Johnson correctly identifies that global energy security remains the ultimate leash on American foreign policy, regardless of political rhetoric. This analysis strips away bravado to reveal the sobering reality that economic survival always trumps ideological purity in a multipolar world.
Deep Dive
Prerequisite Knowledge
- No data available.
Where to go next
- No data available.
Deep Dive
Larry Johnson : Trump Caves on All Iran’s Demands!
Added:Undeclared wars are commonplace.
Tragically, our government engages in preemptive war, otherwise known as aggression, with no complaints from the American people. Sadly, we have become accustomed to living with the illegitimate use of force by government.
To develop a truly free society, the issue of initiating force must be understood and rejected.
What if sometimes to love your country you had to alter or abolish the government? What if Jefferson was right?
What if that government is best which governs least?
What if it is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong? What if it is better to perish fighting for freedom than to live as a slave? What if freedom's greatest hour of danger is now?
Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Npalitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Thursday, June 18th, 2026. Larry Johnson will be with us in just a moment on how Trump became taco again. But first, this the world is getting crazier every day.
Every time you turn around, there's another crisis, conflict, or catastrophe. You can't control what happens out there, but you can control how you prepare for it. You can make sure that no matter what happens, you have the basics covered in case one of these disasters reaches your doorstep.
Like having enough food to eat when the shelves are empty. And when it comes to my food security, I trust My Patriot Supply. They've helped millions of Americans get prepared and they have over 90,000 five-star reviews. Right now, you can get their bestselling 3-month emergency food supply for $100 off. My Patriot Supply almost never offers a deal like this. To get your emergency food supply, go to preparewiththeadjudge.com.
This food kit gives you 2,000 calories a day, lasts up to 25 years, and best of all, it's $100 off for a limited time.
My Patriot Supply almost never offers a deal like this. To get your emergency food supply, go to preparewiththeadjudge.com.
Larry Johnson, welcome here and thanks for the triple duty this week because of course we'll be seeing you tomorrow uh with the great uh Ray and McGovern.
Don't the winners of wars usually get to write the peace agreements?
>> Right. And this was uh this was crafted between uh well actually this is largely the document that Iran presented to the United States government to Trump back on April 8th April 15th. So when when the ceasefire was first declared Iran said here's our position and they had they really they had five red lines that are all reflected in this document. And uh let's see they it was lifting of sanctions, unfreezing of assets, recognizing uh their control uh over the the straight of Hormuz. Um get get the most important one was getting um getting an end to the uh war in Lebanon, bringing that to a to a halt. Uh so they they got what they they got what they wanted, what they were insisting on.
they that they you know they made it clear they were not going to uh you know I guess make compromise on any of that.
Um, one of one of the most remarkable things in in the agreement is it's all, you know, if they if if you could only choose one, you choose the one that is uh the very opening paragraph and it reads the the the key line in it is says that the Islamic Republic of Iran, United States of America and and their allies by signing this memorandum of understanding declare and then it says to guarantee the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon.
That is remarkable because when you when you assert that you're going to what violates the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Lebanon presence of the presence of the IDF.
>> Yes. Exactly right. So that means to guarantee that integrity, Iran now has legally, oh, you know, not legally because this is not legally binding document, but it has a declaration from the United States that basically you can get Israel out of Lebanon.
>> Wow. Well, I'm I'm jumping ahead from what I had planned to ask you. What will Netanyahu do to wreck this? And what will Trump and the Iranians do to resist or restrain Netanyahu?
>> Well, the uh let's recognize that it's not just Netanyahu. Um if you've been I there have been statements like uh yesterday day before by Napali Bennett who's the political opponent of Netanyahu who's seen as being to the left of Netanyahu and and he was excoriating Netanyahu as basically you know you've you've failed us and he he was threatening Iran by God if you'll find out if I'm president we're not going to for you know so across Israeli society the the vast majority, they want to keep the war going in Lebanon. They want to keep the war going with uh with Iran. So, what is what should we watch for? Uh there's not a lot Netanyahu can do without the support of the United States or the Israelis. There's not a lot they can do without US financial and military support. So what what I what I'll be looking for is if they get the agreement signed on Friday and that's still you know never discount the possibility of the second signing ceremony going ary um will we start seeing the rem the return of US aircraft combat aircraft and air refuelers from Israel if they start if they start pulling out that that's going to send a clear message to Israel to the rest of the region. Yeah, the United States actually is leaving this where our being on posture for war is now disappearing.
>> Wow. Here is uh Naftali Bennett threatening Iran. He's on the Pierce Morgan show. Watch this cut number 19.
Chris, >> I want to tell the Iranian regime from here. I'm going to be your worst nightmare ever. President Trump said in March 2026 there will be no deal with Iran except unconditional surrender.
We're a long way from that, aren't we, Napali Bennett?
>> Well, what you've just described is that Iran is a big violent bully and it proves all the more so that we have to ensure that it doesn't acquire a nuclear weapon, ensure that it can't terrorize the world because we've seen a demonstration of what this bully looks like when it uses conventional weapons.
So now imagine what it would look like if it acquires nuclear weapons. So if anything, we've all seen the true Iran.
I also want to tell you that I believe that soon in Israel, there'll be a new government. Hopefully I'll lead that new government. I want to tell the Iranian regime from here, I'm going to be your worst nightmare ever. I won't relent until we free your people, ensure you don't have a nuclear weapon. So you've got no hope. We won't let up on this effort because it's fighting for our freedom, for our security, and for the benefit of the entire Middle East.
>> How odd that he would be calling Iran a bully when Israel is, of course, the greatest state sponsor of terrorism. you um told us on Monday >> that if Iran and Israel fight each other alone, >> Iran has about six or seven days, excuse me, Israel has about six or seven days before it's over.
>> Yeah. I I don't think I don't think they could sustain uh a big a large missile barrage. You know what is so ridiculous about what Mr. Bennett said u everybody can do anybody that has access to a computer and has a search engine Google or better yet if one of the AI engines like Grock or Claude go in and type in this how many how many Israelis has Hezbollah killed uh since the start of since 1982 with since its founding and then ask the reverse question how many Palestinians has Israel killed uh the you find out that for every dead uh Israeli there are 80 dead Palestinians.
So to talk about uh Iran being the terrorist in the neighborhood uh Natali Bennett needs to look in the mirror.
It's you know he's describing Israel what it has been and the same question with respect to you know how many Israelis has Iran killed vice how many Iranians has Israeli killed again grossly disproportionate numbers so this is all this is mythology it's it's it's really it's based upon a form of racism >> what pushed Trump from unconditional surrender to giving the Take a look at that and look who's screwing it on the wall there. From unconditional surrender to giving uh Iran just about everything he wanted. Is it the economy stupid?
>> Yeah. Yeah. We're running out of oil. Um he he was briefed. So I I had uh written on Monday just looking at because there there were numbers published saying that the strategic petroleum reserve was at 360. Um and >> what does that mean 360?
>> 360 million barrels of oil which at at a consumption rate of 20 million barrels per day which is what the United States consumes. Uh that would leave us with no oil in the strategic petroleum reserve in 18 days. Well it turned out that number was wrong. it was 349 million as of June 5th. So, it's even lower now over the and then so I I looked at that analytically. Then Pepe Escobar uh our our good friend uh he he got confirmation that that uh President Trump was briefed. I don't know if it was Sunday or Monday, but he got a briefing. It had to it had to come from Secretary of Energy, right? that said we're going to be we're going to run out of oil if we don't get the straight of Hormuz opened now. We're going to run out of oil and it's going to be a major crisis. Uh and and then Trump he he admitted that yesterday. He said, "Hey, listen. We got to got to get it open cuz we're going to be without oil in he said four weeks." Uh the number Pepe had heard was middle of August. Regardless, uh that was the prime motivator to with that we've got the the world is going to face an economic crisis in a few weeks.
And and look, the reality is just opening the straight of Hormuse does not fix this. It's not like throwing turning a switch on the a light switch on and off. You flick it on and the lights come right on immediately. It's if by signing well when it's signed on Friday, it's going to take weeks to actually start moving getting getting the ships in a condition where they can take on oil, getting them cleaned out, those that have had oil sitting in them that may not be any good. Uh turning back on lines in Saudi Arabia and Qatar that were shut down. Uh and then once the ships, you know, start sailing out of the Persian Gulf with oil, it's going to take, you know, it could take a month.
So this is, you know, we're we're not looking at the pos prospect for any kind of immediate relief until maybe September at the early at the earliest.
That's being optimistic. And then that's pretending that there are no mines with the mines that are reportedly floating around the Proton Gulf. Number one, the insurance companies aren't gonna let aren't going to insure ships until those mines are cleared out. And when the Pentagon uh briefed Congress in April, they said it would take up to six months.
>> So, you know that so this is some real daunting uh figures here. And there's going to be a major adjustment in the oil market on all this immediate euphoria that you know they said, "Oh, oil futures are down. Everyone's betting that oil is going to be down to $70 a barrel in in, you know, couple of months, but probably not. Uh, and I'm not making an economic prediction. I'm just saying that the if if the goal is to replace uh get the 20% of oil that was cut off on February 28th back online, there are a number of obstacles standing in the way to for that to happen anytime within the next 6 to 8 weeks.
>> Here's the president. yesterday, Larry.
Uh, talking about oil reserves, Chris cut number seven.
>> I'm going to get bad press. I know that.
Now, if I did the opposite, if I went out and continued to bomb them for another four, just bomb the hell out of them, I'd get bad press on that. No, there's nothing I can do. But what this does is it allows the ships to go. If we if we keep bombing, those ships won't be going. And you're talking about 500600700 million dollar a day. It's a lot of money. A lot of money. That's why the world is okay. It's liquid. It's fine.
Also, we run out of reserves in about four weeks. You know, there are reserves all over the world. And we would really run out and there'll be a time when you wouldn't be able to get it. And you want to see bedum?
>> Yeah.
>> There you go. Three to four weeks. That that's even more pessimistic than what you just articulated.
>> Yeah. And it is uh and that's why he got that briefing that that that finally woke him up. uh they recognize that no they're not kidding because um they've been m we up to this point they uh the the administration and other governments have been masking it because they've been drawing on reserves and and I think some initially thought oh we can draw reserves because you know no way Iran can sustain this and it turned out we're the ones having trouble sustain doing sustaining it. So this is, you know, come come August particularly, we could we could be looking at a major economic crisis that has been sparked by uh the the fact that they've run out of reserves and this and the getting the other 20% back online is running up against some real problems. I'm going to play another clip for you, Larry, from yesterday. And the president is surrounded by, among others, Secretary of State Rubio, uh, and Secretary of State Lutnik. You got to watch Rubio, who's more interested in looking at the shoes that Trump gave him than he is in looking at the audience when Trump is saying things that Rubio knows he can't defend. And then you have to watch Lutnik shake his head. know when Trump says the Israelis are happy about this deal and where Trump comes up with this stuff, but we'll talk about this. Chris, cut number one. Many countries all over the world are so every country. I think Israel, too. Look, think of what Israel is getting. They're not going to be nuked. It's very simple. I told BBB, "Your biggest risk was that they drop a nuclear weapon into the middle of Israel. They'd only need one and there would be no more Israel. Think of it, baby. You got the best, the most important thing that you were asking for is that." So, I think they're happy.
>> People around him were not happy because they know the uh near impossibility of uh defending this. I mean this is a quantum leap >> from um surrender >> right >> unconditional surrender where and now Iran has emerged from a confrontation with the world's most powerful military celebrating >> yes well this was uh uh is quite a contrast I don't know if you've watched your former employer the folks on your former employer network uh they're not a bunch of happy campers you know the and a lot of the you know the person >> what is General Keane saying this morning >> well his head I I think his head exploded uh he just uh they can't believe that they feel betrayed by Trump and you know again you got to give Trump you know we've talked about uh and Robert Barnes in particular about some of the the odd behaviors by Donald Trump but he's whatever difficulties or um weaknesses from potential preffrontal loal lobe dementia, he still has some in reasoning intact. And when he was told what the real consequences that that were facing with this depletion of the strategic petroleum reserve, he he you know he he he made the made the right decision there. There w there was no other way out of this. The these people that think, "Oh, all we had to do is just use more military power." No. In fact, the the administration created a problem for itself by not accurately reporting how much damage Iran was doing to US military installations, key communications radar sites, and the aircraft in the region. you know, just just with the uh the the MQ9 Reaper drone alone, almost two billion dollars in losses with that. So, you know, that's not, you know, that's just dealing with the drone. You're not talking about other aircraft that have been destroyed, but more importantly, these different radar systems and um let's call them satellite systems that were on the ground and destroyed in again in multiple billions of dollars.
So again, the the American public was largely kept in the dark about all of this and this seems to come out of the blue. But uh you know Trump now I and this may be too late for him. Uh you know they're trying to put the put put the brakes on this war and it may it just may be too late to prevent the economic turmoil that he was warned about this week. Well, um Chris has put together uh a couple of clips from him yesterday where he admits things that three days ago you would never expected him uh to have admitted.
It's it's their money, the 24 billion.
Um they can now have nuclear material for their electricity uses. they can now have ballistic missiles and again it's their money we have to give it back Chris we've been pretty tough on that you know it's also it is a little hard though when you say that somebody wants it other people have it other adjoining states have it and you're not letting them have it for purposes of electricity and things like that so >> you said you don't mind Iran having ballistic missiles can you elaborate on that I I want to make sure we understand your position >> no I want I'm saying that if other countries have them it's a a little bit unfair for them not to have some.
>> Explain though what the difference is between giving Iran US dollars and unfreezing US dollars for them.
>> Well, the unfreezing is an easy one to answer. Uh we have taken a lot of their money and we have their money. We have taken their money. It's not our money.
It's their money and we froze it. at a certain point in time. I guess we're gonna have to give it back. You know, >> he told the truth.
>> He did tell the truth this time around.
>> Yeah.
>> Is is all of this fear of the losing the midterms, which he'll probably lose anyway because this is too little, too late. Is all of this, hey, I solved the problems caused by a war that I didn't have to start.
>> Yeah. If uh this this this is a hail mary pass. If if by getting the straight of Hormuz back open and and taking Iran off the enemy's list and treating Iran like a a real nation. Uh it is possible that he could prevent the economic chaos. You know, I guess that's what they're banking on. And that that will be he can then point to peace. See, I brought peace uh to to the to the Middle East. Now, a lot of this hinges on on Israel, and I've said tongue and cheek, the the person who's going to win the Nobel Peace Prize for this is BB Netanyahu. Because if it were not for Netanyahu launching that attack in Beirut, Lebanon, in Beirut, the suburb of Dakia a week ago, more than a week ago, and then Israel retaliating or through getting ready to re I mean Iran getting ready to retaliate against Israel and and Trump stopped it by cutting these deals. uh this agree this agreement theou that's going to be signed on Friday would never have been signed had BB Netanyahu not launched that attack in Daha >> Trump has already signed it he signed it in of all places the palace of Versailles what's going to happen on Friday foreign minister Iraqi will sign it in Geneva >> yeah there'll be Galibah the head of the parliament and will be there and I guess vice president uh Vance uh they're going to be uh in a place called Bergenstock um Switzerland. It was changed because the uh it was the Pakistani and Chinese intelligence learned that Israel was going to attempt an assassination of the Iranian delegation and so it was moved to a secure more secure facility location that is it's owned actually I think by the amir of Qatar. So um they will they will there will it'll be a formal signing between them. Now as as you've commented before it has no legal binding. It would be it would be one >> contract but it's not it's not ratified by the Senate. It's not a treaty.
>> Correct. and which would it would be ideal if if actually could be brought back and presented to the Senate for ratification and and endorsement because that would show that the political the the political class in the United States is actually committed to this right now.
This is just Donald Trump.
>> Yeah. So where are >> Lindsey Graham and Tom Cotton and Ted Cruz? I know where Huckabe is. We're going to play that for you in a minute.
Uh, you'll have to hang on to your breakfast, but where where are the neocons in the Congress?
>> They're going they're going crazy. I mean, they're they're outraged. U Graham at this point, he's actually he he's being cautious with what he says in public. Uh, part of that, I think, is he he that Donald Trump went to bat heavily for Graham in his recent primary in South Carolina, but they're they're not happy. the and it's it's actually what was now very curious. You got Democrats criticizing this as well.
>> If the if the Democrats now like we saw with Natali Bennett in Israel, you get rid of Netanyahu, you still got somebody who's saying we're going to we're going to destroy Iran. So, you know, this this it's it's like a mental illness that's infected all of these people. Uh Chris found a clip of Trump admitting what you Larry have accused him of doing all along, which is the stock market manipulation from Yes. He said this yesterday. Watch this. Number five, Chris. So the one thing I didn't want to see is I didn't want to see economic catastrophe. If you kept this going, that could have happened. But all I know is every time we talked about the possibility of peace, the stock market shot up like a rocket ship. It never went down. They didn't like it. The people, you know, the stock market is more brilliant than anybody there is, including the people on the stage, other than me, of course.
Let's see. I don't know. What do you think, Scott? Is the stock market more brilliant than you?
>> No, sir.
>> Huh? Oh, that's a that's a terrible statement.
All right. The stock market is quite brilliant. And uh every time we said something amazing like we're going to settle, it would go up. And every time we said something negative like guess what?
We're not going to be able to settle. It would go down very big, Peter. Very, very big. Tells you something.
>> Tells you something. Boy, if his family and if he made money on that stuff, he better pardon everybody before he leaves office.
>> Yeah. I mean, we we saw a hint of uh his son Eric trying to see if he could fix one of the fights at the UFC, you know, at the Coliseum event they had at the White House the other day. So, I mean, that that's that's the kind of corruption you're talking about where trading on insider information.
>> I was going to save this for you and Ray tomorrow, but I can't resist. I'll play it now. Uh Chris, this is uh Mike Huckabe uh when he learned of the deal telling a group of um Israeli donors. You ready for this, Larry? There would be no United States of America without Israel.
>> It's also my job to represent the importance of Israel to the United States.
This is just another reminder that it is your heritage without a doubt. But minister, it is also the heritage of the United States. Without Israel, without the Jewish Foundation, there would not be an America. We owe our very existence to what happened in this land.
about a guy that should be fired for publicly renouncing his bosses.
>> Yeah. Well, this is this is where we have to consider. Let's create Judge Npalitano the musical. And in this case, you'd have Huckabe and you'd hear Sam Cook come up singing don't know much about history.
>> Right. Right. Right.
>> You know, so somebody apparently didn't tell Mr. Huckabe, >> right? that we're getting ready to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the founding of America and that Israel didn't show up until 1948.
>> I don't know where he uh comes off uh saying on this. Um these are texts from Mark Levvin uh who of course uh is furious. It's too long to read. Anybody can go and find them. But this is an example uh of the Zionist lobby and soon the American neocons all of whom supported Trump all of whom loved Trump. Levvin famously said uh Trump is America's first Jewish president to which Trump nodded yes this is an example of all of them turning on Trump over this. What will Netanyahu do? Will he continue to bomb uh Lebanon? Will he try and assassinate Iranian leaders? Will he feel the wrath of Iran unleashed?
>> Yeah. No, I I think I think it's the latter. Of course, Israel will continue its efforts to attack Iran and to kill its leaders. Uh Iran now has they've been given basic permission by the United States to clear Israel out of southern Lebanon. And uh I I anticipate that what we'll see in the coming week is that Israel will be advising Hezbollah, I mean Iran will be advising Hezbollah to stop firing any rockets and missiles into Israel proper. Instead, concentrate fire on the Israeli units that remain in southern Lebanon. drive them out and then restore restore the sovereignty of of Lebanon as theou stipulates. Um and to that extent if any you know again Israel it Israel doesn't have the the quantity of long range missiles ballistic missiles that uh Iran does. It doesn't doesn't even begin to compare. So they are left with having to fly their F-35s to, you know, the border of Iran and launching Tomahawk and Jasm cruise missiles of which those are also diminishing in quantity. Uh, and to do that they've got to take they have to have at least two air refuelings going and two air refuelings coming back. So they they have a limited ability to to respond and and and a pretty heavy logistics lift to do it. Um, so this is they they cannot sustain a prolonged conflict. It would just uh without the United States full backing. And it looks like now Trump has pulled that plug. I I I never thought he would do it. You know, I admit I was wrong. I I thought he was too much beholden to the Zionist lobby. But apparently what he was told about the looming economic crisis scared him. Was he told what Epstein data Netanyahu has and may release?
>> No. In fact, I think if nothing else, this can this will probably would put that story to rest that Israel, if they had anything, they would have used it on this >> to to have prevented this from happening.
>> Exactly. Right. And uh it hasn't been it hasn't been used. I mean, if you're going to use it, you know, if you had that break glass in case of fire uh material, this would have been when you used it, they haven't used it. So, that tells me whatever speculation there was about them having blackmail material, they don't have it.
>> Got it. Larry, thank you very much, my dear man. I always thank you for accommodating my schedule. This time, I really mean it. I meant the other times as well. You know me.
>> Hey, Judge, anything for you. You know me. God bless you. Uh we'll see you tomorrow uh with Ray McGovern at the end of the day. Thank you, Larry.
>> Yes, sir. Byebye.
>> All the best. And coming up later today, two more of our favorites, our heavy hitters on all of this at 2:00, Colonel Douglas McGregor. And on all of this at 3:00, the Golden Boy, Max Blumenthal, judge Npalitano for judging freedom.
Heat up here.
Related Videos
126 .bikey6
mikey.bikey6
572 views•2026-06-16
Tamil Nadu Assembly | "இருமொழி கொள்கை பின்பற்றப்படும்" | Governor Arlekar | 2 Language Policy
News18Tamilnadu
558 views•2026-06-18
Rep
RobSmithOnline
3K views•2026-06-15
Cross-Voting Hits INDIA Bloc As NDA-Backed Nathwani Wins Jharkhand Seat, ZPM Makes Rajya Sabha Debut
cnnnews18
283 views•2026-06-19
WHILE TRUMP BEGGED CHINA FOR HELP — CHINA WAS SECRETLY ARMING IRAN BEHIND HIS BACK
Frumreporttwo
219 views•2026-06-18
The U.S. Iran 14 Point Memo of Agreement... What's REALLY Happening...
J.S.Candid
4K views•2026-06-17
Israel Says 'NO' to Trump's Iran Deal | Peace Deal or Middle East Powder Keg?
NEWS9LIVE
365 views•2026-06-15
Iran emerges stronger, Israel more isolated after war, analysts warn
aljazeeraenglish
65K views•2026-06-14











