Today on Sekulow, we have breaking news as the U.S. Navy blocks Iran's economic lifeline. 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. Welcome to Sekulow Will Haynes in the studio today. And it's just me flying solo today.
So give me a call at 1-800-684-3110 because I want to hear from you. And we are talking about the negotiations that took place in Pakistan over the weekend with Vice President Vance as well as Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner with the Iranians. They negotiated for 21 hours. And we're unable to reach a deal. Not only that, the vice President felt like after those 21 hours, the red lines that the United States had in place.
They're non-negotiable, so to speak. Iran was not going to budge on. Mainly, reopening the Strait of Hormuz with no tariff or tax or toll placed on it by the Iranian regime. as well as the enrichment program going away for Iran. Iran seemed to be way too entrenched in the idea that they will continue their nuclear ambitions.
So, what did the Vice President do? He came back to the United States, walked away from the table. The Americans gave the Iranians a chance to continue, for that regime, whatever it looks like, to continue. And they were unable to come to the negotiating table in good faith, in a way of saying, listen, we know this is all about our nuclear ambitions. And maybe we will retain the right in some way that we can do this, but we are agreeing that we will not.
We will end these nuclear ambitions. And as a result, President Trump did something that I don't think was on a lot of people's radar. He has imposed a naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. This is, as you remember, Iran saying they had closed the Strait of Hormuz. It was supposed to be reopened as a part of this ceasefire.
But what did we see? Iran picking and choosing who was allowed to go through. Not a true reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. And who are they letting through? Uh, the ships that were going to make them money.
The ones that were going to help prop up the regime, the economic lifeline of Iran. They wanted to keep flowing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Meanwhile, the world economy was still feeling the strain of their so-called blockade.
So the President was fighting naval blockade with naval blockade and implemented today at 10 p.m. Eastern Time this morning. I'm sorry, 10 a.m. Eastern Time this morning, a naval blockade of our own using our great Navy. On both sides of the Strait of Hormuz, sending destroyers deeper into the Persian Gulf than they had been before.
to stop the Iranian economic lifeline. Saying that any vessel Entering or departing the blockaded area without authorization is subject to interception, diversion, and capture.
So we are using the strength of the US Navy, the finest Navy in the world, to put pressure back on Iran. This is now an economic phase of this conflict with Iran. How do you feel about it? Is that something you expected from President Trump? That out of those talks, not just a resume of the air campaign immediately, still letting this so-called ceasefire go on for a little bit longer, even though they've stepped away from the negotiating table as it is, and putting this economic pressure on the Iranian regime.
What are your thoughts? I want to hear from you: 1-800-684-3110. I'm also going to later in the program talk about that story that broke over the weekend where Eric Swalwell, the representative from California, has suspended his gubernatorial campaign. We'll talk about that later on in the broadcast as well. What that means for the race for governor of California, what it means for the Democratic Party.
And what it means going forward with this political world that we are living in. Give me a call if you want to talk about that as well. 1-800-684-3110. And I want to tell you, we are launching this week. Our Law and Justice Week here at the ACLJ.
You can double the difference when you support the ACLJ by going to aclj.org/slash justice. But we're going to really break down the work of the ACLJ when it comes to our Supreme Court work and what that means. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Sekulow. Will Haynes here, and I am taking your phone calls on this issue and many others at 1-800-684-3110.
But I also want to read from you: this is something President Trump posted on Truth Social just about an hour before the broadcast started, and it says: Iran's Navy is laying at the bottom of the sea. completely obliterated, a hundred and fifty eight ships. What we have not hit is their small number of what they call fast attack ships because we did not consider them much of a threat. Warning. If any of these ships come anywhere close to our blockade, they will be immediately eliminated, using the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on boats at sea.
It's quick and brutal. P.S. 98.2% of drugs coming into the U.S. by ocean or sea have stopped. Thank you for your attention to this matter.
And what he's referring to there is these fast boats that are able to quickly get to places. They use them to board vessels. It's really not the type of naval ship that you're thinking, but they also are able to use them to place mines, things of that nature. They're a very disruptive force in the Persian Gulf. When you think about the Navy that he's talking about, that is talking about the more traditional destroyers, battleships, things of that nature that were targeted earlier on in Operation Epic Fury.
What we see now is this move by President Trump after the failed talks in Pakistan over the weekend. where he is really putting the economic pressure on the regime. If they aren't able to make money to replenish their stocks, replenish their military, that's a big strain on their ability to continue.
Now it becomes this this Point of pressure for both the world economy because of the way that Iran is blocking the Strait of Hormuz and has been, even after agreeing to open it. Remember, it is supposed to be free-flowing traffic at this point. With this ceasefire. It was a part of the negotiation of the ceasefire to continue these talks. And they haven't really lived up to their end of their deal.
Surprise, surprise. It's the Iranians. Do you really expect them to live up to their end of the deal? But now after giving them the opportunity to show good faith, to open up the strait, to not be firing on their Gulf neighbors, which they've continued to do, the U.S. has shown restraint.
We haven't been running our air campaigns. We haven't been launching attacks on the regime since that ceasefire last Tuesday. But remember it's only a two-week ceasefire. And now the President is putting ships in place and our Navy in place to try and push back on the control they've put over the Strait of Hormuz. This is the more naval chess game, the game of risk, if you will, where they're putting assets in place to try and allow traffic that they authorize to go through.
while not allowing the Iranian vessels that will provide economic benefit to the Iranians. Through.
Now what does it also do? It also puts pressure on China. A big customer of Iranian oil. If that oil isn't able to go through, China has to go to other markets. They have to do make other deals.
That also does put also on the global supply. If there is less supply, But the demand is coming from places it isn't normally, like China. That could push prices up even further.
So it's really who can outlast at this point? And we also know that there's just over a week left in this ceasefire. We'll see what happens, how it plays out from there. Will we go back to a bombing campaign? Will we go back to a strategic strike campaign?
I want to hear from you. 1-800-684-3110. And let's go ahead and take Matthew calling from Colorado on line one. Matthew, you're on Sekulow, you're listening on radio. Go ahead.
Yes, sir. I was in the US Navy from 77 to 81. And in the winter and fall of seventy nine, My kids went up and down the Iranian coast. Dozens of time. And I was just sad that we didn't take care of this situation way back then.
Matthew, one, thank you for your service and one, being there firsthand and knowing that. And we've heard from a lot of individuals calling into this show. That served in the military, that were deployed in that region. They'd say the exact same thing. Our members of the military know specifically, not just from Matthew's era, but all the way up to those that were in the global war on terror, they know.
The bad actors that Iran are. They lost. uh men and women in uniform that were fighting alongside them. Two Iranian proxies. to Iranian militias in Iraq.
They know that Iran has U.S. blood on its hands. And that if you hear from callers that call into this show, like Matthew and others, that were in different eras serving in our military, they all have a pretty uniform message. Obviously, they don't speak for every individual that's ever served, but the ones that call into this broadcast seem to have a pretty uniform message. Take care of the problem.
The problem is the regime. It is the Islamic Republic. It should have been dealt with a long time ago. Many Presidents had an opportunity to do this and always said it was a priority of theirs that Iran never have a nuclear weapon. But we know that they've had a centrifuge program since the 80s.
We know that they have enriched uranium up to the point. Of just being a week away from turning that 60% uranium to 90% enriched uranium, which can go on a warhead. They have put all the pieces in place. We know what their aspirations are. Don't let people tell you that this fatwa that was in the early 2000s that outlawed having a nuclear weapon is something that they actually believe.
That's them lying to the world and trying to say, look, we're good. We're good here. We just want it for medical isotopes, we just want it for civilian power. We know those are lies. because they've been working on this program for decades.
They have a nuclear power plant. How much of that material that they've enriched has gone to their nuclear uh civilian nuclear power program? Zero. They get it from Russia. It's all a lie.
And that is going back to even this ceasefire saying we will open the Strait of Hormuz. They just lie.
Now I also think That the talks that happened in Pakistan were a very smart strategic move for the domestic audience of the United States because there are those, even on both sides of the aisle, that are very apprehensive, skeptical of this campaign in Iran. Many on the right that have turned away publicly said this is, you know, President Trump's being controlled by Israel. He's not. The United States is doing the bidding of Israel. We should have never been in this.
No, the President was always clear-eyed what the mission was here. The President has also. Not just gone in with the military, has given them the opportunity to negotiate. But from a position of strength, that if you don't get there, we are going to make sure you don't have a nuclear program one way or the other. And even after this campaign allowed them to come to the table, met with the Vice President of the United States in Pakistan.
And what happened? They were unable to accept The red lines the United States have: an open strait of Hormuz with no toll by Iran, as well as. abandoning their nuclear ambitions forever. They just can't get there. They wouldn't do it.
And I also think it's important because J.D. Vance. speaks more to that isolationist group of the conservatives and Republicans in America. Those that are skeptical. of this Operation Epic Fury in Iran.
He went there. He was given the power to go there and make these deals, do this negotiation. And after 21 hours, he walked away. And he's going to come back, and I think he is in a unique position to sell to the American people what the next step is. Because we aren't just going to walk away and be like, ah, we're done here.
Pull all the military back. We're done. We did enough. There will be something next. And right now, this strategic blockade.
is very important. because it is putting another layer of pressure on this very fragile regime. The concept of the Islamic Republic is standing for now. But as we've seen, how quickly leaders are gone through, we hear. From different individuals claiming to speak for the Islamic Republic, whether it be their parliament leader, the speaker of their parliament, or whether it be the written statements we see from their so-called supreme leader, the son of the Ayatollah Khomeini, who was killed in the very first day of Operation Epic Fury.
They don't really know who is leading this at this point.
So therefore, put more pressure on. And this economic layer is just the next level of that. And we will see where it goes from here. But you better believe something is coming next. And that is the plan that the President, the Vice President and the Military Advisors are all putting in place right now.
I want to hear from you. 1-800-684-3110. Tell me what you think about this layer of it. It wasn't really something we expected. That the US would come out of this and immediately say, you know what, we're going to do a blockade on your ships.
But here we are. Tell me what you think. 1-800-684-3110. We will also be talking about Eric Swalwell leaving. The governor race in California, what the impact of that is, what the strategy of that is for the Democrats now in California.
If you wanna talk about that, 1-800-684-3110. But when we come back, I'm gonna talk about our Law and Justice Week. Just launched here today. And if you want to double your impact, aclj.org. Welcome back to Sekulow.
Will Haynes here today, and we are going to take a little bit of a diversion from the Iran topic and other things going on today, because I want to tell you about something we launched today. This is our Law and Justice Week at the ACLJ. And we know, based off the nature of media these days, is that we have new people joining our broadcast, joining our media, our radio program, watching us on Salem News Channel all the time. They come here, they find great analysis from experts. They hear about our legal work.
But the ACLJ may still be new to them, not fully understanding or grasping what all we do at this organization and why supporting us matters. Not just for the truth that we will tell you here, breaking down topics, breaking down the legal angle of them, or talking about our work, but the organization, which we have now been blessed by God to be around for more than 35 years. Fighting all the way up to the Supreme Court and winning massive victories. Not just for our clients here at the ACLJ, but for the American people, for the American framework of law along the way. I personally, I have been around this organization my entire life.
I have known the Sekulow family my entire life. And I've been able to see growing up. The great work of ACLJ throughout all of the eras, all of the battles that have been fought. And it's remarkable. And that's why I am proud to work here and to be a part of this and to be a part of this broadcast now.
I've been the executive producer of this broadcast for many, many years. And now, as I speak to you, I've never been able to give that perspective of what I've seen from someone who's been in the control room, like many of my colleagues here, that are some of the best in the business at what we do when it comes to broadcasting. But we also have the best in the business on the legal side. I have a document here I'm going to be going through this week, it's three pages. of work that we are doing right now.
That is either directly at the Supreme Court or just below the Supreme Court that could reach there. We have two CERT petitions. That's where you ask the Supreme Court to take your case. It's been through the district court level, the appeals process, and then for one reason or another, You are now at the Supreme Court asking for the highest court in the land. to decide and rule in your favor.
But it's not a guarantee. When you appeal all the way up to the Supreme Court, they only take a handful of cases a year. And when they take that case, you know that it means they see that there is something of national importance here. That they need to make sure is corrected, or that they can reiterate what the lower court said so that it applies nationally. Two of those cases are Dershowitz versus CNN.
We'll be talking about that later in the week. But if you've never heard of us or never heard of this case, that's a very important case where we are directly going against the media landscape. Where they can lie so clearly and with intent, knowing what they are saying is false. And have this wall of separation, this superpower. against defamation claims.
That would be going against this precedent that an earlier court set in New York Times versus Sullivan. We'll talk about that later in the week if you haven't heard about it. Many of you regulars know exactly what I'm talking about with this, but it's very important. We are asking the Supreme Court. To take that case.
Another one is California versus Calvary Chapel.
Now, this is a very important case as well, because as we talked about even last week, all the fraud that's rampant in California, and we'll be talking about California a little bit later with that governor race that was shaken up a little bit over the weekend. But we know that California has a history of targeting people of faith. They have done it systematically, whether it be when Kamala Harris was the attorney general and we had to fight there, where they were trying to force. Pro-life pregnancy resource centers. to advertise Where individuals coming to that clinic Could get an abortion, something antithetical to the message of a pro-life pregnancy resource center.
They were forced by the state to advertise where you could go get an abortion. We fought that, we won that. Because that was unconstitutional. It was an attack on people of faith and people that are pro-life. Right now, we have this case that we are asking the Supreme Court.
to hear. And it's been distributed for conference, meaning. That the justices of the Supreme Court will see all the briefing. They will see our cert petition where we asked the court to take it. They will see California's reply saying why the court should not take it.
And our final response to their response, which is once again addressing some of their claims. There are also amicus briefs that go into this, where outside groups know this is of importance and they weigh in too. They tell either the court on the side of us, saying, Hey, you should hear this, this is outrageous. And try to reiterate those arguments, maybe from a different perspective, as well as those that maybe support California say: no, don't hear this. Let the lower court standing stand.
And this is a case that is nearly six years old, where the State of California went after Calvary Chapel, San Jose, and they wanted nothing but to shut them down during COVID. And I have a video I'm going to play you later. I just realized explaining all this because I think it is so important, especially if you're new to the organization. Why we do what we do, and how much work it takes, how long this takes, the resources that it takes to do this. But we have asked the court to take this because Calvary Chapel In San Jose.
Is still facing $1.2 million in fines from the COVID pandemic over masking rules. We learned last week how deep the fraud in California goes, where one fraud ring that was doing hospice fraud defrauded the state of $267 million. That's one fraud ring, 21 people. $267 million. They were able to defraud the state.
to get that money. Is that because the state is so hyper-focused on trying to collect? COVID fines in 2026, they're willing to fight this all the way to the Supreme Court. They could have found a way to make this go away. They are spending way more money as a state.
to make a point. To collect this money. From a church. When we know how loose the rules were for bars, nightclubs, for Governor Gavin Newsom himself when he wanted to go to a fine dinner. But if you're a church We are going to make sure you pay.
That is what they're doing in California, and that's what we fight for here at the ACLJ. We fight for the church. We fight for your First Amendment rights, whether it be freedom of religion, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly. We fight for that here. And you know what?
That church that's facing a $1.2 million fine, guess how much they're paying the ACLJ for the best lawyers in the business? Zero dollars. They are paying zero. for this representation at the Supreme Court.
So that's where you come in. As we fight this week for Calvary Chapel, for all Americans of faith. During this Law and Justice Week. You can stand with us. You can go to aclj.org slash justice.
The difference you make is doubled. Your donation, whatever it may be, is matched. And that goes to not only help fight these cases in Calvary Chapel versus California, or fighting against the mainstream media and how they get away with so much libel and slander and defamation. With no consequences. It goes to the other three pages of legal work that have Supreme Court and national implications.
So, I encourage you as someone who has watched this organization my entire life and am proud to work here and make a difference. I encourage you to join me. Double the difference at aclj.org today. Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow.
Welcome to Sekulow's second half hour of the broadcast. If you want to talk to me on air, 1-800-684-3110, we just came off of a great first half hour talking about this blockade that the President has put in place with our Navy, as well as where I was able to go through really and break down why it's so important the work we do at the Supreme Court. And what's remarkable too is how many cases that this organization has been able to take to the Supreme Court. I mean, statistically, you are not likely to get a case heard by the Supreme Court. There are so many CERT petitions filed every year, and they only have so much time.
They only take so many.
Some, they may just say no. They may also write orders or remand it back down. There's all different paths that the Supreme Court can take. But Actually, granting cert and having oral argument is the anomaly because of how many come in. And the ACLJ over the years has had dozens of cases actually heard by the Supreme Court.
And we win those cases because this organization employs the best lawyers, and we know we are also on the right side of the law. the right side of the Constitution.
So we'll get into more of that later. I did want to go back to this Iran issue, and this is a question that comes up frequently. We see it pretty regularly around this entire situation. This was a question that came in from Rumble, and it was specifically asking. If we don't get our oil from the Persian Gulf or from Iran even, And we are mostly energy independent here in the United States.
And by that, it means that we produce more oil here. Than we consume.
Now, we do still buy oil from other countries as well.
So it's not energy independent in the sense that we are the only ones using. The oil that we produce and the oil we produce is only used, the only oil that we consume is produced by us.
So we do still buy outside oil, but we are a net exporter, meaning oil that's produced. is more than we use and a lot of it is sold around the world as well. Because of the way the oil market is and the way that it's a commodity, oil is traded on commodity markets. That the price of a barrel of oil is a mechanism of supply and demand, global supply and demand, because it's a commodity. And so when.
The supply, the global supply, no matter who's producing it. is decreased. But the demand stays the same globally. That naturally forces The price up. In economics, it's an equation of supply and demand when you don't have equilibrium between supply and demand, where you have enough supply to meet the demand, where those paths cross.
That's where the price is set. But when you have the supply drop, there's a gap, and that forces prices up, not just in places that are receiving it from the Persian Gulf, but around the world, because other countries are trying to then fill their supply needs, going to other places. That naturally drives up the price of oil.
So even though we are energy independent and we are a net exporter, Because we are a net exporter, it also drives up the price of oil. That's going to happen naturally when 20% is blockaded, 20% of the world's oil. One fifth. is blockaded. That is naturally going to drive up the price of oil everywhere.
And that is also because we don't have nationalized oil industry here. It is a free market in that sense. It is, the price is set by supply and demand on a global scale, and not just as simply as I laid out. But yes, that is the Direct impact of when 20% of the global supply is impacted, it's going to drive prices up. everywhere globally.
So I hope that explained it for you. I had a comment in Rumble and I wanted to get to that. And we'll talk more about it later. But once again, we are in our Law and Justice Week. I just explained really the importance of our work at the Supreme Court.
It's an honor. To work for an organization that has such a pedigree when it comes to winning at the Supreme Court and standing. your First Amendment rights. And once again, you can join us today at aclj.org. Welcome back to Sekulow.
I'm going to get right to some phone calls. We've been talking about the blockade that the United States has put in place in the Strait of Hormuz to block the Iranian interests of getting through because we know that they have not been fully cooperative. When they said they were going to reopen the Strait of Hormuz with this ceasefire in exchange for that ceasefire, Really, they were just letting their friends through and not anyone else.
So they were still kind of keeping that blockade in place. Maybe they also were charging some tolls. There has been some reports of that, upwards of two million dollars per ship. Just to go through for safe passageway through. The United States is now putting destroyers on either side of the strait.
They will be blocking with a threat that any vessel entering or departing the blockaded area without authorization is subject to interception, diversion, and capture. Iran is condemning this, saying it's piracy. The United States are now pirates. Um I I think it's quite quite Remarkable of them to start claiming piracy when they blockaded it and then started demanding $2 million in toll money to go through. That's extortion.
Also, probably piracy. But I digress on that. But also, they are blaming the U.S. They're about to say, hey, this is the speaker of the Iranian parliament put up. On X on Sunday.
Hopes that people in the U.S. are enjoying the current pump figures, meaning the gas prices with this so-called blockade. You'll soon be nostalgic for $4 to $5 gas, they say. They also threatened ports in the Gulf region, whether it be natural gas in Qatar or other oil refineries in their Gulf neighbors, which normally have not been enemies per se of Iran, but they have quickly made them that through their nonstop bombardment. Of these neighboring countries ever since the beginning of Operation Epic Fury.
I know individuals and friends that are in Qatar, that are in Kuwait, that are the life of those main cities is very much indoors.
Someone referred to it almost as COVID-esque in ways.
Now, since the ceasefire, they said some more life has come back to the cities, but prior to that, It was Pretty much a fully locked down situation. You could, I guess, at your own risk go about, but many businesses were closed and things of that nature. A lot of things went online again, and they did describe it as almost a COVID-esque situation in places like Kuwait and Qatar and other places.
So, but I'm going to get to some phone calls here. As we continue to discuss this, let's go ahead and go to Martin calling online two from North Carolina. Martin is an ACLJ champion. That means Martin has decided to stand with the ACLJ with a monthly pledge, a recurring donation. That helps this organization continue with the fights that we have.
And we have a lot more we'll talk about this week. But, Martin, thank you for being a champion, and you're on the air. You're welcome. I appreciate what you're all doing. I had a comment, and you added something to my thought when you were saying just a minute ago.
Donald Trump is an intelligent individual and from what I see in retrospect, he doesn't make knee-jerk reactions to people.
So a week and a half ago, whenever it was when he said that if they don't meet the demands, he was going to take out the oil. He may have said oil fields. I'm not so sure in the back of his mind, he wasn't thinking about what he's doing now and which takes out their oil fields. And at the same time, too, setting up, or when he announced that, all of a sudden the left was talking about war crimes and 25th Amendment, he's crazy, da-da-da-da-da, that he was setting them up because when, and he said it earlier, this blockade starts or has started, if successful, and it should be, that the world economy is going to flip. and they're going to look silly.
Iran's going to look silly. But adding on to what you just said, I think I heard that the protection of other exports They would escort them through if need be.
So there wouldn't be that big threat from Iranians attacking them as well, too. But Donald Trump is smart. Don't take them. I think it was kind of a setup to get the left to start saying things and make them look silly and to fulfill what he said without divulging exactly what was going to happen. And this takes care of both of them.
Yeah, Martin, I don't disagree with much of what you've said, especially when, even in their notice, that the U.S. will be making the decision, any vessel entering or departing the blockaded area without authorization, that's a key word there. That's without authorization, meaning that with naval protection, we can start ferrying ships through. With the protection of the U.S. military.
I also know that they are with underwater drones as well as with the ships there. They are going through to make sure that the big threat that many people were concerned about was that the Iranians had placed mines in the Strait of Hormuz and that With them being the only ones that know where they are, they could lead people through and get people around that without causing. Too much destruction. Whereas, if you were just trying to traverse the strait and were going along, that there could be potentially mines which can wreak havoc on not only the ships themselves, but the confidence of the markets when you know, okay, it's not just that they may stop you, but the cargo itself could be destroyed. The insurance rates, they're going to be making that risk assessment when it thinks, oh, there could be minefields here.
So they are looking for mines. I have not. To this day, heard any credible reports that mines have been found in the Strait of Hormuz, even since the beginning of it. That's been the threat since the beginning. Even with those fast boats and things of that nature, they still have the technical capacity to get mines in the area, maybe not as quickly as if they had a full naval apparatus still, which most of that is at the bottom of the Persian Gulf at this point.
But yeah, I think that that is still a risk that they have to take seriously when we know that they have that capacity and they are right there.
So, Martin, thank you for calling in. I think it is an interesting point because that was, you know, part of the big threat: they were going to be able to attack the infrastructure and the oil business, the economy of Iran. It didn't necessarily have to be through bombs. As you see here, the naval blockade is giving Iran a little bit of taste of their own medicine of grinding their economy to a screeching halt. That is the biggest moneymaker for the IRGC.
And remember, their entire economy. benefits the IRGC. That is what keeps the Iranian Islamic Republic. Viable in a sense is that the business community is mostly Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. It's not all military.
It has its tentacles in the entirety of the Iranian government. Business community. Military It is the state in and of itself. Even though there is a parliament, even though there are social services and things of that nature, it is really all controlled by the IRGC apparatus. And that is even why many for years said that the Ayatollah himself and the Guardian Council had lost a lot of their supremeness of the supreme leader.
Because the IRGC, if the Ayatollah himself went away, as you see, they still have so much control over the national affairs and the way that the economy works and the military state works that it is hard to root out. You have to not only take out leadership, but you have to have enough people defect. Leave that. But you think late-stage Soviet Union, where there were individuals trying that were a part of the state apparatus. And the KGB that was very similar in the intelligence services in Soviet Russia that infiltrated all aspects of society.
That when the writing was on the wall, there were so many people that started. uh jumping ship, trying to get asylum, fleeing uh because they knew what was coming or trying to become friendly to what was coming next. But there was also the pushback of those that are like, No, we still mostly control it here. We can hang on. And so there is that internal tension that I think you could see.
We are not there yet, but really that is how you will see regime change and a toppling of the Iranian the entire apparatus of the Islamic Republic. If it were to go that way, there are also other ways it could go. But I do think that we are more than likely headed in that direction at this point. Those in so-called leadership of Iran no longer feel as though. I feel like they don't feel like they can do a deal that gets rid of their nuclear power.
I think that is what is the hang-up here as well: is that I feel like these people may think if we were to give that up, we would be replaced. Because any other rational leader would say, you know what? Maybe we course correct here. Maybe we do something different here. And then we can be the leaders.
We can. Be the ones that rise from the ashes of this, but they can't. And I think that what comes next is going to be very telling. If you want to join me, I've got, I think, just one line open: 1-800-684-3110. Take some calls in the next segment, as well as a video about our Cavalry Chapel case.
Support the ACLJ today at aclj.org/slash justice and have your difference doubled. Welcome to Sekulow. Final segment of the broadcast before we get to some phone calls. And Gary, I'm going to go to you first when we get back from this. But I do want to play this video.
This is something our team put together: on this Calvary Chapel versus California case that we are asking the Supreme Court to take. It has been distributed for conference, meaning that the justices will look at the briefing on Friday. Uh April twenty fourth.
So, just under two weeks from now.
So, if you can support the work, go to aclj.org/slash justice and have your impact doubled. But if you can't There is something you can do right now, and that is pray. Pray that justice will be done here. Pray that our attorneys, all the hard work that our attorneys and other organizations work that we have put in. Will be looked at by these justices and they will say yes to taking this and hearing it and setting it right.
But pray for our team, pray for Calvary Chapel. That has $1.2 million fines still in the balance.
So you can pray, but you can also join with us, donate today. Help this fight at aclj.org. But I do want to play this video really quickly about it, and then I'm going to get to some phone calls. Let's roll it. A lot of people just give up on their religious liberty, their free speech.
They just walk away. The San Jose Church that defied Santa Clara County's public health order will have to pay more than a million dollars in fines. Calvary Chapel San Jose, just like many other churches throughout the state of California, was punished by draconian orders issued by Gavin Newsom during COVID-19. The freedom to believe. As you want to believe and to worship who you want to worship, but they're coming in and saying, No, you can't sing, you can't gather.
San Jose, California, this is where it all started, where the lockdowns were invented.
So there'd be prayer meetings, and they'd come in and they'd count the people and they'd have their charts. I mean, they were definitely harassing us. Santa Clara County says the church blatantly violated public health orders during the COVID-19 pandemic by continuously holding large indoor church services and not requiring face coverings for anyone, along with little social distancing. It takes clients. That are willing to stand up with courage, like Pastor Mike McClure and Calvary Chapel San Jose.
They refused to comply with orders that the courts recognized. Violated their fundamental rights to freely live out their faith and express their fundamental religious beliefs. Nonetheless, California has still decided to fine them millions and millions of dollars simply because they chose to meet. They fined us originally, my understanding, it was up to over $4 million of all those dollars. When you added it all up, we have been working on this case since May of 2020, and so what's that take us to?
I mean, that's almost six years now. We are asking the Supreme Court to take this case, not just to correct the wrong done to Calvary Chapel, for the future as well. We saw how the government can overreach, not just at the federal level, state and local level. And they purposely said this to us early on. The county says, We're just going to wear you out.
You know, we're just going to attack you. Did they actually say, is that a quote? They did. They told us: look, we have more money, we have more lawyers. The county's health orders did not treat churches equally to other gatherings, whether that be restaurants or sporting events.
People were able to freely remove their masks and live their lives, but churches. Churches were uniquely singled out. Freedom for people to choose. You know, it's not like you have to follow the church and do whatever we say. No, it's just let people believe in God, worship God, and don't dictate.
how we do that. I mean that's a total violation of the First Amendment. The Supreme Court has the authority to choose which cases it does and does not take, whether the Supreme Court is going to take this particular case or not. If it does, then we will be going before the Supreme Court on the merits and urging the court to once and for all. hold that religious freedom is meaningful even in cases of emergency.
And the Constitution continues to protect the rights of churches to worship freely. Equal treatment. That's what the Constitution demands and what we hope to have the opportunity to fight for at the Supreme Court. I hope that gave you a little bit of insight also into the history of the case, but why it's so important. As Jordan said in that piece, it's not just about Calvary Chapel, it's also.
About everyone. And one of the arguments California tried to make in their response to us was that, and this was a once in a hundred years pandemic. The odds of it happening again are not likely. It's like, no, that's not the point. You don't get to have these constitutional violations and target this church specifically just because it's an anomaly.
Let's get back to the phone calls. Let's go to Gary CallingOnline 3 from Michigan. Gary, you're on Sekulow. Thank you for taking the call, sir. Good stuff as always.
Thanks. I'm a former Army, Army Guard veteran. My father had a purple heart and four bronze towers in World War II, liberating North Africa and Europe. He made it through the war and lived quite a few years after that. But with the Iran situation, I'm not a geopolitical expert like you all are and some of your guests, but I mean, this is a religious fanaticism, that they we've been fighting with these folks or these type folks for 2,000 years.
And are we really going to be able to stop them without totally wiping them out? And if we do that, there'll be somebody standing in line behind them.
So I don't know, is there a different and about the nuclear places, is it possible at all that they might agree to having U.S. and maybe NATO officials come in there, stay there on every site they have and monitor their nuclear development? And if that goes south, Then maybe we could reconsider a more forceful plan. That's my thoughts on it, sir. Gary, I agree with you.
You know, as we know from scripture, that Matthew 24, where Christ said, you know, there will always be war and rumors of war. Yes, this isn't a new thing, as well as when you have what I call the apocalyptic genocidal death cult in the leadership of the Islamic Republic, that cannot recover. Remain because they will always try to reload and find a different path forward because their theology. Calls on the destruction of America and Israel so that they can rule the world.
So, yes, the Islamic Republic at some point needs to fall. But as well, thank you and your family for your service. The NATO and U.S. inspectors, that's what Obama tried to do with the IAEA, the UN inspectors, they cheat. We know they cheat.
So it's very hard unless they are there boots on the ground, an occupation, so to speak. I don't know that that's the path forward, but it's an interesting thought. Thank you for calling, Gary. Let's go to one more call today. I'm going to take Brian calling from Virginia because he has an opposing opinion.
I'm sorry, I just saw that. I am flying so low here today. But, Brian, go ahead. Great. Hey, I'm an Army veteran, and I hope this blockade works, but I just kind of wonder how it's going to go because, really, and we should open the straight, escort the ships through But, like, what happens with China?
China gets a third of their oil from Iran. Are we going to block Chinese ships from going and getting oil from them? That, you know, I mean, Brian, and I fully agree with you on this point. There is risk to this. This isn't just a, oh, why didn't we do this earlier?
One, yes, it does start to force China. I think that the strategy is get China to tell Iran to knock it off or come to the table. That's the hope. But once again, also. This could spark a bigger resumption to hostilities.
If they fire on one of the U.S. Navy vessels, breaking that ceasefire, any sort of thing like that, yes, it could get bigger. It could get worse in some ways. As well as someone comment. I have a family of eight.
and the gas prices are hurting. I hear you. 100%. And that is also where this is this chess match to some degree economically. Of who can sustain the pain longer, because now they're forcing that pain on the Iranians.
So we'll talk about it more as we go on this week, but Once again, this is the start of the Law and Justice Week. Go ahead and put that graphic up for everyone. This is the start of our Law and Justice Week, where we talk about our work at the Supreme Court. And folks, you can have. Your difference doubled at aclj.org.
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