Podcasts about Hezbollah

The superbly executed raid on Iranian nuclear sites may have dealt a gut punch to Iran, but that and Israels devastating campaign against Iran also might be the end of the lifeblood and support to it's proxies -- Houthis, Hezbollah, and Hamas. Could Israel be on the path to peace and prosperity, and a time of security as prophesied in Ezekiel 38?   In the mean time, the MAGA hating leftists and anti-Americans in the media and Congress are writhing and gnashing their teeth over being left out of Trump's military operational planning, and I love it!   

On Thursday's Mark Levin Show, Iran's nuclear ambitions and ballistic missile development pose an existential threat to Israel and American civilization, which cannot be ignored. Israel, possibly with U.S. assistance, will take military action to neutralize this threat, as Iran will not go away on its own. Iran's actions, including attacks via proxies and American casualties, demand a decisive military response, which is self-defense rather than nation-building. These radical Democrats, fifth-columnists, and isolationists lack any strategy and moral clarity. Also, the people of Israel are never discussed by the media. They face severe challenges every day, especially in Tel Aviv, where ballistic missiles from Iran target hospitals and public areas, forcing families into bomb shelters. They are in constant fear with a disrupted quality of life. Media outlets ignore these struggles and ignore the regime's history of killing and maiming American soldiers. Later, Zuhdi Jasser calls in and addresses the mindset of the isolationists and fifth columnists who deliberately ignore the existential threat posed by Iran's theocratic regime and its proxies like Hezbollah and the Houthis. He emphasizes that these groups are driven by a radical theology that glorifies suicide bombing, chaos, and the targeting of non-combatants, with the ultimate goal of triggering an apocalyptic scenario tied to the return of the 12th Imam. Jasser asserts that Iran's uranium enrichment is clearly aimed at developing nuclear weapons, not peaceful purposes, and warns that the regime would use such weapons, likening its leadership to a cult willing to commit national fratricide. Finally, Sayyid Qutb's book Milestones, promotes pure Islam and strict shariah, rejecting Western values and most modern Muslims as ignorant (jahiliyyah). Groups like CAIR, ISNA, ICNA, MSA, and MPAC dismiss devout Muslims who oppose their views. Qutb's ideas fuel sectarian violence and terrorism by groups like Hamas and al-Qaida, and states like Iran, which pursues nuclear weapons through deception (taqiyya). Western appeasement fails to counter this clash with democratic values. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Donate (no account necessary) | Subscribe (account required) Join Bryan Dean Wright, former CIA Operations Officer, for Friday's Headline Brief. Today's episode delivers rapid-fire coverage of the top global and domestic developments shaping America and the world. FBI Monitors Iranian Sleeper Cells as War with Israel Escalates The FBI increases surveillance of suspected Hezbollah operatives inside the U.S., fearing possible terror plots as Israel continues strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities. The false report of a hit on Iran's Bushehr plant sparked regional panic, though other key nuclear sites have been damaged. Israel Eyes Fordow Strike as U.S. Prepares Stealth Bomber Option Israeli commandos may attempt a daring assault on the heavily fortified Fordow nuclear facility. Meanwhile, the U.S. considers launching B-2 stealth bombers from Diego Garcia. The base's new lease with China-friendly Mauritius complicates disclosure requirements, raising diplomatic concerns. Peace Talks Stall as Trump Warns Iran and Public Opinion Backs Action Trump's updated peace offer was rejected by Iran. Polling shows 75% of Americans support preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, even if force is necessary. However, some polls show less support for direct U.S. involvement. Trump Withdraws More U.S. Troops from Syria American forces are being consolidated to a single base, with local allies stepping in to fill the gap. The reduction reflects Trump's goal of letting regional players secure their own territory. Panama Sides with China on Canal Ports A Chinese state-owned consortium will take over port operations on both ends of the Panama Canal, rejecting a U.S.-backed bid. The White House is expected to respond next week to this strategic setback. Trump Extends TikTok Sale Deadline in Violation of Law Despite a congressional mandate, Trump grants another 90-day extension for ByteDance to sell TikTok. Legal challenges are expected, though both parties are hesitant to anger young voters. Democrat Governors Cut Off Healthcare for Illegal Immigrants Budget overruns in California, Illinois, and Minnesota are forcing Democrat leaders to scale back health coverage for undocumented migrants. The cuts reveal higher-than-expected migrant numbers and usage, raising questions about official immigration estimates. Portland Decline Mirrors Leftist Unrest Antifa violence continues in Portland, with attacks on ICE facilities and widespread downtown decay. Court documents cite homeless encampments and drug use inside landmark buildings like the U.S. Bancorp Tower, now for sale at an 80% loss. Poll: Democrats Losing Christian Voters Nationwide A new poll shows Christians across denominations overwhelmingly reject the Democratic Party. While Black Christians remain a core base, overall trust is eroding fast, especially in light of cultural and moral concerns. Trade War Hits Canada, Spares Mexico U.S.-Canada trade fell by 10.5% in May, while Mexico saw only a 2.8% drop. Analysts point to Mexico's more diplomatic tone with Trump compared to Canada's confrontational approach. New U.S. Battery Could End Dependence on China A Boston firm, Pure Lithium, is developing a battery that avoids Chinese-dominated minerals and uses lithium from Arkansas. The company could receive $300 million in federal backing to scale production. "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." – John 8:32   Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code TWR using the link or at check-out and get 60% off an annual plan: Incogni.com/TWR

On June 13, 2025, Israel launched a decisive strike on Iran's nuclear program after a 14-month buildup that began with a massive Iranian missile attack in April 2024. Internal debates, regional threats from Hezbollah and the Houthis, and hostage crises delayed the response. As Iran's defenses weakened and its nuclear ambitions accelerated, Israel seized the moment to act. On today's open-line edition of The Endtime Show, we'll break down the escalating conflict that may shape the future of the Middle East—and the world. 📚: Check out Jerusalem Prophecy College Online for less than $60 per course: https://jerusalemprophecycollege.com 📱: It's never been easier to understand. Stream Only Source and access exclusive content: https://watch.osn.tv/browse   ☕️: First Cup Coffee: use code ENDTIME to get 10% off: https://www.firstcup.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

‘No Kings' protests. Israel and Iran conflict. Therapy culture and parenting.  Find us on YouTube.   This week, Mike and Russell talk with CT's national political correspondent Harvest Prude about the military parade in Washington, DC, and concurrent No Kings protests around the country. Both happened in the aftermath of targeted shootings of political figures in Minnesota. Then, Ahmad Sharawi from the Foundation for Defense of Democracies joins to discuss what's going on in Iran and Israel. Last, author Hannah Anderson joins the show to discuss why young adults aren't having kids these days. Are they too worried about making their parents' mistakes?    GO DEEPER WITH THE BULLETIN:  Read the opinion piece from the New York Times: There's a Link Between Therapy Culture and Childlessness, referenced in the third segment of today's episode. Join the conversation at our Substack.  Find us on YouTube.  Rate and review the show in your podcast app of choice.  ABOUT THE GUESTS:   Harvest Prude is CT's national political correspondent and a congressional reporter based in Washington, DC. She is a former reporter for The Dispatch and World, having served there as political reporter for their Washington bureau.  Ahmad Sharawi is a research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, focusing on Middle East affairs, specifically the Levant, Iraq, and Iranian intervention in Arab affairs, as well as US foreign policy in the region. Previously, Sharawi worked at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, where he focused mainly on Hezbollah. He holds a BA in international relations from King's College London and an MA from Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. Hannah Anderson is an author and speaker whose work explores themes of human flourishing with a particular focus on how ecology, gender, and socioeconomics affect spiritual formation. Besides being a regular contributor to Christianity Today, she has authored multiple books, including All That's Good: Recovering the Lost Art of Discernment and the recently released Heaven and Nature Sing. ABOUT THE BULLETIN:  The Bulletin is a twice-weekly politics and current events show from Christianity Today moderated by Clarissa Moll, with senior commentary from Russell Moore (Christianity Today's editor in chief) and Mike Cosper (director, CT Media). Each week, the show explores current events and breaking news and shares a Christian perspective on issues that are shaping our world. We also offer special one-on-one conversations with writers, artists, and thought leaders whose impact on the world brings important significance to a Christian worldview, like Bono, Sharon McMahon, Harrison Scott Key, Frank Bruni, and more.    The Bulletin listeners get 25% off CT. Go to https://orderct.com/THEBULLETIN to learn more.    “The Bulletin” is a production of Christianity Today Producer: Clarissa Moll Associate Producer: Alexa Burke Editing and Mix: TJ Hester Music: Dan Phelps Executive Producers: Erik Petrik and Mike Cosper   Senior Producer: Matt Stevens Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A instabilidade é permanente e se espalha por vários territórios. Na Faixa de Gaza, uma guerra que já dura mais de 600 dias e que provoca uma crise humanitária sem precedentes. No Líbano, a população vive sob os ataques do grupo Hezbollah e do exército israelense. Na Síria, o fim de uma longa ditadura deu lugar a um país cujo comando está fragmentado. No Iêmen, os rebeldes Houthis também estão envolvidos em conflitos. Agora, desde o início da troca de bombardeios entre Israel e Irã, a tensão escalou para a iminência de uma guerra total entre os dois países militarmente mais poderosos da região -- um risco que cresce com os sinais enviados por Donald Trump de que os EUA podem entrar no conflito. Neste episódio, Natuza Nery conversa com Guga Chacra para explicar as origens dessas instabilidades. O comentarista da Globo, da GloboNews, da CBN e colunista do jornal O Globo reconta a história dos insucessos nas tratativas de paz das últimas décadas, analisa os atuais pontos de maior tensão e tenta responder à pergunta: o que fazer para pacificar o Oriente Médio?

Israel and Iran are trading missiles. A hospital's been hit. Thirty injured. Israel's fired back — hard — targeting Iran's nuclear sites. Inside Iran? Chaos. Power's out. Hackers hijack state TV, urging revolt. And Donald Trump? He's green-lit Pentagon war plans — but is holding fire. For now.We've got The Telegraph's best on the ground: Sophia Yan in Beirut, Paul Nuki in Tel Aviv, and David Blair in the studio. Lebanon's on edge. Israel's braced. And the big question — will Trump strike? Or let Israel go it alone? The team also debates the broader stakes: Can Israel halt Iran's nuclear ambitions without American help? Could the regime in Tehran collapse? And what happens if Hezbollah stays silent? With so many moving parts, this episode dives deep into the decisions and dangers shaping what may become the defining war of the decade.https://linktr.ee/BattleLinesContact us with feedback or ideas:battlelines@telegraph.co.uk @venetiarainey@RolandOliphant Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Islamic Revolution in 1979 created an Iranian-dominated Middle East, and unleashed seemingly endless decades of Islamic terrorism around the world. Iran created a proxy terror network that included Hezbollah, Hamas, Houthis and The Palestinian Islamic Jihad. The first crack in the wall appeared in 2020 with the introduction of the Abraham Accords, then the events of October 7th, which all lead us to where we are right now in 2025. A new Middle East is being formed, and Israel is right where the prophets said she would be at the end of the Church Age, at the dawn of Jacob's trouble.“But I will shew thee that which is noted in the scripture of truth: and there is none that holdeth with me in these things, but Michael your prince.” Daniel 10:21 (KJB)On this episode of the Prophecy News Podcast, the entire world has been on pins and needles these past 7 days, watching the astonishing and often-times horrifying events happening in the Middle East. These events have also been driving a wedge right down the middle of Trump's MAGA Movement, half of whom stand for Israel and the other half do not. Whatever happens by the time this thing is all done, one thing is assured. You will have a very different Middle East, guaranteed. Over in Rome, the Catholic Church has been enjoying the “bump” they have gotten with the election of Pope Leo XIV, and Catholics worldwide are suddenly motivated and energized. Everywhere you look, there is electricity in the air, and that's because we are on the cusp of the revealing of the man of sin who is coming to claim his Middle Eastern kingdom. On this episode, we will show you how very drastically the last days landscape is changing, and where it is all leading. Tick, tock, goes the end times clock.

Former Israeli government spokesman, Eylon Levy joins The Winston Marshall Show to break down the recent wave of attacks between Israel and Iran—and what they signal for the future of the Middle East.Levy details how the Islamic Republic's fingerprints are all over the region's escalating chaos: from Hamas's massacre on October 7th, to missile strikes launched from Syria and Iraq, to Hezbollah's mounting aggression in the north. He warns that Iran's proxy war is entering a new phase.We discuss wavering support, the failure of Western deterrence, and why the global community's obsession with “proportionality” is empowering the very forces threatening regional—and global—stability.All this—Iranian escalation, proxy terror, Western weakness, and the gathering storm on Israel's borders…-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------To see more exclusive content and interviews consider subscribing to my substack here: https://www.winstonmarshall.co.uk/-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA:Substack: https://www.winstonmarshall.co.uk/X: https://twitter.com/mrwinmarshallInsta: https://www.instagram.com/winstonmarshallLinktree: https://linktr.ee/winstonmarshall----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------0:00 Introduction3:20 What's happening 7:15 The Problem With Western Media10:48 What the Left Gets Wrong About Israel14:32 The ‘Decolonization' Narrative19:40 Is Israel Winning the Media War?25:10 The Iranian Threat & Israel's Dilemma29:30 The Disinformation Playbook34:45 The Global Rise of Antisemitism38:00 Why Israel Is Fighting for the West41:45 TikTok Genocide Deniers & Online Hate45:30 The Limits of International Law49:00 What Happens After Hamas?52:40 Eylon's Message to the World Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sleepless nights rushing to the shelter, ballistic missile attacks and babies born underground – our correspondents Yoni Bashan and Liam Mendes reveal what it’s like reporting the Iran-Israel war. Find out more about The Front podcast here. You can read about this story and more on The Australian's website or on The Australian’s app. This episode of The Front is presented by Claire Harvey, produced by Kristen Amiet and edited by Joshua Burton. Our team includes Lia Tsamoglou, Tiffany Dimmack, Stephanie Coombes and Jasper Leak, who also composed our music.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is the VIC 4 VETS, Honored Veteran, during Veterans Month in America. SUBMITTED BY: Ron Klutho _____________________________________________________________ I'd like to make a nomination for the Vic 4 Vets program (an awesome idea from you guys, by the way) My hero cousin, US Marine Scott Sommerhof, who was one of 241 Marines killed in the Beirut attack on our base in 1983 NAME AND RANK: 1st Lt. William Scott Sommerhof (we called him Scott) BRANCH AND PLATOON: Marines: First Battalion 8th (Battalion Landing Team) DATES OF SERVICE: August 1980 - October 1983 (KIA) AWARDS AND MEDALS: Purple Heart, Combat Action Ribbon, Marine Corps Expeditionary Medal, Navy Unit Commendation, Navy Sea Service Deployment Ribbon, United Nations Medal Scott wanted to be a Marine all his life. He looked up to his relatives who had served in the armed forces, including our uncle Earl Sommerhof, a Green Beret who was killed in Vietnam. Scott's parents were not crazy about him joining the Marines, but they understood how much it meant to him and supported him fully. Scott entered the Marines in 1980 and attained the rank of First Lieutenant, which was his rank when he was killed on October 23, 1983 when a Hezbollah-backed suicide bomber attacked our base in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 241 Marines. Scott's parents had gotten a letter from him 2 days before the bombing, in which he said he was looking forward to seeing them at Christmas. Scott believed in the mission and never wavered in his patriotism and pride to be a Marine. Tragically, Scott's 21-year-old brother, Eric, was killed in a motorcycle accident during Scott's deployment, in 1982. I interviewed Scott's other brother John and his mother Jo on the show I did at NewsTalk in 2023, Stories of New Americans, on the anniversary of the attack. I also interviewed Johnny Harper on that episode, who survived the attack and has worked to keep the memory of his brothers alive. Tim and Chris also interviewed him both in 2023 and 2024. (He would also be a great nominee for the Vic4Vets award) ________________________________________________________________ This is today’s VIC 4 VETS, Honored Veteran, during Veterans Month in America on NewsTalkSTL. With support from our friends at: DG FIREARMS - PATRIOT HEATING AND COOLING - BEST BUY FLOORINGSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Iran says it won't surrender to US threats. The National tours Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon. Algerian gang leaders are convicted over smuggling migrants into France. On today's episode of Trending Middle East: Khamenei says Iran won't surrender and warns Trump of 'irreparable' damage if US joins Israel war Algerian ringleaders of smuggling gang convicted over cramming migrants into lorries to France Israel says no calm in Beirut until Hezbollah is disarmed This episode features Thomas Helm, Jerusalem Correspondent, and Jamie Prentis, Beirut Correspondent. Editor's note: We want to hear from you! Help us improve our podcasts by taking our 2-minute listener survey. Click here.

Regardless of whether Israel has the capabilities to decimate Iran's entire nuclear program, or if the United States needs to become further involved in the war and provide Israel with “bunker-buster” bombs, one thing is clear: “If this war should end with the Iranian regime intact and the elements of its nuclear program recoverable, then, in some ways, it will be all for naught,” argues Victor Davis Hanson on today's edition of “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words.”  “It is surreal. If we had this conversation five years ago and I said to you, ‘the Iranian nation—that is huge compared to Israel, 10 times the population—the Iranian nation has lost all control of the Houthi terrorists and they are themselves neutered. Their surrogates in the West Bank, Gaza are neutered. They're gone, Hamas as a fighting force. The formidable, the terrifying Hezbollah cadres, they're inert. ‘“‘There is no Russian presence. It's not a patron. It is not a protector. It's not a power in the Middle East. It's tied down in Ukraine. And Iran itself, the formidable powerhouse of the Middle East that evoked terror all over, has no defenses. “And we're down to a single critical issue… if this war should end with the Iranian regime intact and the elements of its nuclear program recoverable, then, in some ways, it will be all for naught.'” 

Since Israel launched Operation Rising Lion—a precise and defensive military campaign aimed at preventing the Iranian regime from acquiring nuclear weapons—Iran has responded with a barrage of ballistic missiles and drones, indiscriminately targeting Israeli civilians. Dr. Matthew Levitt, director of the Reinhard Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, and a leading expert on Iran's global terror network, explains what's at stake—and what could come next. Take Action: We must stop a regime that vows to murder millions of Israelis from gaining the weapons to do it. Urge your elected leaders to assure that Israel has all the necessary support to end Iran's nuclear threat. Resources and Analysis: Iranian Regime vs. Israel War Explained: What You Should Know AJC Advocacy Anywhere: Israel and Iran: Latest Updates, Global Responses, and the Path Ahead 5 Key Reasons Behind Israel's Defensive Strike on Iran's Imminent Nuclear Threat Listen – AJC Podcasts: The Forgotten Exodus: Untold stories of Jews who left or were driven from Arab nations and Iran People of the Pod: Latest Episodes: Why Israel Had No Choice: Inside the Defensive Strike That Shook Iran's Nuclear Program What Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks' State of the Jewish World Teaches Us Today Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Transcript of the Interview: Israel's shadow war with the Iranian regime, the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism, erupted into open conflict last week following a stunning report from the International Atomic Energy Agency that confirmed Iran was much closer to obtaining nuclear weapons than previously known. Since Israel launched a wave of attacks on nuclear sites and facilities, Iran has fired missiles toward Israel's most populated cities. Joining us to discuss what this all means is one of the foremost experts on Iran and its global threats, and a regular guest when trouble arises with Iran. Dr. Matthew Levitt, director of the Reinhard Counterterrorism Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.  Matt, welcome back to People of the Pod. Matthew Levitt:   It's a pleasure to be back, but I need to come sometime when the world's okay.  Manya Brachear Pashman:   That would be nice. That'd be nice. But what will we talk about? Matthew Levitt:   Yeah, just call me one of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Well, you are one of the foremost experts on the dangers posed by Iran, especially its terror proxies. And you've written the definitive book on Hezbollah, titled Hezbollah: the Global Footprint of Lebanon's Party of God. And I say that whole title, I want to get in there, because we are talking about global threats here.  Can you explain the scale of Iran's global threat and the critical role that its terror proxies, like Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, play in advancing that strategy? Matthew Levitt:   So I really appreciate the question, because it's really important to remind listeners that the Israel Iran war did not start Thursday night US time, Friday morning, Israel time. In fact, it's just the latest salvo where the Israelis, after years and years and years of Iranian we call it malign activity, but that's too soft a term. We're talking about Iran sending weapons and funds to proxies like Hamas to carry out October 7, like Hezbollah to fire rockets at Israel almost daily for almost a year. Like the Houthis, who were much more than a thorn in the Saudi backside until the Iranians came and gave them more sophisticated capabilities.  We're talking about an Iran that a few years ago decided that instead of making sure that every gun that it sent to the West Bank had to go to Hamas or Islamic Jihad. They decided to just flood the West Bank with guns. Who cares who's shooting at the Israelis so long as somebody is. And an Iran that not only carries out human rights abuses of all kinds at home, but that threatens Israel and its neighbors with drones, low altitude cruise missiles, short range ballistic missiles, and medium and long range ballistic missiles.  And so the totality of this, much like the totality of Hezbollah's striking Israel for almost a year, ultimately led Israel to do what most people thought couldn't be done, and just tear Hezbollah apart, that the Israel war on Hezbollah is the prequel to what we've been seeing over the past few days in Iran. Similarly, for the Israelis, it got to be too much. It wasn't even really that President Trump's 60 days expired and Israel attacked on day 61. It wasn't only that the IAEA came out with a report saying that the Iranians have refused to explain certain activities that can only be explained as nuclear weaponization activities.  It was that the Israelis had information that two things were happening. One, that Iran was working very, very hard to rebuild its capability to manufacture medium, long range ballistic missiles that can hit Israel. After the Israeli reprisal attack last October took out a key component of that program, the mixers that are important for the solid propellant, without which you can't make ballistic missiles. And Iran is believed to have, at least the beginning of this recent round of the conflict –Thursday, Friday–about 2000 such missiles. Far fewer now, the Israelis say they've taken out about a third of them, plus launchers, plus radars, et cetera. But that Iran had a plan within just a few years to develop as many as 8000 of these. And that simply was not tolerable for the Israelis.  And the second is that the Israelis say that they compiled evidence that Iran had a secret, secret nuclear weapons program that had been going on predating October 7, but was fast tracked after October 7, that they were planning to maintain this program, even as they were negotiating over the more overt program with the Trump administration. President Trump has even taken issue with his own Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who testified in March that the US intelligence committee does not assess that Iran is weaponizing. And President says, I don't care what she says, I think they were very close to weaponizing.  The Israelis say they have shared this information at least recently with their US counterparts and that was not tolerable. So the primary goals that Israel has set out for itself with this campaign is beyond the critically important shattering the glass ceiling. Think where people in particular, in Iran thought this would never happen, was two things, one, addressing and significantly degrading and setting back the Iranian ballistic missile production program, and second, doing the same to the nuclear program. They've already carried out strikes at Isfahan, Natanz, even at the upper parts of Fordow. And there is an expectation that the Israelis are going to do something more. The Israeli national security advisor said on Israeli television today, We are not going to stop without addressing the nuclear activities at Fordow. Manya Brachear Pashman:   You know, you called it a prequel, Israel's operations against Hezbollah last year. Did you know that it was a prequel at the time and to what extent did it weaken Iran and leave it more vulnerable in this particular war? Matthew Levitt:   I'm going to be the last person in Washington, D.C. who tells you when he doesn't know. And anybody who tells you they did know is lying to you. None of us saw what Israel did to Hezbollah coming. None of us saw that and said, Oh, they did it to a non-state actor right across their border. So they'll definitely be able to do it to Iran, 1000+ kilometers away, big nation state with massive arsenals and a nuclear program and lots of proxies. One plus one does not equal three in this.  In other words, the fact that Israel developed mind boggling capabilities and incredible intelligence, dominance and then special tools, pagers and walkie talkies, in the case of Hezbollah, did not mean that they were going to be able to do the same vis a vis Iran. And they did. The same type of intelligence dominance, the same type of intelligence, knowing where somebody was at a certain time, that the protocols would be that certain leaders would get in a certain secret bunker once hostilities started, and they'd be able to take them out in that bunker. As they did to a bunch of senior Hezbollah commanders just months ago. Drone operations from within Iran, Iran being hit with missiles that were fired at Iran from within Iran, all of it. One case did not necessarily translate into the other. It is exponentially impressive. And Israel's enemies have to be saying, you know, that the Israelis are just all capable. Now you're absolutely right. You hit the nail on the head on one critical issue. For a very long time, Israel was at least somewhat deterred, I would say very deterred, from targeting Iran. Because Iran had made very, very clear if Israel or the United States or anybody else targeted Iran or its nuclear program, one of the first things that would happen would be that Hezbollah in Lebanon, Israel, Iran's first, most important proxy would rain hellfire in Israel in the form of 1000s upon 1000s of rockets. Until Israel addressed the problem, Hezbollah is believed to have had 150 to 200,000 different types of projectiles, up to and including precision guided munitions.  Not only have the overwhelming majority of those been destroyed, Hezbollah still has 1000s of rockets, but Hezbollah leadership has been decimated. There's a new sheriff in town in Lebanon. There's a new government that immediately, when hostility started with Iran's, went to Hezbollah and said, You're not doing this, not dragging Lebanon back into a war that nobody wanted again. We are finally coming out of this economic crisis. And so Iran was faced with a situation where it didn't have Hezbollah to deter Israel.  Israel, you know, paved the way for a highway in the air to Iran, taking out air defense systems. It was able to fly over and through Syria. The Syrians are not shedding any tears as they see the Quds Force and the IRGC getting beaten down after what Iran did in Syria. And the Israelis have air dominance now. President Trump said, We, using the we term, air dominance now, earlier today. And they're able to slowly and methodically continue to target the ballistic missile program. Primarily, the medium and long range missiles that target Israel, but sometimes it's the same production lines that produce the short range missiles that Iran uses to target U.S. Forces in the region, and our allies in the Gulf. So Israel is not just protecting itself, it's protecting the region. And then also taking out key military security intelligence personnel, sometimes taking out one person, then a couple days later, taking out the person who succeeded that person, and then also taking out key scientists who had the know-how to potentially rebuild all the things that Israel is now destroying. Manya Brachear Pashman:   But Israel is also not hearing from the Houthis, is not hearing from Hamas. It's not hearing from other terror proxies either. Very few attacks from Iran's terror proxies in the aftermath of this wave. Why? Why do you think that is? Matthew Levitt:   The crickets are loud. The crickets are loud. Look, we've discussed Hezbollah. Hezbollah understands that if it were to do something, the Israelis will come in even harder and destroy what's left. Hamas is still holding hostages. This is still an open wound, but it doesn't have the capabilities that it once had, and so there have been a couple of short range things that they tried to shoot, but it's not anything that's going to do huge damage, and the Israeli systems can deal with those.  The Houthis did fire something, and it hurt some Palestinians near Hebron. You know, the Houthis and the Iranians in particular, in this conflict have killed Palestinians, and in one case, Syrians. They're continuing to hurt people that are not Israelis. One of the things that I think people are hopeful for is that as Iran tries to sue for peace, and it already is, it's been reaching out to Cyprus to pass messages, etcetera. The hope is that Iran will recognize that it's in a position whereby A) there has to be zero enrichment and the facilities have to be destroyed, whatever's left of them. And B) there's a hope that Israel and the United States together will be able to use this diplomatic moment to truly end the conflict in Gaza and get the hostages home. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Well, that was what I was going to ask. I mean, if Israel achieves its objectives in this war, primarily eliminating Iran's nuclear threat, how significant a setback would that be for Hamas and Iran's other terror proxies, and could it indeed pave the way for an end of the war in Gaza and the return of the hostages? Matthew Levitt:   Like everybody else, I'm so scarred, I don't want to get my hopes up, but I do see this as a distinct possibility, and here's why. Not Hezbollah, not the Houthis, not Hamas, none of them, and plenty of other proxies that don't start in the letter H, none of them could have been anywhere as capable as they've proven to be, were it not for Iranian money and weapons. Also some training, some intelligence, but primarily money and weapons.  And so Hamas is already on its back foot in this regard. It can still get some money in. It's still being able to make money off of humanitarian aid. Iran is still sending money in through money exchange houses and hawaladars, but not weapons. Their ability to manufacture weapons, their military industrial complex within Gaza, this is destroyed. Hezbollah, we've discussed, discussed, and a lot of their capabilities have been destroyed. And those that remain are largely deterred. The Houthis did shoot up some rockets, and the Israelis did carry out one significant retaliatory attack. But I think people are beginning to see the writing on the wall. The Israelis are kicking the stuffing out of Iran with pinprick attacks that are targeting the worst of the bad guys, including people who have carried out some of the worst human rights transgressions against Iranians. Let's not pretend that this is not affecting the average Iranian. It is. The president says, Everybody get out of Tehran. That's just not possible. People, average Iranians, good people. It must be just an absolute terror.  But Israel's not bombing, you know, apartment buildings, as Iran is doing in Israel, or as Russia is doing in Ukraine. And so it really is a different type of thing. And when the Houthis, when Hamas, when Hezbollah, look at this, you don't you don't poke the tiger when it's angry. I think they also understand now's the time to get into survival mode. What you want is for the regime in Iran not to be destroyed. This is no longer a moment, as it's been since long before October 7, but certainly since then, of how Iran as proxies, export Iran's revolution. This is now a question of how they maintain and preserve the revolution at home. And it's extremely important to the proxies that Iran remain, so that even if it's knocked down over time, hopefully, theoretically, from their perspective, it can regain its footing. It will still have, they hope, its oil and gas, etcetera, and they will get back to a point where they can continue to fund and arm the proxies in. Maybe even prioritize them as it takes them longer to rebuild their ballistic missile, drone, and nuclear programs. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Which is a scary prospect as well to know that terror proxies could be spread throughout the world and empowered even a little bit more. President Trump left the G7 summit a day early to meet with security advisors, and just a few hours ago, prior to this interview, President Trump called for Iran's, quote, unconditional surrender, saying that the US knows where the Supreme Leader is, and some other threatening language. But I mean, this appears to be a kind of a clear commitment to Israel. So I'm curious how you assess his administration's actions before and during the war thus far, and do you see the United States edging toward direct involvement? Matthew Levitt:   All politics is local, and there is a tug of war within the MAGA movement over whether or not the US should be getting involved. Not only in supporting an important ally, but in removing a critical threat. The President is clearly frustrated that Iran was not being more forthcoming in the negotiations. He said many times, we'd offered you a great deal, you should have taken the deal. He's very aware that his deadline ended, and they didn't particularly seem to care. There's also the background that once upon a time, they tried to assassinate him, I think, after the Israelis did what they did, the President appreciates capabilities. He appreciates success. He likes backing the winning horse. And so the New York Times is reporting that after getting off the phone with Prime Minister Netanyahu, President Trump reportedly turned to some aides and said, maybe we need to help him. Now it's not clear that's what's going to happen, and my understanding is that the Israelis have plans of their own for things like the heavily fortified facility at Fordow, which is the most important and highly fortified, protected of the nuclear installations. The Israeli National Security Advisor spoke today and said, you know, we're not going to be done until we do something with Fordow.  The United States can do multiple things only the United States has the MOP: the Massive Ordinance Penetrator, and the airplanes to deliver it, and they could end Fordow if they wanted. Short of that, they could do other things to support Israel. There's been defensive support for the State of Israel already, but there's other things they could do, refueling and other things if they wanted to. And at a minimum, I don't see the president restraining Israel at all. Now, I've heard some people say that so far, the President has fired nothing more than some social media postings, some of them even in all caps.  But the truth is, those do have an effect, and so long as Israel is not restrained. I think the Israelis went into this with a plan. That plan is not necessarily to entirely destroy the entire nuclear program, but if the ballistic missile program and the nuclear program are sufficiently degraded so that it will take them years and a tremendous amount of time and money to rebuild, knowing that Israel has broken the glass ceiling on this idea of targeting Iran, that if the Israelis feel they need to, they will come back. If the Iranians rebuild their air defense systems, the Israelis will address them and create a new highway going if they need to. I think the Israelis are making that clear. Knowing that it's going to be a little bit of a road for Iran, especially when it will have to deal with some domestic issues coming out of this.  Finally, the Israelis have started signaling there's other things they could do. The Israelis have not yet fully targeted oil and gas fields and facilities. For example, they had one set of attacks where they basically knocked at the front door of some of these facilities without walking in the house. That's signaling, and I think it's one of the reasons you're seeing Iran quietly trying to reach out for some type of a ceasefire. Other signaling, for example, is the Israelis deciding to fly all the way to Mashhad, which is in far eastern Iran, to take out an airplane. That airplane was not particularly important. It was the message. There is nowhere in Iran we can't go. It's not a question of distance, it's not a question of refueling, it's not a question of air defense systems. We can do what we need to do. And I think the Iranians understand that now. Manya Brachear Pashman:   So we talked about the commitment to Israel, and how clear, how important it is to clarify that commitment to Israel. How important is it to clarify the United States commitment to Arab partners in the Middle East to help defend them in other words, if this conflict escalates? Matthew Levitt:   This is critically important. You know, one of the individuals who was taken out, for example, was the person who was in charge of the drone attack on the Abqaiq oil facility in Saudi Arabia. If you look, for example, at the Saudi statement condemning the Israeli actions, it was issued by the Foreign Ministry without a single name attached to it. Wasn't issued by the Crown Prince, wasn't issued by the foreign minister. So I think you should expect a whole lot of public criticism. I imagine there's a different conversation going on behind closed doors. It's not necessarily, you know, pom-poming. This makes the Gulf states very, very nervous, in part because they understand that one way Iran could try and get out of this is to expand the conflict.  And that the reason they haven't is because, short of trying to prevent Iranians from taking to the streets and potentially doing something to maybe overthrow the regime, short of that, the number one thing that the Iranian regime is most desperate to avoid is getting the United States involved militarily. And I think the Iranians really understand and the messaging's been clear. If you target US Forces in the region, if you target our allies in the region, we'll get involved. If you don't, then we might not.  Now the President now is talking about potentially doing that, and as a lot of maybe this, maybe that, nothing very clear. I think what is clear is that the Israelis are going to continue doing what they need to do for another one to two weeks. Even going so far as doing something, though they haven't made clear what to address the really complicated problem of the fortified facility at Fordow. Manya Brachear Pashman:   So how important is it for global security if Israel is successful in eliminating the nuclear threat in Iran? Matthew Levitt:   Look, Iran has been the single most destabilizing factor in the region for a long time now. Imagine a region without a destabilizing revolutionary regime in Iran without a regime that is supporting Shia militants in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries.  Imagine the Shia militias in Iraq suddenly without a funder and a patron, enabling the Shia government in Iraq to actually be able to take control of the country and establish a monopoly over the use of force. At a time when the Shia militias, because of Iran's backing, are becoming more dangerous and more powerful in Iraq.  Imagine the Lebanese government being able to be more forward leaning in their effort to establish a monopoly over the use of force in that country, reclaim bases that Hezbollah has used for all this time, and establish a new Lebanon that is not beholden to Iran and Hezbollah.  And imagine an Israeli-Palestinian situation where you didn't have Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad as spoilers. Recall that October 7 happened in large part because Hamas and Hezbollah and Iran could not tolerate the prospect of Israeli-Saudi normalization. For most Palestinians, this was great news. The Saudis were demanding real dividends for the Palestinians from the Netanyahu government, which was likely going to do them. This was great for Palestinians, bad for Hamas.  Imagine Hamas no longer getting that support from Iran. Imagine Iran no longer able to send or being interested in sending millions upon millions of dollars to its proxies, and instead spending what money it has on helping its population, instead of cracking down on it with human rights violations. You could have a very, very different region, let alone imagine Iran no longer carrying out acts of terrorism, kidnapping plots, abduction plots of dissidents and Jews and Israelis and others around the world of the type that we've seen throughout Europe and throughout the Middle East and even in the United States over the past few years. Manya Brachear Pashman:   That's quite an imagination you have. But I take your point. Let me ask you this then. Did you ever imagine that Israel would take this dramatic step?  Matthew Levitt:   What the Israelis have achieved, when you are so against the wall and you're forced to come up with solutions, because it's a matter of life or death – you make the impossible possible. And I think that perhaps the Iranians assumed that the Israeli post-October 7 doctrine applied to non-state actors only. And that doctrine is very simple. Israel will no longer allow adversaries who are openly committed to its destruction to build up weapons, arsenals that they can then use at some point to actually try and destroy Israel. They will not allow that to happen.  They allowed it to happen with Hamas. It was a mistake. They allowed it to happen with Hezbollah. It was a mistake that they corrected. And Iran is the biggest, arguably, really, the only existential threat as huge, as a tasking as that was, clearly they invested in doing it. And the question became, not, why can't it be done? What is it that has to be overcome? And I don't think sitting here with you right now, you know, what is it, 3:30 on Tuesday, the 17th, that we've seen the last of the tricks up Israel's sleeve.  Manya Brachear Pashman:   I only have one last question for you, and that is about the United States. The importance of the United States getting directly involved. I mean, we've talked about previously undisclosed nuclear sites, and who knows how many there could be. We're talking about more than what, 600,000 square miles of Iran. If the goal is a non nuclear Iran, can Israel finish this war without the United States, or does it even matter? I mean, is this just a step to force Iran back to the negotiating table with virtually zero leverage? Matthew Levitt:   So look, I don't think the goal here is completely destroying the Iranian nuclear program, or even completely destroying the Iranian ballistic missile program. The goal is to so degrade it that it is set back many, many years, and break that ceiling. People now understand if Israelis need to come back, they're coming back. I think they would like to do as much damage to these destructive programs as possible, of course, and I don't think we've seen the end of it. I think there are more tricks up Israel's sleeve when it comes to some of these complicated problems.  Judged by this yardstick, by the way, the Israeli operation is a tremendous success, tremendous success, even though there have been some significant casualties back in Israel, and even though this has caused tremendous trauma for innocent Iranians who have no love for the regime. This is a situation that the Iranian regime has brought down on all of us.  I do think that the Israelis have made very, very clear that this doesn't end until something is done to further disrupt and dismantle Fordow, which is the most important and the most heavily fortified, underground, under a mountain facility. It's not clear what the Israelis have in mind. It seems they have something in mind of their own. It's clear they would love for the United States to get involved, because the United States could do real damage to that facility and potentially end the Iranian nuclear program. But at the end of the day, if it can't be completely destroyed, I anticipate it's going to be damaged enough to significantly set it back. This phase of the Israel-Iran war, which didn't start last week, is not about pushing them back a week or a month or two months. Manya Brachear Pashman:   Well, Matt, thank you so much for your wise counsel and perspective on this matter, and yes, hopefully we can have you back another time to talk about peace and love and things that have nothing to do with war and conflict with Iran or its terror proxies. Matthew Levitt:   I would really look forward to prepping for that interview. In the meantime, I want to thank AJC for all the important work it does, and thank you guys for having me on the podcast. Manya Brachear Pashman:   If you missed last week's episodes, be sure to tune in for our crossover episode with Books and Beyond: The Rabbi Sacks Podcast, a podcast of the Rabbi Sacks Legacy, and my conversation with AJC's Jerusalem Director Avital Liebovich. During a special breaking news episode the day after Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, the latest in Israel's ongoing war of self-defense against the Iranian regime.  

In this special episode, Michael talks with Iran expert Richard Nephew, who warns of impending U.S. military strikes on Iran's deeply buried nuclear facilities—a task only the American military can achieve. The former NSC official casts doubt on Israel's regime change strategy, fearing it could backfire and lead to an even more hardline Iranian government. Richard also discusses Iran's potential for escalating attacks on key shipping channels and regional energy infrastructure, risking a wider conflict, all while the hope of an international nuclear deal hangs in the balance.

GUEST: Third Rail Omar on Israel, Iran, the U.S., and Trump. Fiery second hour: Callers call Hake "boomer" and "Ben Shapiro"!The Hake Report, Wednesday, June 18, 2025 ADThird Rail with Omar / American Me Podcast https://www.youtube.com/@third_rail - https://x.com/thecomforter_1 - https://www.tiktok.com/@thirdrailomarTIMESTAMPS* (0:00:00) Start* (0:01:23) Omar, fellow boomer — Iran-Israel… TikTok…* (0:08:44) Hey, guys!* (0:10:51) Trump first Jewish prez? War with Iran? Conspiracies…?* (0:19:40) Not a fan of Iran, but Israel's worse? In America* (0:27:55) Bibi … Israelis vs Persians…* (0:29:47) Little history lesson US and Iran* (0:34:16) Iran funding Houthis, Hamas, Hezbollah* (0:42:11) Tucker, the Persians, Iranians, Apartheid* (0:48:08) Supers: Crishaun, Israel-US history, war, Trump…?* (0:55:05) Supers: No s— before marriage!* (1:02:26) KT, DC: Boomer! Israel's doing evil!* (1:31:36) ELIJAH, CA: Acting like Israel's the only problem? No solutions?!* (1:46:22) Supers: ISIS, Hamas … Rumors of wars … 2v1 …* (1:48:29) JEFF, LA: Iran, Israel, America* (1:53:08) Omar point on Biden … Closing!BLOG https://www.thehakereport.com/blog/2025/6/18/third-rail-with-omar-israel-iran-war-wed-6-18-25PODCAST / Substack HAKE NEWS from JLP https://www.thehakereport.com/jlp-news/2025/6/18/jlp-wed-6-18-25–Hake is live M-F 9-11a PT (11-1CT/12-2ET) Call-in 1-888-775-3773 https://www.thehakereport.com/showVIDEO: YT - Rumble* - Pilled - FB - X - BitChute (Live) - Odysee*PODCAST: Substack - Apple - Spotify - Castbox - Podcast Addict*SUPER CHAT https://buymeacoffee.com/thehakereportSHOP - Printify (new!) - Cameo | All My LinksJLP Network: JLP - Church - TFS - Nick - PunchieThe views expressed on this show do not represent BOND, Jesse Lee Peterson, the Network, this Host, or this platform. No endorsement or opposition implied!The show is for general information and entertainment, and everything should be taken with a grain of salt! Get full access to HAKE at thehakereport.substack.com/subscribe

Today, Martha, Les, and Morgan discuss the rapidly escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, now entering its sixth day with historic implications. The immediate trigger was a rare IAEA censure of Iran for non-compliance with nuclear safeguards—the first since 2005—but Iran and its proxy groups like Hezbollah, Iraqi militias, and the Houthis have been attacking Israel for years leading up to this point. President Trump has ordered a large-scale U.S. military buildup in the region and demanded Iran's unconditional surrender, even as Tehran warns of severe retaliation.Is this the beginning of a full-scale regional war—and will U.S. forces inevitably be drawn in? How will Tehran respond to the unprecedented damage to its nuclear program and military infrastructure? Will this mark a turning point in re-establishing American deterrence?Check out the answers to these questions and more in this episode of Fault Lines.Follow our experts on Twitter: @marthamillerdc@lestermunson @morganlroachLike what we're doing here? Be sure to rate, review, and subscribe. And don't forget to follow @faultlines_pod and @masonnatsec on Twitter!We are also on YouTube, and watch today's episode here: https://youtu.be/2k7BlOYABh4 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It was pandemonium in London on Wednesday morning as Kneecap's Mo Chara appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court. Hundreds turned out to support the rapper, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, as he entered court – having arrived in a mocked up RUC landover. The west Belfast rapper is charged with a terror offence over the alleged display of a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London last year. Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Belfast Telegraph's crime correspondent Allison Morris who was in court and BelTel assistant producer Olivia Peden. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Em entrevista à DW, consultor moçambicano considera preocupante o estender do conflito na RDC e a insegurança em Cabo Delgado. Em Moçambique, na provincia do Niassa, são muitas as pessoas que ainda correm do risco da quebra de montanha para sobreviver e sustentar as famílias. Analisamos ainda o silêncio do Hezbollah enquanto o seu aliado, Irão, está em conflito com Israel.

Bhí Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, nó 'Mo Chara' as Kneecap mar is fearr aithne air, os comhair na cúirte in Westminster Shasana inniu. ­Tá sé curtha ina leith gur thaispeáin sé brat Hezbollah agus é ar stáitse i Londain anuraidh, agus go raibh sé sin ina chomhartha tacaíochta don eagraíocht thoirmiscthe. ­D'fhoilsigh Kneecap ráiteas ar na meáin shóisialta inar shéan siad go ndearnadh aon choir agus gheall siad go ndéanfaidís cosaint ar “a gcearta” go fíochmhar. ­Thug siad le fios gur “ionsaí polaitiúil” é seo ón stát Bhriotanach atá dírithe orthusan mar “ealaíontóirí ó phobal faoi chois”. Ar Seachtain, míníonn an t-iriseoir Ciarán Dúnbarrach cad a thit amach inniu, taobh istigh den chúirt agus taobh amuigh de. ­ ­Foclóir: ­ Bratach: Flag ­ Léirigh: To convey or demonstrate ­ Mídhleathach: Illegal ­ Dodhéanta: Impossible ­ Stát sceimhlitheoireachta: Terrorist State ­ Abhcóide: Barrister ­ Neamhchoitianta: Uncommon ­ Achrann: Agro ­ Ionchúisitheoir: Prosecutor ­ Blaiseadh: Flavour ­ Comhghuaillíocht: Alliance ­ In aghaidh an dlí: Against the law ­ Cosantóirí: The defence ­ Mearbhall: Bafflement ­ Comhghleacaí: Colleague ­ Aineolas: Ignorance ­ De réir dealraimh: ApparentlySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was pandemonium in London on Wednesday morning as Kneecap's Mo Chara appeared at Westminster Magistrates Court. Hundreds turned out to support the rapper, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, as he entered court – having arrived in a mocked up RUC landover. The west Belfast rapper is charged with a terror offence over the alleged display of a Hezbollah flag at a concert in London last year. Ciarán Dunbar is joined by Belfast Telegraph's crime correspondent Allison Morris who was in court and BelTel assistant producer Olivia Peden. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week we talk about tit-for-tat warfare, conflict off-ramps, and Israel's renewed attacks on Iran's nuclear program.We also discuss the Iron Dome, the Iran-Iraq War, and regime change.Recommended Book: How Much is Enough? by Robert and Edward SkidelskyTranscriptIn late-October of 2024, Israel launched a wave of airstrikes against targets in Iran and Syria. These strikes were code-named Operation Days of Repentance, and it marked the largest such attack on Iran by Israel since the 1980s, during the height of the Iran-Iraq War.Operation Days of Repentance was ostensibly a response to Iran's attack on Israel earlier than same month, that attack code-named Operation True Promise II, which involved the launch of around 200 ballistic missiles against Israeli targets. Operation True Promise II was itself a response to Israel's assassination of the leader of Hamas, the leader of Hezbollah, and the Deputy of Operations for Iran's Revolutionary Guard.If you feel like there might be a tit-for-tat pattern here, you're right. Iran and Israel have been at each other's throats since 1979, following the Islamic Revolution when Iran cut off all diplomatic relations with Israel; some backchannel relations continued between the two countries, even through part of the Iran-Iraq War, when Israel often supported Iran in that conflict, but things got tense in the early 1980s when Iran, partnering with the Syrian government, started backing Hezbollah and their effort to boot Israel out of Southern Lebanon, while also partnering with Islamist militants in Iraq and Yemen, including the Houthis, and at times Hamas in Gaza, as well.Most of these attacks have, until recently, been fairly restrained, all things considered. There's long been bravado by politicians on both sides of the mostly cold war-ish conflict, but they've generally told the other side what they would be hitting, and signaled just how far they would be going, telling them the extent of the damage they would cause, and why, which provides the other side ample opportunity to step off the escalatory ladder; everyone has the chance to posture for their constituents and then step back, finding an off-ramp and claiming victory in that specific scuffle.That back-and-forth in late-2024 largely stuck to that larger pattern, and both sides stuck with what typically works for them, in terms of doing damage: Israel flew more than 100 aircraft to just beyond or just inside Iran's borders and struck a bunch of military targets, like air defense batteries and missile production facilities, while Iran launched a few hundred far less-accurate missiles at broad portions of Israel—a type of attack that could conceivably result in a lot of civilian casualties, not just damage to military targets, which would typically be a no-no if you're trying to keep the tit-for-tat strikes regulated and avoid escalation, but because Israel has a fairly effective anti-missile system called the Iron Dome, Iran could be fairly confident that just hurling a large number of missiles in their general direction would be okay, as most of those missiles would be shot down by the Iron Dome, the rest by Israel's allies in the region, and the few that made it through or struck unoccupied land in the general vicinity would make their point.While this conflict has been fairly stable for decades, though, the tenor and tone seems to have changed substantially in 2025, and a recent wave of attacks by Israel is generally being seen as the culmination of several other efforts, and possibly an attempt by the Israeli government to change the nature of this conflict, perhaps permanently.And that's what I'd like to talk about today; Operation Rising Lion, and the implications of Israel's seeming expansion and evolution of their approach to dealing with Iran.—In mid-June of 2025, Israel's military launched early morning strikes against more than a dozen targets across Iran, most of the targets either fundamental to Iran's nuclear program or its military.The strikes were very targeted, and some were assassinations of top Iranian military leaders and nuclear scientists, like the Commander of the Revolutionary Guard, along with their families, including twenty children, who were presumably collateral damage. Some came from beyond Iran's borders, some were conducted by assets smuggled into Iran earlier: car bombs and drones, things like that.More attacks followed that initial wave, which resulted in the collapse of nuclear sites and airport structures, along with several residential buildings in the country's capitol, Tehran.This attack was ostensibly meant to hobble Iran's nuclear program, which the Iranian government has long claimed is for purely peaceful, energy-generation purposes, but which independent watchdog organizations, and pretty much every other non-Iranian-allied government says is probably dual-purpose, allowing Iran to produce nuclear energy, but also nuclear weapons.There was a deal on the books for a while that had Iran getting some benefits in exchange for allowing international regulators to monitor its nuclear program, but that deal, considered imperfect by many, but also relatively effective compared to having no deal at all, went away under the first Trump administration, and the nuclear program has apparently been chugging along since then with relative success; claims that Iran is just weeks from having enough fissile material to make a nuclear weapon have been common for years, now, but they apparently now have enough nuclear weapons-grade materials to make several bombs, and Israel in particular is quite keen to keep them from building such a weapon, as Iran's leaders, over the years, have said they'd like to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth, and nuclear weapons would be a relatively quick and easy way to make that happen.Of course, even without using such a weapon, simply having one or more is a sort of insurance policy against conventionally armed enemies. It ups the stakes in every type of conflict, and allows the nuclear-armed belligerent to persistently raise the specter of nuclear war if anyone threatens them, which is truly terrifying because of how many nuclear-related failsafes are in place around the world: one launch or detonation potentially becoming many, all at once, because of Dr. Strangelove-like automated systems that many militaries have readied, just in case.So the possibility that Iran might be on the brink of actually, really, truly this time making a nuclear weapon is part of the impetus for this new strike by Israel.But this is also probably a continuation of the larger effort to dismantle Iran's influence across the region by the current Israeli government, which, following the sneak attack on Israel by Hamas on October 7, 2023, and the subsequent invasion of the Gaza Strip by Israeli forces, has been trying to undermine Iran's proxies, which again, include quite a few militant organizations, the most powerful of which, in recent years, have been the trio of Hamas in Gaza, the Houthis in Yemen, and Hezbollah in southern Lebanon, right on Israel's border.Israel's invasion of Gaza, which has led to an absolutely catastrophic humanitarian situation for Gazan civilians, but has also led to the near-total collapse of Hamas as a functioning militant organization in the Strip, could be construed as a successful mission, if you ignore all those civilians casualties and fatalities, and the near-leveling of a good portion of the Strip.Israel was also able to take out a significant portion of Hezbollah's leadership via conventional aerial attacks and ground-assaults, and a bizarrely effective asymmetric attack using bombs installed in the pagers used by the organization, and it's been able to significantly decrease the Houthis' ability to menace ships passing through the Red Sea, using their own military, but also through their relationship with the US, which has significant naval assets in the area.Iran has long projected power in the region through its relationship with these proxies, providing them training and weapons and money in exchange for their flanking of Israel. That flanking was meant to keep Israel perpetually off-balance with the knowledge that if they ever do anything too serious, beyond the bounds of the controllable tit-for-tat, Cold War-style conflict in which they were engaged with Iran, they could suffer significant damage at home, from the north via Lebanon, from their southwestern flank via Gaza, or from a little ways to the south and via their coast from Yemen.Those proxies now largely hobbled, though, Israel found itself suddenly freed-up to do something more significant, and this attack is being seen by analysts as the initial stages of what might be a more substantial, perhaps permanent solution to the Iran problem. Rather than being a show of force or a tit-for-tat play, these might be the beginning days of an assault that's meant to enact not just a dismantling of Iran's nuclear program, but full-on regime change in Iran.And regime change means exactly what it sounds like: Iran's government is Islamist, meaning that it wants to enforce a fairly brutal, repressive version of Islam globally, and it already does so against its people. There have periodically been successful protests against these measures by Iranian citizens, especially by severely repressed women and minority groups in the country, including folks of different religions and LGBTQ identifying folks, among others, almost always these protests, and any other attempts to attain more rights and equality for people who aren't strictly Islamist men, generally result in violence, the black-bagging of protest leaders, extrajudicial killings and lifetime imprisonment and torture; a whole lot of really authoritarian, generally just villain-scale behavior by the Iranian government against anyone who steps out of line.So the Iranian government is pretty monstrous by most modern, democratic standards, and the Israeli government's seeming desire to crush it—to cry false on the regime's projection of strength, and create the circumstances for revolution, if that is indeed what they're doing—could be construed as a fairly noble goal.It perhaps serves the purposes of Israel, as again, Iran has said, over and over, that they want to destroy Israel and would totally do so, given the chance. But it arguably also serves the purpose of democratic-leaning people, and perhaps even more so folks who are suffering under the current Iranian regime, and maybe even other, similar regimes in the region. Which again, in terms of spreading democracy and human rights, sounds pretty good to some ears.That said, Israel is killing a lot of Iranian civilians alongside military targets, and its efforts in Gaza have led to accusations that it's committing genocide in the region. Israeli leaders have themselves been accused of anti-democratic actions, basically doubling-down on the nation's furthest-right, most militant, and most authoritarian and theocratic impulses, which makes any claims of moral superiority a little tricky for them to make, at this point.There's a chance, of course, that all this speculation and analysis ends up being completely off-base, and Israel is really, truly just trying to hobble Iran a bit, taking out some of their missile launchers and missile- and drone-manufacturing capacity, while also pushing back their acquisition of nuclear weapons by some meaningful amount of time; that amount of time currently unknown, as initial reports, at least, indicate that many of the attacks on Iran's most vital nuclear research and development facilities were perhaps not as effective as Israel had hoped. There's a chance that if enough overall damage is done, Iran's government will enthusiastically return to the negotiating table and perhaps be convinced to set their nuclear program aside willingly, but at the moment both Iran and Israel seem committed to hurting each other, physically.On that note, so far, as of the day I'm recording this, Iran has launched around 100 missiles, killed a few dozen Israelis, and injured more than 500 of the same. The Iranian government has said Israel's strikes have killed at least 224 people and wounded more than 1,200; though a human rights group says the death toll in Iran could be quite a bit higher than official government numbers, with more than 400 people killed, around half of them civilians, so far.It's been nearly a week of this, and it looks likely that these strikes will continue for at least another few days, though many analysts are now saying they expect this to go one for at least a few weeks, if indeed Israel is trying to knock out some of Iran's more hardened nuclear program-related targets; several of which are buried deep down in the ground, thus requiring bunker-buster-style missiles to reach and destroy, and Israel doesn't have such weapons in their arsenal.Neutralizing those targets would therefore mean either getting those kinds of weapons from the US or other allies, taking them out via some other means, which would probably take more time and entail more risk, or doing enough damage quickly than Iran's government is forced to the negotiation table.And if that ends up being the case, if Israel is really just gunning for the nuclear program and nothing else, this could be remembered as a significant strike, but one that mostly maintains the current status quo; same Iranian leadership, same perpetual conflict between these two nations, but Israel boasting even more of an upper-hand than before, with less to worry about in terms of serious damage from Iran or its proxies for the next several years, minimum.It does seem like a good moment to undertake regime change in Iran, though, as doing so could help Israel polish up its reputation, at least a little, following the reputational drubbing it has taken because of its actions in Gaza. I doubt people who have really turned on Israel would be convinced, as doing away with an abusive, extremist regime, while doing abusive, extremist regime stuff yourself the homefront, probably won't be an argument that convinces many Palestinian liberation-oriented people; there's a chance some of those people will even take up the cause of Iranian civilians, which is true to a point, as many Iranian civilians are suffering and will continue to suffer under Israel's attacks—though of course that leaves out the part about them also suffering, for much longer, under their current government.That said, taking Iran out of the geopolitical equation would serve a lot of international interests, including those of the US—which has long hated Iran—and Ukraine, the latter of which because Russia has allied itself with the Iranian government, and buys a lot of drones, among other weapons, from Iran. That regime falling could make life more difficult for Russia, at least in the short term, and it would mean another ally lost in the region, following the fall of the Assad regime in Syria in late-2024.There's a chance that these same geopolitical variables could pull other players into this conflict, though: Russia could help Iran, for instance, directly or indirectly, by sending supplies, taking out Israeli missiles and drones, maybe, while the US could help Israel (more directly, that is, as it's apparently already helping them by shooting down some of Iran's counterstrike projectiles) by providing bunker-buster weapons, or striking vital military targets from a distance.Such an escalation, on either side, would probably be pretty bad for everyone except possibly Iran, though Israel has said it wants the US to join in on its side, as that would likely result in a much quicker victory and far fewer casualties on its side.The US government is pretty keen to keep out of foreign conflicts right now, though, at least directly, and Russia is pretty bogged down by its invasion of Ukraine; there's a chance other regional powers, even smaller ones, could act as proxies for these larger, outside forces—the Saudis taking the opportunity to score some damage on their long-time rival, Iran, for instance, by helping out Israel—but any such acts would expand the scope of the conflict, and it's seldom politically expedient to do anything that might require your people make any kind of sacrifice, so most everyone will probably stay out of this as long as they can, unless there are serious benefits to doing so.Show Noteshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/June_2025_Israeli_strikes_on_Iranhttps://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/06/13/israel-iran-regime-attack-goal-column-00405153https://www.foreignaffairs.com/israel/real-threat-iran-tehran-most-dangerous-option-responding-israelhttps://www.twz.com/news-features/could-iran-carry-out-its-threat-to-shut-the-strait-of-hormuzhttps://www.jpost.com/israel-news/defense-news/article-857713https://kyivindependent.com/israel-asks-us-to-join-strikes-on-irans-nuclear-sites-officials-told-axios/https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog-june-15-2025/https://www.twz.com/air/israel-escalates-to-attacking-iranian-energy-targets-after-ballistic-missiles-hit-tel-avivhttps://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/israel-iran-strikes-news-06-14-25https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-confirms-irgc-air-force-chief-top-echelon-killed-in-israeli-strike/https://time.com/7294186/israel-warns-tehran-will-burn-deadly-strikes-traded-nuclear-program/https://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06/14/world/israel-iran-newshttps://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/13/opinion/israel-iran-strikes.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/14/world/middleeast/drones-smuggled-israel-iran-ukraine-russia.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/live/2025/06/15/world/iran-israel-nuclearhttps://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/15/world/middleeast/iran-military-leaders-killed.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/14/world/europe/israel-iron-dome-defense.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/14/world/middleeast/israel-iran-missile-attack.htmlhttps://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/14/world/middleeast/iran-israel-energy-facility-strikes-tehran.htmlhttps://www.cnn.com/world/live-news/israel-iran-strikes-news-06-15-25https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/was-israel-s-strike-on-iran-a-good-idea--four-questions-to-askhttps://apnews.com/article/israel-iran-missile-attacks-nuclear-news-06-16-2025-c98074e62ce5afd4c3f6d33edaffa069https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/world/middleeast/iran-israel-war-off-ramp.htmlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_2024_Iranian_strikes_on_Israelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_2024_Israeli_strikes_on_Iranhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axis_of_Resistancehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Lebanon_electronic_device_attacks This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letsknowthings.substack.com/subscribe

Aujourd'hui, Didier Giraud, Barbara Lefebvre et Jérôme Marty débattent de l'actualité autour d'Alain Marschall et Olivier Truchot.

PREVIEW: Colleague David Daoud of FDD reports the subdued even passive conduct of the well-armed and numerous Hezbollah in Lebanon during the IDF dismantling of the suspect nuclear weapons program in Iran. More. 1950 BEIRUT

In this episode, I break down the truth about what's really happening between Israel and Iran — beyond the headlines, politics, and propaganda.We cover:

The world watched in shock as Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran last Friday, October 13th – an operation that has dramatically reshaped Middle Eastern geopolitics and exposed a troubling web of deception at the highest levels of government.In this eye-opening episode, Middle East expert Alistair Crooke provides a masterful analysis of what he describes as a "synergistic shock" strategy – a coordinated military operation a year in the making that sought to destabilize Iran through simultaneous attacks on its military command structure, air defenses, and nuclear scientists. The operation, designed to create a profound psychological impact similar to what occurred with Hezbollah following Hassan Nasrallah's assassination, was predicated on the assumption that Iran would collapse into internal chaos.What makes this situation particularly alarming is the revelation of deliberate deception. While Trump publicly declared himself the "President of Peace" and his envoys suggested productive negotiations were underway, behind the scenes a very different scenario was unfolding. As Crooke explains, "The first deception was Witcoff and Trump saying negotiations were making progress... all of that was to prepare for this shock attack." This duplicity reached its most disturbing expression when Trump later boasted, "The people I was dealing with are dead," confirming his knowledge of plans to assassinate the very officials with whom he was supposedly negotiating.The operation's architects severely miscalculated Iran's resilience. Rather than fracturing, Iran quickly restored its air defenses, reestablished command structures, and launched an effective counteroffensive that has exposed significant vulnerabilities in Israel's much-vaunted military capabilities. The strategic paradigm that has governed Middle Eastern politics for decades – built on assumptions of Israeli technical superiority and invulnerability – is now cracking as Iran systematically targets Israeli military infrastructure with increasingly sophisticated missiles.This episode offers crucial insights into how this conflict is reshaping regional power dynamics, the coordinated patterns of Western intelligence services, and the profound damage done to American diplomatic credibility. As the situation continues to evolve, understanding these underlying dynamics becomes essential for anyone seeking to comprehend what may become a transformative moment in international relations.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Two explosive transcripts reveal a rapidly escalating conflict involving Israel, Iran, and the United States. First, it's uncovered that Israel's Mossad constructed a covert drone base inside Iran, used to launch strikes against Iranian ballistic missile infrastructure. Then, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claims Iran has attempted to assassinate former President Trump—twice—framing Iran as both a nuclear threat and a strategic ally of the U.S. Democrat Party. With enriched uranium stockpiles, proxy militias like the Houthis and Hezbollah, and even China aiding in regional attacks, the situation points to a dangerous convergence of global adversaries and a deeply divided American foreign policy.

As Israel and Iran trade missile strikes, we examine how a surprise attack aimed at Iran's nuclear program has escalated into a dangerous conflict with hundreds dead. With oil prices surging and world leaders scrambling to prevent a broader regional war, we break down what triggered this crisis... and what it means for global stability. And in headlines today The prosecution has delivered part of their closing address in the trial against alleged mushroom killer Erin Patterson accusing Patterson of lying about feeding her children the tainted beef wellington leftovers; The G7 summit is underway in Canada, all the world leaders including US President Donald Trump calling for an end to the conflict between Israel and Iran; A juror has been dismissed from Sean 'Diddy' Combs sex trafficking trial; More concerns for Justin Bieber after an online rant saying he knows he's broken and has anger issues stemming from trauma THE END BITSSupport independent women's media Check out The Quicky Instagram here Mamamia studios are styled with furniture from Fenton and Fenton visit www.fentonandfenton.com.au GET IN TOUCHShare your story, feedback, or dilemma! Send us a voice note or email us at thequicky@mamamia.com.au CREDITS Hosts: Taylah Strano & Claire Murphy Guest: Dr Jessica Genauer, Senior Lecturer in International Relations at Flinders University Audio Producer: Lu Hill Become a Mamamia subscriber: https://www.mamamia.com.au/subscribeSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

FAN MAIL--We would love YOUR feedback--Send us a Text MessageThe drumbeat of conflict reverberating through the Middle East has drawn global attention, but behind the headlines lies a methodical strategy that deserves deeper understanding. Following the catastrophic events of October 7th, 2023—Israel's own 9/11—we've witnessed the systematic dismantling of Iran's proxy network throughout the region.This episode examines Israel's calculated response to Hamas and other Iran-backed groups, tracing how Israeli forces have degraded Hamas's military capabilities, decimated Hezbollah's leadership, curtailed Iraqi and Syrian militias, and contained Houthi threats from Yemen. We explore how this campaign has now reached Iran itself, with Israel targeting military infrastructure to prevent nuclear capabilities while facing reprisals against civilian areas. The contrast between these approaches speaks volumes about the conflict's moral dimensions.What does it mean that only two theocracies in the world—Iran and Yemen—are actively exporting religious violence? How might Israel's campaign against Iran's military effectiveness create conditions for expanded peace in the region? As we witness history unfold, understanding these dynamics helps us grasp not just the headlines, but the profound shifts reshaping the Middle East's future. our book of the day is "Sledgehammer" by David FriedmannKey Points from the Episode:• The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia unexpectedly endorsed President Trump's Middle East peace plan, alongside many other nations• Turkey was historically cooperative with Israel until President Erdogan's leadership beginning in 2003• Iran has been exporting hate and violence in the region for nearly 50 years through proxies like Hezbollah and Hamas• Since October 7th, 2023, Israel has systematically degraded Hamas, weakened Hezbollah, and curtailed Iraqi and Syrian militias• Israel is now directly confronting Iran's military capabilities, particularly its nuclear program• Of all world theocracies, only Iran and Yemen are actively exporting violence through physical means• The 2020 Abraham Accords created unprecedented peace agreements between Israel and UAE, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco• These agreements achieved peace without requiring Israel to make territorial concessionsOther resources: Israel's Sept 11thLM#38--Israel's 9-11, part 1LM#39--Israel's 9-11, part 2--Don't look awayLM#54--Black Saturday, October 7th -- One Year LaterWant to leave a review? Click here, and if we earned a five-star review from you **high five and knuckle bumps**, we appreciate it greatly, thank you so much!

In this episode, we connect with Brian, an Israeli war correspondent currently reporting from a bomb shelter, providing a first-hand account of the ongoing conflict in the region. He shares vivid details of the recent missile attacks, the psychological impact on civilians, and the stark reality of taking refuge during air raids. The discussion traces the escalation of tensions, exploring Israel's military strategy against adversaries like Hamas and Hezbollah while addressing the complexities of urban warfare and collateral damage. Brian reflects on the significance of Israel's military reliance on U.S. weaponry and the broader ideological implications of its conflict with Iran. He also touches on the political landscape under Benjamin Netanyahu's government and the pressures shaping military actions, offering a poignant perspective grounded in his first-hand experiences.   onnect with Brian...

THREE YEARS AGO, THE FUTURE PERIL IS TODAY: 4/4: The Shadow War: Iran's Quest for Supremacy Hardcover – by  Brandon J. Weichert  (Author) There has been an ongoing shadow war between the West and Iran, one that could explode and plunge the world into a third world war. The Biden Administration's move to make peace at any cost with the mad mullahs of Iran may be the very spark for a regional war that turns into a global conflict, the likes of which not seen since the 1940s. As the Biden Administration pines for a return to the ill-fated Iran nuclear deal, Tehran makes ready to consolidate its growing power in the Middle East at America's expense. For the last decade, Iran has consistently expanded its own reach and influence across the region—all while judiciously building up its military capabilities. As America looks for a way out of the Middle East and a return to the Obama-era nuclear agreement, Iran enhances the ability of its terrorist proxies, like Hezbollah in Lebanon or the Houthis in Yemen, to threaten the security of Israel and to destabilize the Saudi regime. Each time the Biden Administration signals its willingness to negotiate with Iran, Iran gets more aggressive. In the words of one Saudi official, Iran is a "paper tiger with steel claws." These steel claws have extended to encompass the whole region, and they include Iran's growing arsenal of complex drones, precision-guided munitions, EMP weapons, and their nuclear weapons arsenal. Thankfully, there is a path forward for the United States and the solution can be found in the policies outlined by the previous Trump Administration; in the form of the Abraham Accords and daring "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran. But time is not on America's side. Should President Biden continue down the destructive, illusory path to "peace" with Iran, he will not only have abandoned America's long-standing allies, but he will have also helped to trigger the very conflict he seeks to avoid. After all, as Ronald Reagan once quipped, world wars do not start "because America is too strong." They start because the United States is deemed too weak by its rivals. In The Shadow War: Iran's Quest for Supremacy, author Brandon Weichert explores how the next world war is unfolding right before our eyes and explains how the American government can avoid it while maintaining its position of strength and support for its allies. 1953

THREE YEARS AGO, THE FUTURE PERIL IS TODAY: 3/4: The Shadow War: Iran's Quest for Supremacy Hardcover – by  Brandon J. Weichert  (Author) There has been an ongoing shadow war between the West and Iran, one that could explode and plunge the world into a third world war. The Biden Administration's move to make peace at any cost with the mad mullahs of Iran may be the very spark for a regional war that turns into a global conflict, the likes of which not seen since the 1940s. As the Biden Administration pines for a return to the ill-fated Iran nuclear deal, Tehran makes ready to consolidate its growing power in the Middle East at America's expense. For the last decade, Iran has consistently expanded its own reach and influence across the region—all while judiciously building up its military capabilities. As America looks for a way out of the Middle East and a return to the Obama-era nuclear agreement, Iran enhances the ability of its terrorist proxies, like Hezbollah in Lebanon or the Houthis in Yemen, to threaten the security of Israel and to destabilize the Saudi regime. Each time the Biden Administration signals its willingness to negotiate with Iran, Iran gets more aggressive. In the words of one Saudi official, Iran is a "paper tiger with steel claws." These steel claws have extended to encompass the whole region, and they include Iran's growing arsenal of complex drones, precision-guided munitions, EMP weapons, and their nuclear weapons arsenal. Thankfully, there is a path forward for the United States and the solution can be found in the policies outlined by the previous Trump Administration; in the form of the Abraham Accords and daring "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran. But time is not on America's side. Should President Biden continue down the destructive, illusory path to "peace" with Iran, he will not only have abandoned America's long-standing allies, but he will have also helped to trigger the very conflict he seeks to avoid. After all, as Ronald Reagan once quipped, world wars do not start "because America is too strong." They start because the United States is deemed too weak by its rivals. In The Shadow War: Iran's Quest for Supremacy, author Brandon Weichert explores how the next world war is unfolding right before our eyes and explains how the American government can avoid it while maintaining its position of strength and support for its allies. AUGUST 1942

THREE YEARS AGO, THE FUTURE PERIL IS TODAY: 2/4: The Shadow War: Iran's Quest for Supremacy Hardcover – by  Brandon J. Weichert  (Author) There has been an ongoing shadow war between the West and Iran, one that could explode and plunge the world into a third world war. The Biden Administration's move to make peace at any cost with the mad mullahs of Iran may be the very spark for a regional war that turns into a global conflict, the likes of which not seen since the 1940s. As the Biden Administration pines for a return to the ill-fated Iran nuclear deal, Tehran makes ready to consolidate its growing power in the Middle East at America's expense. For the last decade, Iran has consistently expanded its own reach and influence across the region—all while judiciously building up its military capabilities. As America looks for a way out of the Middle East and a return to the Obama-era nuclear agreement, Iran enhances the ability of its terrorist proxies, like Hezbollah in Lebanon or the Houthis in Yemen, to threaten the security of Israel and to destabilize the Saudi regime. Each time the Biden Administration signals its willingness to negotiate with Iran, Iran gets more aggressive. In the words of one Saudi official, Iran is a "paper tiger with steel claws." These steel claws have extended to encompass the whole region, and they include Iran's growing arsenal of complex drones, precision-guided munitions, EMP weapons, and their nuclear weapons arsenal. Thankfully, there is a path forward for the United States and the solution can be found in the policies outlined by the previous Trump Administration; in the form of the Abraham Accords and daring "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran. But time is not on America's side. Should President Biden continue down the destructive, illusory path to "peace" with Iran, he will not only have abandoned America's long-standing allies, but he will have also helped to trigger the very conflict he seeks to avoid. After all, as Ronald Reagan once quipped, world wars do not start "because America is too strong." They start because the United States is deemed too weak by its rivals. In The Shadow War: Iran's Quest for Supremacy, author Brandon Weichert explores how the next world war is unfolding right before our eyes and explains how the American government can avoid it while maintaining its position of strength and support for its allies. 1930

THREE YEARS AGO, THE FUTURE PERIL IS TODAY:   1/4: THe Shadow War: Iran's Quest for Supremacy Hardcover – by  Brandon J. Weichert  (Author) There has been an ongoing shadow war between the West and Iran, one that could explode and plunge the world into a third world war. The Biden Administration's move to make peace at any cost with the mad mullahs of Iran may be the very spark for a regional war that turns into a global conflict, the likes of which not seen since the 1940s. As the Biden Administration pines for a return to the ill-fated Iran nuclear deal, Tehran makes ready to consolidate its growing power in the Middle East at America's expense. For the last decade, Iran has consistently expanded its own reach and influence across the region—all while judiciously building up its military capabilities. As America looks for a way out of the Middle East and a return to the Obama-era nuclear agreement, Iran enhances the ability of its terrorist proxies, like Hezbollah in Lebanon or the Houthis in Yemen, to threaten the security of Israel and to destabilize the Saudi regime. Each time the Biden Administration signals its willingness to negotiate with Iran, Iran gets more aggressive. In the words of one Saudi official, Iran is a "paper tiger with steel claws." These steel claws have extended to encompass the whole region, and they include Iran's growing arsenal of complex drones, precision-guided munitions, EMP weapons, and their nuclear weapons arsenal. Thankfully, there is a path forward for the United States and the solution can be found in the policies outlined by the previous Trump Administration; in the form of the Abraham Accords and daring "maximum pressure" campaign against Iran. But time is not on America's side. Should President Biden continue down the destructive, illusory path to "peace" with Iran, he will not only have abandoned America's long-standing allies, but he will have also helped to trigger the very conflict he seeks to avoid. After all, as Ronald Reagan once quipped, world wars do not start "because America is too strong." They start because the United States is deemed too weak by its rivals. In The Shadow War: Iran's Quest for Supremacy, author Brandon Weichert explores how the next world war is unfolding right before our eyes and explains how the American government can avoid it while maintaining its position of strength and support for its allies.

A weekend so profound in it's news that I am going to push this beyond the paywall. Let's start abroad… Israel-Iran Conflict Erupts with Fatal StrikesThe military confrontation between Israel and Iran intensified over the weekend, pushing the region toward a broader conflict. After Israel initiated Operation Rising Lion, Iranian ballistic missiles and drones pierced Israeli defenses, leading to 13 fatalities and hundreds of injuries. Iran, in turn, reported nearly 400 deaths, many of them civilians, following retaliatory strikes on its infrastructure and military assets.Israeli airstrikes included the bombing of energy depots in Tehran and targeted assaults on military aircraft. The Israeli government, under Prime Minister Netanyahu, emphasized that the current response was merely the beginning of a broader campaign intended to dismantle Iran's nuclear ambitions and proxy forces.Meanwhile, President Donald Trump denied American involvement but warned of U.S. retaliation should Iran target American interests. A backchannel veto of a potential Israeli strike on Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei suggests complex coordination between the U.S. and Israel.Iran's capacity to fund regional proxies like Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis has drastically diminished. This could signal a potential collapse of its foreign influence model. Mossad operations inside Iran, along with America's preemptive repositioning of military personnel, hinted at foreknowledge of the Israeli offensive. As the G7 summit approaches, international leaders are poised to make de-escalation a top priority.Political Assassination Rocks MinnesotaA horrifying attack in Minnesota has left two dead and two more wounded in what authorities are calling a politically motivated assassination. State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband were killed, while State Senator John Hoffman and his wife were critically injured. The suspect, Vance Luther Boelter, remains at large.Boelter, 57, reportedly used a fake police vehicle and latex disguise to enter the homes of his victims. A manifesto and target list naming politicians and abortion providers were discovered, suggesting a premeditated campaign of terror. Boelter, with a background in security and missionary work, sent a farewell text to his roommate before the attacks and has since vanished.Authorities continue to investigate the full extent of Boelter's motivations, but his prior service on a Minnesota government workforce board and links to evangelical missions underscore the unpredictable nature of ideological radicalization. Political leaders have called for unity and condemned the violence as a tragic escalation of political extremism.No Kings Day Protests and D.C. Parade Are Mercifully DocilePresident Trump's 79th birthday coincided with massive "No Kings Day" protests, as hundreds of thousands across more than 2,000 cities demonstrated against what organizers describe as authoritarian governance. Backed by groups such as the ACLU and teachers unions, the protests, both domestic and international, were largely peaceful, although one protester in Salt Lake City was injured by a firearm discharged from within the crowd.In Washington, D.C., the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary parade presented a striking contrast. With more than 6,000 troops, historical reenactors, and military hardware on display, the event drew cheers and selfies rather than vitriol. Even MSNBC coverage noted the upbeat atmosphere, starkly different from the usual tension of Trump rallies.Despite criticism of the $45 million price tag and corporate sponsorships by firms like Northrop Grumman and Coinbase, the event appeared largely apolitical. Trump delivered a brief, focused speech and administered the enlistment oath to 250 new Army recruits, marking the occasion as a rare moment of bipartisan recognition for military service.Episode Chapters and Time Codes* Intro and Father's Day Reflections (00:00:00)* Israel-Iran Conflict Analysis (00:02:18)* Michael Leiter Interview on Israeli Defense (00:04:08)* Strategic Implications and U.S. Positioning (00:08:12)* Domestic Fallout and Trump's Dilemma (00:13:54)* Netanyahu's Political Calculations (00:18:02)* Minnesota Assassinations and National Impact (00:20:06)* Senator Klobuchar's Tribute (00:20:06)* Suspect Background and Manhunt Details (00:22:36)* Reflections on Political Violence (00:26:32)* No Kings Day Protests Recap (00:33:49)* Army Parade Overview and Public Response (00:35:28)* Final Thoughts on American Expression (00:44:01) This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.politicspoliticspolitics.com/subscribe

Dans le cadre du partenariat du magazine IDÉES avec la revue Esprit, Pierre-Édouard Deldique reçoit Anne-Lorraine Bujon, la directrice de la revue et l'anthropologue Véronique Nahoum-Grappe, membre de son comité de rédaction, de retour d'un voyage à Damas qu'elle raconte dans l'émission. Le dossier est dirigé par deux spécialistes de la région, Joseph Bahout, professeur à l'Université américaine de Beyrouth et Hamit Bozarslan, directeur d'études à l'École des Hautes études en Sciences sociales, spécialiste des Kurdes (son dernier livre, Histoire des Kurdes. Des origines à nos jours, Cerf, 2025), plusieurs fois invité dans IDÉES.   Dans leur introduction, ils s'interrogent sur les conséquences de la guerre de Benyamin Netanyahu à Gaza et ses interventions dans le sud-Liban contre le Hezbollah. Sur les conséquences aussi du changement de régime à Damas après la chute de Bachar al-Assad. Ils soulignent d'autre part l'importance de l'année 1975 qui vit le début de la guerre civile au Liban. La page est-elle en train de se refermer ? Au cours de l'émission, Anne-Lorraine Bujon détaille ce dossier et, en tant que spécialiste des États-Unis, revient aussi sur l'éditorial de ce numéro intitulé « Trump first » autrement le mélange des genres chez le président américain, entre affaires publiques et affaires privées. De retour de Damas, Véronique Nahoum-Grappe, évoque, quant à elle, au micro de l'émission, le voyage qu'elle vient de faire parmi la population de Damas, la capitale syrienne. Elle en fait un compte-rendu humain et plein de couleurs qui nous permet de mieux comprendre l'état d'esprit des Syriens aujourd'hui. Programmation musicale : Naïssam Jalal & Rhythms Of Resistance - Lente impatience.

The consequences of Israeli's attack on Iran Black Spy Podcast, 197, Season 20, Episode 0008 In this week's Black Spy Podcasts, Carlton King looks at the potential consequences of the Israeli attack on Iran. Immediate Outcomes: Carlton argues that Israel's sneak attack on Iran, targeting strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities, top military leadership and nuclear scientists and their families during talks with the US to come to a diplomatic arrangement meant Iran must retaliate. Regional Escalation: A full-scale war could engulf Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza, with Israel fighting on multiple fronts. Hezbollah's involvement would likely lead to heavy bombardment of northern Israel. Civilian casualties and infrastructure damage could be high on both sides. The conflict might destabilize fragile states like Iraq and further fuel sectarian divisions. Global Involvement: The United States, arguably controlled by Israel due to penetration of the US legislature and other key US entities, could be fully drawn in to the conflict either through direct military support for Israel or the defense of Gulf allies and shipping lanes. Conversely, Iran may receive backing—political or logistical—from Russia or China, increasing global tensions. Gulf states like Saudi Arabia and the UAE, already wary of Iranian influence, might support Israel covertly, especially if Iran were to target their oil infrastructure.. Conclusion: A war between Israel and Iran could rapidly spiral into a broader regional or even global conflict, involving major powers and destabilizing the already fragile Middle East. The best-case future hinges on effective diplomacy and containment; the worst-case scenario risks a devastating, multi-front war with long-term consequences. So, if you want to continue learning whilst being entertained this and next week's continuation of this subject are must listen episodes. Please don't forget to subscribe to the Black Spy Podcast for free, thereby you'll never miss another episode. To contact Firgas Esack of the DAPS Agency go to Linked In To contact Carlton King by utilising any of the following: To donate - Patreon.com/TheBlackSpyPodcast Email: carltonking2003@gmail.com Facebook: The Black Spy Podcast Facebook: Carlton King Author Twitter@Carlton_King Instagram@carltonkingauthor To read Carlton's Autobiography: “Black Ops – The incredible true story of a (Black) British secret agent” Click the link below: https://amzn.eu/d/fmzzq9h

How did you sleep on Thursday night? When I first learned that Israel's war with Iran had begun in earnest, I, like so many of you, did not sleep much at all. Because of the 7-hour time difference between Boston and Israel, in the early hours of Friday morning I was able to reach Micah Goodman, our beloved teacher and friend who lives in Kfar Adumim, twenty minutes outside of Jerusalem. What Micah had to say was both inspiring and concerning at the same time.First the inspiring part. Micah shared that Israel's attack on June 13 exceeded its wildest dreams. As Micah put it, the start of the war was all of Israel's best military victories—the Six Day War, Entebbe, the destruction of Iraq's nuclear reactor in Osirak in 1981, the exploding pagers that crippled Hezbollah—all at once. Using intelligence, covert operations, Mossad agents on the ground in Iran and drone technology, Israel was able to eliminate Iran's leading generals and nuclear scientists in their homes, in their beds, in targeted attacks, in which Israel did not also kill their families. Why were Iran's leading generals and nuclear scientists at home, in the first place? Why weren't they in a bunker? Micah answers his own question by observing that we cannot prepare for something that has never before happened in history. What Israel accomplished on June 13 had never before been accomplished in the history of war, the kind of chutzpah, planning, skill and savvy that allowed these targeted assassinations. Add to that Israeli fighter jets that evaded Iranian air defenses, allowing Israel to attack more than 100 sites. Micah observed that Israel's morale is very high.But there is a but. Micah and his wife and their teen-age daughters, like so many Israeli families, spent their night in a bunker. Shul throughout Israel has been cancelled. Micah's public lectures for next week have been cancelled. All public events have been cancelled. Since the airport is closed, Israelis are worrying about food. Where will their food come from? Israel imports much of its food supply. He went to the grocery store on Friday morning, worried about whether his family will have enough food, and the store was jam-packed with nervous grocery shoppers, and the shelves were largely empty.So there is edge in Israel. Iran remains formidable. The Houthis remain formidable. There still is Hamas. There still is Hezbollah. While the beginning of the war could not have gone any better, where it will go next, nobody knows. There is what Micah calls “radical uncertainty” about what this war will mean for Israel's future and for the region.What do we do with this complex picture? How do we understand and respond to it? What does it mean to us? What does it ask from us?

On Saturday, Trump would like nothing more than images from Los Angeles of tear gas and balaclava-clad anarchists throwing bottles at Marines to complement video of himself in the stands at his military parade, saluting the troops amid a field of flags. That's part of the reason why he chose LA to federalize the Guard—home to numerous adversaries who willingly take his bait. And while tanks are going to roll through DC, wrecking its streets for the big birthday boy, Israel is going after Iran like it went after Hezbollah. Meanwhile, Kristi Noem handled the Padilla incident like a little fascist, and it only just occurred to Trump how the deportations will affect farms and hotels. Plus, a "Les Miz" correction, a 'Godfather' goof, and fighting words over The Beach Boys v. Lou Reed. Tom Nichols joins Tim Miller for the weekend pod. show notes  Why Trump deployed troops to LA Tom's late night piece on Israel's attack on Iran Tom's "Silence of the Generals" piece The baptism scene in The Godfather Tim's playlist

Donate (no account necessary) | Subscribe (account required) Join Bryan Dean Wright, former CIA Operations Officer, for Friday's Headline Brief, delivering the latest domestic and international stories shaping America and the world. Israel Launches Operation Rising Lion Against Iran Overnight, Israel begins a wide-scale bombing campaign targeting Iran's nuclear infrastructure, military leadership, and key scientists. Apartment buildings are ablaze in Tehran as oil prices spike and U.S. military bases brace for retaliation. Bryan warns of potential escalation, including Iranian proxy attacks on U.S. soil. The Resistance Fights Back with Protests, Court Battles, and Smears A California judge temporarily halts Trump's control of the state's National Guard. Senator Alex Padilla is tackled by Secret Service after interrupting DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, fueling Nazi Germany comparisons from Democrats. Meanwhile, Gavin Newsom claims Trump is mentally unfit to lead. Riots Expand as Leftist Messaging Shifts Democrats now claim they never called the LA riots “peaceful,” despite recent comments from AOC. Violence spreads to cities like Tucson and Spokane, with protestors declaring U.S. lands belong to Mexico. Trump and Republican governors respond with military deployments and legal actions. 500,000 Migrants Ordered to Leave U.S. The Trump administration revokes humanitarian parole for migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, rescinding their work permits and demanding immediate departure. The DOJ also sues states that block ICE courthouse arrests. Trump Offers Limited Carve-Outs for Illegal Labor Trump signals flexibility for industries like farming and hospitality, promising to “get the criminals out” but protect long-time workers. California farmers report mass ICE raids and brace for labor shortages. 500,000 Chinese Students to Return Under New Deal Despite FBI warnings, Trump confirms his trade deal will bring back Chinese students and allow many to stay after graduation. Bryan challenges the wisdom of this exchange, citing national security risks. House Votes to Claw Back $9.4 Billion in Wasteful Spending A narrow House vote advances a bill to recover funds flagged by the Department of Government Efficiency. Vice President JD Vance may cast the deciding vote in the Senate. Trump and Musk Begin Reconciliation Following a fierce public feud, Elon Musk and Trump reportedly speak by phone. Musk walks back harsh comments. Vance confirms Trump is open to patching things up. Trump's Big Beautiful Bill Faces Senate Roadblocks The president's top domestic package faces resistance over Medicaid cuts, public land sales, tax credit rollbacks, and new legal bond requirements. Lawmakers from both parties are divided ahead of the July 4 deadline. Soros Launches “Blue Texas” Campaign Democrat megadonor George Soros pledges at least $35 million to flip Texas, funding candidate training and mobilization for the 2026 elections. Iran's S-300 Missile Defenses Taken Out by Israeli Commandos With Iranian air defenses compromised, Israel continues its bombing campaign. Peace talks are still technically scheduled for Sunday but are unlikely to proceed. Hezbollah Sleeper Cells Could Strike Inside U.S. Bryan warns of potential Hezbollah attacks in cities like Los Angeles, New York, and Detroit, as retaliation for Israeli airstrikes. Gaza Aid Workers Killed, Myanmar Falls Further Under Chinese Control Palestinian militants attack an aid convoy, killing five. In Myanmar, a China-backed rebel group secures critical rare earth mineral mines, reinforcing Beijing's dominance in the sector. Panama Canal Shuts Out U.S. Bid, Sides with China Panama blocks a U.S.-backed deal to buy Chinese port operations, preserving Beijing's control. The U.S. is replacing Huawei towers in the country, but tensions rise over canal access and trade routes. China Refuses to Discuss Fentanyl During Trade Talks Xi Jinping's team flatly rejects U.S. demands to stop fentanyl precursor exports, keeping the deadly flow alive. Bryan calls it a calculated attack on America's youth and a profit stream for China's elite. "And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." – John 8:32   Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code TWR using the link or at check-out and get 60% off an annual plan: Incogni.com/TWR    

Across two explosive broadcasts, Tara dives into the unraveling of decades-long U.S. foreign policy missteps—from the covert CIA coup known as Operation Ajax to the billions funneled into Iran under Democrat leadership. She breaks down Israel's recent precision strike that eliminated Iran's top military brass and possibly ended the CIA's proxy era. With Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Taliban all linked to U.S.-backed operations through USAID, the implications are massive. These episodes expose the shocking truth about American involvement in Middle Eastern conflicts, the CIA's global influence, and why Israel's bold move may reshape the balance of power—and accountability—forever.

Two explosive stories converge: Israel's Mossad pulls off a covert drone strike from inside Iran, signaling a potential collapse of Iran's influence as its proxy Hezbollah backs down. Meanwhile, America faces a sobering reality—China's grip on rare earth minerals forces Trump into a humiliating compromise, allowing 500,000 Chinese students to remain in the U.S., even after a bioweapon smuggling incident. Domestically, the chaos escalates. Democrats defend lawlessness as Senator Padilla disrupts a press event under the guise of “oversight,” while Gallup reveals even Democrat voters are rejecting woke extremism. Ron DeSantis champions the right to self-defense in Florida, and a new push to ban Big Pharma ads emerges amid revelations the government hid vaccine risks. This episode connects the dots between global intelligence warfare, economic coercion, and America's cultural battle—all in a time of critical decision-making.

Why did Israel launch defensive strikes against Iran's nuclear sites — and what does this mean for regional security? AJC Jerusalem Director Lt. Col. (res.) Avital Leibovich joins from IDF reserve duty to explain Operation Rising Lion — Israel's precision military strikes aimed at dismantling Iran's nuclear and missile capabilities. Find out why Israel saw this defensive action as vital to protect millions of lives and prevent Iran's nuclear breakout. Resources: 5 Key Reasons Behind Israel's Defensive Strike on Iran's Imminent Nuclear Threat Listen – AJC Podcasts: The Forgotten Exodus: Untold stories of Jews who left or were driven from Arab nations and Iran People of the Pod:  Latest Episodes:  What Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks' State of the Jewish World Teaches Us Today AJC's CEO Ted Deutch: Messages That Moved Me After the D.C. Tragedy Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Transcript of the Interview: Manya Brachear Pashman  Late Thursday night, Israel launched a series of preemptive strikes against Iran in a military offensive dubbed Operation Rising Lion. The wave of strikes comes after the International Atomic Energy Agency censured Iran for obstructing its inspections after the revelation of a secretive nuclear site. What is happening on the ground, what's next, and what are the implications for Israel, Iran, and the broader Middle East? AJC Jerusalem director, Avital Leibovich, who also serves as Lieutenant Colonel in the IDF reserves, joins us now from reserve duty as counterattacks from Iran have begun. Avital, thank you for joining us with pleasure. Avital, negotiations for a new nuclear deal with Iran have been underway since April. There have been five rounds, maybe six, and another was going to begin on Sunday. President Trump also asked Israel to hold off on this preemptive operation. So why did Israel choose to launch these strikes? At this particular time, Avital Leibovich  Israel took a decision already to prepare for a preemptive attack on Iran. Since November, what happened in November? In November, Hezbollah lost the majority of its capabilities, of its military capabilities, and also of its leadership. Actually, a lot of his leaders, military leaders, have been eliminated, starting with Nasrallah, Hassan, Nasrallah, and going on to all the major generals of the organization. And basically the Shiite axis, as we call it here in Israel, was broken. Add to this, what happened a month later in December, when Assad's regime crashed, collapsed and was replaced by an anti Iranian man, jihadist, which jihadist background, by the name of Ahmed al Shara. So Iran was actually by on its own, really, because instead of circling Israel from the north, both from Syria and from Lebanon. Now it was circling in a very one dimension way, only from the east. So in order to do that, Iran figured out it needed to really upscale its nuclear capabilities, and for that, they sped up a few processes, for example, uranium enrichment, but not only that, also the weaponization of a potential nuclear bomb. And all of these steps actually brought us to a point that we are today, the point of no return. Iran will not be able to return to 20 years ago, 30 years ago, when it did not have those capabilities as it has today. For us in Israel, this is an issue of existence, either we exist or we don't, and that is the sole reason why the preemptive strike actually began today. This is according to Israeli intelligence, we have all the indications and data showing us this really major leap. And look the IAEA, you know, they issue reports every couple of months. It's their kind of responsibility for us. It's a matter of life and death. We cannot, you know, comply only with reports. And the reports sit on some shelf somewhere and and there's a lot of dust which is piling up on these reports for us, we needed action. So based on this very accurate intelligence, and some of this intelligence that has been accumulated for many, many years, you can see in the attack in Iran, you can see the very accurate attacks, the pinpointed strikes, which actually are directed at specific terrorists and not causing damage to uninvolved civilians, just To the locals. Yeah, Manya Brachear Pashman And how do you evaluate the Trump administration's response so far, given the diplomatic efforts underway? Well, Avital Leibovich I think that he is using the attacks to leverage and put pressure on Iran to resume the negotiation table in a few days. And as you know, there were six rounds of talks, and the best of my knowledge, there were huge gaps between the two sides, the American side and the Iranian side. I'm not sure these gaps can be bridged. We heard over and over again, President Trump say that Iran will never be able to enrich uranium. And then we heard Iranian leaders like Hamina say, this is the basic right of the Iranian people to enrich uranium. So I'm not sure how you can get you can bridge such a deep gap overall, I think that the President. Uh, has been congratulating Israel on its excellent attacks until now. But again, we are in the beginning. We're in the beginning phase of the attacks, although they're spread all over Iran. This is still the first day. We need to keep this in mind. Manya Brachear Pashman  The targets included more than nuclear sites. It included ballistic missile sites as well, and we're receiving word that Iran has fired ballistic missiles toward Israel as we speak, they fired ballistic missiles on Israel in April. If this counterattack continues, do you expect the United States to step in to defend Israel, and do you expect some of your neighbors to step in and help as well as they did in April the United Arab Emirates or Bahrain Avital Leibovich So as for the neighbors, I think that if their aerial space will be violated and breached by Iran, then of course, they have the right, like any other country, they're sovereign, to protect their own airspace. First of all, they will be protecting themselves and their people, not Israel, as for the US. This really depends on what Iran chooses to do next. The retaliation that Iran had practiced until now was launching 100 plus drones, explosive drones, to Israel. Almost all of these drones have been intercepted. This happened in the morning today. Now if Iran will decide that the ballistic missiles or the cruise missiles that it will launch here, will attack not only Israel, but also US bases across the region. Then here, there's a question, how will the US respond? Will the US retaliate as well? If that would happen, we could have even a more significant strike together the US and Israel. Manya Brachear Pashman  These attacks killed two lead scientists, IRGC commanders, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leaders. Is there a long-term goal of prompting a regime change? Avital Leibovich  So first of all, there are few types of targets in Iran, and you mentioned some of them. Physics and nuclear scientists are, of course, a critical human resource to the Iranian regime, as they rely on their long term knowledge and expertise on producing the bomb as soon as possible, as quick as possible, and by eliminating them in a way, you are removing the immediate threat. Other options are economic options. For example, really Iran relies on oil and buys it from China and maybe other countries as well. So obviously, Israel could decide to target its oil reserves, and this will be, of course, a significant economic blow. The third option is to target the government, leadership, politicians. Now, Israel, up to this moment, did not choose an economic target or a political target, but this may change in the future. The military targets, of course, are the most immediate targets that Israel is attacking, and the idea is to eliminate the immediate threat on Israel for the long range? Well, in the Middle East, in this part of the world, unfortunately, long range is something we can only put as a vision which is not bad. I'm happy to dream. I'm dreaming often Iran, which is similar to the Iran we knew before 1979 before the revolution, a moderate country, a human, loving country with values that I can share and adopt just the same. I'm looking at a different Middle East, maybe in a few years, with an expansion of the Abraham Accords, and creating an axis of moderate countries and other Shiite countries. So all of these changes that we're witnessing right now in the region and may still witness in the future, may all have an impact also on the long range outcome of the current war, which is unprecedented. Manya Brachear Pashman   I know Israel calls this a preemptive attack, but what do you say to countries who have already expressed concern about what they call an unprovoked attack? Avital Leibovich Well, I think it's enough for them just to look at the many kind of materials, which Israel and the Israeli. Army released today, showing what they have done, what Iran has done on its own soil. Now, when you follow the targets we just spoke about, you can see that these are not civilian targets. In other words, Israel is not attacking a school or a building just in the middle of Tehran for nothing. It's attacking deliberate military related sites. Actually, I think that, if I'm daring to dream again, I think that the people of Israel and the people of Iran have a lot in common. They're both people with deep heritage, with beautiful cultures. So I do envision one day a different regime in Iran, such a regime that could really bring the two countries together, opening a new page. And I think it will do a better Middle East here for all of us. Manya Brachear Pashman  We have talked about how Hamas embeds itself among the Palestinian civilians in Gaza. So no matter how precise Israel's attacks are, civilians are killed. Does Iran do the same thing? Or, I should say, does the Iranian regime do the same thing in Iran? Avital Leibovich  Obviously, Iran is not a democracy, and there is a similarity here with Hamas. We are talking about almost a fanaticist religious kind of aspect, which is also very similar to Hamas. Actually, Hamas and Iran have been connected for decades, for many, many decades, so they do share a lot of similarities. But unfortunately, the freedom of movement, freedom of speech, freedom of of culture, is not something which is of an ordinary situation in Iran. It's very unfortunate. You know, I'm sometimes following the social media in Iran, and I see how people speak about the regime. I see how they curse the regime. I see how they aspire for better lives. I see them organize parties in basements and so so the regime will not find out. I see them the women wearing jeans underneath hijabs long dresses, trying to conceal them for God forbid, so they would not be considered as not modest. So it's very unfortunate that the public is suffering in Iran, and we see that, not only in the general atmosphere, but also we see it with the standards of life, they have only electricity a couple of days of couple of hours a day. Water is scarce. The the prices of food, they are huge. Take, for example, today, one American dollar, it equals almost 1 million rials. For comparison, $1 equals three point 60 Israeli shekels. So yeah, they're suffering from many, many perspectives. Manya Brachear Pashman  Thank you so much for joining us stay safe.  Avital Leibovich   Thank you, Manya, and I'll just thank everybody for their support. I'm Israel. If Manya Brachear Pashman  you missed last week's episode, be sure to tune in for a special crossover episode between people of the pod and Books and Beyond, the podcast of the Rabbi Sacks legacy, Dr Tanya white, host of Books and Beyond, and Joanna benaroche, global, Chief Executive of the legacy, sit down with my colleague, Maggie wishegrad Fredman to discuss how the wisdom and perspective of the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks still endures today.  

Okay it's been a few months since the last war Israel started, so now that Iran's on the chopping block let's go over the rules once again. Rule 1: Israel is never the aggressor. If Israel attacks someone it's either a response to an aggression that happened in the past, or a preemptive attack to thwart an imminent aggression in the future. Rule 2: History automatically restarts at the date of the last act of aggression against Israel. If someone attacks Israel it was completely unprovoked, because nothing happened before the attack on Israel. Rule 3: Anything bad that Israel does is justified by Rule 2. This is true even if it does things that would be considered completely unjustifiable if it were done by a nation like Russia or China. Rule 4: Israel has a right to defend itself, but nobody else does. Rule 5: Israel never bombs civilians, it bombs Bad Guys. If shocking numbers of civilians die it's because they were actually Bad Guys, or because Bad Guys killed them, or because a Bad Guy stood too close to them. If none of those reasons apply then it's for some other mysterious reason we are still waiting for the IDF to investigate. Rule 6: Criticizing anything Israel does means you hate Jewish people. There is no other possible reason for anyone to oppose acts of mass military slaughter besides a seething, obsessive hatred for a small Abrahamic faith. Rule 7: Nothing Israel does is ever as bad as the hateful criticisms described in Rule 6. Criticisms of Israel's actions are always worse than Israel's actions themselves, because those critics hate Jews and wish to commit another Holocaust. Preventing this must consume 100 percent of our political energy and attention. Rule 8: Israelis are only ever the victims and never the victimizers. If Israelis kill Iranians, it's because the Iranians hate Jews. If Iranians kill Israelis, it's because the Iranians hate Jews. Israel is an innocent little lamb that just wants to mind its own business in peace. Rule 9: The fact that Israel is literally always in a state of war with its neighbors and with displaced indigenous populations must be interpreted as proof that Rule 8 is true instead of proof that Rule 8 is ridiculous nonsense. Rule 10: The lives of people in Muslim nations are much, much less important to us than western lives or Israeli lives. Nobody is allowed to think too hard about why this might be. Rule 11: The media always tell the truth about Israel and its various conflicts. If you doubt this then you are likely in violation of Rule 6. Rule 12: Unsubstantiated claims which portray Israel's enemies in a negative light may be reported as factual news stories without any fact checking or qualifications, while extensively evidenced records of Israeli criminality must be reported on with extreme skepticism and doubtful qualifiers like “Iran claims”, “Hezbollah says” or “according to the Hamas-run health ministry”. This is important to do because otherwise you might get accused of being a propagandist. Rule 13: Israel must continue to exist in its current iteration no matter what it costs or how many people need to die. There is no need to present any logically or morally grounded reasons why this is the case. If you dispute this then you are likely in violation of Rule 6. Rule 14: The US government has never lied about anything ever, and is always on the right side of every conflict. Rule 15: Israel is the last bastion of freedom and democracy in the middle east and therefore must be defended, no matter how many journalists it has to assassinate, no matter how many press institutions it needs to shut down, no matter how many protests its supporters need to dismantle, no matter how much free speech it needs to eliminate, no matter how many civil rights its western backers need to erase, and no matter how many elections its lobbyists need to buy. Reading by Tim Foley.

Meet my friends, Clay Travis and Buck Sexton! If you love Verdict, the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show might also be in your audio wheelhouse. Politics, news analysis, and some pop culture and comedy thrown in too. Here’s a sample episode recapping four Thursday takeaways. Give the guys a listen and then follow and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Middle East Tensions Clay Travis and Buck Sexton broadcast live from Washington, D.C., where Clay and Buck share behind-the-scenes insights from their high-level meetings with members of President Donald Trump’s administration. The hour opens with lighthearted anecdotes about fan encounters in Georgetown and a humorous mishap involving Clay being denied entry to a White House meeting due to not having a Real ID. Despite the setback, Clay books former NFL kicker Jay Feely—now a congressional candidate in Arizona—for Hour 2 after a chance sidewalk meeting. The conversation quickly pivots to serious geopolitical developments, with a major focus on escalating tensions in the Middle East. Clay and Buck analyze the Trump administration’s strategic posture toward Iran amid reports of U.S. personnel being evacuated from embassies in the region. They discuss the implications of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s (IAEA) declaration that Iran is violating nuclear non-proliferation agreements—marking the first such ruling in 20 years—and the possibility of an imminent Israeli military strike on Iranian nuclear facilities. President Trump’s firm stance that Iran “cannot have a nuclear weapon” is highlighted, along with his administration’s efforts to support Israel while avoiding direct U.S. military involvement. Buck, drawing on his CIA background, and Clay explore the broader regional dynamics, including the Abraham Accords, Saudi-Israeli relations, and Iran’s weakening influence through proxies like Hezbollah and Hamas. They also examine the internal pressures facing the Iranian regime and speculate on whether a successful Israeli strike could destabilize the theocracy and pave the way for a more democratic future in Iran. Jay Feely for AZ Arizona congressional candidate Jay Feely. The former NFL kicker and sports broadcaster shares his journey from the football field to the political arena, emphasizing his commitment to President Donald Trump’s America First agenda. Feely discusses the challenges of campaign fundraising, the importance of border security, and the economic struggles facing young Americans, particularly in high-cost housing markets like Arizona. Feely also weighs in on the controversial topic of transgender athletes in women’s sports, defending fairness and safety for female competitors. He recounts his personal experience coaching girls' soccer and criticizes Simone Biles’ comments about Riley Gaines, highlighting the biological advantages male athletes have in women’s sports. The hour takes a lighter turn as Clay and Buck debate whether Clay could beat WNBA star Angel Reese in a one-on-one basketball game, sparking humorous banter about aging, athleticism, and dad pride. Feely joins in, joking about his own competitive edge and experiences playing with LPGA golfers. NYC Politics The upcoming mayoral race doesn't offer good options. Clay and Buck critique progressive candidate Zohran Mamdani’s past support for replacing police with social workers in high-crime areas, contrasting it with the potential return of Andrew Cuomo. Despite Cuomo’s controversial past, Clay argues he may be the most rational Democrat in the race, sparking debate among listeners. Obedience Training for the Masses The escalating national unrest, immigration enforcement, and cultural flashpoints shaping the political landscape under President Donald Trump. The hour opens with a critical analysis of the ongoing protests and riots across major U.S. cities, including Los Angeles, Seattle, and New York City. Clay and Buck emphasize the distinction between peaceful protests and violent riots, highlighting the media's reluctance to acknowledge the latter. A major focus is on President Trump’s immigration policy, particularly his promise to execute the largest deportation operation in American history. The hosts underscore that this initiative, which prioritizes the removal of violent criminal offenders, aligns with the working-class majority’s support. They also discuss the exploitation of illegal labor by elites and the need for stricter enforcement against employers hiring undocumented workers. Make sure you never miss a second of the show by subscribing to the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton show podcast wherever you get your podcasts: ihr.fm/3InlkL8 For the latest updates from Clay and Buck: https://www.clayandbuck.com/ Connect with Clay Travis and Buck Sexton on Social Media: X - https://x.com/clayandbuck FB - https://www.facebook.com/ClayandBuck/ IG - https://www.instagram.com/clayandbuck/ YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/clayandbuck Rumble - https://rumble.com/c/ClayandBuck TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@clayandbuck YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VerdictwithTedCruzSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

LEBANON: HEZBOLLAH SCRAMBLES. D DAOUD, BILL ROGGIO FDD. 1899 BEIRUT

For the first time, ex-Mossad agents who led the exploding pager and walkie-talkie plot against Hezbollah, which garnered worldwide attention in September, detail their 10-year undercover op in an interview with correspondent Lesley Stahl. Meeting in Israel, the agents, who recently retired from service, share never-before-known details that caught Hezbollah fighters by surprise and ultimately spurred change across the region from Lebanon to Syria to Iran. Last year, the Veterans Administration announced it would begin funding clinical trials to explore the use of psychedelic drugs for treating post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and addiction. However, these trials are small, and even if successful, it will likely be years before veterans can access psychedelics at the VA. Many U.S. veterans struggling with PTSD aren't waiting. Thousands of them are traveling overseas seeking relief at psychedelic retreats where these substances are legal to use, mostly in indigenous ceremonies. Correspondent Anderson Cooper follows nine veterans on a psychedelic journey to the west coast of Mexico, where they hope to find healing. Correspondent Jon Wertheim goes behind the scenes as George Clooney makes his Broadway debut, starring in an adaptation of the 2005 Oscar-nominated movie “Good Night, and Good Luck.” Clooney co-wrote both the original screenplay and this play, which tell the story of pioneering journalist Edward R. Murrow, who took on Senator Joseph McCarthy. Clooney calls it a fight for the ages and says the plot, which revolves around themes of truth, intimidation and courage in corporate media, resonates today. Now 64, the actor tells Wertheim why he finally feels ready to take on the role of Murrow himself. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Colorado Terror Attack: Discussion of an Egyptian national accused of a hate-motivated firebombing attack in Boulder. Criticism of immigration policies that allegedly allowed the suspect to remain in the U.S. despite overstaying a visa. Immigration and Border Security: Claims that millions of undocumented immigrants have entered the U.S. under the Biden administration. Allegations that “gotaways” include dangerous individuals such as terrorists and criminals. Muslim Brotherhood Designation: Advocacy for designating the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. Accusations that the group supports Hamas and Hezbollah and poses a threat to U.S. national security. Chinese Espionage and Agroterrorism: Allegations that two Chinese nationals smuggled a dangerous agricultural pathogen into the U.S. Concerns about Chinese influence in American universities and research institutions. Campus Antisemitism and Radicalism: A case involving a Columbia University protester with alleged ties to Hamas. Broader concerns about antisemitism and radical activism on college campuses. Political Commentary: Strong criticism of Democratic leaders and policies. Praise for Trump-era policies and calls for stricter immigration and national security measures. Please Hit Subscribe to this podcast Right Now. Also Please Subscribe to the 47 Morning Update with Ben Ferguson and the Ben Ferguson Show Podcast Wherever You get You're Podcasts. Thanks for Listening #seanhannity #hannity #marklevin #levin #charliekirk #megynkelly #tucker #tuckercarlson #glennbeck #benshapiro #shapiro #trump #sexton #bucksexton#rushlimbaugh #limbaugh #whitehouse #senate #congress #thehouse #democrats#republicans #conservative #senator #congressman #congressmen #congresswoman #capitol #president #vicepresident #POTUS #presidentoftheunitedstatesofamerica#SCOTUS #Supremecourt #DonaldTrump #PresidentDonaldTrump #DT #TedCruz #Benferguson #Verdict #justicecorrupted #UnwokeHowtoDefeatCulturalMarxisminAmericaYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@VerdictwithTedCruzSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.