BREAKING: Trump Speaks on Iran

It's Monday, we're back, you know what we're talking about. We got big updates on Operation Epic Fury. 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 Sekulow.

Welcome to Sekulow. I think it's probably no surprise what topic we are going to be hitting today, obviously. Pretty Quickly after we went off the air within a few hours, there was the beginning of what is a pretty much full-scale war that feels like it has broken out now in the Middle East with Iran. President Trump is speaking right now. We are monitoring that.

If you're watching it live, if there's anything worth covering, we'll get to it. Mike Pompeo is going to be joining us, as well as Jeff Balabon from ACLJ Jerusalem. Jordan's in studio, Will's in studio. It's going to be a packed show. Of course, we want to hear from you as well.

I want to know. Let's open up the phone lines at 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110. 3110 to be on the air today. Again, give us a call.

I'd love to hear from you. Like I said, President Trump is speaking as we speak. Do we want to go ahead and play something from President Trump or do we want to? Let's go ahead and roll this. This just happened moments ago.

It's a White House event where a Medal of Honor is being given out. It's a Medal of Honor ceremony. But of course, he updated quickly the American people on Operation Epic Fury. Let's go ahead and play this bite. Let me provide a brief update on Operation Epic Fury.

Today, the United States military continues to carry out large-scale combat operations in Iran. to eliminate the grave threats posed to America by this terrible terrorist regime. Following our Obliteration of Iran's nuclear program in Operation Midnight Hammer. A short while ago, We warned Iran not to make any attempt to rebuild at a different location because they were unable to use the ones that we so powerfully blew up. But they ignored those warnings and refused to cease their pursuit of nuclear weapons.

In addition, the regime's conventional ballistic missile program was growing rapidly and dramatically. And this posed a very clear, colossal threat to America and our forces stationed overseas. The regime already had missiles capable of hitting Europe. and our bases both local and overseas and would soon have had missiles capable of reaching Our beautiful America. The purpose of this fast-growing missile program was to shield their nuclear weapon development and make it extraordinarily difficult for anyone to stop them from making these highly forbidden By us, nuclear.

That was President Trump just moments ago. He's still speaking right now. Again, this was at a Medal of Honor? It's a Medal of Honor ceremony. He's actually moved on from the Iran topic at this point, but he spoke at this ceremony, as well as Secretary of War Pete Hegsa spoke this morning.

We will get into that as well. He laid out a three-part objective that the United States military is carrying out, as well as a loose timeline. I mean, obviously, you got to let them do and fight and achieve the objectives.

However, what we are seeing here now, also, and we will discuss is the pushback you're seeing from the left and some within the MAGA base. We'll talk about the successes that we have seen already, as well as a lot of the other analysis that we uniquely are able to provide for you here at the ACLJ. If you've ever. been supportive of any war. I'm not talking about you're a Quaker and you're like opposed to war and no war, but if you've ever supported a war.

And you find yourself on the other side of this one, I think you gotta look at yourself in the mirror and realize that you are just. You just have a problem with anything President Trump could possibly do. Look at the people in the streets. Look at the Persian people. Look at the screaming and celebrations.

All over the world. Yeah. All over the world. It's happening. Praising Netanyahu, even praising President Trump, praising America.

And that's what we love to see around the world. Yeah. So if you have a problem with that, I think you need to check yourself and look yourself in the mirror because that is not what's happening worldwide. This is a big moment. Of course, there could be issues, but we will cover those as well at 1-800-684-3110 if you want to be on the air.

We got three lines still open for you. Again, 1-800-684-3110. The ACLJ, we're built for moments like this. We're working across the globe to make an impact. You know that.

Our work international has been a huge part of the ACLJ. We always try to focus on it when we can. You need to get engaged. That's why we'll even have Jeff Balabon on from ACLJ Jerusalem and Mike Pompeo a little bit later on in the show.

So stay tuned. Don't go anywhere and give us a call. Welcome back to Sekulow. We're going to take your calls and comments at 1-800-684-3110. Going to slow it down a little bit in this segment to really give you an update of where things stand right now with this war in Iran.

Who's with us? Who's against us? How much to do as you were. Yeah, and there were even attacks that happened in our own country that I think a lot of people missed completely. I mean, they weren't large scale, but you had multiple people die in Texas that looked to be a direct correlation.

Yeah, I mean, all signs point to this was a retaliation. That was in Austin at a bar. The guy had a shirt on that said Allah underneath that shirt, supposedly. The Iranian flag, and he also scraped Allah Akbar when he opened fire, injuring over a dozen people and killing two. Killing two, and he was also killed as well.

So remember, that's happening now on your own soil.

So be vigilant. You know, be careful. To be this under high alert.

Well, as well as they are telling people in NORCOM, which is American Northern Command, that you are not allowed to wear your uniform off base right now because you could be potentially a target. That is talking about people in the United States going to work on the base, say in any of the bases in the United States, that you do not wear it. from your house to the base. You put your uniform on when you get to work and you take it off before you go home. This has been like our ACLJ work where we exposed that there were terrorists crossing the border and under the Biden administration, they quickly took those photos down of those guys that they apprehended.

We said that the porous border was being utilized by countries like Iran and their terror proxies to get terrorist cells into the United States because they could blend into a Central American crowd with their beards and the kind of skin tone and they can walk kind of right through. We know they've arrested two, even under Biden, and they took those pictures right down. We did that work at the ACLJ so that it was exposed that they knew too that terrorists were pouring in.

So they do believe that there are, and we can talk to Mike Pompeo about that, about these cells in the United States. Can they be activated? The question is. Is there anyone left to activate them right now? And are they willing to do it, knowing that right now there's currently not much leadership in Iran?

Iran is still sending up fighter jets and missiles. Sure. And it could be, you know, lone people who are just infuriated by the news. No, because that's what this could have been in Texas. It's inspired by.

It doesn't necessarily always have to be. But he is forward. A direct. Yeah. I'm thinking he'd been a naturalized citizen of America for the last 15, 20 years.

Yes. Yeah. From Senegal, I believe. There are some phone lines open, and a lot of you are calling in. I want to take a call real quick.

Let's go to John in Florida online too. John, go ahead. Hey, thanks to my call. I tell you what, I'm more glad than ever I voted for Trump, President Trump, that is.

Well Um Iran was like a big pestering boil that had to be Lanced. Yes. And I'm glad he did it. Uh, because I'll tell you what, we have more people in the Middle East backing us up on this, the UAE, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia, than we do in the Western European allies in Europe. And I'll tell you what, the last two Democratic Presidents we had were like President numnuts.

John, I want to cut you off there. But, Jordan, well, I don't know, who's to say? We're on terrestrial radio. But, Jordan, we look at this and exactly what John said. I think there are two really important things to put out here.

And he's talking about the previous Presidents. One, Those that say that President Trump started a war, no, he's ending a war that's been going on since the Iranian Revolution. Remember, they've been killing Americans wherever they can since 1979.

Now, that is one point, that this is hopefully an end to that war, not a beginning of a new war. Two, he's talking about the Gulf states. Iran's miscalculation here, and maybe it's because of the loss of leadership initially, like the very first strike took out their supreme leader, but the recklessness that you've seen of attacking the UAE, Qatar. The Kuwait, the international airport, the main terminal in Kuwait. You're talking about Bahrain, all of these countries that are actually friendly.

with Iran. Many of them are not just like neutral, but friendly with Iran. And they're not attacking military installations. They were attacking with ballistic missiles, civilian sites, hotels in Dubai. The commercial airport terminal at the International Airport in Kuwait.

That is such a big miscalculation because now you're seeing Saudi Arabia leading with these other Gulf nations saying, hey, wait a second. We're gonna strike back too. What are you doing here, Iran? Yes, I think, listen, Iran's entire miscalculation was they lost Hamas. After October 7th, they lost 50% of Gaza is now not even under control of any Hamas elements.

Hezbollah was decimated, and Nasrallah that taken out, you had, I think, two more successors to him taking out Hezbollah, the Pagers, all of that.

So they no longer had, and in Syria, because of the overthrow of the Assad government and really their own civil war that's been ongoing since the end of ISIS, they're not effective anymore for Iran.

So Iran no longer had the surrounding terror groups ready to go. Whenever Israel would strike, we knew that when Israel took action after October 7th, and there was minimal action by those groups. Hamas did what they could with their smaller rockets, but they didn't do much. Iran fired what they could, and we're seeing that firing into Israel. Seems like it's gotten less and less by the day.

Um and so The decision though to try and hit The UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, yes, we have bases in those places, but they weren't just hitting those American bases. That is how, again, the Middle East unites around the Abraham Accords. And we can, without necessarily putting hundreds of thousands of boots on the ground. President Trump could be known as the President. That that did bring peace.

To the Middle East. It doesn't mean that everywhere is going to be perfect all the time and that it's all going to be a democratic republic because that doesn't necessarily work in this part of the world. But what it does mean is that there are new allies. And when Israel is being fired on by the same enemy as the UAE is being fired on, and Qatar and Bahrain, and Yemen is firing, and the Houthi rebels are firing at our allies as well, this is a new alliance. And it shows, by the way, we can be allies with Israel and those other countries at the same time to take out a country and leadership, which is the terror leader of the world, Iran.

And do it together without Europe. Europe looks like a joke right now. They were condemning this, and these actions should be taken. I know the Saudis have to say one thing on TV and another thing at first. They don't want a nuclear Iran, and this is probably the end of that.

Yeah, I think that there is also, like you said, a rallying around Israel that could very well happen. From these other like you said. Western leaning. Certainly Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia and some of these.

And what you have to do is Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Those are areas when you see them, they're getting hit with rockets. That is horrible for their business. But they know had to happen once. That's what I mean.

In the future, you know that Iran is not there in that capacity anymore. They likely, if things went as well, we prayed for, Iran would be a partner with those countries and Israel again. Right. And I think that's the other trajectory. It looks like it could get there.

Well, and I think one thing that we do need to be clear on too is that this is early stages. This is just the third day of this war. U.S. troops will be killed. It is easy to be triumphant when you have taken out one of the most manifest evils on the planet, the Ayatollah.

Also, without the conflict being done yet. But it means that we still are not done. And the Secretary of War laid out the three objectives of this as operations are ongoing: that the objectives are: destroy Iran's offensive missile capabilities. Cripple its navy and prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. There are reports right now that Ifsfahan is being bombarded.

That is one of the key nuclear sites.

So a new wave of attacks is targeting that. That are the reports. There's a lot of other things to get into, as well as the press got an opportunity yesterday. With a three-hour phone call with the administration on background from administration officials giving some of the details of what led to this, the reasons they believed that they were at a dead end with Iran, things like the United States offered to provide Iran with nuclear material for their civilian purposes. For what they claim they need to do medical research, for domestic energy production, things that they have never actually used their enriched uranium before for their own purposes.

They normally just buy it from Russia. The United States offered to give them that nuclear fuel. in perpetuity. if they would give up their own centrifuges and enrichment, That was not enough for Iran. Iran was just trying to kick the can down the road and deny that they were building a nuclear weapon when all the signs are is that that's why they had the 60% uranium.

They had their own centrifuges that could get it from 60 to 90 in just a matter of a week. Their entire goal was a nuclear weapon. And we now see that when you didn't put checks on their ballistic missile program, like President Obama refused to do during the JCPOA, how much that technology has advanced in Iran as we see the missiles that they're using to strike even their friends. Yeah, and I do want to bring that up. There's been a lot of conversations around, well, President Trump said he'd always be at the negotiation table, that this would be conversations that would happen.

I do think. There is such a fundamental, it's hard for us to wrap our heads around it. But we've worked in it for so long, it's a little easier for us. There is a fundamental Disconnect. between your values and the values That someone like the Iranian government, the Ayatollah, have.

For human life, for humanity, for people in general. Those are Western values. Those are Christian values. Those are not values that find themselves native. They're not just born into us.

It feels like they are sometimes. But they're not.

So, when you try to get to the negotiation table with people that don't value their own people or don't value their own lives or don't value any kind of Peace. You end up with these kind of situations. I'm going to take your calls coming up. 1-800-684-3110. I believe we have Secretary Pompeo up next.

He's the next segment, yes. All right, stay tuned. You're not going to miss that. Welcome back to Sekulow. We do have Secretary Mike Pompeo joining us.

Obviously, been a member of the ACLJ team for a number of years. He's joining us by phone. Obviously, a very busy time for you, Secretary Pompeo. Last week, we had you on talking about what the next move would be. And now we saw what happened over the weekend.

I just want to get your general assessment. Of Operation Epic Fury right now, as we state this morning, after so much. has played out over the last few days. Goodness, it's hard to know where to begin. It is truly epic.

Make no mistake about it. Indeed, it is a historical game changer. What's already happened is historic, and I suspect what happens over the coming weeks will prove even more so. This is a President who made the proper determination that the risk to the United States for America, the security risk was just too great to sit by. while they continue to try to rebuild the nuclear program, To continue to put missiles in place, they've cut a deal.

With the Chinese to take any ship missiles, some thousand of them over the course of the next several months, putting our fleet. At real risk. This was necessary. It was the timing was necessary. And what our military has accomplished is truly remarkable.

A couple of thousand strikes against military targets taking down dozens of senior Iranian officials. Many said this could not be pulled off. President Trump, I think, was convinced that it could be. And in spite of the fact that we all mourn the loss of the four soldiers who have perished to date, this was a noble and remains a noble and righteous effort. And I hope that President Trump will continue and I think he will continue to work at this problem set until the Iranian regime has been fully defanged and the Iranian people get a fair shot and moving this country in a fundamentally different direction.

Mr. Secretary, one of the curious tactics from the Iranians that we've seen is the way, in retaliation, their first strikes weren't against U.S. military bases and U.S. military ships or even the Israeli homeland, but were against nations that are. traditionally either neutral or friendly.

to the regime. Striking civilian targets in Qatar, in the UAE. in hitting the airport in Kuwait. These are not who you would think a retaliation from Iran would be. Do you think this is desperation due to the fact that their leadership was just wiped out?

Miscalculation by individuals not used to making these calls? Or do they have some other bizarre strategy trying to pull in their neighbors into the war against them? I just kind of want to get your take on that. My sense is this was a massive strategic miscalculation on the part of the Iranian leadership, what however one defines that today. I think their theory of the case had to have been: if they go after civilian targets, think about this, they killed 30,000 of their own.

So for them, this is not a. A humanitarian problem. They'll kill anyone. But I think they went after civilian targets. Those Gulf Arab states would cry, uncle, would demand that the United States back off and stop the campaign.

I think that was their. their thought process. It turns out that the Gulf states weren't about to demand the United States back off, but instead are now working to make sure that we continue to press on. I think that was their miscalculation. It was a massive error.

It made claim it made clear to the people, not just the leadership, but the people living in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, all the places that they've struck, it made clear to the people there, the ordinary Muslims living in those countries, that Iran is their enemy, not that the problem is Tehran, not Jerusalem. And this will come back to haunt Iranian, those Iranian leaders, for as long as we allow them to live. And I hope that's a short period of time. Secretary Papayo, this is Jordan. I wanted to ask you this.

As this, you know, the campaign continues, it's tough to predict, but what do you think would be best for the Iranian people? President Trump has said right now, stay at your home, stay safe, that bombs are going to be dropping, missiles are going in, there's war, but ultimately you will have an opportunity to take back your government. How do you see that working once the military operation has completed a task where civilians in Iran and those political prisoners in Iran who may ultimately be released can go back and hit the streets and attempt to take back their government? Jordan, I think President Trump's made clear that, that's his objective, right? It's to accomplish a couple of things.

One, take out the senior leadership, a lot of progress made, but not mission accomplished. Second, to take down their capacity to inflict harm in the region.

So not just long range missiles, but midrange missiles, launchers, everything associated with the Shahid infrastructure, their drone infrastructure, to just take it all down to the ground. And then to create the space for the people of Iran, whether those are civilians, those are bureaucrats, people who were part of the infrastructure of Iran long before the regime took office. If he can create the space for them, then they'll get a chance to build a nation that's fundamentally more different, right? Just Jordan, you and I have talked about this for years. A normal country.

That's all we're asking for. And if they can build out just a normal nation, which I think they're going to have a chance to do, the people of Iran will be better off. The region will be safer. And it is a really good thing for the United States of America because we will no longer have to focus in this place. And we can turn our attention to the risk from China that we both know is the one that's going to be with us for an awfully long time.

It definitely gives them an opportunity here to finally do something, Secretary Pompeo. I did want to quickly ask, you obviously had some relationship with the Iranians. You've had some issues maybe personally. They've not been too thrilled with you over the years. How does it feel in this situation, even just coming?

Across of knowing what it's been like for years of you personally having to deal with some of the ramifications and the fallout of what happened with some of the amazing work that you were able to do. You know, it is remarkable to watch the consistency of President Trump, right? We took out Soleimani. In the first administration, the maximum pressure campaign worked. As a result of that, you're right, they've been trying to kill me.

And so should see President. I want to let you say that. No, no, they've been trying to kill me. And, you know, I suspect there are some in Iran, Iranian leaders that are still alive that are staying on that mission. We all around the world need to watch what they might try to activate across the world over the coming weeks while they still have some capacity to exert some influence.

But this isn't about me personally. This is about the security of the American people. And we are far safer today, no matter what any Democrat senator might try to tell you. We are far safer today than we were just 72 hours ago. The risk to people traveling in the region and risk to us, even here living in the United States, is much lower as a result of the bold and brave decision President Trump made and the amazing work of the United States military alongside our Israeli partners.

Just quickly, Secretary Pompeo, you mentioned China as a threat that we really need to be able to focus our attention on post-Iran in this region of the world. And there are reports that China is trying to resupply this regime as we speak. That they have tried to get military cargo planes in with weaponry to kind of rearm the Iranian military or the IRGC. How far do you think China will go in trying to preserve an Iranian leadership that looks their direction and instead of to the U.S. and the West?

Well, I think they've demonstrably failed to help Iran in the moment that mattered most.

So anybody who's thinking about China as a military partner is probably looking for a different solution today. But your point's a good one. The Chinese aren't going to walk away from what is a central pillar of their security apparatus in the Middle East, right? They have counted on the Iranians to provide them cheap crude oil. They'll stay at that.

They will try to win the postwar political fight. And we need to make sure that the leadership in Iran, as it rises up and reforms after this effort, is with the West, is firmly ensconced with the United States and the Gulf Arab States and not the Chinese Communist Party. That's why I'm gonna get that in. Absolutely. Secretary of my payout.

On days like today, there's really no better voices we could hear from people that have been directly involved in this. And I think it's always important to hear from you.

So thank you so much. Look, we got a second half hour. The first half hour blew by. Second half hour coming up, and we're gonna be joined by Jeff Balabon, head of ACLJ Jerusalem. It's going to be a packed show, so make sure you want to be a part of it.

I'd love to hear from you. Look, how do you feel? Will and I have been texting late at night with mixed emotions about how we feel about everything. It is such a wild time. Obviously, a moment that should be celebrated and definitely will be talked about in history if things pan out the way we hope they do.

1-800-684-3110 or join us whenever you get your podcast right now live for second half hour coming up. Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now, your host, Logan Secular. Welcome back to Sekulow, Jordan's in studio, Wills in studio.

Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. We just heard from Secretary Pompeo. Coming up in the next segment, we got head of ACLJ Jerusalem, Jeff Balabon. And look, we had such a packed first half hour, I didn't even get to tell you that we have now kicked off our double your impact month. I want you to be a part of it right now.

That's right. All your donations are matched through the month. Go to aclj.org/slash impact. or scan the QR code you see on the screen. You've heard about every victory, the small ones, the big ones, but all of them are major, and all of them make major impacts.

And all of them are due to the support of people like you who support the work of the ACLJ financially, either as an ACLJ champion, that's someone that gives on a monthly basis, and you can opt into that, or just someone that donates one time a year or during these special moments. This is an opportunity for you to help us out as we are launching today again, Double Your Impact Month, be a part of it. Right now, the Double Your Impact Drive by going to aclj.org/slash impact. Let me know in the chat if you're going to be joining us for Double Your Impact Month. That's right.

And as we also refocus here back to the topic at hand, I did want to play this clip from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth as he addressed the media. Because what we've heard a lot of, and I want to talk more about with Jordan, with maybe even Jeff Balabon, is how quickly the left came out, called it an illegal war, completely ignoring the text of the War Powers Act of 1973, but also that this is going to be another forever war. And even those that celebrated the death of the Ayatollah said, Yeah, but Trump did it.

So we don't know about the plan and the end game, which is normal if you're in Congress, you don't have the full military readout as if Trump himself is the only one conducting this war. But let's go ahead and hear from the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, by one. To the media outlets and political left screaming endless wars. Stop. This is not a rack.

This is not endless. I was there for both. Our generation knows better, and so does this President. He called the last 20 years of nation-building wars dumb. And he's right.

This is the opposite. This operation is a clear, devastating, decisive mission. Destroy the missile threat, destroy the Navy, no nukes. Israel has clear missions as well, for which we are grateful. Capable partners, as we've said since the beginning, Capable partners are good partners.

Unlike so many of our traditional allies who wring their hands and clutch their pearls. hemming and hawing. about the use of force. Yeah, that's right. That's from Pete Hegseth, by the way.

Time to shine for him. He's done an excellent job. You know, there are moments where he's had some pretty hardcore criticism, but I think these are the moments where you realize he was picked as the man for the job.

So, I mean, I think that was a very clear And hopefully, it gets to a lot of people who are pushing back. One of the talking points, though, is that pushing back on whether. Congress needed to give authority to President Trump. It is the one that I've heard now endlessly repeated as. as the thing that they're telling people to tell your friends.

Let's get people from a legal perspective where that's actually at. I mean, you always you can you can carry out actions 30 days before you have to even notify Congress.

Now, again, Congress knows now because of the media around the world.

So, but that's still part of the law, 30 days. And then you get an additional 30 days after you notify Congress. That's 60 days.

So you can go 60, maybe even 90 days total without Congress authorizing or not authorizing an action.

So this is just a lie. That's why it's called Operation Epic Fury. This is not called World, this is not called War This, War That. But when they bring that up. Yes.

And unchecked. And once again, Jordan, you can go to every action of every President. They've all carried out actions. And typically, the other side of theirs tries to say this is an illegal war if they disagree with it. You think about Obama in Libya.

But it Yeah, but even you think about Obama with Libya, that was an issue that many people weren't pleased with it, but even their defense is this isn't going to be a very years-long operation. This is the objective mission is within the 60-day threshold of, and we told you about it, Congress, so nothing you can do here. It's 48 hours to notify, 60 days until you need anything from Congress. To authorize any discussion here, no one's talked about this going on for more than weeks, was like the longest we've heard. Yep, absolutely.

Jeff Balabon from ACLJ Jerusalem, joining us in the next segment. Followed by your phone calls. Get on hold right now at 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110. If you can't hear me on YouTube, I apologize for working on it.

I know if you couldn't hear me, you wouldn't be able to hear that.

So we'll be right back. Welcome back to Secula. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. In the next segment, we're going to take as many calls as we can. But now, Jeff Balabon, head of ACLJ from Jerusalem, is joining us from New York right now.

Jeff, I did want to get an update from you. We obviously had a historic weekend. For America and for Israel, but What are your thoughts?

Well, they're all over the place. First of all, I'll start with today. We talked about this on Friday. This is, you know, tonight starts Purim. It's already starting to be Purim in Israel.

It is Purim in Israel. But today, here in America, because it's not nightfall yet, we are commemorating the fast of Esther, which, you know, so this all feels extremely biblical. I was noticing that, you know, the way in Fireseed pronounced Khamenei's name or even Khamenei is almost identical to Haman, which is the pronunciation, obviously, of the great foe who wants to wipe out the Jews in the story of Esther.

So it feels biblical. It feels biblical in the streets of Israel, where even though people are celebrating, even though they're in shelters, it's shelters all the time. Sleepless nights. The rockets are falling down. There's been loss of life, unfortunately, tragically.

They're still missing people under the rubble. But again, it's right now, the numbers are relatively low. What's fascinating, though, is the way Iran. Has reacted. It seems to me that they're dragging in, they're trying to drag in the Gulf states.

I'm actually just looking at a briefing before it's been published from Israeli military briefing about their assessment of what's happening here and where we're moved. It's right in front of me right now. The fact that Hezbollah has gotten involved now, they didn't get involved. The last time there was direct conflict between Iran and Israel back a few months ago, Hezbollah stayed out of it.

Now they got involved.

So it's all new ground, but thank God President Trump seems dedicated to staying the course, changing this regime, which has inflicted terrible violence on American assets and really does have a goal of, and has had the goal, of eradicating America, wiping out our civilization and either replacing it with their own or just killing us. Jeff, this is obviously something we said earlier that as those on the left, you have Rashida Tlaib saying, you know, you do not free a people by killing more people or destroying their country. She put that out as her hot take in the wake of this. But as well as seeing people saying, you know, we're fighting Israel's war again. I think it's also interesting to point out, one, we all know that the original enemy with Iran was the United States in 1979 when they took our hostages.

That was the beginning of this war. And every President has given some sort of lip service to those of us that really cared about this issue that they are going to deal with Iran. And no one until now has directly taken on the leadership in Iran in a way that is this meaningful. But also when The people that say that this is just fighting Israel's war are also ignoring the fact that Israel is the one that is receiving ballistic missiles right now in their city centers. It's not New York, it's not Miami, it's not D.C.

It is the people of Israel that are under direct fire from Iran as retaliation for this.

So, the people of Israel, even if they are civilians, are also having to fight this war on behalf of the world, as America is as well. This has been the case throughout. Those who are saying that Trump is fighting Netanyahu's War or the Jews' War. Either are ignorant or malicious. This is America's war from the beginning, as you point out.

Iran has dictated that America is their ultimate enemy. America is the great Satan, death to America. They've been striving to reach nuclear weaponry and the delivery systems to reach the American homeland. And of course, they have zero respect for human life, even their own people's lives. Elon Omar immediately attacked, said, You know, we're going to launch this attack because Americans love attacking Muslims on Ramadan.

Meanwhile, it's the Muslims who, I mean, Iran is a Muslim country, which has attacked all these Muslim countries, their civilians, you know, during Ramadan. It's quite the opposite. We have been the recipients. We've allowed, we've tolerated assaults on our assets, on our assets, the murders of our military personnel for decades. And Trump is saying no more.

Not when we're at a point where ideology and capability are beginning to merge. And the fact that He actually gave him time from the 12-day war until now to try to negotiate. To me, that was exceptional. I don't know why he didn't go straight to war then, but he gave him the last chance, and I think he meant it. But they meant it also.

They want to destroy America, and he will not tolerate it. And Jeff, also, you know, people now are already looking at October 7th as maybe the biggest miscalculation by Iran and its terror proxies because. Look at today, two and a half years later. The Ayatollah, who ordered those, dead. The Hamas leadership, all been killed.

They have some been replaced. The Hezbollah leadership and the Hezbollah infrastructure greatly deteriorated. You did say they are trying to engage, but I would imagine their engagement is severely limited based on the fact that they were decimated the last two and a half years. Yeah, I mean, the Hezbollah is, look, it's not just a terror organization. It is a big, massive, well-organized army that's been training very seriously for decades.

They're a serious army like any other country's army. And so the fact that they're engaging now, but they are leaderless and also their supply chain has been severely disrupted. Again, thanks to what America and Israel did. And to Will's point, before I end to your point, you know, Israel is the front on this war for America, not the other way around. And Israeli civilians, first of all, it's a draft there.

So the people who are fighting the war are school teachers and bus drivers and accountants and lawyers, and they've been fighting this incredible war and they've been losing their lives now for quite a while. It's just. the only ones who really can wage this war effectively to end this has always been the United States of America. And we've just waited for a leader to understand what's at stake for the United States of America. And we have this President.

And thank God we do. And, Jeff, one other thing as we look forward. Obviously, this is the very early days of this. Hopefully, we've heard from the United States that we have air superiority over Iran now, meaning that we can freely conduct these missions without the constant threat of their air defense systems. That is a positive step to be able to take out more of the ballistic missile launchers.

They have the mobile launchers, which makes it a little bit harder to find as they have to scour the country for them. But the military seems to be doing a good job of that. The key to keeping this short will be eliminating their ability to project that might outside of their borders, to be able to shut down their ballistic missiles that are going to the Gulf region, some of their traditional friends, as well as Israel and the U.S. military that is stationed there. We don't know how far this goes at this point.

We are still praying for a short operation, but also an effective operation that will give the opportunity for the people of Iran to take their country back, to regain what was such a wonderful Western-style country before the Islamic revolution that has put them under oppression for so long. What are you hearing from Israel and others about kind of the way the operations are going as far as the timeline, and then also what the hope is on the other side of this?

So I'm going to actually, it's an excellent question. I'm going to actually read you just briefly, translating a little bit from the related to what you're saying, what's happened over the past 24 hours, and this is an Israeli military assessment, is that following the initial opening phase, operational emphasis appears to have shifted towards regime-affiliated assets while continuing to degrade Iran's missile launches and strike architecture. And that's what's key here, which is no half-measures here. The Iranian people have labored under this horrible regime for decades. They're looking for freedom.

We don't know what regime change is going to bring. No, and we're not going to be polyamish about it. And we're not going to, you know, we're not going to say that there's no risk here. But the risk of keeping this regime or allowing this regime to continue was literally intolerable. It is a risk that could have claimed the lives of millions of Americans.

And that's not overstating it because that is a combination of the fragility and brittleness of our grid and their capacity to damage our grid. That's a longer conversation, but it's literally that they could have struck and killed millions of us. That's what they were able to do. For. That's what they're hoping for.

There's no way that could be tolerated any longer. Israel, meanwhile, is bearing the brunt of this, and they understand that this has to happen. For them, it's an existential threat as well. And it could be in terms of the miscalculation that Jordan was saying before that the attacks on Gulf states, instead of inflaming them and making them try to force America out, and again, it's still early days. That could still happen, but it seems to have strengthened their resolve to get rid of this threat once and for all.

And so, regime change is the goal because the odds are vast that what comes next could not be worse than the insane, honestly, you know, cataclysmic end of days goals of the regime that's been there until now. Absolutely, Jeff. Thanks for joining us again. Jeff Alabama from ACLJ, Jerusalem. It's always important for us to have an office there.

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Welcome back to Sekulow. It's time to take your calls and comments: 1-800-684-30110. And by the way, You don't have to be on one side or the other. You can be on the other side of where we are right now. We want to hear from you.

We want to, again, as I say, I always check the pulse of what's going on in America. A lot of you are calling in, though, right now.

Some of you about to hold for a very long time. Let's go to Michael in Washington. You're about to hold for 45 minutes. I appreciate it, Michael. Go ahead.

Well, hey guys, best wishes. I hope your dad's well. Oh, yeah. My thing my concern is, I guess, lack of information is how our domestic oil production is going. That's a major concern of mine.

I think the left is going to kind of do a doomsday punch on the economy based on the events over the weekend. I think we should get a preemptive strike on that. Do you anticipate some more info coming out and maybe more info on the economic Yeah, the response to this. Michael, you are right that it has become another one of those big talking points I've seen, which is people are taking pictures of the gas and saying, just wait, just wait in a week, wait in, or you know, sometimes it takes time, wait in a month because this is going to have huge economic impact. Right.

Well, the price of oil is up 5.5% today already. It'll go up and down throughout the day. A lot of that has to do with the uncertainty due to the Strait of Hormuz conditions. Iran attacked a couple of commercial ships. One was actually one of their own that was sanctioned, but they did it as a propaganda piece to be like, look, we can take out commercial vessels and shut down the oil trading and global export system.

In reality, that is part of the reason why, as you heard President Trump say that they have taken out nine or ten of the Iranian Navy ships, is to try and get that under control so that the Strait of Hormuz does not shut down, so that they can have ongoing exports. Out of the region so that this isn't affected too badly for too long. And I think that is kind of the situation. It's probably not a long-term issue, but it is a spike now. Yeah, I think you might see short-term spikes that go up and down by the day, and that will take time to trickle down to the actual consumer because oil is already here that you're going to be utilizing for the next month or two.

The second part is we're also coming out of the winter. We're not out of it yet, but we're now in March.

So we're coming out of the coldest, some of the cold, we're in one of the last colder months of the year.

So that also impacts the price of oil. And then long term, and when I say long-term, I'm still talking months here. If the Iranian regime falls, Completely. The Houthi rebels that have been causing so much of the issues in the Strait of Hormuz and with commercial shipping will have no more major country backing them. They won't have Iran backing them anymore.

And so it will be safer to move oil around, and Iranian oil may soon be available to the Western world. Uh and and so you've opened up all A new market. What happens then? Much like Venezuelan oil is. What happens then?

The price of oil ultimately goes down.

So I think long-term thinking here, and again, I'm doing this as an American, so long term just big months. Down the road, I could see the price of oil actually going down. This is not a crisis where, like we saw in the 70s. where this regime came in and and the and the people were lined up This is the opposite of that. Those guys have all been killed.

They're gone.

Some of the worst perpetrators of the hostage crisis, like Ahmed Inijad, are dead. The Ayatollah, dead. This is it's an unprecedented time, so to make exact predictions I think is impossible. But Short term, could we see some increases? I think, yes.

Could you see some decreases short term, too? Possible as well. Long term, I think it makes it easier. And that's probably what the left also doesn't like. It makes it easier to move international oil.

Let's go to Jeff in Ohio, who's got an interesting comment. Jeff, go ahead. Hey, thanks for taking my call. Yes, you've mentioned that much of the leadership has been taken out, the mullahs, the brass, and whatnot.

However, To help the people take their government and totally end this regime. Do you think maybe the CIA and or Mossad may be quietly coordinating with Artesh Brass right now to turn on the IRGC, the Bassiege and the Pas Daran and shut them down for good? I would say that's probably likely, but we won't know that. I mean, and what we want is for the Iranian people to be the face.

So whatever support they may be receiving in a clandestine way, ultimately, as you heard from President Trump, Secretary Hagseth, and all U.S. leaders behind this effort and our international allies in this fight, is that this is a moment for the Iranian people. Ultimately, when it is safe for them, as President Trump said, to not just shelter in place, to take back their government, and this may be the only opportunity they have for decades.

So they will have to be on the front lines of that. And there might be fighting, and there might be those. But I believe they're willing to do it. And I do think they'll get support, but I don't think we'll ever know. In this lifetime, we might not know exactly what that support is.

Yeah, there was a rumor going around overnight that. how they found these people. was due to mossad agents who were placed as dentists who then put tracking devices in your teeth. That may or they said that it's been debunked, but you know what? We live in a world and they're so in there after the beepers.

I'm like, you know, that's not unbelievable that that could actually occur. They've been surveilling their movements to know that they were all in those, they were going to have those meetings and that Iranians believe that the first strikes would usually occur in the evening, so not during the day, so that they were safe to be above ground during the day. And we flipped it on it this time and we attacked in daylight. Yeah, I think that's the kind of not funny part, but the interesting about all this is that with the Mossad, all bets are off. Who knows what they actually do?

And it's true for our people as well. CIA, I think, takes it to another level. Yes, absolutely. We don't even usually get to ever find out exactly how they were involved. Let's go to Brian in North Carolina.

Brian, you're on the air. Hey, thanks so much for taking my call. I took I called a few days ago And my one concern was not foreign policy, it was the The Christian revival that was going on, and you guys called it, and I just want to commend your analytics. I love your show. I love your mission.

I'm able to send a small amount of support every month to support it. And I'm just so I mean, I'm almost emotional trying to talk about it. because I know several Iranian citizens here where I live And I've checked on them since this operation began, and without exception. Every single one of them is thrilled. because almost none of them said that it was safe for them to go back home or because their reputation is known.

And some of them aren't even Christians. They don't fear for their life because of their faith. They feared for their life because they were not aligned with the present regime. Brian, I think you're right. And I think when people are going after you, maybe they go after people online, they say, How dare you do this?

This is all President Trump. That's the number one way to fight back.

So go talk to your Iranian or Persian friends. if they have any. Usually they live in an echo chamber. And they don't, because you know what you're going to find? You're going to find maybe one out of every 100 that does not agree.

With this, this is where all of them seem to agree. The praise in the streets, look what's happening right now in our country and there, all over the world. Don't let the narrative that gets put on you as some guilt trip. Outweigh the actual good that's happened here. We only got a minute left.

So, unfortunately, Ronald, I know you're a longtime caller. We'll get to you another day. I appreciate it. And, Deborah, we just ran out of time. Thank you all, though, for watching.

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Yeah.