BREAKING: Trump Declares Iran Deal DEAD

We got breaking news. President Trump announces the Iran MOU is DOA. Keeping you informed and engaged.

Now more than ever. This is Sekulow. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now, your host, Logan Sekulow.

Welcome to Sekulow. That's right, President Trump just announced. Is it NATO? Is it NATO? He's at the NATO Summit in Turkey.

Yeah, we can't say Turkey anymore, right? Turkey A. Yeah. Used to that. Yeah.

It's like when you're in the Ukraine war started and they're like, it's Kyiv. Yeah. It's like, nah, it's like when your sister decides your sister decided to be Carol Beth out of nowhere. You can't be a two-day. I hope she's listening.

Phone lights are open for you at 1-800-684-30110. President Trump did announce in that moment. That he believes now. He said there are people that want to negotiate, they want to talk through it. We'll have some, you can hear it directly from President Trump's mouth, but saying he believes that the MOU is dead, that these people are incredibly difficult to deal with.

Shocker, and we're not living up to their word.

So let's hear from President Trump about whether the ceasefire is done. This is bite one. Is the ceasefire over? Is the ceasefire done? Is the MOU dead?

It's a very interesting question. To me, I think it's over. I don't want to deal with them anymore, they're scum. You know what scum is? They're scum, they're sick people, they're led by sick people.

and they're vicious, violent people. And if they had a nuclear weapon, they'd use it. As far as I'm concerned, it's over. I'll speak to our negotiators. They want to negotiate.

They're good people. Steve Woodcoff, Jared Kush, but they have to come back to me. As far as I'm concerned, it's just a waste of time dealing with them. They're liars. We make a deal.

And they went, if I make a deal with him, we have a deal. And he goes out, he talks. We make a deal. Everyone's agreed. No nuclear weapon.

We make a deal. They go outside, talk to the press. They say we never even talked about it. There's something wrong with them, they're cuckoo. As far as I'm concerned, it's over.

Yeah. They're cuckoo, everybody. Give me a call. What do you think about this? Are you at all shocked that President Trump would make this statement so clearly saying to him the MOU is dead, that the ceasefire is over?

I want to hear from you. 1-800-684-3110. We got more from President Trump and his meetings there. We got a packed show, be honest with you. We got a great video presentation our team put together for this special Independence Week that we are still celebrating right now.

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So I encourage you to do that today. That's right. And we're going to get more into this as we go on. Why? Why did the President say it's dead?

This is as the U.S. military hit more than 80 targets last night. This is after Iran decided to strike some ships in the Strait of Hormuz. They were trying to transit that strait. And what do we find out?

The U.S. military was ready to spring into action, hitting 80 targets. There's a lot more to break down about that. What is the endgame for Iran here? What does the President think is going to happen?

Well, he doesn't think we're going to get to a deal as of today. And what does the military? relationship militarily look like now. What are we doing here? If the ceasefire is over, What is the prerogative of America at this point?

What do you think? 1-800-684-3110. Again, it has been a very contentious subject for a lot of people on the right and the left. The war in Iran? If now...

We are at the point where once again, The MOU is done. The ceasefire is effectively over, according to the President. What is it going to look like? President Trump, I believe, will be speaking soon as well. We'll keep an eye on that.

After they're saying new strikes have happened in Iran.

So, we'll discuss a bunch of that coming up. And we're also going to hear from Jeff Balabon, our ACLJ Jerusalem team member who is going to be actually joining us from Washington, D.C. My brother Jordan just walked in the studio. He'll be here in the next segment, too.

So, we got a packed show. Be a part of it today. And I encourage you once again, special week, Independence Week. Donations or double of any kind at aclj.org. I want you to do that today.

And we've got about four lines open: 1-800-684-3110. We'll be right back. Welcome back to Sekulow. We got some phone lines open for you. 1-800-68-430-110.

I do see a bunch of you are just joining us right now. President Trump is declaring that the MOU. That Iran deal. Is dead. President Trump is speaking right now in Turkey at NATO.

Let's make sure that there's anything we need to pop in that we could pop in live because I know a lot of you would like to hear if there's any sort of updates or anything news happening right now, because there has been some movement in Iran.

Well, that's right.

So yesterday there was news that Iran had struck three ships, shipping vessels, that were going through the Strait of Hormuz. That's a violation of the MOU. And remember what MOU even stands for: that is Memorandum of Understanding. That is, here's what we agree to, our mutual understanding of what the status quo will be during this period of negotiating to a final deal. It was a pre-agreement.

Right. And so they were saying we mutually agree. We're not going to attack ships in the Strait of Hormuz. This is now the multiple times since signing of the MOU that Iran has struck vessels in the Strait of Hormuz. The United States struck back last night.

With 80 targets hit. This was both air defenses, it was along that coastline, their capacity to launch these attacks. And even other Gulf nations were calling out the Iranians, so Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and UAE, which were where the ships were from. We're saying, hey, this is a violation and this cannot stand.

Now we have the President at NATO at a time where the world is thinking about foreign policy, is thinking about the alliances of the United States. He's, as you said, speaking right now at the end of this two-day summit. He'll be returning to Washington soon. Also, Iran was having their major funeral for the Ayatollah finally because they had waited. For things to settle down so they could actually get it done, so they could have people out and not become another target for the United States.

So, this is where we're at. They are deciding at the same time to flex their muscles. and say, hey, we're still going to hit ships for What reason? It's unclear why they are even doing this, other than to, I guess, look strong. But.

What happens? United States hits back, and the President says pretty firmly, and I think we should play this again for those just joining us: this is what he says when they're asking from a reporter: is the ceasefire over? Is the MOU dead? Let's play what the President had to say just moments ago before we were on air. Ceasefire over!

Is the ceasefire done? Is the MOU dead? It's a very interesting question. To me, I think it's over. I don't want to deal with them anymore, they're scum.

You know what scum is? They're scum, they're sick people, they're led by sick people. and they're vicious, violent people. And if they had a nuclear weapon, they'd use it. As far as I'm concerned, it's over.

I'll speak to our negotiators. They want to negotiate. They're good people. Steve Woodcopf, Jared Kuscher. But they have to come back to me.

As far as I'm concerned, it's just a waste of time dealing with them. They're liars. We make a deal. And they went, well, if I make a deal with him, we have a deal. And he goes out, he talks.

We make a deal. Everyone's agreed. No nuclear weapon. We make a deal. They go outside, talk to the press.

They say we never even talked about it. There's something wrong with them, they're cuckoo. As far as I'm concerned, it's over. Let me just say, this is what we were concerned about from the beginning. But any kind of memorandum of understanding with Iran and trying to get to a point where you can actually even have an actual agreement, a full agreement with Iran.

Is impossible when you have an end times-led regime that's whole basis on their version of Shia Islam is to bring about the end times by strike, by a major kind of action. And the biggest action we know of in the world, Logan and Will, still today is nuclear war.

So, nuclear war attacks against Israel and then the great Satan, the United States of America, and as we've seen through this conflict, any of its allies, including its other Muslim allies.

So, for all of those on the right, Who said, you know what? The President finally saw the light. That he needs to stop listening to the Jewish people and America and the Israelis and Benjamin Netanyahu. No, I think the President just saw the light once again. Those of you saying that things could calm down and the Strait of Hormuz could open normally and the Memorandum of Understanding was great, by the way, you were the same people who were criticizing the JCPOA when Obama did it.

Somehow you switched your mindset and it lasted even less time because the Iranians are bloodthirsty. Like the President said, it is not like dealing with a normal regime.

So the moment you get an okay from them, they're still looking at how can we shoot at someone? How can we fire at three vessels in the Strait of Hormuz and just. cause disaster. Because they don't care about their own people. They don't care that this is the largest retaliatory strike.

That we've had since this kind of quieter period. This was the biggest one. And the President didn't say, Okay, now we're going to go back to negotiating. He said, I don't think we're going to go back to negotiating, and they should expect more tonight. Exactly.

And that's what that's a lot different than tit-for-tat, you know, backfire.

Okay, let's get back on track now. Yeah, he did tell the press that I assume that we will strike more tonight. And Jordan, I think, though, this kind of does reveal what the analysis has been on this broadcast for a while: is that for so long in Washington, there was this binary choice of either a JCPOA type deal or all-out war. And what President Trump has shown is that there's a different path forward. He is very outside the box when it comes to the way he conducts foreign policy, as well as listening to the advisors.

When you see what he did, he hit very hard. He showed that there's credible military threat from the United States and then gave them the opportunity to realize we're not just paying lip service to military threat like past administrations have done on both Republican and Democrat side. He actually Showed we will annihilate a large portion of your government multiple tiers down and then give you the opportunity to negotiate.

Now, we said the big question. is if these Three tiers down. still theological. In the way that the Ayatollah was. We know they're bought into the system of the government of the Islamic Republic, but are they still the theological ideologues that the Ayatollahs were?

Based off this, it appears they are. And then, as President Trump is saying, there's something wrong with them, though, cuckoo. Yeah, it's called this apocalyptic nature of their theology. They are going to be not necessarily a credible negotiating partner, but he did give it that opportunity. Yeah, I mean, there was kind of a hope that this sounds strange, but that the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, once you remove an Ayatollah, and you really don't have an active Ayatollah right now, was a business of terror.

They were about making money, though. And so, if they saw this as a new way to make money without having to be in the part of the business of terror, and they could actually control, run a country, the world's villains, yeah, they wouldn't necessarily have to do that anymore.

So, they wouldn't have to always look behind their back to see if they were about to be taken out by someone who was on their team and kind of change their business model. And what we have seen is they have done the opposite of that hope. They have stayed on track and even gotten more aggressive. I'd say, in a way, not just. just aggressive, but also what they are putting their people through.

uh the people of Iran through its recklessness. Because by firing at these three ships, you have now unleashed. The U.S. military and all of its allies in the Middle East once again to rain down on Tehran and military sites. And what we know is that there were even more military sites taken out last night, even more Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps vessels taken out last night.

But to those on the right who thought this memorandum of understanding was it and we were going to get to some deal, I guess go back to what we were saying, which was, I can't imagine this getting through 60 days. That would be through a hope and a prayer. And even if it did, is it really the deal we wanted? Would they ever abide by it? I hope what the President said, I may sound strange, but I hope what the President said is true, that this deal is done and that we move forward with Iran so that they know they're going to get a worse deal next time.

And if they keep doing this, it's going to be worse for them, more dangerous for their economy, their country. And at the end of the day, it just gets. uh to be a more and more difficult way forward for the Iranian regime. Yeah, that's right. Yeah, and I want to play this from the President because I thought this was just a line where even it shows his mindset, which is sometimes humorous.

Yeah, but let's go ahead and play bite nine. This is talking about even the Iranians asking for kind of a timeout so they could make sure they could attend the funeral of the Ayatollah. Let's hear from the President. You know, they they asked for a time out. They wanted to go to the funeral of Khomeini.

And I said, Give it to him. and they started shooting missiles. I mean it was a crazy thing.

Now We did kill him, you know, so I guess you have to look at it that way, but He's always trying to find the silver lining here. He's gone. He's like, No, I understand. This is insane. We gave them the freedom to go to the funeral.

We caused the funeral. Our word is good. And they lie. As the President said, they're liars, they're scumbags. And we've said that time and time again.

It's part of their version of. A Sharia law and the version of Islam that they follow, this is not all Islam, has that tiqiyah in it, which means you can lie to your enemies, and that's not somehow violating your faith or sin. And so saying we need a ceasefire during this is great for them. They get to go to their funeral, not worry about bombs, you know, missiles being dropped. At the same time, they know, hey, this is a great time for us to start shooting at boats.

Phone lines are open for you. What do you think? Of course, this is obviously going to cause some strain even within conservatives and the political nature of everything. How does this new response now from President Trump saying that the deal is done? How's that going to play out?

1-800-684-3110. Welcome back to Sekulow. We actually got a lot of calls coming in. We're going to take some of those as well as we head into this segment because we have also a great video our ACLJ team put together that I don't want to make sure that you guys don't miss and don't go anywhere during it. You know, it is a very special video for specifically these weeks.

And we have a very special Independence Week. You know, we're all coming off of the 250 Celebration of America. And I kind of thought, you know, how long would that last? I think it lasted till about Monday. And I feel like we've moved on.

The World Cup, I think, kind of was the final. It could have continued. It could have continued if the team had won. And then I think knowing that that is over, I feel like a lot of the 250 celebration, not for us, though. We're keeping it going for Independence Week.

That's why donations of $250 or more right now at aclj.org slash USA. Not only are they matched, so you get up to $500 in terms of donation, but you get a special challenge coin and a cooler bag.

So make sure you get that. Will, what is this video, though? Before we start off.

So, this is one we put together, and it goes kind of digging into where our rights come from. We know we've had these discussions over these past months if we've heard politicians and members of the media scoff at the idea that our rights come from God. And so, we put together this special presentation. You'll see some familiar faces, and we wanted to go ahead and run this for you. And we'll hope you enjoy this, and we'll be back after this video.

Our rights come from God, not from the Constitution, or legislation, or a petition or anywhere else. This isn't a fringe idea, it's a foundational belief put on paper 250 years ago in America's Declaration of Independence, endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights. Jefferson wrote it, and it is one of the most iconic, recognizable, and powerful sentences in the world.

So why then does it seem that so many people in America today don't agree with it, or at least don't understand it? The notion that rights don't come from laws and don't come from the government. But come from the Creator, that's what the Iranian government believes. It's a theocratic regime that bases its rule on Shia law. And targets Sunnis, Baha'is, Jews, Christians, and other religious minorities.

And they do it because they believe that they understand what natural rights are from their Creator. Those voices have seeked to distort the self-evident truth that we know so well that our founders boldly proclaim in the Declaration that our rights do not derive from the government, they come from you, our Creator and Heavenly Father. Is this him putting God over the Declaration of Independence?

So the statement that Our rights do not come from our laws or our governments is extremely troubling. Politicians like Senator Kaine, who ran for vice President just 10 years ago, and journalist Katie Terr, who has a national news platform, probably wouldn't take such positions if their opinions were on the fringe of culture or unpopular. Because political discourse is, generally, a reflection of the values and beliefs of the culture it represents. But do people really believe our rights come from somewhere other than God? Just how popular is that viewpoint?

we decided to send our team to ask just that. Um, the Bill of Rights in the Constitution, I think just being a basic human should be where our rights come from. Our founding fathers. The people. I think the Constitution.

Beginning in England in the Magna Carta. That was a good start. The Constitution, the Bill of Rights. The history of people making mistakes and realizing what we need as a society. The law of the land, so I think it comes from the Constitution, you know, things of that nature.

So sure. That's a harsh reminder of how important it is to pass down the biblical values that are enshrined in our founding documents. the ACLJ still believes, no matter what culture may say, Our rights come only from our Creator. What the government does is ensures that the rights that we are endowed with by God are enforced. Meaning, we are human beings who are put on this earth and created by a higher power.

And whether you're a Christian or you're a Muslim or you're a Jew, it doesn't matter, right? God is the reason why we're here to exist on this earth to do good and to make our fellow man better. And I think that's very, very important. And our founders were very intentional about that, right? They wanted to make sure that everyone understood that our country was probably the first country in the history of earth to sort of reverse that and say that human beings have free will that is endowed to them by God.

And it is the government's job to make sure that it is creating a society where those rights are able to be expressed by every single one of the citizens. And when you look at sort of the ways in which our country is failing, I think a lot of it can be linked directly back to a straying from faith and a straying from the idea. Idea that being faithful and trusting that your life is in the hands of a higher power and trusting that our government was created under the auspices of the same higher power, it doesn't mean that I have to disrespect somebody for being an atheist. But it does mean that we have a government that was created to ensure that an atheist's rights are equal to that of a Christian or a Jew or of a Muslim. And so, faithfulness doesn't know a specific creed, but our government was so smart to use the basis of the Christian faith in order to make sure that everyone's rights, particularly their rights to worship and their rights to speak, were always going to be protected at all costs.

I mean, there's a reason why it's our First Amendment, and the reason why it is our First Amendment is because it's the most important one for building a proper society. Every single word that you find in the Constitution and our founding documents can be applied to all the new technological changes and things that happen in society. But they all get back to those founding Christian principles that they said were the best way for a society to govern itself. And it doesn't mean you have to be Christian, like I said before, but it does mean that those guiding principles should be guiding all the decisions that are being made in every single legislature across this country. And I think that's what's so genius: it gives the kind of wiggle room for our laws to change, but for our founding principles to remain rock solid and to never change.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what we believe about the origins of our rights if we aren't willing to defend them. You see, if our rights indeed come from God and are recognized in our laws and constitution, then it's our responsibility to make sure they're exercised freely and enforced as written. Because history teaches us that our Constitution is only as powerful as the people and efforts to uphold it. It's why when a street preacher legally comes under attack in Chicago for practicing his First Amendment rights, the ACLJ jumps into action. We aren't just defending that preacher.

We're defending his right and ensuring it can be freely applied and exercised by all Americans. Otherwise, that God-given right is trampled and destroyed. At the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Benjamin Franklin famously called America a republic. If you can keep it.

Now, two and a half centuries later, the ACLJ remains dedicated to keeping our beautiful constitutional republic and all our rights as one nation. Under God. Welcome back. Sure, you may have heard me say is that the end. I was making sure it was the end.

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Packed back half coming right up. Keeping you informed and engaged now more than ever. This is Sekulow. And now, your host, Logan Sekulow. Welcome to Sekulow, second half hour.

Logan here, we got Jordan Studio. Will, of course, and phone lines could we want to hear from you? 1-800-684-31-10. President Trump's talking right now. Just according to the Chiron on Fox News, Trump says: Trump, Iran is a little crazy.

That's what they're talking about. The understatement of the century is a little bit of a trend. Is that the real quote?

Now, here. I mean, he called them cuckoo. He said cuckoo. He said cuckoo. Use the word scum.

Scub cuckoo, all the top words. He knows all the best words. It is interesting because it You don't want to be like... President Trump clearly had to know this. We've been saying this.

He knows that they were going to be. Not good faith negotiators here. Did he? Have just hope? That this is how things were going to go, and you'd have people in Iran who now, when they've seen the destruction we can cause, go, Okay, hold on, you know, waving the white flag here, let's work out a deal.

Like Jordan said, maybe even financially could put Iran in a better place. But all of us Have been talking about in the back of our minds. And of course, we've been saying this on the air, by the way. This isn't something we've been secretly saying, which is. Especially with with us, with Secretary Pompeo, with whoever it may be saying, Yeah, good luck.

In getting these deals to stick.

Well, here's what I think the reality of it is: it goes back to what I've said: is that people look at it as you only have one choice. You either have the aggressive Full regime change style war. Similar to a war on terror or any of the other regime change wars, or you have a JCPOA, which is no threatable, threatable, credible threat of military action and just a piece of paper that is meaningless and not even a treaty.

So, and I, what President Trump always goes to show is: hey, there are other ways to do things, right? And with the advisors and with Marco Rubio and those that have been very critical of Iran and wanting regime change, they understand. There are different realities. And what you see here, I think, is a part of that: did President Trump think he could get to a deal? I don't know.

Maybe, maybe not. Maybe he didn't care. But what he did do, and you can't take away, is he showed whoever is going to be in leadership in Iran. There is a credible threat of military action against them. They lost all of the top leadership, including the Ayatollah himself, who was seen as untouchable to many in the country for how long he had survived in power.

That, especially with all of the assassinations Mossad has done that we know are public in the Islamic Republic of Iran, they thought he had this invincibility almost, and it clearly was not. It was day one in an airstrike, the Ayatollah is gone.

So I think, regardless, that credible military threat exists and is real going forward. And right now you see Their capability is very low. They can cause some annoyances to ships, but it doesn't seem like even the traffic has slowed down. There have been some attacks on ships.

Some of these ships haven't even had real problems after the attacks. And what does the U.S. do? It hits them very, very hard after they do this.

So I could see a world where the military blockade of them to cripple their economy more goes back into effect. But at the same time, they aren't really causing that much problem. And the world economy is fine and their capacity to project terror goes away. We'll take a call real quick and only got a minute, but this will actually lead into the next segment pretty well. Let's go to Robert Marilyn.

You've been holding for a while. You got a minute. You know what you're doing. Go ahead. Yes.

Wanted to ask the both of you, do you believe that because of the most recent violation of the Memorandum of Understanding during the ceasefire period, In addition to other violations of the Islamic Republic of Iran, that the President will go back to full military operations. Here's why I ask that. During the time of the ceasefire period with the Memorandum of Understanding, we have even more intelligence gathering on the Islamic Republic, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Majiz militia, and other leaders within the Republic itself. We have more understanding of where those leaders are located. Do you believe he'll go back to full military operations and go twice as hard?

In terms of striking things militarily than he did before. Robert, I think it's yet to be seen. We're going to ask that to Jeff Balabon in the next segment as well. Personally, very quickly, I don't think so right away. I think right now the President is kind of happy with this status quo.

We'll be right back. Welcome back to Sekulow. Will Haynes here and Logan will be joining us back in just a second. We've got Jeff Balamon joining us from the DC studio. Jeff, we're seeing the President now.

He's saying we can't allow these lunatics to have a nuclear weapon. He said, I'm not even sure I want an Iran deal anymore. We may go back to war. A lot of questions linger, but once again, this looks a lot more like the art of the deal than the either full-scale Type of regime change war or a weak JCPOA. What are your thoughts on the news that we've been covering this morning?

Well, as you know, I just came back from Jerusalem, and the last week everyone was all abuzz about what's the significance of the MOU, what does this mean? And it's like, honestly, You have to pay attention to who President Trump is, and you have to pay attention to who America's enemies are. And in no way is this document going to hold water for much longer because the Iranians will not abide by it. And President Trump is always the art of the deal. He is doing what's best for America.

And the questions that people are asking: what does this mean going forward? The answer is very simple: whatever is best for America. And the truth is, I personally believe, as do many of us, that there has to be some way to get to regime change because it's not about building a democracy like America, it's just recognizing that no matter what follows this regime, It really cannot be worse. They are just dedicated to eradicating America. They are an ongoing threat to the world.

And look, the President doesn't want to fight a war. If they really wanted peace, he'd give it to them yesterday. But They're setting the agenda, and their agenda is fight to the death, and President Trump is not going to back down. Once again, though, we're looking at the fact that they've decided to make these strikes against shipping vessels. Even that, it shows the capacity and the bravery of the leadership, I think, has degraded.

They're taking cheap shots at easy targets in violation of the Memorandum of Understanding. It's crazy for them, but as he said, it seems like they're a little cuckoo, as only this President of the United States could describe an enemy regime. But we look at this, and it is a very important time. He's there at this NATO summit, something that has been a focus of his, the arrangement with NATO and the ability to hold NATO members accountable and say, hey, you got to pay your fair share. At a time where that is the focus, the Iranians.

causing trouble in the background when NATO hasn't been very helpful. I think it shows that all along, the President's goal of decimating the Iranian regime and not prejudging what that end will be has been the right focus, and he hasn't really wavered in his list of demands for the Iranians. What I think has happened, and this is just based on observation, what I'm hearing here in Washington, what I hear in Jerusalem, is that there was an attempt to very strategically and surgically target the worst actors of the regime to see if there could be a cadre of If not truly moderate, but at least people who weren't as nuts as the President says they are. And that was the attempt. Right now, it's not looking great, but maybe they'll take a lesson.

I'm skeptical, but I think the President will. You know, look, the President doesn't want a war, he wants peace. He's always wanted peace. Everybody wants peace. The Iranians, they're the ones who are setting the agenda here, and their agenda seems to be war.

And so, if these people aren't reasonable, then they're going to be gone. And sooner or later, we will have a reasonable Iran to deal with, is the hope and the prayer, and I believe it's going to happen. I think that's interesting, Jeff, too. The fact that you even say, hey, I believe it's going to happen. I think for a lot of us, we've been skeptical the whole time, and I think rightfully so, because we've dealt with the last, you know, 60 years of history, where we've dealt with all of this that has unfolded, of course, the last decade of history or 15 years, 20 years of history, where even when you started getting these deals on paper, the fact that they've even held.

As long as they have, temporarily, 30 days or whatever it may be, is shocking sometimes when you are dealing with these kind of regimes. But to have President Trump make such a strong statement, to come out and say, you know, it's over. I think that there's no way we're moving forward here. It's going to be a wake-up call even to, I think, the conservative base, or you want to say the conservative base, but more of the alt-right base that has thought for the last few weeks President Trump kind of saw the light in terms of his dealings with the Middle East. It is real.

Right. Well, first of all, I'm gonna be clear: I'm not suggesting that the current, whatever they are, rulers, however organized they are, are gonna make peace. I mean that Iran is gonna get to that place, whether it's with this regime or with another one. And that's what they're gonna have to learn because Donald Trump is not gonna back down. They're hoping they can outlast him.

I don't think he's going to do that because what he recognizes and what the alt-right does not seem to want to acknowledge is This kind of an Iran as a threshold nuclear threat is an existential threat to the United States of America, more than to Israel, more than to other Arab nations or to Arab nations in the Middle East. Why? It has to do with their ability and our liability. We have a certain vulnerability in America to high-altitude, you know, EMP, electromagnetic pulse, and the way our grid is organized. We don't really have it solidified.

I also think that we might, and I hope we see us move towards solidifying the grid because honestly, that takes away the impetus and the need for us to be involved in certain foreign wars like this and takes away the threat that our enemies have over us. But right now, that threat exists, it's real, and Donald Trump knows it's real. And so he's not going to back down. And it's not about. Israel.

It's about America. Really, it is about America first. Israel's a great ally, but this is about our homelands and protecting our homeland from those people. Jeff, this is at a time also you're in Washington, D.C. Obviously, you join us from all over the place, whether you're in Jerusalem, New York, D.C.

It's great to see you in the studios at our office on Capitol Hill. But you're there for meetings to continue the work, the same work you do in Jerusalem. You're doing with American officials and leaders here. Tell us a little bit about that. But also, it's important, I want people to know that you were at a 4th of July celebration.

In Israel, just a few days ago. And that reminder that many of our great friends around the world. Celebrate our independence as well.

So, I want to give you a moment. Just talk about the work you're doing and even that event that you were able to celebrate America's birthday, even though you weren't necessarily here. Sure.

Well, Washington, in this case, I'm here at some meetings on the subjects we work on a great deal here about not just anti-Semitism, but again, the attack on Judeo-Christian culture, the attack on the things we hold so dear that are embodied by our Constitution that's going on right now. And it used to be just from one side of the aisle and from one end of the political and ideological spectrum.

Now it's from the other extreme as well. And so working with what we still hope and believe is the broad base of Americans who love this country and understand the truth, we're working to really make sure that America is strong in this regard. And that's part of the meetings that I'm having here. And I know I'm being a little vague, but those are the natures of the meetings. That's the nature of the concern here, that we keep strong during this period of time and we know what we stand for as America and aren't being overwhelmed.

Jeff, do you think finally? The other side I really do love to share is so on July 1st, because July 4th was a Saturday, which is Shabbat, and Israel is, you know, people are celebrating Shabbat or observing Shabbat, so there aren't a lot of public activities. But on July 1st, the Thursday before, there were days of celebration.

So it started, there was at the foreign ministry there. There was a big, beautiful ceremony where Ambassador Huckabee and the foreign minister Gidon Sar and the mayor of Jerusalem were present. And Ambassador Huckabee and the foreign minister signed the lease, the 99-year lease for the permanent move of the embassy in Jerusalem. It's beautiful, it's wonderful. It is one dollar, and Mike Huckabee took out a dollar and he held it up proudly and he handed it off and he said, Here you go.

Here's the dollar. It's honestly the best land deal Americans have done probably since Manhattan. And it was a wonderful celebration, and you really felt the fusion of America's greatness and the love that Israel has for the United States, not just because of this moment that what's happening, and America is such a great ally, but it's because Israel recognizes that America was founded on the very same principles that they took from the Bible, which is the story of the Jewish people and, of course, the story now being reborn in Israel. And there's really that sense. Then toward July 4th, 4th party, which I go to every year if I'm there, which is held in a private house.

But many government ministers come. Ambassador Huckabee was there. The ambassador has always come. Many other foreign dignitaries from around the world actually came to celebrate July 4th. It was splendid.

It was everything you'd imagine. Country music, patriotic music, a big barbecue, great blowout. But it's all overlooking this beautiful view of the old city of Jerusalem. It was a really very special way to celebrate what represents the greatness of America as their Christian civilization from half a world away. Jeff, thanks for joining us.

And look, we saw those celebrations actually happening all over the world. Right. I think that was really interesting, too. It wasn't just, I mean, obviously you have Israel, which has a close connection to the United States of America. Maybe it's a little more expected that you would have some patriotism.

There are a lot of Americans that live in Israel or are dual citizens. But you saw this happening all over the world. They were celebrating America. And the world who's visiting here for the World Cup. Yeah, we talked about that.

This whole image that they heard about the United States has been flipped totally, you know, 180 because they said, oh, I heard this about America. It's dangerous. It's this, it's that. This is the best place in the world. And you've seen that from especially young people because they're posting on social media.

They've heard their news. They've heard from their parents and the older folks. And they see the anti-American news in their own countries. That's why I always say that. You turn it on the news visit.

You see Donald Trump on their news. Yeah, but when you actually visit, you see what makes America so exceptional. And they're seeing it. It's been very fun to watch. With that being said, the next segment, it's all about you.

Give me a call. We got one line open: 1-800-68-684-3110.

Some of you have been holding for a long time. Like Franklin in California, been holding for half an hour. I'm going to get to you.

So, Franklin, Ray, Paul, Bill, Patrick. A lot of strong names. A lot of short tight names. Bill, Paul, Ray. A couple other.

Benjamin Franklin. I mean that's a strong name. That's a patriotic name, really. Yeah. Patrick, I'm sure they're some famous Patricks.

Patrick Henry. Yeah. There you go. We'll be right back with more on Sekulow, but hey, we are in the middle of that. Independence Week right now, and I want you to be a part of it at ACLJ.org.

Gifts at aclj.org/slash USA get those special gifts for over $250 donation. Welcome back to Sekulow. It's time for your calls. We have had a lot of them call in, and we still got some lines open. As we take calls, they'll open up.

You got a couple minutes to call in. 1-800-684-3110. Franklin's call. Let's kick it off first. Franklin, California.

By holding for a long time watching on the Salem News channel. Appreciate it. Franklin, go ahead. I first of all, I respect greatly what you guys at the ACLJ are doing. I'm one hundred percent behind the President.

I wish he would not use terms like cuckoo when he speaks to the public. He it only damages c his credibility now. Um There are three distinct groups in Iran. distinct groups that believe they run the country or they used to. There's the clerics that used to have a lot of uh clout.

There's the government agents, the parliament people, who are doing negotiating right now. And there's the IRGC. who now have pushed the clerics out and they have all the power and they have the guns, okay? Smell. They They're like a cat hanging on a wire a thousand feet above the canyon.

They know that if they let go, they're all going to die.

However, only half of them believe they're going to get virgins in heaven.

Okay? There's only one way out of this. I've been watching feeds from Iran. After the Ayatollah's funeral, there are groups that attended the Ayatollah's funeral who were trying to kill the government agents. They were trying to stone them to death.

Okay? There's great, massive infighting going on in Iran right now. There's only one way out of this. At some point in time, Maybe the President knows this, maybe he doesn't. At some point in time, maybe it's past, maybe it'll come tomorrow, maybe it'll come in a couple of weeks, he's going to have to significantly arm the Iranian people.

Franklin, yeah, I think your analysis to a great deal, I agree a lot with about the three groups. And yes, I think the clerics only were in control because the Ayatollah himself is a cleric in nature. The supreme leader was a theologian. He was a clerical leader. But in reality, the economy and the military and all of the real power in Iran was always held together by the IRGC.

And they were waiting for their moment, and this is it. And I think that is why President Trump was wondering, you know, could it be different since the IRGC, as you even referenced, less theological than the group of clerics, but there is infighting. You saw the Ayatollah, the new supreme leader. Didn't even attend his father's funeral. The other siblings and people that are related to the Ayatollah were upset by some of the choices of things, like the music that was played at the funeral.

There is a lot of unrest, and I think that is part of why the President is capitalizing on all of this now. But yeah, I think at the end of the day, you'll never have forever peace when there is an Islamic Republic of Iran, no matter who is in charge.

So, thank you for calling, frankly.

So long as right now it's the Iraq is the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Scorpio. I mean, the IRGC. Until they are taken out. And they're either taken out one of two ways, militarily. And the people have to do it in Iran because they have to be so damaged and their operations so damaged.

Their ability to move money around the world, the shipping that they're involved in, their non-terror funding, how they make money to give out to those terrorist groups, that has to be completely disrupted. Or They have to completely reform and say, you know what? The world's giving us this chance to not have to be the Revolutionary Guard's Corps. We like being multi-millionaires and billionaires. I don't see them changing that way.

I think that they've kind of showed us that they are in lockstep with the ideology.

So it looks like it would have to take military actions as well as the Iranian people rising up to get rid of the so long as that Revolutionary Guard is there. I just don't see a peaceful Iran for many years. It may have moments of peace, but not for long-term peace. I want to go to Patrick, who is an ACLJ champion in Texas. Patrick, go ahead.

Hey, this this is Pat. Um I believe that uh If you look back at the Iraq and Iran war. Iran through a million of their young Uh people. into that battle. They didn't they don't care about people.

They don't care about human life.

So I would believe that We will eventually have to go in. on the ground and can wipe them out. And the and at the When we go in. hand weapons to uh the the citizenry to to you know back us up or we back them up. Yeah, Patrick, I think there's been some hope that that would happen in some ways.

Look, it may look very different. It already is looking very different from a military aspect, just based on technology. We got to remember where things have moved forward.

Well, and I think also, Patrick, you bring that up is that. Iraq is actually doing pretty well. It went through a tough time and it took a while to get there. But yeah, Iraq's actually doing pretty well economically, stability. ISIS was a big threat, but that was thankfully to the United States, the coalition, and President Trump.

That threat was put down. But Afghanistan was a disaster because of how it was left by and abandoned by Joe Biden and his regime. But yeah, Iraq actually isn't in the worst spot. Was it the most. Successful War of All Time?

No, there's a lot of criticism of it still. But Doing pretty good at this point. I think what we see is that when Iran has to focus on itself, they can't be as helpful to their terror proxies.

So their Shia proxies inside Iraq don't get as much support.

So they have to kind of pull back in their, I'd say, their aggressiveness. They may be there defensively, but they're not taking as aggressive steps in the continuing terror attacks. Same thing with Hezbollah. Hezbollah has tried to like prove it can survive without Iran or while Iran is facing a major conflict. And of course, Hamas, which has been completely decimated.

So what we've seen is that Iran on the world stage has lost influence, significant influence in the region. Right now, they're trying to hold on to the influence inside their own country. What I mean is the rulers of Iran, the Revolutionary Guard Corps. I want to take one last call. Ray in Pennsylvania.

Ray, you're on the air. Hey, Bill and Paul, I'm sorry I'm not going to be able to get to you today. Ray, you got about a minute. Go ahead. That's all I need, thank you.

We've given not just we, the world has given Iran fifty years to build up their munitions underground. and their storage facilities. It's time now. We President Trump has given him an additional three months. It's time now to end this, go in, take out the IRGC and the current regime And just Put an end to this, or this will never stop.

In six months, we'll be talking about the same thing. The only difference is we'll be talking about our problems with the upcoming elections and how it's going to affect. What I can't agree with you here, and I think this has all been played out so publicly in terms of negotiating, back on track, off track, the ceasefires, that has become a little mentally exhausting. And I think that becomes exhausting to people. If this was all happening behind the scenes and we just thought the conflict was sort of at a pause, I don't think we would have this.

It's that President Trump is very talkative, as we've seen even today. It will tell you how he's feeling in the moment, even if it's not reflective of what's actually happening all the time. And with that, it can become a little taxing on the American people.

So, you are right. It feels like we're going to be in an endless loop of this forever. We talk, we negotiate, and it doesn't feel like it ever comes to an end. And it feels like the consensus today from our callers, which is, what can we do to actually get this over with? And can we just go in and finally be done?

We'll see what happens. That being said, it's Independence Week. We're celebrating here at the ACLJ, the 250th of America. And with that, if you give over $250 at aclj.org/usa, you get that special ACLJ 250 cooler bag and coin. Should do that today.

But look at any donation of any kind. Is doubled right now. It's matched by incredible ACLJ supporters and champions. I encourage you to do that. All of this happens because of you.

There's a reason there's no paywalls, everything's free. That is because people like you support financially at aclj.org. Talk to you tomorrow.