What's Going On in Iran and Should America Get Involved?

[00:00] We're going to pivot and turn our

[00:02] attention to Iran. Blake, why don't you

[00:04] give us the update on where we stand?

[00:06] >> Of course. Well, so we haven't talked

[00:08] about it at all. I think probably the

[00:09] funniest thing about this is we're

[00:11] having we've had major protests in Iran

[00:13] about a week now

[00:14] >> and it's struggled to be above the

[00:16] number three story in the US, if that.

[00:19] >> Uh Venezuela's taken precedence, the

[00:21] stuff in Minneapolis has taken

[00:22] precedence and so on. But we've gotten

[00:25] emails asking us to weigh in on it, and

[00:27] I think Charlie would definitely be

[00:28] weighing in on it. So, uh, there's been

[00:32] a spate of major demonstrations against

[00:35] the Mullas, as you might hear them

[00:38] called on TV. Uh, Iranian, ordinary

[00:40] Iranians protesting in Thran, in a lot

[00:43] of secondary cities. There's a lot of

[00:45] various reports on the ground that

[00:47] they've, you know, they've set

[00:48] government buildings on fire. They've

[00:50] supposedly taken control of large

[00:53] cities.

[00:54] It goes back and forth on how accurate

[00:56] all of that is. But what does seem to be

[00:58] true is the regime is now trying to

[01:02] black out a lot of communications.

[01:04] They're targeting the internet. They're

[01:06] targeting other means of communication

[01:08] to limit people's ability to know what's

[01:10] going on and to try to keep control of

[01:12] the situation. Uh, notably a week ago,

[01:15] President Trump said on Truth Social

[01:18] that

[01:18] >> image 363.

[01:19] >> Yes. If Iran shots and violently kills

[01:22] peaceful protesters, which is their

[01:24] custom, the United States of America

[01:26] will come to their rescue. We are locked

[01:29] and loaded and ready to go. Thank you

[01:31] for your attention to this matter. And

[01:34] I'm seeing more of that. You're seeing

[01:36] some of that

[01:38] >> agitation that the US should be ready to

[01:40] get involved. the son of the previous

[01:41] Sha Raza Palavi. He desires to take

[01:45] power in the country and he's been

[01:46] saying America should be ready to get

[01:48] involved. Uh obviously people would ask

[01:51] us what Charlie would make of this. I

[01:53] think Charlie would still be skeptical

[01:55] of getting involved. He was very very

[01:57] wary of the Iran war crisis we had this

[02:00] past summer. He was very happy that it

[02:02] was ultimately resolved with one bombing

[02:04] run, nothing else. I think he he very

[02:08] much likes he likes it us not to get

[02:10] involved and if we do get involved it's

[02:12] the lightest touch possible. You know

[02:14] those quick in one strike and it's over.

[02:16] I think he would have liked the

[02:17] Venezuela raid for that same reason. It

[02:19] was one raid and it's over. That's what

[02:22] I think his impulse would have been.

[02:23] >> Yeah. And again going back one step. So

[02:25] this started apparently there's been a

[02:27] dramatic collapse of the Iranian

[02:30] currency the real

[02:32] >> soaring inflation. So 40 to 50% in

[02:35] recent months which which you know this

[02:37] country is still in upheaval from 20%

[02:39] over four years of Joe Biden. Imagine 40

[02:41] to 50% in recent months. Rising cost of

[02:44] living living this quickly devolved into

[02:47] a broader political movement including

[02:50] calls for regime change greater freedoms

[02:52] anti-government slogans and this is

[02:54] >> I guess how many how many realals do you

[02:57] think it you need to have one United

[02:59] States dollar? No man, I have like a

[03:01] thousand.

[03:02] >> 994,000.

[03:05] >> No. Jeez. [laughter]

[03:07] Wow. I was off by a magnitude of a

[03:10] thousand.

[03:11] >> You were off by literally uh what is

[03:13] that? Two three orders of magnitude.

[03:14] >> Yeah, that's huge. Okay, so uh you know

[03:18] protesters chanted against a ruling

[03:19] theocracy. This reminds me of like when

[03:21] you look back at those images of Iran in

[03:23] the 70s before the sha was was kicked

[03:26] out

[03:27] >> that you know that it looks almost like

[03:29] a western nation right and you know I

[03:31] used to live in southern California a

[03:32] lot of Iranians Persian community down

[03:34] there are very you know enterprising

[03:37] people very productive people very

[03:39] almost western yes they're they're

[03:40] Muslim but it's it's a different variety

[03:42] right the uh the it's not uh it's the

[03:46] Shia Muslim as opposed to the Sunni it's

[03:48] a it's a different kind of uh Islam that

[03:51] they that they seem culturally to

[03:53] practice. But uh you know this is what's

[03:55] interesting the sha the sons the son of

[03:58] the last sha which is uh raza pal lavi

[04:03] he's making actual so one hour ago he's

[04:06] saying this an urgent and immediate call

[04:08] for your attention. This is uh image 364

[04:10] if you want to put it up there. Uh last

[04:12] night you saw millions of brave Iranians

[04:14] in the streets facing down live bullets.

[04:16] Today they are facing not just bullets

[04:18] but total communication blackout. No

[04:20] internet, no landline. So one of the

[04:22] struggles that we're having here, Blake,

[04:24] is that we can't even get communications

[04:26] out of Iran really. It's very limited

[04:28] and we don't know what's AI, what's not.

[04:30] There was a building burning last night.

[04:31] >> Yeah. It's like a government building.

[04:33] If there's a deep fake of a of a

[04:35] building on fire, it's not super obvious

[04:37] immediately if it's not true because

[04:39] they don't have a robust media. Like we

[04:41] could kind of tell if something is fake

[04:43] cuz you have a ton of journalists. Yeah.

[04:45] Everyone see it. Iran. Who knows?

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[05:34] >> Yeah. And we're going to cover this, by

[05:35] the way. We're going to have a guest on

[05:36] on Monday. Uh I've been working behind

[05:38] the scenes to get a a a really good

[05:40] expert on this story on Monday. But this

[05:43] is what he goes on. Kmeni fearing the

[05:46] end of his criminal regime at the hands

[05:47] of the people with the help of uh your

[05:49] powerful promise he's speaking to

[05:50] President Trump to support the

[05:52] protesters has threatened the people on

[05:53] the streets with a brutal crackdown. Now

[05:55] there's reports of at least 50 people

[05:58] have been killed in the skirmishes with

[06:02] u with you know I I [clears throat]

[06:04] suppose the regime's uh muscle uh

[06:07] clashing with protesters on the streets

[06:09] has threatened people on the streets

[06:10] with brutal crackdown. He wants to use

[06:12] this blackout to murder these young

[06:13] heroes. So this has been a very

[06:15] youthoriented movement. A lot of

[06:16] students, a lot of merchants that have

[06:18] been struggling under this

[06:20] >> merchants.

[06:20] >> Merchants. Merchants.

[06:22] >> We say like it's the middle age.

[06:24] >> The merchant of these are business

[06:26] people. They're camel

[06:27] >> car probably like smaller businesses

[06:30] though, right? Like the people that are

[06:32] actually trying to make a living in

[06:33] Iran. I've called them the people uh

[06:35] called the people to the streets to

[06:37] fight for their freedom and to overwhelm

[06:38] the security forces with sheer numbers.

[06:40] last night. They did that. Your threat

[06:41] to this criminal regime has also kept

[06:43] the regime's thugs at bay. But time is

[06:45] of the essence. The people will be on

[06:46] the streets again in an hour. I'm asking

[06:48] you to help. You have proven, and I know

[06:50] you are a man of peace and a man of your

[06:52] word. Please be prepared to intervene to

[06:54] help the people of Iran. Now, I don't

[06:55] know what he's calling for.

[06:57] >> Uh I mean,

[06:58] >> military interventions.

[06:59] >> Last time we did this, it was like

[07:00] Libya. And

[07:01] >> listen, if there's a way uh for

[07:03] President Trump, even morally, to

[07:05] support the people of Iran to rise up

[07:06] and take over their own country, I'm all

[07:08] for it. I to your point I do not want to

[07:12] invite

[07:13] >> the reason for optimism as you say Iran

[07:16] is it long it's long been a major

[07:19] civilization it's a relatively

[07:22] uh it is a it was a relatively more

[07:25] modern Middle Eastern country before the

[07:26] revolution uh they have they're very

[07:29] talented people this is not like

[07:31] intervening in central Africa or

[07:34] something where it's just been backwards

[07:35] for a long time and it's not likely to

[07:37] go well

[07:38] >> Iran

[07:39] is it is a country that is already in a

[07:42] lot of places quite secular on the

[07:44] ground. You can meet Iranians who are

[07:46] from that country and they'll often say,

[07:48] "Yeah, a lot of people don't take Islam

[07:50] terribly seriously." Uh I'd say it's a

[07:53] lot less other than the regime itself,

[07:55] it's a lot less robust than it might be

[07:57] in Egypt or in Iraq or certainly in

[08:00] Afghanistan. So if you do topple the

[08:02] regime, I think you're very likely to

[08:04] get a secular friendly government back.

[08:06] But people would always ask, you know,

[08:08] what what would Charlie make of this?

[08:10] And I think I would share with him,

[08:12] you get talked into these interventions

[08:15] by being told it'll be easy and smooth.

[08:16] >> And it never is. And it never is.