CSPAN - Washington Journal 04/08/2026
Aired: 2026-04-08
Duration: 01:20:59


=== Regime Change and Uranium (03:00) ===

[00:00:00]  Two-week period to kind of see where that leads.
[00:00:03]  Also, talked about the enriched uranium going in there.
[00:00:06]  Would that require, would that require special forces or other military, our service members?
[00:00:13]  Who would be basically going in there and trusted to going in there to get that uranium out?
[00:00:19]  Again, on the uranium, we're watching it.
[00:00:21]  We know what they have, and they will give it up, and we'll get it, and we'll take it.
[00:00:25]  If we have to, we can do it in any means necessary.
[00:00:28]  So, that's something the president is going to solve for.
[00:00:31]  We already have Midnight Hammer with the place we put them in and the reason it's in the situation where it is.
[00:00:39]  The second one was about the people.
[00:00:40]  Listen, I would love to see the Iranian people take advantage of this opportunity.
[00:00:45]  They have been oppressed by the previous regime, and they'll have a new opportunity with this regime.
[00:00:51]  That remains to be seen.
[00:00:52]  That was not our objective in this effort, but they're brave people.
[00:00:56]  Horrible things have been done to them by the previous regime.
[00:00:59]  Tens of thousands targeted and killed and assassinated in a way the government never should.
[00:01:04]  And we wish them the best.
[00:01:05]  Absolutely.
[00:01:05]  Thank you all very much.
[00:01:06]  Appreciate it.
[00:01:13]  And that was the Pentagon briefing for today.
[00:01:16]  If you missed it, we will play it at 10 o'clock Eastern Time right after this program in its entirety.
[00:01:23]  A couple of things for your awareness.
[00:01:25]  The president put out a truth social this morning, 7.22 a.m., saying this.
[00:01:30]  The United States will work closely with Iran, which we have determined has gone through what will be a very productive regime change.
[00:01:38]  There will be no enrichment of uranium, and the U.S. will, working with Iran, dig up and remove all of the deeply buried B-2 bombers' nuclear dust.
[00:01:49]  It is now and has been under very exacting satellite surveillance, Space Force.
[00:01:55]  Nothing has been touched from the date of attack.
[00:01:58]  We are and will be talking tariff and sanctions relief with Iran.
[00:02:03]  Many of the 15 points have already been agreed to.
[00:02:06]  That was at 7.22.
[00:02:08]  Then at 7.30, eight minutes later, he did post this, which is, quote, a country supplying military weapons to Iran will be immediately tariffed on any and all goods sold to the United States of America 50% effective immediately.
[00:02:26]  There will be no exclusions or exemptions.
[00:02:30]  Those were the truth socials that have been put out this morning.
[00:02:33]  And we are going to take a quick break, but we'll continue our conversation on the discussion around this two-week ceasefire that was announced last night with Iran.
[00:02:46]  And joining us will be Quincy Institute's Adam Weinstein.
[00:02:50]  We'll be right back.
[00:02:58]  Best ideas and best practices can be found anywhere.

=== Bridging the Political Divide (03:32) ===

[00:03:01]  We have to listen so we can govern better.
[00:03:03]  Democracy depends on heavy doses of civility.
[00:03:06]  You can fight and still be friendly.
[00:03:08]  Bridging the divide in American politics.
[00:03:11]  You know, you may not agree with La Dokrad on everything, but you can find areas where you do agree.
[00:03:14]  He's a pretty likable guy as well.
[00:03:16]  Chris Coons and I are actually friends.
[00:03:17]  He votes wrong all the time, but we're actually friends.
[00:03:20]  A horrible secret that Scott and I have is that we actually respect each other.
[00:03:23]  We all don't hate each other.
[00:03:25]  You two actually kind of like each other.
[00:03:27]  These are the kinds of secrets we'd like to expose.
[00:03:29]  It's nice to be with a member who knows what they're talking about.
[00:03:32]  You guys did agree to the civility, all right?
[00:03:34]  He owes my son $10 from a bet.
[00:03:37]  He's the vice president.
[00:03:38]  He'll fork it over.
[00:03:40]  That's fighting words, right, Bill.
[00:03:41]  I'm glad I'm not in charge.
[00:03:42]  I'm thrilled to be on the show with him.
[00:03:44]  There are not shows like this, right?
[00:03:46]  Incentivizing that relationship.
[00:03:49]  Ceasefire, Friday nights on C-SPAN.
[00:03:56]  In a divided media world, one place brings Americans together.
[00:04:00]  According to a new MAGA research report, nearly 90 million Americans turn to C-SPAN, and they're almost perfectly balanced.
[00:04:07]  28% conservative, 27% liberal or progressive, 41% moderate.
[00:04:14]  Republicans watching Democrats, Democrats watching Republicans, moderates watching all sides.
[00:04:20]  Because C-SPAN viewers want the facts straight from the source.
[00:04:24]  No commentary, no agenda, just democracy.
[00:04:27]  Unfiltered every day on the C-SPAN networks.
[00:04:34]  C-SPAN is as unbiased as you can get.
[00:04:37]  You are so fair.
[00:04:39]  I don't know how anybody can say otherwise.
[00:04:41]  You guys do the most important work for everyone in this country.
[00:04:45]  I love C-SPAN because I get to hear all the voices.
[00:04:49]  You bring these divergent viewpoints and you present both sides of an issue and you allow people to make up their own minds.
[00:04:55]  I absolutely love C-SPAN.
[00:04:58]  I love to hear both sides.
[00:04:59]  I've watched every morning and it is unbiased.
[00:05:03]  And you bring in factual information for the callers to understand where they are in their comments.
[00:05:10]  It's probably the only place that we can hear honest opinion of Americans across the country.
[00:05:14]  You guys at C-SPAN are doing such a wonderful job of allowing free exchange of ideas without a lot of interruptions.
[00:05:22]  Thank you, C-SPAN, for being a light in the dark.
[00:05:31]  Staying informed is essential.
[00:05:33]  The C-SPAN shop has the apparel to match your civic energy.
[00:05:37]  Premium t-shirts, hats, and drinkwear.
[00:05:40]  Everyday favorites for those passionate about politics through C-SPAN.
[00:05:44]  There's something for every C-SPAN fan.
[00:05:47]  And every purchase helps support our nonprofit operations.
[00:05:50]  Shop now or anytime online at C-SPANShop.org.
[00:05:54]  Gear up for engagement.
[00:05:58]  We bring you into the chamber, onto the Senate floor, inside the hearing room, up to the mic, and to the desk in the Oval Office.
[00:06:08]  C-SPAN takes you where decisions are made.
[00:06:10]  No spin, no commentary, no agenda.
[00:06:14]  C-SPAN is your unfiltered connection to American democracy.
[00:06:18]  Advance the mission.
[00:06:19]  Donate today at c-span.org forward slash donate.
[00:06:23]  Together, we keep democracy in view.
[00:06:29]  Washington Journal continues.
[00:06:32]  And welcome back to Washington Journal.

=== Failed History of Strikes (15:16) ===

[00:06:33]  We're joined now by Adam Weinstein.
[00:06:35]  He is the Middle East Program Deputy Director at the Quincy Institute for Responsible State Craft.
[00:06:41]  Adam, welcome to the program.
[00:06:43]  Thanks for having me.
[00:06:45]  You just heard the Pentagon press briefing.
[00:06:48]  What was your reaction?
[00:06:50]  My reaction is they're trying to, I don't want to say spin because that's too strong of a word, but they're trying to sell this ceasefire in the last month of operations in Iran as a win while simultaneously claiming that they destroyed Iran's industrial capacity, but they're also standing with the Iranian people.
[00:07:12]  But at the same time, it made sense to allow the regime to remain.
[00:07:17]  So I found it very inconsistent.
[00:07:20]  And your reaction to the announcement of the ceasefire yesterday, were you surprised?
[00:07:26]  Did you welcome that?
[00:07:27]  What do you think?
[00:07:28]  I welcomed it.
[00:07:30]  Part of me was surprised, but these negotiations had been going on for two weeks through Pakistani mediators.
[00:07:39]  So I do welcome the ceasefire because I think this war didn't have a clear end, end state that the administration was seeking.
[00:07:49]  I don't think they had clarity on that.
[00:07:51]  And actually, the briefing I just heard only solidifies that point.
[00:07:56]  And the deal that is, I guess, going to be negotiated, we've seen the 10-point deal, the 10 points asked for by Iran.
[00:08:07]  We've seen the 15 points asked for by the Trump administration.
[00:08:11]  They're very far apart.
[00:08:13]  So where do you see this kind of shaking out?
[00:08:17]  Is there a middle ground?
[00:08:18]  What do you expect out of a deal?
[00:08:20]  if there is one?
[00:08:22]  Well, I think the most important thing to the Trump administration is the deal needs to allow for face-saving and needs to allow the Trump administration to sell this war as a success at home, that in some way they made the Middle East more peaceful and they defanged the Iranian regime.
[00:08:43]  That's the kind of language they like to use.
[00:08:45]  I think for the Iranians, what's most important is they need to have money to rebuild the infrastructure that was just destroyed, and they want to have some kind of assurance that this kind of war won't happen again.
[00:09:02]  And so for the Iranians, the most important thing is some sort of leverage over the Strait of Hermuz and possibly a toll booth in which they can collect money through the ships that pass through, use that to rebuild the infrastructure that was destroyed and also enrich their regime, and also retain leverage over that strait so that if the United States or Israel decides to conduct attacks again, we're just going to repeat the same cycle.
[00:09:29]  And the Israelis and the Americans know that.
[00:09:33]  I think that's what the Iranians want.
[00:09:35]  I don't think the Iranians trust a third-party guarantor.
[00:09:38]  And I don't think countries like Russia or China or Pakistan are interested in playing that role.
[00:09:44]  So the only leverage the Iranians really have is the Strait of Hermuz.
[00:09:48]  So when you say operating it as a toll booth, what kind of a precedent do you think this could set for other waterways in the world and commercial shipping through those waterways?
[00:10:02]  Well, it would set the precedent of tolls.
[00:10:05]  Of course, having a toll booth doesn't necessarily mean that Iran completely controls the waterway.
[00:10:15]  There's similar precedents in other parts of the world.
[00:10:19]  Think about the Suez Canal as an example.
[00:10:21]  Now, granted, that goes straight through Egyptian territory, but that's a precedent.
[00:10:27]  It would be likely jointly operated with the Omanis because both Oman and Iran have equal claims to the waters that go through the Strait of Hermuz.
[00:10:40]  But yeah, it would create some precedent.
[00:10:42]  Although I think we have to remember that the Strait of Hermuz is unique in many ways.
[00:10:46]  It's extraordinarily narrow in which Omani and Iranian waters extend out almost to the middle of the waterway.
[00:10:54]  And it's a place where one-fifth of oil and liquefied natural gas pass through.
[00:11:03]  We will take your calls for our guest, Adam Weinstein with the Quincy Institute.
[00:11:08]  If you would like to weigh in, ask a question, you can do so now.
[00:11:12]  The lines are Republicans 202, 748, 8001, Democrats 202, 748, 8000, and Independents 202, 748, 8002.
[00:11:23]  Adam, I want to ask you about the role of Israel in this conflict and in the ceasefire.
[00:11:28]  Where do you see things going with that?
[00:11:33]  Well, I certainly don't think Israel welcomed the ceasefire.
[00:11:36]  The real question is whether Israel will act as a spoiler to the ceasefire.
[00:11:40]  So if Israel were to continue to conduct strikes in the coming days in Lebanon And in Iran, it would risk undermining the ceasefire.
[00:11:55]  Because, of course, the Iranians view Israel and the U.S. as being in cahoots with one another.
[00:12:01]  So, I don't think they would accept the United States ceasing strikes, but Israel continues these strikes.
[00:12:07]  In terms of the origins of this conflict, I think ultimately it was President Trump's decision, and he needs to own it.
[00:12:15]  But I do think Netanyahu certainly tried to convince him and persuade him that now was the time to conduct strikes on Iran.
[00:12:23]  The interests of the U.S. and the interests of Israel diverged a bit.
[00:12:27]  I think the Trump administration wanted to weaken the Iranian government and the Iranian military and their industrial base.
[00:12:34]  But I think for Israel, they want regime change, and nothing short of that will really satisfy them.
[00:12:41]  Now, you've heard the President and Secretary Hagseth say the regime has changed, even if that wasn't an explicit goal of the United States, given the amount of people that have been killed from their top leadership.
[00:12:57]  So, what do you think of that?
[00:12:58]  Do you think the regime has changed?
[00:13:01]  And what can you tell us about how stable the regime is currently?
[00:13:09]  Well, unfortunately, I think the regime has changed, but it's likely changed for the worse, not for the better.
[00:13:15]  I mean, you look at the former Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei.
[00:13:18]  He was 86 years old.
[00:13:20]  He was somewhat ineffective in his latter years.
[00:13:24]  And he's dead now.
[00:13:26]  And we don't know the condition of his son, actually.
[00:13:30]  But if his son does recover, Mushtaaba, Mushtaaba is much younger.
[00:13:35]  His wife has been killed.
[00:13:36]  His mother has been killed.
[00:13:37]  His father has been killed.
[00:13:38]  I don't think this is going to be someone who's amenable to the United States or necessarily more pragmatic.
[00:13:46]  Younger leaders tend to be more ideological and more hardline.
[00:13:51]  Some of the more pragmatic figures in the regime were killed, such as Larajani.
[00:13:57]  And most importantly, the more moderate people in the regime, their narrative has been completely sidelined.
[00:14:04]  I mean, for years, they pinned their political careers on this idea that you could negotiate with the United States and that would be the best path forward, whereas the hardliners within the regime said negotiation wasn't possible and that you could never trust the United States.
[00:14:20]  And since the Trump administration was negotiating with Iran last summer and then initiated strikes and then they were negotiating with Iran once again earlier this year and then initiated this war, I think the view of the hardliners has been vindicated in some way.
[00:14:38]  And so it's going to be a more difficult regime to work with.
[00:14:41]  Even though we've managed to get a ceasefire with them now, I think it's going to be a more difficult regime to work with.
[00:14:48]  They are weakened for now.
[00:14:50]  But remember, after the Iranian Revolution in 1979, they experienced a brutal war with Iraq that killed something like 200,000 Iranians.
[00:15:00]  It was a much more brutal war than what we've seen over the last month.
[00:15:04]  And they were able to rebuild from that.
[00:15:06]  And so I think the regime is likely more radical than it was before.
[00:15:11]  And for the Iranian people, I don't think their conditions have improved.
[00:15:14]  I think their conditions are worse now than they were two months ago.
[00:15:18]  When you say more moderate elements of the regime that have been taken out and replaced with more radical, even when there were those more moderate members, as you say, we were not able to reach any diplomatic negotiation with them.
[00:15:37]  So how moderate really could they have been?
[00:15:40]  That's incorrect.
[00:15:41]  We re-reached the Iran nuclear deal with them under the Obama administration.
[00:15:45]  We reached the JCPOA.
[00:15:46]  I mean, that took months and months and months and months.
[00:15:49]  I forget the exact timeframe.
[00:15:50]  I think it took something like 15 months to negotiate.
[00:15:54]  And it was years in the making.
[00:15:56]  We negotiated a complex nuclear deal with them in exchange for sanctions relief.
[00:16:04]  And it wasn't perfect, but it was setting the path towards something better.
[00:16:09]  And the first Trump administration ripped up that deal.
[00:16:12]  And I don't mean this in a partisan way, but I think that President Trump didn't want to have any legacy of the Obama administration.
[00:16:23]  And rather than build on that deal and create something bigger and better, he decided to rip it up.
[00:16:28]  So while it's true that the word moderate when it comes to the Iranian regime is relative, the reality is we have negotiated agreements with them.
[00:16:40]  So one of the let's talk about the Iran nuclear deal of the Obama administration, because some of the major criticisms are this.
[00:16:47]  One, it gave Iran access to funds, which they then used to fund their proxies and terrorism around the region.
[00:16:57]  And then the other one is the expiration dates on the limitations to their nuclear ambitions.
[00:17:04]  So how do you respond to those two criticisms?
[00:17:09]  Well, the way I would have responded to those two criticisms is no deal is forever.
[00:17:14]  The deal could have been built upon.
[00:17:16]  And by reintegrating Iran into a U.S.-led global economy at the time, at least, I think it would have given them a stake in having good relations with the West and not undermining their own development.
[00:17:31]  Ripping up that deal didn't prevent them from developing their ballistic missile capacity or their nuclear program for that matter.
[00:17:39]  And it didn't prevent them from funding their proxies.
[00:17:41]  I mean, they still have ways.
[00:17:43]  There's a dark economy within Iran.
[00:17:45]  There's a black market economy.
[00:17:49]  Look, the regime is corrupt.
[00:17:50]  That's no secret.
[00:17:52]  They're able to fund their proxies regardless of whether they're integrated in the global economy or not.
[00:17:59]  But by completely isolating Iran, I think it actually encouraged their worse inclinations.
[00:18:06]  It punished the Iranian people.
[00:18:08]  It didn't punish Iranian proxies.
[00:18:10]  All right, let's hear from callers, and we'll start with Bob in Pennsylvania.
[00:18:14]  Independent?
[00:18:16]  Yes, I'm an independent, and I'm also a Vietnam vet.
[00:18:20]  And I'd just like to say how proud I am of our country for finally stepping up and doing something for those barbarians that have treated their people and the world the way they have.
[00:18:30]  And I think it's pretty appalling to hear about this great nuclear deal we had.
[00:18:35]  Had no teeth in it, no follow-up, nobody really getting engaged in this.
[00:18:40]  And we've seen what that has done, and we've seen what that has brought to the world.
[00:18:45]  Could be on a brink of war, cut the oil supply off.
[00:18:49]  So, you know, it's very nice to hear all these things about what you're saying about the deal.
[00:18:53]  But instead of blaming other people, what would you do?
[00:18:56]  What would your plan be to be in there to get a deal to ensure that, number one, that government doesn't mutilate its own people like it has, treats people like they should, and runs as a country, a real country that's not going to be sneaking around?
[00:19:12]  And what type of controls are the rest of the world going to have to make sure that that funnel of water that we get all of our oil through will not be shut down again?
[00:19:24]  So I'm going to hear your plan.
[00:19:26]  Sure.
[00:19:26]  Go ahead, Adam.
[00:19:28]  Well, first of all, thanks for your service.
[00:19:31]  I was a Marine myself.
[00:19:33]  But, you know, look, I think we have to remember that the Strait of Hermuz was open before this war was launched.
[00:19:42]  Iran hadn't closed it before.
[00:19:45]  They closed the Strait of Hermuz as a response to what they viewed as an existential threat after the United States assassinated their supreme leader and engaged in a countrywide bombing campaign.
[00:19:57]  So, of course, I think the Strait of Hermuz should remain open, but I don't think that Iran would have chosen to close it but for a war that was essentially imposed on Iran.
[00:20:09]  In terms of how the Iranian regime treats its people, you're preaching to the choir.
[00:20:15]  I mean, they've killed thousands of protesters, they've imprisoned activists, they've robbed the country of economic development through their policies.
[00:20:26]  There's no doubt about that, except that this war wasn't about liberating the Iranian people.
[00:20:32]  It just wasn't.
[00:20:33]  The Iranian people rose up in a mass protest back in January and appealed to the Trump administration for help then.
[00:20:41]  That's not when the Trump administration chose to conduct these strikes.
[00:20:45]  You have to look at the timing.
[00:20:47]  They waited until those protests were completely subdued, and then they engaged in strikes.
[00:20:53]  And I don't think that, you know, if you listen to the president himself, he's time and time again said that he's not interested in true regime change.
[00:21:02]  And I also don't think that the United States has a history of successful regime change.
[00:21:09]  I mean, just look at Afghanistan.
[00:21:10]  We fought for 20 years just to bring the Taliban back.
[00:21:14]  So I don't think we have a credible history of successful regime change.
[00:21:18]  But even if we did, President Trump was clear that that wasn't really his goal here.
[00:21:22]  So I don't think the Iranian people have been helped.
[00:21:24]  Now, in terms of criticisms of the Iran nuclear deal, every deal has its weaknesses.
[00:21:32]  I truly believe that if the deal had been given more time to succeed and Iran had had a greater stake in being part of the global economy, they would have been incentivized not to be funding militias around the Middle East, or at least not at the same levels.

=== Targeting IRGC Commanders (10:06) ===

[00:21:50]  And Bob said that the agreement had no teeth and no follow-up.
[00:21:54]  Well, that's not true.
[00:21:57]  Inspections were part of the agreement.
[00:21:59]  Russia was part of the agreement.
[00:22:01]  China was supportive of the agreement.
[00:22:03]  Our European allies were part of the agreement.
[00:22:04]  I mean, these countries wouldn't be part of this process if they didn't think the agreement had teeth.
[00:22:14]  What's happening right now is that we've been at war with them for over a month and we haven't been able to remove the regime from power.
[00:22:23]  And they've been able to, unfortunately, they've been able to place the entire Gulf region in chaos.
[00:22:30]  And it's actually made us look weaker than we would have otherwise.
[00:22:35]  And they've shown that they can use the strait as leverage.
[00:22:38]  So unfortunately, I think we've emboldened the regime in a way that the Iran nuclear deal didn't.
[00:22:46]  David, Line for Democrats in Palm Beach, Florida.
[00:22:49]  You're on with Adam Weinstein.
[00:22:52]  Yes, thank you.
[00:22:53]  I would comment that I think Bob of Pennsylvania was way off base about the agreement.
[00:22:59]  The agreement had potential.
[00:23:01]  It was a good starting point.
[00:23:03]  Trump trashed it, just like he threw the diplomacy to the side.
[00:23:07]  But my real reason for calling is to ask: what should we believe from Heg Seth and Kane?
[00:23:14]  I heard them this morning in their press conference crowing about the wonderful military operation.
[00:23:21]  And that's all well and good, but that's not what this was about.
[00:23:25]  The United States was desperate at this point, almost on its knees, to get some type of an agreement to avoid committing war crimes.
[00:23:35]  I'm not sure whether our military would have gone forward with any order to waste the civilization, a 3,000-year-old civilization in Persia, now Iran, if that had been ordered.
[00:23:47]  It's hard to know what the truth is from the Trump administration, but I'd like to know exactly what we should believe was accomplished, what will be accomplished, because Mr. Hagseth makes it sound like we've had a great victory, and he used the word the victory in his statement this morning.
[00:24:06]  So please clarify if you can.
[00:24:09]  All right, David.
[00:24:11]  Well, administrations always claim victory.
[00:24:13]  All of you remember that President Bush claimed victory shortly after our invasion of Iraq, and then we know how that went.
[00:24:21]  But, you know, Kane claimed that 90% of the industrial base was destroyed of Iran.
[00:24:26]  I don't know that that's true.
[00:24:27]  I think the industrial base of Iran has taken a significant hit.
[00:24:30]  I'm not sure that that makes the region safer.
[00:24:34]  But, you know, militarily speaking, at a tactical level, yes, the U.S. military performed quite well.
[00:24:42]  I mean, it's clear that we have incredible intelligence.
[00:24:45]  The Israelis also have good intelligence.
[00:24:47]  We're able to target specific leaders and leaders of the IRGC with precision.
[00:24:54]  There was a lot of emphasis placed on the fact that some jets were shot down over Kuwait and in one case over Iran.
[00:25:04]  But if you consider the volume of missions that were being flown over Iran, it's actually incredible that we didn't have more losses.
[00:25:13]  So at a tactical level, our military performed miraculously.
[00:25:16]  But again, our military was asked to engage in a war that had no clear end state, didn't really have congressional approval.
[00:25:24]  For a while, President Trump was saying it wasn't a war, and then now he says it is a war.
[00:25:28]  So which is it?
[00:25:30]  And they're just the end state kept shifting.
[00:25:33]  And now, unfortunately, one of the main asks in the negotiating process is for the Strait of Hermuz to remain open, except this time the Iranians might be getting paid for it.
[00:25:46]  Whereas before this war, it was open and the Iranians weren't being paid for it.
[00:25:50]  So to go back to the JCPOA, we can criticize the weaknesses of the JCPOA all day, but the reality is that the terms that the Trump administration are negotiating now are actually much more generous to the Iranians.
[00:26:07]  The Iranians, if there is a deal made, are probably going to come out with a deal that they could only dream of during the JCPOA days.
[00:26:15]  On the Republican line in Silver Spring, Maryland, John, good morning.
[00:26:21]  Good morning.
[00:26:22]  I'd like to get Mr. Weinstein's take on some facts that haven't been brought to light.
[00:26:27]  One would be the Basic Brigade, what they are, how many of them there are, the fact that Iran is four times the size of Iraq, that it would not be realistic for any country to occupy Iran in any meaningful way.
[00:26:44]  I'd like to talk about the objectives too, the objectives to degrade the Navy and deplete the ballistic missiles.
[00:26:54]  I think there is some degree of consistency, not in Trump's rhetoric, certainly, which is ridiculous, but there's consistency in here you have a regime that was sniping protesters, killing tens, the thousands, maybe 10,000, 30,000.
[00:27:13]  And if it's not realistic to take over a country, wouldn't destroying the Army, Navy, Destroying the ballistic missile shield and severely targeting the law enforcement command, the Bazish Brigade.
[00:27:33]  Wouldn't that at least be a helpful response?
[00:27:35]  You spoke of timing.
[00:27:37]  It was January when the atrocities happened, and then you have the 40 days later when they have the funeral celebrations, and then they get hit again.
[00:27:48]  The amount of precision that you described tactically, and I'd say strategically, that takes at least, shoot, you got to give them at least two and a half months.
[00:27:58]  So I'd just like to see you engage with the Bazash Brigade, the sniping of tens of thousands of civilians, and kind of square that, if you would.
[00:28:08]  Okay.
[00:28:09]  Go ahead, Adam.
[00:28:11]  Yeah, well, unfortunately, Iran is such an opaque country.
[00:28:14]  We don't know precisely how many protesters were killed.
[00:28:18]  We know it's at least in the thousands, potentially in the tens of thousands.
[00:28:22]  It was clear that there were massacres being conducted during that period, and they were engaging in indiscriminate killing of protesters.
[00:28:32]  The besieged operate as essentially a paramilitary.
[00:28:35]  I mean, you described them as peeve police.
[00:28:37]  They're like paramilitarized police.
[00:28:39]  You might describe them as that.
[00:28:40]  And they keep the population in line.
[00:28:43]  They're less professional than the IRGC from a military perspective, but they're loyal to the regime.
[00:28:48]  And so the regime has a base of loyalists that are completely committed to it.
[00:28:55]  One, because they benefit from it, and two, because if something different were to come along, who knows what their fate would be.
[00:29:03]  In terms of destroying the military to achieve some kind of regime change, if you look at the senior military commanders that have been assassinated by either the U.S. or the Israelis, the majority of them have been IRGC commanders, not the regular conventional military.
[00:29:24]  I think that was done, that was done strategically, because I think there is a belief that a country cannot function very well without a military.
[00:29:34]  The IRGC are completely loyal to the system that exists now, but maybe the conventional military wouldn't be.
[00:29:39]  And I think perhaps they've learned that lesson from the Iraq war where they completely disbanded the military after the invasion only to get an insurgency instead.
[00:29:52]  Nevertheless, it's unpredictable how militaries will behave when there's a mass protest.
[00:30:00]  I mean, remember, in the case of the mass protests that occurred in Egypt during the Arab Spring, the military at least temporarily took the side of the protesters, only to become a military dictatorship instead.
[00:30:13]  So sometimes militaries will side with protesters rather than the ruling elites, and sometimes they won't.
[00:30:21]  For the conditions to exist for a successful revolution, there has to be a huge demographic of the population that is willing to either engage in armed struggle or a mass protest movement that lasts for months or years and willing to take incredible heavy casualties.
[00:30:41]  The Iranian government is coercive, and although there's been mass protests in Iran every two to three years for years now, the government has been able to sort of destroy those protest movements as they happen by arresting and executing individuals, often young people, by arresting protesters en masse, by killing protesters in some cases.
[00:31:05]  And so you haven't seen the conditions emerge for a real successful regime change from within.
[00:31:13]  If you look at the case of Syria, where there was a successful regime change from within, albeit with a lot of support from abroad, that took 15 years and hundreds of thousands of Syrians died in the process.
[00:31:25]  I think there's many Iranians, and I don't want to speak for Iranians, but I think it's just the fact that there's many Iranians inside Iran who might not support the regime, but they're also not willing to engage.
[00:31:38]  They're not willing or they're not capable of engaging in an armed struggle or long-term protest movement that would put their families or their livelihoods at risk.
[00:31:46]  And I think it's very difficult for the United States to create the conditions for regime change from abroad.
[00:31:53]  We've seen that in Iraq.
[00:31:54]  We've seen that in Afghanistan.

=== Pentagon Budget Priorities (14:22) ===

[00:31:57]  And unfortunately, I think what we've done with this war is we've created a more hardline regime that's even more paranoid than before and is going to be worse on human rights.
[00:32:07]  I mean, the real losers out of this war are going to be the Iranian people.
[00:32:11]  The Iranian regime lives to fight another day.
[00:32:14]  The United States ultimately will be fine.
[00:32:17]  The oil markets will recover.
[00:32:19]  But the people of Iran are going to be inside Iran are going to be the people who really come out losing in this scenario.
[00:32:27]  Adam Axios is reporting that U.S.-Iran peace talks are expected Friday in Pakistan.
[00:32:36]  The article does say, though, that Caroline Levitt, the press secretary, said there are discussions about in-person talks, but nothing is final until announced by the President or the White House.
[00:32:50]  What can you tell us about the role of Pakistan in these negotiations?
[00:32:55]  Well, Pakistan, it's a country I visit frequently.
[00:32:59]  Pakistan was in a unique position to act as a mediator here.
[00:33:04]  Traditional mediators like Oman and Qatar in the Gulf weren't able to really act as a mediator in this case.
[00:33:13]  For one, they had been a mediator in the past in past negotiations when the Trump administration had negotiated and then at the last moments abandoned negotiations and bombed Iran.
[00:33:24]  So there was a trust deficit.
[00:33:26]  The Iranians didn't really trust Gulf mediators anymore.
[00:33:29]  Secondly, Iran, during this war, as a strategy, chose to launch missile strikes and drone strikes against its Gulf neighbors.
[00:33:38]  So those Gulf neighbors were part of the war.
[00:33:42]  They were victims of the war.
[00:33:44]  And in the case of Qatar, for example, Qatar hosts a massive U.S. military base.
[00:33:49]  So from the Iranian perspective, Qatar is actually part of the U.S. military campaign against it.
[00:33:58]  Pakistan, on the other hand, doesn't host U.S. troops.
[00:34:03]  The Army Chief of Pakistan has a great relationship with President Trump.
[00:34:08]  President Trump has praised the Army Chief.
[00:34:10]  The Army Chief has praised President Trump.
[00:34:12]  And that's the most powerful political actor in Pakistan.
[00:34:16]  The Prime Minister of Pakistan also has a good relationship with President Trump.
[00:34:19]  For whatever reason, they all seem to have a great rapport with one another.
[00:34:24]  And I think that comes down to personalities and other factors.
[00:34:30]  And also, Pakistan has a decent relationship with Iran.
[00:34:35]  But maybe the most critical factor is one, Pakistan's a Muslim nuclear power, so it has a certain amount of credibility and cachet because of that.
[00:34:44]  It has a strong military.
[00:34:46]  It doesn't really rely on the United States for its own security.
[00:34:50]  It has a strong military partnership with the United States, but it doesn't rely on the United States for its security the way that some of those Gulf countries do.
[00:34:59]  And maybe the most important piece of the puzzle here is that Pakistan has some bad blood with both the United States and Iran.
[00:35:09]  I mean, in 2024, Iran and Pakistan were conducting missile and airstrikes against one another.
[00:35:16]  This was a dispute over armed separatists that exist in both Iran and Pakistan.
[00:35:21]  And we don't have to go into the details of that.
[00:35:23]  But the point is that as recently as 2024, Iran and Pakistan were fighting one another.
[00:35:28]  Iran and the United States have a long history of tension.
[00:35:32]  And this actually made Pakistan a more credible mediator because the view was Pakistan's not clearly on the U.S. side or clearly on the Iranian side.
[00:35:42]  It can act somewhat as a neutral mediator.
[00:35:46]  And it wasn't really a victim of this war.
[00:35:48]  Aside from being an economic victim, there weren't any strikes that were being conducted inside Pakistan.
[00:35:54]  So it wasn't a party to the conflict.
[00:35:56]  And so the Pakistanis jumped on this opportunity, I think, to have a closer relationship with the Trump administration by essentially providing a service, which is that we're going to act as a neutral mediator and help solve this problem.
[00:36:10]  The real question, though, is whether the Iranians and the United States can make the compromises necessary to come to an agreement.
[00:36:21]  Are you confident in that, Adam?
[00:36:23]  Do you think there can be an agreement?
[00:36:25]  I think it could go either way.
[00:36:27]  I think the Iranians, they've already paid a huge price up front.
[00:36:33]  One of the foolhardy aspects of launching this war is one of the most powerful pieces of leverage that the United States has is our military.
[00:36:43]  It's the threat of our military.
[00:36:45]  It's the fear of our military.
[00:36:48]  But once we deploy that threat and engage in strikes, actually the Iranians have already paid the military price.
[00:36:56]  And they've seen that despite the strength of our military, our military wasn't able to achieve regime change in a quick kind of way.
[00:37:03]  And so I think this has unfortunately given the Iranians some confidence at the negotiating table.
[00:37:08]  And they're probably going to be more hardline in their negotiating positions.
[00:37:12]  I hope that a deal is achieved.
[00:37:14]  And I think that the Iranians and the Trump administration should be interacting directly.
[00:37:21]  I do, you know, I think I've been critical of the Trump administration on this program so far.
[00:37:27]  But I want to say something positive, which is I think that President Trump has always been willing to sit down with adversaries.
[00:37:33]  He's willing to sit down with Kim Jong-un.
[00:37:35]  He's willing to meet with Putin.
[00:37:37]  He's willing to meet with Xi Jinping.
[00:37:40]  He's not someone who is afraid to sit down with an adversary or a potential adversary and work out a deal.
[00:37:48]  He did that with the Taliban.
[00:37:49]  And I think there's even more bad blood between the Taliban and the United States in some ways than Iran and the United States.
[00:37:56]  So I think President Trump should go back to his instincts, which was to be a deal maker, to be a peace president.
[00:38:02]  This is what he campaigned on.
[00:38:03]  For some reason, in the last couple months, he's done in 180.
[00:38:07]  I don't think the majority of his supporters like that.
[00:38:12]  So I think he should trust his instincts and try to hash out a deal with the Iranians.
[00:38:17]  Mohammed in Washington, D.C., Independence, you're on with Adam Weinstein.
[00:38:24]  Okay, good morning.
[00:38:24]  Thank you for taking my call.
[00:38:26]  Hey, Adam, I just saw one in my camera and what do you call Trump administration claiming a victory when I'm listening?
[00:38:37]  Look, English is my sixth language.
[00:38:40]  I speak other languages way better than English.
[00:38:42]  Everywhere I'm listening to all the youth around the world, including politicians, they say, we lost this war.
[00:38:50]  Now, Trump, they claiming a victory.
[00:38:54]  Trump, he claiming a victory.
[00:38:56]  Today, what Iranians they ask him for, they never dreamed for it before this war.
[00:39:02]  They gave up everything.
[00:39:05]  Today, when I'm looking whatever they ask him for, and Trump is willing to sit down with them, how am I going to believe really what Trump they say?
[00:39:13]  And then, if always they telling us Iran, Iran, Iran, we destroyed Iran democracy back in 1953.
[00:39:22]  Why always they go and they taking us to 79?
[00:39:26]  Why they don't go back?
[00:39:29]  We're not going there looking for democracy.
[00:39:31]  If democracy, there's no democracy in Saudi Arabia, you can get easily killed for only coming in Twitter, for only coming in Twitter about any ministers, not even the rulers.
[00:39:43]  So, I don't know what are we better today or before we went to this war?
[00:39:52]  Thank you.
[00:39:54]  Well, yeah, first of all, if English is your sixth language, I have to say that's quite impressive how well you speak it for it being your sixth language.
[00:40:01]  So, I understood your question.
[00:40:05]  I don't think we're better off today.
[00:40:08]  You know, and you're right to talk about 1953 and Mossadegh, and we don't have to go into the details of the history, nor am I a historian.
[00:40:18]  But there was a democratic moment in Iran that was undermined by the West.
[00:40:23]  And I think a lot of Iranians resent that.
[00:40:26]  Nevertheless, look, I'm a firm believer that countries have to control their own destiny.
[00:40:33]  And ultimately, whatever future government exists in Iran, whether it's the Islamic Republic that exists today or democracy, that's going to be in the hands of Iranians inside Iran, not the diaspora, not Americans, Iranians inside Iran.
[00:40:48]  And, you know, changing your government oftentimes involves massive sacrifice.
[00:40:54]  In general, I don't think people inside a country are that amenable to outside forces imposing regime change on them, even if they dislike their own government.
[00:41:04]  I mean, surely every American who is listening to this call, we live in a divided society, unfortunately, either has strong opinions about the previous administration or strong opinions about the current administration.
[00:41:19]  Yet I don't think we would welcome outside meddling in our country.
[00:41:23]  We're still, most of us are still patriots at the end of the day.
[00:41:26]  And I think Iran has a strong history of nationalism.
[00:41:31]  And one of the real mistakes of the Trump administration's rhetoric, especially yesterday, was when he threatened to destroy Persian civilization.
[00:41:41]  I mean, why would he say that?
[00:41:43]  One of the huge criticisms of the current government in Iran is that it actually is alien to Persian civilization.
[00:41:54]  It's a theocracy with a strong military component to it, and it actually is alien to what real Persian civilization is.
[00:42:04]  But unfortunately, what the Trump administration has done is it's tied the current government to Persian civilization and somehow made them the defenders of Persian civilization, which is, I don't know why they did that rhetorically.
[00:42:16]  It was actually a mistake to do, especially if you're trying to support Iranians who oppose the current government.
[00:42:22]  But in short, I don't think we're better off than before.
[00:42:25]  And I just don't think the United States can impose regime change on other countries successfully.
[00:42:30]  We couldn't do it in Afghanistan.
[00:42:33]  We sort of did it in Iraq, but at a great cost.
[00:42:38]  Dan in Oregon, Line for Democrats.
[00:42:41]  Good morning.
[00:42:44]  Good morning, and thanks for taking my call.
[00:42:46]  I want to know about the $1.5 trillion request from President Trump.
[00:42:52]  And I want to say that I hope that it's not going anywhere because, you know, he said he wanted to make cuts to our Democrats are, you know, you wanted to take the money from cuts to the United States' people's stuff.
[00:43:10]  And I live on my Social Security, and so that's a worry for me.
[00:43:13]  So if we could hear about where that money's going, and I just want to say, this war is costing a heck of a bunch of money that's coming from somewhere out of our people, then that's my call.
[00:43:27]  Thank you.
[00:43:29]  Adam, any reaction to the cost of the war?
[00:43:32]  Well, look, I mean, my first reaction is that two of my colleagues who are smarter than me have written a book that was recently published that you can purchase, or I'm sure you can find at a library too, called Trillion Dollar War Machine.
[00:43:45]  If you just Google Trillion Dollar War Machine, they do a deep dive into this ever-expanding Pentagon budget, and you're going to learn a lot more from them than you will from me.
[00:43:56]  But yes, it disturbs me.
[00:43:58]  Two things disturb me, this sort of entropic, ever-expanding Pentagon budget, and also the way we're using it.
[00:44:06]  I mean, if we're going to have a bigger Pentagon budget, we should be investing in the future of warfare, not engaging in another sort of haphazard regime change war in the Middle East that actually makes us look kind of silly to China and to other countries around the world.
[00:44:24]  But I agree with you wholeheartedly that there's other things other than the Pentagon budget that the U.S. government should be investing in.
[00:44:31]  And I found it troubling when President Trump made recent remarks about that we can't afford any kind of programs that will help Americans because we have a war to fight.
[00:44:41]  It was a war of choice.
[00:44:42]  We didn't have to fight it.
[00:44:43]  And we're already paying for it.
[00:44:45]  I mean, anecdotally, I just filled my gas tank over in Jersey, which usually has cheap gas, and it was like 75 bucks to fill a gas tank.
[00:44:54]  Luckily, I don't have to use my car that often.
[00:44:55]  But what if I did?
[00:44:56]  There's people who have to use their car every day.
[00:44:59]  And that's going to translate into everything.
[00:45:02]  The cost of groceries, the cost of flights.
[00:45:07]  And by the way, they can achieve a deal tomorrow.
[00:45:11]  But oil prices, because of the way they're determined ahead of time, are going to remain high for the next couple of months.
[00:45:17]  So we're going to be paying this price for a while, regardless of whether the Pentagon budget expands or not.
[00:45:23]  So yes, I share your frustration with that.
[00:45:25]  And Jeff is in Glen Bernie, Maryland line for Republicans.
[00:45:29]  Go ahead, Jeff.
[00:45:32]  Oh, we lost Jeff.
[00:45:34]  I wanted to ask you, Adam, when President Trump announced this war from Mar-a-Lago over a month ago, he told the Iranian people, he said, once we're done, you should rise up and take your country.
[00:45:48]  It will be yours to take.
[00:45:52]  You could make the argument that now that there's a ceasefire in place and the bombs have stopped falling, that this would be the time.
[00:46:01]  Why do you think this is not happening or do you think it could still happen?
[00:46:07]  I think it's not happening because unfortunately we have a history in this country of listening to diaspora voices.
[00:46:14]  I mean, we listened to them ahead of the Iraq war.
[00:46:17]  We listened to them when it came to Afghanistan.

=== Revolutions Are Rare (04:16) ===

[00:46:20]  Look, I understand why Iranians in the diaspora, some of whom can't go home to visit Iran, are frustrated.
[00:46:27]  But many of them claimed that, well, if the U.S. engaged in these kinds of strikes, there would be this mass revolution inside Iran.
[00:46:37]  It's just not, it's not the case.
[00:46:40]  People can feel one way, but it doesn't mean that they take to the streets.
[00:46:45]  I mean, I'll give an American example.
[00:46:47]  Almost every poll that's been conducted suggests that the vast majority of Americans oppose this war.
[00:46:53]  Are Americans out in the streets protesting this war en masse?
[00:46:57]  No.
[00:46:57]  Why?
[00:46:58]  Because we have jobs, we have families, we have responsibilities.
[00:47:02]  You know, in the case of the Iranians, I know it's a much more extreme example, but it really is a lot to ask people to go out and engage in some kind of bloody revolution against a regime that you know is going to fight back in response and they're going to abuse your human rights and they're going to kill you and imprison you.
[00:47:24]  And I think there's a lot of Iranians who might decide: well, you know what?
[00:47:30]  Maybe I don't like the current government, but I have a job.
[00:47:35]  Yes, I don't get paid as much as I should because the economy in Iran is terrible.
[00:47:39]  But I have a family and I want to come home to my family and I'm not yet willing to engage in that sacrifice.
[00:47:45]  Revolutions are the exception, not the norm.
[00:47:48]  And when they do happen, they're incredibly bloody.
[00:47:50]  We have this sort of fantasy in the United States and in the rest of the world that you can just have a mass protest movement and the government of a country will just leave.
[00:48:00]  There have been some cases where that happens, usually when that government is already extremely weak, oftentimes when the armed forces of that government stop supporting it.
[00:48:09]  There have been cases where that happens.
[00:48:11]  I think Romania was a case after the Soviet Union was on the way towards collapse.
[00:48:17]  But in most cases, it doesn't happen.
[00:48:20]  Most revolutions are, our own revolution was incredibly bloody.
[00:48:25]  The Syrian revolution was incredibly bloody.
[00:48:29]  And the conditions simply aren't in place for that to happen right now.
[00:48:34]  That's Adam Weinstein.
[00:48:36]  He is Middle East Program Deputy Director at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft.
[00:48:41]  Adam, thanks so much for joining us.
[00:48:43]  Thanks for having me.
[00:48:45]  And we will continue taking your calls on the Iran conflict.
[00:48:50]  You can start calling in now.
[00:48:51]  Republicans are on 20248-8001.
[00:48:54]  Democrats, 202-748-8000.
[00:48:57]  And Independents, 202748-8002.
[00:49:01]  Stay with us.
[00:49:09]  Sunday night on C-SPAN's QA.
[00:49:12]  Northeastern University professor and author Carla Kaplan discusses her book Troublemaker about journalist Jessica Mitford.
[00:49:19]  She explores Mitford's aristocratic British upbringing, her famous family, including sisters linked to Adolf Hitler, and her eventual move to America, where she became a best-selling author, civil rights activist, and communist.
[00:49:31]  It was very difficult for her because she was the political outlier of, and very much so.
[00:49:39]  So even as a young child, she was somebody who looked around her, and she was alone in her family in this attitude.
[00:49:48]  And she said, wait, something is very wrong here.
[00:49:51]  I don't get this.
[00:49:52]  Why do we have so very much?
[00:49:55]  And everybody around us in the village has so very little.
[00:50:00]  Author Carla Kaplan and her book, Troublemaker, Sunday night at 8 Eastern on C-SPAN's QA.
[00:50:06]  You can listen to QA and all of our podcasts on our free C-SPAN Now app or wherever you get your podcasts.
[00:50:17]  We bring you into the chamber, onto the Senate floor, inside the hearing room, up to the mic, and to the desk in the Oval Office.
[00:50:26]  C-SPAN takes you where decisions are made.
[00:50:29]  No spin, no commentary, no agenda.
[00:50:32]  C-SPAN is your unfiltered connection to American democracy.

=== Diplomatic Solutions Needed (12:16) ===

[00:50:36]  Advance the mission.
[00:50:37]  Donate today at c-span.org forward slash donate.
[00:50:42]  Together, we keep democracy in view.
[00:50:47]  Washington Journal continues.
[00:50:50]  Welcome back to the program.
[00:50:51]  We are taking your calls until the end of the program about the Iran ceasefire that was announced yesterday.
[00:50:58]  A couple of items for you about the Strait of Hormuz.
[00:51:02]  This is the Associated Press saying oil prices drop sharply, but energy costs still high.
[00:51:08]  It says financial markets see the two-week ceasefire reached between the U.S. and Iran as reducing the threats to global energy supplies, with the global benchmark for crude oil falling roughly 14% to $94 a barrel this morning.
[00:51:24]  That's Wednesday morning.
[00:51:25]  But oil prices are still higher than before the start of the Iran war, a sign that uncertainty persists about the conflict and the flow of tankers through the Strait of Hormuz, which now appears to be under Iran's control.
[00:51:38]  Brent crude oil futures were trading at $72.29 a barrel before the war began.
[00:51:46]  There's also this from Euronews.com.
[00:51:49]  Shipping companies see opportunities but see clarity on Strait of Hormuz opening.
[00:51:57]  And I'll just read you a little bit of this.
[00:52:00]  It says that the world's second largest container shipping operator, MERSC, has taken the lead in responding to the development.
[00:52:09]  Okay, this is what Maersk has said: quote: The ceasefire may create transit opportunities, but it does not yet provide full maritime certainty, and we need to understand all potential conditions attached.
[00:52:24]  It says Maersk has guaranteed it is, quote, working with urgency to clarify exactly how ships will be able to pass through the Strait of Hormuz following months of severe restrictions.
[00:52:37]  That's at euronews.com if you'd like to read that.
[00:52:41]  We are also standing by in case Secretary of State Marco Rubio and NATO Secretary General Mark Ruda come out and address reporters.
[00:52:53]  If they do, we will let you hear that.
[00:52:58]  But the Secretary General of NATO is in town to meet with the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and President Trump, and we will be following that and give you any news that comes out of that.
[00:53:12]  We'll take your calls now.
[00:53:14]  John in Columbus, Ohio, Independent Line.
[00:53:17]  Good morning, John.
[00:53:19]  Morning.
[00:53:20]  I wish that now that we've made this truce that they're not abiding by already, that we would just go in and take them all out because now they've removed the human targets from their bridges and power plants.
[00:53:38]  Time to go get them.
[00:53:39]  I'm tired of this crap.
[00:53:41]  Everybody is.
[00:53:42]  They've lied.
[00:53:43]  They always lie.
[00:53:44]  And we should just take them out at this point.
[00:53:48]  This is ridiculous.
[00:53:50]  So when you say take them out, are you saying bridges and power plants and oil?
[00:53:58]  Okay.
[00:54:00]  Let's talk to Isam in Orlando, Florida.
[00:54:05]  Republican line.
[00:54:08]  I think it's ridiculous to think that you can just coalesce a country and change regime and expect that to happen overnight.
[00:54:16]  There's a long history there.
[00:54:18]  It's a long civilization.
[00:54:20]  And not only that, but they're up to speed with technology.
[00:54:24]  So what is it to go in and finish a country?
[00:54:26]  It's a 90 million people.
[00:54:28]  You ought to think about our allies.
[00:54:30]  You ought to think that we should sit at a table intelligently rather than bombing and then discuss what comes next.
[00:54:38]  What's the best for everybody?
[00:54:41]  And the allies here, we lost in Europe, even in the Middle East.
[00:54:46]  Saudi Arabia and Qatar and these countries are suspiciously looking at the United States as a partner.
[00:54:55]  So when you say a deal, what kind of deal do you think we can get at this point?
[00:55:01]  Well, you know, President Obama had an agreement with Iran about the nuclear energy and how it could be used not for destruction, but for civilian applications.
[00:55:17]  And the future is energy from uranium and nuclear stuff.
[00:55:23]  Because pretty soon, in 30 years, we're going to run out of oil.
[00:55:27]  So we have to think of what is best, how we can control the development of nuclear energy in Iran.
[00:55:35]  And with that, there should be some kind of an organization that will look over their shoulder.
[00:55:42]  All right, Osam.
[00:55:43]  And this is the Associated Press.
[00:55:45]  We mentioned earlier that Israel's Prime Minister's office has said that the conflict with Hezbollah is not part of this ceasefire.
[00:55:54]  So that continues.
[00:55:56]  And this from the Associated Press says Israel hits over 100 Hezbollah targets in 10 minutes.
[00:56:03]  It says that this was in Beirut, in southern Lebanon, and the Paka region, calling it the largest coordinated strike in the current war.
[00:56:16]  The military noted the targets included missile launchers, command centers, and intelligence infrastructure.
[00:56:22]  And that's at the Associated Press.
[00:56:25]  Here is Melinda in Phoenix, Line for Democrats.
[00:56:28]  Good morning.
[00:56:30]  Yes, ma'am.
[00:56:32]  I really wanted to talk to the last person.
[00:56:35]  We have really messed up.
[00:56:38]  We, the American people, are not only going to pay for this war with our taxes, but once Iran puts tariffs on those ships coming through the Strait of Hermouth, we are going to have to pay for those tariffs on the products that we receive.
[00:56:58]  And as far my big comment is this war was lost the minute we fired the first bullet because Pete Hepset and Donald Trump did not secure the Strait of Hermouth so they could prevent the attacks from the Iranians.
[00:57:18]  This is all I have to say.
[00:57:20]  This is President has to go.
[00:57:23]  Somebody pull up the 25th Amendment and get rid of Pete Hepset.
[00:57:27]  He is a joke.
[00:57:29]  Thank you.
[00:57:31]  And George in Coral Gables, Florida, Independent Line, what do you think, George?
[00:57:36]  Hi, thank you very much for taking my call.
[00:57:39]  I wanted to make some comments on your last host.
[00:57:44]  My father was an ex-OSS agent during World War II, and I always remembered him telling me that revolutions are never started by the poor people.
[00:57:57]  Unfortunately, they are the ones that are being sacrificed.
[00:58:00]  And this, even referencing your last caller, this war started 47 years ago.
[00:58:08]  The bloodshed by this regime, which they have created, not only on American lives, but you can go even with Palestinian lives, Israeli lives, all the way down the list by funding terrorist groups whose mission was to destroy the West and to kill people.
[00:58:30]  So I want to be more optimistic and believe that the future will be safer now that these people do not have a nuclear bomb.
[00:58:41]  The talk about Obama and his agreement is a joke because we realize later that there was never any agreement.
[00:58:50]  The Iranians continued to do what they wanted to do.
[00:58:54]  They wouldn't allow international inspectors to even go on site to see what they were doing.
[00:59:00]  It was obvious, and we've exposed them.
[00:59:03]  And I hope the rest of the world sees it as well.
[00:59:07]  So, George, I want to ask you about the 60% enriched uranium that is still in the country.
[00:59:12]  What do you think should happen with that?
[00:59:15]  Do you think that that would be a deal breaker?
[00:59:17]  In other words, that 440 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium has to leave the country or else there's no deal.
[00:59:27]  Or what do you think?
[00:59:28]  Well, I don't, yeah, I believe that the people who are in charge, this is not a knee-jerk reaction.
[00:59:36]  They have been studying this for decades at first when the Iranians started this project or going back a few presidents ago.
[00:59:47]  We have people, we have intelligence that I hope have planned the outcome and what is going to be done with that enrichment uranium.
[00:59:57]  I think it will be a joint venture with NATO.
[01:00:02]  I do think NATO will come around.
[01:00:04]  I think the rest of the world will come around and that will be extracted.
[01:00:09]  All right.
[01:00:10]  And here's Bruce Terrell, Texas.
[01:00:12]  Democrat, you're on the air.
[01:00:14]  Good morning.
[01:00:16]  I have a comment about this yesterday.
[01:00:23]  Obama had had an agreement with most of the nations, including China and Russia, with the Iranians to not produce weapons-rate material.
[01:00:37]  They had inspectors on the ground monitoring it.
[01:00:42]  Our president came in first thing, the second, second, first term he was monitored by people.
[01:00:48]  Second term, he comes in, first thing he does is tears up the agreement.
[01:00:54]  Now, people are complaining, well, they were developing, well, the agreement was torn up.
[01:00:59]  Now, he's threatening to annihilate a whole nation of people about the streets.
[01:01:08]  Now, thank God it didn't happen last night.
[01:01:11]  You don't go and just destroy a whole nation of people.
[01:01:18]  We should be doing diplomatic to try to resolve this issue.
[01:01:24]  And I think we've reached a point now to where Donald Trump's objective was just to get a new agreement with his name on it because he despises what Obama did.
[01:01:38]  And he'll do anything and make any type of agreement to get his name on it for his legacy.
[01:01:43]  So you think it'll be the same kind of agreement or maybe even more favorable to the Iranians?
[01:01:51]  Personally, I think Donald Trump doesn't care, but I think our national intelligence people and the people that really, the generals and all these people that really keep us secure, that they know that you can't do international crimes.
[01:02:10]  I think they will try to make sure that we get the best deal that we can get.
[01:02:14]  He can sign his name to it, and he'll go down in history signing the best, you know, signing the deal, and it won't have Obama's name on it again.
[01:02:23]  All right, got it.
[01:02:24]  And we are going to take your calls for the next 20 minutes until the end of the program.
[01:02:28]  So you can start calling in now.
[01:02:29]  If you haven't already, Republicans are on 202-748-8001.
[01:02:34]  Democrats 202-748-8000.
[01:02:37]  and Independence 202-748-8002.
[01:02:41]  Dee Dee is in Oakland, Tennessee, Independent.
[01:02:46]  Good morning.
[01:02:48]  Hello.
[01:02:49]  Hi.
[01:02:50]  Can you hear me?
[01:02:51]  Yes, we can.

=== Calling In Live Calls (02:10) ===

[01:02:52]  Go right ahead.
[01:02:52]  I'm having a hard time with the sound here, but my comment, actually my question is, when are people going to wake up and realize mankind cannot rule itself?
[01:03:09]  If they spent as much time studying the scriptures and the prophecies that are coming true right now, they would change their tactics and their attitudes real quick.
[01:03:22]  We are in the last days of the time of the end.
[01:03:28]  And these bureaucrats and false religious leaders keep throwing, I won't use the word, but BS in the faces of people who keep them blinded so they can profit off of our support.
[01:03:49]  And there's one scripture that still stands out in my mind.
[01:03:54]  I hope you guys will write it down and look it up.
[01:03:57]  It's found in 1 Thessalonians 5th chapter, 3rd verse, I think it is.
[01:04:05]  And I've seen it and heard it repeated more and more often, coming out of the mouths of all these world leaders and all these bureaucrats.
[01:04:18]  And it quotes that when they are saying the words peace and security, the end will be instantly upon them.
[01:04:30]  Well, I've been hearing this more and more frequently for the last five years.
[01:04:37]  And I don't know if you guys can recall this great big billboard that was very prominent behind the man Mike Pompeo when he was giving a speech before the United Nations, I think it was.
[01:04:55]  And on that big billboard, there were the words, peace and security.
[01:05:01]  All right, DeeDee.

=== Nuclear Weapons Concerns (15:15) ===

[01:05:02]  And this is the Axios has an exclusive on how Iran's supreme leader reached a truce with Trump.
[01:05:10]  It said that officials in the U.S. and Israel learned of an intriguing development on Monday with President Trump's ultimatum looming.
[01:05:17]  Supreme Leader Mushtabah Khamenei had instructed his negotiators for the first time since the war began to move towards a deal.
[01:05:25]  According to an Israeli official, a regional official and a third source with knowledge, it says, as Trump was publicly threatening total annihilation, there were signs of diplomatic momentum behind the scenes, though even sources close to Trump didn't know which outcome to expect right up until a ceasefire was announced.
[01:05:44]  It says that U.S. forces in the Middle East and officials in the Pentagon spent those closing hours preparing for a massive bombing campaign on Iranian infrastructure and trying to figure out where Trump was leaning.
[01:05:57]  Quote, we had no idea what was going to happen.
[01:06:00]  It was wild, a defense official said.
[01:06:04]  David, a Republican, Jacksonville, North Carolina, good morning.
[01:06:09]  Yes, good morning.
[01:06:10]  Just a comment.
[01:06:11]  It seems to me it's rather, it's always amuse.
[01:06:14]  I'm always amused that the Democrats are always saying how this is the illegal war and how this was never planned and stuff.
[01:06:24]  I was in the Navy, a retired Navy, for 27 years, and I spent my whole time up there going in and out of the North Arabian Sea and stuff.
[01:06:35]  And we were always under threat by what was going on in Iran.
[01:06:39]  And I remember, you know, since 1979, when Iran attacked us by taking our embassy, and the USS STARC, the USS Coal embassies, we've been at war with them.
[01:06:59]  They've been at war with us, but we just haven't gotten awake yet.
[01:07:02]  But I think that what is going on now is something that needs to be addressed, and I believe it is being executed in a very exact manner, according to how these plans have been developed over years, not just for the last few minutes, years.
[01:07:19]  So I think that's a good question.
[01:07:20]  So, David, you mentioned the USS Cole, which was in October of 2000 that was hit by Al-Qaeda.
[01:07:29]  So do you consider the Iranians having supported that attack?
[01:07:36]  Explain that.
[01:07:37]  Iran has been supporting proxies all over the Middle East for decades.
[01:07:44]  But you believe they were supporting Al-Qaeda?
[01:07:47]  I think they were involved there somehow, yes.
[01:07:50]  All right.
[01:07:52]  Here's Elizabeth in Washington, D.C. Democrat, good morning.
[01:07:56]  Yeah, hi, good morning.
[01:07:58]  I guess I wanted to kind of raise the comment on the extremist groups that are posed as the threat and the terrorists of the Middle East.
[01:08:11]  And it's more so how these groups were even established.
[01:08:16]  And I think that is the biggest mark that people miss, is that these groups were established to protect their country, to protect their rights, their sovereign nations.
[01:08:28]  And it's interesting that Israel being placed in Palestine has constantly taken away the rights of the individuals that are being displaced, that are being captured and dehumanized.
[01:08:54]  And the shocking thing is that Israel has been the conflict to a lot of things like 9-11, like the forever war, like this huge propaganda with Iran.
[01:09:06]  And it has been always Netanyahu's mission to have full control of the Middle East.
[01:09:16]  And that is part of the traction of these prolonged conflicts.
[01:09:24]  All right, Elizabeth, and this is Wired magazine has this from yesterday with the headline, Iran-linked hackers are sabotaging U.S. energy and water infrastructure.
[01:09:37]  It says, as Trump threatens Iranian infrastructure, the U.S. government warns that Iran has carried out its own digital attacks against U.S. critical infrastructure.
[01:09:48]  That's at wired.com if you'd like to read that article.
[01:09:53]  And Rick in Missouri, Republican, good morning.
[01:09:58]  Thank you for taking my call.
[01:10:00]  I guess I have a couple comments.
[01:10:03]  I don't see where our present war has created any kind of safety or security.
[01:10:10]  Now we will probably barter with Iran to have some kind of excise tax put on every ship that goes through that strait, which three months ago they were passing through for free.
[01:10:28]  Again, I don't want to sound like I'm anti-Trumper, but he didn't go into this with any kind of forethought.
[01:10:38]  We have given the world a glimpse of our technology that no one knew about in the effort to rescue the pirates.
[01:10:49]  We're going to pay more in oil and gas for the next foreseeable future, at least to the end of the year.
[01:11:00]  I don't see what we've accomplished.
[01:11:02]  Thank you very much.
[01:11:03]  You have a great day.
[01:11:05]  Arthur in Blue Springs, Missouri, Line for Democrats.
[01:11:08]  You're on the air.
[01:11:10]  Yes, my question is: I just want to know why are we sitting up here fighting another country that's over 2,000 miles away from us and does not really care about what goes on here?
[01:11:22]  And second of all, why do we need to be over there when we should be over here trying to take care of our own country?
[01:11:28]  We have homeless people here that need taken care of.
[01:11:31]  We have people here like TSA that needs jobs that ain't being paid for, who can't pay their bills.
[01:11:37]  We got medical situations dealing with this home health care.
[01:11:43]  All right, Arthur.
[01:11:45]  And take a look at Secretary Hegseth.
[01:11:49]  He spoke earlier today at a Pentagon news conference.
[01:11:54]  This is what he said.
[01:11:56]  Iran shot hundreds and hundreds of missiles and attack, one-way attack drones at our aircraft carrier.
[01:12:02]  They were obsessed with it, and they never got even close.
[01:12:06]  Every single one of those shots easily shot down miles and miles away from the Abe Lincoln.
[01:12:13]  They were blowing ammo into fantasy land.
[01:12:17]  Contrast that with most significantly, in last night's wave of more than 800 strikes, we finished completely destroying Iran's defense industrial base, a core pillar of our mission objective.
[01:12:38]  Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, if you would like to see the whole news conference, we will play that for you again after this program.
[01:12:46]  And also, it's on our website, c-span.org.
[01:12:50]  Let's talk to George in Georgia, Independent Line.
[01:12:53]  Good morning.
[01:12:55]  Good morning.
[01:12:56]  We're here because Trump can't stand anything that Obama touched.
[01:13:01]  This is ridiculous.
[01:13:02]  We knew this was going to be the out.
[01:13:04]  We look crazy.
[01:13:05]  We've lost lives.
[01:13:06]  Hundreds injured, thousands killed, all for nothing, because we probably won't end up with the deal that we had when he tore it up, that Obama had.
[01:13:16]  It's insane.
[01:13:17]  He'll claim victory just like he did with Greenland.
[01:13:20]  Have a good day.
[01:13:22]  And a news update for you from Yahoo Finance.
[01:13:27]  The stock market, the Dow soars over 1,000 points, the SP 500 and NASDAQ surge on news of a two-week U.S.-Iran ceasefire.
[01:13:39]  Laura in McKinney, Texas, Republican, you're on the air.
[01:13:43]  Yes, good morning.
[01:13:45]  I don't often able to get through, but I just wanted to say that I hope that tomorrow, as we continue to go into negotiations, that we can get somebody else on board that can answer questions that might be more Trump promotion, because it appears the gentleman that you had on earlier, Adam Weinstein or Weinstein from Quincy Institute.
[01:14:10]  I'm a little skeptical about them because they are Soros-backs organization.
[01:14:16]  Mr. Weinstein had been let go from another magazine back in 2019, 2020 for some of his conversations.
[01:14:26]  But I'm hoping that What are your thoughts on Michael Rubin, who's American Enterprise Institute?
[01:14:33]  Do you feel that the AEI is more to your liking?
[01:14:42]  Is he somebody that's coming on tomorrow?
[01:14:44]  Do you already have your own?
[01:14:45]  Oh, no, he came on today earlier.
[01:14:47]  Sorry, you missed it.
[01:14:48]  Oh, I probably missed you.
[01:14:50]  But you know what?
[01:14:51]  Go up on our website, Laura, and watch that segment.
[01:14:56]  Okay.
[01:14:59]  Luke in New Jersey, line for Democrats.
[01:15:01]  You're on the air, Luke.
[01:15:03]  All right.
[01:15:04]  I just wanted to say that this war, all right, Iran has no nukes.
[01:15:10]  They've never had any nukes.
[01:15:13]  They've been perpetuating this since the 80s.
[01:15:16]  This is a complete lie made up by the Israelis in order to get the West to hate the Middle East and then want to go to war in the Middle East.
[01:15:25]  I find it disgusting that there are people out there that will excuse bombing a school full of 150 children in order to stop Iran from getting nukes that they've never had.
[01:15:38]  So, Luke, are you still there?
[01:15:42]  Yeah.
[01:15:43]  So, it is agreed upon that they have not reached a nuclear weapon, but that they were pursuing.
[01:15:51]  Most people believe that they were pursuing a nuclear weapon.
[01:15:54]  That's what the evidence would indicate.
[01:15:56]  Since the 80s?
[01:16:00]  Yeah, I'm not sure that they would have started that early.
[01:16:03]  So, was that newspaper from the Arm 84, an Israeli newspaper that's saying that they were pursuing nukes?
[01:16:11]  That I don't know.
[01:16:12]  I can't say for sure.
[01:16:14]  Okay.
[01:16:16]  Dennis in Massachusetts, Independent Line.
[01:16:19]  Good morning.
[01:16:20]  Good morning, C-SPAN.
[01:16:21]  How are you guys doing today?
[01:16:24]  I'm just calling from the number one gerrymanded state in the country.
[01:16:28]  I'd like to put that out there first.
[01:16:30]  But I just have a comment on your last caller, Adam, there.
[01:16:34]  I tried to call, but I couldn't get in.
[01:16:36]  Our last guest?
[01:16:37]  Yeah.
[01:16:38]  Yes.
[01:16:39]  Just a couple of comments, and I'll be nice about it.
[01:16:43]  That it was C-SPAN having this gentleman, wherever you found him, to come in and go against everything that Trump did or whatever was just told in the conference before this.
[01:16:54]  And that's fine.
[01:16:55]  That's what you do.
[01:16:57]  But I do have one problem with this gentleman: he said he was a Marine.
[01:17:02]  A Marine is always a Marine.
[01:17:04]  And that's all I got to say about that.
[01:17:06]  And you guys have a wonderful day.
[01:17:08]  Miranda in Pennsylvania, line for Democrats.
[01:17:11]  Good morning.
[01:17:13]  Hello.
[01:17:14]  Hi.
[01:17:15]  You're on the air.
[01:17:16]  Hi.
[01:17:17]  Mimi.
[01:17:18]  Okay, this is Miranda.
[01:17:20]  I just want to comment and say that I totally disagree with this situation over there in Iran.
[01:17:28]  And I feel that Donald Trump had no business in getting involved in the, what do you call it, the Israel war.
[01:17:40]  And that's all I have to say.
[01:17:42]  Thank you.
[01:17:43]  And Patrick in Alabama, line for Republicans.
[01:17:46]  You're next.
[01:17:47]  Good morning, Mimi.
[01:17:49]  Morning.
[01:17:50]  Can you play the video about the Obama agreement where it was no good?
[01:17:55]  Iran regime, they lied to Obama.
[01:17:58]  They didn't keep their part.
[01:17:59]  They wouldn't allow outside inspectors.
[01:18:02]  Obama had to trust the regime's report.
[01:18:06]  Thanks to Obama and Biden's billions.
[01:18:09]  The regime has built an underground base with tunnels and generators.
[01:18:13]  They could care less about their citizens.
[01:18:16]  That same regime is a religious group of the Islamic faith, Sierra Law Bunch.
[01:18:24]  If people would read the Quran, that's their Bible.
[01:18:27]  That's what they go by.
[01:18:29]  That same radical group is taking over our big cities by praying in the streets.
[01:18:37]  They're doing that prayer call over them speakers and stuff.
[01:18:41]  That's the same group of people that's here today.
[01:18:45]  That's the United States' biggest problem.
[01:18:49]  Great, Patrick.
[01:18:50]  And just for your awareness, later today at 1 p.m. Eastern Time, there will be a White House press briefing with Press Secretary Caroline Levitt.
[01:19:00]  We will have that for you here live on C-SPAN.
[01:19:03]  You can also watch on our app, C-SPANNOW, and online, c-span.org.
[01:19:09]  Estelle in Plainfield, Indiana, Independent Line.
[01:19:13]  Go ahead.
[01:19:15]  Yes.
[01:19:15]  I just wanted to say that people are speaking negatively about the guest that you had that was addressing some of the questions.
[01:19:24]  And I don't understand why, because he was speaking facts.
[01:19:28]  So it doesn't matter what organization he was associated with.
[01:19:33]  That's number one.
[01:19:34]  As long as he's speaking facts, we're living in a time where people are believing falsehoods and propaganda over facts.
[01:19:44]  Even those with common sense know what they're hearing is false information.
[01:19:50]  A lot of the things that are going on with Iran from day one has not been logical.
[01:19:55]  And they still have not clearly stated why they went there to begin with.
[01:20:00]  So now we're in worse shape than what we were.
[01:20:03]  And I agree with the individuals who said that we should not be there.
[01:20:09]  Yahoo felt a U.S. president finally who was able, who is able to trigger to be involved with this.

=== No Business Being There (00:40) ===

[01:20:18]  We have no business being there.
[01:20:20]  And now we have the U.S. president who's talking about we are going to cut benefits like Medicare, Medicaid, and local benefits for our U.S. citizens to help fund a war that is already overbudgeted.
[01:20:35]  And now they're asking for billions more dollars to fund what?
[01:20:41]  For more soldiers to lose their lives?
[01:20:44]  For us to be in a worse situation?
[01:20:47]  It just really does not make sense.
[01:20:49]  We have no business over there.
[01:20:50]  We have enough issues of our own to address.
[01:20:53]  All right, Estelle, and that does it for us today.
[01:20:56]  We will see you again tomorrow morning at 7 a.m. Eastern.