Jim Geraghty of National Review and guest host Gregory Knapp praise White House Press Secretary Stephanie Grisham’s actions to protect the press from North Korean interference. They cover the announcement from Iran that they have resumed enriching uranium. And they discuss the Democratic Party’s sudden embrace of busing to resolve racial disparities.
Iran
What to Expect from the New Sanctions on Iran
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President Trump opted for additional sanctions against Iran in response to the shooting down of a U.S. drone last week, and one expert says the new economic penalties will make Iran leaders even less popular among its own people.
The new sanctions are aimed at key individuals inside the regime, including Supreme Leader Ali Khameini as well as military officials and even Foreign Minister Javad Zarif.
“This is an attempt by the administration to hit back at Iran for its escalation of tensions in the Persian Gulf but do so in a non-military fashion. There’s been a lot of ink spilled in the media about how President Trump is rushing to war, but it’s very clear that he doesn’t prefer military confrontation,” said American Foreign Policy Council Vice President Ilan Berman.
“He wants Iran to pay but he wants Iran to pay in a way that doesn’t escalate actual physical hostilities,” added Berman.
But while Iran avoided military strikes, Berman believes the sanctions could do even greater damage for the long-term health of the regime.
“This is a very shrewd move by the administration because it plays on a fault line that is very visible within Iran but much less so outside. Ordinary Iranians understand very well that the supreme leader and the unelected clergy that run Iran have enriched themselves tremendously at the expense of ordinary people,” said Berman.
“The administration is trying to widen that rift that exists between the Iranian people and the Iranian leadership by highlighting just how corrupt that leadership is,” he said.
Listen to the full podcast to hear Berman explain why he thinks the sanctions will force Iran back to the bargaining table and why he believes Trump’s decision to pull back military strikes sent the wrong message.
Iran Provoking U.S. to Distract from Domestic Crisis
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A leading Iranian resistance group urges President Trump to demonstrate strength and resolve in confronting Iran over its provocative actions against the U.S. and others in the region, insisting that such pressure will assist the Iranian people in toppling their own government.
Alireza Jafarzadeh is deputy director of the Washington office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, which is the Iranian parliament in exile. He urges Trump to keep the pressure on Tehran.
“The last thing you want to show is indecisiveness, to give them concessions, to give the ayatollahs what they want,” said Jafarzadeh, who says he is not suggesting Trump’s decision to call off an attack qualifies as indecisive.
Critics of a hawkish policy towards Iran suggest it could spark a brutal war in the region. Jafarzadeh says those people are too late because Iran has been waging war for the past four decades.
“The rest of the world looks at 40 years of the regime’s terror and hostage-taking and creating proxies in the whole Middle East,” said Jafarzadeh, pointing to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Iran sponsoring deadly aggression in Syria, Iraq, and Yemen.
He says Iran’s unrelenting aggression in the region is now seen as “part and parcel” of the reality in the Middle East but it doesn’t have to be that way.
So why is Iran continuing to provoke the United States by attacking tankers, flouting uranium enrichment limits and even shooting down an American drone? Jafarzadeh says the mullahs in Iran are desperate to change the subject with their own people.
“The Iranian regime is facing a lot of domestic problems, first in terms of the uprisings that began a year-and-a-half ago that has continued. There is a huge amount of corruption going on that has translated to political unrest because the people of Iran hold the people responsible for their misery and hardship for the mismanagement and how the resources of the country are being plundered,” said Jafarzadeh.
Listen to the full podcast to hear Jafarzadeh detail the depth of the frustration by the Iranian people toward their own government and what the U.S. can do to best facilitate the people taking back the power in Tehran.
Nash: Trump Put Gun to Iran’s Head
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President Trump authorized military strikes against Iran but cancelled the attack just minutes before the missiles would have launched, a move that retired U.S. Navy Capt. Chuck Nash says sent an unmistakable message to the mullahs in Iran.
“I think this was putting a gun to their head, cocking the hammer, and then pulling it off and uncocking it and saying next time I may pull the trigger,” said Nash, who is a longtime expert on the Iranian regime.
Trump says he called off the attack after learning approximately 150 people in Iran were likely to die, a toll he considers disproportionate to shooting down an unmanned U.S. drone.
Nash believes there will be no kinetic response to the drone attack but Trump is leaving no ambiguity as to what will happen if Iran’s provocations result in any loss of life.
“If anything else happens, it’s all on the ayatollahs. It is now. But clearly, for the world, [Trump] pulled back. He got the message across. If they do anything else, Trump has free rein,” warned Nash.
He says Iran is left with a tough dilemma.
“If they do anything that causes the loss of life, this president will literally explode on them. If that happens, they are facing the end of their regime. So they have to weigh in the balance of trying to hold on to the regime over severe public discontent over the economy and the way the country’s being governed – and balance that against losing the regime catastrophically,” said Nash.
Nash says Iran was hoping to prompt Trump to overreact or not react at all in order to distract its people from their domestic disaster. U.S.-led sanctions and Iranian government corruption have Iran in major economic trouble.
“Here’s what’s going on inside Iran: there are demonstrations against the regime weekly. They don’t get any press. They’ve got crushing unemployment,” said Nash, who also detailed the soaring Iranian inflation.
Listen to the full podcast to hear Nash explain more of Iran’s domestic woes, why Europe has no choice but to side with the U.S. now, what we may have learned about Iranian defenses by starting to launch an attack, and how he was once poised to carry out airstrikes as a naval aviator before getting orders to stand down just before takeoff.
Trump Calls Off Iran Attack, Dem Infighting Heats Up, Cuba in Dire Straits
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Rob Long of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America discuss President Trump’s last-minute decision to hold off on striking Iran. They also cover the intensifying Democratic presidential campaign, as Joe Biden and Cory Booker scuffle over race and Bernie Sanders explains why he’s now neck-and-neck with Elizabeth Warren in the polls. And they talk about the desperate poverty facing many Cubans as socialism fails yet again.
Doxing Dems in Trouble, Iran Shoots Down U.S. Drone, Roy Moore Returns
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Rob Long of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America are pleasantly surprised to see actual consequences for former Democratic staffer Jackson Cosko over his doxing of Republican senators during the Kavanaugh confirmation hearings. In addition, Cosko’s alleged collaborator is now facing charges as well. They also react to Iran shooting down a U.S. drone and the escalating tensions between the two countries. And they discuss Roy Moore’s expected announcement that he is once again running for the U.S. Senate in Alabama.
Hong Kong Protests Succeed, SCOTUS & Cake Bakers, Iranian Uranium, Trump Fires Pollsters
David French of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America discuss Hong Kong hitting pause on an extradition agreement with the Chinese government following massive protests. They also examine the Supreme Court’s approach to Christian vendors vs. the LGBT agenda. They consider what comes next after Iran’s decision to exceed the low-grade uranium limit set by the 2015 nuclear deal. And they also discuss the Trump campaign’s decision to fire its pollsters after unfavorable leaks of bad numbers.
US Accuses Iran of Oil Tanker Attacks
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The United States is accusing Iran of attacking two oil tankers Thursday. Montie Montgomery reports.
Young Dems Turn on Biden, Tankers Attacked in Gulf, Acosta’s Ego Trip
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Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America discuss Beto O’Rourke and other Democratic presidential candidates attacking Joe Biden for his age and ties to the Obama administration. They also discuss the attack on two oil tankers in the Persian Gulf as tensions escalate. And they get a good laugh as CNN’s Jim Acosta and Don Lemon offer a comical defense of their organization’s coverage of the Trump administration.
U.S. Stopped Iran in Nick of Time
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The U.S. likely stopped an Iranian attack on American personnel or other interests with little time to spare by announcing an aircraft carrier and bomber group are headed to the Middle East, and retired U.S. Navy Captain Chuck Nash says the statement released by the Trump administration tells us a lot even if we have no deals about the thwarted plot.
National Security Adviser John Bolton announced the move Sunday due to “troubling and escalatory indications and warnings.” He further stated the deployment decision is designed “to send a clear and unmistakable message to the Iranian regime that any attack on United States interests or on those of our allies will be met with unrelenting force.”
“The United States is not seeking war with the Iranian regime, but we are fully prepared to respond to any attack, whether by proxy, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, or regular Iranian forces,” continued Bolton.
Nash calls Bolton’s language about troubling and escalatory indications and warnings is”pretty unambiguous.”
“That is language that means we have verifiable evidence. Verifiable evidence could be signals intelligence backed by movements on the ground, where you see not just a plan being discussed where it could be a fake but you actually see forces or people moving into positions that would follow along to where it’s just chatter,” said Nash.
Nash also translated into more plain language.
“I think what he is laying out to the Iranian regime is, ‘We gotcha. OK? We gotcha. We know what’s going on.’ That will get them to back down because their plan is obviously blown,” said Nash.
“Whatever it was, we found out about it and now they know that we know and if they go through with it, not only is the plan likely to fail but they’re likely to reap severe repercussions,” he added.
Nash also elaborated on what the USS Abraham Lincoln and the bomber group would do once in position, assuming Iran doesn’t lash out. He says Navy and Air Force leaders have constantly updated plans to counter any Iranian attempts to close the Straits of Hormuz, which connects the Persian Gulf to the Gulf of Oman and eventually the Indian Ocean.
“They could try to close it with surface-to-surface missiles and mines or their submarines or surface units and small boat swarms,” said Nash.
He also says the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which swears allegiance to Supreme Ayatollah Ali Khameini rather than the nation of Iran, is most likely to cause any mischief in the Persian Gulf.
Listen to the full podcast to hear more of Nash’s analysis on message Bolton is sending Iran, why Iran is looking to attack us, and how Iran is likely reacting to its plot being exposed.