WARNING: $30k Bounty for U.S. Troops

We've got breaking news. Iran offers $30,000 bounty. for US soldiers. Yeah. 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.

It's Monday, it's August 17th. Welcome to the show, Will Haynes and Studio. This is Logan Sekulow. Phone lines are open at 1-800-684-3110. Talking about the breaking news, you always feel like there's something new coming out of the Middle East, coming out of our war with Iran.

Iran has now placed a $30,000 bounty. 4. of US troops and by the way if you happen to be a woman Who can do this crime essentially? Who can commit one of these murders or captures? They'll actually give you more.

You don't see a lot of that in the Middle East, but you know why they're doing this. Again, a $30,000 reward for anyone who kills and captures a U.S.

soldier with the reward doubled. If you are an Iranian woman. This, of course, is coming at a very, very hostile time. And it comes to the point where President Trump. has been talking about Who has the straight of Hormuz?

Who's controlling what? We have been dealing with this war now for many months now, but now it feels like the plot has thickened as you have this moment where they are encouraging. their own people to get out there And make some money.

Well, this comes at a time as well where Reuters is reporting that a senior Iranian official is saying Iran could be considering moving to an offensive posture as opposed to just a defensive posture. This is a serious issue here, this $30,000 bounty, because you don't think of it just in the terms of the battlefield of Iran or the vessels that are near Iran. Yeah, this is a big concern. We got to be fair. There's not a lot of restrictions that we know about this.

So this could spill over. Into American soil. That's right. You think about the Iranians being the largest state sponsor of terrorism. What is the most likely form of this taking place if they are offering this bounty in terrorism form?

When you think about their proxies with Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, their preferred form of warfare is terror.

So when you start to think about a $30,000 reward, you start to think about how porous the American border was for four years under Joe Biden. We know that IRGC members, people with ties to the IRGC, people with ties to terrorist proxy groups, were caught at the border. You also have to assume with how porous and how many gotaways there were, there are individuals that were not caught. That are under this same category.

So it's not just a, oh, this is the war taking place over there, kind of thought process. When they are calling for this and publicly calling for this, that has to start wondering every military installation, any person in the military, could then potentially be a target on the battlefield, which Iran is expanding globally at this point. Yeah, absolutely. We want to take your calls about this and some other topics. Cece Hiles will be joining us in a little bit to talk about an update for Pastor Saul.

You know about this story out of China. We got an update coming from there. We also are going to talk a little bit more about some of the ACLJ work because. We are really starting to wrap up. As I said, it's the 17th of August, so we're going to start wrapping up.

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I want to hear from you when you hear about these threats coming in. Does that make you rethink the way we even negotiate with Iran that they would put this kind of bounty on their people to do this? 1-800-684-3110. Again, 1-800-684-3110. Welcome back to Secular.

I want to clarify Something you may say, who's making this bounty? How are they able to do? Is this something that's happening undercover? Is this something they're getting out in this dark web? How are we finding out about this?

No, they're saying it front and center. They have the Iranian army chief Amir Hatimi said. There's a large number of requests for these bounties. To put on American soldiers, despite, of course, there not being that many U.S. ground troops in Iran, which is why we're a little concerned that this is going to be taken outside of Iran.

But again, this was put out through their media chains. This wasn't something that was done. Desperately, or done some quiet way through some tunnel system, through some WhatsApp threat. This is just done in their public media. Saying, you know what, we've decided we're going to put a bounty.

on the heads of all U. S.

soldiers. And by the way, if you're a woman, we're going to double it. Because if they, of course, think that women are usually second class, but in this situation, you know, they're going to do it because, you know. have someone who they think less of, Be able to commit a murder, then maybe they should be doubled.

Well, and once again, I think that tells you all you need to know also about where they're expecting this to take place, not necessarily on the battlefield of Iranian territory, but elsewhere around the world. If they are saying, you know, courageous Iranian women who can carry out such an action will receive double the reward, that to me is saying that they are expecting this not to happen on the aircraft carriers that are stationed in the Gulf or the pilots that are flying over. They are thinking that this will be a terroristic style attack on American soldiers around the world. They also are claiming that. The weapon that is used to kill an American would be kept in a supposed museum currently under planning.

So, that they are going to almost memorialize. I think they're expecting that there could be martyrs if something like this goes forward, and this will become a part of the revolution's lore going forward. I think there's several different ways to dissect this, though. One, I think it is a real threat. I think you can't look away from that.

It's such a showboating, right? And so, I think the military will take actions accordingly. Ever since the beginning of the war, security on bases has been ramped up. There also have been statements of like, hey, if you're in certain areas, if you are on a U.S. military installation, don't go out in public in your uniform.

Go out in street clothes if you're leaving base.

So, those are things that have precautions that have been taken. Don't make yourself a target to a terror attack.

However, I think it's also interesting, and a lot of people are asking: you know, where did the cis money come from? It's not like they have zero dollars, but that economic factor is here. Let's take a call. I don't want to steal their thunder. Let's go to Russ in Ohio.

Russ, go ahead.

Well, you just took my thunder. I don't know where they're getting that money. And um They're nothing but liars. General Keene and so many other experts Are saying that these people are never going to give up and all these things. I don't know why, what President Trump is waiting for to finish the job.

I'm getting frustrated with that part. Russ, I certainly get frustrated when these kind of moments happen because I don't disagree with you, which is we kind of all know what we're dealing with, but then there's this false reality that's presented to us as if they're this negotiating partner that seems like they're going to stick to what they're going to have to say. Of course, we know that has failed multiple times, multiple times over and over again, where they are telling President Trump something, he reports it, and then, of course, it doesn't go. Look, the President and the administration are not dumb. They have to understand that this is happening and that this does not make the American negotiation process look safe or secure.

It gets worse, though, because this is not something that on Front Street you would put out there as an American media. This is what the Iranian media has from their heads of the army saying, you know what? We're putting a dollar reward on citizens who are willing to take this fight into their own hands. Mm-hmm. And double it, by the way, if you're a woman.

So $30,000 in converted. For if you are a man who takes on and murders or captures a U.S.

soldier, if you're a woman. We're going to make it $60,000. They're going to get, again, fairly life-changing money for a lot of people over there.

Well, and to that point, Russia, I think, one, it's not as if they have zero dollars or can't print money to satisfy this bounty. Yes, the economic portion of the war has become the major focus of the administration, putting more sanctions on Iran, putting stress on their oil supply chains through Hormuz, that blockade.

So, yeah, they are in economic dire straits in the Iranian country and in their economy, but it doesn't mean that they're not making this as an attractive offer. I think that is the exact reason why they are using a monetary bonus or reward, if you will, for their people. It's also to be like, look, we do have this ability to pay out.

So, there's a lot of propaganda there, as well as individuals that are Iranian are probably suffering, thinking, oh, maybe I can make money. Here's the other. Angle too, that I don't think a lot of people may be catching on to. This statement. That is trying to turn the page into a more offensive strategy.

is coming from the Iranian army chief. I think what this also tells you is there is still this internal struggle between the IRGC. And the normal army. Yeah, we need to bring that down because I think we conflate the two as Americans. Maybe we don't even understand that this is.

Separate forces. Right. This shows that that power struggle is still ongoing in Iran. After the death and the killing of the Ayatollah and a lot of the other leadership, The IRGC is really who stepped in to fill that vacuum. And that is who we know that there's a back channel with the U.S.

government, with the IRGC, amongst also the forward-facing negotiations with mediators that are in the region. But the fact that it's the Army Chief that isn't the IRGC. It's two separate entities. There's the. Iranian Republic's Army, and then the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is their elite forces that also control a lot of the economy.

That is where you're starting to see publicly now. this rift rise up again. Because, as the Trump administration says, we're still negotiating, we're still in these channels. This is very important to watch because the fact that they are moving here. That the army chief is trying to make this statement and trying to show I'm in control.

That does show that one of the reasons why it is hard to negotiate is because that internal struggle is still ongoing. It's still ongoing, and we don't know who a new leadership would be, but of course, the idea of their being. A new regime, a true new regime, was kind of thrown out very early. And I think for a lot of us, there's regret there. That maybe we have done something poorly here.

We have made the wrong decision. But of course, there's also pushback for those that want to see the job finished. I want to take a call about that bill in Wyoming. On line one, Bill, go ahead. Yes, thanks for taking my call.

I've been wondering about this because I've yet to hear anything positive or whatever concerning this announcement. About the bounty from the Democrat Party. Do you have anything to say about that? Yeah, they're going to ignore it, I feel like, for the most part. Actually, what they're going to do is they're going to turn this as a look: here's how President Trump has put not just our troops that are in the region in harm's way, but our troops all around the world.

I saw John Ossoff, who is running again for Senate in Georgia, was making that a big point of his campaign this weekend. Let's not pretend there's not a little validity to that.

Well, let's not pretend that this war. which again had very different intentions than maybe we had planned, And maybe we are at a a turning point here. Or a tipping point, if you will, where Americans do look at it and go, What are we doing here? We are now not only, of course, everyone knows if you become a member of the United States military, especially now when it is a volunteer military, you know. That you are putting yourself in harm's way, that you are going to be a target to a lot of people.

And unfortunately, that's what it is. But. Are there things that are The political world can do to help protect that? And are there things that can help or can make them more vulnerable? This is one of those moments.

Where we have Put them in a bit more harm's way than maybe was necessary.

Well, and I think it goes back to things that we've said on this broadcast many times: why it is frustrating to some degree that President Trump has his own path here. For those that never wanted it to happen or those that wanted complete regime change, he has taken kind of the middle ground of like, hey, we hit them really hard and now we're negotiating. That's where you see frustration, even from us. That, like, a negotiation point. Have bounties on the heads of all of all.

If you said there were bounties on the head of the leadership, I can honestly say that's probably not something too crazy to think about. The fact that, and I would clue that from the very top down, but you're talking about anyone. You're blanketly saying Hey, citizens. of Iran or people who are listening to this. We're gonna pay you.

for essentially the scalp of a troop here. I mean, this is getting to the point of of. The risk. Where does the risk outweigh the reward here? And what is the reward at this point?

We need strong leadership to come in and explain this, or as we've said a million times, do the job. Phone lines are open 1-800-684-30110. When we get back, we're going to give you a little bit of an update on some of the work of the ACLJ here. It's not only going to be. Iran Mondays.

I want to keep this conversation rolling. Cece Howell's going to be joining us in the back half, giving you an update on Pastor Saw. And of course. As frustrating as this is, that's why we have teams in the UN. It's why we have teams in Europe.

It's why we have a Middle Eastern, you know, the ACLJ Jerusalem. We're a worldwide effort here, folks. And I want you to be a part of that team too. Says we head to the break. Consider supporting the work here.

At aclj.org. Of course, think about, pray about, give me a call because I would love to have you on the air today. 1-800-684. 3110 phone lines are open for you. We'll be right back.

Uh The lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110 when you hear that there is a bounty on all American soldiers' lives right now. Just telling the Iranian people. Go out there. Commit murder. Not only are we going to give you money, we're going to memorialize you in a museum to this war.

It doesn't feel like something that could be happening in 2026, but sadly, it is. And again, this isn't some fringe situation. This isn't some situation that's being told in some back channel underground. I think we kind of can conflate Hamas tactics and Iranian tactics as being similar. They're not, I mean, yes, they're all connected, certainly, but they're not the same kind of.

Uh Trickery, if you will. This is just put on. Mainstream media in their markets saying, Hey, You wanna go do this? Guess what? All's fair.

Bring us the bodies. We'll pay you out. Bring us the weapon. We'll hang it up for display. People can walk by and pay their respects and we know That is their method.

And it's just shocking, it's disturbing, but it also shows where we are in the state of this war. That every time we think we are headed towards some kind of conclusion, this kind of thing happens, and it is something we need to be very well aware of. when we're dealing with what is clearly a true threat because we don't know that's only going to happen in Iran on the ground. This threat could extend to U.S.

soil, by the way, a lot of American soldiers on the ground throughout the world. Obviously, in Europe and in Asia, there are American soldiers everywhere.

So now you have put, and then it's not even specific. It's veterans. What are we talking about here? They've made a very blanket statement. Saying, you know what?

We'll do this for you. In the work of the ACLJ, as much as it is important that we have to keep talking about all these different things. When we are talking about The lives of our U.S. troops. I think we need to really take a step for a moment and go, what are we doing?

Are we confident? in the way things are being held and are happening. And maybe we are. And I want to hear from you. That's at 1-800-684-3110.

I want to hear from Mary, who's calling in North Carolina. She's an ACLJ champion, kind of leads into this. Go ahead, Mary. Yes, I have first I want to thank you so much for being my main source of information. And just a few comments.

One is that I've never trusted Iranians. I was in college when the regime change occurred in 1979. And I recall the problems between the two Islamic groups. And I had classmates that were Iranian saying they got letters from home saying stay in America where you're safe. and the tears in their eyes, getting that.

Um And even now, hearing the bounty thing, that is very concerning to me. I have a son who's been in the Marine Corps 19 years, and he's over there right now. And being that he's a husband with a wife and three little kids in his home, is it's pretty heavy. I don't know why things have been dragging on so long. I just Trust that there's intel that we don't know about.

And I'm just praying God just continue to give our President and all of our other leaders. guide them in their decisions. And I'm really just trusting in that. Mary, first, I want to say, number one, thank you for being a champion, but also thank you and your family for your dedication and service to our country. You know, I understand the heaviness.

I don't I can't understand it in terms of I'm not living through it. But I imagine, from your point of view, this is something that's concerning. As I said, if you join the United States military, you understand that there are risks that go into it. But we live in a modern society where you think modern, even era of war isn't like this, where there's just a bounty for anyone. And like you said, you have a son with multiple children, your grandchildren.

We feel for them. And it does reframe. This back and forth we always get right now between You know, are we negotiating? Is there a deal on the horizon? Is it not on the horizon when you're negotiating people who are willing to do this?

Again, not a bounty on our leadership. Which obviously I don't like, but I kind of understand from a war perspective. But a bounty on anyone. Uh who may Serve our country. And a significant one at that.

From the government on their local media. Mary, thank you though for calling and thank you for being a champion. It's a disturbing revelation here. And I know a lot of you are calling in about it. Maybe we could take some more, but I want to get your thoughts.

Once again, I think to that point, that's why I think we have been pretty strong in our statements of we want the Islamic Republic of Iran, that framework, that government to no longer exist. Why? Because the people that are here in the third tier, the fifth tier, however far down you go, are the ones that are still calling for what? The assassination, effectively, with a bounty on the lives of American troops. And so I think even though it is that internal power struggle, because the chief of the army isn't who's necessarily being negotiated with, because it is that split, it shows that the power struggle is real and that their tactics and their belief system is still intact.

That is still the way they want to do business in this world, and therefore they should no longer have the option to do business in this world. Yeah, let's take Leonard, who's calling on line three, who certainly feels similarly. Leonard, go ahead. I want to just say this is absolutely repulsive. And I think that this shows the kind of enemies we're up against.

And I think we need to trust God and finish the job. Yeah, I mean, I think that that is a very good way to put it. It shows the enemy that we're up against, what you're actually dealing with here. This is not a traditional, I guess you'd say, conflict worldwide. You are dealing with governments and regimes that are willing to weaponize their own people.

We have seen that underhandedly with Hamas when we've said, you know, human shields, all those kind of statements that are thrown out there a little too flippantly these days when you don't realize what they're talking about. In this situation, it's the opposite. It's citizen cavalry that's being sent to take down and destroy anyone who may wave the flag of the United States of America.

Well, and to that point as well, going back to the previous caller said, you know, what have elected Democrats been saying about this? They're using this as a time to dunk on the President. They're using it as a time to say, Look, he's drastically depleted our munitions reserves. He has sent people into harm's way.

Now there's going to be a bounty on them. But they're not offering any solution either. They could disagree with the premise of getting into this, but they haven't said, here's how we should move forward. Here's how we should work together to defeat this. I don't think anyone out there, maybe a few in Congress, in the House of Representatives, would say that we had no problems with Iran.

But the fact of the matter is, is that this is the reality that we are living in. And they're all just using it as a political talking point for the election in November. of like we need to put a check on the President because look what he's done he's put our troops in harm way But Where's the solution? Here's how we would work with him to ensure that Iran is not a threat to the United States. That's what we're missing here.

So even if you side with people on the left or even on the right that are critics of the President and what he decided to do here, Then, where's the solution to? I want to hear that from people. I want to hear if you think that it's being, this war is being prosecuted in the wrong way. What else would you do? Because it's not just bring them all home.

It's not just leave it as it is.

So they can complain about it and get people fired up at rallies in Atlanta. But if you don't have a solution... Then you're also not any better than what you claim to be saying you're talking out against. We got a second half hour coming up. This first half hour flew by.

We do have an update from the ACLJ team on the situation with Pastor Saw in China. That's going to be coming in a couple segments, but we still want to take your calls at 1-800-68-430-110. Make sure you're watching and listening to the full show, by the way. It's online at aclj.org, YouTube, Rumble, Facebook. We broadcast live, and of course, you can catch it however you get your podcast.

Just search for Sekulow, search for ACLJ. You'll find it there. We are there each and every day. We do it live, 12 to 1 p.m. Eastern time.

You can be a part of the chat, be a part of it. It's really fun. It's a good way to engage with like-minded, sometimes not so like-minded people, but it's always entertaining. We'll be right back with more on Sekulow in less than a minute. Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever.

This is Sekulow. And now, your host, Logan Sekulow. Welcome to Sekulow's back half of the show. Today, you can obviously be a part of not only the broadcast, but be a part of the team today at aclj.org as we are currently. Really starting to head towards the end.

We're now in the back half of our impact match. I want you to be a part of it today at aclj.org. Of course, it's Monday, it's August 17th, and the work continues on. In the next segment, we're going to be joined by CC Heil, who's going to give us an update. On Pastor Saw in China.

You know him as a, he was a legal resident of the United States of America. with a pastor to China, was arrested, served a very long sentence there, but still has been denied his request to return home. This is the point where he has been dealing with a battle with cancer. and would certainly love to come to America, meet his grandchildren, spend time with them, and get home. But that being said, the main topic of the day, and we're going to discuss that more at length coming up, because the work of the ACLJ is very important.

And I want to make sure we never forget that that is why this show is on the air completely. We have an incredible legal team and we have an incredible media team. We obviously want to keep you updated on the news of the day and stuff that we find to be. interesting, one of which of course today is the thirty thousand dollar bounty. that has been placed.

on the lives of our US troops. by the Iranian army. in their public media facing operation, essentially saying, if you're a man, Thirty thousand dollars we would like or you would you would get. For each person you kill that waves the flag of the United States of America. If you're a woman.

We're going to double it. 'Cause you know it's more insulting to a man. to be murdered by a woman. in there, culture. And then We're going to take the weapon.

That you caused this damage with. We're going to hang it on the wall, put it behind a glass case, memorialize you in our Museum Against America.

Sounds like a joke.

Sounds like something. from a hundred years ago, but this is what's happening, actually happening. in our current quote unquote negotiation. with Iran to end this war. You may have agreed with the original motives of the war, you may disagree with them.

But now at least you can see what we're dealing with in terms of a threat. It's not just Position to leadership. We are talking about specifically anyone. Who is a United States military service person? We heard from a mom.

who called in saying her son. is serving right now small children, her grandchildren. And yeah, you understand there's always a risk. to being a uh United States military service person. But a risk is a little different than a bounty on your head.

We know that people we work with have had those bounties on their heads, but again, they're usually pretty high up. It's people who are the ones directing these initiatives. But now it's moved on to the individual person. And how will President Trump respond to this? Has he yet?

I'm not seeing a response directly from the President yet. Once again, we did see that this now 60-day window of negotiation is officially closed.

So this is where we've gotten at the same time that the 60-day window that was supposed to after the MOU, which was ripped up effectively by the Iranians, but that negotiation time has closed. It's getting to a curious point as far as observing the way that this plays out, because you are seeing more desperate moves from the Iranians. And the fact that they are saying we are going to go on the offensive. You have this army chief doing this bounty. You also know that there are people around the world that are not like the citizens of Iran that were massacred in the streets for protesting the regime.

There are people around the world that are true believers in the Islamic revolution of Iran. Of course. And that is where this is taking what could be a very dark turn for this chapter of this conflict. Because if Iran is feeling Like they are in a corner. It could get a lot messier going forward if there isn't a plan to end this once and for all.

I want you to give me a call. We have three lines open right now. After this segment, we have a CC. We may take some calls during that segment. I'm going to take as many calls as I can.

1-800-684-3110. A lot of you are watching online. Make sure you tell your friends about this show. And everything that we do here at the organization. We'll be back in just a minute.

But again, phone lines are open for you at 1-800. 684-3110. Right back, senior attorney here at the ACLJ, CC Highle. Welcome back to Sekulow. Phone lines are jammed right now, so stay on hold.

If you're on hold right now, let our phone screener take a minute to get through as many calls as we can.

So just stay on hold. Don't go anywhere right now. We will get to as many of you as we possibly can in this segment and then also in our last segment. We did want to give you an update. We've seen some news happen about the situation with Pastor Saw in China.

This is someone who we've represented for a number of years and served his senates, He was a pastor. Was a legal American citizen resident? I guess you're not resident, lawful permanent resident, green card holder. And right now, Served his senates, which we can get into what that was for. But cannot come home to America right now.

And we honestly want this to happen before it's too late. Yeah, absolutely. And I'll just give a background on his case.

So back in 2017, Pastor Saw had been doing humanitarian aid work, which China actually had commended him for in the past, but he was doing it on the Burma-China border. And coming back into China, he was targeted and arrested for illegally crossing the border.

Now, what's important about this, there were about 15 other people that were crossing at the same time. He was the only one that was targeted, arrested, and put in jail for seven years.

So we, of course, got involved early on. This is, I think, eight years that we've represented Pastor Saw and his family. And through the years, we had, we appeared, 2018, there was a State Department ministerial that brought up Pastor Saw's case. In 2019, we had the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention with a favorable opinion saying that he had been arbitrarily detained and that China should release him immediately. And then in 2020, a letter from the Congressional Executive Commission on China, and interesting enough, Senator Rubio was the co-chair at that time, asking President Trump to bring up Pastor Saw's case every time he interacted with Xi and really push for his release.

Unfortunately, China didn't pay attention to any of those efforts. He did survive his seven-year sentence, but March 5th, 2024, he was released from prison after serving his entire seven-year sentence. You would think as a U.S. LPR, a U.S. green card holder since 1990, he would have just been able then after he served his sentence, he's done everything correct, complied legally with everything.

He would have been able to come home to his family in the United States, his wife, his two sons, and now he has a grandson. But unfortunately, China chose to enforce an administrative law that allows China to withhold his passport. For six months after he's released from prison, up to three years.

So actually, in September of 2024, China could have issued his passport at that time, but they haven't. It looks like they're continuing to hold it. They're maybe pushing it out to the three years, which would be next year. Unfortunately, Pastor Saw has recently been diagnosed with stage four cancer, and he wants to come home to his family in the United States, get treatment, see his wife and sons, and meet his new grandson. And that is what the ACLJ is pushing for.

It is allowed under Article 14. It can be done. We have seen that President Xi has had some compassion when Trump asked him to release Pastor Jin. He did. And Pastor Jin wasn't even a green card holder, but he was allowed, and he hadn't even served his whole sentence, but he was allowed to come to the United States.

So we are desperately asking for Pastor Saw, who is a green card holder since 1990, who has his wife and sons and grandson here in the United States to be released and allowed to come back to the United States to get treatment and to be reunited with his family. And we urgently need help in this because we have a petition. And we want as many people to sign it as possible. That's right. And once again, if you go to aclj.org and click on the petitions tab right at the top of the homepage, you'll see something that looks like this.

This is the petition you can sign because we are trying to get as many. Our goal right now is 350,000. We're at a little over 327,000 signatures. If we can get to 350 before we send this to the President, to President Trump, by the way, to bring this up and to make sure that we can get this accomplished, that's our goal. But We know that you can do more than that.

We know that through prayer, sharing it with your church, with your friends and family. If we could get to half a million, it would be unbelievable.

So go to aclj.org, the petitions tab right at the top, and it's the first one you'll see. It looks like this if you're watching on the screen. But Cece, I think it's also important to bring up because I know. How long and how difficult this battle has been that you have been at the front lines of, how many nights, probably months of your life you have been up all night fighting and advocating for Pastor Saw. That when you get to a point, sometimes the victory at the ACLJ.

Is when you're in a country like China, and you are picked up for what's clearly a political reason because of your religion, your faith. A lot of times that's when people disappear. Yes. It is a victory in and of itself. To have someone sometimes just survive the prison term, their sentencing.

That is through the prayer of the people that we brought this to, through the pressure that the ACLJ was able to bring on China through the U.S. government. That is a, it may not sound like a victory to many people, but it is. The fact that when you read about the conditions he was initially put in, it was torture. It's torturing a human being because of their faith.

He survived. We were able to keep him alive in that situation.

Now, We are doing this next phase of this effort to get him home. That's why these signatures, to show the President, to show our U.S. government. Sometimes, even when we have the connections, and you've been working with the State Department for a long time on things like this, sometimes it also has to show this is important to the American people. That's right.

And that's exactly what we're trying to do right now. Absolutely. When these letters go to President Trump and to Secretary Rubio, it is very important for us to be able to say we're sending this letter not only on behalf of our client, Pastor Saw, and not only because the ACLJ, this is an issue that's important to us, it's an issue that's important to hundreds of thousands of people. And that actually does make a difference. I know so many times people say, Hey, when we sign these petitions, does it make a difference?

It does. When President Trump and Secretary Rubio get a letter that's not just from one law firm, but a law firm that says we have 350,000 people that agree with us, or we have half a million people that agree that it is ridiculous to keep holding Pastor Saw in China after he's served his entire Seven-year sentence. He's done everything legally correct. There's no problem whatsoever. And to use an administrative law to continue to punish him is not right.

They can send him home with a humanitarian exception, absolutely. He has his green card. All he needs is his Chinese passport. And they can issue that today. And that's what we're asking.

Just issue his passport, let him travel home to get his treatment and be with his family. And I think, Cece, we can kind of speak to this as well. When we do these petitions, sometimes it is, you know. Getting a group of people together to challenge an issue that we know is maybe not going to be the most friendly of issue to the person that we are petitioning. In this situation, and it should help you make decisions on who you're voting for, who you're not voting for, and those kind of things, because in theory, You have what should be a friendly administration to this.

However, this case specifically. really isn't bipartisan. Right. There's no shouldn't be anyone pushing back on this. And we don't necessarily know that there is within the United States government, other than getting it to the right person who understands what they're dealing with.

And the Trump administration hopefully can see clearly with this. Absolutely. Bipartisan. Let's go back to even Pastor Brunson and Pastor Narin. Senator Shaheen, who is a Democrat senator, she was one of my biggest partners and friends because she understands this is an issue.

So it is definitely bipartisan. And even with President Xi, it's really not political. It's not political. It's just saying, hey, you have the opportunity under Article 14, under your own law, you can issue him a passport today and be compliant with your law. Please show compassion like you did with Pastor Jen.

Please do that and let him come home. And it's just bringing it to their attention. Yes, because there's a chance. That because she has no idea, really, what's going on? This is one person in a group of how many China, I mean, so many that have legal issues in a moment.

So, just like our system here, we have to have people who are there to be their voices to even get the opportunity. For the top leaders to go, oh, yeah, this is nothing. This shouldn't be anything we have to worry about. But the ACLJ team has to be there. Right.

And working in a country like China, that's not easy for your team. It is not. And just like Will said, you know, when six o'clock comes, everybody at the ACLJ is kind of like, okay, we're wrapping it up, except that's when my China day starts. And it was just like with Turkey or India, you know, I don't always get to have, okay, I'm working all day with the State Department, I'm working all day with the administration, and then nighttime comes, and then I switch hats, and now I have to start working China time. Yeah, because it is 12 hours ahead.

So. Man, this is our team is really putting in the hard hours, and we want you to be a part of it. Of course, there's a way you can get involved right now. You can sign that petition, aclj.org. Do it today again at aclj.org to bring Pastor Saul home.

This is something we're going to take to the President. We're going to take the administration and say, look, you can do this, you can make this simple request. And yes, it's for an individual person. But that matters.

So, we want you to join with us today. That again is at aclj.org. When we get back, stay on hold. We got a lot of calls coming in. We still have one line open: 1-800-684-284.

3110. We are.

Now, in the back half of our impact match. And it'll be a while until we can offer something like this again.

So have your donation doubled today at ACLJ. We'll be right back with your calls and your comments. Thanks, Cece. Welcome back to Secula. We got a full bank of calls right now, so I just want to make sure we get through as many as we possibly can, and many of them are ACLJ champions, people that give.

On a regular monthly basis. And what I always say is, I like to bump them up to the front.

So when they tell our phone screener they're a champion, as long as it checks out, you get a little special treatment from our team here.

Now, two of you are on hold right now, two champions. One of you on hold for five minutes, one's hold for 16.

So I'm gonna jump to the 116 first. Let's go to Kathy. Online too. Kathy, go ahead and thanks for being a champion. Thank you very much.

Thank you for taking my call. I need I'm not sure how to even begin to start this, but I think we, the people of the United States of America, need to unite as one. We have become too divided on everything. A lot of people aren't supporting the President's decision. But I will refuse to have any of our soldiers be killed By Iranian because of the fact that we, the people, cannot stand up for this country and fight back as one and not individuals.

Yeah, Kathy, number one, thank you for being a champion. I think that you are right, and it's something that we talk about all the time, and it's easy to just become words that the division in this country has gotten to a point of absurdity. The fact that you actually do have an issue like this, there should not be two sides to it. There shouldn't be two sides to Pastor Saul. There shouldn't be two sides to all of this, but a lot of them have become politicized.

Now, look, you can have a problem with. the way things have gone any rut. whether you agreed with it at first Maybe your opinions have changed. Maybe the goals have been shifted and you don't approve of it now. Or maybe you think that maybe it's too late.

We need to go figure out another way to solve this problem. Uh It's going to be politicized. As we head into midterm election, it's just sadly the truth. that as Will said, they're using these moments when you have a bounty on the head of American soldiers as See, look what those people did And I'm not going to say Republicans wouldn't do the same thing, or Democrats wouldn't do the same thing. You're playing with lives.

You're using them as political pawns. Um And we also reveals the seriousness of the nature of the governments that we are trying to work with.

Well, and once again, I I think that The the way that this has been debated within the American political arena it has not even taken the seriousness of the conflict seriously from the beginning. Because you had immediately The opposing party not even tried to come up with real understandable path forward or policy on this. They just had them bash the President and say he doesn't know what he's doing. Pete Hagseth doesn't know what he's doing. And trying to downplay the reality that Iran is and has been a threat for a very long time, their entire history, and they have killed American soldiers.

So I think that's where it does get frustrating when you read headlines like this and understand that Iran is backed into a corner. And they are going to start lashing out in other ways. And there's been no unifying moment, as our caller brought up, that can really look into it and say, hey, yeah, maybe we do need to start charting a new path forward with Iran. The nuclear deal didn't work. The JCPOA negotiating isn't working here.

Yeah, let's figure this out. I want to continue on. Another champion, Marion's calling from Texas. Longtime caller, Marion, go ahead. Yes, I just wanted to say a lot of people are upset with Trump because he hasn't ended the war.

But one of the reasons is because the Democrats have put all this stuff on them, but they never account for the fact that in Benghazi that Obama let a lot of people be killed. And then in Afghanistan, Biden let a lot of people needlessly be killed. And that's okay. But if Trump does something wrong, I'm just tired of people getting on him about that.

So my final comment is: I believe that behind the scenes, he's trying to initiate activities to where he can arm people there, and they'll do the fighting. They want to fight. They fought with their fists before against machine guns. Why wouldn't they fight if they have weapons?

So I just wanted people to know the only reason Trump's holding off some is because of the attacks he's getting from the left and all that. And I think, Marion, to that point as well, the fact that this is the commander of the army, not the IRGC that's making this threat, there's a power struggle. Maybe they will end up fighting. Fighting and killing each other off, so to speak, to give an opening for the Iranian people to step up. I'm with you.

I hope that that's the path forward, but it's still not in a great spot right now. Yeah, let's continue on. Thanks, Mary. And Don is calling with a similar idea. Don, go ahead.

Yeah, I'm uh I'm I would I wish uh President Trump would take uh a new look. At this whole war, I think we're going at it the wrong way in the sense that. We need to Instead of attack them at their strengths, we need to look for their weakness. we need to make them off balance. In martial arts, you don't go after the guy's strongest points.

You go after their weakest. You do a leg sweep. You do this or that. We need to look at. new spots, work at finding the leaders, locating them.

They'll start popping their heads up pretty soon. But we need to attack them in the North, attack them in the South, keep them off balance, And then what happens is why they're because right now they're calling the shots. Yeah, it does feel Don, and I'm only cutting you off because we're just running low on time. It does feel like sometimes in these situations that we are not leading this fight, that we are, like you said, the ones on our back foot trying to handle what's happening in this moment, not the ones taking the lead here. If not, you wouldn't have the vibrato that they have to say these things.

Well, and I think the most frustrating thing has been all the times when they've broken their promises and President Trump says, All right, now we're going to deal the death blow. And it doesn't happen. We led from the beginning. This was a true show of American force like we've never seen before at the beginning of this. And then, when it got to the negotiating factor, it's like we forgot the best tool we have, which is the American force that can really put them in a position where they have no other choice.

But to surrender, and that has just been kind of left to the wayside. All right, let's quickly take Larry and Mississippi. Larry, you're running out of time. Let's go ahead.

Well, I just think that we try to fight a war with a Western attitude. and we don't want to destroy the the general public in in Iran. But They the Muslims don't care a thing about their own people. And that's why we are, it's going to take very radical action in order for us to stop this mess now once and for all. Yeah, Larry, if we knew the war we were getting ourselves into, and I assume that we had good leadership that did understand that, I don't disagree with you.

That this is the kind of threat you're talking about here: people who are willing to sacrifice their own people and also weaponize. Citizens to do this kind of thing. Quickly, let's go to Tony in Texas. Tony, last call of the day. Go ahead.

Hey man, here's my point. Number one, you're dealing with liars. When you put something out on the air that, oh, we're going to pay $30,000 to kill service, first of all, Being a veteran and being a retired LEO, it's on your mind all the time. People hate you anyway. But, number one, you're going to trust a liar to pay you 30 grand.

How are you going to do that? Yeah, Tony. I mean, these are people that are desperate. There's the people that are the true believers that hear that and they're like, right, this is my cause in the Iranian infrastructure. And then there's the people that are so desperate because of economic dire straits.

They're like, Yeah, take the risk. And hey, maybe I get my name up in a plaque in a museum. All right, thank you all for joining us today. It's Monday. It is the back half now of our impact match.

I want you to be a part of it today. That's at aclj.org. Thank you to everyone who called in today. We took a ton of calls. I like that.

When you guys get engaged and want to call in, I mean, again, we already took 12 calls. Phone lines are always open during our show, which is 12 to 1 p.m. Eastern Time, by the way. You should always be a part of it live if you can. It's way more fun.

It's way more engaging. But if you catch us archive too, that's fine. We are in the middle of our impact match. I want you to scan the QR code or go to aclj.org right now. All donations, as I've said, are doubled because there's other great ACLJ supporters ready to unlock their pledge.

Be a part of it today. Think about it, pray about it. If you can't right now, get involved in all the different freeways at aclj.org or subscribe on YouTube. Talk to you tomorrow.