Radical Iran, Online Propaganda, and America’s New Terror Threat
Sean Hannity addresses Iran's nuclear ambitions and succession crisis, noting rejected uranium offers and rumors of Ali Khamenei's son becoming Supreme Leader. He warns of AI-driven radicalization spreading anti-Semitic content via Russian and Iranian bots, linking a recent NYC terror attempt to ISIS propaganda while dismissing white nationalist claims. The episode critiques Mayor Mamdani's political ties, Springsteen's ticket prices, and gambling on assassinations, ultimately arguing that modern indoctrination mirrors historical mass control techniques used by Ayatollah Khomeini and Hitler. [Automatically generated summary]
If you want to be a part of the program, it's 800-941-Sean, if you want to join us.
You know, there is, I want to tell you something.
There is a sick culture, and I've been going through this today because it's really infuriating me, where people are getting more and more of their, quote, news that is anything but news online.
And I want people to really have a very deep understanding that the online culture can be very cancerous.
You have people that have nothing better to do all day, anonymous keyboard warriors in their underwear that are out there, you know, being as vicious and vile and conspiratorial as possible.
Then you need to understand something else, that foreign entities, countries have entire, you know, ops campaigns against the U.S., targeting very specifically the United States, young people in particular, online.
They're all over every bit of social media.
There are bots systems that are built out.
They're very sophisticated using artificial intelligence.
And I mean, countries like Iran and countries like Russia and other countries in the Gulf.
And oftentimes they have an agenda and it's anti-Semitic.
And, you know, you read online and, wow, I can't believe young people are getting more and more anti-Semitic and anti-Israel.
And it's not always true.
And there's a lot of complete fake news out there.
And then other people just have no understanding of history.
They have no understanding that if we don't take action and the radical supreme leader and mullahs in Iran get weapons of mass destruction.
And the tell moment to me is my interview with Steve Witkoff last week when Steve Witkoff, Middle East envoy, negotiating with the Iranians and offers them civilian grade, low-level enrichment grade uranium for free for civilian purposes, for free in perpetuity, but they just can't enrich.
And that would obviously include any place, anywhere, anytime inspections.
They rejected it.
And they said, we have a right to a nuclear weapon, which Donald Trump rightly drew a line in the sand.
Otherwise, we are risking as a world a modern day holocaust because these lunatics have proven they don't love or respect human life.
Now, that makes the president smart.
That means he's learned the lessons of the last century where over 100 million people were killed.
Others, they just remain ignorant.
Now, there's been rumors online too.
President Trump is about to order troops on the ground in Iran.
Now, he's left the door open in case there is a specific reason for it, but the president's been clear that he has no intentions of doing that.
We'll resist it at every turn, as evidenced by his past use of military force.
And so many confirmed today, I'm nowhere near ordering boots on the ground to secure the enriched uranium.
And that the president's been very, very clear about that.
Now, the Israeli president, different from the prime minister, Isaac Herzog, said he has no plans.
Israel has no plans to send troops to Iran either and doesn't expect to even see troops there.
Listen.
President Herzog, are you expecting to send any Israeli troops into Iran?
No, and I don't think anybody is expecting to see American troops in Iran as well.
I think part of the comments of the Iranian foreign minister is in order to impact American public opinion and scare American public opinion.
We know that there's huge debates, arguments, and total disarray in that leadership.
We know it.
And that's why there's a process that will take place which will bring their demise and end.
It doesn't require troops on the ground for that matter.
It requires constant pressure because there's a given moment where everybody says, stop, it's over.
And that's how it will happen.
All right.
Now, the Iranian foreign minister actually said prior to the announcement, oh, it's only rumors that Ali Khamani's son will succeed his father to lead Iran.
Well, they made the announcement he has.
You know what that is?
That's called the bullseye right on his forehead.
Listen.
There are reports this morning that the Iranian Assembly of Experts has come to a decision on a new supreme leader for Iran.
Many have suggested it would be the son of the late Supreme Leader, Mushta Ba Khameni.
Will he be the next leader of Iran?
Well, nobody knows.
Actually, there are lots of rumors around, but we have to wait for the Assembly of Experts to convene and vote for the new Supreme Leader and the one who is elected by then.
Do you think he should be the next leader of Iran?
Well, anybody which is elected by the Assembly of Experts would be the next Supreme Leader of Iran.
And as you know, the members of the Assembly are already elected directly by the people.
Okay.
So the Iranian foreign minister, basically, it's a countdown.
How soon will the U.S. and or Israel take out the Ali Khamani's son?
I don't know the answer to that.
Now, the other thing is that the Iranian foreign minister, these people are meeting us.
You're now at like the fourth-tier leadership there.
There is no leadership there.
Anyway, with expertise, we have Dr. Brenda Schaefer with us, author of Iran is More Than Persia, Ethics, Politics, and Iran, has extensive research on Iran's minorities and highlights how groups like the Kurds and others have not only been marginalized by the Shah and the Islamic Republic,
but have also carried out covert resistant actions against the Iranian regime and how these groups can be pivotal in terms of the future of Iran as the war places increasing pressure on the regime's cohesion, which keeps getting wiped out.
And nobody really knows who's in charge, although I guess Ali Khamani's son has now been named the new supreme leader, which means he's the next in line to probably be dead.
Anyway, Brenda Schaefer, welcome to the program.
Thank you, Sean.
All right.
A lot of people don't know the history that's involved here.
I mean, we know that the Ayatollah Khomeini was in exile in France, came into power in 1979, toppled the Shah of Iran, but they don't understand the rich culture that was once Persia, the Western values that dominated up until this Islamic revolution that took place in 1979.
That's when 440 Americans were older than 444 days until Ronald Reagan got sworn in.
Then they were magically released.
But I don't think they understand.
I believe that the Kurds ultimately can play a very pivotal role in helping arm the Iranian people that have been taking to the streets, those that were mowed down by the tens of thousands, and that they can take back their country and their government.
I don't think it's necessarily an easy task, but I think ultimately if they want control of their destiny, they're going to have to take that upon themselves to do it.
Your thoughts on it?
Yes, Sean, I agree with you that Iran's ethnic minorities are a critical factor in the developments that are going to unfold in Iran.
Unfortunately, so few people really watch this issue because just like we were with the Soviet Union, do you remember we used to say the Russians, Russia, and kind of assumed that somehow they were all kind of Russians?
Suddenly, as the Soviet Union started to break up, we all discovered Chechens and Uzbeks and Azerbaijanis and Latvians, right?
And now we all understand that it was a multi-ethnic empire.
Well, Iran is something very similar, a multi-ethnic empire.
In fact, the Persians comprise only 40% of the population.
But in contrast to the Russians, which were kind of gracious in their empire, the Persians under the Shah and now under the Islamic Republic don't offer any minority rights to the ethnic minorities.
No schools in their language, no use of their languages in government settings.
And so there's a huge, you know, in addition to all what most people in Iran have against the regime, there's like a double discrimination against the ethnic minorities.
Well, I mean, there's an opportunity here for the people.
And the president said it's really going to be up to the people.
But then the president also said that he needs to approve whoever the next leader is.
In other words, if we are going to expend all this military effort for the liberation of the people of Iran that were been begging America for help for generations, which I think for our national security was the right decision to make.
And the president doesn't want all that blood and treasure and hard work to go to waste.
And I don't blame him.
And he should have a say.
And that means moving forward as partners, kind of similar to what happened in Venezuela, where a partnership has evolved with the new leadership after the toppling of Maduro.
And I think it could be one that's cooperative, that gives hope and opportunity and economic prosperity for the Iranian people, but also a relationship with the U.S. that would be hopefully enduring.
So I think, Sean, you're pointing out one of the most sort of important conundrums that we currently find ourselves.
President Trump correctly doesn't want to get involved in nation building and exporting democracy, things that we wasted a lot of blood and treasure and never received, never got any results.
And I think mostly American people agree with him on this.
On the other hand, if you do a Maduro-type operation in Iran and essentially empower some remnants of the regime that they take off the turban and they put on maybe a nationalist hat, but they're basically the same people.
I think it's going to be very difficult for the people in Iran to accept this new government.
I mean, the Islamic Republic gunned down probably 40,000 people in 36 hours.
It's almost unprecedented, this type of killing spree that took place.
And on the other hand, also, the regime doesn't have any, let's say China did, they did 10N men, they gunned down 1,000 people, but they had some goods to deliver.
They could deliver jobs, they could deliver food.
Any new regime that's going to come in place still is going to be stuck with the same problems that they had before the U.S. and Israeli operations began, which is lack of water, lack of energy, lack of electricity, food shortages.
ISIS Terror in New York00:03:30
And it's not really clear that the people will accept sort of a new, the same guys, but in different clothes.
I think, especially the ethnic minorities, what I've heard from people on the ground is that we're not going to accept the replacement of an Islamic dictator with a Persian nationalist dictator.
And I think there is this tension between the ethnic minorities and remnants of the regime and maybe the nationalist Persians that want to work with them.
So it is a very big challenge.
Dr. Brenda Schaefer, author of Iran as Northern Persia, Ethnic Politics in Iran, we appreciate your insight and your time.
Thank you.
800-941-Sean is our number.
If you want to be a part of the program, we'll take calls for the rest of the hour straight ahead.
We're learning more about the New York City terror bomber.
You know, we're now hearing that they watch the propaganda videos.
Obviously, this is not random violence, according to Jessica Tisch, the NYPD.
The terror bomber pledged allegiance to ISIS while in police custody, telling investigators they had hoped to carry out an attack that was bigger than the Boston Marathon bombing and charged in federal court today with attempting to carry out this ISIS-inspired attack at an anti-Islamic protest near Zorhan Mamdani's residence.
Very scary in so many different ways.
You know, this is why, you know, sometimes, Hannah, you could be a broken record.
Well, for four years, we tried to warn this country.
Now, this is homegrown terrorism here.
These are young kids that got radicalized online, according to the NYPD police commissioner.
And they watch these ISIS videos.
Anyway, this weekend's attempted bombing outside of Gracie Mansion.
Mamdani declined to mention that the bombers were radical Islamists that were trained by these online videos.
And one top New York City Democrat tried to blame the attempted terror bombing by ISIS-trained jihadis on white Christian nationalism.
I'm like, well, where the hell did that come from?
And this is what I have been fearing.
And when you have, you know, unvetted 12-plus million, we don't know the actual number because of Godaways, illegal immigrants, unvetted, allowed from over 200 countries in our country, including known terrorists.
Never mind these local inspired lunatics that spend their time online reading this insane stuff.
I mean, this is pretty damn scary.
This is what I have been fearing for the longest time.
And the FBI is up to their eyeballs, and they're trying to get in front of this and get in front of any other potential threats.
And it could be in any small town or big city around the country.
In this particular case, it had to be, you know, it happened to be in New York City.
The NYPD confirmed the object thrown near Gracie Mansion was in the IED.
I mean, that is, thank God it didn't ignite.
Innocent people would have been slaughtered.
And that we have amongst us these people that have been allowed into our country from over 200 countries.
How stupid is this?
You can blame your modern liberal democratic establishment for allowing this to happen.
This is why they need to be deported.
We don't know anything about any of them that came in during the Biden years.
Special Passwords & Russian Collusion00:02:54
Nothing.
You know, if you want to make adjustments for the people that maybe have been here 20, 30 years, I'm all in favor, but they've got to come out of the shadows first.
And, you know, then you have Abigail Spanberger weighing a bill that would criminalize federal immigration enforcement, as the Trump administration now has to prepare a legal response, even though we have the supremacy clause, which already gives them the authority.
It's insane.
Anyway, 800-941 Sean, if you want to be a part of the program, we'll get to more of your calls coming up straight ahead.
Linda, did you see Bill Maher checkmate the congenital liar Adam Schiff?
Listen to this.
This statement from the administration.
The president had the constitutional authority to direct the use of military force because he could reasonably determine that such use of force was in the national interest.
That's too vague for you?
Totally vague.
Okay, because that's from Obama.
About Libya.
Well, Obama made the argument initially that he could go into Syria without authorization.
I and many others pushed back on that argument.
Ultimately, he did not go forward with going after Assad, even though Assad was gassing his own people, because he thought he might lose the vote in Congress.
But I respect the fact that that was important to him, and the fact that he did not have the support of Congress.
There's one standard for Trump and one standard for Obama.
Obama was in Libya for seven months for crying out loud.
It's really spectacular.
You know, this guy, the congenital liar, Adam Schiff, he's always had such great judgment.
Linda, you remember, what was the name?
Olga Bulsova.
Remember that he fell for a prank with the Russians?
It's pretty funny.
Let's remind.
This is maybe the greatest tape of all time.
He's talking about Russia collusion, and he's on the phone colluding.
Listen.
And we also know who was a mediator between Trump and Russian government, who met with ex-advisor of Trump, Mr. Flynn.
It was the Russian singer, very famous singer, Arkadyo Kupnik, who met with Mr. Flynn on Brighton Beach in Brooklyn in a special Russian cafe, Langeron.
What's the name of the cafe?
Langeron.
Langeron?
Yes, it's on the Brighton Beach.
Okay.
It's a special right.
It's a Russian district in Brooklyn.
And do you know what was discussed?
They discussed many things, but the most interesting thing is they use a special, they use a special password before their meetings.
When they met each other, they said, weather is good on Zerybasovskaya.
Weather is good.
And where?
Weather is good on Jerybasovskaya.
There is a name of a street in Odessa.
Did you hear?
Secret Passwords in Odessa00:10:33
Yes, I did.
So it's a street in Odessa.
Yes.
And the code word is weather is good on Zerobasta?
Jerybasovskaya.
Jerebasovskaya.
Skaya.
Okay.
And I'll have my staff follow up to get spellings and more details on this.
Yes.
Now, Democrats aren't going to love this.
I mean, an NBC news poll, the way they describe it when they write it, a stunning new NBC poll shows President Trump is way more popular than Kamala Harris and Gavin Newsom.
And I do live rent-free.
And our first podcast releases tomorrow morning at 7, wherever you get your video podcast.
Check it out.
I mean, oh, Linda, I don't know if you read, actually was picked up what Stephen Ace says about running for the presidency and the people that he would support for president.
By the way, I am still livid.
I had, you know, we learned last week that Zoron Marxist Kami Mamdani's wife liked more than 70 Instagram posts that, you know, on extreme positions about Israel following the Hamas terror attack of October 7, 2023.
This is insane.
Anyway, she liked the post that accused Israel of waging a vile land grab against Gazans.
That's absolutely false.
Like this, I mean, even liking social media posts cheering on Hamas a massacre.
I mean, this is sick.
You know what I have a problem with, if I may?
Here's my problem with that comment.
You just jump right in anytime you want.
You know, I just, I just, I have to say this.
This person is the mayor of the capital of this nation, of this world for some time.
You know, New York City is a place that so many look to as a place of sort of the melting pot, right?
And now we have this person who is trashing an entire other group of people celebrating their murders, celebrating their deaths.
And they're not just, you know, regular murders.
They're gruesome, torturous, vile murders of even infants.
And he's like, she's a private citizen.
I'm like, oh, well, if she's a private citizen, then make sure she's not in taxpayer-funded cars and make sure she doesn't like to do that.
Stop complaining then when they're then stop complaining when they don't like what talk show hosts have to say.
I mean, if it's perfectly acceptable for her to like, you know, these radical posts, I mean, it's unbelievable.
Imagine if somebody else's wife did that.
Just imagine for a hot second.
Oh, could you imagine Melania did it for a while?
Forget about it.
New York, think about it, forget about it, as long as we're talking about New York.
All right, New York Post yesterday, Momdani's party, new Democratic Socialist, is going after, oh, what a shocker.
Middle-class New Yorkers, by the way, they want to have a new to be determined wealth tax, higher taxes on investment income.
By the way, that's money you've already paid taxes on that you put at risk and help the economy to grow, but raising the state income taxes for individuals making over $300,000 a year.
Now, that may sound like a lot of money to a lot of you out there, but to live in New York City in a decent place, one of the safer neighborhoods, it's probably about very close to a little above what is needed to make that happen.
And then he wants to tax your inheritance over $250,000.
I mean, this is money that's already been taxed to death.
And people ask me, well, why'd you leave New York?
Well, why are you still there?
I mean, it's honestly, it's just a bad decision.
It's not safe and secure.
Radicals exist.
You know, he's not funding the police department.
I mean, he lied when he said it was a snowball fight.
It's just terrible.
It's terrible.
And do I think that there's always going to be people there?
I do.
I'm not sure if you noticed Bruce Springsteen's going back on tour.
Did you know that?
I did hear about that.
Yeah.
Yeah, he's charging.
Now, if you can believe this, floor seats, $7,000.
He's so gross.
Who wants to be that close to him?
Upper seats.
Oh, disgusting.
Please.
I mean, who would ever pay $7,000?
Very, very bored, lonely people who need to be that close to somebody that vile.
I mean, and people that would say, well, I've been a fan.
I've been to 26 concerts.
I can't believe you're doing this to us.
I mean, he's supposed to be a man of the people.
He's not.
Yeah, okay.
He's a man of the rich people.
Yeah, apparently.
Apparently.
I don't disagree with this.
You know, you can now bet on assassinations when somebody's going to be taken out.
Did you know that?
You're talking about polymarket?
Well, that was in the Atlantic.
Polymarket's going to get someone killed.
There was a Telegraph how to piece.
You can now gamble on war, death, and destruction.
And some people never lose.
It's disgusting.
It really is pretty grotesque.
But again, I really do think a big part of that is what you mentioned earlier about being desensitized.
Like, everybody's just, I don't know if they're overwhelmed, if they're playing too many video games, if they're too caught up in their social media and they're just used to seeing violence.
It's very sad.
Extremely sad.
All right, let's get to our phones.
Let us say hi to Bob in Connecticut.
What's up, Bob?
How are you?
Glad you called.
Sean, it's Corruptikate now.
It's not Connecticut.
Corrupticate.
Yeah, I mean, you're not really much better off, maybe even worse off than New York or New Jersey.
Things aren't great in Connecticut for sure.
And you have that idiot senator there who's one of the worst.
Mr. Murphy.
Yeah, Murphy.
Anyway, why did you make KD stay in New York when you escaped to the free?
I didn't make anybody on my team stay in New York.
Everybody's been offered the chance to move to the fruit anywhere they want to live.
Linda, back me up on this.
True or false?
Linda lives in Pennsylvania.
I tell you, I tell Katie all the time she should go back to Texas.
She loves it.
Yeah, I agree.
No problem.
Anybody on my team can live wherever they want.
There's no, we are not beholden to New York at all.
As a matter of fact, the show doesn't even originate from there.
If you want to know the truth, it originates from the free state of Florida.
Ah, okay.
But anyway, here's why I've called last week.
How did all the states where the Patriots came from to found our country 250 years ago turn communist socialist?
Because look at New York, Massachusetts, corrupt the kid.
And now, especially Virginia, which where so many patriots came from, I think that Senator McCarthy was right, and they persecuted him for it.
Listen, I don't know.
I mean, it is scary the radicalized Democratic Party.
And Donald Trump's trying to do big things, and all he faces is obstacle after obstacle.
They don't even want voter ID or proof of citizenship.
They don't want to fund the Department of Homeland Security while we're at war.
They want open borders, amnesty.
They want to defund the police, dismantle the police.
They want no bail laws.
These people have lost their minds.
And, you know, I understand the president's feeling.
He doesn't understand why 90% of the country doesn't say no and stand up to this lunacy.
But unfortunately, people amongst us are insane.
Well, yeah.
Anyway, Bob, good to catch up with you, man.
God bless you.
You have a great week, okay?
Let us say hi to Keith in North Carolina.
Hi, Keith.
How are you?
Hey, Sean, how are you?
It's a pleasure to talk to you.
Been listening to you for a long time.
Loved watching you.
Thank you.
So real quick, I just want to jump in on this conversation that you had last week about hypnotism and whether you want to call it hypnotism, mental manipulation, all those sorts of things.
I want to provide two vignettes to you where that's really happening today here in America.
The first vignette is post-George Floyd and the whole BOM movement, where as a society, we were taught and instructed to believe that if you're white, you're inherently racist.
Doesn't matter what you did.
Doesn't matter what you think.
Doesn't matter if you actually did anything racist.
You're a racist if you're white.
It was even being taught from teachers to the government to even coming out of the pulpit.
Second vignette is a vignette that I think is far worse.
And it's where we have been conditioned to believe that a certain class of people don't deserve to live.
And that is the unborn child.
On the order of nearly a million babies are aborted annually in the womb.
And we've dehumanized them.
We've called them fetuses.
And we say it's a woman's choice.
And we consider mass murder just a thing.
It's not a big deal.
Well, I mean, I happen to be pro-life.
I think politically we have lost that debate.
I mean, with the Supreme Court codifying the abortion pill, that in and of itself has taken, that is going to be and is now the majority of abortions in this country.
It just is.
I wish it weren't the case, but it is the case.
And, you know, unless people change their hearts and minds, to me, the issue of abortion is a heart and mind issue.
As for hypnosis, I mean, I read this and Buck Sexton wrote a great book.
I was on with Clay and Buck today.
Great book about indoctrination.
And years ago, I'd read more of a pamphlet than a book, The Synthesis of Russian Mind Control Techniques.
You wonder how can people, you know, be beating themselves bloody when the Ayatollah Khomeini, when he came to power in 79 and ever since, and they're indoctrinated mass, you know, mass indoctrination of the masses.
And the same thing in Hitler, Germany, and other countries.
And it's a phenomenon, and it's real, and that human beings are susceptible.
And the group pressure causes people to act in ways they would otherwise not act on their own.
It is a very real, clear, present danger.
The only antidote to hypnosis is awareness and self-awareness and moral courage and moral clarity.
That's what I conclude from it all.
My friend, appreciate you, Keith.
God bless you.
The Latest on Indoctrination00:01:00
800-941-Sean is on number.
All right, that's going to wrap things up.
But today, Hannity, tonight, we are loaded up tonight.
We will have the latest on the absolute positive lie.
You know, we have one of these, these homegrown terrorists saying, Allahu Akbar.
Oh, no, no, but it's white nationalism.
If you listen to, you know, Mayor Mamdani and the head of the city council, it's insane.
Eric Adams, former mayor, will join us for that.
Lindsey Graham on what needs to happen long term in terms of Iran and what the plan needs to be.
We'll have the latest and the threats that exist.
You can blame Biden, Harris, Majorkis, and the big lie that the border is closed and secure.
All coming up.
News, I promise you, no one else in the legacy media mob will ever give you.