CSPAN - Washington Journal 02/28/2026
Aired: 2026-02-28
Duration: 49:53


=== Missiles and Missile Probability (15:15) ===

[00:00:00]  Of strikes, of death by a thousand cuts.
[00:00:02]  And again, as the caller said, Iran's war of choice, or better yet to say, the Islamic Republic's war of choice against America for the past four and a half decades.
[00:00:10]  All right, Iran program senior director at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Benim Ben Taliblou.
[00:00:15]  Thanks so much for joining us today.
[00:00:17]  Pleasure.
[00:00:18]  Thank you, Mimi.
[00:00:19]  And we are with you to take your calls and to hear your comments on the war with Iran that the President announced early this morning.
[00:00:30]  And joining us now is David Albright.
[00:00:33]  He is the president of the Institute for Science and International Security.
[00:00:38]  Mr. Albright, thanks for joining us.
[00:00:41]  Good to be here.
[00:00:42]  Well, you worked with the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect Iraq's nuclear program back in the 90s.
[00:00:51]  I wonder what your reaction is to the strikes on Iran because of their nuclear program.
[00:00:58]  Well, the nuclear programs are very different.
[00:01:01]  I mean, Iraq had a very robust nuclear weapons program in the 1980s into about 91 when the war stopped it.
[00:01:12]  And then the inspection effort run out of the UN Security Council, headquartered at the IEA, dismantled it.
[00:01:20]  And so if you roll forward to 2002, 2003, I think there was a consensus among the nuclear inspectors there was no program there.
[00:01:29]  Meanwhile, over in Iran at the same time, there was a very robust secret nuclear weapons program that's been well documented in particularly in the last 10 years.
[00:01:41]  And that program, due to various factors, including the U.S. being in Iraq next door, shut down, or at least reduced in size, gave up trying to actually build nuclear warheads for ballistic missiles, which they were well on their way to doing in 2003.
[00:02:00]  And so since 2003, they've been struggling with a program in Iran that is, in a sense, went from actually trying to build nuclear weapons to being prepared to build them.
[00:02:11]  And that's part of the frustration from a technical point of view.
[00:02:14]  They're always pushing and pushing their capabilities forward.
[00:02:18]  And one of the reasons there's airstrikes today is that even after much of, in fact, most of their program was destroyed in June, they started to do recovery operations, hide things, refuse to reveal anything to the International Atomic Energy Agency that's inspecting the nuclear program under an international treaty, the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.
[00:02:46]  So they're in blatant violation of their international obligations on nuclear nonproliferation.
[00:02:54]  They look like they're rebuilding a program, although at my institute, we don't think they're anywhere close to building an actual bomb.
[00:03:02]  Well, but that's what I wanted to ask you about.
[00:03:04]  Like, where do you assess their ability to get to a nuclear weapon?
[00:03:09]  How far away are we?
[00:03:10]  Well, I think we just finished a study.
[00:03:13]  It was a fairly lengthy study over several months to try to understand.
[00:03:17]  It's really what's the probability that they would build a nuclear weapon.
[00:03:20]  I mean, we don't have very good certainty about what they're up to.
[00:03:25]  And they have a history of cheating and doing things successfully in secrecy, but often they're caught.
[00:03:32]  But nonetheless, we don't have good sense eyes into the program today.
[00:03:36]  But our feeling was if they tried to go, first of all, we don't think the regime has decided to build bombs.
[00:03:42]  So we think that before this bombing campaign, we didn't think they had even 50% certain to order the building of the bomb.
[00:03:53]  But if they went to build it, our assessment was in the short term, they would probably fail.
[00:04:00]  Very low probability they'd succeed in building a nuclear weapon.
[00:04:04]  But if you give it- But why is that, Mr. Altwright?
[00:04:07]  Why would they not want one?
[00:04:09]  And why would they fail if they tried?
[00:04:12]  Well, I think we know from history that Iran, Irani regime, has clear desire for a bomb, and it made a decision to build five bombs in the early 2000s, but ended before, ended it before they could.
[00:04:28]  And partly why they ended it is they feared a U.S. invasion.
[00:04:31]  They feared detection by the international community.
[00:04:33]  It's a highly secretive program.
[00:04:36]  And it took years to uncover all of it.
[00:04:39]  But they do respond to international pressure.
[00:04:43]  And they also worry very much about the impact of building nuclear weapons on the region and what could happen to what other countries may do.
[00:04:54]  So it's a balancing act for the regime.
[00:04:57]  And I think given that Israel and the United States have made it clear that going for a bomb could lead to military strikes, I don't think they want to do it.
[00:05:06]  Now, in terms of actually building it, Israel did a lot of damage to their program.
[00:05:12]  The U.S. did a lot of damage to their program.
[00:05:15]  And so they still have some highly enriched uranium, which could be relatively rapidly turned into weapon-grade uranium for use in a nuclear weapon if they could organize the centrifuges to enrich it, which we think is a bit of a stretch for them right now.
[00:05:33]  But what Israel did was it punched big holes in their program to build the bomb itself.
[00:05:40]  And building the bombs, you have to go through a series of steps.
[00:05:45]  And each step is critical if you knock that step out.
[00:05:49]  And it could be a piece of equipment that you only have one of.
[00:05:52]  It could be scientific knowledge or really engineering knowledge and you don't have a lot of that of how to do it.
[00:06:01]  It could be other aspects of building the bomb and all its components.
[00:06:08]  And so they have gaps and bottlenecks that they have to overcome.
[00:06:12]  And in a rush program, we think they would probably fail.
[00:06:16]  Given time, they can recover and increase the probability of on a technical level succeeding.
[00:06:24]  But let me add one thing.
[00:06:25]  What we found, though, in this study is, you know, people talk about a choice to have a bomb program.
[00:06:32]  What we found in this study is that Israel and Iran are, particularly now with the U.S., are locked in a dynamic that they can't escape.
[00:06:44]  And from Iran's point of view, it does want to build the bomb, but it doesn't want to get attacked.
[00:06:49]  And so it has to figure that out.
[00:06:52]  And it's obviously having a hard time.
[00:06:55]  But from the Israeli point of view, the situation is only going to get worse.
[00:07:00]  I mean, eventually the military threats will decrease.
[00:07:04]  The Democrat will come in who's not into that or something else will happen.
[00:07:09]  And so from Israel's perspective, it's only going to get worse.
[00:07:13]  So the sooner you make a decisive strike, the better.
[00:07:17]  And certainly they want the United States on their side leading the way.
[00:07:21]  And so I don't think this isn't, to me, this isn't really a war of choice.
[00:07:24]  I mean, this is a war created by a dynamic that neither side can escape.
[00:07:31]  And I would put most of the blame on Iran for refusing to do some things that, if they don't want nuclear weapons, are no sacrifice at all.
[00:07:42]  They don't need their uranium enrichment programs essentially destroyed.
[00:07:46]  Remnants are there that could be reconstituted into a program to make some weapon-grade uranium from existing enriched uranium.
[00:07:53]  But as a centrifuge program that was there in May of 2025, it's gone.
[00:07:58]  And so if they just gave up the rest of it, gave up enrichment, they would escape a lot of the stress that they created in the United States and Israel and Europe.
[00:08:11]  All right.
[00:08:11]  Well, we've got callers, so we're going to go to Donald in Omaha, Nebraska, Democrat.
[00:08:16]  Donald, you're on with David Albright.
[00:08:19]  Yeah, yes.
[00:08:20]  Nice listening to you, Mimi, as usual.
[00:08:22]  And this gentleman's a pretty good guy to listen to.
[00:08:25]  Might only have a few questions.
[00:08:29]  Where are all of our politicians' kids?
[00:08:33]  Why aren't they in the army over there getting killed or about to be killed, including Barron?
[00:08:41]  When are you going to get killed?
[00:08:43]  I don't know how many kids.
[00:08:44]  Remember, it's an Air Force operation.
[00:08:46]  I don't know.
[00:08:47]  There could be politicians, kids in the Air Force.
[00:08:50]  I really don't know.
[00:08:50]  I mean, I don't have any kids in the Air Force, but it does.
[00:08:56]  We don't have troops on the ground.
[00:08:57]  I mean, except, well, we do have troops in the Gulf states, and some of those bases were attacked by Iran.
[00:09:04]  So one second, David, let's get Donald.
[00:09:06]  I think you had another point.
[00:09:08]  Yes, we have troops in the region on the ground that could be killed very easily.
[00:09:13]  Also, when is the Israelis going to get rid of Netanyahu and charging for all them crimes he's committed?
[00:09:22]  And where are the Epstein files?
[00:09:24]  I would like to know, man.
[00:09:25]  Thank you.
[00:09:26]  All right.
[00:09:27]  I can't really answer the last two questions.
[00:09:29]  I mean, I'm not sitting in Washington, D.C., worried about U.S. interests and certainly worried about the safety of our troops.
[00:09:37]  And they are taking steps to protect themselves against Iranian strikes.
[00:09:43]  So far, no one has been killed.
[00:09:45]  I mean, a person was killed in UAE.
[00:09:48]  Iran's been firing missiles into the Gulf states, into Jordan, and even targeting civilian areas.
[00:09:57]  And so it's actually, it's actually, it's now united more countries against them than just the United States and Israel.
[00:10:07]  I mean, you now have Saudi Arabia, UAE, Oman, Jordan feeling they've just been attacked when they didn't have anything to do with this attack.
[00:10:18]  So Iran is a very aggressive state.
[00:10:22]  I want to ask you about Iran's ballistic missile program.
[00:10:24]  What do you know about the strength of that program and what could be done about it?
[00:10:30]  Well, I think that's the priority for the opening days is air defense is certainly first priority.
[00:10:38]  But they're going after the missile launchers for both short range because they are shooting missiles into the Gulf states across the Persian Gulf.
[00:10:47]  And so those launchers are mostly in western Iran and they have to fire a missile, you have to put it on a launcher.
[00:10:56]  And Iran has a lot more missiles than launchers.
[00:10:58]  So a lot of targeting going on on the launchers.
[00:11:01]  On the longer range ones that can reach Israel, they tend to be further back from the Persian Gulf.
[00:11:07]  And there's a lot of efforts now to find those.
[00:11:10]  Israel just published a video of where it did destroy one before it could launch a missile.
[00:11:16]  And in the June war, they eliminated 50 to 70 percent of the launchers.
[00:11:21]  And Iran's been building them back, but still, that's their weak point.
[00:11:24]  They don't have silos to fire missiles from.
[00:11:26]  So they have to bring them out, put them on a launcher, and then fire them.
[00:11:31]  And that's the effort is to stop these launchers.
[00:11:34]  And actually this morning, or I'm sorry, today, there weren't that many missiles fired into Israel.
[00:11:39]  There were some, but it was not a barrage of 200 missiles or anything like that.
[00:11:44]  So, but we'll see.
[00:11:48]  I don't want to say it's over by any means, but Iran has, in a sense, its capability is limited by the launchers.
[00:11:57]  And now, President Trump made a big deal out of Iran being able to fire an ICBM at the United States.
[00:12:04]  And I think he exaggerated in the sense that, yes, we do worry Iran is working on having an ICBM.
[00:12:13]  to hit Western Europe and ultimately the United States, but it isn't soon, as he added into his sentence incorrectly.
[00:12:24]  But it is a worry.
[00:12:26]  But the problem for Iran is, yes, they have missiles that shoot satellites into space.
[00:12:32]  It says if you can do that, the missile can go pretty far.
[00:12:36]  But they don't have a warhead they can put on top of it.
[00:12:38]  They don't have what we call a re-entry vehicle that can withstand the forces of leaving the atmosphere and coming back down.
[00:12:46]  Great.
[00:12:47]  Very difficult to make.
[00:12:48]  And so from that point of view, what Trump said is incorrect.
[00:12:54]  And I think that's been well hashed out in the media.
[00:12:58]  Well, let's talk to Greg in Berea, Ohio, line for Democrats.
[00:13:02]  Go ahead, Greg.
[00:13:04]  Yes.
[00:13:04]  I would like to know how is Iran a direct threat to our sovereignty, not Israel's sovereignty, and they do not have an Air Force or a Navy to deliver a nuclear weapon.
[00:13:21]  And why do we need to use our assets in Israel's best interest?
[00:13:28]  Well, it's not in Israel's best interest.
[00:13:30]  It's in the U.S. interest to stop Iran from having a nuclear weapon.
[00:13:35]  In a sense, one of the drivers of this war is that things are going to get worse.
[00:13:42]  Iran will get an ICBM with a nuclear weapon on top of it eventually.
[00:13:47]  And then we'll be dealing with that threat along with the Russian threat, the Chinese threat, the North Korean threat.
[00:13:52]  And so we want to stop Iran from ending in a place that is even more damaging.
[00:14:00]  Now, Iran has killed a lot of American Iranian regime, not the Iranian people, killed a lot of Americans.
[00:14:05]  I mean, we have people here who have bodyguards because they've tried to kill them here.
[00:14:10]  So they have agents and sleeper cells that are active.
[00:14:13]  I live most of the year in Europe, and the Iranian regime is constantly trying to kill people.
[00:14:19]  And the intelligence community has to act very aggressively, particularly in a place like Britain that has a lot of Iranian dissidents and also houses what's called Iran International TV station, a news organization.
[00:14:32]  And so Iran is very active doing things to attack U.S. interests.
[00:14:38]  And I think President Trump has reached a point where he's tired of this constant harassment.
[00:14:45]  It's like finally, you know, you kick an elephant over and over again, prick it, prick it, prick it, pricket.
[00:14:50]  Finally, the elephant reacts.
[00:14:52]  And Iran's, in a sense, has been inviting this by continually escalating, lying about its nuclear program, lying to the inspectors, attacking people, threatening Israel's existence, which is a close ally, generating all kinds of anti-Semitism around the world and slaughtering its own people.

=== U.S. Strategy in the Middle East (09:08) ===

[00:15:15]  I mean, I don't know how many died in January, but it was thousands of people, young people, just shot down by these forces.
[00:15:23]  And so I think President Trump may be doing more than I would potentially do, but I'm a scientist.
[00:15:30]  But living in Germany, I have to think, wouldn't it have been great if there was someone like Trump in 1939 who decided, damn it, we're going to take out Hitler.
[00:15:41]  We're not going to wait.
[00:15:42]  We're not going to live by these alliances and these and these accommodations, this fake neutrality, this arguments that U.S. interests are not threatened by, in this case, Germany, was the argument in 1938.
[00:15:56]  I think what he's tried to do is come in and say, look, here's a really evil, dangerous power that will more and more threaten U.S. interests.
[00:16:09]  And so he made a decision to go now.
[00:16:11]  And we'll see how it goes.
[00:16:13]  But I have to accept that he made that decision.
[00:16:17]  And living in Germany, I can't help but think that wouldn't it have been nice to save the lives of 50 million people if someone had struck Nazi Germany in 1938 and 39 instead of accommodating them.
[00:16:31]  And here's John in Durango, Colorado Independent Line.
[00:16:34]  John, good morning.
[00:16:36]  Good morning.
[00:16:37]  Thanks for taking the call.
[00:16:41]  Go ahead, John.
[00:16:43]  Oh, hello.
[00:16:44]  No, I just want to say to everybody that today it becomes apparent throughout the world that the United States government and particularly its president are completely controlled by a foreign power.
[00:17:01]  And that foreign power being, of course, the nuclear-armed, apartheid, rogue state of Israel.
[00:17:10]  Now, what I want to know is why Israel is allowed to point nuclear weapons at literally everyone in the world, and yet no one in their area is allowed to defend themselves against this regime.
[00:17:26]  All right, John.
[00:17:31]  I don't think it's an apartheid regime, blah, blah, blah.
[00:17:34]  But the thing is, is that Israel's nuclear weapons are there and have been there a long time.
[00:17:41]  And I've worked, particularly in the 90s, to try to get rid of them in a regional context.
[00:17:50]  And I think if Iran's nuclear weapons program is ended, the regime either goes away or reforms.
[00:18:00]  I mean, regimes can reform into something that is acceptable for its regional neighbors.
[00:18:07]  I think it makes perfect sense to start more emphatically working for a nuclear weapons free zone in the Middle East, which would bring in Israel's weapons.
[00:18:18]  So I think it's certainly, in a sense, part of the plan.
[00:18:22]  But so long as you have a regime like Iran that's threatening Israel's existence, they have a clock in Tehran, the countdown to the destruction of the Israeli state.
[00:18:32]  You know, it's 2040.
[00:18:34]  So, David, I wonder what you make of the argument that it is Israel's nuclear program that caused Iran to pursue a nuclear weapons program.
[00:18:44]  I think, you know, we've been looking at this since the 1980s.
[00:18:47]  Fortunately, I should retire.
[00:18:49]  I'm so old.
[00:18:50]  But it was Iraq's program.
[00:18:53]  And Iraq and Iran had this horrible war.
[00:18:55]  Iran lost a million people in the war, and Iraq used chemical weapons.
[00:19:01]  And so Iraq was motivated partly by Israel, but more to become a regional power.
[00:19:09]  I mean, it was the thing you did back in the 70s.
[00:19:12]  But Iran always saw Iraq as the threat.
[00:19:15]  And in fact, part of the reason we think that my institute think that Iraq, Iran stopped its nuclear weapons program in 2003 after the U.S. invasion, yes, fearing the United States, because remember the rogue regimes or whatever they were called, first Baghdad, then Tehran, then Pyongyang in North Korea was the Bush administration mantra.
[00:19:39]  But they also saw that Iraq's weapons program, nuclear program, really was ended, didn't really exist and was no longer a threat.
[00:19:47]  So I think that was the driver.
[00:19:50]  And that's also why it's, I don't think Iran is rushing to build nuclear weapons in a crash program.
[00:20:01]  It knows that Israel has nuclear weapons and it should keep in mind.
[00:20:05]  I mean, if they start launching a sort of an existential missile attack on Israel, they should keep in mind that Israel has nuclear weapons.
[00:20:16]  So it does provide a little bit of deterrence.
[00:20:21]  But in the end, I think Iran is reacting for many reasons, and it's not principally because of the Israeli nuclear program.
[00:20:32]  And if we can get a stabler situation in the Middle East, then I think it makes great sense for the United States to work diligently to create a weapons and mass destruction-free zone there that does involve Israel.
[00:20:47]  On the Republican line in Lake Worth, Florida, Christopher, you're on the air.
[00:20:52]  Hello, thank you for taking the call.
[00:20:54]  And C-SPAN is really a great outlet for having these kinds of conversations.
[00:21:00]  My one question is: if it all works out and we get regime change and a more amicable regime that fits better in the global order, what does the United States stand to benefit in regards to, I guess, resources, rare earth minerals, copper mines, oil, things of that nature?
[00:21:20]  Do you know, David?
[00:21:22]  No.
[00:21:23]  I mean, U.S. is sort of self-sufficient oil.
[00:21:28]  I mean, it could benefit with low oil prices.
[00:21:31]  I think we would certainly benefit from not having a constant security threat.
[00:21:40]  Partly why we're there is to protect or help protect a variety of allies who have, and all of us have to spend a lot of money on defensive systems and military systems in general.
[00:21:54]  So it would help.
[00:21:56]  They would also, I think the Arab world certainly and Iran needs to develop more.
[00:22:04]  I mean, obviously the Gulf states are rich, but they're deficient in the industrial processes, non-oil-based energy production.
[00:22:14]  And so I think you could have a region growing to be a very important economic power, and that would benefit everybody.
[00:22:24]  So I think the, but, you know, I'm, you know, again, I don't know what your point of view is on this, but I don't think the United States should be either trying to take territory or create alliances based on what we can extract from their country.
[00:22:42]  I mean, again, I'm in Europe and this thing with Greenland and this kind of argument that we need the resources of Greenland sits very badly.
[00:22:52]  I mean, that's not a reason to go after a state, is to seize their resources.
[00:22:58]  Jim is in Wisconsin on the line?
[00:22:59]  I don't know why he didn't say that, but I'm just adding that.
[00:23:01]  Jim is in Wisconsin on the line for Democrats.
[00:23:04]  Go ahead, Jim.
[00:23:05]  Yeah, the question I got is: he called it a war.
[00:23:09]  He's calling different names.
[00:23:11]  The only one that has the power to declare war is Congress.
[00:23:17]  All right.
[00:23:18]  And we'll go to another Jim in Dubuque, Iowa, Independent Line.
[00:23:21]  Go ahead, Jim.
[00:23:23]  Hi.
[00:23:24]  I think, you know, aside from this military endeavor serving Israel's interests, I think maybe a major factor in our deciding to further attack Iran is its existence as a hub in the BRICS ROAD or the BRICS organization to develop,
[00:23:52]  along with 85% of the world, trade and routes of trade that are immune from our interference.
[00:24:08]  I'm not sure I can answer those questions.
[00:24:10]  I mean, I forget what was the first one.
[00:24:12]  I'm sorry.
[00:24:14]  About the BRICS nations.
[00:24:15]  So that's Brazil, China, Egypt, I guess Iran, South Africa.
[00:24:21]  Not sure which he's talking about.

=== Alliances Shifting? (09:47) ===

[00:24:23]  The world's changing.
[00:24:24]  I mean, the alliances are shifting.
[00:24:27]  I mean, we're seeing Iran, Russia, China, North Korea act, sort of toward moving toward an alliance against U.S. interests.
[00:24:36]  I mean, so the world's shifting.
[00:24:39]  But I wonder if he thinks that way.
[00:24:45]  Now, I wonder about Iran's nuclear program and who helped them.
[00:24:50]  You know, like, for instance, North Korea, you had China helping them.
[00:24:54]  Who gave information or who helped Iran's nuclear program?
[00:25:01]  Well, the long pull in the tenant of making a nuclear weapon is getting the nuclear explosive material, whether it's plutonium or weapon-grade uranium.
[00:25:09]  Highly enriched uranium is the broader set.
[00:25:11]  Weapon-grade uranium is sort of the more purified form that allows for a smaller nuclear weapon.
[00:25:18]  It was Pakistan and then German companies that provided a lot of the wherewithal and the expertise.
[00:25:24]  So you had Pakistan providing very highly classified technology that allowed Iran to start and then succeed in building an enrichment program.
[00:25:37]  Without that help from Pakistan, they would never have developed a centrifuge that could enrich uranium.
[00:25:45]  And why was it in Pakistan's national interest to help Iran with a nuclear program?
[00:25:51]  I mean, that's a good question, and it's not completely known, but part of it was the person driving it was a guy named AQ Khan, who was very anti-Western and felt that helping Muslim countries get the bomb was in his interest and a way to make a lot of money.
[00:26:10]  I mean, it's huge amounts of money transferred to individuals.
[00:26:14]  It wasn't, it didn't go to the Pakistani government, with the Germans, the Pakistanis, AQ Khan's accomplices.
[00:26:22]  So it was kind of an anti-Western attitude combined with greed.
[00:26:30]  Now, on the weaponization, people often say, oh, we can build a bomb in a month.
[00:26:36]  Anybody can do it.
[00:26:37]  A Princeton student can design it.
[00:26:39]  And some of that's true, but building it has some real challenges.
[00:26:44]  It's a little bit like many people could design a car, but go try to build one.
[00:26:49]  And you may find that maybe it's a little harder than designing it.
[00:26:53]  And so, and he's on the centrifuge, the Germans, in particular the companies, were there to help them all along the way on the engineering.
[00:27:02]  And so on the weaponization, there were at least one, maybe two people that came out of the Soviet nuclear weapons complex that helped them in the late 90s, early 2000s with some very fundamental engineering challenges in building an implosion-type nuclear weapon.
[00:27:21]  David, the Little Neck, New York, Republican line, good morning.
[00:27:26]  Well, Mimi, thank you very much for having me on the call.
[00:27:29]  Mr. Albright, you sound incredibly reasonable.
[00:27:32]  You don't sound partisan at all, and your explanations are very detailed.
[00:27:36]  I just want to bring to light that ever since the Ayatollah left Paris and landed in Tehran, there's been tremendous upheaval around the world.
[00:27:48]  So those people that say, oh, how does it affect America?
[00:27:51]  Well, it affected us quite a bit because it launched global jihad around the world.
[00:27:57]  And those proxies in Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen have caused nothing but havoc for shipping, for business, for the oil industry.
[00:28:11]  Before this 10th, sorry, October 7th, Saudi Arabia and Israel were about to sign a peace pact.
[00:28:21]  And who came to mess up the party?
[00:28:24]  Was Iran by having this event that took place that completely blew up the whole peace process in the Middle East, including the Abraham Accords were going to be extended by Blinken and the Biden administration.
[00:28:40]  So those out there, and I have to say, as a New Yorker, as an American, and as a Jew, I find it very disheartening that I hear so many people talk so maliciously about Israel.
[00:28:54]  They sound anti-Semitic.
[00:28:55]  And worst of all, they sound quite uneducated.
[00:28:58]  I think that's a big problem in this country.
[00:29:00]  I bet you have the people that call in to complain about what's going on.
[00:29:04]  Couldn't find Iran on the map.
[00:29:06]  So I don't mean to sound presumptuous, but thank you very much to you and your guests.
[00:29:11]  And yeah, I'm sure North Korea, Iran, Soviet Union, and this new axis of evil that's fighting in Europe is not in Ukraine is also on the doorstep of NATO.
[00:29:26]  So yeah, that's how it affects America.
[00:29:28]  Thank you.
[00:29:29]  What do you think, David Albright?
[00:29:32]  It's fine.
[00:29:32]  I mean, I don't have anything to add to it.
[00:29:34]  I think Israelis attacked too much.
[00:29:37]  I mean, I don't, you know, we're not partisan.
[00:29:40]  I mean, we're not, but you know, I look around and feel that there's an overwrought campaign against Israel, listening to some of these comments.
[00:29:51]  Let's talk to Mina in Jacksonville, Florida, line for Democrats.
[00:29:54]  Go ahead, Mina.
[00:29:57]  I wanted to bring up the subject of religion.
[00:30:01]  Of what?
[00:30:01]  Sorry?
[00:30:02]  Religion.
[00:30:03]  Religion.
[00:30:04]  Okay.
[00:30:04]  Underlying subject to all the conflicts, religion.
[00:30:12]  And I wanted to end with the point by W.H. Odding.
[00:30:19]  I and the public know what all school children learn.
[00:30:25]  Those who receive evil do evil in return.
[00:30:35]  And Valdez is in Mapleton, Illinois, Independent Line.
[00:30:38]  Go ahead.
[00:30:40]  Good morning.
[00:30:42]  I'm in my 70s.
[00:30:43]  I'm a Mexican male.
[00:30:45]  I enlisted in the Army, not drafted.
[00:30:48]  And I'm hearing these people, particularly David from New York.
[00:30:51]  Nobody's against you.
[00:30:53]  I don't know any Palestinians.
[00:30:54]  I don't know any Jews.
[00:30:56]  But the fact of the matter is that we know what's been going on.
[00:30:59]  We know who this war is for.
[00:31:01]  My allegiance is to this country.
[00:31:04]  You never hear me talking about Mexico or, hey, I wish we could do this or that.
[00:31:07]  They mean nothing to me.
[00:31:08]  I was born here.
[00:31:09]  So I'd be asking people, where do you really want to be?
[00:31:14]  And I actually, if you put Iran and Israel, I'd pick Iran personally, because if people need to remember what Minister Gallant said during the Gaza genocide, he said there are no innocent Palestinians.
[00:31:28]  Now, if that's not 1933, what is?
[00:31:31]  So conversely, there are no innocent Israelis if we're going to use that logic.
[00:31:37]  I don't trust Israel, never have.
[00:31:39]  We do their dirty work.
[00:31:41]  I don't want to see one American soldier killed for any Israeli.
[00:31:45]  So what do you think of that, Mr. Albright?
[00:31:48]  I think you could say the same thing about Germany.
[00:31:51]  And it would be as ignorant.
[00:31:54]  Sorry.
[00:31:56]  David Albright, I just want to ask you about the ability of the U.S. or Israel or other countries to indefinitely delay Iran's nuclear program instead of taking out the regime.
[00:32:09]  So if the regime stayed in place, would they just be able to every so often go in with these nuclear strikes and continue to delay the program so that Iran would never be able to get a weapon?
[00:32:21]  Yeah, I think, you know, and that's part of what I earlier talked about, this dynamic, is that, and well, I don't think it's a war of choice.
[00:32:30]  I mean, it's a dynamic that's been set up that, yes, if there isn't a decisive solution, and I would say negotiations can lead to a decisive solution.
[00:32:44]  But if there isn't a decisive solution, then I would expect, yes, Iran will rebuild its nuclear program, its missile program.
[00:32:51]  Israel will probably strike.
[00:32:53]  And I don't see how we escape this.
[00:32:56]  And the U.S. is inevitably drawn in, just as it's drawn into Europe.
[00:33:00]  And some argue, let's get the United States out of Europe.
[00:33:03]  But I mean, they're close allies, and we can debate military assistance.
[00:33:09]  But nonetheless, if Germany falls to Russia, the United States is going to be deeply, deeply threatened.
[00:33:16]  And so I think the same thing in Israel.
[00:33:19]  It's a democracy.
[00:33:20]  It's a valuable ally.
[00:33:22]  We're building allies in the Arab states, which was very difficult in the last 20, 30 years.
[00:33:28]  And so I think we're trying to build a better world and more peaceful world.
[00:33:35]  And Iran is standing in the way of that.
[00:33:38]  But that being said, I'm afraid that if this doesn't resolve itself in a decisive manner, which again can include negotiations, it will be repeated some X number of months or a few years from now.
[00:33:55]  All right, that's David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security.
[00:33:59]  Thanks so much for joining us this morning.
[00:34:01]  Okay, thank you.
[00:34:04]  And we are taking your calls, getting your reaction to Israel and the United States attacking Iran.

=== Congressional Approval Debated (13:34) ===

[00:34:11]  The president announced that early this morning on social media.
[00:34:15]  And we'll talk to Matt Bath, New York, Republican line.
[00:34:19]  Go ahead.
[00:34:20]  Yes, good morning.
[00:34:22]  I've been watching this since I always wake up like two in the morning.
[00:34:29]  So I was surprised to see what was happening.
[00:34:34]  I'm all for it.
[00:34:35]  It's about time.
[00:34:37]  I'm also in my 70s.
[00:34:39]  I also enlisted during Vietnam War, and I was spit on and called a baby killer by Democrats.
[00:34:48]  I couldn't believe the Army guy that just called in saying he would take Iran over Israel, seeing how Iran was responsible for the deaths and maiming of many of our fellow brothers.
[00:35:03]  That just is insane.
[00:35:05]  I also saw the segment where you had Hakeem Jeffries on babbling his anti-Trump anti-USA rhetoric, talking about congressional approval.
[00:35:19]  Well, that's 20th century thinking.
[00:35:23]  With a regime like this, you can't have Senate and congressional hearings about what we're going to do and telegraph that to these people.
[00:35:34]  It's ridiculous.
[00:35:36]  I just wonder where he was with congressional approval about Biden and Obama giving boatloads of cash to Iran and also actually Obama making the nuclear treaty, so-called treaty with Iran without congressional approval because it takes Congress to approve a treaty.
[00:36:02]  So it's like you just can't make this stuff up.
[00:36:05]  I do sort of disagree a little bit with the call from David from New York.
[00:36:10]  I don't think half of the callers are ignorant.
[00:36:13]  I think a good portion of them are Democrat ground operatives that'll call in.
[00:36:21]  And if Trump does something and says the sky's blue, they're going to call in and call him a liar and say, no, the sky's red.
[00:36:28]  So, you know, it just gets tiresome with their childish BS.
[00:36:34]  All right.
[00:36:34]  And Matt, we do have a Caroline Levitt, the press secretary for the White House, has put this out on X.
[00:36:42]  She says, President Trump monitored the situation overnight at Mar-a-Lago alongside members of his national security team.
[00:36:49]  The president spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu by phone.
[00:36:53]  Prior to the attacks, Secretary Rubio called all members of the gang of eight to provide congressional notification, and he was able to reach and brief seven of the eight members.
[00:37:05]  The president and his national security team will continue to closely monitor the situation throughout the day.
[00:37:12]  That's posting on X by Caroline Levitt, spokesperson for the White House.
[00:37:17]  And this is Phil, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Democrat.
[00:37:20]  Hi, Phil.
[00:37:22]  Hello, Mimi.
[00:37:24]  Good morning.
[00:37:24]  You know, I tell you, seems like the older I get, the more I feel like a dinosaur.
[00:37:32]  Because Americans, we don't know anything about history.
[00:37:38]  In 19, I think it was 52, the British wanted the Iranians.
[00:37:49]  They wanted Truman.
[00:37:50]  They wanted Truman to overthrow Mossadegh.
[00:37:58]  You're talking about the overthrow of Mossadegh and the installation of the Shah.
[00:38:02]  1953, yes.
[00:38:04]  Yeah, and what happened was they put in the Shah, and then that went well from 1979.
[00:38:13]  And the thing is, it's a shame because the Iranians have always been moderates more than anything else.
[00:38:24]  And if they really think that they are going to try to put back in the Shah's son, instead of bonding Iran, they need to give them a water hold, Mimi, because that's the problem.
[00:38:39]  Iran no longer has water.
[00:38:42]  That's the problem.
[00:38:43]  The people need water more than anything else.
[00:38:47]  And it's a shame that this administration is just so weak.
[00:38:54]  And if we think this is going to raise their approval rating, it's only going to make it worse.
[00:39:00]  It's just a shame.
[00:39:02]  It just makes no sense.
[00:39:04]  All right, Phil, let's talk to Frank next in Hudson, New York, Independent Line.
[00:39:07]  Good morning.
[00:39:09]  Yes, I have three questions that C-SPAN should ask its callers and guests, like the two hawks you had on previously.
[00:39:18]  One, if Iran's nuclear program was obliterated, as Trump consistently said, why was it necessary to go to war now?
[00:39:26]  Two, which nation is more dangerous to the U.S., Russia, which is fighting a war against Ukraine in Europe or Iran?
[00:39:36]  Why are we wasting money in Iran instead of Ukraine?
[00:39:40]  Three, are you planning or encouraging your family members to go fight in this war in the Middle East?
[00:39:48]  Those are the three questions you should be asking every war hawk that calls in or comes in as guests.
[00:39:55]  Albright made this big speech today about if we had done this in 1939, well, he should take that same speech and talk about Ukraine today because Russia is the Germany of 1939, not Iran.
[00:40:11]  Have a good day.
[00:40:13]  Lily, Republican, Dayton, Ohio, you're on the air.
[00:40:18]  Oh, hello.
[00:40:20]  Thank you for taking my call.
[00:40:22]  I just wanted to state that I've never seen so much anti-Semitism against sentiment, I can't even say it, against Israel.
[00:40:35]  There are allies, our neighbors.
[00:40:39]  Those individuals have been under attack by Arab nations for 2,000 years.
[00:40:45]  This stuff has gone on.
[00:40:47]  If people don't know their history, do they remember the Iranian hostages?
[00:40:53]  Do they remember the things that they did on October the 7th?
[00:40:57]  They backed the terrorist group with funds, you know, money, weapons to go in and slaughter a thousand people.
[00:41:07]  They're killing their people in the streets for protesting because the people can't even eat because they're building their nuclear program off the backs of the people of Iran.
[00:41:21]  So when these people talk about, they want to talk about politics.
[00:41:25]  They want to bring that into it.
[00:41:27]  Let's talk about humanity.
[00:41:29]  Don't you think that would be better if these people would think about that instead of talking about the Jewish people?
[00:41:37]  I have never heard this stuff in America before.
[00:41:42]  I really haven't.
[00:41:43]  It's really despicable, and I don't know where they're getting their information that the Jewish people have been downtrodden by the Arab nations for 2,000 years.
[00:41:54]  Thank you very much for taking my call.
[00:41:56]  All right, Lily, let's talk to Leanne next in Arlington, Texas.
[00:41:59]  Democrat, you're on the air.
[00:42:01]  Well, well, well, I woke up this morning feeling good, turned on my TV, and I hear we're at war.
[00:42:09]  Are we at war?
[00:42:10]  Are we trying to help Ukrainians?
[00:42:14]  What happened to that?
[00:42:15]  Why are we not helping them?
[00:42:17]  We're not helping them anymore.
[00:42:19]  What happened with Gaza?
[00:42:20]  Are we not helping them anymore?
[00:42:22]  What happened to the USA?
[00:42:25]  Why?
[00:42:25]  We're not helping us anymore.
[00:42:27]  I think we have crisis over here: energy, affordability, who?
[00:42:32]  What's going on?
[00:42:33]  Distraction, distraction, Trump.
[00:42:36]  And that's all I have to say.
[00:42:37]  Thank you.
[00:42:39]  Joel and Chevy Chase, Maryland, Independent Line.
[00:42:42]  Good morning.
[00:42:44]  Good morning.
[00:42:45]  You know, I was listening to Mr. Albright, and I think he brought up a point of how, you know, Israel, U.S., and Iran are inevitably going to somewhat come into a conflict at some point.
[00:43:02]  I think that's very true.
[00:43:04]  I think the actions that we're taking today essentially only delays what was eventually going to happen and will eventually happen.
[00:43:12]  So, I mean, I think it was an appropriate response based on the information that was provided to the leadership to take action.
[00:43:21]  I guess my bigger concern is what's happened internally in the sense that any such conflict is already dividing a people that are a nation that's already divided.
[00:43:34]  I mean, listening to the line, I hear people on both sides sort of getting angrier and maybe more upset with each other for what they can't see.
[00:43:43]  I think that's a bigger issue than what's happening at the moment.
[00:43:49]  So that to me is more concerning, and I wish I had an easy answer or solution to what would unite our nation.
[00:43:57]  But I feel like any little thing is just driving us internally further apart.
[00:44:03]  And a nation divided cannot stand.
[00:44:06]  A kingdom divided against itself will not stand.
[00:44:10]  So that to me is a bigger issue.
[00:44:12]  And I guess that's all I wanted to share.
[00:44:16]  Thank you.
[00:44:18]  Jim in Tawanda, Pennsylvania, Republican line.
[00:44:22]  Good morning.
[00:44:23]  We're getting your reaction, Jim, to the U.S. strikes in Iran.
[00:44:28]  Good morning.
[00:44:29]  Thanks for taking my call.
[00:44:33]  No one should be surprised that we're doing this, but I think most people are upset.
[00:44:38]  And I understand the upset.
[00:44:39]  I am a registered Republican, but I'm more of a libertarian.
[00:44:43]  I was hoping President Trump would be America first.
[00:44:48]  We're so far in debt.
[00:44:50]  Nothing we're doing over there today is going to help Mr. and Mrs. America pay their bills, pay their insurance, find health care, find a doctor, afford groceries, or an education for their children or grandchildren.
[00:45:07]  Israel is more than capable of taking care of itself.
[00:45:10]  And it really is not anti-Semitism to believe that Israel does not need America to subsidize its very existence.
[00:45:20]  We can barely subsidize our own.
[00:45:24]  This is Operation Ajax 2.0.
[00:45:27]  No regime change ever works when America does it.
[00:45:33]  Was the CIA in there doing these protests like they did in 53?
[00:45:38]  I would love to hear anybody's thoughts on that.
[00:45:43]  America First means America first, and this is not it.
[00:45:47]  Thank you.
[00:45:48]  James on the line for Democrats in Savage, Maryland.
[00:45:51]  Good morning.
[00:45:54]  Did you say James?
[00:45:55]  Yes, I did.
[00:45:55]  I didn't hear you.
[00:45:56]  You're on the air.
[00:45:56]  Okay, sorry.
[00:45:57]  Yes, thanks for taking my call.
[00:45:59]  Okay, I'm one of the few Democrats that actually support the strikes, and I'll tell you why.
[00:46:03]  Iran is supporting all of the terrorists in the Middle East.
[00:46:07]  I mean, the Hezbollah, Hamas, the Houthis, and whoever else you want to pick, Iran is supporting them.
[00:46:15]  I think the support for them has dropped in the last year because we have been pressuring Iran, and they've been trying to build up their own defenses.
[00:46:22]  Plus, they're selling stuff to Russia, which they shouldn't be.
[00:46:25]  Now, I would rather support us fighting for Ukraine or helping Ukraine more with weapons that they don't have to actually pay for.
[00:46:33]  But that's not going to happen in this administration.
[00:46:35]  I do hope it's a surgical strike.
[00:46:37]  I hope we can, you know, the best of all worlds, we can take out their leadership, and then the government changes.
[00:46:45]  I don't know if that's going to happen, but I think it's worth a try.
[00:46:48]  And at the very least, we're stopping the support of the terrorist.
[00:46:51]  Now, Israel is hands are not clean.
[00:46:56]  Their government has got some issues, but they are democracy, and they are definitely our allies.
[00:47:02]  So I think Iran is worth taking out, the leadership at least.
[00:47:07]  Hopefully, the country can change.
[00:47:09]  Okay.
[00:47:10]  Erie, Pennsylvania is next on the independent line.
[00:47:12]  Jeanetta, good morning.
[00:47:15]  Good morning.
[00:47:16]  I just want to say a couple of things.
[00:47:19]  One, Epstein, Epstein, Epstein.
[00:47:21]  This is why this is being done because he's in the files.
[00:47:25]  He is a pedophile.
[00:47:27]  And so he's doing this for distraction.
[00:47:30]  And I would also say follow the money because the money out there is not going to the American people.
[00:47:35]  It's being given to everybody else.
[00:47:38]  And then Not Nah, who has he's another one that's, if he leaves office, he's going to be investigated and put in jail.

=== Follow The Money (02:07) ===

[00:47:46]  So this is what we have to remember.
[00:47:47]  This is all smoke and mirrors because Trump does not want to be out that he was, and he did, target young girls that he abused.
[00:47:59]  Thank you.
[00:48:00]  And I hope this doesn't go as bad as it should.
[00:48:03]  Ray in Wytheville, Virginia, Republican, you're on the air.
[00:48:08]  Yes, ma'am.
[00:48:09]  Thank you for taking my call.
[00:48:10]  C-Span is great.
[00:48:12]  I just have a couple things to say.
[00:48:16]  The lady that just preceded me talking about how guilty Trump was in Nepstein Powell.
[00:48:22]  Let's forget about that stuff.
[00:48:24]  And I don't know how she knows what she knows.
[00:48:27]  Whatever, that's on the point.
[00:48:29]  The reason, and it really furiates me with these people calling in and saying, oh, Congress has to approve everything that Trump does.
[00:48:40]  Congress has to approve this.
[00:48:42]  Congress this and Congress that.
[00:48:45]  Years ago, that could be very true.
[00:48:48]  But with the nuts that are in there now on the Democrat side, he can't do it because they would get our troops killed just to spite Trump.
[00:49:04]  And that's why he can't say nothing to the Congress anymore.
[00:49:09]  Like I said, years ago, yes, but not now.
[00:49:13]  And thank you so much.
[00:49:15]  All right.
[00:49:16]  And we are going to continue to take your calls on this topic of the U.S. strikes on Iran that are ongoing.
[00:49:24]  First, we're going to show you the President's video statement that he put out at 2:30 a.m. this morning from Mar-a-Lago in its entirety.
[00:49:32]  And then you will hear Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's statement through an interpreter, and then UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer's statement.
[00:49:43]  Then we'll come back and continue to take your calls.
[00:49:48]  Began major combat operations in Iran.