We got breaking news. U.S. military ready to strike Iran on President Trump's order. Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever. This is Sekulow.
We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now, your host, Logan Secula. Welcome to Secula. We're live.
That's right. Thursday. Once again, we made it to another Thursday, Will. We usually say that on a Friday. That's how the weeks work, though.
I know. Normally, you get to Thursday if you start at Monday. But it feels better. The closer we get to the weekend, you know, it's like you're one of those guys, just live for the weekend. Weekend warrior lives.
That's what they say. My kids, every morning, I feel like when they get up for school, there's that. Only one day left till we get to the weekend. Right.
So that's maybe that's the world I live in. Welcome to Secula. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-30-110. A little bit more serious news. There is some breaking news we're going to be covering, and that is the U.S.
is certainly building their military presence and they are starting to really posture for a potential military strike. in Iran.
Now again, the U.S. has warned this. It feels like time after time. But maybe things are actually about to happen. There has been major concern over the last few weeks that things have softened and quieted down, and that maybe we would not see that regime change that a lot of us hoped for, and a lot of us hoped for change in Iran.
But the U.S. seems to not be taking this lightly. Once again, amping it up and really being fully ready. To go, well, Once the orders are made. That's right.
So, what we're hearing now is that the U.S. military is ready to conduct strikes on Iran as soon as this weekend, that they are waiting for the final order from the President. We are witnessing the largest deployment of air power to the region since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. What does that mean?
So, the carrier groups, also the positioning of assets, whether it be cargo planes, whether it be fighters, whether it be refueling planes, or just planes that are taking military hardware over, that this is a buildup that is not just a posturing thing. This is something that is a large scale. Like I said, has not been this large of a deployment of resources, military resources, since the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
So, they are at least forecasting something big would be coming if this were to play out. President Trump has also said that there's. There's basically a 10-day deadline now that Iran has. Remember, he gave a 40-day deadline back last year. That passed.
And then there was some time of like, oh, well, maybe he's not going to do anything. And then we saw that surprise attack. He set a 10-day deadline, but that could be even earlier, basically saying if these negotiations go nowhere, then he is willing and able to make this order go forward of an attack, what would appear from the buildup, a massive strike on Iran. Yeah, and look, the Trump administration is no, if nothing, not, if nothing but not but surprising. We know this, as Will said.
It's happened before, where threats have been made, where it feels like where tension is building. Goes quiet. That one day we wake up to a breaking news item. We wake up to an item that A country has been attacked, or that a bombing or an air raid has happened, or look what happened even in Nigeria. These things that felt like that they were given deadlines, the deadlines would pass, it felt like it quieted down.
The Trump administration acts. That now with Iran, we know if this happens any time really right now. They're essentially having the warning. Unlike a lot of these countries, they have been given the warning. I mean, our troops are there and ready.
And what do you think about this? 1-800-684-3110. Jeff Balabon from ACLJ Jerusalem is actually going to be joining us in studio.
So we're going to have him in studio. Rick Cornell is going to be joining us a little bit later. If you want to hear, Really expert opinions on this. Stay tuned. But always, we want to hear from you as well.
That is at 1-800-684-3110. Of course, the UN had or the US and the ACLJ has always been involved. with our support of the Iranian people. The ACLJ and the ECLJ appear at the UN Human Rights Council. We're always involved in different, different ways.
Of course, we have. Our offices in Europe and Jerusalem, and you're going to hear from Jeff Balabon if you want to support those in the ACLJ work around the globe. I always like to promote it. I know sometimes it's a little hard to sell. But if you understand the importance of the global side of the ACLJ, I think it'd be great.
So, I encourage you to go to aclj.org, make your donation today when you donate to the ACLJ, you're also supporting. the work we do internationally. We cannot stay silent when these moments happen, everyone. Sign the petition also at aclj.org/slash sign. Be right back.
Welcome back to Sekulow. We do have some phone lines open for you at 1-800-684-3110 as the mounting pressure with the potential war with Iran starts to bubble up more and more as President Trump and the troops now are getting in place or are in place, the largest, as Will said, since the war in Iraq.
So, what does that look like? And how do you feel about it? At 1-800-684-3110. Let's hear from President Trump to start this off, and then I want to open the questions and comments up as well. That's right.
This was at the Board of Peace meeting today where he was giving comments and basically saying that Iran could be a part of this historic peace, this era of peace that we're seeing in the Middle East. Instead, they're posting things like: if you get slapped in the face, you're not going to be able to stand up. You know, big threats. Let's go ahead and play bite one from President Trump just this morning. What is the time for Iran to join us on a path that Will complete what we're doing.
And if they join us, that'll be great. If they don't join us, that'll be great too. But it'll be a very different path. They cannot continue to threaten the stability of the entire region and They must make a deal. Or if that doesn't happen, I maybe can understand.
If it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. Bad things will happen. If it doesn't. Bad things will happen if it doesn't. President Trump also said essentially, you're going to be finding out over probably this is a quote, probably the next 10 days we have a meaningful deal if we have to make a meaningful deal.
Otherwise, bad things happen again. Ten-day warning, roughly. In President Trump fashion, it's a blurry deadline, which often comes with an attack when you're not expecting it.
Well, and the reality is, I think that they will know, or probably already know, whether or not the Iranians are willing to make a meaningful deal. You're also having this kind of two-sided. Moment with Iran. And this is something we're going to talk to Rick Rinnell about later, but where you have the foreign minister who is playing the diplomat role, who is having these negotiations with the United States mediators here. And then you're having the Ayatollah and the Mullahs who are posting things and making statements, which are very much in the saber-rattling, we will fight you kind of demeanor.
So I also want to play: this is the Iran foreign minister that gave an interview just yesterday talking about the kind of deal they would want. It's fight six. And it's once again, though, it's the same language that we've heard from the Iranians back when President Obama negotiated a bad deal with them.
So let's go ahead and play byte six and then we'll talk about it. Yes, we are in favor of a deal, but A fair and balanced day. The problem is when Americans The current administration Talk about a deal. In fact, they want to dictate what they want, and this is what we experienced. As recently as two months ago in the re in the in the in New York.
We are ready for negotiation. but not for dictation. We are ready to go for a deal, but but for a fair and Balanced tea. Not a one-sided p. And once again, they talk about we want civilian-use nuclear power.
They have nuclear power plants in Iran. Where zero of the nuclear material used for those power plants. Come from their own program. Yeah, we know that. They buy that from the outside.
This is, once again, this is him sounding like a rational, reasonable actor here and saying, listen, we just don't want to be told what to do. We believe in Iran first. They're trying to use that same language that maybe will even speak to an American audience that may give bad polling numbers against an Iran strike. We know. But we know what the truth is.
We know the truth, but we also know that they're not wrong in the sense that the American people, specifically online, can be very easily manipulated. And if I start seeing people that are pro-current regime in Iran walking around, and there have been some. But it's been fairly minor. People who are purely uneducated of what's actually happening in that country. Speaking of which, I want to go to Camilla, who's calling from Oregon on line one.
Camilla, go ahead. Hi. I'm old enough to have actually been in Middle Eastern studies in nineteen seventy eight at the Iranian Revolution. Love the Iranian people. My professor was ready to take us to visit the country.
And at that time, what what ensued the lack of asking and consulting experts. On this ancient culture was horrific. We had professors there at Portland State that were ready to help them with their questions and all the incredible. ignorance of uh the American um You know, culture to not consult with them and not understanding the people.
Now, I am a believer that voted for Trump. But and I do acknowledge that the difference between this endeavor and going into Iraq and Libya and Afghanistan and deposing dictators For people that have never experienced a Western freedom, like the people of Iran. Course, they were Western. The hijab was actually outlawed at the time that we. That that happened.
So I understand that there's a difference, but I just live in terror of us going in. Jumping in again. Look, Camilla, it's not a unwarranted concern. I think the fallout from the war on terror, which by the way, most of us supported, and I would still say that in general supported what happened with the war on terror. I don't know if I support as like the length of time, a lot of the exit strategy, if you will, we heard that a lot, I think was maybe handled improperly.
But that being said, I know for a lot of people and of your generation and now of my generation, because my generation grew up as that was our team to our, you know, essentially early or she's still our late 30s was the war on terror officially. You know, it was a lifetime. And now to potentially feel like we're kind of restarting that. And when you do see this kind of military operation start coming into play, you can't help but have those flashbacks. But.
We do need to remember what we're dealing with here. And like I said, you could take a little bit of this out of this. The ACLJ works on a global scale. And there's a reason we work on a global scale because these issues are important. We live in a small world after all, if you will.
And that has become even more and more true over the last decade, in the last two decades, since the birth of social media, since the way we're all able to communicate. I mean, there are people from all over the world watching this show right now as we speak. live or taped later on. I hear from them all the time. We were lucky to be able to get coast-to-coast coverage on terrestrial radio when this show started 30 years ago.
Now it's Anyone with Wi-Fi, anyone with internet connection, anyone with cell phone signal can hear and see us in real time. The world is very different now. We have to treat it as such. That's right. And when you also think about the context of what we're talking about with this Iranian regime, this is different than the war in Iraq.
It is different than what that scenario was, as well as the leader that would be conducting this has a different philosophy on military action. You see what happened in Venezuela. You see what happened with ISIS. You see what happened around the world with Nigeria and even the first strike on Iran. The President doesn't seem to be wanting a prolonged boots on the ground type of conflict, knowing that the United States has the ability, the technology, and the might to be able to take out regime without necessarily having to go in and nation build.
Also, knowing the context that Camilla even talked about, that this was a society with leaders that are still alive that remember the westernized Iran. That could help get in there.
Now, there's going to be a power struggle if they topple the regime for sure. There's always them. The chance that once again something worse rises out. But we know the stated goal of the Iranian regime: death to Israel, death to America. We know that they use their proxy groups to kill Americans.
We know they use their proxy groups to kill Jews and Israelis. That this is a very different regime than what even we were told about Saddam Hussein. We knew that he was a bad guy, an evil guy, but this isn't even a, they may have weapons of mass destruction. We know the nuclear program. We know that their uses for the nuclear program are not even for their own civilian use.
That they don't use it in their own nuclear power plants. What do they do? They buy that from Russia. Good partner of theirs.
So if it were even what they tried to say it is. Why are they not even producing nuclear material at the appropriate level to use in their own civilian use?
So, once again, these are not things that even the world is in disagreement on: on whether or not they are doing this and whether they have these ambitions.
So I do think that we are at a tipping point here. The buildup is significant. They are saying that they could strike as early as this weekend. They've gotten all the pieces in place. The strategies are being written, the battle plans.
We now also see people like Thomas Massey and Rokana that are going to try and block. A military strike by the President. They're going to try to use congressional power and say, no, you can't do this.
So there's a lot of discord at home that could also affect this. This is, though, something that is worth looking at, worth paying attention to, because it can affect the American people in many different ways, not just national security, economically, the political unrest it could cause at home. There's a lot of different angles to this, and we'll talk more about it with Jeff Balabon in the next segment, as well as Rick Rinnell coming up later. That's right, Jeff Balabon, usually remote from ACLJ Jerusalem in studio today.
So we're going to chat about this with him, the impact it will have on Israel. Because obviously, when you're dealing with Iran, there are certain people who really are paying attention to this, and the Israelis are definitely paying very close attention. Of course, all of the connections. We'll get into that.
So much coming up. I'd love to hear from you too. We have a few lines open at 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110 to have your voice heard on the air today. I would like to hear from you right now.
Give me a call. Jeff Balabon joining us next segment. Stay tuned. Welcome back to Sekulow. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110.
Jeff Balabon, MacLej Jerusalem, joining us in studio. Just nice to have you here. Usually, we're dealing with you on a screen here, so to have you here in the flesh, very cool. If you have a question or comment, all the way also for Jeff and for what we're doing over in Israel, you can give me a call too at 1-800-684-3110. Of course, the conversation today really centered on the.
Pending war, potential breakout of attacks in Iran. What does it look like? What does it mean? And of course, Jeff, I think one of the big questions is: what does it mean for Israel? Sure.
Well, people, first of all, are pretty sure that's going to happen. Yeah, it really feels that way. Second of all, for Israel, what this means is that it's a new or ongoing two-front war, Lebanon and Iran. Iran at distance because there's obviously space in between them. But Lebanon is a front that's very dangerous.
Hezbollah, while it was very weakened by Israel in very spectacular ways, the Pager operation, other work there, remains a threat, and there's an expect that it will be activated. And Israel is quite certain that it has the capability to deal with both of those if America does, in fact, go to war with Iran.
Well, and I think, Jeff, that is kind of the big question. And the fact that they were decimated, both Hezbollah, both Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as what we saw with the Houthis being contained more with the second Trump administration than they had been under Biden. And when you start to see, is there the will of these proxy groups to stand up for Iran, to take their marching orders from the Ayatollah, should America come in with this massive show of force, which is what the buildup's projecting? We know that it was a spectacular surprise attack last June, but.
Now, this is a massive show of force. It is the largest air power deployment to the Middle East since 2003. Would that, and I know that's probably the military strategy and hope, but what is the thought? Would these proxy groups decide maybe this isn't worth it? Maybe now is not the time, and maybe we can live to see another day?
Well, look, this is really an all or nothing, not just for the Iranian regime, but also for its proxies. And uh the Lebanese army really does not have the wherewithal to deal with it, to disarm them under the time frame that's been given. And they never have. No, no, it's an absurdity. And and this is, you know, it they've not only completely wrecked The country of Lebanon, which was once a Christian country and is now just a horror show, and by the way, a beautiful country.
But it's also made it impossible to live in the north of Israel and as their weapons have gotten increasingly long range and anywhere in Israel almost.
So there's a problem of Iran having several thousand, I think they say a couple of thousand ballistic missiles capable of reaching Israel. And the notion of them raining down 2,000 missiles in a desperate attempt to do as much damage as they can to the civilian population of Israel is a very real one and a very imminent one.
So Israel obviously is paying incredibly close existential attention to what America is going to do. But for America, and this is the problem, we tend to see this as not necessarily existential for us, but it really kind of is. They say death to America. They are a borderline nuclear power. Yes, it was severely degraded, but they're working with countries that are inimical to us, that can be supplying them.
They have been working to get intercontinental ballistics.
So they are a threat directly to our homeland as well.
Well, and here's the other angle to that that is something we talk about here often is what we're seeing even in the rise on the right with the anti-Semitism, the hatred of Israel. The narrative from the bad actors on the right, if America does take decisive action against Iran, something that we've been talking about for a long time, knowing that they lie, they cheat, they steal, they were propped up by Obama, they were propped up by Biden, that It's going to be played out on the not-so-dark corners of the right-wing internet that Donald Trump is just doing the bidding of the Jews in Israel and that this is wasting American treasure, potentially blood, if there is any sort of conflict where Iran is able to take down a plane or able to shoot at a ship. That then they are going to blame Israel for this, not understanding the history of it. How much it does affect American national security, knowing that Hezbollah trains in Venezuela, that the proxy of Iran is right at our doorstep, and within the country to many levels as well. But how do we combat that next going forward?
Because that's going to be the line, is that once again, President Trump is beholden to Bibi Netanyahu and is just doing his bidding at the expense of the taxpayer. Sure.
Listen, this is literally as old as the Bible. It's literally as old as Pharaoh's idea that the nation that comes in, this people, the small family that comes in and helps save Egypt from itself, then becomes a threat. He wakes up one morning and all of a sudden it's a threat. This has played itself out century after century for millennia, and it's happening here again. We see every time it happens in a culture, it's because the culture itself is tearing itself apart, and so they're looking for someone to blame.
This is a problem. As an American, this is a problem for my family that lives here, my family, for everybody who lives here, that there is a regime that is fully capable of wanting to kill as many of us as it can, that is willing to do it, and they're at their end game right now. We don't know what's going to happen with regime change. Yeah, I think a lot of people have a misunderstanding or maybe don't have a visual. Of what they're dealing with with Iran and some of these nations.
You think of them as a small Middle Eastern country. We may be picturing some sort of version of Iran that's almost a cartoon. That's not what it actually is. They're not, I mean, this is a powerful organized crime, if you will, but it is a powerful nation that can do this kind of damage. Yeah, it's the Persian Empire.
I mean, it's not some small little Arab country. It is a Persian country. It's about 90 million people, they estimate. It's a huge country. It's a very sophisticated and advanced country that has been under the thumb of a brutal, hostile, anti-American regime now for decades, and they are in their endgame.
Well, and I think that's also what's so frustrating about those of us that have studied Iran for so long, that have watched how the Ayatollahs have, since the revolution, just completely taken advantage of such a brilliant culture, such a smart culture, historically a great culture. A lot of, I mean, the story of Esther, that's the Persian Empire, the Persian king. That she was married to. There is such beautiful biblical literature that ties in with this great culture that was completely taken away and hijacked by this theocratic death cult that is the Ayatollah. and knowing that what could have happened in the modern era.
With that culture, with the Middle East, had it not been just completely controlled, as you said, by the Ayatollah's for so long?
Well, I mean, look at certain corners of America where that culture is becoming strong and is being controlled in tiny little pockets by that culture. And their stated desire is to, in fact, do that to this country.
So, unfortunately, as you say, they do have a lot of people who are very influential, who are on the air, who get paid a fortune of money to push their line. They call themselves Americans.
Sometimes they call themselves Christians and nationalists, and somehow they seem like pagans and tribalists to me. They don't seem to care about Christianity or Christians or America or Americans. And yet, unfortunately, they default to the story that it's the Jews' fault. Blame the Jews. We don't want to die for them.
Well, let me tell you something. Right now, Israel has done more to save Americans than America has in the last year by what it did, by paving the way to help destroy this regime that has been building up its arsenal to destroy America. Not hiding, saying. it openly. That's right.
Look, Jeff's going to stick with us. We're going to be joined by Rick Rinnell next, then we'll go back to dealing with this whole situation. Of course, we're going to discuss that with Jeff as well. Phone lines are jammed. There's one line open.
You can call in. No guarantees you'll make it on the air today, but we'll try. 1-800-684-3110. I think it's always important to hear the global aspect of this. And I think you need to do some research as well.
It is very easy for us who even grew up in an era where Iran has been the Iran that we know of now our entire lives. to kind of write it off. But you know the kind of impact it could have if you had true regime change for the better. And like Jeff said, you never know where it's going to end up. We have seen good and bad with regime changes over the years.
We'll continue that discussion though coming up. It's forth to work at the ACLJ while you can at aclj.org. Second half hour of the show, right after this. Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever. This is Sekulow.
And now, your host, Logan Sekulow. Welcome back to Sekulow, second half hour. Jeff Balabon from ACLJ Jerusalem in studio, Will Haynes in studio. Rick Rinnell is going to be joining us in the next segment.
So, a packed second half hour of the show. Phone lines are totally jammed. We're going to try to get to the calls that are on hold right now. We will do our best to get to as many of you as we can. We, of course, are talking about the fact that the U.S.
Is currently pretty much just ready for the orders at this point as the U.S. military has really taken action, ready for attack on Iran. Of course, there are a lot of you who have called in who have concern, real concern. You want a regime change in Iran? You also don't want to see this to become an Iraq 2.0.
What does that look like? What does it mean? Of course, we understand those concerns. We've all lived through some version of this before. We have a lot of calls coming in.
I do want to take one because there's one that I'll hold for a while. Let's go to Brian, who is from Virginia right now, listening on the radio. Brian, go ahead.
Okay. Yeah, I'm an army veteran. And I voted for Donald Trump. And I just hope in this situation that he follows through because you can't make a deal with terrorists. Like y'all were saying, the ICBMs that they're trying to create that they want to put a nuclear weapon on are meant for us.
Not Israel. And thank God that for what Israel did in the last twelve day war, They pretty much took care of business, but they needed us to mop things up.
So I just hope we don't wait like before and have Israel do our bidding. I hope that we actually attack Iran. Because they're terrorists, just like the Nazis. They can't be trusted. You can't make a deal with them.
You know, because the lie, just like with the JCPOA. We're only cutting you off for time here. Ryan, I like what you said there, and I hope people caught it. You said, I hope we don't have Israel do our bidding. Because if you're listening to people on the right, it's the opposite, that the United States is having to do Israel's bidding.
There's even some in our Rumble chat that says Trump is doing this for Israel, not for us. I've seen YouTube comments saying just let Israel handle it. And I've been studying Iran since undergraduate. And as a part of this job for a long time, it's not just something that I read an article here and there and am not deeply versed in this history and why it matters. Exactly.
And I know Persian Americans now that had to flee that country and know their side of this as well. And once again, what Brian is saying, this isn't just doing something for Israel. Intercontinental ballistic missiles, they don't need to hit Israel. They can hit Israel with other types of ballistic missiles, but ICBMs are meant to go as far as they want, which is. Washington, D.C., New York City, Miami, Chicago, Los Angeles.
They want to cripple the American economy, our way of life. They want death to America. They mean it. They will try it. They have proxies here.
They have fatwas out for members of this administration and former administration officials, such as Mike Pompeo, who comes on this broadcast. They mean it. And so this is different. We were had to, we knew Saddam Hussein was a bad guy. We had to be sold on the fact that there were weapons of mass destruction.
And was it, in hindsight, the best move? That is still up for debate. What we do know is that what the Iranian regime wants to do and is currently doing... is completely different. There is no comparison to what the war in Iraq was.
This is an existential threat to America, to the Western way of life. And the way that they are so closely connected with Russia and China, Is That much bigger of a threat to the United States. If you are someone who is pro-Ukraine, in wanting them to not be completely obliterated by Vladimir Putin. then you should feel the same way about Iran. Because the That is what the Ayatollah are linked with economically, and their destinies are tied together.
That's right. When we get back, Rick Minnell's gonna be joining us. We're also gonna take more calls, and Jeff is here. From ACLJ Jerusalem. We want to make sure we cover as much as we can today.
I know it has been a packed show and it's not going to lighten up here for the next 20 minutes or so.
So make sure you are staying tuned. Also, if you want to support the work of the ACLJ and if you want to get involved in this current fight and also show your support, we have a new petition up at aclj.org/slash sign. We're talking about obviously what's going on in Iran, but also the Iranian Christian community. There's a large multi-faith community. In Iran, that doesn't get talked about near as much, and we talk about it on aclj.org.
Just sign that petition right now. Rick Cronnell's joining us in the next segment. Be right back. Welcome back to Sekulow. We're joined now by Rick Brunel.
Rick, a lot going on. We're seeing headlines that say, you know, the military's ready to go. We've seen the biggest buildup of air power since 2003. They're just waiting on the President's orders. But we're also seeing kind of a tale of two Iran's right now.
We're seeing the diplomat in the foreign minister, and we're seeing the saber rattling from the Ayatollah. Who do you think the U.S. should be listening to at this stage of the game?
Well, first of all, I think that we should be doing our own thing, which is protecting America, thinking about what's best for America, and putting America first. And what I can tell you, knowing President Trump as well as I do, He is thinking about a peaceful solution.
Now, he talks about this kind of. A credible threat. That he has to kind of move countries and individuals towards greater peace. And I think it's a real. Credible threat.
It's not just a threat. It's a credible threat. But President Trump values peace. He doesn't want to do war. He tries diplomacy until the very end.
But when trying to do diplomacy, He doesn't say, well, let's just do the best deal. Possible, what he tries to do is to say, we are going to put America first and we are going to get a deal that's good for America. That is the criteria. And so, as he has diplomats, Steve Witcoff and Jared Kushner working on the peaceful settlement, they have full authority from President Trump to solve this peacefully as long as it protects America and it's good for America. They will never have a bad deal, they will never have a weak deal.
That's one thing that is for sure. But we are going to try peaceful diplomacy all the way to the end. And at the end of diplomacy, if there is no more hope, Remember The conversation that we have between diplomats is if this doesn't prove to be a peaceful solution, there's a credible threat behind us. that the President is willing to make and willing to do if we don't solve this at this table. That pressure really makes for a moment where the Iranians or any country, any individual across the table understands that President Trump means business and they better look at all options to peacefully solve this.
I hope that we peacefully solve it, but we will be prepared to protect America if we don't.
Well, Rick, I think that's one of the big questions that a lot of people have, which is President Trump has put this sort of loose 10 days deadline, kind of a bit more fluid on that. You know, 10 days-ish, I kind of like President Trump does that, not giving some sort of hard red line deadline, just giving them a little bit of, you know, still keep them guessing. But do you think right now, and you kind of answered it a bit, that maybe there is, do you think there is a capable deal that this administration in Iran could actually present that the President would find acceptable at this point. I wouldn't call it a deal. I would call it a solution.
President Trump wants to make sure that any solution, any agreement protects America. I think that's unlike any other President where other Presidents would go in and they would kind of say, okay, you're here and the other one is here, so how do we kind of move to the middle and just have a middle ground? That's not how President Trump negotiates. President Trump is, I want to make sure that this agreement protects America, and so I have demands that are not going to be moved. And so we can get creative.
about the agreement. And you can come up with creative solutions, but at the end of the day, the solution, the agreement, is going to protect America.
So I would just say this is really on the Iranians. Do they want to have a peaceful deal or do they not? Rick, as we mentioned at the top of this segment, this is the largest deployment of air power to the region since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Obviously, the President is showing what he means by a deal or else. That he is showing the U.S.
strength. He believes in the power and strength and precision of the U.S. military. He has shown that he is willing to use it in those ways. It's not the type of President that loves to send in waves and waves of Marines and ground troops and take over a country.
He knows how to use American might effectively. You also have the threat of the proxy groups of Iran, that Iran may be weakened and we've seen the proxy groups weaken. But do you think that the Ayatollah still commands the proxy groups in a meaningful way? That could show retaliation to U.S. action, not just here, but in Israel and around the world, and troops on bases around the world.
Well, that's an incredibly important question. I'm not sure anyone has the answer. I do believe they have the money. The Obama administration and the Biden administration have given this Iranian regime billions. They have enough money to fund terrorism for 25 years.
And so the money is there. And the desire is there. We know they have the motive to wreak havoc on countries and individuals that they don't like. And they can do it in ways that bring terror and death. And they don't care.
They are willing to do that. The question is: is the threat to do that big enough to where they fear that something is going to come back at them? There will be consequences if they do that? I think the answer is an unequivocal yes. President Trump is not just a threat of military action, but it is a credible threat, and that is the difference.
So the calculus will have to be made by the Iranians. My guess is that they are living in a bubble and they don't understand that the consequences are very real. And we're trying to let them know that it is. Rick, thank you so much for joining us today. Not meaning to cut you off.
We got Jeff Balabon studio, so we're going to talk to him as well. But I appreciate you calling in, giving us your advice and your thoughts on all of this. I do want to quickly take a phone call, really quick, and then we'll get to Jeff Martin in North Carolina on line one, who's an ACLJ champion. Martin, go ahead. Thank you.
This is two part, and I'll make it as quick as possible. I wanted to reiterate something Will had touched on, but he had said several months ago, there is virtually no practical use for uranium at three percent to five percent enrichment. other than what they're already using it for. When you get up to we know they were at sixty percent, you're talking military use. And I looked this up for reactors for military ships, all this, up until weapons grade material.
And I said that to say this on a regime tells us we can't be dictated to how we use it. We have to remember when Obama and Biden, in particular, Biden released six billion dollars. He told them he wanted it used for humanitarian relief. And they said we'll basically use it any way we want to, we can't trust these people. I'm not for or against us going in militarily wise, but the American people have to understand the gravity of what really going on.
These are terrorists And they mean what they say. Right, Martin. That's why I call it a theocratic death cult. I mean, their humanitarian aid, if they were to use money, is terrorism. They believe.
In their theology, That killing Jews, killing Americans, death to Israel is what is the best for the world because it will bring back their 12th Imam and then they will rule the earth. That is what they even see as humanitarian, because they believe that that is the fulfillment of their theology, Jeff. Look, they're busy killing tens of thousands of their own people. No one should have any doubt that they're willing to kill us. And so, and Nicole is exactly right.
And it's a point that you have made in the past, Will, and made it very well, that there is zero purpose. There is no possible reason for this other than a desire to wipe out as many of us as they can.
So here in America, here in our homeland, I also think that what Rick said is very important, because this is a question I get in Jerusalem a lot in the last few days, which is, Is it possible that President Trump is having this massive a buildup, which costs so much money just on its own, without actually going to war? And the answer is yes, it is possible. I also believe that President Trump will do everything he can to avoid war. Except for give up America's safety. And that is the line.
And the truth is, that really does not depend on President Trump. It depends on the Ayatollah. Yeah, absolutely. Jeff's going to stick around with us for our next segment. If you're on hold, stay on hold.
We will do our best to get to you. We know we've had a packed show. We will take more calls in the next segment.
So stay tuned. Again, phone lines are jammed. They may open up, but honestly, If you want to call in, there's a chance you make it on the air. There's a good chance you don't at this point because we are so backed up. It's such a packed show.
I think, though, it's important in these moments where we are on a precipice of a potential attack in Iran. We have to give you a full-fledged update of what's happening. When the mainstream media... Over the last hour, you know, we have all the networks up throughout our studio watching. They've maybe given this five minutes of coverage.
I think it's important to know if we're talking about putting our troops. You know, right now, in position to go to war? That that should be the number one story that you're thinking about and talking about. and what the implications are. For us?
Here in America? for Israel, for the Middle East in general, and of course for the people of Iran. Who have had an uprising once again? That may Not result. in a true regime change.
But this could be a moment. where America gets involved and handles it once and for all. We'll see what happens. I want to encourage you to support the work of the ACLJ and also. Sign our petition right now.
It's in support of Iranians, the Iranian people. The Christian people there, the Jewish people there, the people of all faiths that are there. There once was a thriving multicultural area. And maybe you can return to that once again. Go to aclj.org slash sign.
Last segment of the day, and so many calls. We're going to try our best to get to them. We're just going to jump right into it again. Jeff Balabon from ACLJ Jerusalem, he's joining us right now in studio, which has been great. I want to make sure we get his opinion and feedback on a lot of these topics because they obviously are very important.
To our work in Israel. Let's go to John in Florida to kick us off. John, you've been a hold for 40 minutes. I appreciate it. Go ahead.
Thanks, Dave, McCall. I tell you what, I listen to you guys all the time. Everything has been said so far. I voted for Trump, President Trump, three times. That's for everything he does.
I think we have no choice but to do what we what he's doing right now. I think he's Working with hands of God Almighty. I mean, to protect the foundations of this country and Israel and the free world itself, what's left of it, which ain't much, I tell you. after the uh Iraqi war, you think the Islam took care of the Islamic brothers that were left homeless? No, they sent them up to Europe, that uh they'll take over Europe.
That's what they did.
So now we're going here, one hand tied behind the back, no one helping us, uh one political party we're fighting to go in there. He has no choice. Yeah, John, I think this is a moment where a lot of people are calling in with your point of view. I mean, we've had a lot of also what I've found pretty interesting, we've had a lot of military people, people that served in the war, in the war terror, call in today and say, you know, I'm very in support of this.
Well, and once again, we have to remember that Iranian proxies. We're killing U.S.
soldiers in Iraq. This is not as if we've never had a kinetic war with Iranians. They were directly fighting against American troops and killing Americans. They have American blood on their hands. That is one of the reasons why taking out Qasem Soleimani was so important to the first Trump administration because of the terror that he had sowed around the world and the way he had masterminded the IRGC going out and killing Americans.
Look, even back then, even Iraq, I remember having conversations at the White House about why then President Bush chose to go with Iraq. And what I was told was unequivocally, it's Iraq first, but the ultimate goal has to be Iran.
Now, it never ended up there because things got complicated, but Iran has been a threat since the regime changed. Iran, remember, it started with taking Americans hostage. And Iran has been an enemy of ours, an existential enemy of ours, waiting for the capacity to do damage. There's a concern, listen, and people in Israel, people who are visiting Israel, people who live in Israel, have to deal with the reality that there's also a constant terror threat. And Americans also need to recognize, it's one of the most important things after October 7th when I was asked to brief people in Washington about this, is that Americans need to recognize that we also have that problem here.
And it doesn't help. You never want to be the doctor who's diagnosing the cancer, but it doesn't help to not pretend there's cancer. And it is on our shores. It's throughout our country. It's in places you wouldn't expect it.
And this is a real threat. As a global situation, but also, and I don't know if we're going to get to it, but I want to just mention: you know, one of the reasons I'm here in town is because of NRB, and it's important to talk about that there is there. There is a huge part of America, and I like to think it's a majority of America, tens of millions of Americans who do side with what's correct here, who want to see the right thing, who don't want war, but recognize that we have an existential enemy right now. They recognize that President Trump is confronting that enemy and relying on him to not make a deal. That sells short either America or Israel, frankly.
Because remember, we had an earlier caller who was a military guy who pointed out he didn't want America to, you know, Israel to do America's work again. Right.
Because Israel did do America's work in this recent war. And thank God America came in and dropped those bombs, but they could not have done it had Israel not sacrificed in this way. This is an incredible alliance. And I'm very appreciative of the fact that there are so many people here, specifically the Christian America that is so supportive and so understanding. That we are in this together.
We are in the same foxhole. And unfortunately, the bad guys tend to set the agenda here. We have to wait and see. Yeah, I want to restate very quickly because there are a lot of people joining us right now, and the show is almost an hour in, who have said, What are we talking about? What's going on?
We do need to let you know that this wasn't a clickbait title. This wasn't something like this. The U.S. has really started to not necessarily take action, but has started the movement. That's right.
The buildup of air power. In the region, With the carrier strike groups of positioning assets at the military bases that surround it that put them within range. This is the largest buildup of air power since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. And the reporting from sources at the Pentagon are saying they are in position, ready to strike Iran as soon as this weekend. They are waiting on the President's decision and go ahead.
So it's not clickbait. This is the reality of where we are. I know you may not think it. They don't send that many people over there just to sit around. And I know you may not think it because it's not necessarily number one right now.
I mean, it's being covered somewhat on the news right now, but it is not the number one story. But remember, this is what's happening in real time. And we're not, you know, we're not lying to you here. Let's quickly try to take a couple more calls. Let's go to Chip, who's calling in Virginia.
Chip, go ahead. Yeah. Good afternoon, guys. Appreciate everything you do. I was very fortunate as a child to actually live in Iran.
in from from nineteen seventy five to almost nineteen And we got out about three months before the regime changed. I can tell you from experience, having lived there as a child. That the people were great, they were wonderful. And we hit in the Shaw Was Westernizing that country that women could walk around in T-shirts and jeans, guys could, you know, not. Worry about being killed for having a different ideology or whatever.
And I feel like the Carter administration really hung them out to dry, really abandoned those people. And a lot of our friends that didn't leave as early as we did, my dad. Built a textile plant over there. He was in construction, so there were three divisions: design, construction. And operations, and all the operations people got left behind, and they had to get whisked out quickly right before the hostages were taken.
And it was just it was really sad to see Us lose such a powerful ally because the Shah had equipped his military with like the third best equipped military in the world at that time. I think you're right. I think that if a lot of people have very short-term memories, or we weren't around during it, or maybe you weren't alive during it, it's been 45, 50 years at this point. Understandably, people are a little short-sighted on what actually this whole situation was starting. I know people like Chip that lived there, which we know personally, people that were Americans whose parents were there as businessmen and women, and as well as people that fled to America that are Persians, that they yearn.
For Tehran, the way it was. They yearned to go back to that, but instead, the Ayatollahs hijacked a Marxist movement within the world. and used a Marxist-style revolution to bring in their theocratic death cult to rule with an iron fist ever since the 70s. He's also making a very important point, which people might listen to this and say, well, okay, but so the poor Iranians, but why should American blood be spilled for that? And the answer is because, you know, to be an isolationist and not understand how the world is interconnected is not really taking care of America.
If you're America first, it doesn't mean America exists alone. America exists in a world of intercontinental reach. People can reach us and want to reach us. And so having an ally there instead of a sworn death cult enemy is important for our survival, not just for theirs. We cannot close our eyes to the reality that we live in that kind of a world.
Yeah, I think Jeff is absolutely right. I think the idea of your whole America first movement sometimes gets to the point of not understanding a global stage, not understanding that we live, like I said, in a very small world here and the way everything is interconnected. And as you said, this is not some small terrorist regime, you know, some sort of camp that you put in your head that you think. Think of. That is not what's going on in Iran.
So Wake up, see what's happening, and understand right now. that any of this could happen at any moment. He said within 10 days, roughly a 10-day deadline, so maybe we have 10-ish days. But sometimes those 10-day deadlines with President Trump could be 20 days, could be one. You never know.
Okay, and then that's maybe the unpredictab unpredictability of... The Trump administration Sometimes for good, sometimes a little bit chaotic. But you know what? That's why a lot of people support it. With that, we only got 20 seconds left.
I want you to sign our petition, get involved, go to aclj.org. There are a lot. Of issues in Iran that the ACLJ has been involved in over the years, and we will continue to fight. Of course, we're at the UN Human Rights Council, we have ACLJ Jerusalem, we have the European Center. Get involved in a global way at aclj.org/slash sign.
We will talk to you tomorrow.
