Sean Hannity Show - Sleeper Cells, Global Fallout & The Fight Ahead
Aired: 2026-03-03
Duration: 30:21


=== Seizing the Moment for Change (15:13) ===

[00:00:00]  This is an iHeart podcast.
[00:00:02]  Guaranteed human.
[00:00:05]  ABC Wednesdays, the Emmy-winning comedy Scrubs is all new.
[00:00:09]  This is a whole new chapter for me.
[00:00:10]  No more sad sack.
[00:00:12]  That's what I'm talking about.
[00:00:13]  I want both of our sacks to be fun.
[00:00:15]  You two idiots are perfect for each other.
[00:00:17]  From executive producers of Ted Lasso and Shrinking.
[00:00:19]  We were all a part of this victory.
[00:00:21]  Now get those nachos out of the premium warmer.
[00:00:24]  Nachos!
[00:00:26]  Looks like there's more applause for the nachos than my speech.
[00:00:28]  The new season of Scrubs.
[00:00:30]  Wednesdays, 8-7 Central on ABC.
[00:00:32]  And stream on Hulu.
[00:00:34]  All right, news roundup and information overload hour.
[00:00:36]  Here's our toll-free number.
[00:00:38]  We will get to your calls, 800-941-Sean.
[00:00:40]  Our number, if you want to be a part of the program.
[00:00:44]  You know, it's not a joke.
[00:00:46]  I mean, it was kind of funny when the U.S. hockey, a gold medal winning hockey team was called out by the president during the State of the Union, and the president goes, oh, for the first time, they actually stood, but not all of them.
[00:00:58]  I mean, that was funny.
[00:01:00]  Or when they stood when he said that you can't have insider trading and he asked, well, is Nancy Pelosi's thing?
[00:01:07]  It was all pretty funny.
[00:01:08]  If Donald Trump cured cancer, I don't think Democrats would stand as they sat on their hands as so many great Americans and families that had lost loved ones because of illegal immigrants were honored.
[00:01:22]  They didn't care.
[00:01:24]  They just hate Donald Trump to that level.
[00:01:27]  And this is a great thing that has happened.
[00:01:29]  The world is a better, safer place as a result.
[00:01:33]  And yeah, there's still more to do.
[00:01:34]  I don't want to get ahead of ourselves.
[00:01:37]  And I think now that, you know, as soon as we can possibly turn it over to the Iranian people, the better it's going to be.
[00:01:44]  But then, of course, you have the congenital liar and people like him, you know, Adam Schiff.
[00:01:50]  Oh, they pose no imminent threat to the U.S.
[00:01:52]  This was an existential threat, not just to the region, but to the entire world, which is why every Arab country in the world, you know, in the region has had it with them.
[00:02:02]  They've all aligned with the U.S. and Israel against Iranian hegemony and a nuclear-armed Iran.
[00:02:08]  Anyway, here's the congenital liar, Adam Schiff.
[00:02:11]  The Ayatollah Khamenei-led regime that brutalized its own people, launched attacks around the world for almost 40 years.
[00:02:18]  So is the president right to take him out?
[00:02:21]  No, you're right about the Ayatollah.
[00:02:23]  He was a brutal dictator.
[00:02:25]  This is a murderous regime.
[00:02:27]  But at the same time, it posed no imminent threat of attack to the United States.
[00:02:31]  He worded, no imminent threat.
[00:02:33]  You mean in the next hour?
[00:02:34]  I mean, it's just so asinine.
[00:02:38]  And this is where the great disappointment with Great Britain and Europe in general and Spain and France and Macron.
[00:02:47]  I mean, they have given up any commitment towards their own identities.
[00:02:52]  They won't even protect their own continent, their own countries.
[00:02:55]  They have neglected national security and defense.
[00:02:59]  They've embraced climate alarmism to a point where they're bankrupting themselves.
[00:03:03]  They've embraced socialist policies that are killing their economy.
[00:03:08]  And then they have this unfettered, illegal immigration without assimilation, resulting in 85 Sharia courts in Great Britain.
[00:03:18]  This is a prescription for disaster.
[00:03:21]  And it will be of their own making.
[00:03:24]  It's as bad as everything Biden-Harris Mayorkis did.
[00:03:28]  And no-go zones in countries within Europe.
[00:03:31]  That's crazy, too.
[00:03:32]  There's only one Democrat, and he'll be on with us again tonight, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who's been very outspoken saying that this needed to be done.
[00:03:42]  Here's what he said Sunday.
[00:03:43]  I'm sorry.
[00:03:44]  Well, because that was always the right thing.
[00:03:46]  I mean, you can just put out, you know, tweets and statements, you know, to support peace, but to actually create real peace, you have to do these kinds of actions just like happened, just like last year, too, when they destroy their nuclear facilities.
[00:04:01]  You know, sometimes peace is possible after these kinds of steps, and that's why I support those things.
[00:04:08]  And, you know, I listened to my colleague from South Carolina earlier, and I even had the option, I mean, to talk to him before the State of the Union speech, and I encouraged it as well.
[00:04:20]  And so I fully support these kinds of things, and I'm proud to stand with our military and Israel through this.
[00:04:26]  And that's what's the right thing.
[00:04:29]  Now, Linda lives in Pennsylvania.
[00:04:31]  I'm sure you'd vote for John Fetterman.
[00:04:33]  Am I wrong?
[00:04:34]  No, he's better than most of the Republicans.
[00:04:37]  He really is.
[00:04:38]  Let me play for you, Mauj Madora, co-founder of the Iranian Despora Collective and a Democrat just saying she's disappointed with the Democratic Party over their response to these Iranian strikes.
[00:04:54]  They need to get past their hatred of Donald Trump.
[00:04:57]  Listen.
[00:04:58]  I think that it is imperative the Democratic Party wake up and get past their dislike of Donald Trump, the President Trump, and their feelings of international conflicts going on.
[00:05:09]  This is about national security.
[00:05:11]  This is about what is possible in the Middle East.
[00:05:13]  This is about being a good neighbor, good partner to the Gulf states and what their aspirations are.
[00:05:18]  This is about supporting the people of Venezuela.
[00:05:21]  This is about dismembering our relationship with, or not dismembering, but resetting our relationship with China.
[00:05:27]  Right now, 55% of the oil production that Iran produces goes to China despite sanctions.
[00:05:33]  You want to support the people of Ukraine.
[00:05:35]  You want to end that war.
[00:05:36]  You have to.
[00:05:37]  There is no getting around dismembering this Islamic Republic.
[00:05:40]  It is non-negotiable.
[00:05:41]  It is not a want to have.
[00:05:43]  It is a have to have.
[00:05:44]  And it's not just for the Iranian people.
[00:05:46]  I think you have to trust the Iranian people.
[00:05:47]  We know this government better than anyone else.
[00:05:50]  And I think at this point, we have a tremendous opportunity.
[00:05:52]  This will be like ending the Soviet Union, the Berlin Wall.
[00:05:55]  This is a transformational moment for humankind, for security.
[00:05:58]  And as an American, as an American, this is in our interest to complete it.
[00:06:04]  So I am a Democrat.
[00:06:05]  I have been a huge Democrat.
[00:06:07]  I am incredibly disappointed with my party.
[00:06:10]  I do not see myself in them in this moment.
[00:06:13]  We're going to be joined in a moment by Greg Roman, Executive Director of the Middle East Forum, with his comments, takeaways from the developments related to the Mideast.
[00:06:23]  Following these strikes, successful strikes.
[00:06:26]  And of course, the Supreme Leader and Ali Khamani dead, 40 others dead with the opening salvo in what was just unbelievable.
[00:06:37]  I mean, you talk about shock awe on steroids and human growth hormone.
[00:06:41]  This was it.
[00:06:42]  But anyway, they have pointed out that with all of this, the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes hitting over, you know, 500 targets, I guess getting closer to 1,000 at this point across 24 of Iran's 31 provinces.
[00:06:59]  Approximately 40 senior military intelligence officials have been killed.
[00:07:04]  And, you know, Iran, you know, with all their retaliation, they just seem to be shooting haphazardly at every country in the region.
[00:07:12]  Greg Roman, let's get your thoughts on where we are and what will it take for the Iranian people to do what President Trump has told them to do, which is, you know, take advantage of the fact that their hour at hand is here and they've been asking for this help.
[00:07:28]  They need to seize this moment.
[00:07:29]  Don't let it pass.
[00:07:31]  It's likely the one shot they'll have for generations.
[00:07:35]  And, you know, what happens next?
[00:07:37]  Thank you, Sean, for having me on air.
[00:07:39]  And I think right now we're at the point where the current regime, the Islamist Islamic Republic of Iran regime, is trying to create tripwires for members of the Iranian opposition inside the country, in neighboring countries, and more especially in the diaspora, to try to accept the fate accompli where they will have to tie their fate to the future of the American and Israeli and now Gulf Arab campaign in Iran.
[00:08:06]  But the long play is to make sure that the American national security architecture and the Israeli bombers, and increasingly now, we have Arab air forces which are engaging in skirmishes against the Iranian Air Force with reports of Qatari Air Force Su-24 Sukhlay 24s being taken out or taking out Iranian Sukhoi 24s,
[00:08:31]  where the Iranian opposition has to realize it's make or break time to get their act together and not to be entirely reliant on the U.S. and Israel to push the Iranian regime off the cliff.
[00:08:43]  They have to push too.
[00:08:45]  And if they don't get into that position of regime disruption, of setting up forward operating bases, of enabling these 100,000 individuals who allegedly have prepared to defect from the IRGC, from the Artesh, the Iranian army, then I think this is going to be an opportunity that they will blow.
[00:09:04]  But if they do the right moves, if they don't repeat an Ahmed Shalabi moment, they don't repeat a Hamid Karzai moment, they don't repeat a Qaddafi downfall moment, there is a narrow window for them to have a controlled implosion where the state does not go into chaos, but they are able to maintain a pluralistic transition to power where we take President Trump's offer of amnesty and truth and reconciliation, and we move Iran from being on the Chinese-Russian side of the board and at the bare minimum, move them to a neutral actor.
[00:09:34]  And there's a big opportunity for that right now.
[00:09:36]  Roman is with us.
[00:09:38]  He is the executive director of the Middle East Forum.
[00:09:40]  What's next for Iran is our discussion.
[00:09:43]  Explain in more detail what you're envisioning happens here.
[00:09:47]  I mean, I know you have disparate groups, and Reza Pavlavi is one group.
[00:09:53]  Earlier in the program, we had on Ali Safavi, a member of Iran's parliament and exile National Council of Resistance of Iran.
[00:10:03]  Not particularly fond of Pavlavi.
[00:10:06]  I mean, the last thing we need is an intramural squabble when everyone needs to pull in the same direction and really give the people of Iran the choice.
[00:10:14]  Again, as the president said, they likely won't get back.
[00:10:16]  You know, this is a once-in-a-generation chance for them.
[00:10:20]  Right.
[00:10:20]  And I think that sometimes you end up having more disagreements with members of the Iranian opposition than you do with my synagogue board of directors.
[00:10:28]  story for another time um you have how bad are things at your synagogue board of directors Well, you know, you say two Jews, three opinions.
[00:10:37]  You have two versions, 21 opinions.
[00:10:40]  But you end up going to a position where right now the MEK and the Pahlavi camp have sort of, you know, coalaced around two figures, right?
[00:10:51]  Two individuals who are personalities.
[00:10:53]  But personalities don't represent movements.
[00:10:55]  If you look at groups like the Iranian Freedom Congress, which got together in London last week, you take the broad cross-section of Iranian society, both inside the country and outside.
[00:11:06]  And what the MEK and Pahi would have you believe is that an exile of 5 million Iranians in the diaspora can speak to and speak for 92 million Iranians who are inside the country.
[00:11:18]  But even if you look at all the public opinion polls that were done prior to December 27th, when the latest round of protests started, the Shah probably only gets around 31% at a maximum.
[00:11:30]  And if you look at the NCRI, the MEK, who was representative by your speaker in the last hour, they poll around 0.02%.
[00:11:40]  So they do not speak for the Iranian people inside the country.
[00:11:44]  This group that got together last week were former members of the regime who are now in exile.
[00:11:49]  Individuals who represent teachers, Arab oil workers, the whole cross-section of Azeris and Baluchis and Kurds and mainstream Persians and monarchists and Republicans.
[00:12:00]  38 different parties representing, I would argue, about 65 million of those 92 million Iranians, at least that have some sort of representation, got together in London.
[00:12:13]  and they all agreed on one thing.
[00:12:15]  Let's put our problems aside, make way for the regime to fall, and then we can work with what's left to be able to make sure that we have traffic police and the airports running and the water is being served and the dog catcher is on time and we're able to reopen up the trade for that country.
[00:12:32]  And they have a whole plan that they put together.
[00:12:33]  But more importantly, it's not based on personalities.
[00:12:36]  It's represented.
[00:12:38]  Who's got this plan?
[00:12:40]  Who's going to take charge of that plan?
[00:12:42]  And how quickly can we get to elections?
[00:12:45]  So elections, they believe, would be able to take place within six months and a referendum for a consultative assembly that would then be able to get forth in one year.
[00:12:52]  And they would take the way in which the Iranian system works right now and basically adapt that to not be Islamists, but to be democratic.
[00:13:00]  And more than that, you already have entities right now that have existed inside the country for the past 25 years that are not tied to the regime.
[00:13:09]  If you remember before the 12-day war back in June, there was a nationwide truck driver strike that took place in Iran between like June 1st and June 7th.
[00:13:17]  These people are at that table.
[00:13:19]  If you look three years ago with the Women Life Freedom Movement that were behind Mass Amini, these people are at the table.
[00:13:24]  Three Iranian Nobel laureates, individuals who control the Kurdish Democratic Party under Hajiri, 5 million.
[00:13:32]  The Komala Party, another 3 million under Abdullah Mukhtabi.
[00:13:36]  You really have a cross-section here that would be able to say, we're not going to try to go in a debathification process that ruined Iraq back in 2003.
[00:13:46]  We learned our lesson from 23 years ago, and we're going to do this the way that Alex Willet says.
[00:13:51]  Okay, but Greg, what about the holdovers?
[00:13:53]  You know there will be old revolutionary guard that cling to the life that they had.
[00:13:59]  How do we weed them out?
[00:14:00]  100%.
[00:14:01]  100%.
[00:14:02]  And I think that, as I said beforehand, there has to be a truth and reconciliation process where, look, if you were found responsible for helping massacre 30, 40, 50,000 members of your country, or you were involved in hangings in the 80s or massacres in the 90s, then you're going to have to own up to that.
[00:14:19]  But if you were a bureaucrat, if you were the head of the central bank in charge of the oil ministry, and you just hitched your cart to the Ayatollah's horse because you had to do that to survive, there's also an opportunity to be able to solve that as well.
[00:14:30]  And I think that just like you had in Eastern European countries after the fall of the wall and reconciliation, even the way that we looked at it with East Germany, you have to own up to your mistakes.
[00:14:41]  And if they're too great, you're going to be put into jail.
[00:14:45]  But if it was part of just the way that the government was governed for the last 47 years, we'll give you an opportunity to have respite with us.
[00:14:52]  And if they move in that direction, I think you really have the opportunity for an easy transition, but it has to be done under the threat of American and Israeli superior air power.
[00:15:01]  You're either with us or you're against us, but not with any American or Israeli boots on the ground.
[00:15:06]  It has to be the Iranians making their own decisions.
[00:15:08]  Never going to happen under Donald Trump.
[00:15:10]  I'm telling you right now, it won't happen.

=== Operational Security Matters (12:51) ===

[00:15:13]  And I think that at some point, their hour is at hand.
[00:15:17]  They've asked for this help.
[00:15:19]  They better seize the moment and not let it pass, as the president said.
[00:15:23]  Greg Roman, good to talk to you, man.
[00:15:25]  Appreciate it.
[00:15:25]  Great analysis.
[00:15:26]  800-941-Sean, if you want to be a part of the program.
[00:15:30]  ABC Wednesdays, the Emmy-winning comedy Scrubs is all new.
[00:15:34]  This is a whole new chapter for me.
[00:15:36]  No more sad sack.
[00:15:37]  That's what I'm talking about.
[00:15:39]  I want both of our sacks to be fun.
[00:15:41]  You two idiots are perfect for each other.
[00:15:42]  From executive producers of Ted Lasso and Shrinking.
[00:15:45]  We were all a part of this victory.
[00:15:47]  Now get those nachos out of the preemie warmer.
[00:15:50]  Rachos.
[00:15:51]  Looks like there's more applause for the nachos than my speech.
[00:15:54]  The new season of Scrubs.
[00:15:55]  Wednesdays, 8-7 Central on ABC and Stream on Hulu.
[00:16:00]  Linda, I don't know if you noticed this.
[00:16:02]  Did you notice Hannoi Jane is back?
[00:16:05]  Oh, she's the worst.
[00:16:07]  Branding Donald Trump a sad, unhinged man while denouncing him for launching deadly strikes in Iran.
[00:16:15]  Who cares what she said?
[00:16:16]  Or any of these other idiots, Mark Ruffalo?
[00:16:19]  Who are the other idiots in Hollywood?
[00:16:22]  I mean, if they had.
[00:16:23]  It's a much shorter list to name the ones that aren't, to be perfectly frank.
[00:16:28]  That's a good way to do it.
[00:16:30]  Good point.
[00:16:32]  Now, the Pentagon officials earlier today, General Raisin Kane, this guy's phenomenal, just an absolute genius.
[00:16:41]  Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, the Pentagon announcing that U.S. forces struck more than 1,000 targets in Iran during the first 24 hours of Operation Epic Fury.
[00:16:55]  The joint U.S.-Israeli-led airstrike mission that killed in its opening Salvo, the supreme leader, the Mullah, the Ayatollah, Ali Khamani, and other security officials.
[00:17:09]  Air Force General Dan Kane, chairman of the Joint Chiefs, telling reporters at the Pentagon that the objective of the operation was clear to protect U.S. interests in the Middle East by ending Iran's ability to project offensive power outside of their borders.
[00:17:26]  This marked the culmination of months and in some cases years of deliberate planning, refinement against this particular target set from precision strikes against key military infrastructure to persistent intelligence and targeting integration.
[00:17:41]  And he, along with Pete Hegseth, you know, gave a very, very powerful briefing today.
[00:17:46]  I think it's worth taking time because I know most of you were not up at 8 o'clock in the morning.
[00:17:50]  If you were, you were shoveling coffee down your throat and feeding your kids and trying to get them off to school and start your day.
[00:17:58]  So let me bring you up to speed because this is actually, you know, pretty spectacular and amazing.
[00:18:06]  And you should have a sense of great pride that we have the greatest military on the face of God's green earth.
[00:18:11]  Let's play this.
[00:18:12]  At 1538, 3.38 p.m. on Friday, February 27th, the United States Central Command, through the Secretary of War, received the final go order from President Trump.
[00:18:26]  The president directed, and I quote, Operation Epic Fury is approved.
[00:18:30]  No aborts.
[00:18:31]  Good luck, close quote.
[00:18:34]  In the region, every element of the Joint Force made their final preparations.
[00:18:38]  Air defense batteries readied themselves, checking their systems to respond to Iranian attacks.
[00:18:44]  Pilots and crews rehearsed their strike packages for the final time.
[00:18:48]  Air crews began loading their final weapons, and two carrier strike groups began to move towards their launching points.
[00:18:56]  Across the globe, our operations centers came alive in Tampa, Florida, here at the Pentagon, and of course forward in the Central Command AOR.
[00:19:05]  As always, operational security was paramount as we sought to maintain and sustain the element of surprise.
[00:19:14]  This operation was highly classified so that at each hour, the enemy would see one thing, speed, surprise, and violence of action.
[00:19:23]  The first movers were U.S. Cybercom and U.S. Spacecom, layering non-kinetic effects, disrupting and degrading and blinding Iran's ability to see, communicate, and respond.
[00:19:36]  At H-hour, the beginning of major combat operations, 0-115 local Eastern Daylight Time, 9.45 local a.m. Tehran time, as dawn crept up across the Central Command AOR, the skies surged to life.
[00:19:54]  More than 100 aircraft launched from land, sea, fighters, tankers, airborne early warning, electronic attack, bombers from the states, and unmanned platforms, forming a single synchronized wave.
[00:20:08]  This was a daylight strike based on a trigger event conducted by the Israeli Defense Forces, enabled by the U.S. intelligence community.
[00:20:18]  The first shooters at sea were tomahawks unleashed by the United States Navy, closed in on Iranian naval forces and began to conduct strikes across the southern flank in Iran.
[00:20:30]  On the ground, forces fired precision standoff weapons, measured, deliberate, precise, and lethal.
[00:20:38]  This was a massive, overwhelming attack across all domains of warfare, striking more than a thousand targets in the first 24 hours.
[00:20:47]  We are now roughly 57 hours into the operation.
[00:20:52]  In the initial phase, CENTCOM's focus was systematic targeting of Iranians' command and control infrastructure, naval forces, ballistic missile sites, and intelligence infrastructure designed to daze and confuse them.
[00:21:08]  Coordinated space and cyber operations effectively disrupted communications and sensor networks across the area of responsibility, leaving the adversary without the ability to see, coordinate, or respond effectively.
[00:21:25]  The combined impact of these strikes, swift, precise, and overwhelming, has resulted in the establishment of local air superiority.
[00:21:34]  This air superiority will not only enhance the protection of our forces, but also allow them to continue the work over Iran.
[00:21:42]  Over the course of the last two days, the joint force has launched hundreds of missions from land and sea and delivered tens of thousands of pieces of ordnance.
[00:21:52]  The effort continues to scale.
[00:21:55]  This included American B-2 bombers, which again, similar to Midnight Hammer, flew a 37-hour round-trip sortie from the continental United States, dropping precision, penetrating munitions on Iranian underground facilities across the southern flank and slightly deeper.
[00:22:14]  As Iranians today, in their desperation, the enemy is unmasked.
[00:22:19]  As Iranian missiles and drones rain down indiscriminately on the hotels, airports, apartments, and other civilian targets of their neighbors.
[00:22:29]  Cowardly terrorist tactics from a regime that for decades has trafficked in cowardly terrorist tactics.
[00:22:39]  Lies, death, and destruction to this day.
[00:22:43]  The Iranian leadership has built nothing except proxies and missiles and drones in deeply buried nuclear factories and facilities.
[00:22:52]  Peaceful nuclear ambitions do not need to be buried underneath mountains.
[00:22:59]  Last June, Operation Midnight Hammer obliterated their nuclear program to rubble.
[00:23:05]  Afterward, we told them plainly, that's it, now make a deal.
[00:23:09]  They arrogantly refused.
[00:23:11]  We said, rebuild it, and we'll stop you again, this time far worse.
[00:23:16]  Well, President Trump, Secretary Rubio, Steve Witcoff, Jared Kushner, they bent over backwards for real diplomacy, offering pathway after pathway to peace.
[00:23:25]  I watched it.
[00:23:26]  I was there.
[00:23:27]  They tried over and over and over again, earnest attempts at peace.
[00:23:33]  The former regime had every chance to make a peaceful and sensible deal.
[00:23:40]  But Tehran was not negotiating.
[00:23:42]  They were stalling.
[00:23:44]  buying time to reload their missile stockpiles and restart their nuclear ambitions.
[00:23:49]  Their goal, hold us hostage, threatening to strike our forces.
[00:23:54]  Well, President Trump doesn't play those games.
[00:23:58]  And as Secretary Rubio said after the Maduro raid, if you don't know, now you know.
[00:24:04]  President Trump puts America and Americans first.
[00:24:09]  He doesn't hesitate and neither do our troops.
[00:24:12]  The mission of Operation Epic Fury is laser-focused.
[00:24:16]  Destroy Iranian offensive missiles, destroy Iranian missile production, destroy their Navy and other security infrastructure, and they will never have nuclear weapons.
[00:24:27]  We're hitting them surgically, overwhelmingly, and unapologetically.
[00:24:32]  On February 28th, the full strength of America's armed forces came together in a unified purpose against a capable and determined adversary.
[00:24:41]  The United States Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force, Coast Guard, and our reserve components integrated across our combatant commands and began coordinated operations with the Israeli armed forces of an unprecedented scale.
[00:24:59]  As the Secretary laid out, our military objectives are clear.
[00:25:03]  Our mission is to protect and defend ourselves and together with our regional partners, prevent Iran from the ability to project power outside of its borders and be ready for follow-on actions as appropriate.
[00:25:17]  Across every domain, land, air, sea, cyber, the U.S. joint force delivered synchronized and layered effects designed to disrupt, degrade, deny, and destroy Iran's ability to conduct and sustain combat operations.
[00:25:34]  On the U.S. side, this marked the culmination of months and in some cases years of deliberate planning and refinement against this particular target set.
[00:25:46]  From precision strikes against key military infrastructure to persistent intelligence and targeting integration to the close coordination of the components across vast distances, this operation again demonstrated America's reach, readiness, and professionalism and that of our joint United Force.
[00:26:08]  It was historic not only in the operational scope, but in the level of joint integration displayed across every element of the joint force.
[00:26:18]  And as I said earlier, this work is just beginning and will continue.
[00:26:22]  Two days ago, under the direction and direct orders of President Donald J. Trump, the Department of War launched Operation Epic Fury, the most lethal, most complex, and most precise aerial operation in history.
[00:26:36]  For 47 long years, the expansionist and Islamist regime in Tehran has waged a savage, one-sided war against America.
[00:26:44]  They didn't always declare it openly, except for their constant chance of death to America.
[00:26:50]  They did it through the blood of our people.
[00:26:53]  Car bombs in Beirut, rocket attacks on our ships, murders at our embassies, roadside bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan, funded and armed by Iranian Quds force and IRGC killers.
[00:27:08]  My generation of veterans carried the names of brothers who never came home.
[00:27:14]  Brothers butchered by Iranian-backed roadside bombs and well-armed militias, thousands of our own.
[00:27:22]  We didn't start this war, but under President Trump, we are finishing it.
[00:27:28]  Their war on Americans has become our retribution against their Ayatollah and his death cult.
[00:27:36]  It took the 47th president, a fighter who always puts America first, to finally draw the line after 47 years of Iranian belligerence.
[00:27:47]  He reminded the world, as he has time and time again, being an American means something unbreakable.
[00:27:53]  If you kill Americans, if you threaten Americans anywhere on earth, we will hunt you down without apology and without hesitation, and we will kill you.

=== If You Threaten Americans (02:16) ===

[00:28:05]  All right, that was earlier this morning.
[00:28:07]  That was the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Air Force General Dan Kane, raising Kane as he's often affectionately referred to, talking about the objective of the operation, how clear it was, protecting U.S. interests in the Middle East, ending the Iranian ability to project offensive power outside of their borders.
[00:28:30]  Pretty amazing stuff.
[00:28:32]  If that doesn't impress you, I don't know what will.
[00:28:35]  All right, well, at the very latest, as this ongoing conflict continues against Iran, unbelievable Operation Epic Fury will have all the latest developments.
[00:28:48]  We have the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
[00:28:51]  We have Senator John Fetterman will join us.
[00:28:54]  We have Senator Lindsey Graham will join us.
[00:28:56]  We are just loaded up tonight.
[00:28:59]  Anyway, set your DVR tonight, Hannity, 9 Eastern on the Fox News channel, as we will have the best coverage of all of this probably on 9 to 11 tonight is the plan currently.
[00:29:12]  And look forward.
[00:29:13]  I'll stay on for 10 hours if they let me.
[00:29:15]  Linda, I just can't get enough, and I'm going to be home watching it anyway.
[00:29:19]  I'm watching every second of every day.
[00:29:22]  Anyway, we'll see you tonight.
[00:29:24]  Back here tomorrow.
[00:29:25]  Oh, we also have David Betraeus, I think I said.
[00:29:29]  We just got a great lineup.
[00:29:30]  Great people.
[00:29:31]  9 Eastern, Hannity on Fox.
[00:29:34]  We'll see you then back here tomorrow.
[00:29:35]  Thank you for making this show possible.
[00:29:50]  ABC Wednesdays, the Emmy-winning comedy Scrubs is all new.
[00:29:54]  This is an all-new chapter for me.
[00:29:55]  No more sad stack.
[00:29:57]  That's what I'm talking about.
[00:29:58]  I want both of our sacks to be fun.
[00:30:00]  You two idiots are perfect for each other.
[00:30:02]  From the executive producers of Ted Lasso and Shrinking.
[00:30:04]  We were all a part of this victory.
[00:30:06]  Now get those nachos out of the preemie warmer.
[00:30:09]  Nachos!
[00:30:10]  Feels like there's more applause for the nachos than my speech.
[00:30:13]  The new season of Scrubs, Wednesdays, 8-7 Central on ABC and Stream on Hulu.
[00:30:19]  This is an iHeart podcast.