Sean Hannity and Vice Admiral Robert Harwood detail "Operation Epic Fury," a successful U.S.-Israel strike crippling Iran's oil economy via blockade and the threat to Karg Island. They assert President Trump will seize nuclear materials while decimating the regime, paving the way for Israel-Saudi peace deals and ending the Islamic Revolution. The discussion dismisses conspiracy theories about Netanyahu's influence, predicts America becoming a top energy producer alongside Venezuela and Saudi Arabia, and critiques New York Mayor Mamdani's proposed $500 million luxury tax on non-residents like Ken Griffin. Ultimately, the segment envisions a reconfigured Middle East securing American jobs and lower gas prices through decisive force and strategic negotiation. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: CohereLabs/cohere-transcribe-03-2026, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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Military Achievement and Restraint00:13:56
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All right.
Topic A, B, and C is massive developments as it relates to Operation Epic Fury and the progress the president is making.
Iranian insiders now, Wall Street Journal reporting, fear the economic destruction that has been caused by the U.S. Israeli bombing.
And the U.S. blockade could, in fact, topple the regime.
As I reminded you in the last hour, U.S. military forces now have widened the shipping blockade on Iran, including cargoes deemed contraband.
Any vessels subjected or suspected, rather, of trying to reach Iranian territory will be subject to belligerent right to visit and search.
You know, the amazing thing that happened yesterday, it kind of went unnoticed, but the Chinese tanker that tried to sneak oil out of the Strait of Hormuz.
In fact, it was forced right back to port.
And now, even the Chinese are saying they want this to end.
And on top of that, we have movement as it relates to Lebanon and Israel and a ceasefire.
And both the prime minister of Israel and head of Lebanon will be meeting.
This is the first time since 1983, as the president put up on a truth social post earlier today.
The president, frankly, I think, is showing great restraint.
The president could end the regime and end their ability, you know, destroy their economy, and he could.
I actually talked to somebody in the military yesterday.
He said, Sean, I heard you say probably in about an hour.
He said probably less than half of that.
In 15 minutes, Karg Island could be destroyed, and with it, the entire Iranian economy.
Here's the president talking at length about, well, we will get the nuclear dust back or we'll take it.
There will be no deal if Iran wants a nuclear weapon.
I mean, his focus remains the same.
So, what was the sticking point over?
You said it was over nuclear.
It was over nuclear.
Nuclear, very similar, yeah, very good.
I guess you're listening.
It's over the fact that they will never have a nuclear weapon.
Iran, you're marking it down?
Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.
And we agreed to a lot of things, but they didn't agree to that.
And I think they will agree to it.
I'm almost sure of it.
In fact, I am sure of it.
If they don't agree, there's no deal.
There'll never be a deal.
Iran will not have a nuclear weapon, and we're going to get the dust back.
We'll get it back either.
We'll get it back from them or we'll take it.
As I've been telling you, the hard way or the easy way, the president has given them a little bit of runway.
His patience will run thin.
I know President Trump well enough to know that this is not going to be on the table forever.
It's a very short window for the Iranians to make that decision, but we'll see what happens.
Joining us now, Vice Admiral Robert Hardboard is with us of the U.S. Navy, Ginza 2022 General and Admirals Program Participant, and a member of their Iran Policy Project and the Jewish Institute for National Security of America.
He's here to talk about.
Is it as devastating as even Iranian insiders are saying?
If they don't have an oil based economy without oil, I argue they have no economy.
Am I right or am I wrong?
That's exactly right.
It's a very good strategy the president has implemented.
He had other options on the table, more kinetic, that would have been more devastating, but he's kept this one non kinetic, but illustrating the strategic risk it presents to the regime.
And I'm convinced that will compel them to come back to the negotiate table and surrender or capitulate on exactly what the president has asked for.
You will not have a nuclear weapons program.
You will not.
The Straits of Hormuz.
So, a brilliant tactic and strategy.
Let's talk about all that's happened with Epic Fury and the tremendous military success.
I believe it will be studied for the next 100 years plus.
And on top of that, all of Israel's great military achievements, I think they'll be studied as well.
We certainly now have entered the next generation of warfare, which is fascinating to me.
And I just want to ask you from the standpoint of.
Of Iran now moving forward.
Every time they've been faced with a decision, they had 50 days before the president allowed Israel, and he did allow them for all these idiots and morons and conspiracy theorists out there that say, oh, Netanyahu and Israel is controlling the president.
That is not true.
The president is not making his own decisions.
That is not true.
The president is influenced by Fox News hosts.
That is not true.
The president, up to the last day, was listening to voices contrary to the decision he made.
He listens to everybody.
But anyway, I digress.
So, as it relates to what's going to happen here, it's been an incredible military achievement.
And this would be the easiest part of it to take out Karg Island.
The harder part would be extracting the 60% enriched uranium, although we do know where it is.
And we have proven an ability to create a perimeter, like, for example, when we rescued these two pilots.
You've highlighted two very important points.
And the first one being the experience of our military.
No nation in the world has the experience we have to execute what we've done in Iran.
And it's incredible technology, but it's really predicated on our experience our involvement in Iraq, our involvement in Afghanistan, our involvement in Venezuela, and everywhere else.
These sorts of raids, this Throughout the capability, have been performed time and time again.
So, we have the experience to do that.
And while a lot of people talk about China's building a bigger navy, they'll never be able to catch up with our experience.
That's number one.
Number two, the president.
Iran had to be dealt with at one point before they could not be dealt with.
And they were quickly reaching that point after numerous and many administrations who would not address this threat.
President Trump had the courage to strike Iran, which changed everything.
So that's irrefutable.
Those two facts is what put us in the position we are today.
And I'm convinced because of that, we can not only do anything we want to do in Iran, but we can meet all of the objectives the president and his team has outlined.
And that's ensure Iran never has a nuclear weapon, ensure they let Free flow of commerce through the Straits of Vermuz and ensure they will no longer support and defend their surrogates.
So you do those things, and that as well signals the end to the Islamic Revolution as we've known it for the last 49 years and allows the region to really move into a period of stability and security for a long period of time.
I'll even take it a step further.
I'll argue on the other side of this, we're going to see peace deals that were unimaginable.
Even a decade or two ago.
And that means I think there'll be normalization of relations with the Saudis and Israel and other Gulf state nations also.
I think that, you know, it will build upon the Abraham Accords on steroids.
You're exactly right.
I go back to when I was in Iran in the 60s and 70s, where you could travel freely between Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, where there was peace and stability.
You could be any religion, they were secular, they were all.
Focused on growing and prosperity for their people.
The whole region will move back to that after the Islamic Revolution not only destroyed Iran, it's destroyed Lebanon, it's destroyed Gaza, it's destroyed Yemen by their reticule and their support of the revolution through their surrogate.
So you've got exactly right.
Not only peace and stability, but prosperity.
With all the wealth they have, it will just be unbelievably successful.
Continue now with Vice Admiral Robert Harward is with us.
I guess the next thing after this, now imagine, let's imagine the president gets the dust.
And I'm leaning more towards the idea, in spite of the fact that they've, when, and again, we're dealing with a former leadership now.
There has ostensibly been regime change.
The first tier of leaders are dead, the second tier are dead, most of the third tier are dead.
So we're now dealing with fourth and fifth tier remaining, quote, leaders in Iran.
But prior to this, Every single time Iran was faced with a deadline or a decision, they chose to be stupid.
They chose to underestimate the commitment of President Trump.
And this, for some reason, I suspect that their back now is so against the wall that they're not going to have any other option.
And why do I believe they will actually reverse course, allow the president to have the nuclear dust, allow the strait to open, get over this idiotic idea of reparations and charging tariffs for international waterway passage, et cetera, and that there'll be a A conclusion, and that we won't have a nuclear armed Iran.
And by the way, there'll be a lot of egg on the face of many leaders in Iran, a lot of the isolationist voices in this country, and a lot of liberal Democrats that said, oh, Donald Trump is going to lose this war, which was never the case.
You know, people like Hakeem Jeffries.
Well, you cannot dispute that the regime is not what it was a month and a half ago, that we have gone down three, four levels.
But what really, I think, and this may be the wrong analogy, but I've always used it.
The holy grail, so to speak, solution is where the government in place in Iran, whoever that may be, renounces the Islamic revolution and the policies and program that they supported.
And that included everything you've just mentioned a nuclear weapon, armed and threatening surrogates who challenged the West and Israel and our allies in the region, the GCC.
They'll stop building missiles.
Commerce.
That's when you see that happens, you know that's the regime the rest of the region and the world can live with.
And we're moving that at great pace.
So I think it's inevitable, as you've insinuated.
I think the president knows that it's how we get there as bloodless as possible while still at the end of the day holding those people accountable who have tens of thousands of Iranian deaths, their own people on their hand.
That's when this thing really turns into what the future will be for Iran, the region, and the world.
I think that's really well said.
So, we're going to see a reconfigured Middle East.
We'll see a Western hemisphere where Maduro no longer exists, and we now have a good relationship with Venezuela.
We're going to see the fall of Cuba probably as soon as this operation is over.
And this is really right before our eyes the biggest transformation march of freedom.
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, and it may be more impactful in the long run, history will tell.
You're exact.
We're rebalancing the world order in the direction it should be going.
And the irony of this is President Trump will deserve the Nobel Peace Prize for this as we go out in history and this plays out.
This is changing the world to be just a much better place.
And you can even extrapolate what that means a decade or now, two decades now, Russia in a post war.
Putin atmosphere and how it influenced China.
So, this is the most geopolitically significant event we've seen in my generation, your generation, and for many generations to go.
And so, to have the courage to do this and risk this will determine the legacy of President Trump.
He's a historic times, Admiral, that we're living in.
And it's honestly amazing to watch.
And in spite of all the opposition, all the naysayers, all of the people that predicted.
Failure.
You know, you can only want, for the sake of the world, a safer place.
Iran without a nuclear weapon is a safer place.
Anyway, we appreciate you being with us.
Vice Admiral Robert Harwood is with us, and we appreciate your time, sir.
Thank you for being with us.
Taxing the Rich in New York00:05:39
To be with you.
I mean
liberals, crazy.
Three hours a day, every day, the Sean Hannity Show is back on the air.
There's two stories as it relates to Zoran, Marxist, Kami Mamdani.
Well, three.
One, he can't deliver on his promise for free buses for people, which I'm kind of sad about because I thought it would be a good place for drug addicts, homeless people, and alcoholics to congregate.
They can stay on the bus all day, have one big party, and who's going to stop them?
And then they can congregate where it's actually warm, and it'd probably be safer for them.
I'm even in favor of putting urinals on there, bathrooms on there.
Linda probably thinks that's crazy.
I mean, if you're going to have cradle to grave, womb to the tomb, nonsense, but he can't deliver on it because he can't afford it.
Now, if you go back in January, the governor of New York, who desperately needs Marxist Kami Mamdani support, Kathy Pokal, said Mamdani's insistence to tax the rich.
That she would not support it, that the state had plenty of money and she didn't want to drive the wealthy away, but she's now singing a very different tune and giving into Mamdani pressure because she desperately needs his support.
So she flipped and flopped and failed.
And now, despite the talk of seeing no need for any new taxes, now she's pushing levies for, you know, on second residences in New York City.
Now, I'm going to play Mamdani in his asinine.
Instagram post.
And if you wonder why I left New York, I mean, I left New York hard.
And what do I mean by that?
I hired an army of accountants and lawyers to make sure this was the cleanest break imaginable because they go after people that leave New York.
And I'll tell you the next thing to come you're going to see not only wealth taxes like they're proposing in New York, and they have this referendum out in California.
They just implemented one in the state of Washington.
Interesting.
The liberal owner of Starbucks, the former CEO of Starbucks, he now moved to my free state of Florida.
Anyway, in this tape, you're going to hear the name Ken Griffin.
Maybe some of you are familiar with Ken Griffin.
Maybe some of you are not.
Ken Griffin runs a huge hedge fund called Citadel.
His entire company now is in the free state of Florida, not that far from where I live.
So they're chasing people away.
So there's two asinine things that Zoran Marxist Kami Mamdani says in this stupid post of his.
And he singles out and he says this is going to be a $500 million a year tax on luxury second homes.
Ken Griffin lives in my state of Florida.
However, Citadel does business in New York.
So he kept a penthouse in New York.
Apparently, he paid over $200 million.
The guy's just a multi, multi, multi billionaire.
Very successful guy.
And he owns a ton of property in Miami, a ton of property in Palm Beach, all waterfront estates.
I mean, crazy properties that he has.
And I'm not jealous because he makes a lot of money for a lot of other people.
He makes money for every realtor for every property that he buys.
He makes money for every contractor that he hires.
He makes money for everybody that works for his company in the business, obviously, of banking, private equity, et cetera.
He's making money for tons of people.
And you would think New York Mayor, the New York Mayor would want.
A billionaire like Ken Griffin coming up to New York as often as possible.
Why?
What is he likely to do if he goes to New York?
Spend a lot of money.
And basically, what Mamdani is saying here, he's throwing up his middle finger in Ken Griffin's face and every other wealthy individual that has property in New York, although doesn't reside there, which I don't own any property in New York.
And he's basically saying, F you, I'm stealing your money.
I'm authorizing our government to steal your money because you don't live here and I can.
And if I'm Ken Griffin, he's a smart guy.
I've never met these rich people that got rich by being stupid.
I never got a job from a poor person either.
Anyway, listen to the stupid Zoran Marxist Kami Mamdani.
When I ran for mayor, I said I was going to tax the rich.
Well, today, we're taxing the rich.
I'm thrilled to announce we secured a pied-a-terre tax, the first in New York's history.
This is an annual fee on luxury properties worth more than $5 million, whose owners do not.
Live full time in the city.
Like for this penthouse, which hedge fund CEO Ken Griffin bought for $238 million.
This peer to tear tax is specifically designed for the richest of the rich, those who store their wealth in New York City real estate but who don't actually live here.
But even so, they're able to reap the huge financial rewards of owning property in, dare I say, the greatest city in the world.
And most of the time, these units are sitting empty, since again, they don't actually live here.
This is a fundamentally unfair system that hurts working New Yorkers.
America's Energy Boom Ahead00:05:46
Now, it's coming to an end.
This tax will raise at least $500 million directly.
For the city.
It'll help fund things like free childcare, cleaner streets, and safer neighborhoods.
As mayor, I believe everyone has a role to play in contributing to our city, and some a little bit more than others.
Happy Tax Day, New York.
I mean, you listen to this.
I mean, first of all, the attitude oh, no, people are not going to leave.
We have more millionaires than ever before.
Well, there are more millionaires in the country by far than ever before, you idiot.
And this is what radicals, this is now the modern leftist exchange.
Extreme Democratic Party.
What do you think the Green New Deal is?
What do you think is on the ballot come November for these midterms?
Anyway, let's get to our busy phones.
800 941 Sean, if you want to be a part of the program.
Bill, Florida, next on The Sean Hannity Show.
What's up, Bill?
Hi, Sean.
Thanks for taking my call.
I want to add on to this continuation of the oil blockade of Iran.
We should negotiate with them to allow Iran to ship oil only to the U.S. at $20 a barrel.
The $20 a barrel will allow them to continue lifting oil at their wells so that their system doesn't collapse completely.
And all of that oil will be shipped to the U.S. market.
Thus, it'll come into our system at a low price and thus lower our gasoline prices to maybe $250.
And so that would benefit the U.S. While it benefits the U.S., that frees up U.S. oil to be shipped to China and to Europe, which gives us a little more leverage and control in the world market.
And we'll be able to lower the price to those countries also, but we will get the large benefit.
And the final thing on this, we will continue this process until four things happen.
One is all nuclear material is packaged up and delivered to us, we don't take any risks.
They deliver it.
We inspect it.
We decide if it's there.
All shipping lanes are open worldwide.
There's no funding of Hezbollah, and our strategic oil reserves get filled up when the U.S. gets tired of cheap gas.
I believe that would benefit the U.S. and it would benefit the world economy.
And how can our liberal friends complain about us when we allowed a country to not collapse?
We lowered the gas prices, not just for us, but for the rest of the world, and we got the nuclear material back.
All we have to do is say, you're going to collapse.
You know that.
We know that.
You can save your oil fields by shipping it to us at $20 a barrel.
Look, I'm going to tell you right now, and stocks have been going up all day.
We had record highs for the SP and NASDAQ as of yesterday.
The Dow has rebounded almost completely to its high.
And, you know, in spite of this Iranian conflict, oil has come down significantly in the last week and a half, you know, somewhere in the 80s to $90 a barrel range, mostly.
But I'll tell you what's going to happen is if you look at the end result in terms of what's going to happen with oil and energy, et cetera, there's a reconfiguration that is going on right now before our very eyes.
And most people are not paying attention to it.
I am.
And the biggest beneficiary of it all is going to be the United States because these oil, you know, putting this blockade in place, I'm telling you right now, it is brilliant because the president does two things simultaneously.
He gives the Iranians a preview of coming attractions.
If we take out their oil, we take out their entire economy.
They'll have nothing left.
And that'll only help American oil, energy companies, liquefied natural gas companies, et cetera.
It'll be a huge boom for this country.
High paying career jobs in the energy sector.
We're going to start doing what we did when the Balkans was on fire and Oklahoma was on fire and high paying career jobs came online for people.
And we hooked them up with companies looking to hire people and pay them a ton of money.
However, Democrats, you know, if they ever get back in power, you know, they'll have the same attitude as Kamala Harris when gas was for no reason, no conflict, hovering around $5 a gallon nationally.
You might recall this is what she said.
Then the president did say in the State of the Union there is a price to pay for democracy.
Got to stand with your friends.
And as everybody knows, even in your personal life, Being loyal to those friendships based on common principles and values, sometimes it's difficult.
Yeah, maybe you can tell that to NATO and our European allies.
Here's what's happening Europe's going to have a problem.
They're weighing the high cost of Canadian liquefied natural gas shipments via Panama as Iran war is disrupted.
But this is going to be a permanent disruption.
There's going to be a reconfiguration.
And the number one producer of oil on the planet is Venezuela.
We are now partnered with them.
The number two country in terms of energy production is America.
Number three, way behind, is Saudi Arabia.
And we're partnered with them as well.
So we're looking good.
I know there is a little bit of short term pain.
That will recalibrate itself very, very quickly.
And we get cheaper ways that we can extract all of this energy.
So that's another thing that's online.
Anyway, I appreciate your call.
Federal Oversight Funding Issues00:03:03
Good call 800 941 Sean, our number if you want to be a part of the program.
Up is next.
You do not want to miss it.
And stay tuned for the final hour free-for-all on the Sean Hannity Show.
Right back to our busy phones, 800-941-SEAN if you want to join us.
Chris in Massachusetts or Taxachusetts, however you prefer.
What's up, Chris?
How are you?
How are you doing, Chuck?
Thanks for taking my call.
I just wanted to comment on your sure thing.
Just wanted to briefly comment on your yesterday's guest, Nick Shirley, and the fraud that's been going on.
One, he's doing an outstanding job.
And two, I just wanted to point out that this is not just a state tax loss issue, it's also a federal tax loss issue.
Issue because the federal government funds each state's Medicaid program.
And the split can be from 50 50 to 90 10, you know, with the federal government, 90% on, you know, specific programs that the states have.
And not only is that a loss for the program itself and the American taxpayer, the federal government also pays for the oversight of those health programs through Medicaid.
So each state is required to have a Medicaid fraud control unit.
And I believe that, and these are all through grants, and I believe that split is about 75% federal dollars to 25% state dollars.
Then look at the budgets for the United States government.
Now, I believe HHS, which is the funding mechanism for these grants and these healthcare programs, I believe they were like number two.
In the United States last year.
So I want to thank you for your continued coverage of this and that it's something that definitely needs to, is an issue that needs to continue because it's kind of disingenuous if you hear an attorney general say, like, we need more resources for this to combat this problem when it's been going on forever and the federal government not only paying for the programs as well as state government,
but they're paying for the oversight and that's all coming from our pocket.
Appreciate your insight.
I wish everybody else got it as good as you.
I really like Nick Shirley.
Mobile Clinics Save Lives00:02:29
I mean, he's a young kid, he's got a bright future.
It's hard to give advice like, yeah, you do need security.
Unfortunately, those threats usually have to be taken seriously.
They sometimes can be real, as we all know.
And to tell him, yeah, don't read online comments about you because people are vile and vicious and give him a preview of coming attractions.
But I think he's a tough kid and he's smart.
And he's been able to do that which no government was able to do, and they ought to be thankful.
And instead, they want the Nick Shirley, you know, Silence Nick Shirley Act.
It's insane.
Anyway, 800 941 Sean, if you want to be a part of the program, it has been brutal for the Israelis, all these cluster bombs, densely populated areas like Tel Aviv and elsewhere.
I want to tell you the story about Phineas.
As a child, he survived the Holocaust, and he survived because of Christians that hid him from the Nazis.
They did it by risking their own lives to do it.
And today, he's in his 80s.
He can't stand on his own or leave his house to get the medical care that he needs.
And when those sirens go off, you know, as this conflict has gone on, And missiles are falling.
He has no time.
He doesn't have the strength or the ability to reach safety.
But once again, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews have stepped up and they have created mobile clinics with doctors and medicines that they bring right to people like Phineas' home, providing care that he would never receive, especially in wartime.
He said, Christians saved my life during the Holocaust, and now again they are helping me.
And as Israel's Holocaust Remembrance Day is now approaching, we honor.
Survivors like Phineas, not just with words, but with action.
Anyway, whatever you can give, they are providing all the humanitarian assistance imaginable food, water, shelter, clothing, you name it, they're providing it.