LIVE: Iran Wants Tolls. Trump Says No.

本站添加: 2026-05-23

[00:00:04]All right, everybody. We are live.

[00:00:06]Hello. How's it going? Um, there's nothing happening today, so you might as well just turn off your computer and go outside. But, uh, no, actually, um, there's there there are developments taking place, especially in the war between the United States and Iran, Israel and Hezbollah, and etc, etc. and we're going to talk about what's happening today.

[00:00:31]Uh but but really uh it's getting uh tedious. Is it just me or are you getting as tired as I am of kind of the same old thing? Uh there's a a meme that was going around uh that um Trump came out and said today this is May. Uh it's May I may attack? Maybe not. Uh so Yeah. Uh I I we we just are still waiting.

[00:01:04]Negotiating teams are still trying to get something accomplished with the negotiations.

[00:01:11]Uh we're going to talk about all that.

[00:01:13]They're not having any success at it. So it's not not going well.

[00:01:18]But uh hope springs eternal, I suppose.

[00:01:21]Uh meanwhile, the Israelis are kind of chomping at the bit to get back to fighting. So anyway, we're going to talk about all that today and where we stand with everything. The Institute for the Study War has some very good commentary out on that. We're going to go through that and we're going to see what the is what the Israelis are saying, what the Iranians are saying, and what the United States is saying on the subject. So, uh, thank you for watching the hot zone today. Do me a favor and post in the chat where you're watching from. I got an email from somebody yesterday saying, "I don't how do I post in the chat?"

[00:02:00]Well, can you depends on how you're watching if you're on your phone or if you're on your computer, but if you can see the chat right there, there's the chat. People's messages floating by.

[00:02:11]Right at the bottom of that chat, there's your picture and a little box.

[00:02:16]and you just click in that box and you type whatever you want to type and you hit send and it it'll go into the chat.

[00:02:23]It's not that difficult. I mean, look, I realize that there we have older people on here who are not techsavvy and all that, but if you can't figure out how to click in the chat box, then maybe you don't need to be chatting. Just just sit back and and watch, okay? Uh I it's it's not that hard. the day. You YouTube makes it as obvious as possible. So, I'm I say all that tongue and cheek. I I realize that sometimes it's a little confusing, but um anyway, that please post where you're watching from in the chat. We get people coming in from all over the world. South Africa, if you're in South Africa and your name is an, that probably means you're white. And my question would be, why are you still in South Africa? Uh, I was just reading this morning that we've had about 6,000 uh, people that have been allowed into the United States as refugees this year and all but three of them have been from South Africa. And that's because if you're a white South African, you have a target on your back all the time. You live with a target on your back and the government is encouraging people to kill you. And there there's no two ways about that. I've done a lot of reporting on it. I've interviewed people who have had their family members killed and uh it is very very very very bad in South Africa and this is a um warning to America to not let the racial division get out of hand. And you know, on that note, uh I you know, I've been been talking putting together a curriculum for our young men's camp that we're running this August. And u you know, just trying to say how how do we inculcate in these guys a sense of decorum, a sense of civility, a sense of discipline? Um, and you know, when it comes down to it, you you can if you want to be known if as a strong man, then you don't a strong man isn't so insecure that he needs to tell everybody he's strong.

[00:04:36]And you know that the confidence comes with your ability and your sense of discipline and your your sense of self-mastery that so many people just don't have.

[00:04:50]They don't have the ability to control themselves to uh you know they they have no impulse control whatsoever. And really what this just comes down to is class. You this is what I would call it just being classy. having the discipline to, you know, be dangerous but not have to go looking for a fight. Having the discipline to um afford good things but not have to go around and flaunt it.

[00:05:16]And so I say all of that because I I watched this this doesn't have to do with our topic today, but I saw this clip going around on social media that I wanted to share with you. This is a graduation ceremony. I just went to my son's graduation at Liberty University and it was uh other than the uh ridiculously uh overpowered wait Chuck will I will never visit South Africa due to how they treat European South Africans.

[00:05:43]Um well it's sorry to say that that's it probably would make you safer. Anyway, um you know, I I went to my son's graduation at Liberty University, and it was very, you know, well done affair.

[00:05:59]Lots of scripture, lots of prayer, uh very lots of decorum. It was classy.

[00:06:07]This, however, is not classy.

[00:06:14]>> I don't know what this is.

[00:06:19]I I better turn this down. Uh, you know, just because of the music. I don't want to get But look at these people. What What in the world are these people doing? And and is this does this, you know, say, "Hey, these are mature adults who can make their way in the world now. These people look like, you know, epileptics on crack or something." I mean, look, I have to say in a way I'm I'm a little jealous because I have I'm literally genetically incapable of uh rhythm and so I I can't dance at all and these people obviously can dance pretty well. But is this the forum where you should be doing this? Is this is this what you know is this this is what screams look at me, look at me, look at me. Uh and it's just not not classy.

[00:07:13]Well, folks, if you want to be classy, let me just point out this watch that I have on my my wrist here. You know, there are a lot of people who look, you can you can tell the time with your uh with your phone. You don't need a watch anymore.

[00:07:32]But you ever notice how everybody says time is their most valuable asset and then they spend four hours scrolling on Instagram or something?

[00:07:43]Yeah. So, if you're not interested in living like that, you might want to something a little more serious on your wrist. And so, um, this is very understated. The Wasan watches, they're very understated. They're very good-looking watches. The coolest thing about these things is that they don't need the grid to work. They don't need a battery. They are automatic field watches which can they they have gears and springs and stuff inside oldfashioned technology, analog technology on your wrist. And anybody who knows what they're looking at will know that you're the kind of person that knows what time it is without having to, you know, be so overstated, without having to be goddy. They're not goddy.

[00:08:31]They're just functional. So, I appreciate Wash and Watches because not just their product is amazing, but because of what they put into their company in terms of their faith, their patriotism for America, and you know, it's a Christian conservative veteranowned company. And honestly, this is the kind of time you want to be able to tell. So, uh, go to Wasan Watches and you can get 10% off with code Chuck, uh, by, you know, shopping there. You see the the link there in the description.

[00:09:12]And, uh, tell him I sent you. Paul up there at Wom Watches is a great guy and, uh, I I love my Wasen watch and I get comments on it all the time. So, um, again, it's a little more classy than having to break out into some sort of, uh, epileptic seizure to try to get people to pay attention to you. Okay, so let's, uh, move on. Thank you to Watches for sponsoring today's podcast. All right, so there's a Hello from Brazil.

[00:09:46]Do you think Trump Trump will is observing dual hijah that began on May 18th in Mecca?

[00:09:56]No, I don't. I don't think Trump cares about dual hijah, whatever that is.

[00:10:02]Okay.

[00:10:04]Thank you though. I appreciate the the question. Now, here's another question.

[00:10:09]Just today I was uh PC says, "I was walking home. A guy yelled at me, are you Jewish?" I did not answer. got on a bus out of there. UK is dangerous. Yeah, the UK is lost.

[00:10:22]We said this 25 years ago that the UK would be uh become a Muslim country because people in Great Britain just don't have babies.

[00:10:31]You know, uh native Englanders or British people just aren't aren't procreating. But guess who is procreating? the Muslim people who have moved into their country have an average of seven children uh per woman. And so those look it's just arithmetic. The UK will become a Muslim country and it's well on its way to that already. And if it's a Muslim country, you can bet they're not going to be friendly to Jews. That's just how it works. Okay.

[00:11:02]Uh, now I want to get to what's going on with the Institute for the Study War and their report on what's happening in the Straight of Hormuz. Uh, so uh, first I want to show what President Trump said about the Straight of Hormuz.

[00:11:22]If I can find that video here and go through my Here it is. Oh, no. No, no, not that one.

[00:11:33]Oh, here it is. President says we've got total control of the straight of Hormuz.

[00:11:38]What?

[00:11:39]>> Relationship with them before. Uh, and we'll see. Uh, we have total control of the straight of Hormuz, as you know, with our blockade. The blockade's been 100% effective. Nobody's been able to get through. It's like a steel wall.

[00:11:52]It's okay. So that's what President Trump said in his u press conference about the straight of Hormuz. Unfortunately, that's not true. We don't have total control of the Straight of Hormuz. There have been at least 30 ships that have been able to skirt past the blockade uh according to very wellrespected maritime tracking organizations uh that that are empty tankers being allowed into the straight of Hormuz.

[00:12:23]maybe because they're saying that they're going to go to Iraq or somewhere else and so we let them in. But in reality, they're Iranian flag vessels or or Iranian controlled vessels that are coming in and because they're not the the problem we're having is not that we can't see them or that we can't stop them that they're able to sneak through the straight of Hormuz without us seeing them. The problem is that we have there's a process that we have to go through to be able to interdict a ship to be able to ascertain that it is a sanctioned vessel and that process is imperfect. It takes time and uh because of that there are ships that have gotten through and every empty ship that gets through is just a few more days of capacity that Iran can continue to pump oil. So that's what they're doing. They're filling up these tankers that are inside the Persian Gulf over at Car Island and then just letting them float around out there just as floating storage uh facilities. But you figure every two million barrels that's uh easily a couple days uh worth of oil that Iran can pump. So we're um by the fact that we are not able to stop all the ships going in, we are allowing Iran to hold out just a little bit longer and that's not helpful. Not to mention the fact that more and more ships now are going along with Iran's claims to have uh control over the straight of Hormuz. They're registering with Iran in order to get through and Iran is allowing them through. And then we're allowing those ships through as our blockade as well.

[00:14:14]So these are not ships that are coming from Iranian ports. They're ships coming from Iraq or Kuwait or Saudi Arabia, somewhere else.

[00:14:24]But they are paying the toll to Iran.

[00:14:28]They're traveling the route that Iran wants them to travel up along their coastline and they're being allowed through and then the United States allows them to leave as well. Now, I don't know how many of those very large crude carriers are going to ever come back to the straight of Hormuz while Iran is still in control. But to say that we have total control over the straight of Hormuz is just flatout wrong. We don't.

[00:14:57]Iran is actually solidifying its control over the straight of Hormuz as we speak.

[00:15:04]And the that's not just me talking. That is the very wellrespected Institute for the Study of War. Here's what they wrote in today yesterday's uh report. Iran's demands over the Strait of Hormuz demonstrate that Iranian officials believe they won the war because formalizing Iranian control over the Straight of Hormuz is a territorial claim on the sovereign territory of another country. So they're saying we actually took territory in this war. So we won and they're ridiculous stabs at negotiation.

[00:15:44]Uh this is ridiculous on the part of the United States that we're even entertaining this uh negotiating with these these terrorists shows that we don't understand the nature of uh Iranian culture when it comes to negotiating.

[00:16:01]You have to think of like a a Persian rug trader in the souk in Thyron uh where you walk in and and you say, "How much is this rug?" And he says, "It's $500." and you go, "Oh my gosh, I'm not paying $500." And then you turn turn to you say, "Never mind." You turn to walk out and then the Persian rug trader says, "Oh, wait, but my MOTHER IS SICK AND MY SON and blah blah blah." And they they are not going to give you a reasonable price if they can help it in any way, shape, or form. It is part of who they are. It's part of their self-esteem to get a a a better deal to pull one over on your opponent.

[00:16:45]Now, here's a looks like a question from William. Do you think Trump will opt to eliminate the capability represented at Car Island? Rangers lead the way. Shep.

[00:16:57]Hello, Shep. Um, maybe he should. And not only should we eliminate their ability to load ships at Car Island, uh we should stop any ships from going back into the straight of Hormuz. Uh and stop any ships that Iran that that pay the toll to Iran from going out. If those ships pay the toll to Iran, we should say, "Sorry, turn back around. Go back to the Persian Gulf. You're not not getting out."

[00:17:29]John uh says the oil is about the rare earth China is playing games with.

[00:17:34]Thought on that, Chuck. Play games with rare earth, no problem. We control global oil. Um you you mean the US controlling uh the oil that goes to uh China.

[00:17:50]China controls about 90% of the earth's the rare earth minerals that uh are used uh around the world. and we need their rare earths. We get a big problem in America because we don't manufacture that stuff anywhere besides China.

[00:18:07]That's a problem. It needs to be dealt with. But uh I I don't think that has to do with what President Trump is doing in the straight of Hormuz. I just think that he's watching the gas prices continue to climb in the United States.

[00:18:22]Uh they say that the White House is panicking over the fact that we may be about to break through the highest price that was paid for gas during the Biden administration because President Trump was extremely critical of Joe Biden for allowing prices to get that high and we're approaching that price now. So if we go through that, that's going to look pretty bad for the Trump administration.

[00:18:46]So, I think he's they're allowing oil out just to try to increase the global supply somewhat and still claim that they're choking off Iran. But the bottom line is the Iranians right now believe they are winning. The Iranian government has been hurt, no question, but they are rapidly rebuilding their uh drone capability especially and their missile capability. China and Russia have sent dual use chemicals into China into Iran and are continuing to do so which are helping Iran rebuild its weapons capabilities and the drone capabilities are much harder to deal with than the missile capabilities. So we've knocked out a large amount of their missile capabilities uh because they are uh it they re require massive facilities, very high-tech planetary mixers and all this kind of stuff to make the the missiles. But the drones can be made in somebody's garage. Uh they can be made out of cardboard, you know, they they can be made very very easily. And so it's virtually impossible to destroy their drone manufacturing capabilities, especially since China and Russia are shipping in the components, the computer chips and things like that that they need to build these drones.

[00:20:16]And as long as they've got a half a dozen drones anywhere in Iran, they can continue to threaten the Strait of Hormuz. And if they can continue to threaten the straight of Hormuz, we're not going to be able to to to claim that we have total control over the strait.

[00:20:34]Now, here's what the Iranians are saying about it. This is Ibrahim Azizi, who's the head of the of Iran's National Security Committee. He says, "Trump has finally achieved his his dream of regime change, but in the region's maritime regime. The straight of Hormuz will will certainly reopen, but not for you. It will be open for those who comply with the new laws of Iran. The 47 years of hospitality are over forever.

[00:21:08]That doesn't sound like a country that wants to negotiate a settlement. Uh especially if that settlement includes reopening the street of Hormuz to global traffic.

[00:21:19]They are doubling and tripling down on their claims of sovereignty over the straight of Hormuz. Uh the Institute for the Study of War put out this map that shows um that they are they're claiming sovereignty now over this entire region. And look at how it completely surrounds that part of Oman that sticks up into the Gulf. This is why Iran is kind of making noises that they're going to negotiate with Oman to share joint control of the straight of Hormuz and charge fees and then split those fees between Iran and Oman.

[00:22:00]Uh Oman has been against this in the past, but they're being kind of cagey about it now, and they're they're they're not really taking a hard stand on it now. The UAE definitely taking a hard stand on it. If you notice, this covers the port of Fujira uh on the east side of well is that east or south whatever uh side of the straight of Hormuz in the Gulf of Oman that that's a UAE port where a lot of the oil comes out and they specifically drew that line outside of Fujira to say that they control any ships that come and go from Fujira right now. and and uh that is um a non-starter for the UAE.

[00:22:48]Uh now um the uh Secretary of State Marco Rubio, he's visiting NATO this week in Europe and he talked a little bit about this uh and I've got several quotes from him that I want to I want to show you here that are uh pretty good. Okay. Uh, somebody asked him if he was optimistic about the the prospects for this conflict and here's what he said about that >> movement. Uh, >> yeah. I said the same thing. I can't believe I said the same thing to the Iranians. There's been some progress. I wouldn't exaggerate it. I wouldn't diminish it.

[00:23:29]>> There's more work to be done, but look, yeah, there's been some, you know, and that's a good sign. I'm glad they said that. We're not there yet. I hope we get there. the president would prefer to do a good deal, >> but but but is um I you ask me if I'm optimistic. I don't characterize it as optimistic or pessimistic. I it's we're going to respond based on the facts as we see them and as they emerge. So the what the president has outlined is his priorities are clear. Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. The issue of highlyenriched uranium has to be discuss its disposition has to be dealt with and of course the issue of uh of future enrichment has to be dealt with as well.

[00:24:06]Those are the core pillars of any sort of agreement in addition to opening the straits. Um of course so um so I think there's been some progress but I wouldn't I I we're not there yet and and hopefully that'll change. It may not honestly it may not. We're we're dealing with a very difficult group of people and if it doesn't change then the president's been clear he has other options. He prefers the negotiated option and having a good deal, but he he himself has expressed, you know, concern that maybe that's not possible, but we're going to keep trying. I know our guys are still working on that very hard. So, all right, guys. Thank you.

[00:24:39]>> I think very few people could make the case that uh the United States government has not exhausted every opportunity to get to a negotiated settlement. We're way past that at this point. Uh now as we speak the foreign min uh wait foreign minister no general what's his name from Pakistan is in route to Thran and uh the there's a delegation from uh Oman and I think Qatar maybe that are also on the ground in Thrron to try to advance these talks a little bit further. Now, let me just point out a couple of things about the negotiations as they stand right now. Number one, you notice that the Trump administration has backed off of its claim of u that the IRGC or the the Iranian regime has got to u give up its sovereignty over the straight of Hormuz. are saying we want the Straight of Hormuz to be open, but they're leaving the door a jar a little bit to to be able to accept Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz as long as the Iranians let ships through. And the Iranians are letting ships through. In the last 24 hours, 16 ships have gone through the Straight of Hormuz uh through the gateway that Iran has established.

[00:26:05]So they're they're kind of intentionally not bringing that up. They're just talking about the nuclear material, the nuclear program, the enriched uranium.

[00:26:14]This is our main pillar here and they're sort of leaving that straight of Hormuz issue off to the side and that is not a good sign. Now according to Amir Tarfati um they the the current uh status of negotiations is not exciting. Okay. Uh here's the what what they're they're saying that they're talking about now. Okay. So you realize the United States had these this 14-point plan President Trump came up with and it was you know basically a surrender on the part of Iran. Iran came back with their version which was basically a surrender on the part of the United States. Now what they're talking about, this is being reported by the Saudi channel, Al Arabia, uh that the draft framework they're working on is at number one, an immediate sessation to all uh all fighting on all fronts, including Hezbollah, including Hamas, whatever. An immediate sessation of fighting, a commitment to refrain from attacking any military or civilian or economic infrastructure, both sides, a halt to mil military operations, and an end to the media war between the countries, respect for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and non-inference in internal affairs, guaranteeing freedom of navigation in the Persian Gulf, the straight of Hormuz, and the Arabian Sea. But again, they're not specifying there that that freedom of navigation has to include that Iran isn't controlling it.

[00:27:54]Um, establishing a joint mechanism for monitoring and resolving disputes, beginning negotiations on the remaining disputed issues within 7 days, and a gradual lifting of American sanctions in exchange for Iran's commitment to the terms of the agreement and compliance with international law and the United Nations. That's the the beginning framework. Now, here's what's terrible about that.

[00:28:22]It's calling for an immediate ceasefire and end to the war before they even start talking about how to resolve the issues that led to the war starting in the first place. You don't do that. That's not how negotiations work.

[00:28:43]If if we had these issues that brought us to armed conflict with another country, then we we should never say, "Okay, we're going to agree that the war is over."

[00:28:57]But none of these things that we actually went to war over have been addressed. But we as part of the agreement will agree to start thinking about talking about making a plan to establish a flame a framework around which we can start negotiations that might address at some point in the future those issues that caused us to go to war in the first place. That's tantamount to giving up. That's that's diplomatic double speak for we're done.

[00:29:30]we have no idea how to how to resolve this thing and it's not going to get fixed.

[00:29:36]That is a terrible idea.

[00:29:40]And so I really hope that that does not come to fruition.

[00:29:44]Uh now Marco Rubio also mentioned that if plan A doesn't work, we need to have a plan B. Here's what he >> hope there is. This is what I hope for and this is the point I made is we all would love to see an agreement with Iran in which the straits are open and they abandon their nuclear ambitions and so forth uh their nuclear weapons ambitions. That's what we would all hope for and that's what we're going to continue to work on and that's what work is ongoing even as I speak to you now in that regard. But we also have to have a plan B and plan B is what if Iran refuses to open the straights? What if Iran decides we refuse to open the straits? We're going to own the straits and we're going to charge tolls for it.

[00:30:24]Okay, at that point something has to be done about it. And I would argue that there are countries represented here today that are more deeply impacted by this than even the United States is.

[00:30:33]>> So see, he's trying to push this off on NATO and say, "Okay, NATO countries, you get more of your energy out of the Straight of Hormuz than we do. So you should be helping out with this." NATO's answer so far has been, "Well, then maybe you should have consulted with us before you went to war with Iran. uh and maybe we could have made some plans to do that. Uh and that that that's a valid point, but I agree with uh with Marco Rubio there that these NATO allies should it it would be in their best interests for a lot of reasons for them to do something to assist the United States in putting a stop to this. Uh now he says, you know, look, we we've got to have a plan B and that plan B is we have to actually take action against Iran if they don't agree to a negotiated settlement. And right now there's no indication that either side is anywhere close, not even close to beginning to come together on a negotiated settlement. We're nowhere close.

[00:31:46]So that's good. That means there there has to be some fighting in the future, some kinetic action taken to open the straight of hormones. And that's going to be costly. It's going to be costly for everybody involved, especially the Gulf States.

[00:32:07]the every day that goes by between now and when we make the decision to go hot is one more day that Iran has has to continue to upgrade their capabilities.

[00:32:23]Every day that goes by, Iran becomes more and more of a threat for when we do go back to fighting. Now, the United States has already got tons of uh, you know, assets in the region.

[00:32:38]So, we could could have gone back to fighting a long time ago. President Trump has made it very clear in his repeated ultimatums. Ultimatum means last chance, right? That's what the word means. President Trump has given them their last chance about 16 different times. And he hasn't acted on it. It just keeps kicking the can down the road, which gives Iran more time to make improvements in their defensive and offensive capabilities.

[00:33:10]President Trump says, "We got plenty of time. I got all kinds of time. I don't have to, you know, wait." He's he talks about no nukes here in this uh press conference. Take a listen.

[00:33:20]>> Negotiating and we'll see. But either we're going to get it one way or the other. they're not going to have a nuclear weapon. You know, when people hear it, cuz often times they won't put up the second part of the sentence having to do with I'll say this is more important than anything that we have to talk about. And usually they'll cut it off the fake news. I said because this is the nuclearization of a country that some people would say is somewhat crazy and we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. That's all it is. We can't let it. you will have uh a nuclear war in the Middle East and that war will come here. That war will go to Europe. Uh we cannot let that happen and it won't happen. It's not going to happen. That's more important than anything else. We can't I can think of nothing that's more important than the fact that we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. And >> President Trump is 100% right about that.

[00:34:16]And I and kudos to him for continuing to harp on that fact. They cannot have a nuclear weapon. we've got to do what it takes to keep them from having it. The problem is that we have in so doing in in uh pursuing that goal we have created a new problem with Iran and that revolves around the access to the straight of Hormuz and Iran is just pivoting and you know they're they're saying well yeah we're not even going to talk about the nuclear thing but what we are going to talk about is just keeping control of straight of Hormuz that's our thing now And that that's a major problem. It's a major problem uh that has to be addressed. And again, every day that goes by, we just make it worse on ourselves for when we eventually do actually have to uh do that. Now, there are reports out in the Jerusalem Post that we uh actually used up about half of all of our THAAD missiles defending Israel during the last part of the conflict.

[00:35:26]And what the the article said was that we actually the United States fired more anti-missile missiles than Israel did in defending Israel. And a lot of people might just say, "Well, that's terrible.

[00:35:43]That's horrific. We can't, you know, why are we doing more to defend Israel than they are?"

[00:35:51]Well, number one is because our THAAD missiles are uh very effective at long range, high altitude. You know, we we can blow up stuff in space literally. Uh so against the the real damaging um ballistic missiles that Iran was sending to Israel, they are extremely effective.

[00:36:14]Uh but number two, we had an agreement with Israel before we went to war, telling them that we would do what we did, that we would, you know, have their backs uh so that they wouldn't sustain very much damage from Iran. So that's a, you know, very good reason for us to do that. But the THAD missiles are a problem because obviously if we go to war with China ever, we're going to need a lot of those. Uh and so I I think it's Lockheed is uh they're just inaugurating a new uh manufacturing facility. They call it building 47. Uh it's like a $9 billion project in the United States to start cranking out THAAD missiles as fast as humanly possible. And that thing's going to be operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week to try to crank those out. But it still would take years for us to replace the missiles that we have fired so far in this war. Uh so that's a obviously an issue we've got to keep an eye on and that may be one of the major reasons why President Trump is so reticent to go back to fighting because we don't want to end up if we go another 30 40 days and Iran continues fire firing missiles at uh at at Israel and we continue to fire THAAD missiles at the rate we were we literally in another month could be completely out of that missiles. There could be none left.

[00:37:52]That would be a really bl bad bad place to get to the tomahawk missiles. Yeah, we used a lot of those. They're standoff munitions, meaning we can fire them from outside the range where the enemy can fire back.

[00:38:07]And so, it's much safer to blow things up with a tomahawk missile than it is to blow it up with an airplane or air strike or something. That's one of the reasons why we lost so few planes in this conflict.

[00:38:18]Uh but it's not as big a deal that we have run through a lot of our stockpile of of uh the uh Tomahawk missiles because we still have a tremendous number of JDAMs that can replace those. We just have to take a little more risk in getting them to the target. Uh and it's acceptable amount of risk. It's it's it's just a little bit u more dangerous for our guys to do that. So the THA missiles are are a much bigger deal and we're we're doing what we can to build them up, but uh it still may be a while. Uh we talked about defense production in that same uh press conference with Marco Rubio. Take a listen. In the end, you know, like like any alliance, it has to be good for everyone who's involved. It has to be a clear understanding of what the expectations are. And so certainly we'll try to lay the groundwork for that. One of the areas where I think we definitely can cooperate on is the defense industrial base. It is clear to the world to all of us uh in the alliance and beyond that um we simply are not able to produce munitions today at a rate that are necessary for future needs. That's something that has to be addressed. That's something that we can work together on. That's something we want to work together on. I think it's key not just to production but to interoperability and so I imagine that'll be a topic of conversation on the issue of Iran.

[00:39:47]>> So um what he's again trying to do is trying to draw NATO into assisting with that and you know this kind of uh it's kind of ironic we've had so much talk from JD Vance and other people in the Trump administration this last year that you know we don't need NATO we should pull out of NATO. NATO. We get nothing from NATO. They're not help. Well, we're just there spending all this money defending NATO and they do nothing for us. Well, this is Marco Rubio essentially hatinand saying to NATO, uh, hey, it would be really great if you guys would uh partner with us to try to, you know, to to manufacture more of these munitions that we're running out of. and he he admits that the United States is is in critically short supply on these mission the these munitions and that we we need the help. That's one of the reasons why you belong to an alliance like NATO is that it multiplies our capabilities.

[00:40:50]It's a force multiplier by definition and it is good for America and it's vital right now. Okay. Now, uh, Marco Rubio went on to criticize NATO with good reason. And so, on the flip side of that, there are problems with NATO that need to be addressed. And Rubio talked about that next.

[00:41:15]>> Anyone is shocked to know that the United States and the president in particular is very disappointed at NATO right now and what it has meant.

[00:41:22]Understand that I've been a strong supporter of NATO my entire career. I've defended it. I believe it's important. I believe it's important. But the number one thing I used to tell people was the reason why NATO is good for America because that's the question anytime you join anything you have number one answer has to be why is this good for America?

[00:41:37]The reason why NATO is good for America I know why NATO is good for Europe but why is NATO good for America? Because it gives us bases in the region that allow us to project power during a contingency in the Middle East or somewhere else. So when that is the key rationale for why you're in NATO and then you have countries like Spain denying us the use of these bases. Well then why are you in NATO? That's a very fair question. Now in fairness other questions other countries in NATO have been very helpful but we need to discuss that. That needs to be addressed and that's what I hope to address and to set the table for the leaders meeting which will be happening in Turkey I think next month if I'm not mistaken.

[00:42:13]>> So Rubio is very right to point out the NATO allies who are not being allies right now like France and Spain. Uh but he does go on to say, "Yeah, we've actually gotten a lot of help from some of our other NATO allies." And that's one of the things about the NATO alliance. It's a it's a voluntary alliance. So even article four or you know article u the article five sorry of the NATO charter which says that an attack on one is an attack on all and if if uh that article 5 is invoked that the other nations in NATO have a an obligation to assist the country that's under attack in whatever way they deem possible. And the way that it's written, it's not like it's mandatory that you send troops and tanks and airplanes to fight for our country. No, it's more of a voluntary thing where each country gets to ascertain how they want to be involved in this article 5 uh you know callup and some might support it in a non-combat role, some might support it in a combat role. We saw that during the war in Afghanistan. The only time in NATO history when article 5 has been uh has been uh invoked was by the United States. We asked for help from NATO during after 9/11 and NATO came to the response and they they all sent troops to Afghanistan and Iraq. many if not most of them lost troops in af Afghanistan and Iraq and and paid the ultimate price for their NATO alliance with us.

[00:44:06]But some countries, Germany was one of them, would they said, "Well, we'll be involved, but we're not going to allow our troops to go into combat. So, we'll be involved in a support role only." Uh, and so that that was their prerogative.

[00:44:23]That's part of what NATO is. So, um, it it Rubio sort of inadvertently points out that fact in what he just said because all of these countries of NATO, yes, they're allies of us. Uh, do they have an obligation to help us if we haven't invoked Article 5? No, they actually don't have any legal obligation to help us at all. And so each country is making its own decisions of whether or not to help. That's not uh uh we that's not a ding on the NATO alliance.

[00:44:58]That that's not the problem or the fault of NATO.

[00:45:03]That's the problem or the fault of the individual countries that are making those determinations. And so we should take steps to um retaliate, punish uh those allies that are not being good allies right now. They're not being friends. But we should not paint the entire NATO alliance with such a broad brush. Does that make sense? Okay. Uh let's move on to our questions now. We got a whole bunch of questions here today. First question is uh from St. If Nick is what makes Trump believe time is on his side and keep delaying attacking, isn't the whole thing causing a lot of suffering? It absolutely is causing a lot of suffering. But again, I think the fad missile issue is a big part in this.

[00:45:52]The oil prices are a big part in this.

[00:45:55]Uh and and President Trump just wants an off-ramp. He wants to be able to declare victory, save face, and get out of this.

[00:46:03]uh but because it's turning out to be a whole lot more difficult than he thought it would be at the beginning. Next, John says, "Why do you think the reason for Trump waiting so long to get the job done?" Uh, well, that's the same question I just answered. So, let's move on.

[00:46:21]Cheryl says, "Good morning. Uh, I finally got around to ordering Death of Civilization and Red Teams uh received Death of Civilization a few days ago.

[00:46:31]any way I can get them signed by you someday. Uh someday maybe um I don't really have a mechanism for that right now and I'm about to leave for a couple of months. I'm not going to be back here until se Jul July and I don't have my my schedule is absolutely booked until September at this point. So uh yeah, it'll it'll probably be a while before we come up with some some way to do that. Next, uh, S Dell says, "I came late. Has Chuck mentioned anything on the threat from Iran with the fiber optic data cables?"

[00:47:10]Yeah, I've talked about it several times already. Uh, they're saying that they're going to charge a fee for the data that goes through the cables that are at the bottom of the straight of Hormuz. They don't have any way to do that to collect that. And again, it's just extortion because what they're saying is we will cut your cables if you don't pay us. And uh that's a non-starter that look the world is not going to stand for Iran controlling and threatening the straight of war moves. It's outright thuggery.

[00:47:42]It's extortion and it can't be allowed to stand. Point period. End of story.

[00:47:47]Next. Thank you for the super sticker. I appreciate that. Lisa off topic, but does China commit espionage on Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan? If so, does it do in the same capacity does America? Even more so because they're in their region and that yes, a tremendous I mean to a ridiculous extent, especially on Taiwan and China.

[00:48:12]Next, I'm sorry, Taiwan and Japan. Do you agree that Islam from its inception has been taking over the world? That's I mean it's a political uh system designed around conquest. So yeah, I'd say yes. Next.

[00:48:31]I'm feeling the same way as you, Chuck.

[00:48:33]The RGC are running the show. I thought the show in Iran, I thought we didn't negotiate with terrorists. What's your thoughts, my friend? Uh well, we're that was something that President Reagan said a long time ago, but I think that's that rule has been broken uh for a long time.

[00:48:50]We've been negotiating with terrorists for a long long time. I mean, look at what we've done in Syria. We former al-Qaeda terrorists now in charge of Syria and we're facilitating that. We're helping that. We're sending our troops to train their their people. Now, they're all gone now, but that's ridiculous. We shouldn't be doing it.

[00:49:11]Next.

[00:49:13]How can Trump say we control the straight and give control to Iran at the same time?

[00:49:18]He's just hoping you don't do you don't listen to the hot zone, I guess. Uh I I don't know. Next.

[00:49:28]Could this turn into an ongoing standoff with continued small skirmishes back and forth that last for years? Is the status quo of the strait the end result that Trump wants? Uh well, Trump wants this the straight to go back to being open for everybody without being threatened by Iran. Uh could this go on for years?

[00:49:47]Absolutely it could, especially if we have a limp wristed response to Iran, which is what we're doing right now.

[00:49:53]Next.

[00:49:56]In Iran, it looks like the IRGC wh uh is Trump really going to help the Iranian people overthrow the Islamic regime?

[00:50:03]There are innocent lives at stake.

[00:50:05]There's some talk, rumors over the last few days that there have been clashes between opposition groups in Iran and the IRGC. I haven't been able to corroborate that. I've saw I saw one video that shows armored vehicles that have been deployed around uh various cities in Iran. Uh I don't know if those are IRGC vehicles or if they're the Iranian army. the Iranian army is actually a lot more on the side of the, you know, the people than the IRGC.

[00:50:36]That's the reason the IRGC was created.

[00:50:39]So, uh I we'll just have to wait and see next.

[00:50:46]I thought we had Marines on at that island. No, we we never put Marines on the island. We struck the island one time and destroyed civilian infrastructure or military infrastructure on that island. uh but not the critical infrastructure, the the oil pumping. And we've talked a lot about sending Marines to invade Car Island, but we haven't done it yet.

[00:51:06]Next, you said before we don't have access to information President Trump does. What do you think is making him hesitate? I already answered that question, Tim. I think it's oil prices, THAAD missiles, etc. I've heard you say our Navy can open the straight. Why haven't they? I say they can't. They know they're vulnerable to attack. That's the simplest explanation.

[00:51:30]They would be vulnerable to attack.

[00:51:32]President Trump is so far unwilling to put our ships at that great of risk to to and and really I mean it there's it doesn't make sense to do so. If you think about it, uh sending ships into the straight of Hormuz just puts them in range of Iranian drones and missiles.

[00:51:53]makes it harder because there's less time to react uh if they do shoot missiles at us. And the consequences of losing one naval US Navy ship in this conflict would be catastrophic for Trump's uh image. Uh especially if hundreds or thousands of sailors were killed. Uh so they just don't want to take the chance to do that. And besides, what would they do? I mean, we have destroyers that could escort ships in and out. We were going to do that until the Gulf States took issue with it. That whole Project Freedom has sort of just gone by the wayside at this point.

[00:52:34]Uh, but and those destroyers are extremely lethal, very survivable, and if we're going to send any ships in there, those are the ones we want to send. But all the rest of the ships, including the aircraft carriers and everything like that, uh, no, we probably don't want to send those in there because what are they going to do?

[00:52:52]We can do everything we need to do against Iran from where those ships are right now outside the range of many of their weapons. We don't need to get them any closer. So sending them into the straight of Hormuz is taking additional risk with very little payoff uh on the outside. So that's why. Next.

[00:53:11]Do you think Trump will back down and lower expectations due to the fact we're getting close to empty tanks and oil will get very expensive and midterms are coming? It appears so. Uh it it appears that that's that's what we're we're seeing happen next.

[00:53:28]Right off, you have to try to make Trump look bad. You really are undermining America. You just look jealous of Trump.

[00:53:34]No, I'm just uh this there's this thing called truth. You know, I'm I'm sorry.

[00:53:38]I'm I'm beholdened to it. And if President Trump says something that's wrong, then I I'm not going to pretend that it's right. And if you want me to pretend that it's right, you're watching the wrong podcast, man. I'm going to tell it like it is. I'm going to tell it tell the truth as best I know how. And if that is uh praising President Trump, I have no problem with that. I support President Trump overall. But where President Trump is misspeaking, like I I try not to say lying outright, but misspeaking. Let's say he's he's just saying something that's factually incorrect.

[00:54:17]Would you have me say it is correct? Is that supporting America? I don't think lying is supporting America. I think giving the truth of the matter is the best way to support America. Believe me, President Trump's got plenty of syncopants who follow him around every day and tell him how great he is. He needs people who will tell him when he's wrong. And he doesn't have very many right now. So I'm doing America a service by by calling President Trump out when he's wrong. Next question. So now we're going to take the Arabs lead. The same who let themselves become a bullseye for Iran. Uh okay.

[00:54:56]Well, I don't know if we're taking the Arabs lead, but uh I mean they're they are allies, those Arab countries in the Gulf. President Trump has made a I I don't disagree with you that maybe it's a bad idea to try to make those countries allies because they're Muslim countries and they're going to, you know, at some point choose Islam over America and that those two things are not compatible. So, uh, they are cooperating with President Trump where it is, uh, profitable for them to do so.

[00:55:32]Uh, but if it's ever profitable for them not to do so, they'll turn against us in a heartbeat.

[00:55:37]They're trying to follow the strong horse. That's what Arabs do. Uh so I I don't disagree with you completely there but u President Trump does have to take into account the fact that they are the ones who are going to bear the brunt of any further fighting and we need their bases. We need those allies bases in Saudi Arabia, in Kuwait, in uh Qatar, in Bahrain, in uh Jordan.

[00:56:07]We need those bases in order to prosecute this war against Iran. And without those bases, our job gets a lot harder. We cannot win this war without those bases. Okay, so that's we we've got to take into account their feelings on the matter. Next, why is America negotiating? Have they learned nothing in the past 10 years, 50 years? Sorry. Uh yeah, rhetorical question.

[00:56:35]Next.

[00:56:36]Imagine if this administration was in power in 1945.

[00:56:41]Yeah, you kind of wonder how the world would look today. It's good question.

[00:56:48]Have you heard everything uh anything about 40,000 Egyptian troops on the Israeli border? Is it true?

[00:56:55]The Egyptians always have troops in the Sinai, which is on the border with Gaza and Israel. Uh they're not there threatening Israel. If I've I've done podcasts about this before. Uh the IDF is far stronger than the Egyptian military. And if they ever did go to war, the Egyptians would lose again because they've always lost when they've gone to war with with Israel. And they know better. So they're not going to threaten Israel. They're not going to war with Israel. Uh they're if if anything, they're there to stop the Gazins from jumping the fence and getting across into Egypt because they don't want the Gazins there. Next.

[00:57:35]How much do you think reporters saying our military is weakened will impact Trump's negotiations? What has happened to American patriotism? Um, well, I I don't know that our military is weakened, per se. Uh, we we're going to have to definitely kind of evaluate our priorities uh with the the lack of missiles. That's public knowledge, okay?

[00:57:58]So, it's not like you're being unpatriotic by pointing out the fact. I mean, look at um you know, Marco Rubio was just pointing out the fact that we are critically short of our supply of certain types of munitions, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the United States is weak. It doesn't mean the US military is weak. And uh so we shouldn't confuse those two. Next, the people of Iran need to fight back.

[00:58:24]But do they have weapons? No, they don't have weapons. Somebody needs to supply them. Again, there's some that's complicated because you can't just airdrop weapons or the IRGC will get a hold of them and we'd be literally arming the enemy. And so, you'd have to find a way to get them to the right people in Iran. And then you have to train those people how to use weapons.

[00:58:45]It's not like America where everybody grew up shooting and knows how to which end of the gun to point. Look, I've been in those countries and I've seen what happens when you just hand weapons to people and they they're absolutely scary with them. They need a little bit of training. So, how do you do that? How do you accomplish that? That's a that's not just as easy as like airdropping weapons over Tyrron. Next, President Trump was touting the markets are up as a good sign that people are voting on good outcome with their money.

[00:59:16]Uh yeah, he said today he tweeted that the market hit an all new all-time high.

[00:59:22]Uh they say that the market climbs a wall of worry. When I was a stock broker, we used to say that all the time and that's proven to be true. So people are worried and the market is going up.

[00:59:35]So there you go. Next.

[00:59:38]Would ending the war now miraculously fix prices overnight? How much damage is done versus what's actually reversible?

[00:59:43]It would take about 90 days probably to really make a difference. Uh just as it's really taken 90 days for us to really start feeling the pinch of high oil prices uh because of the way the pipeline of energy works.

[00:59:59]So they say that if this goes on to August that we're looking at a global recession that will be on the order of 2008 or worse. Uh, and I I think it's if President Trump doesn't get on the ball, uh, it's highly likely that we're still going to be in this in August, and that's not going to be good for America or the world. Okay, folks. Uh, that's all the questions we've got for today.

[01:00:26]Please do me a favor. If you want to support this channel and get lots of extra content in the process, go to chuck holton.com and you get lots of, like I said, um, access to stuff that everybody else doesn't, videos that I can't show you on YouTube, um, you get monthly phone calls with me, and lots of other cool stuff. So, please go to chuck holton.com if you want to support us. I appreciate all of our supporters very much. And if you want any merch, just go to holtonstore.com to get your uh merch there. So, God bless you. Thank you very much for watching.

[01:01:05]And we'll see you next time.