Iran strikes nuclear plant and then offers terms to end the war| Hour 2

What's going on. Thank you so much for listening to this podcast. It is heard live every day from noon to three on WBT Radio in Charlotte. And if you want exclusive content like invitations to events, the weekly live stream, my daily show prep with all the links, become a patron, go to dpetecleanershow dot com. Make sure you hit the subscribe button. Get every episode for free, write to your smartphone or tablet, and again, thank you so much for your support. All right, So, at the summit between President Trump and Jijinping from China, Trump was asked whether he pressed Jijinping to push Iran into reopening the Strait of Horror moves, and he apparently said, quote, I'm not asking for any favors. Okay, So like, we don't need you China to do this. It'd be nice if you want to, but we don't need you. I'm not asking you for any favors. There And apparently some of the folks back in Iran were not very happy with the way China was talking, because China is supposed to be their ally and they were talking with Trump about opening the Straight of Hormuz or something, and one of their leaders posted up onto Twitter. He who betrays in secret shall be exposed in public. It's very upset about being betrayed by China. Yes now. Trump then gave a warning yesterday on the Truth social and he said the clock is ticking. President Trump told Axios in a phone call that the clock is ticking for Iran and warned that if the Iranian regime doesn't come with a better offer for a deal, then they're going to get hit much harder, he said. US officials say Trump wants a deal to end the war, but Iran's rejection of many of his demands and refusal to make meaningful concessions on its nuclear program as put the military option back on the table. Trump is expected to convene his top national security team in the Situation Room tomorrow, where they will discuss their military options again. This is according to Axios reporter Barak Ravide. Trump spoke Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Ntanyahu about the situation in Iran. I also saw a report that Israel believes that hostilities will will commence soon. Behind the scenes, Trump met Saturday with members of his national security team at his Virginia golf club to discuss Iran attendees included Vice President J. D. Vance, White House Envoy Steve Whitcoffe, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and CIA director John Ratcliffe, now Pastan's interior minister, was in Tehran on Saturday and Sunday for talks with senior Iranian leaders about the deal for ending the war. Pakistan is the official mediator, but I don't trust them. Between the US and Iran, I don't trust them. And to me, it's very clear what the strategy of the IRGC is here. They're just going to delay, delay, delay, to just stall as long as they can. Trump told Axios he still thinks Iran wants a deal and said he is waiting for an updated Iranian proposal, one that he said he hopes will be better than the last offer given a few days ago. Trump declined to give a specific deadline for the negotiations with Iran. Slight complication, Iran sent a bunch of drones into the UAE again, three of them. Two of them were taken out. One of them hit a nuclear power plant. A drone struck the United Arab Emirates Baraka nuclear power plants Sunday, damaging an electrical generator outside the inner perimeter. This according to the UAE Defense Ministry, it was one of three drones that entered the country's airspace from the western border direction. That's what they said, the western border direction. The other two were intercepted. Investigations are underway to determine the source of the attacks. Emadi Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed told the International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Raphael Grossi that there had been no impact on radiological safety levels. Now, the UAE has not officially accused Iran directly, but well, this is their diplomatic advisor, Anwar Gargosh. He said, quote the targeting of the Barakan new Clear Energy plant, whether carried out directly by the principal actor or through one of its proxies, represents a dangerous escalation and a dark development that violates all international laws and norms, with criminal disregard for the lives of civilians in the UAE and its surroundings. Okay, so you may recall, I guess it was probably like a week maybe two weeks ago the ceasefire was. It just got put in place, right, and Iran started flinging missiles and drones at other golf nations and people asked Donald Trump. They were like, well, does that mean the ceasefire is off? And Trump was like, no, it's still a ceasefire in place. There's still a ceasefire. It's like, you know, some of this low level stuff not such a big deal. And the Gulf nations they disagreed. They thought this was a pretty big deal. And that's when they rescind did the ability of our planes, our jets to fly over their countries. They were scinded their their airspace access. Which was like, that's that's a big deal. We need the ability to fly overhead and to refuel our our jets and stuff, and also to operate the blockade of their blockade in the Strait of hormones. Right. So I suspect Trump got the message from these Gulf nations that any of these attacks that are coming from Iran into our countries are unacceptable. And so Trump went on to truth social and he started like this blitz of tweets or posts rather saying the clock is ticking. You know, got pictures of you know, Iranian vessels getting blown up and stuff, like a lot. Of stuff all caps too. He's using all caps, right, And so the suspicion is that this that his his social media posts were done in order to help placate UAE, and then the IRGC submits another proposal. Well, isn't that interesting? Ahmad Vakhiti, that's the head of the IRGC, and this guy was I don't know, he's probably like some. Low level dude. And then you know, all of the leadership got taken out, so now he's in charge. So again, I gotta keep that in mind because he may not be the best leader, you know, he just he may not have He just might not have the skill set required here. Okay, Trump kept warning that his patients would not last forever. Trump made the same warning again yesterday, writes Ed Morrissey at hotair dot com. Vahiti has heard this threat for the past several weeks without any consequences, So what made this potentially different? You know, the sheer, amplification and repetition may have caught Vehiti's attention. Trump has not escalated matters despite all of his threats, but the Iranians may have given him no choice because of the drone attack that targeted a nuclear power plant in the UAE. This may have precipitated Trump's social media posts. The Iranian regime transmitted a new proposal for a settlement to Pakistan immediately after the drone attack. The Iranian regime, however, is not going to honor any of this stuff, Like they're not honoring the one agreement that its own negotiators made with the US previously. Right, the US imposed the naval blockade of Iran when the IRGC renegged on the ceasefire agreement and then denounced its own negotiating team. Again, remember there's a split between the quote civilian government and the IRGC, And the IRGC seems to be playing weekend at Bernie's with the baby Nepatola. That's like dead or in a coma or something. Right, nobody gets access to him, but he issues these rules and rulings and. Positions and stuff. Yeah, I'm not buying it. I think the guy is dead and I think Vahidi is running the show. That's just my guess, but I feel like it's a pretty good one. You know, Stories are powerful. They help us make sense of things, to understand experiences. Stories connect us to the people of our past while transcending generations. They help us process the meaning of life and our stories are told through images and videos. Preserve your stories with Creative Video. Started in nineteen ninety seven in mint Hill, North Carolina. It was the first company to provide this valuable service, converting images, photos and videos into high quality produced slide shows, videos, and album The trusted, talented and dedicated team at Creative Video will go over all of the details with you to create a perfect project. Satisfaction guaranteed. Drop them off in person or mail them. They'll be ready in a week or two. Memorial videos for your loved ones, videos for rehearsal, dinners, weddings, graduations, Christmas, family vacations, birthdays, or just your family stories all told through images. That's what your photos and videos are. They are your life told through the eyes of everyone around you and all who came before you, and they will tell others to come who you are. Visit creative video dot com. Ed Morrissey at hot air dot com writes that the IRGC has attacked commercial shipping in international waters ever since the ceasefire was announced, and now has struck a US ally with an unprovoked drone attack while supposedly observing a pause pause in hostilities. He says that's also curious. Both the UAE and the US have. Been reluctant to blame Iran for this attack, but there's literally no other hostile force that would attack the UAE, especially targeting a nuclear reactor. There are really only two reasons to refrain from accusing Iran. One might be that a deal is close, or there is no deal and the US and Israel are coordinating a response. The latter is likely. Option two, he says, is more likely. That's why Iran coughed up a new proposal to push Trump off from an immediate and devastating response and retaliation by attempting to drag out negotiations again. Now will it work. It shouldn't, But then again, that's been true for the last three weeks or so. The IRGC is playing their usual game that the regime has used to duck consequences by attempting to tire out the Western powers with inscrutable and circular talks. Trump should put an end to that cycle as soon as possible and signal to the Iranian people that there will be no deals cut with Vahiti and his military junta. From the text line seven oh four numbers says Trump needs to show he is serious by. Destroying one power plant. Trump has been yelling that he's going to destroy them for weeks now, and yet nothing has happened. The Strait is still restricted, Iran continues to be a menace in the region. Let me see here do Jennifer says, for the life of me, I do not understand why President Trump has not acted on Iran. Yeah, I mean, I like, I can't explain it. I don't know. I think, you know, part of it is the the War Powers Act, you know, the sixty days or whatever he has, and then the time ran out on that, and so he's like, all right, epic fury's over, and now he's you know, I'm gonna say that you know, probably freedom the blockade and the escort service and all of that, that's a separate thing. And now if we have to, you know, start bombing again, then it's like, okay, now we're gonna you know, this is a new sixty day clock that starts running right. Maybe that's part of it. Maybe he wants a deal, and you know, but he keeps saying like these people are insane, they're crazy, and maybe like he thought that they would come to the table earlier that they would give up their nuclear program, and they're not. They refuse, They were refusing. I don't know what this. Proposal was yesterday, but like they have repeatedly rejected any effort anything regarding the nuclear program. They're like, we have the right to enrich, well, enrich as much as we want. We have the right to make bombs, to make you know, nuclear bombs. Now, this was kind of funny. They put out the Iranian I guess Ambassador to the UN or the Mission to the UN. They put out a statement about a week ago where they said the US attempt to portray the number of co sponsors of its politically motivated draft resolution has broad international support and proof of Iran's isolation is both absurd and deceptive. Okay, So, so Iran is saying the only reason that all of these golf nations signed on to the resolution against Iran was because they were coerced by America. Okay, and that you know, this idea that we're isolated is absurd, to which our Ambassador to the UN, Mike Waltz, he responded to this on Twitter, which is why it's the best site ever. He says, Iran is diplomatically isolated, this is what he's quoting. The Gulf nations saying that Iran is diplomatically isolated and we are gaining momentum for our resolution condemning their own actions. And Iran then says, just because more countries are criticizing our actions doesn't mean that we're isolated. And the ambassador then says, to the Iranians, hire a new translator. That is literally what it means. It is literally what it means. There was a there's a guy named John Spencer. He's the executive director of the Urban Warfare Institute. Any posts on Twitter, They've got their website. He does a lot of you know, talking head interviews and stuff, and he had a very good write up about centers of gravity. When it comes to war, he says, war is not a targeting exercise. It never has been. It's a contest of systems, and more importantly, it's a contest of will, right like, who has the greater will to do what is necessary with their systems that they have right now? Obviously, if you're going you know, if you're going into war with another country or something, and you know they have a massive military, that your will may not be able to lead to victory will alone, but it is very important. He talks about Carl von Klauswitz, the nineteenth century military theorist taught in war colleges all over the world, and he understood this long before precision strikes, satellites, or real time intelligence feeds were invented. Right He described the center of gravity as the hub of all power and movement on which everything depends, and that definition still holds. The center of gravity is not simply what is important, it's what allows everything else to function. When you get it wrong, you can destroy a lot and still lose. When you get it right, the rest begins to come apart faster than the enemy can fix it. Once the enemy center of gravity is identified, Klauswitz advise that this source of power should be struck with concentration. He emphasized focusing strength against the decisive point, not spreading effort across every available target. You want speed, mass, and concentration, but they only matter if applied against the thing that actually holds the system together. So what is Iran's center of gravity? He will enlighten us. Rodney on the tax line. Rodney says, Pete, your interpretation of the foreign names is outstanding. Thank you, Rodney. I appreciate that. I pride myself on my flawless pronunciations. People driving I seventy seven are probably wondering what I'm laughing and I'm the only one in my truck. This show is awesome. Thanks for your daily contribution. Thank you, Rodney, thanks for listening. Uh just ignore the other drivers to nine to eight zero numbers, says Trump thought by bombing Iran's military was gonna scare them to the point of bowing down. But to his surprise, they did not buckle. Now he has got backed into a corner and he's scared or unable to pull the trigger. That is why he keeps making. Idle threats that maybe, yeah, one would think that that the damage that they have incurred and you've got this rift between the civilian Iranian leadership and the IRGC, and maybe he was hoping that, you know, that rift would widen much more quickly and there would be a coup that the military would take over, the people would rise up, we would get them arms and all of that. And maybe they have been doing that, like maybe we have been sending weaponry into Iran. I don't know, but yeah, it's it. That's part of the that's part of what you get with Trump, right, it's the it's the chaotic, and we we can't tell there was Okay, So back to the John Spencer piece. Here to do the center of gravity? What are Iran's centers of gravity? First you got to identify the center of gravity and then ask what it must be able to do. Those are its critical capabilities. Then you ask what it needs in order to do those things. Those are its critical requirements. And then from there the analysis gets pretty practical. Which of those requirements are exposed, which are fragile, hard to replace? Those are the vulnerabilities worth attacking. So that framework is essential for understanding Operation Epic Fury. As stated by US officials, the objectives were to destroy Iran's missile arsenal and its ability to rebuild it, and sure Iran never acquires a nuclear weapon, eliminate its ability to use naval forces and minds to threaten the Strait of Hormuz, and reduce, if not end, its ability to arm and direct proxy forces across the region. So if you approach those objectives by just listing targets, you miss the point almost immediately. Missiles, ships, centrifuges, militias. Right, that's just a catalog, he says. The more useful question is what allows Iran to do all of those things at once and to keep doing them after being hit. That's the center of gravity, and the center of gravity in this war is the IRGC's integrated ability to generate and sustain coercive power. So it's not a single program, but the system that connects them. The leadership, the security apparatus, the industrial base, the revenue streams, the command networks. All of it works together to turn resources into military capability, and then military capability into leverage. That's what gives the regime freedom of action. That's what allows it to absorb losses without collapsing, and that is why everything the United States says it wants to stop ultimately runs through that system. Right. So that's why you saw strikes on factories and production infrastructure. They carry more weight than images of destroyed launchers. Regarding nuclear it is disrupting the entire pathway, including the expertise, the command structure, the procurement networks, the ability to restart under pressure. If that system remains intact, physical damage alone will not be decisive. He goes on to say it needs to be able to disrupt shipping iroandas they got to be able to disrupt shipping long enough to introduce risk into global markets. But none of that works without the ability to find and track targets. Sensors, especially like radar ISR networks which stands for Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance networks. They are what make the system function. Proxy warfare with like the Houtis and Hamas and Hbala, same thing, and there's the piece that ties it all together. The regime has to maintain control internally while all of this is happening. It has to keep its security forces loyal, paid, and willing to act. It has to preserve enough confidence within its own system that it can endure the pressure. If that starts to crack, the external capabilities become much harder to sustain. Right If you're looking at like missiles, they require production lines, components, storage, transport, command networks. Nuclear capabilities require facilities, scientists, materials, and time. Maritime coercion requires more than platforms. It depends on sensors, especially the ISR networks that can detect and track shipping, as well as logistics ports, trained crews, coordination, proxy warfare depends on money, routes, communication. None of this functions without money, hard currency. None of its functions. None of it functions without command cohesion. And that's where the vulnerabilities begin to emerge. Iran system is more constrained than it appears. It relies on keynodes that are harder to replace than the platforms they support. So industrial sites, research facilities, integration points are not easily moved or rebuilt quickly. Command networks, once you disrupt them, they take a while to restore. Revenue streams, particularly those tied to concentrated export infrastructure, They're not easily substituted. Trump said the other day they're losing like five hundred million dollars a day. The proxy network depends on continuity, break the flow of money, weapons, and direction, and it begins to fragment, not immediately, but over time it will. He goes on to say, and this is a very lengthy piece, by the way, so I'm just bringing you the highlights of it. He goes on to say, the United States and Israel are not simply working through a list of targets in an effort to destroy Iran's military piece by piece. They're applying pressure across multiple parts of the same system at once. Production, command, naval capability, sensing networks, infrastructure and support networks all being hit. That's what a center of gravity approach looks like in practice, not a single decisive strike, but a series of actions that collectively make it harder for the system to function, adapt, and recover. War is a contest of will. Striking a center of gravity is not about destruction alone, he says. It's about compelling the enemy to do your will through the use or threat of use of force, including military action, sanctions, and the removal of critical capabilities the regime sees as vital to its survival and the civilian side they already know this, hence the rift. All right. So over the weekend, for some reason, leftists and Islamists celebrated their humiliation, the humiliation when they tried to murder every Jew and you know, try to finish off what Hitler started with the Holocaust. I don't know, I don't know why they celebrate this day. I mean it's I mean, they lamented. They call it the catastrophe. They call it the knackba, which is Arabic al nakba. The catastrophe. But the catastrophe was that they lost. That was the catastrophe. I mean now they talk about oh right to return and all this, But why did all of the Palestinians, not even Palisan, there were Arabs, Like, why did they leave? Why did all of them leave in nineteen forty eight? Well, because the Arab countries told them to the Arab country said get out of the way, because we're coming in and we're going to annihilate this newly announced country of Israel, like literally the day after. So this from Britannica. Nineteen forty eight Arab Israeli War fought between Israel and Arab forces from Egypt, Jordan then called Trans Jordan. I guess now it just identifies as Jordan, but whatever, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. The war formally began on May fifteenth and ended July twentieth, nineteen forty nine. Okay, so it lasted over a year, although it followed a civil war that began after the passage of the UN Partition Plan, so fighting actually started in November of forty seven. The fighting more or less came to an end January seventh, nineteen forty nine. For Israel. The war is remembered as the War of Independence because it secured the country's existence despite hostile neighbors that wanted to murder every Jew in the land. For Arabs, the war is remembered as the Nakba, and so there were all sorts of people on the social media and such lamenting the Nakba, including the mayor of New York City who put out some video of a woman in her New York apartment. Her name is Ainia is a New Yorker and a Nakba survivor. She's sipping some tea. She has a poster visit awis She was not It was nighttime and my father came into our bedroom and told us surprisingly to get on all fours and make. Our way to the staircase that goes in to the roof. There were no windows on the staircase because bullets had come in through the wood shutters at that stage. And the next day we just took what we could carry and went to my uncle Hussein's house in Nablus because there was no fighting in Nablus the Zionus. Were you coming into Jerusalem. Nakba is Arabic for catastrophe, is what the video says this is the mayor's production. They put this out. What's interesting, and you can kind of hear it in her voice. And if you see her on the video as I have, she doesn't look Arab and she doesn't sound Arab. She sounds European and she looks like a white person. And it turns out her name is Aia Bushnach, who was nine when she was displaced with her family during the conflict. Okay, Inia Bushnak is not a Nakba survivor. She is the descendant of Bosnian Muslims and was not forcibly displaced from her home. According to Honest Reporting dot com. There's a content creator about Israeli history and archaeology, josh A. He says this Knakba survivor is literally a European settler. In the late nineteenth century, Muslim Bosnians, including this woman's grandparents, fled Bosnia to Ottoman Syria after Austria Hungary took control of Bosnia. They feared that now the Christians will seek revenge after years of mistreatment. Inia's father father's family lived in Tulcarum, but he himself lived in Jerusalem, where Ainia was born in the nineteen thirties, her father had a job in England. He returned to Mandatory Palestine after a few years, but in nineteen forty eight they decided to move back to England. They were not expelled and no one forced them to move to England. As a matter of. Fact, Tilcarum and the Old City of Jerusalem remained under Jordanian Arab control. Not a single Zionist to be seen there. All right, that'll do it for this episode. Thank you so much for listening. I could not do the show without your support and the support of the businesses that advertise on the podcast, so if you'd like, please support them too and tell them you heard it here. You can also become a patron at my Patreon page or go to thepetekallanershow dot com. Again, thank you so much for listening, and don't break anything while I'm gone.