Sean Hannity Show - Cuba On The Brink
Aired: 2026-03-17
Duration: 31:03


=== Trump's Iran Strategy (15:25) ===

[00:00:00]  This is an iHeart podcast.
[00:00:02]  Guaranteed human.
[00:00:04]  In our two Sean Hannity show, toll-free, it's 800-941, Sean.
[00:00:08]  If you want to be a part of the program, we have gone over in great specificity, great detail, what President Trump has been able to do with Israel in terms of devastating Iran.
[00:00:20]  And I just, I honestly, I go back to where I've been for a long time is if Donald Trump cured cancer, the left in this country would be critical.
[00:00:30]  He'd have his critics.
[00:00:31]  They'd be never-ending, non-stop.
[00:00:34]  You know, now the president over the weekend, you know, he was very, very strategic in hitting Carg Island, all their military targets, except for their oil infrastructure, which, by the way, proves to the Iranians he can wipe them out in terms of their economy in a matter of minutes, and they could destroy the oil within five minutes if they want.
[00:00:55]  He doesn't want to do it.
[00:00:57]  The president wanted a deal.
[00:00:59]  Unless you're a conspiracy theorist that doesn't want to believe Steve Witkoff, who sat there with the Iranians and they insisted that they had an inalienable right to have nuclear weapons and bragging about how they were, you know, had 460 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium, which in seven to 10 days would be weapons grade 90%.
[00:01:23]  I'm not going to spend a lot of time on this show arguing with people that have learned nothing from history and are just ignorant and just absolutely married to either an ideology or just stupid.
[00:01:37]  I mean, it's really that simple.
[00:01:38]  I'm not going to argue it's stupid.
[00:01:41]  Anyway, so this is the president describing how everything on Cargo Island was destroyed except for the oil.
[00:01:48]  And as you know, we attacked Carg Island and knocked it, knocked it literally, destroyed everything on the island except for the area where the oil is.
[00:01:59]  I call it the pipes.
[00:02:00]  We left the pipes.
[00:02:02]  We didn't want to do that, but we will do that.
[00:02:05]  We can do that on five minutes' notice.
[00:02:08]  It'll be over.
[00:02:09]  But for purposes of someday rebuilding that country, I guess we did the right thing.
[00:02:17]  But it may not stay that way.
[00:02:20]  Just one simple word and the pipes will be gone too, but it'll take a long time to rebuild that.
[00:02:24]  Now, the president also, it's not just the United States.
[00:02:28]  As a matter of fact, this country, now being energy independent, we could survive 100% on our own with the lifeblood of the world's economy, which is why energy has been so critical.
[00:02:43]  Going back years ago on the show, drill here, drill now, save money.
[00:02:48]  Newt Gingrich started that, and we championed that with him for a long, long time on this program.
[00:02:55]  When things started in his first term to go really, really well, we started connecting many of you out in this audience with companies that were offering high-paying career jobs.
[00:03:05]  I mean, like $100,000 to train you and all the overtime you can take and a place to live.
[00:03:10]  It was insane.
[00:03:12]  And there were plenty of jobs available.
[00:03:13]  And people would call us and tell me that their lives would transform because of these high-paying career jobs.
[00:03:19]  And we're going to now put all of them online again.
[00:03:21]  But anyway, the president rightly is pointing out that it's not just the United States that needs the Strait of Hormuz open.
[00:03:27]  It's all of the rest of the world.
[00:03:30]  And now he's saying to, you know, Western Europe in particular and other countries, no, you help protect the Strait of Hormuz.
[00:03:39]  Here's what he said.
[00:03:40]  We are talking to other countries about working with us for the policing of the strait.
[00:03:48]  And I think we're getting good response.
[00:03:49]  If we do, that's great.
[00:03:50]  And if we don't, that's great too.
[00:03:52]  Remember, as an example in many cases in NATO countries, we're always there for NATO.
[00:03:59]  We're helping them with Ukraine.
[00:04:03]  It's got an ocean in between us.
[00:04:05]  Doesn't affect us, but we've helped them.
[00:04:07]  It'd be interesting to see what country wouldn't help us with a very small endeavor, which is just keeping the straight open.
[00:04:15]  Why are we maintaining the harmonic strain?
[00:04:19]  It's only there for China and many other countries.
[00:04:22]  Why aren't they doing it?
[00:04:24]  And that's because we had weak leadership, to be honest with you.
[00:04:28]  But I'm bringing it up now.
[00:04:30]  I think even long term, I think it's something that other countries should help us with.
[00:04:34]  It's something that we don't need.
[00:04:37]  And these countries are doing.
[00:04:39]  And yet for years, it's like for years, we've been maintaining it, doing a great job.
[00:04:46]  And now that the war is, now that they've been diminished in terms of military, their military has been greatly diminished.
[00:04:55]  I think it's a good thing for other countries to come in.
[00:04:59]  I would really am demanding that these countries come in and protect their own territory because it is their territory.
[00:05:06]  It's the place from which they get their energy.
[00:05:10]  And they should come and they should help us protect it.
[00:05:14]  Now, the other story that we are monitoring and watching is the president with Cuba.
[00:05:18]  Now, the anti-Castro Cubans tried to actually burn down their local Communist Party headquarters over the weekend.
[00:05:27]  I would tell you any day this week, if Cuba fell, it would not shock me.
[00:05:32]  I know the president is obviously dialed into what's going on in this conflict with Iran and wants to get this wrapped up as soon as possible.
[00:05:41]  I don't know if this 460 kilograms becomes an issue of a risk of getting into the wrong hands.
[00:05:49]  And at that point, it gets a little bit more complicated.
[00:05:52]  Keeping the Strait of Hormozo open is complicated.
[00:05:55]  Watching internally because Joe Biden and Kamala Harris allowed all these unvetted illegals into the country, including known terrorists from over 200 countries, including countries with terror ties.
[00:06:06]  That's a big worry, big concern for everybody.
[00:06:09]  But we're getting there.
[00:06:10]  Anyway, Ambassador Nathan Sales is with us.
[00:06:13]  He was in the first Trump administration, ambassador at large for counterterrorism.
[00:06:19]  And by the way, acting Secretary of State, he played a massive role in the maximum pressure campaign against the Iranian regime and its terror proxies.
[00:06:29]  And in 22 was sanctioned by Iran.
[00:06:32]  Today he talks to us about Iran, Carg Island, and Cuba.
[00:06:36]  Ambassador, first, your thoughts on Cuba before we get into the whole Iranian situation, where we are just a little over two weeks into this.
[00:06:43]  Well, Sean, thanks for having me.
[00:06:45]  Things are looking better for the freedom-loving people of Cuba and pro-democracy elements in Cuba today than they have in recent memory.
[00:06:55]  That's not to say that the communist dictatorship is going to collapse inevitably.
[00:06:59]  Nothing is inevitable in geopolitics.
[00:07:02]  But the regime is weak and it just needs a little bit of a push.
[00:07:06]  And maybe the long-suffering people of Cuba will find liberation at hand.
[00:07:11]  What's that push look like?
[00:07:12]  Who knows?
[00:07:13]  It's impossible to predict.
[00:07:15]  But the pressure that this administration has been putting on the Cuban economy, and actually let's take a step back.
[00:07:22]  Cuba has been putting pressure on its own economy for the past two generations because that's what communism does.
[00:07:28]  It destroys markets.
[00:07:29]  It destroys innovation.
[00:07:31]  It destroys risk-taking in the private sector.
[00:07:34]  So Cuba's economy is weak and going to fail even without help from the United States.
[00:07:39]  But what this administration has been doing is cutting off the economic lifeblood from other countries, and that's oil.
[00:07:45]  Venezuelan oil is no longer flowing to Cuba.
[00:07:48]  And the administration has clearly messaged to other countries, you're going to be facing American repercussions if you continue to subsidize the Cuban regime with free or heavily discounted oil.
[00:08:00]  So I think the pieces are now in place for maybe, finally, some change in Havana.
[00:08:06]  What do you think that looks like?
[00:08:07]  Because I can imagine if, in fact, the Cuban people are free, I could see a lot of, you know, make Cuba make it great again flags.
[00:08:15]  And this will be a liberation long in the making because they, like the people in Venezuela, have been suffering in poverty when both nations can be extraordinarily wealthy.
[00:08:25]  I mean, the geography of Cuba with all of its waterfront and oceanfront property is just spectacular.
[00:08:33]  I could see immediately American investment and worldwide investment in building out resort after resort after resort and property values soaring and also the quality of life of the Cuban people going through the roof in ways that they never dreamed of, you know, a year ago.
[00:08:50]  I think that's right.
[00:08:51]  And Cuba has a number of extraordinary resources that would position it to become an economic powerhouse.
[00:08:59]  And you mentioned the landscape and the geography.
[00:09:01]  I think the most important resource Cuba has is the Cuban people, the intellectual capital of the Cuban people, much of which is now residing in the United States.
[00:09:11]  The entrepreneurs, the innovators, the risk takers, they don't want to live under communism.
[00:09:16]  And they got out.
[00:09:17]  And a lot of them came to Florida.
[00:09:18]  A lot of them came to Miami.
[00:09:20]  Imagine what Cuba would look like 10 years from now with those entrepreneurs unleashed by democracy and freedom to invest in their homeland and turn it into something extraordinary.
[00:09:32]  You don't need a heavy-handed government bureaucrat to dictate outcomes there.
[00:09:36]  All you need is freedom and the resources and innovative capabilities of the Cuban-American diaspora, and great things would happen.
[00:09:45]  All right, let's move on to Iran and Karg Island.
[00:09:48]  And in the northern Persian Gulf, it's about 34 miles northwest of the mainland.
[00:09:56]  The island serves as a terminal for nearly all of Iran's oil exporting.
[00:10:01]  And they have a loading capacity of about 7 million barrels a day.
[00:10:04]  I think the president rightly and cleverly hit the military targets on the island, but did ignore the oil infrastructure.
[00:10:11]  But he made it very clear that that would be an easy target.
[00:10:14]  How important is this strategically?
[00:10:16]  And does it in any way you think impact whoever is in charge of Iran, their thinking in terms of stopping the free flow of oil through the Strait of Hormuz?
[00:10:27]  Well, I think it's very important, and it's a direct response to the play that we've been seeing from the Iranian regime over the past week and a half, and that is to hold the world's energy markets hostage by shutting down shipping in the Straits of Hormuz.
[00:10:41]  I think it's 20 million barrels a day transit the Strait, which is a substantial percentage of the world's supply.
[00:10:48]  And that's really been cut to a trickle because of Iranian attacks on civilian shipping.
[00:10:55]  And that shouldn't come as a surprise that Iran would attack civilians.
[00:10:58]  That's what terror regimes do.
[00:10:59]  That's why Iran is the world's worst state sponsor of terrorism.
[00:11:03]  And so the administration's response is to say, well, we can take a hostage too.
[00:11:07]  And that strike on Friday, after the markets were closed, by the way, that strike on Friday evening sent a very clear message.
[00:11:14]  We have the capability to crater your economy.
[00:11:17]  We're not doing it because that's not the outcome we want.
[00:11:19]  We don't want death and destruction beyond what is necessary to achieve our military and political objectives.
[00:11:25]  But that should have sent an extremely clear message to the Ayatollah, the Supreme Leader, if he's even conscious right now, that we're not messing around.
[00:11:36]  And so hopefully the market will respond to this, and hopefully the Iranian regime will start to back off of the campaign of terror that it's been waging against ships for the past 10 days.
[00:11:47]  Yeah, I think it's very, very critical.
[00:11:49]  All right, quick break more with Ambassador Nathan Sales.
[00:11:52]  He served in the first Trump administration as ambassador-at-large for counterterrorism and acting Under Secretary of State.
[00:11:59]  More with him on the other side.
[00:12:00]  Then your call is coming up this Monday, 800-941 Sean, if you want to be a part of the program.
[00:12:09]  The radio show the mainstream media loves to hate.
[00:12:15]  This is The Sean Hannity Show.
[00:12:44]  Ambassador Nathan Sales is with us.
[00:12:46]  Now, he served in the first Trump administration as ambassador-at-large for counterterrorism, acting under Secretary of State as we analyze what is happening in Iran and Cuba on the verge of collapsing.
[00:12:59]  I've never in my lifetime, and I'm not a big supporter of war.
[00:13:04]  I'm not.
[00:13:05]  And however, after I interviewed Steve Wickoff, I realized what the president realized and what he had to factor in.
[00:13:13]  And that is they were seven to 10 days away from being able to enrich uranium to weapons grade in that short a period of time.
[00:13:22]  And that's when Steve Witkoff publicly said, and that's when I kind of got the impression this was going to be a go, because the president had been amassing a huge military presence in the region, is once they were hell-bent on getting nuclear weapons,
[00:13:38]  I believe that, you know, unfortunately for President Trump in this sense, but fortunately for we, the American people, it's, you know, how do you ever calculate how many lives likely down the road are saved because he prevented a nuclear-armed Iran?
[00:13:54]  With all my heart, I believe in my soul that if they got this weapon, they would use it.
[00:14:00]  But you're never going to be able to quantify that.
[00:14:03]  But I don't think he had any choice in this matter.
[00:14:06]  And I just think the media has been brutally, abusively corrupt, biased, and unfair.
[00:14:12]  And people with their agendas nauseate me.
[00:14:14]  Well, that's the nightmare scenario that Iran, the world's worst state sponsor of terrorism, gets the world's deadliest weapon.
[00:14:21]  And they would use it.
[00:14:22]  That doesn't necessarily mean they would use it to detonate a bomb over Tel Aviv, but they could use it in other ways.
[00:14:28]  They could use it to threaten the United States and threaten Israel and threaten our allies in the region.
[00:14:34]  They could use it to cause the mere existence of it to sow confusion and chaos and doubt about the strength of the American security commitment to our allies in Europe.
[00:14:44]  So no question, Iran cannot have a weapon.
[00:14:47]  And the fact that the regime was doubling down on enrichment tells you everything you need to know about their priorities.
[00:14:55]  They're not enriching uranium because they want nuclear power.
[00:14:58]  They're enriching it because they want to preserve a pathway to a bomb.
[00:15:02]  It's obvious.
[00:15:02]  And at a certain point, you have to say, all right, negotiations are our first option, and we would like to negotiate a peaceful end to this program.
[00:15:11]  But ultimately, it's up to the Iranians if they're going to take the olive branch.
[00:15:14]  And the regime decided not to take the olive branch, and they got the arrows instead.
[00:15:18]  Spectacular that they learned nothing from Operation Midnight Hammer to me.
[00:15:22]  Anyway, Ambassador Sales, we appreciate you being with us.

=== Texas Abortion Confusion (11:51) ===

[00:15:25]  Thank you.
[00:15:25]  800-941-SEAN is our number if you want to be a part of this program.
[00:15:45]  The Sean Hannity Show, a thermonuclear MMA assault on fake news.
[00:15:53]  Hannity's on right now.
[00:15:56]  Hi, 25 now to the top of the hour, 800-941 Sean is a number.
[00:16:01]  If you want to be a part of the program, I barely, I didn't know the Oscars were on last night.
[00:16:07]  My understanding is I think they're moving after, I guess, being on ABC since the 70s.
[00:16:13]  My recollection, Linda, is that they're moving to YouTube at some point.
[00:16:17]  Is that true?
[00:16:19]  Yeah, I just heard that too, because I don't know that much about it.
[00:16:22]  And in prepping for today's show, I was like, okay, so 2029, they are leaving ABC after how many years since 1976 they've been on ABC.
[00:16:32]  All right.
[00:16:33]  Years ago, I would have been inclined to at least tune into it.
[00:16:37]  You know, there was a point when Hollywood had, I don't know, stature.
[00:16:43]  They had a certain class about.
[00:16:44]  Not everybody in Hollywood was woke, left-wing, you know, insane the way they are now.
[00:16:51]  And it's just, it's just, it has evolved into an unwatchable hate fest.
[00:16:56]  And I wouldn't even bother tuning in.
[00:16:59]  It just is not worth it.
[00:17:01]  I've been watching the series AD by Roma Downey and her husband, Mark Burnett.
[00:17:07]  It's actually on FoxNation.com.
[00:17:08]  It's a great series.
[00:17:09]  I don't know if you watched it.
[00:17:11]  And it's really good.
[00:17:14]  It really is.
[00:17:15]  First, they have the Bible, the history of the Bible.
[00:17:17]  You watch that version, and then it leads.
[00:17:20]  It starts with the crucifixion all the way through the Acts of the Apostles.
[00:17:24]  It's pretty cool.
[00:17:25]  And the early days of the Christian faith, it's pretty fascinating.
[00:17:31]  I typically watch Passion of the Christ this time of year.
[00:17:34]  Yeah, well, I'll watch it at least once a year, sometimes twice, sometimes more.
[00:17:39]  And The Chosen is a great series.
[00:17:40]  I've watched that at least five times, start to finish.
[00:17:43]  I can't wait for the, you know, yeah.
[00:17:45]  Uh-huh.
[00:17:46]  Wow.
[00:17:46]  I'll watch like an episode a night, you know, until I finally get through all the seasons.
[00:17:50]  Some nights I'll sneak in two episodes because I don't want to stop watching it.
[00:17:55]  So nobody watches it.
[00:17:56]  Here's Jimmy Kimmel, for example.
[00:17:58]  I guess he was given out one of the awards.
[00:18:00]  I guess Conan O'Brien.
[00:18:02]  You know, from all I read this morning, there was just a lot of hate Trump at this thing.
[00:18:06]  And it's just not a surprise, but it's not funny either.
[00:18:08]  And it's just not worth anybody's time.
[00:18:10]  That's the worst part.
[00:18:12]  They have rendered themselves irrelevant.
[00:18:15]  And even the mainstream media is writing about its lack of relevancy.
[00:18:19]  Anyway, here's Kimmel.
[00:18:21]  As you know, there are some countries whose leaders don't support free speech.
[00:18:25]  I'm not at liberty to say which.
[00:18:28]  Let's just leave it at North Korea and CBS.
[00:18:35]  Fortunately for all of us, there is an international community of filmmakers dedicated to telling the truth, oftentimes at great risk to make films that teach us, that call out injustice, that inspire us to take action.
[00:18:48]  And there are also documentaries where you walk around the White House trying on shoes.
[00:18:53]  Here are the nominees for documentary short film.
[00:18:57]  I'm just not impressed.
[00:18:58]  It's just not funny.
[00:18:59]  That's this whole act every single second of every day.
[00:19:03]  And it's dull and it's boring.
[00:19:05]  And, you know, there used to be a time where, you know, Trimmer Stewart.
[00:19:11]  Mary, Mary.
[00:19:14]  You know what that's from, right?
[00:19:16]  Wonderful life.
[00:19:17]  Very good.
[00:19:17]  Maybe it's not good.
[00:19:19]  And where it had prestige and esteem and Bob Hope would, you know, would go with our troops in conflict, conflict, and war, et cetera, et cetera.
[00:19:28]  Those days are gone.
[00:19:30]  I don't know what's happened to Joy Reed.
[00:19:32]  I don't really understand it.
[00:19:34]  Once defended her right to stay, I never called for people to be fired, canceled, boycotted the way the left does to conservatives.
[00:19:43]  But just listen to this comment.
[00:19:44]  Our regime has secret police.
[00:19:46]  They have secret police.
[00:19:47]  Our regime is oppressing women, taking away abortion rights, taking away women's rights in like 26 countries, 26 states, some states where they're trying to have the death penalty for having an abortion.
[00:19:57]  They also oppress women.
[00:19:59]  They have the highest rate of women who are in STEM careers.
[00:20:03]  We're kicking women out of the military, out of university.
[00:20:06]  We're saying that DEI means women can't be hired for high positions in the sciences.
[00:20:12]  So we're marginally better and we're doing it for Christianity.
[00:20:15]  They're doing it for Islam, right?
[00:20:17]  So it's like we don't get told those things because it would take away the kind of American exceptionalism narrative.
[00:20:24]  Okay.
[00:20:25]  You want to break that down for me?
[00:20:28]  You know, what state has the death penalty for abortion?
[00:20:30]  Do you know?
[00:20:31]  Because I don't know.
[00:20:32]  I have never heard of that before.
[00:20:34]  I have to say, this has been an ongoing struggle recently with the left making these broad, sweeping, obscene claims, saying, and the research shows, or I've heard, or sources tell me.
[00:20:49]  I'm like, okay, I would be interested in what sources and what facts you have to back up what you're saying.
[00:20:55]  Because to say that there's the death penalty for getting abortion, if you want to kill your baby, there are plenty of places you can do it.
[00:21:03]  There's a lot of sick people out there, and there's a lot of states that let you do it.
[00:21:07]  So have at it.
[00:21:08]  Supreme Court codified the use of the abortion bill, which is from basically the first trimester.
[00:21:14]  So let's start there.
[00:21:15]  That's nationwide.
[00:21:17]  That's why it's not the issue that it once was.
[00:21:20]  But to say that you would get the death penalty?
[00:21:23]  Oh my God.
[00:21:25]  I want to make sure that it's rare and legal.
[00:21:27]  Legal and rare.
[00:21:28]  And I would say early.
[00:21:30]  Add the word early to the.
[00:21:31]  Yeah.
[00:21:31]  Now they're like, hey, if your kid's walking, you know, it's still okay.
[00:21:35]  You take them out.
[00:21:36]  I mean, the idea that you can have a nine-month child, healthy, alive, next to you on the table, and you're allowed to kill it, that's not abortion.
[00:21:44]  That's murder, guys.
[00:21:45]  That is a child.
[00:21:46]  That is infanticide.
[00:21:48]  That is a child that is capable of living outside the womb on its own.
[00:21:53]  But it doesn't matter.
[00:21:55]  Just the absurd claims.
[00:21:57]  And here's the thing.
[00:21:58]  I've spent a little bit of time, not much, but a little.
[00:22:02]  And you watch these people that spread these falsehoods and these conspiracies.
[00:22:08]  And here's the sick part.
[00:22:09]  They're actually very good at spreading their lies.
[00:22:13]  I know that may sound a little contradictory.
[00:22:16]  They make it so convincing that if you are an I'll use Russia's term, I'll steal it from him.
[00:22:22]  A low-information voter, a low-information person overall, you're going to believe the lie, the conspiracy theory, and they're going to be really convincing selling it to you.
[00:22:33]  And that's the scary part.
[00:22:35]  All right, let's get to our busy phones.
[00:22:37]  Jim in Texas, God bless Texas.
[00:22:39]  Jim, how are you?
[00:22:40]  Hey, hey, Sean, thanks for taking my call.
[00:22:42]  That's a tough conversation to follow.
[00:22:43]  I'll tell you that right now.
[00:22:45]  Anyways, I want to talk about the thing you guys were talking about with Linda on Friday.
[00:22:49]  This is really for Linda.
[00:22:51]  You can give up cursing for Lynn.
[00:22:53]  You can give up cursing altogether.
[00:22:54]  And I'm proof positive that it can happen.
[00:22:57]  Because when I left the Army in 87, I had a foul mouth.
[00:23:01]  It was just, it was terrible.
[00:23:02]  And I met my soon-to-be wife, and my buddies would call me up, and I'd be on the phone, and she knew exactly who I was talking to by the way I was talking.
[00:23:10]  And so I knew I had to retrain my brain to not curse all the time.
[00:23:15]  And I was pretty successful at it.
[00:23:17]  And so we ended up working for the state agency here in Texas for 20-something years and worked with a lady that had a mouth what I think Linda has.
[00:23:26]  And she surprised me one day.
[00:23:28]  She goes, I've never heard you curse ever.
[00:23:29]  No matter what the situation is, I've never heard you curse.
[00:23:32]  I'm like, you can do it.
[00:23:34]  It's not that hard.
[00:23:35]  But Linda, here's support for you.
[00:23:36]  You can do it.
[00:23:37]  Well, thank you.
[00:23:38]  I appreciate it.
[00:23:39]  The problem is, I don't want to do it.
[00:23:41]  That's the first hurdle.
[00:23:42]  Well, here's the key.
[00:23:43]  And why have you spent all these years proclaiming on this show that you're going to give it up for Lent only to fail spectacularly?
[00:23:52]  Why do you even try?
[00:23:53]  Why do I want to try?
[00:23:54]  I want to try for our Lord and Savior.
[00:23:56]  I just realized that it kind of sucks that I can't.
[00:23:59]  So I decided to give up something else I loved that I thought I'd be more successful at.
[00:24:03]  Oh, my God.
[00:24:04]  Do you hear this?
[00:24:05]  She's like a liberal.
[00:24:06]  I'm telling you right now, because she's basically saying she has no control over herself.
[00:24:10]  All right, we're moving on.
[00:24:11]  Thanks, Jim, in Texas.
[00:24:14]  This is just a colossal waste of time.
[00:24:18]  Let's say hi to Zach in South Carolina.
[00:24:22]  Hey, Zach, how are you?
[00:24:23]  Glad you called.
[00:24:24]  Hey, Sean, good talking to you.
[00:24:25]  Good to talk to you.
[00:24:26]  What's going on?
[00:24:27]  First off, didn't watch the Oscars, didn't have any interest, but I tune into your show regularly.
[00:24:33]  Just wanted to make a couple of points today.
[00:24:35]  Something that I think has been quite overlooked by the mainstream media is I think nothing our commander-in-chief does is really by accident.
[00:24:45]  And the Maduro raid and the access to Venezuelan oil is quite a strategic move from where we're standing now.
[00:24:54]  That if need be, there's potential that we have have access to that where we wouldn't have had that before.
[00:24:59]  I totally agree with you.
[00:25:00]  And this is the beauty of it all: is I think when Iran is all said and done, why do I think there's a strong possibility that we will have oil deals with Iran when all said and done?
[00:25:14]  I can't predict with pinpoint certainty, but I'm hoping that that happens.
[00:25:19]  I agree with you there, and I think there's potential for an economic boom after this war that is going to be something that we haven't seen in many years.
[00:25:29]  Yeah.
[00:25:30]  Well, you think that what's an unforeseen?
[00:25:32]  What?
[00:25:33]  I think the economy is going to boom, and there's going to be a period of time where we see an abundance of.
[00:25:41]  I don't think it's unforeseen.
[00:25:43]  I think it's inevitable.
[00:25:44]  I do.
[00:25:45]  And I hope it happens sooner than later.
[00:25:47]  I hope this gets wrapped up sooner than later.
[00:25:51]  The fact that people, if I would have told anybody that, you know, 17 days into this, we would be where we are today.
[00:25:59]  Would you have taken this outcome?
[00:26:01]  Because, and this is like if you start comparing World War I, World War II, if you look at Afghanistan and Iraq, what did we conclude at the end of that?
[00:26:12]  It was we could never fight wars that way ever again.
[00:26:16]  You know, having kids stepping over IEDs the way they were.
[00:26:21]  They didn't have up armored Humvees and so on and so forth.
[00:26:24]  And now we now see the next generation of weaponry.
[00:26:27]  For those that don't want to spend money on the future generations of weaponry, you're making a big mistake because if we don't do it, our enemies will.
[00:26:37]  And I just understand that there's evil in the world as evidenced by the last hundred years.
[00:26:41]  You know, look at the last century alone.
[00:26:43]  I keep referring to that.
[00:26:45]  Some people, that's why I don't want to argue with people about the war.
[00:26:48]  I'm like, okay, you have your views.
[00:26:50]  I'm done talking to you.
[00:26:51]  If you don't think that it was imperative to stop Iran from getting nuclear weapons, I don't really have any room to have a conversation with you because it's that simple to me.
[00:27:03]  It's that basic.
[00:27:04]  It's that fundamental.
[00:27:05]  Is it in our best interest to do it now while we could do it?
[00:27:09]  It's not, it's not, war is never a great option, but sometimes your enemy gives you no choice.

=== Ending War Arguments (03:10) ===

[00:27:16]  Do you want to act now or later?
[00:27:18]  Do you see it the same way?
[00:27:20]  Absolutely.
[00:27:21]  And I think one thing for that, as you said, we've been highly, highly successful thus far.
[00:27:28]  And one of the only things that has been less successful is the Iranian people rising up to overthrow the regime.
[00:27:35]  But if we step back from it, it makes a lot of sense when the top contenders to do so, the 10,000 to 20,000 Iranians that were killed in the protest were the most, had the most zeal to pursue the overthrow of the government.
[00:27:50]  So that population has been obviously thin significantly.
[00:27:54]  Yeah, definitely.
[00:27:57]  And I just pray that this continues to go as well as possible.
[00:28:02]  Every human life is important.
[00:28:05]  But when you're looking at the potential down the road, and we have to see down the road, I mean, Donald Trump as president doesn't have the luxury to ignore what a potentially nuclear-armed Iran looks like for your children and grandchildren and the threat that it would, the existential threat that it would be to America.
[00:28:24]  And so he's got to make the hard decisions.
[00:28:26]  And he does it based on intelligence, based on his conversations with our brave men and women in the military.
[00:28:33]  Appreciate it, my friend.
[00:28:34]  All right, quick break, right back.
[00:28:35]  More of your phone calls coming up straight ahead.
[00:28:37]  800-941-Sean is on number if you want to be a part of the program as we continue.
[00:28:47]  Final hour roundup is next.
[00:28:49]  You do not want to miss it.
[00:28:51]  And stay tuned for the final hour free-for-all on the Sean Hannity Show.
[00:28:56]  Back to our busy phones.
[00:29:24]  It's toll-free, 800-941-Sean, if you want to be a part of the program.
[00:29:29]  Dina, South Carolina.
[00:29:30]  I only have about a minute, Dina.
[00:29:32]  It's all yours.
[00:29:33]  Go for it.
[00:29:33]  That's all right.
[00:29:34]  Hey, Sean, I wanted to let you know that I agree with Linda as far as you're rescuing purchasing a dog.
[00:29:42]  There's 906,000 dogs and cats euthanized every year.
[00:29:47]  There's 6.2 million that enter the shelter, and a lot of them don't make it out.
[00:29:52]  But as for somebody that's been doing rescue for 10 years, I could tell you that there's a lot of joy in rescuing the dog from the shelter.
[00:30:01]  By the way, I've done that once in my life.
[00:30:03]  Well, your dog's going to need to.
[00:30:05]  I've donated to shelters in my life, but there's one particular dog that I really wanted.
[00:30:10]  It is the most insanely cute dog in the world.
[00:30:13]  And at the right time, I will introduce my new dog to you.
[00:30:16]  But I shouldn't get excoriated because this dog was born too.
[00:30:20]  I didn't buy a dog that, you know, I said, please breed this dog.
[00:30:23]  I didn't do it that way.
[00:30:24]  I just, it was for sale and I bought it.

=== Adopting a New Dog (00:36) ===

[00:30:27]  I understand that.
[00:30:28]  But if you would have gone to the rescue page for that breed, you would have probably found your breed that needs to be rescued also.
[00:30:35]  Why do I get criticized?
[00:30:36]  Because this dog needs a home too.
[00:30:40]  I just wanted to agree with Linda.
[00:30:41]  I appreciate it.
[00:30:42]  She doesn't want to annoy me like Linda does.
[00:30:44]  Great.
[00:30:44]  I tell you, you're having a great show.
[00:30:48]  You're two for two in one hour.
[00:30:50]  Good for you.
[00:30:51]  All right.
[00:30:51]  Listen, if you find yourself still struggling under the Biden-Harris economy, things thankfully are turning around.
[00:30:58]  I know things are a little tougher.
[00:30:59]  Gas prices, although they're still about six cents a gallon lower than they were a