea from being closed, like the Strait of Hormuz is, because it's much easier to get a coalition now and prevent the Strait from being closed than to try to reopen it once you have in mind and all kinds of terrible, nasty things.
So the Saudis have at least learned from that. But, you know, the Saudis can't do this without the United States. And again, Brian, remember, just earlier on in the Trump administration, President Trump was just really pummeling the Houthis until it was called off. He was convinced by some people around him to stop hitting the Houthis. I think that was a mistake.
I mean, you've got to really degrade these guys as much as we possibly can. Nearly home. Isn't home where we all want to be? Reba here for Realtor.com, the pro's number one most trusted app. If you're hearing me, I'm going to assume you're awake.
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Now in Iraq, some good news. Observers have seen indications suggesting the Iraqi federal government is beginning to crack down on the Iranian-backed militias in Iraq. That we seem to have gotten through to this new Prime Minister. I don't know what kind of firepower he has and how much is in country, but do you expect something substantially to change?
So this seems like a quiet Rubio success.
So it seems to me that, you know, Mark Rubio is kind of the fixer when things aren't going well. We find out that there's these diplomatic breakthroughs that happen. And that, to me, looks like that's what this was. I mean, if you can get the Iraqi government to essentially push out or crack down on Iranian influence in the region, I mean, that's one of the unintended consequences of President George W. Bush's deposing Saddam Hussein is that you had the Iranians try to pull Iraq into their orbit because you didn't have a country opposing Iran.
So if President Trump vis-a-vis Marco Rubio can get a pro-U.S. government in Iraq that's strong enough and has the guts to push the Iranians out, you basically redeem the bad outcome of the Iraq war, which would be an incredible thing for President Trump to achieve. Remember, when Barack Obama took over, there was quietness in Iraq. They actually hadn't. election and the opponent won.
And it was Barack Obama who said, no, I'd rather leave Al Maliki in there instead of Alawi, even though he lost the election. And he stayed in there, and we pulled all our troops out, and our result was ISIS.
So we made a series of calamitous decisions there and let politics skirt its way in.
So I'll see where it happens. I have a prediction, Rebecca. Can I bounce it off you? Yeah. I think the Iranians hit one of our ships, they hit one of our bases, and we're going to be forced.
Into action, there's a belief out there, and the president hasn't pushed back hard enough. We don't have the munitions to go forward, we don't have all that we want, but we got plenty to go forward. Uh to to go and finish them off, at least finish off the twenty plus percent of the targets we left off Epic Fury. Can I say something on the munitions piece, Brian? Do we have time for that?
Yeah. So yeah, on munitions, I've been talking to some people who know exactly what we have, and I just want to agree with you completely.
So basically, for our listeners, what we don't have enough of that we want is the longer range, exquisite strike systems like Tomahawk, which you really need whenever the country that you're hitting has robust air defenses. And so we used a lot of those munitions at the beginning of the war. But once we destroyed their defenses, we can now have gravity bombs, those bombs that are much easier to get closer to the target and drop. And we've got plentiful of those kinds of munitions. The other kind that we don't have much of that we want more of is missile defenses, interceptors.
But let me say that I have heard that part of the problem there is when we stop and start these military operations, that's not what Cooper wants to do. Cooper, I mean, I would suspect he would want a sustained military operation because you want to suppress anything the adversary can retaliate against. If you have stopped. Start, they can regroup and have more munitions so that you have to expend more interceptors.
So, even that problem I think can be mitigated. And then, you know, I keep seeing HegSeth put out more press releases that we're getting more contracts signed so the other defense companies can get cranking and make a lot more of these munitions that we need. I hear you. And lastly, Russia, they say, is using drones to probe air defenses on all of Europe, especially focused on Germany. How could a country struggling against Ukraine want to expand a war, real quick?
I mean, what Russia's trying to do, anytime Ukraine does really well, Russia tries to scare NATO so that it stops supporting Ukraine.
So the best thing we can do is just steady force, continue to support Ukraine. Even though they're adding, I think, 50,000 North Korean troops, which is crazy. Adversaries are collaborating. Rebecca Heinrichs, thanks so much. Always appreciate it.
Thanks, Brian. It's always great. Did you know Fox News has a wine shop? Did you also know you can get ahead and start on your Christmas shopping? That's right.
Check one more gift off your list with the Fox News Wine Shop Advent Calendar, featuring 12 festive wines inspired by the holiday magic of Fox Square. You can reserve yours for just a $19.99 deposit. We'll deliver it free right to your doorstep in time for the holiday season. Quantities are limited, so visit FoxNewsWineshop.com today.
