Sean, our number, you want to be a part of the program.
This is President Trump yesterday encouraging the protesters in Iran to keep protesting and that help is on the way.
Here's what he said.
To all Iranian patriots, keep protesting.
Take over your institutions if possible.
And save the name of the killers and the abusers that are abusing you.
You're being very badly abused.
And I've canceled all meetings with the Iranian officials until the senseless killing of protesters stops.
And all I say to them is help is on its way.
You saw that I put tariffs on anybody doing business with Iran.
Just went into effect today.
And I say make Iran great again.
You know, it's a great country until these monsters came in and took it over.
Now, this is seemingly getting worse by the day.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard forces have been out just slaughtering people.
You have to imagine that President Trump means everything that he says.
He doesn't make idle threats.
That's one thing we know about the president.
And we have right now what's happening is an evacuation.
Very key personnel at key U.S. military bases in the region, for example, at Qatar, have been advised to evacuate.
That is now ongoing on an expedited basis, which would, I think, be a pretty strong warning that something militarily may happen with the president.
I've got to imagine there may be an attempt to get some type of arms into the hands of protesters.
You can't win a revolution with a slingshot or a bottle or a brick.
It's just not going to work.
We have Bill Ackman put this out on X earlier today.
I actually passed it on to Sean Curran, the head of the Secret Service, Islamic Republic State TV.
He points out crossed a red line airing the image of President Trump after the assassination attempt, along with a Persian message reading, quote, this time the bullet won't miss a direct threat against the president.
Obviously, here, Iranian leaders now are signaling that fast trials and executions of protesters are now beginning.
We expected that first one to happen today.
Haven't got confirmation.
A 26-year-old expecting security forces, their crackdown has killed as many as 20,000 people to date.
So I would imagine help is on the way, but I think the president very wisely is putting the safety and security of Americans in the region first and getting them out.
I know they've expedited that mission to date.
And I would expect that the president means what he says, that very strong action against Iran and the regime is about to happen.
He wouldn't be telling the protesters to keep protesting otherwise.
Joining us now is Amir Fakhravar.
He's now teaching cooperative constitutional law at Texas State University, author of the best-selling book in Iran, Comrade Ayatollah.
He's also the National Iranian Congress Senate Chairman.
Also joining us is Congressman Zach Nunn of Iowa, a member of the Four Country Caucus, which is Iraq and Iran veterans serving in the House.
Thank you both for being here.
Amir, let me start with you.
What are you hearing from people on the ground?
The images I'm seeing are just from a horror movie.
They're horrific.
Thank you.
Thank you, Sean, for having me.
Since last week when we spoke, we lost at least 20,000 very brave Iranians, the heroes.
Yeah, regime have done another massacre.
It's the largest one.
And in two days, in 48 hours, they killed up to now.
We know the number is at least 20,000 and it will go up maybe to 50,000.
You cannot hear such a thing in modern history.
And we are all very worried about the people inside the country.
Every single family, they lost some family members.
All of us, which we are living in exile, 10 million Iranians in exile.
We have our family inside.
And all of us, we lost some family members.
It was a massacre, bloody massacre.
Regime killed with drone, with the drone, Shahad drone, which IRGC gave 2,500 of those drones to Russia to kill the Ukrainian civilians.
They are using right now those drones to kill the protesters in street.
And just think about this tyranny, this brutal regime.
They have thousands of missiles.
And if they can kill their own people, most of the people who have been killed, they are teenagers.
They are very young.
And if regime can kill them that easy, oh, yes, they will use those ballistic missiles when they can breathe.
Right now they cannot breathe because with the hard sanction, President Trump just got them.
And if they can fill a little space to breathe, then regime definitely will go to hit Israel, will go to hit the European capitals.
And they are planning with the help of China to hit New York, Florida, Moro Lago.
And you have seen the photo on Iranian state TV today, which was widely broadcasted, that yes, this time we will not miss the target.
In Farsi, it's Inbar Khatan Emire.
That says the first assassination attempt was their job too.
They're saying Inbar, that means we did it before, we missed it.
This time we will not miss it.
And it's this regime.
Definitely President Trump should always, when he said he's going to punish them, he should go and punish them.
He should destroy entire Iranian missile facilities with the help of Israelis.
And then we have some targets, Sean.
We have some very clear targets that the U.S. Army can attack.
We are not talking about the boots on the ground, the beautiful B-2s and F-35s and F-47.
It can be the first mission for F-47s.
They can go and target.
It's called the pastor area in Tehran, in the capital of Iran.
The pastor area is the different palaces of the king of Iran, the last king of Iran, which all the mullahs, they are living in these palaces, including Master Supreme Leader.
This pastor area is gated, very secure.
The people cannot go there.
Whoever lives in that area, please, President Trump, remember, pastor area.
Whoever lives there is either a mullahs, a killer, or there are minions around.
Yeah, the best target is pastor area, the Iranian missile facilities, and the Khomeini, the founder of Islamic Revolutions, his shrine is another very good target for America.
President Trump needs to send a very strong target and Iranian state TV.
Then they can understand they cannot come and send this type of message to the president of the United States.
Congressman Zach Nunn, you're an American hero, and you're now an elected member of Congress from Iowa, and you're with the four country caucus, which is Iraq, Iran, veterans serving in the House.
You're a former Air Force intelligence officer deployed three times to the Middle East after 9-11.
I guess among some people, there's some ambiguity.
For me, I have pretty, I have moral clarity on this.
There's no doubt in my mind, zero, that the president did the right thing by taking out Iran's nuclear sites.
Number one state sponsor of terror.
They have threatened this country many, many times.
If they ever got weapons of mass destruction coupled with their radical ideology, I think it is a clear and present danger to the entire world, never mind the region.
We're watching mass slaughter of individuals.
I think the president's, you know, the Trump doctrine, if you will, which is no forever wars, no boots on the ground, I think is the perfect solution in this case.
I think the president means what he says.
The president is evacuating military personnel on bases nearby that the Iranians might be able to hit.
Clearly, something is on the way.
What would be the right response in your view?
Well, Sean, I think you are hitting this nail on the head.
And I want to say our heart is out to Amir and his fellow warriors in Iran right now.
Amir and I both taught at the Institute for World Politics here in D.C. for a while.
But Sean, my head is with the president on this.
He has approached this the absolute right way.
I've flown out of that base in Qatar.
LUD Air Force Base fly-in combat recon operations off the coast of Iran.
The Iranians always threatening to shoot us down every single time.
They have no problems coming after the United States.
And here's the reality.
Iran, just in the last years alone, has been the number one funder to Hamas in Lebanon, to Hezbollah in Lebanon and Gaza, as well as what the Houthi rebels have done by shooting at U.S. area carrier strike groups, a rebel group taking pot shots at U.S. carriers and the Biden administration doing nothing in response emboldened the Ayatollah and the IRGC.
And so when we talk about what we can do in response here, the president's approach is correct.
First, I'm very proud in Congress that I'm leading the Iran maximum pressure campaign.
It's put real economic sanctions, cut off their ghost fleets, stopped their flow of oil to places like China where they get their money to fund the IRGC and keep the Ayatollah in power.
That is step one.
But the President also made very clear, you know, I flew some of the first recon missions over Iraq that looked at Soleimani, the IRGC commander.
And President Trump in his first term turned Soleimani into Salami when he eliminated him as the head of the IRGC.
That sent a very clear message to folks back in Iran.
President Trump was going to be different.
And so coming into his second term here, to see the Iranian people rise up against an oppressive regime and to not only lend support, but to action economic sanctions against the Ayatollah to make sure that the IRGC is on notice that if they shoot innocent civilians, as you have noted tragically, in the back of the head to the tune of tens of thousands being executed publicly.
Have you seen the videos that I've seen?
I have.
Tragically.
Tragically, yes.
But the reality here is, Sean.
I mean, I want you to explain in your words, because these are not images that will ever leave you, in my view.
That's why I can't air them on TV.
Kids are watching my show.
I don't want that in their head for the rest of their life.
Sean, you are absolutely right.
We fly a recon plane that listens to what's happening on the ground and to hear people screaming for their life as they are lined up and executed with shots to the back of the head.
And these aren't just protesters.
These are Iranians across 180 different cities in all 31 provinces who've tried to stand up for basic survivability.
And the Iranian people themselves are great.
They are huge allies.
They are huge potential partners with us in this region.
But the reality is here, this country is under the iron grip of the IRGC.
And this is where, after what you and I have seen, I guarantee the president has seen even worse.
And so when he talks about taking tactical but lethal strikes, there are value-add targets here in eliminating IRGC command.
I don't want to bomb this country into the Stone Age.
I don't want to see boots on the ground.
I want to see the biggest...
By the way, for those that don't know, you're talking about the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
That's right.
Yep.
The IRGC, there's two militaries effectively within Iran.
Many know this.
There's the Iranian military, which serves as basically just defense.
And then there's the IRGC, which sponsors terrorism and tries to project Iran abroad.
The reality here is protests alone are not going to be enough to destroy the Ayatollah and the death that he's done.
To hold him in check, the IRGC has to be clipped.
And that's a safeguard not only for the Iranian people, it's a safeguard for the 2,000 Iowa National Guards members from my home state who are deployed right now trying to protect U.S. interests abroad.
It's a protection for Americans when there are IGC operations being carried out at our southern border in the United States.
And Sean, to your very acute point here, the IRGC has come up multiple times to try and recruit people to assassinate the president of the United States, President Trump.
This is a regime that's intent on trying to topple our president and is hurting millions of folks the world over.
Targeted strikes on the IRGC are an effective way to clip their ability to harm the Iranian people.
And ultimately, the Iranian people have to decide what their future is going to look like and how they're going to do it.
The U.S. can be.
And I'd like to see them get armed.
I think, you know, if there's a way to get them armed so they can fight back, you can't win a revolution with a slingshot.
Listen, I could talk to both of you forever.
We're going to probably have you back this week.
But, you know, thank you, Congressman, for your service, number one, and thanks for your passion and your clarity on all of this.
Amir Fakhravar, we appreciate your passion, and we are praying for a speedy, you know, transformation.
The death, the slaughter has to stop.
I wish I could share with everybody what I'm seeing.
I wish I could.
I can't.
It's that bad.
But I appreciate both of you.
Amir, thank you.
And Congressman, thank you.
We appreciate you both.
And we will have you back to talk more about this.
This is a developing story as the president now has ordered troops in the region to come home.
And that would tell me just the opposite of what some of you may think, that probably some action is imminent.
Quick break, right back.
We'll continue on the other side.
So Renee Goode, the woman that went in reverse and then hit this officer.
Now, we updated earlier today that story because I think it's important that people understand that the officer in this particular case that, oh, the media has been saying never got hit.
Well, it turns out he suffered internal bleeding after being clipped in that encounter.
The ICE agent suffered the bleeding to his torso, according to DHS officials.
I'm sure that's going to be corroborated in the days and weeks ahead.
Anyway, Rene's father, Tim Macklin is his name, apparently was on fake news CNN last night.
Listen.
Well, you know, I'm not blaming anybody.
I mean, it's a hard situation all the way around.
It's hard for the, you know, for everybody involved.
I mean, the OS agent, you know, at first, I didn't see the footage where, you know, he was actually, you know, he was actually being ran.
I mean, I seen the bumper the car getting, you know, hitting his legs.
And so, in a, you know, in a flash like that, it's, it's hard to say how you would react.
Uh, from my understanding, that he had been through that before, maybe dragged or something.
And so, um, you know, like I said, it's just, it's just a hard situation for everybody.
Uh, you know, Becca, you know, it's it's she's a great person as well.
I mean, you know, I don't have any, many enemies.
I love everybody, and that's what the Bible tells us: love our neighbors as we love ourselves.
But, you know, I think there's some bad choices.
And the word says, for the wrath of God will come up on the children of disobedience.
And, you know, it's, it's, I don't blame us.
I don't blame Rebecca.
I don't blame Renee.
I just, you know, I just wish that, you know, if we're walking the spirit of God, I don't think she would have been there.
That's, that's the way I look at it.
Wow.
No, you just, you can't take a car, which is a weapon, and the law backs up the law enforcement, backs up law enforcement on the legal merits and use it as a weapon and drive and accelerate towards an officer.
And now that we have more details about his injuries, I think that puts to rest any notion that the officer was not hit.
Anyway, let's get to our busy phones.
Brandon, Missouri.
Brandon, how are you?
Glad you called.
Thanks for checking in.
Thanks for taking my call, Sean.
I was wanting to touch point here on the Iran situation that we have going on and our involvement with that.
I really don't think we belong over there involved deeply in that.
I know we have talked about limited capabilities and involvement in that, but I don't know how limited limited is.
I mean, are we talking sending some of our protesters in Minneapolis and Portland over there to help out, or what are we talking about here?
Well, let me ask you a question.
They're the number one state sponsor of terror.
Over the years, they have killed Americans.
They've threatened America many, many times.
And, you know, they are a geopolitical enemy.
We know the work of Solomani.
We know they killed Americans in Iraq.
Do you think it was the wrong call for President Trump to take out the nuclear facilities?
Do you think it was in our long-term national strategic America-first interest to prevent that radical ideology from ever having weapons of mass destruction like nuclear weapons?
Agreed, Sean.
Yes, I do.
Okay.
Now, there are a number of other questions here.
Is it in our long-term national interest, America-first interest, if this regime were to go away?
Oh, absolutely.
Yes.
I think it would be great for the region.
All right.
Fair enough.
So if the president, now, I don't think it's an accident.
What we're witnessing and what we're watching out of the Mideast, and I mentioned at the beginning of the program today that you have Islamic Republic State TV airing an image of President Trump after the assassination attempt in Butler, along with a Persian message reading, quote, this time the bullet won't miss.
Bill Ackman put that out on X today, a direct threat against the president.
But we do know that the Iranians have threatened death to America, death to Israel, so on and so forth.
So if, you know, it doesn't mean that what might replace it, I don't think it can get much worse than what we have there.
Here's another question.
And I know we can't be the world's policemen, but when you see 20,000 people, and maybe the numbers upwards of that now, I don't know.
And we're only getting scattered reports on this.
When you see a mass slaughter of people and with the might of America, should we just sit back and do nothing?
Should we just let these people get slaughtered?
Or should America use its military as a force for humanitarian good at times when possible to save lives?
Because that's part of the equation here, too.
Yeah, Sean, I don't think this is an either-or situation.
I think this is...
It kind of is.
Either we're going to help or we're not.
One or the other.
It really is either or.
I say that we help.
I agree with that.
But to what context?
I mean, are we talking about sending arms over there?
Yeah, I think that if I had to guess what's going to happen, and you see that President Trump now is we have been pulling out our forces from bases all over the region so that our military won't be sitting ducks and targets there.
The president has said help is on the way.
Do I think arming the citizens of Iran is part of the equation?
Will be part of the equation?
Absolutely.
But I don't think the president gives idle threats either when he says help is on the way.
Do you?
No, I do not.
And I think that's actually something that we need to push more for is the people taking back their independence themselves.
It means a lot more to the populace when they gain their right for existence or democracy than it is just handed to them.
They cherish it and they will fight for it more.
I agree.
And in principle, I wish all of that were true.
Here's the problem.
You have a population that is completely unarmed.
You're not going to win a revolution with a slingshot, a Molotov cocktail, and a rock.
That's not how it works when you're going up against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and a ruthless regime that puts no value on human life, and that's what we're dealing with here.
Yeah, yeah.
And I guess I would ask, where are our allies in this, Sean?
I mean, really, as far as I'm concerned, they're useless.
I've all but pretty much given up hope on NATO and Europe and their ability to be an effective fighting force.
I mean, you can see the open contempt that people like Vladimir Putin have.
Now, Putin fears Trump.
He doesn't fear Europe.
And that's because they have allowed themselves to disintegrate, deteriorate.
And, you know, when Great Britain has 80 some odd Sharia courts and they're not insisting on assimilation within their own society and among people they're allowing into their country, they want to be separate and apart from the people of Great Britain.
I think that's a big mistake.
But, you know, I think we've actually come to an understanding.
I think I've kind of brought you more on to my side here.
I don't want forever wars.
Now, this is what the beauty of the Trump doctrine to me is.
No forever war, no boots on the ground, surgical strikes, but also the need and moral imperative to act on threats and act on just pure evil in our time.
I mean, if the world in many ways turned a blind eye, I think you would agree to a lot of the atrocities that were going on in Nazi Germany and the world acted too late.
Would you agree with that?
Yes, I would.
I would also believe that during that time, I don't believe it was as publicized.
We didn't know what was going on.
Oh, the world knew.
Actually, a lot of the world knew.
Too many people were keenly aware.
It did not go unnoticed what was happening.
But I'd say here, now we do know what's happening.
And trust me, I don't want American treasure, our sons and daughters, at risk, in harm's way.
However, I think we have to be strategic and long-term in our thinking and our long-term strategic goals.
That's why taking out their nuclear sites to me was a moral imperative.
And there are some people that have interpreted the Trump doctrine to mean isolationism.
I'm not an isolationist.
And I do believe that America, when possible, if it sees slaughter and death, like, for example, you know, the murder of Christians in Nigeria, President Trump acted on Christmas Day of all days.
That was the Christmas present to Christians in Nigeria because they were being slaughtered.
And I think the president here, we see a mass slaughter.
The president is saying, don't stop.
Help is on the way.
And I think that help will manifest itself in numerous ways, not the least of which is arming the people that are fighting the revolutionary guards.
And I think secondarily, I think those people responsible for the mass murder of innocent people are going to pay a price.
And ultimately, you know, maybe there'll be a change in Iran for the better and there'll be peace in the region and we'll have a partner with the Iranian people.
That would be the best outcome.
Absolutely, Sean.
I just fear that with that, we might end up in a situation like Afghanistan.
We help the populace to not Donald Trump.
Not going to happen.
It will never happen.
No, what I mean is we helped the populace prior to the Soviet Union coming into Afghanistan.
And then there we are 30 and 40 years later dealing with our own firearms against us.
That is what my concern is for the long term.
I don't think that's the type of weaponry that they're going to be providing people.
If I had to guess, again, I'm not speaking from any point of knowledge here, but there are people, even within our movement, that disagree with what I'm saying.
And I'm perfectly fine with that.
Everyone's entitled to their own opinion.
But if you're asking me, I think the Trump doctrine threads the needle perfectly.
I think it is, you know, we can't have forever wars.
We can't put kids on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan for 20 years tapping over IEDs and all this crap.
No, but I do believe that we can strategically and surgically use our military might and have effective change and offer solidarity and support when slaughter is happening before our eyes.
I do believe we have a moral imperative for that.
For me, it's the beauty of America being in a position to be able to do that.
Anyway, I really appreciate the thoughtful.
I don't even think we really disagree.
I appreciate the thoughtful discussion.
I really do.
I think it's important.
Thank you.
All right, quick break right back to our busy phones, 800-941-Sean, if you want to be a part of the program as we continue.
The final hour of the Sean Hannity Show is up next.
Hang on for Sean's conservative solutions.
For busy phones.
800-941-Sean, our number.
John in California, the United Socialist Utopia of Gavin Newsom.
What's up, John?
How are you?
Happy New Year, Sean.
No, I'm in the top third of California.
It's a whole different world.
We're not part of the rest of the state.
Hey, that last gentleman highlights something that I wanted to talk to you about because I think most Americans have either forgotten or they don't realize that in the 60s and 70s, there were actually more mini skirts in Iran than they were in the United States.
That's a country of 100 million people.
Where did you get that statistic from?
I think it's funny, but where'd you get it from?
Well, my point is that there are 100 million Westerners fighting for their freedom in Iran.
This is not like any of the other countries in the Mideast.
That's a Westernized country.
They want our products and goods.
The big picture is this is truly the greatest white swan event of the 21st century.
It's the biggest geopolitical event ever because that market of 100 million people will open up to American goods and services.
And that will be part of the alignment of influencing the oil markets.
China gets 90% of their oil from Iran.
With Venezuela and the South America situation unfolding, these two white swans, the bigger one being around, and then the Venezuela-South America component, all of a sudden the world changes dramatically.
Hezbollah and Hamas lose their funding.
This is so huge, but people don't understand.
That's a Western country under the surface.
In Iran, we're not going to have those factions of terrorists rising back up.
That's not going to happen.
We screwed up with the Shah and the whole thing in 78 and 79 with Carter, Brzezinski, the Brits and the French.
There was all sorts of strange reasons that never should have happened.
We misread the whole thing and we put these people through hell in Iran for 47 years.
And that's coming to an end because these people.
We are living through historic times.
This is a geopolitical realignment and earthquake, the likes of which has not happened since the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Maybe bigger in scope.
Good call, John.
I appreciate it.
800-941-Sean, our number.
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