6/11/26: Trump Floats Taking Kharg Island, Prof Marandi Says Iran Welcomes Invasion

This is an I Heart podcast. Guaranteed human. Hey guys, Sagar and Crystal here. Independent media just played a truly massive role in this election and we are so excited about what that means for the future of this show. This is the only place where you can find honest perspectives from the left and the right that simply does not exist anywhere else. So if that is something that's important to you, please go to breakingpoints.com, become a member today and you'll get access to our full shows, unedited, ad free, and all put together for you every morning in your inbox. We need your help to build the future of independent news media and we hope to see you at breakingpoints.com. Good morning everybody, happy Thursday. I have an amazing show for everybody today. What do we have, Crystal? Indeed we do. A lot of breaking news, once again, with regard to our war on Iran bombs are flying. There are some indications. Maybe they are still working on a deal behind the scenes. We will sort through it all. Trump making some wild comments and threats as well. So we'll play that for you too. Professor Morandi is gonna join us for the Iranian perspective, what he thinks is going on and may happen next. Brandon Weikert also going to be back with us. So we covered with him previously the efforts to integrate the Israeli military with our military. Apparently they're also trying to fully integrate the Israeli intelligence apparatus with our intelligence apparatus and to legislate that this is legally mandated no matter what a future president may want to do. So he's going to get into all of that and also react to a very troubling report from legendary journalist Sy Hirsch that Trump has in fact floated using a nuke in Iran. So get his thoughts on all of that. We've also got some other wild Trump comments on the economy. He says he loves the inflation. We will get you the Republican reaction. We also have a huge story in terms of the stock market with the SpaceX IPO going forward. This is going to be one way or another extremely consequential. So we want to take another look at that. And then we've got Mika Brzezinski with a wild question to Graham Platner and an excerpt in the New York Times of explosive behind the scenes information about how all of the Epstein files machinations went down behind the scenes. This is Maggie Heyburn. And it's pretty interesting what they are claiming happened with regards to remember the binders that went to the influencers, Pam Bondi, making a mess of things. Who was arguing for what behind the scenes and what the president was up to during that time. Yeah, I would say it doesn't make a single person in there look good. Thank you to everybody for subscribing to the show, breakingpoints.com to support our work. All of us up all hours of the night monitoring all these missiles flying all over. So please support us if you can. And if you're watching this on YouTube, hit subscribe, listen to this podcast, share an episode with a friend. But as Crystal said, we're going to go ahead and start with all of the craziness in the Middle East right now. Let's go ahead and start. First, what we have here is the United States Navy releasing this, disabling another tanker in the Gulf of Oman. You can see that they shot two hellfire missiles at the boiler room. This is the third tanker that's been disabled in a number of days. We are watching here is actually an Iranian missile barrage on a Air Force base in Jordan. Very noteworthy because Jordan had not come under nearly as much attack. You can see that some of the missiles were intercepted. Iranians are claiming otherwise. This is a very important one. What you're watching in front of you are actually Tomahawk missiles, which were fired from a US destroyer somewhere in the Persian Gulf. But the reason why this is very important from a military perspective is that it shows even nearly 100 days now into the war is that the United States did not want to risk actually sending planes over Iran. Remember, because we had multiple shootdown instances. So these are standoff munitions, Tomahawks. It is estimated that in the 39 days, maybe 38 days of conflict, the United States spent 30% of its entire Tomahawk missile inventory. So another 50 Tomahawk missiles per the president and the White House that were fired as of last night. Very noteworthy in the fact that they were used. We also know from the targeting, many of the targets in Iran appear to all be air base and radar systems, which are along the straights of Hormuz. Why does that matter? Because it shows remaining that the US remains bedeviled by this problem. We were told that the Navy was eliminated, that the Air Force was eliminated. Not even true, just saw a video, literally came out today released by the Iranians of one of their fighter jets actually landing on an air base. But it does show that they are still bedeviled by that problem. Many of these installation sites all along the straight of Hormuz and the most single most important use is those Tomahawk missiles. It tells us they still do not want to risk sending planes over Iran in the case that they get shot down, just showing their overall military strength. So we did have Fox News reporter Trey Yanks, he got a call straight from the situation room last night. Let's take a listen. I just spoke with President Trump, who is currently in the situation room with Vice President J.D. Vance, along with Special Envoy Kushner and Whitcoff, the president giving new insight into what is taking place as we speak. There is an ongoing bombing campaign against the Iranian regime. The president tells Fox News that 49 Tomahawk missiles were used to hit targets inside of Iran, some of them as close as 40 miles from the Iranian capital of Tehran. The president said that US fighter jets are also operating over the skies of Iran, taking out radar systems and air defense systems in the southwestern part of the country, close to the Persian Gulf. This is all taking place as the Iranians are trying to get the United States to stop the bombing campaign. President Trump told me that Iran called him tonight, top Iranian officials, and President Trump spoke directly according to the commander-in-chief tonight as the president was sitting in the situation room. And he told me that the Iranians asked them to stop bombing. And the president said to me, the bombing will stop shortly. I asked him, what will happen if the Iranians do not sign an agreement that was put forward by American negotiators? President Trump said, quote, we'll bomb the S out of them tomorrow night. I asked the president if the ceasefire is over. He told me this was the most violated ceasefire in the history of the world. He also spoke about the broader situation. And Vice President JD Vance also spoke momentarily. The phone at one point was on speaker and the vice president talked about how this negotiating team has dealt with the Iranians, understanding that they have to deal with both moderates and more extreme voices inside of Iran. We will bomb the shit out of them, Trump told Trey, I like his attempt to censor there on cable television. We were going to bomb the shit out of them today if they do not sign a deal. I'm sure that if we just bomb them for the 39th time, that this time everything will work out. Let's put A3 up here on the screen, the immediate response from the Iranians. Iran has declared the Strait of Hormuz closed to all shipping and has warned any vessel will be targeted. The armed forces top operational command responsible for coordinating military operations says the following. Following the criminal aggressions of the American enemy and considering the launch of new attacks by the invading army that the country's on the area of the South province from this moment ago, due to insecurity in the region, the Strait of Hormuz is declared closed for passage for all types of vessels, including oil tankers and commercial ships. Any movement of vessels through the Strait will be targeted and the American claim regarding the passivate ship through the Strait is false. This was after SENTCOM had denied that. That's a crystal. And they're also denying, Trump said in that, to Trey Yanks reportedly that he had spoken directly with the Iranians, they are also denying that that is going on. And I mean, the one area where they are in agreement is Trump said this is the most violated ceasefire in the history of time. And they also are saying that these attacks have made the truce completely meaningless. So today seems to be a really pivotal day, given that Trump is saying either we're gonna have some sort of a deal, we're gonna bomb them into negotiating, which is something that he's been convinced of before, that if we just have a little more violence, one more attack, that then we're gonna be able to succeed at the negotiating table. So either there's going to be some sort of progress diplomatically today, or else it's looking increasingly like we're going back to all out war. I think that there's no question in terms of, I mean, look, I don't know, obviously anything could happen. There are some reports about talking and all of that behind the scenes, but a couple of important things, we'll save that mostly for Professor Morandi. But if we stick explicitly with what we know, let's put A5 up here on the screen again, just to show everyone where all of these things are going, at least four explosions were heard on the coastal town, on the eastern side of the Strait. Another explosion was near the city of Minab, which if you'll recall, that's where that girls' school was struck. Several explosions were also heard near the port area on a Gulf of Oman coast. And then an explosion was reported in Iran's main commercial port and Naval Hub overlooking the Strait of Hormuz. All of that indicates that the US is looking at the Strait singularly as the major military problem. What this comes on the heels of, if you put it all together, is that the Strait itself reopening it is the only military objective now of the US. They're not even pretending to strike military strikes or military sites in Tehran or near the nuclear facilities or any of these places, which actually shows you that the ball is in Iran's court because if they're able to control the Strait now, as opposed to whenever, what, February 28th when the war was launched, we are now trying to solve a problem that didn't exist on the very day. The war was launched. It also, look, if Iran was totally military defeated, as Trump has claimed, I think yesterday, that Ryan and Emily covered, then they would not have air defense and radar systems and missiles and drones that they were able to launch as far away as Jordan, at Kuwait, at Bahrain, all three, which were also hit last night. I mean, look, we have no idea. There's all kinds of wild claims that are out there, but one thing making clear to me, there is a hell of a lot more censorship now coming out of the Gulf. The number of videos and things that come from the Gulf of showing interceptions is all that is minuscule compared to even where it was. You know, pretty clearly the Gulf people have got this lockdown over the last 65 days. And I think a lot of foreigners are probably left and have probably are not going. True. So that's probably another part of it. But I mean, we are seeing, you know, there's some report of a hit on the US Navy, Fifth Fleet, don't know if it's true or not. Well, never know, to be honest, because it's not like SENTCOM gonna tell us the truth. I love, I mean, just to show you all the level of nonsense, Jordan came out and was like, we intercepted 20 missiles. Well, Iran was like, well, we only fired 12. So how does that work? You know what? Well, maybe the missiles came from somewhere else. Somebody else can speculate that. Or maybe they're lying. And we've seen that very consistently from SENTCOM, from the US forces. They keep saying everything is fine, nothing's been hit. And then six weeks later, you're like, oh my God, this entire place looks like the moonscape in terms of what has been hit. So just keep that in mind as some of these denials and other things are rolling out. We have no idea the amount of US assets that may have been taken out as of yesterday. We do know though, that there was this major strike on an Iranian water source, a drinking water site. We basically 100% confirmed. It's been geo-located and confirmed also. The New York Times ran one of its investigative series on it over the last 24 hours. They said not only was it struck, but it was struck deliberately. Pete Hegseth was asked about that yesterday. When he was at Gitmo, let's take a listen. So far, Blockade is ironclad, which it is. And we were able to move commercial shipping in and out of the Strait of Hormuz. Who controls the Strait of Hormuz? And President Trump said it and he's right. The United States of America controls the Strait of Hormuz. We're able to bring oil in and out and other things with partners and have done so now for weeks and weeks in ways the Iranians don't want to acknowledge. Are there any strikes tonight? Are there any bigger, more strikes than last night? We're not, as you know, we're not in the business of revealing what we're gonna do or not gonna do. But ultimately, what we do tonight are gonna advance our military interests and also enhance our diplomatic position. Or you just mentioned, you're gonna plan to hit them and strike them hard tonight. If the response is in hitting bridges, electrical infrastructure, how would that not be a war not potentially targeting civilian infrastructure? But precisely the kind of disingenuous question that I'm used to from the media, impugning the motives of the folks on our side who are incredibly professional and incredibly effective. We will hit them hard on our terms, on the targets that improve the environment for us to operate in and undermine the capabilities that Iran wants to have. Again, they can't do that to us, meaningfully the way that we can to them. But we're also clearly signaling to them. You have a choice. You have a choice to, in the way that you respond, and you have a choice with the negotiate, our incredible negotiating team in Steve Wickop and Jared Kushner and the vice president and the president, across the board, prepare Marco Rubio, the whole team, prepared to make a great deal that would benefit Iran. They choose not to, and as a result, they're gonna meet the United States Central Command again tonight in a way that the president laid out clearly. Hey Seth, it's fully back to rah-rah mode, but you can see here is asked specifically, oh, we control the straight up or moves, but the strike on the water storage site remains very important because that was one of the main, well, first of all, you're not supposed to do that. It's just by any, even by the rules laid out by the United States military, not even like Geneva Convention or any of that. But second is that that was always something that was going to be seen as a red line from the Iranians. Now, we don't know yet whether their full response has been, frankly, it's been a bit muted now so far. They've only really targeted American sites. They have not, as of yet, targeted any of the civilian infrastructure in the Gulf, but that has always been threatened. Recall, they were very much eye for an eye. Like you hit the South Park's gas field, they're going to go ahead and hit Ras La Fon in Doha, taking out billions and billions of dollars in oil infrastructure. I'm not sure what their military strategy is right now, but it does remain one where they can use it, certainly as a pretext, to go after all those desalination plants all across the Gulf, which will be equally critical for them as it is for Iran. So it remains to be seen. Let's go ahead and put A8 up on the screen. This is what we've referenced a few times about how there is this report. According to a veteran political insider, and this is from Amlaj Media in Tehran with knowledge of the negotiations, alleging that there is a draft agreement that has been prepared. That insider said that the text is ready. It was finalized tonight, gave credit to Qatar, which has been separately engaging with both Iran and the US to forge a deal. Now, keep in mind, when we say a deal, we mean a preliminary memo of understanding to, I guess, have a more concrete ceasefire, since this ceasefire doesn't really seem to be a ceasefire while the rest of details are worked out. Says, if they can get the final approval by tomorrow, that would now be today, it will be initiated. Spike in Iran, US violence comes amid mixed signaling that suggests possible disconnect between what the respective militaries are doing and what political leadership are discussing. Senior Iranian political source interpreted Trump's decision to conduct strikes for a second night as reflecting anger within apparent deadlock in negotiations while describing Trump as angry. The senior source lamented there appeared to be little cognizance in the White House of how real world armed confrontations are, quote, not a video game. The Iranian leadership has authorized retaliatory strikes on US military facilities, casting doubt on the prospect of a nod to an imminent deal. There are indications, though, that both sides ultimately want to avoid renewed all-out war. While the Iranian leadership has authorized retaliatory strikes, they also say, late on June 10, Trump claimed to have ordered a halt to bombings after speaking directly with Iranian officials alleging he was asked to cease attacks. US military in June 10 struck a number of military sites in southern Iran. Iranian media has denied the claims about any direct contact. Trump notably alluded to the coming 24 hours that would be today as being decisive, saying that if an agreement on the table is not signed on June 11, we'll bomb the shit out of them. So the idea that's being offered here is that the strikes are more about two things, frustration with the final holdup in the negotiations, and also trying to posture, like, now, if he did this bombing and then announced a deal, then he would get to look kind of like a tough guy, like, oh, you know, they, we came in and we were hard with them and we struck their critical sites and they were afraid. And that's why we're able to secure this deal. So the picture that this insider report is laying out is one of more posturing and face saving in the days before there's actually going to be some sort of diplomatic breakthrough. That's what they're claiming. Now, I am skeptical because I don't think that when you go in and bomb a country, it makes them more likely for a deal to happen. That is certainly not what we've seen in the past. It's not what we've seen in the context of this conflict when Iran still has a very hard and strong position in terms of their leverage over the straight-up form moves. The nature, as Sogret was saying before, of the attacks where there were not flyovers, where these were just missiles launched from far away shows the continued strength of the Iranian military and the Iranian position. We have been to the, they almost have a deal, rodeo for like 60 days at this point. So that also lends some level of skepticism. But we wanted to make sure to get in here that this is a possibility that that is what is going on behind the scenes and that neither side really wants to go back to all-out conflict and will take some pain and some loss in order to secure some sort of deal. The other element of this that we haven't mentioned is Israel, which continues to strike inside of Lebanon. And that is a red line for the Iranians. And they have already made clear and asserted that that is a deal-breaker. They will not move forward until there is a genuine cessation of hostilities from Israel against Lebanon and Hezbollah. So in any case, it appears to be we're either coming to some sort of at least temporary deal and memo of understanding or spiraling back into all-out hostilities. Well, while you were speaking, some breaking news. The United States from Donald Trump, let's put this up in post, will be hitting Iran, whose Navy Air Force radar and anti-aircraft are gone. Very hard tonight. At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Carg Island and other oil infrastructure points and assume total control of their oil and gas markets, much like we have with Venezuela, which is working out brilliantly for both Venezuela and the United States of America. Thank you for your attention to this matter. OK. Well, what do you think of that? I mean, do you think that that's an empty threat? And again, and posturing? Or do you think this is really happening? Right. Because with Trump, you never know, because you cannot take his words of face value. Processing in real time is just basically two options. As Juan, remember, he said, we're going to end civilization. An entire civilization will die tonight. The ceasefire gets signed like 24 hours later. So that's certainly possible. Also, would you really want to telegraph that you're going to take a Carg Island before you're going to take Carg Island? Probably not, because if you're like, hey, that's where we're going. So maybe they're not going to take Carg Island. We previously talked about Keshima Island, which they might go ahead and try to take. Or it might be used as cover for a nuclear paratrooper deployment in the nuclear area with Isfahan. So let's put that all on the table. At the very least, though, I mean, we're back to bellicosity and to sword waving, which the Iran, look, I mean, that's why while you were talking, it was like my only counter was going to be, this would mean a totally different Iran, an Iran that would sit there, from Iran for the last 100 days, which has consistently laid out a red line and said, if you come and hit us, we're going to hit you twice as hard to establish deterrents that has fit their entire pattern. There's no reason to say why they would capitulate right now to this action. I also just have no, I just see no reason why you would say, at some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Carg Island and other oil infrastructure points and assume total control of their oil and gas markets if you didn't mean it in some form. It does remind me, though, very much of, like you were saying, the whole civilization is going to die. And then he said, we're going to destroy all of their bridges and all of their infrastructure. And that was an attempt by him to provide himself with cover in order to float this deal, which was so that he could look like, oh, we forced that they were so scared that they came running to the negotiating table. We got everything that we wanted. They haven't responded very well to that in the last 60 days. Nobody's an idiot. Right? You know, it's like, it's one of the. Look, here's the thing where we could assume strategy when, in reality, he's losing it. Like, I think that's where it is. Remember the project freedom? Do we have any of that stuff in here? Sorry, just because we have a few more minutes before, Marandi. Yeah, let's put B2, bring it in. Yesterday, Trump said, last month, I directed our great military to execute the secret mission to support 100 million barrels of making its way through the strait. Now, first of all, 100 million barrels roughly works out to 2.5 million barrels per day. Does anyone want to tell me how many barrels would move through the strait of Hormuz on a normal day? 20 million. OK, so 10%, roughly 10% of normal traffic. And as I put out in my analysis, I was like, so we're really bragging about the full force of the United States Navy, billions of dollars, tens of millions of dollars per day, billions of dollars per month, Apache helicopters, MQ-9 Reaper drones, three dead Indian nationals, and all I got was a lousy 10% of restoring through the strait. What does that tell you about the full force of the United States Navy? But let's put that to the side. Why would you brag about a secret mission? If it's a secret mission that was working, why would you brag about it? Because you care more about the oil markets, necessarily, than you do about actually the mission. Because now, if they're like, hey, if this is happening, they're going to put more attempts to try and to stop it. Well, I mean, there's no logic behind it. Like, why would you brag about that if it was real? Is it all bluster? I don't know. I mean, at the same, it would be shocking and insane to brag about taking Carg Island. And we will say, let's put some of the pieces together. Remember Ken Clippenstein's report? There are paratroopers who are currently in the Middle East. In Israel. In Israel. But there's a very under-noticed picture that was put out by SENTCOM two days ago. It was like, paratroopers train live fire exercise in the Middle East. And I was like, oh, that's subtle. All right, so you have live fire training bragging by SENTCOM. I mean, it's possible. I think anything is possible because he is desperate. And this is, let's put A7 up on the screen. This is from Sy Hirsch, legendary journalist. He is claiming that he has a source inside of the Trump administration that Trump at some point floated the idea of using low-yield nuclear weapons to destroy, quote, some of Iran's underground missile factories. He was told by someone with extensive knowledge of nuclear weaponry that it was a very scary and very serious moment. The president was depicted at this point to be desperate not to lose in Iran. His idea was to warn the Iranian leadership that we are very seriously considering such an escalation. I was told the president apparently was talked out of any thought of nuclear escalation. So this is one report based on one insider, two Seymour Hirsch. However, it fits with the picture of Trump being beside himself. Incredibly erratic. Every week we go back to, let's leak something to Barack Reveed, let's try to control the markets, let's do a little bit of bombing, let's tell Israel not to bomb, then let's greenlight Israel bombing. I mean, it just is, if you look at the entire picture, it is one of someone who is trapped, who doesn't know what to do, who is lashing out at times, who is trying everything they can possibly think of to get themselves out of a mess of their own creation, which is a disaster. I mean, if you accept the Iranian position and the deal that's on the table, you are acknowledging a humiliating defeat for yourself. If you go into full scale war with some sort of insane Karg Island operation or nuclear dust operation or God forbid, low yield nuclear weapon, that is going to be a disaster as well. So there are no good options on the table. And he keeps spinning his wheels trying to find one. The reason I put some credence in the idea that this is a lot of bluster is simply because I do think he is terrified of doing some larger scale assault that would involve a ground invasion. I think he is terrified of that. I think there's been, after that, whatever happened with the pilot rescue situation and how that went so sideways and was almost a complete and total disaster, he seems to have been, from that point on, very fearful of walking that next step up the escalation ladder, but also cannot accept the deal that would be on the table right now. That's why there's no reason to say that. I think today is really pivotal. I was gonna say, I think that's why there's no reason to dismiss that we have oscillated back is that we did have 60 days. Remember, by the way, it is by the grace of God, those pilots are alive. I was, again, assume the actual story is true, but I mean, there's no reason not to, at least so far with the Apaches, the Apache helicopters flying, a drone, a suicide attack drone comes, somehow, by the way, the Apache, as I understand it, the pilot configuration is like one, one, like here. I was reading from a pilot. It logs itself in between, it's on fire, so they have to do a power descent into the water, and then once they're in the water, they're picked up by this AI US Navy surface drone. So first of all, from what I heard, if it's a pilot, impossible, like out of a plane. Why? Because they're immobilized into their seats, and they wouldn't have been able to get out as easy, and wouldn't be able to swim to the drone, so that's number one. So every step went right for these people to be alive, whoever these pilots are. But I mean, if we consider that operation Trump previously had said, that the red line was if Americans were killed. I mean, these guys are barely, seriously, again, if the official story is true, which I currently do think so, because the Iranians did kind of acknowledge that they hit the pilot and all that, and I don't really know why they would lie. Anyway, my point just remains, because we have Marandi standing by. This is a very, very, very pivotal moment. Let's talk to Professor Marandi, he's standing by. For the Iranian perspective on whatever is happening this morning, we are very fortunate to be joined by Professor Mohamed Marandi of the University of Tehran. Great to see you again, sir. Good to see you, sir. Great to see the two of you. So let me get your live reaction here to the latest Trump truth social post. He says, the United States will be hitting Iran, whose Navy Air Force radar anti-aircraft and all other forms of defense together with most of its offensive capability are gone, very hard tonight. At some point in the not too distant future, we will be taking Carg Island and other oil infrastructure points and assume total control of their oil and gas markets, much like we have with Venezuela, which is working out brilliantly for both Venezuela and the United States of America. Thank you for your attention to this matter. I know you're processing this in real time, but what is your initial reaction here, sir? It doesn't surprise me. I mean, that's the sort of thing that Trump does say. And we've seen him carry it out in Venezuela and threatened to take Cuba. And he is currently strangling Cuba and he's facilitating the genocide in the ongoing genocide in Southern Lebanon and of course, the ongoing genocide in Gaza. So we have no expectations. But it's interesting that recognize that there is an Iranian audience out there and they see that the Trump regime is not prepared to be reasonable and that it is openly saying that it's going to take Iranian resources and Iranian territory. So that is going to do nothing but unite the country further. If there are those who are saying that maybe we should find a solution, even though it may not be completely fair and even if the agreement may not be fully just, but maybe we should accept an agreement with the Americans in the hope that Trump will back down and behave more reasonably. When they see this, they say, okay, then the political forces in power in Iran, they're right, they have to be tough and steadfast with Trump in order to prevent him from stealing our land and resources. So he unites the Iranian people further. He tells the world of his openly 18th century, 19th century, early 20th century imperial ambitions. I don't think it helps the United States and he's going to fail. Last night, that huge offensive, it was somewhat bigger than the previous attack, but the Iranian response was also equally tough. The United States didn't open the Strait of Homoes. It's not going to be able to open the Strait of Homoes. And meanwhile, the global economic situation gets worse by the day. Professor, I want to ask, the last time you were on a show, forgive me if I'm wrong, you seem quite optimistic about a potential deal. We've interviewed you several times. You seemed fairly optimistic and you're very tapped in. You of course have accompanied some of these delegations as an observer this time around, just monitoring some of your communications. You don't seem nearly as optimistic and I know that you speak to many of the people who are in power. What is the feeling in the higher echelons of power in Tehran? I've never been very optimistic. I'm just, in general, I'm not a pessimistic person and I am an optimistic person. Despite all the horrors that we see every day, you wake up in the morning and you look at your social media and you see dead bodies and gauze and Lebanon and so on. But in general, I am hopeful for the future. I believe that at the end of the day, the United States is going to have to back down, whether it's by signing an agreement that's reasonable or whether it's just going to have to sort of walk away or melt away, which is not going to be easy tomorrow. But the fact is that Iran has during the 39 days war, during 39 days of hot war, it has shown that it could defeat a superpower with its broad coalition, the regimes in the region, the Israeli regime, the collective west through their maximum pressure sanctions, even Turkey's US bases in Turkey, NATO airwax, AWACS jets were being used against Iran. The Republic of Azerbaijan was working against Iran. This huge coalition fighting against Iran directly or indirectly, and the Iranians won the war. So the Iranians are competent. Now what Trump is trying to do is to strangle the Iranian people. That's what the siege is about, to prevent food from getting in, medicine from getting in, from preventing Iran from gaining wealth through its oil trade. But first of all, that's a double-edged sword and it's bringing down the global economy. And second of all, if it was so successful, we wouldn't now be seeing the United States constantly breaking the ceasefire over the past few weeks and attacking Iranian positions. So obviously in siege warfare, the United States, the ceasefire, they just sit back and relax and wait till the Iranian people die of hunger. I wanted to get your reaction to, if we could put A8 up on the screen here. There was a report from Amwaj Media that effectively the new bombing campaign from the US and presumably the social media bluster threats, we're gonna bomb the S sound of you, we're gonna take Carg Island, et cetera, are part of providing sort of rhetorical and military cover to enable Trump to accept a deal that is in fact close to being finalized with credit to Qatar for mediating this. Now this is based allegedly on an insider in Tehran. Do you think that that could be the case? Sagar and I were just talking about, we recall back when there was the threat to end the entire civilization and to bomb all of the infrastructure and the bridges in Iran and that seemed to be an attempt by Trump to provide some sort of tough guy political cover for himself to then enable the agreement of what we're calling a ceasefire, which is very much not a ceasefire at this point. So I'm wondering if you see these renewed threats and even the bombing campaign as an attempt by him to provide himself some political cover so he can say, see, look, we scared the Iranians, we bombed the shit out of him, they were so scared, they came to the table and now we've got this great deal. I don't know because I don't think anyone knows what goes on in Trump's head. And so I have given up predicting Trump and I for a long time now, whenever people contact me and say, Trump has said this or he said that, will you come and tell us what you think he'll do next? I say, look, I don't even read his material, I don't. Smart. Something different than whatever I say is going to turn out wrong. So I really don't know, it sounds nice, but I don't see Qatar as being relevant because Qatar is not a mediator. It is Pakistan, even though Pakistan is only sending the written messages back and forth, it is possible. And this is something that has been said in the past that Trump may, in fact, the belief was in Iran many weeks ago that the United States will ultimately attack Iran again and then change its policies, that would be possible. So it's not impossible, but I don't think we can, I don't think that that's something that we should be, that I don't think that's something that we can, I don't think we can make predictions about Trump because he's just, I mean, his negotiators, they have basically agreed on almost everything. We know that the general terms of the agreement and the Iranians are not going to accept any changes. Or hey, there are some differences right now, but the general terms of the agreement are pretty clear. But every now and then Trump comes out and says that I'm not going to give Iran's assets back or I'm not going to lift the siege or I'm not going to end the sanctions. Well, your negotiators have written all this down on paper. So I don't know what he's going to do ultimately. I'm sure he's under a huge amount of pressure from designing a SLAB and the Israeli regime not to sign this. If I think if it wasn't for them, he would have signed this agreement a long time ago. In fact, I don't think there would have been a war in the first place, but we are where we are. And I don't want to make predictions because whatever I say, you can be absolutely sure it'll turn out to be Iran. So this is fascinating to me. So, sir, okay, let's stick then. So you don't want to look at Trump, let's stick with Iran. Let's put B1 up here on the screen. I'll read it to you since I know you can't see it. This is per our Barak Ravid. He says, Iranian and U.S. officials held parallel talks with Qatari mediators in Doha over the last two days. The Qataris tried to arrange a trilateral meeting to directly negotiate on the remaining gaps, but the Iranians refused. What do you, first of all, I mean, I'm sure you know, maybe some of these mediators, can you tell us a little bit about their thinking? Why are they refusing to meet one-on-one with the United States? Or at least in this case with the Qataris as mediators? Well, as far as I know, and I have to look into this, but as far as I know, Doha's role has been mostly about facilitating the transfer of Iranian stolen assets back to Iran. The reason why Iran wants these is because Iran, in the past, whenever they negotiated with the United States, when it came down to implementation, the American's would cheat Iran. Obama did that. That's always been the case with America. So here they're saying, no, at the very beginning, you have to end the genocide, you have to end the slaughter in Lebanon and Gaza, you have to end the war, and you have to hand over that money. And then we can go forward because we know that if we start the deal, when you don't hand them over, we're never going to see our money again. So that is one issue. Doha, whether it's Doha or Pakistan or anyone else, the Iranians prefer not to negotiate directly with the United States because the United States, whenever we did negotiate with them directly, it bore no fruit. It made them more demanding. It made them more aggressive. And later on, they refuse to acknowledge many of the promises that they made. Iran, the best thing right now is for everything to be on paper. Trump tomorrow says that I never agreed to end the siege. All they have to do is say, your negotiators wrote this down on paper. We spent a full day in Islamabad and the two sides were negotiating from morning till night. The Iranian team had experts with them. The chief negotiator was an associate professor at my university, the Speaker of Parliament. On one hand, the deputy head at the Supreme National Security Council, another professor at a different university. The third, the foreign minister, a PhD holder. And then on the other side, you had Vance and you had two real estate agents. And Vance was from morning till night, making phone calls to people in Washington and Israel. And he had no authority. They were not serious. The Iranians side had experts from the central bank. The head of the central bank was there. The Iranians had experts in different fields so that they could solve all the issues. But the Americans were not serious. So the necessity of the two sides sitting together, I don't think really, I don't think there's a necessity for them to sit together. If the Americans at some point do sign a deal and they have eyed by the deal, then perhaps in future, they could have direct negotiations. But at the moment, all they do is bomb Iran and make threats. And Hegzeth, after consuming lots of alcohol, he goes on his rats, or at least it seems like he's taking it. I hope he's drinking alcohol because if he's not and he's talking like this, that's really scary. But what's the use of speaking to these people directly? So let me ask you, let's say the threats from Trump are real, right? And they're really gonna do some sort of an operation and try to take Karg Island that they're going to escalate even beyond what's already happened overnight. What do you see as the options on the table for an Iranian response? You know, I've discussed this during the war, during the 39 day war on different programs. The Iranians want the United States to enter Iranian territory. They want them to occupy parts of Iran because that's when they can hit the United States, the hardest. When the Americans occupy islands, when they occupy the mainland, then the Iranians will hit, just as the Iranians have prepared all these underground missile cities and drone cities, an extraordinary achievement, something that military universities will be discussing for decades to come. And all these underground factories and assets and so on, they also made preparations for a land battle as well, because this whole purpose, the whole purpose of all of this was to defend Iran against an American invasion. And therefore when the United States comes in, then the Iranians can strike them with missiles, with drones, with artillery, with ambushes, and so on and so forth. I mean, look at the Israeli regime right now in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah is hitting them very hard, despite the fact that Hezbollah is completely surrounded. You have one proxy of the United States in Syria, ISIS, the Al Qaeda government. You have the government in Beirut, which is a U.S. proxy. It has no popular mandate. They are trying to squeeze the resistance. They don't allow the refugees from the South to go into different cities and neighborhoods. They're just prevented from moving around in their own country. They won't let aid from Iraq or Iran, blankets, pens, food, anything to get to them. They want to starve the people. They want to break their will. And then of course, all of many of these refugees gathered into Dahin, the southern Beirut, and then Israel wanted to flatten it. And of course, no one in the West cared. So Iran had to step in. But the point is that the reason why the Israelis are being so genocidal is because they're in such rage that Hezbollah is hitting them hard across the board in the South. So if Hezbollah can do that to Israel, you can be absolutely certain that Iran, after being able to defeat the United States literally on the battlefield after 39 days, they can defeat the United States on the ground. What the Iranians want to happen in this war is to make the war so costly for the United States that one year from now, two years from now, five years from now, if someone in the United States says let's go to war with Iran, everyone says no. Let's not go there. That's not an option. That is Iran's ultimate goal. Well, Professor, thank you so much for joining us and providing your immediate reaction and analysis. We always value your time. Thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you, Benj. Just one final point. Sure. And that is that I would, as a teacher at university, I would advise your audience, and I said this on other shows, to read some books on Iran. One is called Going to Tehran by Flint and Hillary Lebritt, who worked in the White House, two academics. I think if you invite Hillary Lebritt, she would be a good guess, an excellent guess. Another by Alistair Crook, a book called Resistance. They would better understand what resistance means in Iranian culture and in the culture, the access of resistance. And there's also another very small book by Peter O'Born, who is a conservative in the UK, who wrote about the Iranian nuclear program. It's a very easy read, called A Dangerous Delusion. And I think that would be these three books that people read, and they'd have a better understanding of Iran, and I think it's important for people to understand Iran better today. Well, we have a lot of readers in our audience who are always getting requests for what books to read, so I'm sure they will appreciate that, and we appreciate it as well. Thank you, sir. Appreciate it. Thank you. This is an I Heart podcast. Guaranteed human.