We got breaking news of the war in Iran. President Trump threatens to take Karg Island. 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. Logan Sekulow, it is June 11th. Welcome to the show. Will Haynes in studio.
We're going to have Mike Pompeo joining us a little bit later. We do have some breaking news items. One of them is about the war in Iran, as President Trump this morning said that they are not opposed to and are considering all the options, including the seizure of. Karg Island, which is a major, obviously, area for the oil industry in Iran. We're going to talk about that.
But I also did want to let you know we are live right now as there is a breaking news item. The Pentagon is currently on lockdown. We don't have a lot of information right now, other than that there is a hazmat crew on site. There is potentially some sort of sensor that went off due to a substance that was found in the air. That there may be some sort of issues.
I don't want to bring up any big conspiracy theories or even theories at this point. We're just going to let you know that we are covering this.
Well, and here's exactly what is known at this time. If you're watching us live, they have sensors that monitor the air quality within the Pentagon. One of those sensors or more picked up what they call a scent of a biohazard. They took precautions immediately, evacuated certain areas, put the Pentagon on lockdown in certain sectors, and have issued a shelter-in-place order for the Pentagon.
Well, as called in hazmat crews, they expect this lockdown to last several hours, according to what is being reported, as well as there is something being tested, a substance.
So, whether or not this substance actually is a biohazard or not, they will find out. But it doesn't appear it wasn't just a malfunction. There is something to be tested. Yeah, and hopefully, this is just ultra being ultra-sensitive and a precaution. We will keep an eye on it, though, and we will cover it as you can.
Again, if you've not been to the Pentagon, if you've never experienced it, when they say a Pentagon is on lockdown, you're talking about probably nearly 30,000 people that work in the Pentagon. This is a city being locked down. This is a giant structure with tens of thousands of people that work there on a daily basis.
So, it's no small thing to lock down the entire Pentagon facility. We know at one point it was an evacuation of certain portions, but now on lockdown, it could last a few hours. On the other side of things, President Trump has made some pretty strong statements specifically. About Iran, including the potential need to take Carg Island at this point, which would, and again, what that looks like, because Carg Island, for those who don't know, Will, you can give us a brief background on it. This is where the major oil refineries exist.
We're talking about gas prices going up significantly in America. It is because, largely, due to the fact that Carg Island exists right now, and we're in a conflict with Iran. That's right.
So, Carg Island itself is where 90% of the issues are. Of Iran's oil exports go through.
So, if you were to seize control of that, you effectively seize control of the entire Iranian oil industry. It wouldn't just be at that point. blockading their ships from going to sell it, you then have control of the oil itself. This is also where President Trump has paid homage to what we did in Venezuela, specifically saying that, you know, when we took control of Venezuela's oil and gas markets, it worked out very nicely, brilliantly for both of us.
So we'll get into more of that, read the exact statements, and have sound from the President when we come back. Yeah, we should hear directly from the President because he even questions the fact of whether it is not only worth it in terms of he believes it's very much worth it in terms of the economic uh impact that it could have. But And I quote. He's not sure that America has the stomach for it. What does that mean?
Is that because of the loss of life that could come from this? Is it about troops that essentially have to be on the ground at this point? And not only troops. We were talking about taking a major oil refinery. There's going to have to be crews, staff, people that understand what they're doing here.
If you want to take control of this. Phone lines are open for you. What do you think? 1-800-684-3110. Again, also covering that hazardous material found at the Pentagon.
That's the Pentagon currently on lockdown. We're going to keep that coverage going as well. If anything new breaks, we will do it while we're live here, 12 to 1 p.m. Eastern Time. We'd love for you to join us.
No, phone lines are open. 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Sec Yellow again.
Kind of got two touch points right now that we're covering. One is President Trump just this morning making statements saying that it is time. He believes that it is time to seize Karg Island, basically the oil refineries of Iran. On the other hand, right now, as we speak live, and I don't want to blow this out of proportion, I also don't want to pretend it's not happening. There's been a hazardous material incident is what they're calling right now at the Pentagon.
Hazmat crews have entered. There is a large police presence, we know. They are on lockdown potentially for a number of hours that will come from this. This came from some sensors, and now they are testing materials.
So we're just getting the details out. I know there's not a ton of information yet to share, but I wanted you to know that we are keeping an eye on it. If there is more than just the baseline conversation, we will talk about it. Again, the Pentagon, for those of you who maybe can't picture this, we're talking about, as Will said, almost the size of a city. We're talking about tens of thousands, close to 30,000 people that work daily at the Pentagon, probably between 20 to 30,000 people that are there.
This is a large, incredibly large facility.
So for them to go on full lockdown, it is not so simple. I mean, it may be simple in terms of they probably have the actions ready to go, but it is incredibly disruptive for not only the people that work there, because you gotta think how many people work there that are not involved in this kind of work, that are just staff. And of course, for all their families and so on.
So, we're going to see how this plays out over the next few hours. We'll definitely see how it plays out over our next hours. We're on air. In the meantime, though, Will, there is updates in this war in Iran as escalations are growing.
Well, and I think, one, the Pentagon is going to be on high alert precisely because of what our other topic is. The Pentagon being the Department of War's facility where the branches of military have their staff and all of the planning and things that go along with our military operations out of the Pentagon. That is the headquarters for it.
So at the same time, that you're having the President uh uh issuing statements. This is the second day in a row that the Iranians in the United States have been trading fire back and forth after the result of that Apache helicopter being shot down on Monday.
Now, the President is saying we will be hitting Iran again. It says very hard tonight. The United States will be hitting Iran very hard tonight at some point in the not-too-distant future. We will be taking Karg Island and other oil infrastructure points and assume total control. Of their oil and gas markets, much like we have with Venezuela, which is working out brilliantly for both Venezuela and the United States of America.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. We should also play this sound because it happened just this morning when the President called in to Fox and friends, as he likes to do. Here's what the President had to say this morning. Look, my preference has always been to take Carg Island. Brian knows that.
I spoke to him a long time ago. Lawrence knows it. I spoke to him a long time ago. I said my preference would be that. I don't know that America has the stomach for it, to be honest with you.
You need to make a fortune. But I don't know that America has The stomach. I think they'd like to see us come home. And why would the President say, I don't know if America has the stomach for it? Obviously, he's going to do what he thinks is in the best outcome for America.
However, what you're seeing, and he is paying a tribute to there, is the division here at home over this war. Even on the conservative side, even under his base, saying we're done with this. He's saying, I don't know if America has the stomach to do what he thinks is necessary because Carg Island, which is controlled by the IRGC and the military. It's not just out there on its own with oil companies operating it, maybe some security guards. It is fortified because it is the very heart of their oil industry.
It is the heart of their economy in many aspects. And they will not give that up without a fight. And it wouldn't just be air raids, destroying things. If you want to take the hub of their industry, You would have to go in and seize it. And what would that require?
Special forces, marines. Actual troops going into combat with other troops that are trying to protect that. That would come at a cost. That would come at the cost of potentially American lives. I think that anyone that is looking at this, yes, it seemed what we did in Venezuela was so seamless with no loss of life that there were casualties, and even that was concerning to a lot of the American people.
This would be much more difficult than the sneak attack of taking Maduro in the middle of the night and therefore asserting control over their entire industry. This would be a real fight with the Iranians. Yeah, and I want to hear from you about this. Phone lines are open. We're going to take some calls right now: 1-800-684-3110.
Let's go to Michael in Florida. Watching on Salem News channel. Go ahead. American Life. Michael?
Michael, yes, go ahead. I just wanted to say that there's everybody in America must say, thank God they're in America. Thank God for Trump. I'm not a Trump. A man, I'm not a politician.
But what he has done to finish this war that's been going on for 47 years, where they've killed Americans, they've killed people all over the world. They've been the I phoned Fox my children phoned Fox for me about thirty years ago. I'm eighty-two. And they said, where should we go next? And I told them.
twenty eight, twenty nine years ago, if you're going in anywhere else, it should be Iran, because Iran are the biggest perpetrators of terror in the world, as I said, at that time. And it's the same thing today. Anybody, Hezbollah, Hamas, the only thing that worries me about the news, often they don't give it the true way it's through, you know. That, for example, if Hezbollah has been, whatever it is, they fire rockets into Israel for like hundreds of rockets every day. Then Israel hits back that Israel attacked Lebanon.
It's weird the way often the news comes through. Michael, even that, where we talk about the terror proxies, Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthi rebels, even their own IRGC agents around the world, I think that is why this other story that we're covering, the Pentagon being on lockdown right now. Is why a place like the Pentagon is on heightened alert for something like some sort of biohazard that could be released into the air system. Because the threat abroad that we are currently engaged in, with the President now saying, hey, we may take out their entire economy. Is a regime that uses terror to their advantage and have for the last 47 years.
So I think that these two stories aren't isolated when you start to see how quickly a censor going off at the Pentagon leads to an entire lockdown of the Pentagon because of the very words that the President is putting out there saying, hey, Guess what? We're going to hit them again tonight, third night in a row, much harder. And you know what we're also going to do? Take their entire oil industry, too. That is when the Pentagon and any other place in Washington, D.C., is naturally going to be on high alert for some sort of terroristic type threat that could be coming.
We are getting some sources indicating that this was a false alarm situation, but I've only seen some, a few sources who have said that they have received that. I'm going to wait till we have an official word here before I report that. But hopefully, and look, hopefully that's the case. Hopefully, this was a false alarm and/or an alarm that was very, very sensitive and was set off, and people jumped into action as they should.
So, we'll keep you updated on that. Hopefully, though, that is true and that the Pentagon is safe. With that, though, I do want to hear from you. I think when these situations happen in overseas in Iran, it also you want to start thinking about what this looks like at a global impact when you've had a non-global impact. A a decades-long impact.
Maybe you got kids or grandkids. We got a call related to that. What this looks like for their future as well. Phone lines are open for you. If this maybe moves you to call in, 1-800-684-30-110.
I'll be honest, my voice is struggling a little bit right now.
So if you want to call in, it'll do me a lot of big favor actually by calling in and helping me with some of this airtime. Jill in New Jersey, though, go ahead. Hi guys, I'm Joe. I'm the On God's in Control.
However, he's not here yet and I feel that If we're going to have any kind of future for our kids, grandkids, the United States. We have to end this. We have to Yeah. of what Iran does to the whole world. let this go.
continue on with the fight and let our future children live in peace. Jill, I think what you're saying I hear loud and clear. The the fact that what Iran did to begin their revolution as the Islamic Republic was take Americans hostage. We all remember the imagery. We've seen it.
And we know about the Iran hostage crisis. Most of the time, Iran has continued to hold the world hostage in many ways for 47 years with the threats that they put forward, with their terror proxies, with the global instability they've caused. And you're right. It is time. For the hostage crisis, not in the literal sense of what happened at the embassy.
But what has happened around the world? The fallout. It's time for that to end. Yeah, I mean, the fallout has lasted decades and decades and decades. Our entire lives, 10 plus years before we were even born.
This was not 10 plus years, but number of years before we were even born, this all really started. And now here we are finally maybe handling it.
Now, none of that has been. Done exactly how we've all expected or has planned, and maybe it's probably true for President Trump. But here we are, at the same time we are monitoring that lockdown at the Pentagon. Shelter and place order still in effect as far as we know.
So we will keep that updated as well. And you can give me a call, but go to aclj.org right now, become a champion if you can. That's at aclj.org. Welcome back to Sekulow.
Some phone lines are still open for you at 1-800-684-3110. President Trump's saying pretty much it's time for action. I think we should actually play back what President Trump had to say for those who are just tuning in right now. Is this bike two? Is that what we're going to go across?
This is bike two. Take a listen to what the President had to say just this morning. Look, my preference has always been to take Carg Island. Brian knows that. I spoke to him a long time ago.
Lawrence knows it. I spoke to him a long time ago. I said my preference would be that. I don't know that America has the stomach for it, to be honest with you. You make a fortune, but I don't know that America has the stomach.
I think they'd like to see us come home. Yeah, and when he's talking about having the stomach for it, I mean look, let's just be brutally honest. At that point we are talking about the loss of lives of our troops. Do they have the stomach? To take on what it would look like to take Cog Island.
He said it's always been his preference. He understands the economic impact from it. Look, he points to Venezuela as saying, Look, look what we've done there. We know people are hurting at the pump and that with oil in general. Of course, all expenses have gone up.
That is something President Trump certainly ran against. I don't think he really wanted to be two years into his term. and talking about inflation. I think people had hoped President Trump would come in, and the opposite would happen. That's how he sold it.
So, whether you agree with that or not, that is how it was sold.
Now, things change. Time changes. The world is very different. Think about 2000. In 2001, pre-9-11, what President Bush at the time, what he was running on.
He was running on compassionate conservatism, being a different kind of Republican. All of that changed in September 11th. You could say a similar situation started occurring when maybe there was this uprising that was happening from the Iranian people saying, we are done with being murdered en masse in our streets. And President Trump saying, we are going to stand behind you. That does change even the American psyche.
I will say looking at our chat, looking at the calls that come in. Part of me feels like though there isn't There's a social media pushback, and of course you have some of those Voices who were maybe on President Trump's side or campaigning for him have flip-flopped because of this, you still see a mass majority of our listeners and supporters who feel like that this is a necessary war. And I'm leaving that up to you to make that decision. I'm not saying whether right now it is or not. To me, when I thought about the original or the version of this, it was a full regime change, new government-free Iran.
That to me is very different than where we are right now. Let's take Karg Island and get our oil prices down. Not saying that's not necessary, not to say it was not good. I'm just saying that I understand his concern with people risking their lives over it. We have a call about that, and I think we should take it.
Let's go to Wallace, who's calling online too, watching on the Salem News channel. Go ahead. Yes, I think it's an acceptable risk. For loss of life in the military, if we have to take Carg Island, because we've already had casualties. Uh, the barracks bombing in Beirut.
I think nobody's ever uh compensated us for that.
So now President Trump is doing the right thing going forward, and any military man knows when you involve yourself in an operation, there is a possibility of casualties. I'm sure Pete Hagzek and the generals under him are going to try to minimize those risks and those casualties as much as possible. But I agree. I think they should do it.
Well, and Wallace, I think that you're exactly right. One, the Iranians have killed Americans and have American blood on their hands, and they have for a very long time. You you mentioned the bombing of the barracks, the marine barracks in Beirut. You also have to realize that during much of the Iraq war, many of the casualties of Americans were not from the party of Saddam Hussein. They were from Iranian proxy terror groups or Iranian militias that were either funded directly or just sent by the Iranians and the IRGC to go and exert their control over Iraq.
That is exactly what most of the fighting was for the length of time we were in Iraq. It wasn't just the. The initial phases fighting back against the regime that was in control there. It was actually fighting against the insurgency of Shia militias that came from Iran that were trying to take control of Iraq. They were killing, the Iranians were killing Americans.
That was, if you will, went from a regime change war and a mission for weapons of mass destruction. It evolved into a proxy war with the Iranian regime. It was direct fighting between United States military and Iranian-backed militias.
So it's a fantasy to pretend like we haven't been in conflict with Iran for a very long time. That's not what the media would have you believe. They would have you believe that this all of a sudden, everything was fine. Why did we poke the bear? Why did we go after Iran?
No, it's been going on, as Wallace pointed out, for a very long time, and we have lost a lot of lives. The difference here. Is that hopefully the end goal of this conflict is to end the loss of life of Americans by Iranians and end the ability they have to hold the world hostage, to have the region grind to a halt whenever they decide they want it to. And people can say, like, they've never exerted this force over the Strait of Hormuz before. Are you kidding me?
Their very existence and the threat that was there caused everyone to have to tiptoe around the Iranian regime and just let them be more entrenched. That in and of itself is exerting control over the Strait of Hormuz. They may not have closed it to raise prices, but it existed.
Well, here's just the truth. Just because you didn't know it was happening. doesn't mean that it wasn't happening. Just 'cause you weren't paying attention. doesn't mean that it never existed.
And we run into this problem a lot on social media. We run into this problem a lot, whether it's Iran, whether it's Israel, whether it's America. Our brains are very, very forgetful. we have a very short-sighted view on history. Sadly, We have to come back here each and every day.
Monday through Friday, and sometimes we gotta give a little bit of a history lesson. We got a phone call coming in. I want to take it because it's an ACLJ champion before we go to break. Julie, go ahead in California. Yes, my first question, I guess, is why would we even talk about taking this island?
Because we've lost the surprise and with the way Um we have these stealth uh like um Uh Soldiers that can go in, and half the time they don't even know they're there. They could have taken this probably without much risk if we didn't talk about it and tell the enemy what we're going to do. Julie, I think there is some truth to that, but a lot of it is a negotiation tactic. And then the other hand. is I don't think taking this necessarily goes in without the loss of life.
We Don't necessarily fully grasp the concept of Iran, I feel like, in this country, how big, how vast, and how powerful really that country is in a grand scheme of things. Sure, we are able to go in with technology, strategically take out the heads of it, but we are not talking about a little desert country in the middle of the Middle East. And I feel like that is the way we kind of picture it, even though we know that's not the case.
Well, and Julie, here is the other side of that as well. Iran knows that that's a very sensitive target because it is where 90% of their industry goes through. If you want to wipe out their economy or have that leverage over them, that you go after that. That's one of the reasons why it is controlled by the military and the IRGC. It's not just all of a sudden they're surging resources to it.
That's just who is in control of it.
So I understand that. And I've seen similar people saying, like, wow, the President shouldn't talk about it. You lose the element of surprise. They know, and from the beginning, they have fortified this, knowing even before there was a conflict, that would be. A target.
That would hurt the IRGC's ability to maintain control over the country because they run the economy there.
So I don't think that anything was given up by mentioning it. They already knew that that was a target. All right, phone lines are open for you. I want to hear from you. We got a second half hour of the show coming right up.
If you don't get us on your local station, find us streaming live now or later on archive. Typically, get your podcasts. Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now your host, Logan Secular.
Welcome back to Sekulow, second half hour of the show. Right now, we are still covering kind of two items, one of which is President Trump's indication that he would like to take Karg Island, which would take the oil refineries from Iran. I have to do that by force, have to do that with, let's say, troops on the ground, likely. And he's not sure the American people have what he quote-unquote said the stomach for it. What do you think?
1-800-68-431-10. Mike Pompeo is going to be joining us on the next segment. Haven't heard from Secretary Pompeo in a few weeks here.
So let's hear from him about what his thoughts are in the current situation in Iran. I feel like that is always where his expertise shows.
So we'll discuss that coming up in the next segment. I also take your calls at 1-800-6843110. At the same time, the Pentagon still on lockdown.
Now, it does feel like the news is starting to slowly move off from it because I believe there is hope. The sources are saying that this would be a potential. And if you, again, this only applies, this reason we are not covering this fully. This only applies if you're watching live because if you're listening to this later on, not 12 to 1 p.m. Eastern time.
It's not 12.31 right now, where if you're in the. Eastern time. Then this may not apply anymore because you may know the results already at this point.
So, we're not going to necessarily cover too much of this, but we are keeping an eye on it. Again, that lockdown that's happening right now at the Pentagon.
Some people are saying now it was a false alarm. Hopefully, so, prayerfully so. 1-800-68-4-31-10 to get your voice heard on the air today, though, as we will have time for some calls and some comments about this. I actually want to hop over to Dorothy in California first up. I'm just going to go ahead and take one of these off the top.
Dorothy, go ahead. Hi, thank you for chasing my call. I just wanted to say that by and large I have been against having the Marines go in for boots on the ground, but since this has happened, I feel like we don't have any choice but to go in and finish the job. I do support our President 100%. My son is a Marine and I'm very proud of him, so I totally understand the risks and everything that any parent or family member would have to go through.
If we go on with beef hitting the ground and the risks involved, the loss of life. I also feel we have. I appreciate your I really appreciate your statement. I'm only cutting off because there's an ambulance in the background and it's uh very hard, I think, for our listeners to listen to. But I, one, say thank you to your son.
Thank you to your family that's serving. Know how much we appreciate that, how important it is. But I think with President Trump, look, that's the one thing you can say about him. You may be for him, against him, whatever you feel like. He sometimes can wear his feelings and emotions in and honesty.
Very, very clearly and openly in public. And here's what he said: the American people, he's not sure, have the stomach for it. Have the stomach to take I don't think you would hear that from a lot of think about the 9-11 world or think about any of the wars that we have been in the last couple decades. There isn't that honesty. with the American people somewhat of the risk that's involved and the fallout.
That could come. And I think when you have President Trump hopping on Fox News and saying that. It comes from a place of, I don't wanna say vulnerability, but at least of contemplation. Being clear-eyed about it. And I think when you contrast that with what we saw from Senator Murphy yesterday saying, you know, President Trump has lost interest.
In Iran. He's now focused on the ballroom and other things. It's in reality. This, I think, does kind of give up here into the commander-in-chief role. Where he would admit I think this is the best objective for us.
I thought it for a long time. I just don't know that Americans are ready for it. Because that goes back to what he even ran on of. No new wars, no things of that nature. I think we go back to our caller, Wallace, that this isn't a new war.
This is something that's been going on for a very long time. The United States has been engaged in conflict with Iran, either directly or by proxy, for almost half a century, if you think about it that way. That at some point, you can't keep doing this. You gotta go and fix that problem and stop the threat to Americans, to our military. And in that, if you took over their means of their economy very well.
Could put them in a position where it also brings up the regime change issue, where. Could the people at that point with their entire economy crippled make a move that completely ends the Islamic Republic of Iran. Secretary Pompeo is going to be joining us in the next segment. I want you to be a part of the show too. Look, like I said a little earlier, I'll be honest as well.
My voice is struggling a little bit today, so I need you. I don't say that much, but I need you. Call me and get on the air today. 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110.
We'll be right back. Welcome back to Secretary Pompeo is joining us right now, and phone lines are open for you at 1-800-6-84-31-10. Secretary Pompeo and Will, you can take this too. It feels like every time we have you on, it's like if we had you on a week ago, we would have been saying, Hey, it looks like we may be headed towards the end of this conflict in Iran, and here we are.
Now we're going, maybe we're going to take Carg Island. You know, it always seems to get back to this point and never really takes a big step forward in terms of what would be the quote-unquote peace deal. And of course, a lot of this has to do with the fact that you are negotiating with a very different regime.
Well, surprise, surprise, the terrorist regime can't seem to get to the finish line on an agreement that Americans through diplomacy would be happy with. What's your take on where things stand right now? Obviously, we saw the Apache helicopter, which thank Thankfully, our members of the Army that were the pilots of that helicopter were rescued. No harm there. But then the trading of fire back and forth, obviously, still under the guise of a ceasefire.
But for all intents and purposes, that appears to be over. What's kind of your take on where things stand as of today? Yeah, hi, hi guys. Look, my sense is this. You've described it perfectly.
This regime can't take yes for an answer. We've offered them incredible solutions that would allow them to continue. They couldn't be terrorists anymore. They couldn't have the proxies. They couldn't have nuclear weapons or the capacity to make them.
And they've just said no, no, no. Couldn't be clear with the attack on the Apache helicopter. And we shouldn't forget firing at multiple U.S. military bases. The fact that we stopped them and Americans weren't killed isn't a sign that the Iranians are weak, but rather that we just have a remarkable set of technologies, but they are trying to kill Americans.
We should be unambiguously clear about that. I think that's what you saw and heard from President Trump this morning when he spoke. He can see that his patience. His time, his commitment, and effort to try and get to an outcome that would satisfy the things that keep Americans safe. And while while still delivering an outcome for the Iranian people that would be workable, is just Not likely to succeed.
And so I think we are witnessing the beginning of a return to significant combat operations, the opening of the Strait of Hormuz through military kinetic activity, physical activity. And ultimately, I think this will come back to harm the Iranian regime. And that's a great thing for the United States of America. Mr. Secretary, you've been very consistent from the beginning of this operation about what the outcome should be, what the goal of military, this entire action, starting with Operation Epic Fury, should be.
And that is that the Iranians should no longer have the ability to wreak terror around the world. And I We're seeing now this discussion about where President Trump says, you know, we may be taking Cark Island. That's where 90% of their oil exports go through. What strategically would that mean for the regime at this point? Obviously, they've lost leadership.
They've lost a lot of their capacity to organize in a meaningful way that they used to have. But now if the U.S. military were to take control of what would effectively shut down their economy, how would that play out? And what are the risk-reward scenarios kind of for our audience to look at?
Well, you bet. Look, you can never predict in war precisely how things will turn out. But we have a confused, fractured, broken Iranian regime. I talk about them, we all do, as if there's a singular enterprise. I doubt that that's truly the case today.
I think there are competing factions. Hardliners against hardliners. There's no such thing as a moderate, but they are all competing for internal political power. And I think you're seeing that play out.
So, were it the case? That we were taking this blockade, which has been incredibly effective at minimizing Iranian wealth and resources, keeping the world safer all by itself, a very powerful effort. To deny them the capacity to move product in and out of the major terminal in Carg, they would face another even more difficult set of decisions about how it is they're going to pay the police, the besiege, the internal forces, how is it you're going to buy munitions, all the things that often don't get thought about, right? Wars are often about logistics. Can you pay the workforce?
Can you pay the Military, can you pay the freight to get these weapon systems? Taking Karg would, or denying, at least denying Karg for economic benefit for the Iranian regime, would have an even more serious harm to the regime and create tremendously more opportunity for the Iranian people. And then, second, you know, I think it also signals. President Trump talked about surrender at the front end of this. I think it signals that the United States is there and prepared to do the necessary to get to the right outcome.
That, too, will give the Iranian resistance movement the capacity to begin to shape and, as the internet reopens, to begin to think about what this might just look like in the aftermath of the Islamic Republic.
Well, and you mentioned that it could give some sort of window for the people of Iran. And that's what those of us that have followed the conflicts with Iran that the United States has been in for almost half a century. If you go back to the hostage crisis, you know, this is not a new threat to America. But there's been this kind of competing narrative for this conflict of people saying, you know, this is unnecessary. This has nothing to do with America.
We know that's not true. But then those of us that really want to see a free Iran, that want to see the Persian people return to their place in the world and not. Be ruled by these theocratic death cult members that only want to usher in this awful theology on the world where they dominate the world. When you do talk about something with a fractured leadership, all these pieces. Seem to in some way be falling into place, then an economic turmoil where they can't even provide for their people, even though they don't do a very good job of that.
The President has said his stated goal in this is that they will not be a nuclear threat, that they will not have that capacity. Do you think, even the way this plays out, there is still a hope? Obviously, We can't predict the future, but there is a hope that the Iranian people could find a path forward without the mullahs in charge. I do. I think it's absolutely.
In fact, given all the remarkable work that the United States military has done under the direction of the Commander-in-Chief, President Trump, I actually think now it is more likely, more inevitable.
Well, what we never know, Will Logan, what we never know is timeline, right? You never know when these regimes will crack and break and the people will find a method by which to rise up. and change the fundamental nature of the folks that are leading them. And so I think we now have created more pressure, more opportunity for something like this to happen.
So I think it's far more likely to happen today as a result of Epic Fury, Midnight Hammer, and what we're doing even as we sit here than it was before all of that. The second thing I think is worth noting is it does matter for the Iranian people. We don't want 40,000 more of their citizens to be killed. That's just basic decency and American morality. But this matters an awful lot for the United States of America.
You can see energy prices are set globally. You can see what the impact this has on the American economy and the global economy. To get a regime that no longer can threaten the strait. Can no longer threaten Israel, can no longer threaten the Gulf Arab states, right? They're bombing their fellow Muslim brothers throughout the Gulf.
If we can eliminate that capability and create a set of conditions where the regime is no longer intent on doing that, we are doing a really good turn for the American people.
Well, as we look forward these days, we see what has happened this week. Slowly it re-escalating into right now just trading strikes. But as our audience watches and digests this news that comes forward, what should they be looking for as this looks? What should be tells even to look at that things are going back to a full-scale confrontation? Yeah, one way or the other.
Yeah, I think it'll be pretty apparent. By the way, I hope your audience doesn't think for a moment I think this is easy. It's a very complicated set of problems. There's a reason it's gone on 47 years. And I applaud President Trump for having decisively acted and achieved what we already have.
It's a good thing for my family and for everyone who's watching. I think you'll begin to see in the coming days an Iranian regime that's going to have this really hard choice to make. They're going to see the full force of American might. And somewhere inside the regime, some leader is going to have to step forward and say this is enough. They will do what they refer to as drink from the poison chalice and conclude this is not time to continue the fight and accede to the demands that President Trump has put on them.
Secretary Poppeo, thank you so much for joining us. We always appreciate your insights. Good to have you back on today as we know summer is continuing on.
So thanks for hopping in with us. We appreciate it. With that being said, I am going to take a lot of your calls and comments coming up in the next segment. I want you to be part of the show.
So Sheila, Mary, Jim, Cheryl, stay on hold. I'm going to get to you. We still have two lines open at 1-800-684-3110. Like I said, Will's able to take that segment because my voice is struggling a little bit.
So I would love for you to call in and help me out right now. 1-800-684-3110. But I didn't want, even with a little bit of a scratchy voice, for me to spend a day without asking you to support the work of the ACLJ. We're in one of our biggest moments right now. The constitutional battles that are happening in this country and the worldwide battles, by the way, that are happening that protect your rights and the rights of, let's say, Europeans who have similar struggles, or people in the UK, or or those in Israel, as we have ACLJ Jerusalem.
None of that happens without your work today. We're actually in court in Washington. Today we filed at the Supreme Court also of a religious liberty case. It's what's going on in Gavin Newsome. You've heard about those, those church fines.
There's so many things that are happening. The CNN case that we are saying you can't just be out there lying. This is enough. is enough with that. But We're on.
really the front of all of these issues. But that's only 'cause people like you support the work. And really those that support the work on a month after month basis, which is really great.
So, if you can at any level, starting I think at $5 just for processing fees alone, go to ACLJ.org, make your donation today, and opt in to become an ACLJ champion. We got two lines open, though. We'll be right back with your calls coming right up. All right, y'all did me a favor. All of you called in, and I appreciate it.
So, we're gonna go through a lot of these calls today.
So many of you have been hold for, I mean, close to a half an hour. We appreciate it. Let's kick it off with Jim, who's calling. In Kansas, watching on YouTube. Great place to watch, interact.
Let's go to Jim. Jim, go ahead.
Well, thank you having let me on your show today. We had our uh Republican meeting for our district, and I got a visit with the gentleman who's running for the House seat, who is a retired Green Beret colonel. And I asked him about his what he thought about the situation in Iran. He had two major concerns. He said, first, if the regime we're fighting against would get control He's concerned about the safety of the Iranian people, people in the Middle East, and then.
Around the world. And the other concern he has is if they could take over the The uh Uh place where they're running the ship through that uh He was concerned that they would stop a lot of the problems with the ship there and they would not be able to get through and cause a lot of economic problems for people. Jim, I think those concerns are very valid. I think a concern of saying if this regime comes into some sort of supreme power, Are they going to be any different than what was?
Now, President Trump says these are people who are easier to work with, and maybe they're more moderate, but. Time and time again That doesn't seem to be the case.
Well, in why President Trump's kind of red line, if you will, what he said is the objective of this is that they cannot have nuclear weapons. Why?
Well because we've seen what they're willing to do to people that are friendly with them, like Cutter. They were just launching rockets, non-stop missiles, at their neighbor that they have a good relationship with when this conflict started.
So they're irrational. They aren't, it isn't Russia or the Soviet Union when the nuclear arms race and the diplomatic situations with that. There's the doctrine of mutually assured destruction: that we both have enough nuclear weapons that the other won't use it because we would destroy each other.
So, therefore, we have them, it's a safety net, but no one's going to use them. Iran is irrational. They don't care about mutually assured destruction. They want a nuclear weapon, not as a hedge against enemies. to actually use it.
That's why they're developing all this technology.
So, to the man who's running for Congress there, he's not wrong. That is why this is necessary. They are crazy enough to do it. Yeah, we got a lot of calls still coming. I actually want to hear from President Trump.
He spoke about the uprising of people and the understanding that Iran is in a very different spot than maybe a lot of people expect. It doesn't necessarily answer the questions, but at least you know where his head's at, byte six. My message i to the Iranian people is they're afraid. Because they have no guns. And the other side has guns.
And they have a rally and they get shot. They hung the wrestler and his two friends. They hung him from a crane, believe it or not. Lyle, I believe, is their very top wrestler. And uh they hung them.
And they've gone. at least forty to fifty thousand people. And the people are afraid. You know, when you have a machine gun staring you in the face or when you have four snipers on four different buildings, Shooting people in the head. It's hard to have a rally, okay?
I understand that. Saying that, look, the idea was that people would have an uprising here, but they're scared and they should be in some ways. Let's go and continue on the conversation. This swerves us a little bit, but she's a champion. I want to take her, Cheryl.
It's calling us line five. Go ahead. Uh um So excited. My very first call. Oh, fantastic.
Jay, I saw you when you were a kid. Your dad helped me start my Home school in South Carolina. And I was able to take my kids out of a failing system. And it turned them into intellectual superpower. I love hearing that.
I love hearing that, Cheryl. Thank you so much for being so supportive over the years. I want you to know I'm calling today. Number one is In the Midwest, our families have given so much blood and treasure. I'm so offended by all these wimpy people on the left who think they've done something special.
No, my family has like nine people who are through everything except Space Force.
So we don't cheer for just one. We just let you figure out what God is calling you to. You know, I got three nephews. One isn't Is in the end of. And he helps now with those special planes.
He's teaching them how to fix them. You've got my other two that ended up in the Coast Guard. Their daughter ended up with brain cancer, and they were able to fix it. And then mine is 17 years in the Army. He's gone from a private to a lieutenant colonel.
You just don't know what God got before him. Amazing, Cheryl. I want to say first, thank you for your support. Beginning ACLJ champion. Thank you for your long-term support.
And obviously, thank your family, you as well as your children, your niece, nephew, everyone, for their incredible service to this country. It's always amazing to hear. Again, it sounds like sometimes those calls are planted. I assure you they're not.
So I appreciate you, Cheryl, for doing that, being supportive. And reach out, by the way. I love hearing that story. Maybe we could put you on hold and take our contact down because I think if we could do that, because I would love to be able to tell those stories, especially the ones that are decades old now sometimes, of how the ACLJ has worked. And maybe there's something we can work with you in the future.
I want to say this too, because Cheryl said, you know, we're. We're from the Midwest, and we serve this country. When you think back to when Kristen Welker went to the Midwest to Wisconsin to talk to President Trump, she said, I had to travel all the way here. I came all the way to Wisconsin. I want you to contrast that with there's a phenomenon happening right now where Europeans are coming to America for the World Cup.
And because of it's all over the country and all the training facilities and the games that are being held in SEC stadiums are happening in places that aren't New York, L.A., Chicago, Miami. It's happening those places too. But Europeans are taking road trips. They're meeting the salt of the earth Americans like Cheryl, like people in Auburn, Alabama, like people in Chattanooga, Tennessee. And they're saying, America is great.
This place is awesome. Those first games kick off in like a matter of hours. I think the next two hours, they'll be as we want to take quickly Mary and Florida Schmelhill for a long time.
Sorry, Sheila and Ronda, I'm not going to be able to get to you today. But Mary, go ahead. Hi, I'm really pleased to have this opportunity. I just wanted to say that. I am a little history.
My husband, my late husband, was involved in the Iranian raid.
So I'm very much Um you know On top of all of that. I know the story, and they must I'm just going to go ahead and say it, they must be eradicated. I'm talking about the regime. I remember when the Shah of Iran went down. And I guess I'm in my seventies, but let me tell you something.
We who have lived long enough, who have the honor to still be here and to be Americans, Uh well appreciate the fact that Your show allows us to have a voice. And not only that. we have the opportunity to share with with with uh with other decades of people that may not know. All of these. The strikes that these people have caused, and especially Israel.
My goodness, how much more can Israel take? Look, Mary, this is insane. I so appreciate your comment, and I wish I'd be able to take you earlier because I think that you speak for a lot of people. That's what we tried to do here. It's why I said sometimes we got to give a history last night.
And look, we weren't necessarily there when that happened, Will and I. We're out of that generation, but we are very well informed. Of what history tells us, and that we don't repeat ourselves. And sometimes America seems to do that. But here we are, and one-on-one, I want to say thank you to you and your family.
and your husband. For his service and everything that you have been a part of for this many decades as well.
So thank you and I appreciate it. With that, that's going to do it for today's show. Thank you to Mary.
Sorry to a few people I wasn't able to get to today. And I appreciate everyone who called in to help me get through some of this vocal trouble I'm having today. It's fourth work at the ACLJ at ACLJ.org, and tomorrow we'll be back with a brand new show, noon to 1 p.m. Eastern Time, live, aclj.org.
