Verdict with Ted Cruz: Iran Strike Ayatollah DEAD, Austin Shooting-Why, How & What's Next
3/3/202644 mincomplete
0:00This is an iHeart Podcast.
0:02Guaranteed human. ABC Wednesdays. The Emmy -winning comedy Scrubs is all new.
0:09This is a whole new chapter for me.
0:10No more sad sack. That's what I'm talking about.
0:13I want both of our sacks to be fun.
0:15You two idiots are perfect for each other.
0:17From executive producers of Ted Lasso and Shrinking.
0:19We were all a part of this victory.
0:21Now get those nachos out of the preemie warmer.
0:25Nachos! Feels like there's more applause for the nachos than my speech.
0:28The new season of Scrubs.
0:30Wednesdays, 8, 7 central on ABC.
0:32And stream on Hulu. Welcome.
0:37It is Verdict with Senator Ted Cruz.
0:38Ben Ferguson with you. And obviously this is a very big show.
0:42Many of you may have not ever listened to the show before.
0:44We want to welcome you.
0:45As we're obviously going to be talking a lot about the attack on Iran.
0:48And what is happening. So if you're joining us for the very first time.
0:51It's nice to have you.
0:52Don't forget to hit that subscribe or auto download button.
0:55Wherever you get your podcasts.
0:57Senator, this is obviously a very big show.
1:00And it's an important one.
1:01Because the world is changing before our very eyes.
1:04On Saturday, President Trump launched a major military attack on Iran.
1:10A bombing from the sky.
1:13Bombing from naval vessels. It was done in close coordination with Israel that likewise launched
1:19a bombing attack. In the opening minutes and hours of the attack, the Ayatollah Khamenei
1:26was killed. Other major leaders of Iran were killed.
1:29The bombing is ongoing. You and I are recording this Sunday afternoon.
1:34As of right now, over 900 bombing strikes have been carried out by the United
1:39States. Over 1 ,200 bombing strikes have been carried out by Israel.
1:44I spent the entire day on Friday with President Trump.
1:48The day before the attack, we spent much of the time discussing the attack that
1:54was coming. This podcast, we're going to try to explain exactly what's happening.
1:59Why President Trump attacked Iran, what is likely to happen as a result, and what
2:06the next stages are. We're also going to talk about the mass shooting that occurred
2:10at 2 a .m. Sunday morning in Austin, Texas.
2:14In a bar on 6th Street, where a gunman murdered two other people and injured
2:2017. That gunman, in turn, was shot and killed by Austin police.
2:25Police early in Dishya make it appear that this was a terrorist attack.
2:29He was wearing a sweatshirt that said, Property of Allah.
2:32He was wearing a shirt with the Iranian flag on it.
2:35It is still early. I spoke today with Kash Patel, the director of the FBI.
2:39We're going to break that down as well.
2:41This is going to be a podcast where we try to examine everything you need
2:45to know about what is happening in Iran, how it is going to impact the
2:49United States, and what's coming next.
2:52Yeah, it's really important. I want to take a moment to talk to you about
2:54Rough Greens. If you've got a dog or a puppy, you are going to love
2:58Rough Greens. Now, I've been telling you about my older dog and some of the
3:03symptoms that he was having.
3:04Slowing down and itching and having bad breath, losing interest in playtime.
3:09That is just part of the aging process, but it doesn't have to be.
3:13And after just a few weeks of Rough Greens, we start to see a real
3:17difference. The stuff is truly amazing.
3:19And if you have a dog you love, you've got to try Rough Greens for
3:24your dog for life. It not only supports long -term health by providing live, bioavailable
3:30nutrients, including essential vitamins, minerals, probiotics, and digestive enzymes, as well as omega oils.
3:37The ingredients work together to improve nutrition absorption and maintain joint and muscle health and
3:43enhance overall vitality. And you can witness it happen over weeks.
3:47So, if you love your dog and you are ready to get your dog back
3:52to the way maybe he used to be and was more playful, then check out
3:56Rough Greens. It's so easy, you just put it on top of your traditional dog
4:00food, and that is it.
4:02And dogs absolutely love it.
4:04Go to roughgreens .com. That's R -U -F -F, greens .com.
4:10Use the promo code VERDICT, and you're going to get a free Jump Start trial
4:17bag. All you've got to do is add Rough Greens to your dog's food.
4:21So, you cover the shipping, that's it.
4:24Get promo code VERDICT to claim your free Jump Start trial bag at roughgreens .com.
4:30That's R -U -F -F -G -R -E -E -N -S dot com.
4:34Promo code VERDICT. So, Senator, you mentioned earlier that you were on the plane with
4:39President Trump, Air Force One.
4:40We're going to get to that and what was discussed on the plane in a
4:43moment because a lot of people listening, they're going to want to hear that.
4:45But let's talk about the biggest news now.
4:48And you actually were on Face the Nation earlier today and had a lot to
4:51say about this attack on Iran and how successful it's been so far.
4:56So, take a listen to what Senator Cruz had to say earlier today on Face
5:00the Nation. Senator, just looking at the global environment right now, CENTCOM announced three Americans
5:06were killed and five seriously wounded in this operation.
5:11President Trump and Vice President Vance campaigned on not getting America involved in new wars.
5:17What do you say to Americans this morning who are asking why we are in
5:21this conflict now? President Trump's decision.
5:25decision to launch this decisive action against iran is the single most important decision of
5:31his presidency i think he laid out powerfully and effectively why he is taking this
5:36action he is taking this action because the government of iran is a profound and
5:42malign influence they have been the leading state sponsor of terrorism for 47 years they
5:51have over that time killed nearly 1 000 americans they provide more than 90 percent
5:59of the funding for hamas they provide more than 90 of the funding for hezbollah
6:05the iranian ayatollah was until yesterday actively trying to murder the president of the united
6:12states donald j trump i spent the entire day with president trump on friday right
6:18before he launched these attacks he and i discussed this at length on friday my
6:23counsel to him was that the iranian regime has never been weaker that it was
6:28teetering and now was the time my advice was yeah do not miss this opportunity
6:35i think the president has acted boldly he's acted decisively and iran no longer being
6:43led by a theocratic murderous dictator that makes america much much safer senator you are
6:53not going to find a lot of people in any way defending the supreme leader
6:56that is for sure however putting americans in harm way is is what i'm pressing
7:02you on here did the president explain to you why he called off active diplomacy
7:10because at the very same time he was on that plane the vice president of
7:14the united states was talking to the omani mediator who was trying to get a
7:17deal and told us that they were close to one why not choose diplomacy because
7:23the diplomacy was an abject failure the iranians approached the diplomacy with arrogance which with
7:31absolute hubris they said they would not stop enriching no matter what they were going
7:37to continue to enrich uranium they would not discuss zero enrichment they claimed a right
7:43to enrich uranium in underground bunkers with no supervision as president trump said on friday
7:50when he was with me in texas his line was zero enrichments and the iranians
7:57refused to discuss it they also refused to discuss their proxies they refused to discuss
8:02hamas and hezbollah and the houthis and and president trump understood that the iranian quote
8:08negotiation was just a stall tactic and that the only response my my advice to
8:15him i said there's only one deal you should accept and it's the deal that
8:19you offered maduro which is if you want to leave and flee the country you
8:24can do so anything else is unacceptable and and khamenei made his choice well there's
8:31uh disputes there in terms of your characterization of what was actually on the table
8:36um and what the administration had indicated it was willing to accept in terms of
8:41allowing enrichment for medical purposes and the like but but that's now obviously so margaret
8:46what i just told you yeah what i just told you is almost word for
8:49word what secretary of state marco rubio told me yesterday can you tell us now
8:56if you believe um that there was uh an ongoing nuclear weapons program one of
9:02the top arms control arms control experts out there david albright has written there should
9:07be an immediate priority on rapid response operations to secure iran's nuclear stockpiles right now
9:14can you assure the public that it will be secured and if so who is
9:18doing it if there are no israeli or u .s forces on the ground so
9:24there is no doubt that a year ago iran had an active and ongoing nuclear
9:28weapons program we took out the vast majority of that at the end of the
9:3312 -day war where that u .s intelligence assessment was not made public if that
9:37is what was brief to you we took out we we launched targeted bombs at
9:43the end of the 12 -day war where we dropped the equivalent of about a
9:47third of a nuclear weapon on those underground facilities facilities like fordo which is built
9:53into the base of a mountain the bunker buster bombs we used israel doesn't have
9:58those bombs no other country has those bombs we took them out last year the
10:04iranians were still hell -bent on rebuilding them and one of the things we are
10:09doing right now is taking out their missiles in particular the southern missile belt right
10:15now iran is building roughly 100 missiles a month they are actively building missiles to
10:21threaten their neighbors and they're firing some of them right now at their neighbors yeah
10:25at our allies they're illustrating powerfully they're attacking virtually every arab neighbor that surrounds them
10:32they are firing missiles that it's almost like they want to illustrate to the world
10:37just how malign they are but in terms of containing the risk who's securing the
10:41nuclear material that you say still exists within iran who's doing that look the the
10:47quantity of nuclear material i didn't say one anything one way or another on that
10:52what i said הא� 따�哎 ά áатов dadη sub is they were building nuclear weapons
10:55a year ago and our bombing took that out.
10:57They also had an ongoing desire to rebuild them.
11:01I don't have present -day intelligence on what progress they had made towards rebuilding nuclear
11:08weapons since we bombed their facilities.
11:11I have no indication that they were anywhere close to getting nuclear weapons because our
11:17bombing was devastating. And Margaret, that's one of the reasons I urged President Trump now
11:23is the time. You know, dictatorships survive because they're perceived as invulnerable.
11:29And in this instance, Iran decisively lost the 12 -day war that weakened the regime
11:35and set up what the president is doing now.
11:38Senator, I found it very interesting just how much she wanted to say that somehow
11:43her sources are better than your sources when you were just with the President of
11:46the United States of America and just talked directly to Marco Rubio.
11:49It was pretty hilarious. She's like, well, that's not what all the intelligence says.
11:53And you're like, no, like I just talked to the people where the intelligence is
11:56coming from. This is why I go back and say you don't hate the media
12:00enough. This is what they do.
12:02By the way, we saw this with headlines today.
12:04New York Times, a great example of the propaganda of how they're like still standing
12:07there acting like the Ayatollah was some sort of like decent and humane individual that
12:13was taken out. This is the narrative.
12:16And you witnessed it right there in that interview with you.
12:18Well, the New York Times headline says, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, hardline cleric who made Iran
12:26a regional power, is dead at 86.
12:32Which is just ridiculous. And I'll say, Mark Halperin had an amusing take on it.
12:40He said that headline was a little bit like a headline, quote, Jeffrey Dahmer, hungry
12:46Wisconsin man, passes away. Yeah, it's not far off.
12:51While technically accurate, it conveys, you know, approval of the conduct.
13:02And in fact, I want to, in fact, that New York Times headline is as
13:08ridiculous as the older Washington Post headline that read, Abu Bakr al -Baghdadi, austere religious
13:16scholar at the helm of Islamic State, dies at 48.
13:21I mean, it's just absurd, but it's actually, it's not the worst.
13:27First, the Washington Post wrote an obituary for the Ayatollah that if Saturday Night Live
13:36had done this, they couldn't have made it more absurd.
13:38I'm going to read you a paragraph from it.
13:42With his bushy white beard and easy smile, Ayatollah Khamenei cut a more avuncular figure
13:49in public than his perpetually scowling but much more revered mentor.
13:55And he was known to be fond of Persian poetry and classic Western novels, especially
14:01Victor Hugo's Les Miserables. Some Iranians knew Ayatollah Khamenei before he became supreme leader, described
14:10him as a, quote, closet moderate.
14:15Look, that is sick. This is the same Ayatollah who regularly chants death to America
14:22and death to Israel. This is the same Ayatollah that set the goal of creating
14:28nuclear weapons, I believe, for the purpose of using those nuclear weapons.
14:33This is the same Ayatollah who is responsible for killing nearly 1 ,000 Americans, for
14:40waging war on America relentlessly, for funding Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis.
14:4690 % of their funding comes from Iran.
14:50This is the same Ayatollah.
14:51Look, one of the reasons we went into Venezuela is Iran had a major beachhead
14:56in Venezuela. Maduro allowed Iran in there.
15:00Hezbollah had a major beachhead to wage war in Venezuela to attack the United States.
15:08Look, this avuncular man with a bushy white beard, as the numbskulls at the Washington
15:16Post put it, until yesterday, was actively trying to murder President Donald Trump, had hired
15:25hitmen, had put out a video, an animation showing a drone going to Mar -a
15:31-Lago and killing President Trump on the golf course.
15:35You know, the phrase for the media that's been used more than once is useful
15:40idiots, and I think sometimes headline writers decide they haven't given us enough material, they
15:46need to be even more ridiculous cheering for our enemies.
15:49As Operation Epic Fury intensifies, the world braces for what comes next, and people of
15:56faith pray for freedom and for God's people to be protected.
16:00In the Holy Land, red alert sirens fill the air, sirens that give you 15
16:06seconds to reach the nearest bomb shelter.
16:09The situation is serious, and the threat is real.
16:13In times like this, freedom and faith aren't just abstract ideas.
16:17They are what we depend on.
16:21And the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews is on the ground, preparing large -scale
16:26distributions of life -saving food, first aid, and emergency essentials for security personnel, while helping
16:33ensure hospitals, emergency rooms, and shelters are stocked with critical medical supplies.
16:38This aid is focused on Israel's most vulnerable, the sick, the elderly, children, and families
16:45in great need. But the Fellowship needs your most generous gift today to make this
16:50work all possible. Now is your time to stand with Israel's most vulnerable.
16:55To rush your gift, call 888 -488 -IFCJ.
17:00That's 888 -488 -IFCJ. Or give online at ifcj .org.
17:08That's ifcj .org. All right, I got a lot of questions, Senator, and everybody listening
17:14right now, I know is going to want to ask the same one.
17:15I'm going to ask, you're on Air Force One, you were in D .C., you
17:20flew with the president back to Texas.
17:22How much of the conversation on Air Force One was about this becoming a reality
17:2824 hours later, less than 24 hours later?
17:30You guys either had great poker faces when you were down there in front of
17:34that ship that we had seized in Venezuela in the oil, and what you were
17:37doing on that trip, because clearly this was in the final moments of the planning
17:42stages or execution, I should say, stages of this plan.
17:46What all was discussed on there that you can talk to us about?
17:48Yeah, so I was on Air Force One with President Trump flying from Washington, D
17:53.C. down to Texas to Corpus Christi.
17:56I was joined by my colleague, Senator John Cornyn, and then there were multiple members
18:00of Congress that were there.
18:02And the president came and was talking with us and asking about Iran, and he
18:06went around the room and he said, should we strike?
18:09What do you think? Should we strike?
18:10Should we hit them hard?
18:12Or should we go and keep trying to cut a deal?
18:15What do you think? I will tell you, every one of us that was on
18:19the plane, it was unanimous.
18:20We said, hit them and hit them hard.
18:22That was the assessment. And look, Trump often, when he's making decisions and talking to
18:26people who he trusts, he tries to get their take.
18:30Their thoughts, yeah. Yeah, he wants a barometer.
18:33Is this a good idea?
18:34What are the risks? What should we do?
18:36So we talked quite a bit on Air Force One about it.
18:38And then when we landed, the president waved me over to join him in the
18:45Beast. And so he and I drove from the tarmac to the event.
18:49It was probably 15, 20 minutes.
18:50And it was just the two of us in the Beast.
18:52We were the only two.
18:53And we spent almost the entire time talking about Iran further.
18:58And so that was one -on -one.
19:00And in that context, I was leaning in even more vigorously than I had on
19:05Air Force One. And was saying, listen, this is a moment in time which we've
19:11never had like this before.
19:12Yeah. This regime is so weak.
19:16You know, dictatorships, and this is true.
19:19This is true of the Soviet Union.
19:20This is true of Communist China.
19:22This is true of Hugo Chavez and Nicolas Maduro.
19:25This is true of the Communist regime in Cuba.
19:27And this is true of Iran.
19:30Dictatorships depend upon convincing their citizens they're invulnerable, that nothing can defeat them.
19:37That's part of how you keep 92 million Iranians subjugated is the feeling that it's
19:42hopeless. We cannot overthrow these tyrants.
19:46And understand, the Ayatollah was a tyrant.
19:49He regularly murdered his own citizens, tortured his own citizens, stripped them of their freedom.
19:54I mean, the abuses were horrific directed to his own citizens, much less the murder
20:00and terror that he projected outward.
20:02Yeah. And last year when the 12 -Day War happened, you know, it's interesting.
20:07Some folks in politics behave like everything is communications.
20:11Everything is comms and messaging and spin.
20:14Again, there are very real -world effects when you lose a war.
20:19There was a war for 12 days, and Iran utterly and completely got its ass
20:26kicked. Yeah. And if there's anything worse, if you're an Islamist dictator, if you're trying
20:32to envision a world that is worse than losing a war, it's losing a war
20:37to Israel. It was Israel that completely and totally decimated them, that took out their
20:42air defenses. Took out the leadership of the IRGC.
20:46And by the way, day after day, the Ayatollah would appoint a new leader of
20:50the IRGC. The next day, that guy was dead.
20:52He'd appoint a new one.
20:53The next day, that guy was dead.
20:54It demonstrated complete and total penetration by the Mossad and by American intelligence of Iran,
21:04knowing where everybody was. And that, and obviously it culminated with President Trump launching the
21:10bombing run, taking out the underground nuclear facilities.
21:14That, when that happened, you and I on this podcast said in the wake of
21:17that, we predicted this regime is going to fall.
21:21And I said, it, it, they are so weak now.
21:25The Iranian people rose up, rose up in massive numbers, over a million Iranians in
21:29protest. And, and by the way, the response of the Ayatollah was to order his
21:34soldiers just to fire machine guns at them, killing anywhere between 10 ,000 and 40
21:40,000 protesters. We don't have, I haven't seen really firm estimates.
21:43I think it is at least 10 ,000.
21:45It could be as high as 40 ,000.
21:47But, but that shows the level of.
21:48When you say just unload and fire into the crowd and kill as many as
21:53you can, that's what they were doing.
21:57President Trump's actions this weekend levels the playing field and has taken out.
22:03By the way, it's also an illustration of exquisite intelligence, the early bombing strike that
22:11occurred that killed Ayatollah Khamenei.
22:17The reporting we're getting, and this is open source, I don't have any classified information
22:21on this, but the public reporting is that there was a meeting of the Ayatollah
22:26along with basically his National Security Council, his top military advisors.
22:32And that's the meeting that Israel struck and took him out.
22:36And so they knew exactly where he was.
22:38They knew where his senior leaders were.
22:40Or that is, and so when I was riding in the beast with the president,
22:44I was urging him, this is the moment.
22:47And he's like, well, what do you think of the negotiations?
22:50And I said, Mr. President, they're just dragging it out.
22:53It's just a delay tactic.
22:55They think they can delay and that you'll let the moment pass.
23:00And listen, is there risk?
23:02Of course there's risk. There's even more risk if you don't act, right?
23:06I mean, that's how you look at this.
23:07When people say, I don't like war, you know, I can't believe you're advocating for
23:11this. I don't like war either.
23:12But I really don't like a war where Iran starts it and Iran has a
23:16nuclear weapon and Iran kills countless innocent people, whether it is a dirty bomb or
23:20Israel or wherever they decide to do it in the world or have one of
23:22their proxies. That was the biggest thing that I don't think people understood about Iran.
23:27Iran getting a nuclear weapon center is not just them having it.
23:30It's that they have these proxies they could also give them to and dirty bombs
23:34could go. So that's a major concern that a lot of people don't think understood
23:38in the complexity of Iran.
23:40They're not the one that always has to shoot.
23:42They may give the supplies needed to someone else to do it for them.
23:45Well, that's right. And that's one of the real risks of escalation in the coming
23:51days is those proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah and the Houthis, engaging in acts of violence,
23:55engaging in acts of terrorism and targeting Americans.
23:58We have three American servicemen who have already been killed.
24:01And listen, military conflict, tragically, casualties can be part of military conflict.
24:07We also have the shooting that occurred in Austin, Texas, and it is still early.
24:15Our reports are preliminary, but but from the preliminary reports, it certainly appears that this
24:22was terrorism and terrorism directly related to what occurred.
24:27So so here here's what we know right now.
24:29The shooting took place at 159 a .m.
24:33on March 1st at Buford's Backyard Beer Garden, which is on West 6th Street in
24:39downtown Austin. And you and I have both been in in in an Austin bar
24:44at two in the morning on a Saturday night.
24:47Many, many times. The the the the Austin 6th Street scene is is a lively
24:52scene or. Yeah. Here's what we know so far.
24:56Three individuals are dead, one of whom is the shooter.
25:00Fourteen people were injured and transported to local hospitals.
25:05Three of the injured as of right now remain in critical condition.
25:09Two weapons were were recovered from from the scene, a pistol and a rifle.
25:14And and evidence from it from the SUV, SUV and nearby cameras is still being
25:20processed. Law enforcement and FBI agents at the scene has gone to this to the
25:29residents and two different residences of the individual that was the shooter.
25:34Now, what's been publicly reported is the shooter is a man named in Diaga Diagni,
25:43who is a 53 year old naturalized U .S.
25:47citizen born in Senegal and residing in Pflugerville, which is a town just north of
25:53Austin. Uh, he he came to the United States during the Obama presidency reports indicated
26:01that the shooter was armed and he was wearing a sweater that sit with the
26:06phrase property of Allah across the front of the sweater.
26:10He was also reportedly wearing an undershirt with an Iranian flag on it underneath that
26:17shirt and a Koran was found in the car.
26:21Now, I spoke this afternoon with with the mayor of Austin.
26:25I spoke this afternoon with Kash Patel, the director of the FBI.
26:29As of Sunday afternoon, they do not have clear evidence of motive from so they're
26:37right now carrying out the search warrants on his residence.
26:40They're examining his social media.
26:41They're examining phone calls that they're putting together the evidence, putting together the evidence to
26:47determine what went on. If he acted alone, what the precise motivation was.
26:53As that being said, given the sweatshirt and shirt he was wearing and given given
26:59his origin from Senegal, I think it is very likely this is terrorism, that that
27:03it is not a coincidence.
27:05I believe that he's wearing an Iranian flag while he is opening fire.
27:11That evidence is not conclusively been proven yet, but I expect that it will be.
27:16Interestingly, he did not enter the bar.
27:19He opened fire from outside, from the street and sidewalk, opened fire and shot into
27:25the bar. And three Austin police officers took him out, killed him, shot him on
27:30the street. The mayor told me that the Austin police was there within a minute.
27:36So it was a very fast, very fast response and took him out.
27:41Thank goodness, saved a lot of lives.
27:43You know, and I'm told the video, there's videos that will be released, show chaos,
27:47show people running. And in fact, some of the people are running actually towards the
27:52shooter because they heard gunshots, but did not know where they were coming from.
27:57And so they were running, but, but accidentally running the wrong way.
28:01I think it is very clear if, if law enforcement had not acted quickly, many
28:07more people would have been killed and injured.
28:10But this, look, from his clothing, it certainly appears this is terrorism.
28:16And tragically, this may not be the last incident of terrorism that occurs.
28:21That's one of the real dangers of escalation, either from Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis, or
28:27from sympathizers in the United States.
28:29Well, let's go back to the Middle East for a moment.
28:32One of the things that we talk about, you know, the Ayatollah and his team,
28:36they're, they're, they're homicidal. And you could also even say suicidal, and their obsession with,
28:41with killing, you know, innocent people in their own country, going after Americans, going after
28:47Israelis as well. But one of the things that I was even a little bit
28:50shocked by was how quickly they decided to bring in every other country on the
28:54side of Israel and the US by attacking these other Middle Eastern nations around them
28:59that weren't involved, right? They were, they were outside.
29:01I, I, were you as shocked as I was that they just decided, all right,
29:04like whoever's still left standing, let's just go after Bahrain.
29:08Let's go after Qatar. Let's go after, I mean, the list is pretty long now
29:10of countries they've attacked. And now they brought them into the fold.
29:14I, I, I mean, that, that to me just seems like a suicidal mission on
29:18their part. Yeah, I, I will admit, I was surprised by that.
29:23There's been a lot of public reporting that suggested that other Middle Eastern nations were
29:27discouraging President Trump from going after Iran.
29:31I'm a little bit skeptical of that.
29:34I have not recently had those conversations with other Middle Eastern nations, but I've had
29:39many conversations with the Saudis, UAE, Bahrain, and, and they have always been very focused
29:47on, number one, doing everything necessary to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.
29:52The Saudis have said publicly, if Iran ever got a nuclear weapon, that they would
29:56do everything possible to get a nuke themselves, to defend themselves from Iran.
30:00And so I don't know if it's true or not that in the recent weeks,
30:06Saudi Arabia and, and, and other Middle Eastern countries were urging Trump not to attack.
30:11But, but I do know that Iran's behavior, so they fired missiles and sent drones
30:17and, and had attacks at almost every single Arab country all throughout the Middle East.
30:21So they've attacked Saudi Arabia, they've attacked UAE, they've attacked Kuwait, they've attacked Qatar, they've
30:26attacked Bahrain, they've attacked Jordan.
30:29And we've seen statements from many of those other Middle Eastern countries, mostly Arab countries,
30:38expressing, condemning, condemning Iran's response.
30:42And, and, and, you know, in my view that they're just indiscriminately firing, firing abroad.
30:50And, and I think their reasoning was that, that if the United States and or
30:56Israel hit them, that they wanted to make it as painful as possible for the
30:59entirety of the region, what they have ensured is, is that there's basically nobody standing
31:06up, uh, and siding with the Iranians.
31:08They're demonstrating essentially, they're willing to kill anybody and everybody.
31:13I got to say, that's also a really powerful illustration.
31:17If that's what they do now.
31:19Yeah. Can you, what would they have done with a nuclear weapon?
31:21Yeah. Can you imagine how much worse if they had a nuclear weapon?
31:24And during the whole, go back to Obama and the debates on, on Obama's terrible
31:29Iran nuclear deal. I always said, most of the debate, uh, rotated around, well, if
31:36they had a nuclear weapon, it would change the balance of power.
31:39It would make them more aggressive.
31:40They would fund more terrorism.
31:42And I always said, look, that's the best case scenario.
31:45The best case scenario is a horrible situation.
31:48The worst case is that they would actually use the nuclear weapon and everyone operates
31:53under an assumption. Well, having a nuclear weapon doesn't mean you use it.
31:57Listen, when the Ayatollah chants death to Israel and death to America.
32:03Yeah. I believe him when he calls Israel, the little Satan and America, the great
32:09Satan, I believe him. And I think the odds are unacceptably high.
32:13I don't know what they were, but they were unacceptably high that the Ayatollah, if
32:16he had a nuclear weapon would detonate it maybe in Tel Aviv or maybe in
32:22New York or Los Angeles.
32:24And, and I, I don't want to wake up and discover, uh -oh, the, the,
32:29the, the predictions were wrong because we have a mushroom cloud and hundreds of thousands
32:34or even millions of Americans being killed.
32:36The, the reason, and, and by the way, I've got to say a lot of
32:39the, the, the news reporting is challenging.
32:43Why? would Trump do this attack?
32:45You heard Margaret Brennan there say Trump campaigned on not getting in wars.
32:51I did after Face the Nation.
32:52I also did State of the Union with Dana Bash.
32:55And Dana Bash asked a question of me.
32:57She said, you know, President Trump campaigned on no more wars.
33:04And in my response, I said, well, Dana, you actually misquoted what the president said.
33:09What the president said was no more forever wars.
33:13Yeah. Referring to Iraq and Afghanistan.
33:15Totally. And troops on the ground.
33:17This completely different doctrine. You can tell.
33:19Yeah. And I said, listen, we're not going to see troops on the ground in
33:23Iran. We're not going to see hundreds of thousands of Americans there for an extended
33:27period of time. I don't think we'll see that at all.
33:30That is very different. And I said, look, there are isolationists who want want America
33:36to withdraw from the world.
33:37Donald Trump has never been an isolationist and he is acting to protect America.
33:44This is America first. The reason we are striking Iran right now is because the
33:50odds are unacceptably high. Iran has already killed nearly a thousand Americans and they have
33:55every desire to kill more.
33:56As I told the president driving in the beast, I said, if the Ayatollah could
34:00kill the two of us right now, he would.
34:03The only thing that is preventing him is that he's not able to because he
34:07is trying. And so if we have an opportunity to take out this regime and
34:13look, my hope is we see a new government in Iran that wants to be
34:19friends with America. That would make this country massively safer.
34:24Removing these psychopaths from power and replacing them with anything resembling a normal government would
34:32massively improve the safety of every American.
34:35This year marks a critical moment for our country as the opposition grows more aggressive
34:41and unapologetic. The fight now reaches into the everyday decisions we make.
34:47Patriot Mobile has been standing on the front lines fighting for freedom for more than
34:5112 years. They don't just deliver top tier wireless service.
34:56They are activists like me who truly care about our country.
35:00Patriot Mobile offers prioritize premium access on all three major US networks, giving you the
35:07same or better coverage than the main carriers do.
35:11That means fast speeds and dependable nationwide coverage backed by 100 % US based customer
35:18support. They also offer unlimited data plans, mobile hotspots, international roaming and more.
35:25With simple seamless activation, you can switch in minutes.
35:29You can keep your same number and keep your phone or upgrade.
35:33And here's the difference. When you switch to Patriot Mobile, you'll be part of a
35:37powerful stream of giving that directly funds the Christian conservative movement.
35:42So that's why I want you to switch to Patriot Mobile.
35:45Because every time you pay that bill, you're making a real difference.
35:48Now, I also want to give you a free month of service.
35:50Go to PatriotMobile .com slash verdict.
35:53That's PatriotMobile .com slash verdict.
35:56Or call them 972 -PATRIOT.
35:59That's 972 -PATRIOT. For a free month of service, switch today, make a difference.
36:05PatriotMobile .com slash verdict or 972 -PATRIOT.
36:08And get a free month of service with a promo code verdict.
36:12Two questions to wrap things up.
36:14Number one, I thought it was really interesting to see the compare and contrast of
36:17the women standing up for themselves in Iran on the streets risking their lives while
36:22women in America were actually standing up angry at America for going into Iran.
36:27We saw that in New York City, for example.
36:28We saw in some other college campuses.
36:31The disconnect from reality from some of these leftists is amazing.
36:35I want to get your take on that real quick.
36:36And then also I want to talk about the possible closing straight of Hormuz and
36:40what that means and what America's role could be in that as well.
36:43Yeah. So today, Comrade Mondami put out a statement that I want to read to
36:51you. Today's military strikes on Iran carried out by the United States and Israel mark
36:56a catastrophic escalation of an illegal war of aggression.
36:59Bombing cities, killing civilians, opening a new theater of war.
37:03Americans do not want this.
37:05They do not want another war in pursuit of regime change.
37:09They want relief from the affordability crisis.
37:12They want peace. I am focused on making sure every New Yorker is safe.
37:16I've been in contact with our police commissioner and emergency management officials.
37:19We are taking proactive steps, including increasing coordination across agencies and enhancing patrols of sensitive
37:27locations out of an abundance of conscience.
37:30Caution. Additionally, I want to speak directly to Iranian New Yorkers.
37:34You are part of the fabric of this city.
37:36You are our neighbors, small business owners, students, artists, workers, and community leaders.
37:40You will be safe here.
37:42Look, this is Comrade Mondami cheering for the Ayatollah.
37:47Yeah. Because they are both jihadists, and they both want to see the great Satan
37:55of America. They want to see this country fundamentally changed and to become an Islamic
38:02caliphate. That was the Ayatollah's objective.
38:05That sadly, I believe, is Comrade Mondami's objective.
38:10And I want to comment on that, because I want to comment on that, contrast
38:12that with the reaction of protesters, Iranians, like his line to Iranians, you will be
38:17safe here. I know a great many Iranians, every Iranian I know hates the regime,
38:24is cheering, and I want you to watch in particular this scene that played out
38:28on the ground in Austin, Texas, and a CBS News reporter who was told don't
38:35cover the protests celebrating the Ayatollah being killed.
38:40Cover that up, and this brave reporter didn't do that.
38:43Give a listen, give a watch.
39:04It's incredible there, and again, for people that can't see the video, you have this
39:09Austin CBS reporter. He was handed the phone from his cameraman, and he reads it,
39:14and he's like, what does that mean?
39:16And the cameraman responds, they don't want us to focus on this, and this brave
39:21local reporter said, all right, well, I am, and now it's out there on the
39:26internet of him having this moment.
39:27It's sad that you've got to be this brave in America at a local affiliate
39:30to report the news, which was the news that you had people celebrating and waving
39:36American flags and Iranian flags and standing up for the innocent people in Iran, and
39:42they're like, no, no, no, we don't want you to focus on that at CBS.
39:45Yeah, look, this is happening all over the country, all over America.
39:48It's happening on the ground, on the streets of Iran.
39:51It's happening around the world.
39:53You know, Kamala Harris today put out a statement, quote, Donald Trump is dragging the
39:57United States into a war the American people do not want.
40:00Let me be clear. I am opposed to a regime change war in Iran, and
40:05our troops are being put in harm's way for the sake of Trump's war of
40:09choice. Now, I will tell you, I responded to her on X, and I said,
40:13your administration gave over $100 billion to the Ayatollah, who kept killing Americans.
40:23We know you're sad that your friend isn't with us anymore.
40:27Look, the Democrat Party was all in in support of the Ayatollah.
40:34Now, sometimes they pretended they weren't, but when Joe Biden and Kamala Harris sent over
40:38$100 billion, flowed that money into the Ayatollah, they funded his terror.
40:44The Obama -Iran nuclear deal was designed to inevitably lead to a nuclear Iran, to
40:50the Ayatollah with nuclear weapons.
40:52And so this is, I'll tell you, and folks that deal with conflict in the
40:58Middle East and that deal with foreign policy frequently refer to Iran as, quote, the
41:04head of the snake. Why do they call it the head of the snake?
41:07Because it is what is leading and directing and funding the vast majority of the
41:13terrorism you see. Without Iran, Hamas has no resources.
41:18Without Iran, Hezbollah and the Houthis have no resources.
41:21And so what President Trump is doing here is being a strong commander -in -chief
41:26and making Americans safer. Final question on the Strait of Hormuz and the reality of
41:32what's happening there. Give us your thoughts and perspective on that and what you think
41:36can happen moving forward. So we don't know that there is reporting that the Iranians
41:42may have mined the Straits of Hormuz.
41:44So we don't have an answer to that right now.
41:46Right now, there's not shipping.
41:48There are not ships going through the Straits of Hormuz until it is determined whether
41:52or not they have mined it.
41:53And to be clear, that's significant.
41:55People just don't understand how important that is.
41:58A significant amount of oil, oil and oil supply, goes through there.
42:01Yeah. So right now, that is shut down.
42:04By the way, right now, civilian air traffic is shut down throughout the Middle East.
42:08You can't get on an airline and fly into and out of most of the
42:13cities in the Middle East because you've got missiles flying everywhere.
42:16And so all of the countries have understandably shut their airspace down.
42:20And so I am confident that we will have mine sweepers go into the Straits
42:26of Hormuz. That may be happening now.
42:27I don't know. And examine and determine if their mine's there.
42:31But at least right now, you're not seeing ships go through there because these guys
42:35are just crazy enough to have put mines there.
42:38And so no one wants to risk it until it's determined one way or another
42:42whether it's safe. Yeah, it really is incredible.
42:45We're going to keep you updated on all this all week long.
42:47I can promise you don't miss a episode of Verdict with Ted Cruz wherever you
42:50get your podcasts. Hit that subscribe or auto download button and The Center and I
42:54will see you back here on Wednesday morning.
42:56And if something massive breaks, we'll probably be back before then as well.
42:58So don't miss an episode.
43:00You can also watch us on YouTube.
43:01This episode is up on YouTube and on Facebook.
43:03So you can grab it there and on Rumble.
43:05And The Center and I will see you back here in a couple of days.
43:12ABC Wednesdays. The Emmy -winning comedy Scrubs is all new.
43:15This is a whole new chapter for me.
43:17No more sad sack. That's what I'm talking about.
43:19I want both of our sacks to be fun.
43:21You two idiots are perfect for each other.
43:23From executive producers of Ted Lasso and Shrinking.
43:26We were all a part of this victory.
43:27Now get those nachos out of the preemie warmer.
43:31Nachos! Feels like there's more applause for the nachos than my speech.
43:35The new season of Scrubs.
43:36Wednesdays 8, 7 central on ABC.
43:39Stream on Hulu. This is an iHeart Podcast.
43:43Guaranteed human.