UAE LIVE Iranian Drone Debris Sparks Fire at UAE Oil Industry Site UAEs Fujairah Oil Zone N 18 G

that these people are from the larger population. There is homogeneity. So people will just step in to say we have to defend the larger interests of Iran and if we are become shahit. No pron sorry beg to differ on this. people tend to to to sort of paint Iran as this homogeneous society. It is not. Only 60% of Iran is Persian. The remaining 40% is Kurds. you know Azeris there are all kinds of other Balo. There are all kinds of other minorities. Now, here's the thing. When they hounded out Saddam Hussein in 2003, it was unfinished business from 1991. The father Bush could not finish it. The son Bush came and tried to finish it. When they hounded out Saddam Hussein in 2003, it took them 2 months between the launch of the war, think it was called oper operation desert storm, and then 2 months later they found Saddam Hussein. Those famous words, you know, we got it. We got it right here. The principal objective of the Trump administration, certainly for Mr. Trump individually, was to smoke out Kamini and he's got that on day one. Tomorrow, like this morning, daybreak in the US, if Trump wakes up and says, "That's it. America is done. I'm done. I'm ending this war. Israel cannot continue this war on its own. The rest of the region cannot continue this war on its own. It depends entirely on the United States." No, but having said that, the rest of the Hang on. What is there to disagree about? HANG ON. SO THE point is the point is Trump has got whatever he wanted. All I'm saying is that this can stop the war tomorrow that this that this that this war is going nowhere. If Trump pulls out, you know what people are going to say? That you started conflict in the region. All of us have been burnt by this and you walk away from the table without being able to kick out the regime because he's what he wanted. No, no, hang on one second. One second. He you you might have the bragging rights, but at the end of the day, that's the end of it. The regime is still there. The regime is still there. The women are still going to be sort of unfortunately terrorized. Young civilians who have risen up or at least expressed their support for the outside world are still going to be tormented and jailed. They will be back and it'll be an only matter of one thing. hate to break it to you, Trump doesn't care. It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. All he wanted was the head of the snake. It doesn't matter. What did start by saying? What did start by saying? That this regime doesn't want revenge. It wants to survive because it just knows that look there are interests. There are business interests. This is not some business interest. These are business interests. No one walks away from the business interest. You have Pakistan. The Pakistan army is in charge of Pakistan. Why? Because they own businesses. They own golf courses. They own resorts, they own hotels, they own everything and so does the Iranian regime. Right? Totally taken. Point taken. Now my question is the Iran has gone ahead and bombed Qatar. It's gone ahead and bombed in Saudi Arabia. It's gone bombed Bahrain. Although they say US air bases the these nations are saying you have come and attacked our sovereign soil. We didn't expect you to do it. Are these nations going to keep quiet or are they going to push for push for certain kind of revenge? They would like to hit back on Iran. But the problem is that is then going to position their regimes as fighting on the side in an alliance with Israel and they can say as much as they like Abraham Akods and and we are great friends now and whatever else but they know that the population does not like this idea. All right. Okay. Let's take this forward because there are two three other aspects which wanted to cover. One is Steve Witkov and Iran's position. Does Iran have nuclear abilities, weaponizing abilities? Because Steve Vitkov claims 60% uranium enriched. That's what the Iranians themselves claim. 460 kg of it and we can make 10 nuclear bombs with it. At what level of enrichment of uranium can it be weaponized? and are the Iranians close to nuclear bomb? Then were the Saudi concerns right? Then you can make dirty bomb already with 10% of of enriched uranium. This is not the question. The question is just how effective is it then? Is it really you know destroying an entire city or not? That is the difference. Can you deploy? Yes. And and that is the next question. Can you do you have platform which which can reliably deploy it? This is because this is what killed the fact the the Pakistani operation last year that they had no platform which could reliably deploy nuclear weapon against India. Well, this is why they were defeated and they then called for please let's start the ceasefire. Okay, that is one star which is one of the reasons why people said you should have gone in and finished the game. Finish the game. Yeah, that's exactly what I'm saying. That's that's another point. But that's different point. But but let's let's let's go back to to Iranian capability to actually make nuke. They can make nuke. They can make nuke for 20 years or something. And that was the point. don't know why is nobody taking this seriously. this nuclear fatwa from what is it 2006 this is religious law everybody is happy to declare Iran for for theocracy but nobody cares about religious law in this theocracy so if you have religious law you are you are not permitted to assemble and keep assembled the nuclear weapon this is how interpret the text of that that fatwa then it means that dear IC shut up sit down you can have all the pieces of the bomb that is very nice but you are not permitted to to to build them together. If that is the case why were the Saudis so hellbent because now it is coming out viewers and to to all of you know the gents here that it was not Israel that pushed us. It's been the crown prince and Saudi Arabia for the last month and half that's been pushing the US to move in and attack Iran and they say that it's the Saudis because they were very very see Let's try and piece together certain circumstances. Let's just say the Saudis the Saudis move with Pakistan to sign nuclear cooperation deal. the Saudis now defense cooperation and also nuclear technology there's no there is there is there is the that was the second one the first meeting the first meeting was defense the second meeting was about exchange of nuclear no whe it's not about where the where Pakistan is that's when we started saying Pakistan is trying to get into rent new program because when that meeting happened with the Saudis now why were the Saudis moving in this this direction especially nearly year after the 12-day war this whole aspect of Iran is going to become nuclear did not start with Israel. Israel has been saying this for while of late it started with the Saudis. So there is some merit to this entire speculation. That's what I'm saying. I'll be honest with you. don't think Iran was anywhere close to making nuclear bomb. They were they were maybe years away according to American America's own intelligence. They were years away from making proper actual nuclear bomb and more importantly being able to find platform to deliver that nuclear bomb. Why did this war happen? This war happened because first Netanyahu, BB Netanyahu, and then subsequently he managed to convince Donald Trump that they have once in generation opportunity to take out man who has been chanting death to America and death to Israel for the last 40 years. Okay. Trump wanted to do this for his legacy. By wanted to do this for his legacy and they have it now. Now the question is how does the war wind down? There's only one or two ways in which the war winds down. One is either Iran gets an offer and they get they get high value American target. They either hit the aircraft carrier. don't know if how how they'll do that. Or they hit commander who's overseeing the operations. Whatever it is, they need high value target to take down and then show to the to their people that communist death has been avenged. Or the second way in which this can be done is if the Trump administration finds candidate who is pliable enough who says, "Okay, I'm going to put an end to this." like the Deli Rodriguez of Iran, right? What did they do in Venezuela? Again, it's apples and oranges, but at the end of the day, they shifted one guy out. They removed one guy, found the second in command, and said, "You take charge, and we've cut deal." What did Trump do with the Houthies? People People tend to forget this. He started this whole bombing campaign of the Houthies right after he came to office. He did that for about month and then he realized he's not going to be able to stop the Houthies or at least decapitate decapitate them in way that they stop attacking ships on the Red Sea. What did he do? He cut deal with the Houthis. man who can cut deal with the Houthis surely can cut deal with the Iranians. That's what Trump seem to be wanting to cut deal now. Now the Iranians don't want to cut deal at all. Why do you think Trump? I'll tell you why. The Iranians will will they could they could be opportunistic. Yeah. And make the pretense of wanting to come to the table to give themselves some breathing room, but fundamentally they won't compromise with the US because this is not legitimate regime. They need an enemy to stay relevant just like Trump needs an enemy to keep away from. This is not about legacy. This just, you know, that's peripheral conversation. This is about the economic ruin. This is about the Epstein fires. This is about several other things including an election that is looming on the horizon. If Trump even is thinking, don't know if he's thinking of another term. You never know with him. He needs at least something to go back to his party to say, look here, you know, I'm still sellable. On the other side, you have BB Netanyahu who's facing elections in another 6 8 months or 6 months. Yeah. And he's been quite under the pump by under the pump. Not only his his his approval ratings are by his socks socks. And not only that, but he's also going to be prosecuted because he was supposed not to not to get reelected involved in politics. Whose shoulders does he stand on? The Zionists, hard right, are those going to compromise with Israel? No. See, you've got to understand that over the last 2 and half, 3 years, Israel has found one excuse after the other to prolong that war that began on October 7th. So, it's if it's not going into Gaza, then it's going down some other rabbit hole like the Hezbollah in Lebanon and this that the other then it was Iran, then back again. So, they've just wanted to extend this. They've created an enemy. This is wag the dog. This is classic Wag the dog. Yeah. But this this is also very very expensive for country like Israel. War is not cheap. Now for Israel not so much because they get covered by US taxpayers. Exactly. That's the thing. It is more expensive for US taxpayers than for Israel actually especially considering that the mass of ammunition is of US production because Israel has no industry. There is lack of enthusiasm in Trump's base for this war for this. The MAGA base does not like long wars. Trump came to power saying that he's not going to get entangled in long wars. So if anyone is going to to sort of pull out of this war or put an end to this war, it is Donald Trump. He he took in agreement with you. The Nobel Prize has gone out of the window. Now he doesn't care for the Nobel because don't think he's going to get it. The other question is China. What's happening right now viewers? We are looking at blooming energy crisis. Every nation buys oil and keeps stock for at least about 30 to 60 days. Even Bhat would have got its barrels in place for at least 30 to 60 days. But then if this war continues, the energy crisis looms. Europe is already facing price up on its LNG because Qatar has stopped production. What's China's game here? because lot of the oil if the state of Hormuz closes they are going to make sure that even Chinese ships don't go there because the US or the Israeli will come and bomb it or somebody else will bomb Chinese tanker and say listen nothing close if ours doesn't go theirs won't go either Israelis yeah Israelis will do that they that's going to happen China's already cut down the refiner has already cut down production what's China's game here because it's backing Iran and is it going to help Iran militarily is it going to ensure this war prolongs or it's also in it in its interest that it tries to figure out an offramp for Iran. It's good question. would say that they are certainly going to continue doing like if they are doing nothing and just monitoring while doing their usual plausible deniability which is for example supplying surface to air missiles to Iran via Afghanistan down to to Zahedan or to Mashad or to whatever the cities are in eastern Iran right by by flights of noturnal flights of their transport aircraft that is quickly done and nobody can say anything against this. beyond that they are going to to wait for their moment because we should not forget one thing. This is almost unknown in the public that Israel and China are at war at least their intelligence services are at war already that already for 20 30 years they are killing each other especially in Africa bombing each other assassinating each other and so on and so on. And the Chinese at some point in time they went so far that they have positioned the camera, captured Mosad operative and then assassinated him in front of camera and sent the video to to the to the Israeli embassy. Wow. This is something which is not relevant or not known to this part of the world as much that there's so much happening in Africa. So the Africa dimension comes into play and that Israel. So that's what Tom Cooper is saying. China and Israel have been at war their intelligence agencies. So they are going to sit and you know wait patiently until certain point and then when it hurts too much then they're going to act in what fashion that's something can All right we've got limited time 3 minutes so let me start with you and then we'll circle back to you know Rahul and Zaka and then end here. Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence has seen lot of domestic politics. He's not said much about he's not commented about the Kami killing. He is called up in various heads of state but nothing about the war from him from his handle. You think that's right position because many are questioning the silence. The opposition is questioning his silence. Well look don't know anything at all about Indian politics. can say only follow him. He has to care about the country of 1.4 billion and he's somebody who thinks about developing this country for the next 20 years in in advance. In this regards, he's already not just one but several magnitudes magnitudes better than anybody any other politicians know around. Okay. So now to get dragged into this idiocy don't wouldn't be keen to to to to to be in his position and get dragged into this. wouldn't would fall silent and keep quiet. Better better to stay silent and keep quiet. Rahul. Yeah. think look fundamentally Iran is it really great friend? mean if you were just forced to flip coin and choose side still go with the Israelis little bit. At least they've helped us when you know we've been down and out in conflicts too. The Iranians, I'm sorry, they've put the Muslim word first on many occasions. Yes. so yes, there is one complication though. There's one wrinkle and there is port the Chabahar port in which we had made huge investments. The idea was to try and thwart the Guad China Pakistan axis. Yeah. And that's my worry and think the calculation perhaps in New Delhi is this. It's better to be on the winning side. So when things are divvied up by the new regime Yeah. or by regime that might be perhaps more conducive to working with the west and so and so forth. We can use our good offices to get back into Chabhar like we did in Afghanistan for example when there was transition. We got those contracts to build and so and so forth. And of course the Americans then walked out and we were worried that all those contracts would go out of the window. Then we had to do business with the Taliban. We you know we sort of held our nose and we did business. think the Indians are sort of seeing this perhaps as another way of getting back into the equation by just keeping out of it and letting somebody else come in and not there there are there is thought process which says that was the Ayatah really the religious head of the Shia because the descendant of Ali is in just one one just one little point we also have huge trade equation with the GCC countries which we can't sort of jeopardize. Yeah, and we've got friends in the in the Gulf areas. We've got friendship with every My view is that India's already taken its side. It was it was evident even before this war began. India's on the side of the US and the Israelis. We can't public publicly say it because there are domestic concerns and so on and so forth. But think India is very clear. don't think it's coincidence that the prime minister was in Israel 48 hours before this campaign began. think think that that was but but there's no truth to all this doing the rounds that it's the prime minister who went and gave Ayatollah's coordinates to the Israelis. Sorry. Sorry. Who said that? No, it's all doing around social media, you know. Okay, there there is big press conference going on. So as we call this wrap just let's quickly go across to that which ensures continuity and sustainability of inter interception in all types of weapons for long time and to maintain preparedness and readiness of the sovereignty of UAE. In this media briefing, we will highlight certain topics. The first topic is the latest developments in the field operational field. the Ministry of Defense dealt with with ballistic we destroyed 172 missiles, 13 of which went into the sea and one into the territory. Also we we checked eight 12 drones and seven 57 were fell down in the territory. Also destroying eight eight drones and and eight cruise missiles. There were 68 injuries and some damages which are med medium and low. We would like to highlight that the sounds that we hear in different areas in the UAE are the result of interception of ballistic weapons and and attacking the drones and crew. This proves the readiness of the Ministry of Defense in the UAE and and armed forces and departments concerned in all departments which confirms that we are dealing with all types of threats. Ladies and gentlemen, Now we will show you some samples of attacking our our jet Mirage 2000 attacking the aggression of Iranian the Iranian forces. This is brief of sample of intersection and destroying of the attacks and aggression by the cruises and play jets of from Iran. Also, ladies and gentlemen, would like to highlight the drones that were damaged and missiles that were damaged by our air force. We start with this ballistic tactical missile which was damaged. We intersected hundreds of these missiles. We another another another missile cruise missile which is threat that we face and it is difficult sometimes to deal with these crews but we destroyed them and intersected them through our defense forces in the UAE. Also, Shahed drone 136 was intersected. Hundreds of these were destroyed and damaged. We got limited time. What we're going to do is now this is what's happened. And told you when we come back from the break we are going to try and refocus on another region and that's this region. So let's let's come back here and understand what's happening here especially with this nation Pakistan. What's happened is India has and Manushkumar Gupta getting this Daniel Shyman has also put us the map that India is doing an exercise in this region and there is notam that's been issued in this region. So one there is not that's issued here. What happens with the Pakistanis who are fighting over the Duran line? There is activity in Balojasthan. They are supposed to send support for the Saudis and they're worried about this NOTAMP. Yes. Tom Cooper and then General Kulkarni. What happened first the Duran line itself and before speak on the Duran line, let's work on that. There's going to be electronic suppression and this electronic suppression is going to cause problem to the IRGC also. remember that there because it much that now most of these people over there are going to be on their own but talking about Pakistan in India and talking about Afghanistan and Pakistan the Duran line the 2700 km Duran line 1,400 km runs along Baluchasthan correct and the best rest of it is with Kyber Paktuna they have 900 km line boundary of Baluchistan with Iran this is this is the Baloj Baloj boundary with Iran is yeah this is the Baloj This is the Baluchanistan Baluchistan and therefore Baluchistan has been logistically sustained from Iran. It is not being sustained from Pakistan. So Baluchistan has problem. That's the problem between Baluchistan and Pakistan. Insurgency against Pakistan and in Pakistan there is the insurgency of the Pakistani Taliban. Absolutely. And then they Pakistan is at war with with the Taliban in Afghanistan additionally. Additionally. And so Pakistan is right now at war at least from their point of view in this direction this direction and of course they always hold strong portion of their army along the border to India. India and now they are also supposed to airlift and send support towards Saudi Arabia and conduct you know exercises here. Interesting that they are supporting Iran but giving security collaboration with Saudi Arabia. So and promising basis if necessary to to United States. It's catch 22 situation. They don't know which side of theirs has now got to be covered because they've had very badly from Baluchistan. They're having bad times with Tik Taliban, Pakistan with in Kaibar Pakuna. They're not Saudi deal has put them in fix with Iran. So Pakistan really doesn't know and I'm sure America would want it pound of flesh from Pakistan. Yeah, we've got this footage. This is where the India NOTAM area is not so far away from Raheem Yar Khan. this is the NOTAM that airspace reservation that's been announced by the Indian Air Force for joint exercise. What do you think is the intent behind this Tom? Well, to run an exercise. Yeah. But and Pakistan just to remind them that India is still here. It's as simple as that. No, no, nobody wants to provoke. mean by know the Indian government how it operates or at least understand it. do not say it. know it by imperson. But understand the way it operates and in this in this situation it just remains Islamabad guys we are we are watching what are you doing over there and now we going to run an exercise because you have the right to do so. Yeah. And they're running an exercise in this portion here. Yes. in this portion that's where the exercises the Pakistanis meanwhile are conducting sorties and exercises here they they are getting active in this region sorry so they are conducting activity in this region they are stretched here they stretched here they stretched here they stretched all over the place there is also internal strife that is happening with the Shia population what do you think is going to be the impact of this conflict on this nation and this region do you think there is going to be trouble in Balojasthan the ball explain this way. Let me start with the So the big question is how will this war in the Gulf end? It's no longer just America and Israel on the one side and Iran on the other. The entire Middle East, America's Gulf, Arab allies from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Oman have all been dragged into this wider regional conflict. How may this possibly move towards some kind of cessation or culmination? I'm now joined by very special guest, Professor Jeffrey Saxs. He's leading economist with the Columbia University. Thank you very much, professor, for speaking with us. first of all, what is your assessment of what has happened over these last three days? This joint American Israeli air strikes on Iran, the taking out of Ayat Ali Hamini, the supreme leader of Iran. What do you make of what's happened over these last three days? This is reckless illegal and very dangerous action. this is blatant violation of the UN charter. and it is leading to regional war. Obviously, it has to stop. The way for this fighting to end is for the United States and Israel to leave because they started this. This is why it happened. There was no motivation for it other than basically the hegemonic aspirations of Israel to control the Middle East and the United States to control the world. And other than that, there was no imminent threat. There was no reason for this. Killing the religious leader as well as the head of state of Iran was poisonous action. the US and Israel made terrible mistake and they have to stop the fighting. The President Trump's motivations, I'll get to Israel in one second, but President Trump's motivations in this war was to eliminate Ayatah Ali Hamini, the supreme leader of Iran. He's done that. He's achieved that already within the first 24 hours of this war. Why is he still continuing this war? Then how can president of the United States have as goal the murder of the head of state of another country? It's barbaric. if that's his goal, it's barbaric. It's illegal. It's vulgar. It's dangerous. Having said that, the United States should stop any further attacks and just leave. Do you believe that Trump really cares about regime change? mean, look at what he did in Venezuela. He there was no regime change. He replaced one man with woman. He can do the same thing in Iran. He can't do anything other than commit murder or kidnap president. So, everything is delusional. You are correct though. He can just go home. which he should do. Leave the rest of us in peace. This is move completely against the interests of the United States of America and against the opinion of the American people who are 3 to1 that is 75% to 25% against this action. So why do you think he's continuing it? Particularly for president who came to office saying he's not going to, you know, launch these endless wars in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world. His MAGA base doesn't approve of it. Why is he still stuck in this? think that there are two reasons. One, the US deep state which is led by the CIA has global hegemonic aspirations. those continue and the CIA is the main driver of American foreign policy, not the president of the United States. The second reason is Israel. Israel is tightly connected with the CIA through Mossad. This is long-standing plan. Netanyahu said yesterday this is the culmination of his 40 years dream. This isn't something that just came up last week because negotiations bogged down. this is something that Israel has been calling for for decades. Israel has very unusual strangle hold on the United States including the CIA which is in very close partnership with Mossad. So this is deep state operation. it is also part of broader uisraeli hegemonic approach. it's not disconnected from what happened in Venezuela because that's also part of the idea. The US wants to control the Americas. It wants to control the Middle East. It wants to have the lever over oil. It wants to tell India whether to get oil or not to get oil and at what price to get oil and at what price not to get oil and whether to trade with Russia. Now it wants to say whether to trade with Iran. Who's going to get control? So this is matter of control. It's absolutely reckless and completely in violation of every international standard. the the prime minister of India was there in Israel 2 days before Israel and America launched this operation against Iran and many are saying that that's not coincidence. What do you make of that? hope it is coincidence. this action by Israel is criminal action in my view and very dangerous one and hope that India as president of the bricks this year upholds the UN charter. the United States and Israel have blatantly, vulgarly, and dangerously threatened the UN charter with this action. the UN charter, article 2, paragraph 4 says that no nation may threaten the use of force or use force against another sovereign state. That's straightforward. So, this is absolutely vulgar and dangerous violation. And Netanyahu explained it as said clearly. He's been dreaming of this for decades. I've been making that very point for years and years and years. And then Netanyahu came out and confirmed it. This is his lifelong ambition to bring the United States into civilizational war with Iran. How reckless is that? Iran has responded by targeting some of these Gulf Arab allies of the United States, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait. why do you think they're doing that? And how may the US choose to now respond to this? Well, they're not targeting those countries. They're targeting the US military bases in those countries. This is difference. These countries and many others are essentially occupied by the United States. when you have US military base, you're occupied by the United States. You lose your freedom. you lose your maneuver. You have the CIA hosted in your own country. You're always looking over your own shoulder. What Iran is doing is attacking network of US military bases along the Persian Gulf. America was the main security guaranter for all of these countries, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar. that security guarantee seems bit weak now in the la given what's happened in the last few days. often quote the famous adage of Henry Kissinger who said that to be an enemy of the United States is dangerous, but to be friend is fatal. Countries that rely on the US security guarantee go under usually by the United States itself which turns on you. But to be friend of the United States is absolutely to put yourself in peril. Look at Ukraine. The United States said we have your back. You will join NATO. And Ukraine is being destroyed because it regime came to power that said we'll go with the US rather than neutrality and the consequences are devastating for these Gulf states. It's big mistake that they think that their security comes from the United States, their insecurity comes from the United States. So finally, Professor Saxs, how do you see this war ending? how do you see this war ending and by when do you see this war ending? know how it can end, which is that the United States and Israel should go back to their own homes and stop bothering other people and the war would end. Iran would stop fighting and the war would end. That's how it should end. how it will end, cannot say obviously because we're led by irrational and dangerous people in the United States and Israel. so they have lusted for this war against their own publics, against all logic, against all strategic considerations and these are very dangerous people. And in the United States, we do not have constitutional order. we do not have Congress that plays role. This is basically an executive branch decisionmaking by the CIA and by the White House. So it's very dangerous and very unpredictable. This makes no sense this war. It's dangerous for everybody. It's dangerous for India. It's dangerous for China. It's dangerous for the bricks. It's dangerous for Europe. It's dangerous for the Middle East. It's dangerous for the United States. It was war of choice that never should have happened. All right, Professor Jeffrey Saxs from the Columbia University, thank you very much for joining us here on CNN. Good to be with you. Thank you. Thank you. All right, we'll take quick break here on the program, but news and updates continue right on the other side. We got limited time. What we're going to do is now this is what's happened. told you when we come back from the break, we are going to try and refocus on another region and that's this region. So let's let's come back here and understand what's happening here especially with this nation Pakistan. What's happened is India has and Manushkumar Gupta getting this Daniel Shaman has also put us the map that India is doing an exercise in this region and there is notam that's been issued in this region. So one there is notam that's issued here. What happens with the Pakistanis who are fighting over the duran line there is activity in Balojasthan. They are supposed to send support for the Saudis and they're worried about this not yes Tom Cooper and then General Kulkarni. What happened first the Duran line itself and before speak on the Duran line let's work on that. there's going to be electronic suppression and this electronic suppression is going to cause problem to the IRGC also remember that there because it much that now most of these people over there are going to be on their own but talking about Pakistan in India and talking about Afghanistan and Pakistan the Duran line the 2700 km Duran line 1,400 km runs along Baluchistan correct and the best rest of it is with Kyber Pakuna they have 900 km line boundary of Baluchistan with Iran. This is this is the Baloj Baloj boundary with Iran. Yeah, this is the Balo this is the Balucha Baluchistan and therefore Baluchistan has been logistically sustained from Iran. It is not being sustained from Pakistan. So Baluchistan has problem that's the problem between Baluchistan and Pakistan insurgency against Pakistan and in Pakistan there is the insurgency of the Pakistani Taliban. Absolutely. Yes. And then they Pakistan is at war with with the Taliban in Afghanistan additionally additionally and so Pakistan is right now at war at least from their point of view in this direction this direction and of course they always hold strong portion of their army along the border to India India and now they're also supposed to airlift and send support towards Saudi Arabia and conduct you know exercises here interesting that they are supporting ing Iran but giving security collaboration with Saudi Arabia and and promising basis if necessary to to the United States like catch 22 situation they don't know which side of theirs has now got to be covered because they've had very badly from Baluchistan they're having bad times with Tik Taliban Pakistan with in Kaibar Paktwa they are not Saudi deal has put them in fix with Iran so Pakistan really doesn't know and I'm sure America would want it pound flesh from Pakistan. Yeah, we've got this footage. This is where the India NOTAM area is not so far away from Raheem Yar Khan. this is the NOTAM that airspace reservation that's been announced by the Indian Air Force for joint exercise. What do you think is the intent behind this storm? Well, to run an exercise. Yeah. But and Pakistan just to remind them that India is still here. It's as simple as that. No, nobody wants to provoke. mean, know the Indian government how is how it operates or at least understand it. do not say it. know it but in person or something but understand the way it operates and in this in this situation it just remains Islamabad guys we are we are watching what are you doing over there and now we going to run an exercise because you have the right to do so. Yeah and they're running an exercise in this portion here. Yes in this portion that's where the exercises the Pakistanis meanwhile are conducting sorties and exercises here. They they are getting active in this region. Sorry. Yeah. So they they are conducting activity in this region. They are stretched here. They're stretched here. They're stretched here. They're stretched all over the place. There is also internal strife that is happening with the Shia population. what do you think is going to be the impact of this conflict on this nation and this region? Do you think there is going to be trouble in Balojasthan? Balo. Let me explain this way. Let me start with the start in Pakistan. Pakistan is broke. Okay. Bankrupt. Okay. And this is not since yesterday but for some 50 years. Yeah. At least. Okay. What was that 24 IMF programs in Pakistan and something like that. Okay. Now the the newest invention so to say in Pakistan was to prompt the Chinese to invest and borrow $120 billion to Pakistan. So out of 195 countries in the world virtually there almost 45 countries which are sucked into this battle with 32 in NATO with 12 almost over here and Afghanistan and Pakistan. So just 45 countries involved today in some way or the other one way or the other involved. So now Pakistan is broke and they have this huge bill and the Chinese want their money back. They they say sorry but we are not giving your money our money money to you just like that. So Pakistan depends on IMF which means on Trump's agreement collect IMF. Yes. Yes. Pay Pakistan give Pakistan money so he it can pay back Chinese credits. Yeah. Yeah. So this is silly situation. This in turn means bakisabat is going to do whatever brings money in order to stay liquid and if the Saudis say hey we are going to pay you 5 10 or so whatever billions in order for you to send brigade of armed forces. Yes. They're going to do that. This is the point and this is how they how they think and how they act. But but their nation's prime minister has endorsed support to the to the to Iran and its nation's military is going to support and send military aircraft including JF17 and of course Avac and maybe an oil tanker on top to help the Saudis fight the Iranians. So the civilian government says we are with you Iran. The military says we're going to fire at you Iran. So that's what is is the nature is the nature is the nature is the nature of is the nature of Pakistan. We got limited time. What we're going to do is now this is what's happened. told you when we come back from the break we are going to try and refocus on another region and that's this region. So let's let's come back here and understand what's happening here especially with this nation Pakistan. What's happened is India has and Manushkumar Gupta getting this Daniel Shyan has also put us the map that India is doing an exercise in this region and there is notam that's been issued in this region so one there is notam that's issued here what happens with the Pakistanis who are fighting over the Duran line there is activity in Balojasthan they are supposed to send support for the Saudis and they are worried about this not yes Tom Cooper and then General Kulkarni what happened First the Duran line itself and before speak on the Duran line let's work on that there's going to be electronic suppression and this electronic suppression is going to cause problem to the IRGC also remember that there because it much that now most of these people over there are going to be on their own but talking about Pakistan and India and talking about Afghanistan and Pakistan the Duran line the 2700 km Duran line 1,400 km runs along Baluchistan correct and the Rest of it is with Kyber Paka. They have 900 km line boundary of Baluchistan in Iran. This is this is the Baloj Baloj boundary with Iran. Yeah. This is the Balo. This is the Balucha one. This is Baluchistan. And therefore Baluchistan has been logistically sustained from Iran. It is not being sustained from Pakistan. So Baluchistan has problem. That's the problem between Baluchistan and Pakistan because there is major insurgency against Pakistan and in Pakistan there is the insurgency of the Pakistani Taliban. Absolutely. And then they Pakistan is at war with with the Taliban in Afghanistan additionally additionally and so Pakistan is right now at war at least from their point of view in this direction this direction and of course they always hold strong portion of their army along the border to India. India and now they are also supposed to airlift and send support towards Saudi Arabia and conduct you know exercises here. Interesting that they are supporting Iran but giving security collaboration with Saudi Arabia and and promising basis if necessary to to the United States like catch 22 situation. They don't know which side of theirs has now got to be covered because they've had very badly from Baluchasthan. They're having bad times with Tikk Taliban, Pakistan with in Kaibar Pakuna. They're not Saudi deal has put them in fix with Iran. So Pakistan really doesn't know and I'm sure America would want it pound of flesh from Pakistan. Yeah, we've got this footage. This is where the India NOTAM area is not so far away from Raheem Yar Khan. this is the notam that airspace reservation that's been announced by the Indian air force for waterfalls have walked in and said we're going to create cordon sanitary for ourselves leave and we're also going to go after Hezbollah. So that's really what's happening here and that's clear message that is coming in. But even as we see collateral in terms of other countries that seem to be bearing the brunt, the direct fight between Israel and Iran will continue and the latest in fact we're seeing is something that's coming in from Tel Aviv where smoke seems to be rising in. there are injuries in Betsomesh that have been reported as well. There was direct hit in Tel Aviv. That's the latest that we are gathering as far as attacks of Iran on Israel are concerned. These are all drones, missiles that are being fired from the Iranian side into Israel. There are several cities in Israel that seem to be particularly targeted by Iran. Rasalain is one of them. Tel Aviv and Betamesh which was also targeted two days ago where nine civilians was killed. Nine civilians were killed. That's another piece of information that is now just trickling in. to get sense of what exactly is transpiring. believe Aman Sharma is also now joining us getting us more inputs of what exactly is transpiring in the region. Well, Punam, what we have right now is detailed statement being issued by India. The Ministry of External Affairs issuing detailed statement on the conflict that is happening. The Mia is now saying that unfortunately in the holy month of Ramadan, the situation in the entire Middle East region has deteriorated significantly and continuously. India is also reiterating that it is most concerned about the safety of Indians who live in the Middle East. Nearly 8 million people of Indian origin live in the Middle East. It is Indian statement is saying that the deaths and the destruction have mounted even as normal life and economic activities have come to halt as approximate neighbor with critical stakes in the security and stability of the region. These developments evoke great anxiety. This is what Indian government is now saying. There are almost 1 cr Indian citizens who live and work in the Gulf region. Their safety and well-being is of utmost priority. We cannot be impervious impervious to any development that negatively affects them. That is what the Indian government is saying. No outright condemnation yet of Kmeni's killing. But the Indian government is very clear Rahul on what they are saying now. Well, you know the priorities are very clear. We have to safeguard our interests. The kamani matter think has been left aside and we've already sort of spoken and expressed our deep concern but the point is from oil to remittances India's exposed and had put out some facts little while back and I'm going to read some of them to you India imports 90% of its crude oil as we know so we are also highly sensitive to the American justification to this entire war the west Asia conflict escalating into bloody highstakes confrontation. The recent decapitation strike against Iran's leadership was hailed by Washington as preemptive defensive measure. Yet Thran has refused to surrender, retaliating with missiles and drone attacks. American officials insist they are hitting key military targets to neutralize threats. But the world and even Americans at home remain confused about why the attacks began. Was Iran truly an imminent threat? or did the US act prematurely sparking wider war? Now, the stakes are enormous. Ethical questions, unclear objectives, and inconsistent messaging threaten American assets while Gulf nations too continue to get pounded and global allies watch nervously. We will of course get you exactly what is the frame of mind as far as these Gulf countries are concerned because all of them have come under attack now and under continuous attacks. Even today through the afternoon we've heard of more and more key installations even tech park for example coming under attack under these strikes. So, as the missiles continue to fly, the question is, has America truly justified its actions in Iran or has it plunged the world into another unpredictable war? Take look at how this has gone on so far as far as the justifications are concerned. Now, first, Donald Trump launched the rhetoric saying that when they are done, by the time they are done, he told the Iranian people, take over your government. He said this would be your best chance in long time to have your own say. The message was clear the US was openly calling for regime change. But next, defense secretary Pete Hexet when he spoke last evening, he signaled complete shift. He said, and quote, "This is not so-called regime change war, but the regime sure did change." He also went on to say that they don't actually believe in those endless wars of the past. This is not Iraq. He said, "This president understands that they're not into nation building or democracy building." Suddenly, the official line was no longer about overthrowing the government even as the leadership was decimated. Then, Secretary of State Marco Rubio framed the operation in completely military term as he said that the real reason was to eliminate the threat of Iran's short-range ballistic missiles and naval threat. The focus has moved on to neutralizing Iranian capabilities rather than political goals. The American message has involved from regime change to denial of regime change to defensive mission leaving allies and frankly the larger public scrambling to understand the US objectives. And Marco Rubio was pressed on this. Even he was frustrated while explaining the reasons. Understand what the confusion is? Let me explain it to you. The United States is conducting an operation to eliminate the threat of Iran's short-range ballistic missiles and the threat posed by their navy, particularly to naval assets. That is what it is focused on doing right now and it's doing quite successfully. I'll leave it to the Pentagon and the Department of War to discuss the tactics behind that and the progress that's being made. That is the clear objective of this mission. Now, by all accounts, it is not going to be as cut and dry or as single focused. America's objectives are multiffold. even if the messaging has been little bit confusing. So, let's break those down for you. And those objectives are going to be possibly met in long-term war or conflict. Now, as Donald Trump has indicated, first of course is to eliminate, as they called, the imminent threats which are posed by Iran's growing missile program and hostile actions. Donald Trump suggested one of them could actually be capable of landing in American soil. which cynics say is not the truth. American forces, their allies, all of them are top priority. The second priority is to stop Iran's nuclear ambitions that has not been hidden by America to ensure that Iran can never obtain nuke. Even here though, there are critics who believe Iran wasn't close to developing one. Third, the United States is aiming to destroy Iran's missile capabilities, its naval power, hitting ballistic missile sites, naval assets, and critical military infrastructure. Fine. Fourth, leaders say one goal is to punish Iranian support for terrorism in the region. Something that has even been targeting America for nearly 50 years, and they've not shied away from saying that this was terrorist regime. This was an unjust, evil regime. Fifth, the campaign is meant to stop Iran's wider power projection across the Middle East, limiting its influence and ability to destabilize neighboring states. And finally, the operation is means of supporting the destruction of key Iranian leadership that can't be ruled out. and of course that is something that they had started off with giving that hope to the Iranian public. Donald Trump said, promise help to the Iranians and have delivered on that." With so many aims on the table though the debate is whether these objectives can be achieved without prolonged regional conflict which everyone would want to avoid. But the big question is also this today. Was America pushed into the military action and abandoned the talks that they were holding only because Israel pushed them? Well, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio's statement certainly seemed to suggest that and Iran has latched on to it. So take look at what Marco Rubio said. He said, "We knew that if Iran was to be attacked even by someone else." He's talking about Israel here. They would immediately come after us and we were not going to sit here and absorb blow before we responded. So he basically suggested Israel gave us no choice. They were going to attack. We absolutely had to become part of it. And look what Iranian foreign minister said. He says Rubio admitted what we all knew. US has entered war of choice on behalf of Israel. Sharing of both American and Iranian blood is thus on Israel firsters. He said this is Israel first policy not America first. He also added American people deserve better and should take back their country. Listening to what Marco Rubio had said, this statement could well become an albatross around the neck of both US and Israel. There absolutely was an imminent threat and the imminent threat was that we knew that if Iran was attacked and we believed they would be attacked that they would immediately come after us and we were not going to sit sit there and absorb blow before we responded because the department of war assessed that if we did that if we waited for them to hit us first after they were attacked and by someone else Israel attacked them they hit us first and we waited for them to hit us we would suffer more casualties and more deaths. We went proactively in defensive way to prevent them from inflicting higher damage. Had we not done so, there would have been hearings on Capitol Hill about how we knew that this was going to happen and we didn't act preemptively to prevent more casualties and more loss of life. Right. We're also of course getting more breaking updates that the prime minister has now spoken to one more Gulf country, Kuwait's leadership after all of these attacks that have been continuing. so he's remember spoken to UAE and other countries in the last two days. He has now spoken to the premier in Kuwait as well. This is the big update that we're getting right now. We'll get you details as we get it as well. So he has spoken to the armir of Qatar and there have been earlier talks with the other leaders as well. Remember, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been consistently condemning the retaliatory strikes by Iran on these Gulf countries, particularly targets which are civilian in nature, key infrastructure. and that has not gone down well either with the Gulf countries or with their allies and India has definitely stood with its Gulf country allies in this hour condemning the un condemning the unplanned attacks from Iran not just against US bases alone but also attacking civilian infrastructure you know those living in residential buildings, hotel buildings, airports while people were there inside airports etc. am also joined by Sanjay Karma former Indian diplomat joining us of your first comments on the prime minister speaking to so many so much so so many leadership of the Gulf countries one more Gulf country that he has spoken to today clearly setting out an agenda as far as India is concerned prime minister Modi has one thing on his mind and that is the safety of India's citizens spread all over the Middle East and that is why he is connecting with all the leaders is in the Middle East to seek their asurances that Indians will be safeguarded. Second point which is extremely important is when it comes to regime change which you mentioned clearly regime change doesn't mean just taking out leader that regime has been there for last 40 years plus and therefore the entire structure of the government is the regime. Mhm. don't think that objective has been reached and just knocking out the supreme leader of Iran does not really mean changing the regime. Just hold your thought there. I'm going to come back to you sir on your thoughts on the messaging that we've been seeing from America and how other countries would be perceiving it including their domestic audiences and opposition to Donald Trump in America. want to go across to my colleague Akancha also who's joining us. Akancha give us the latest on the conversation that the prime minister has had. Right. So it's very important to highlight that while Prime Minister Modi has spoken to the Amir of Qatar, HH Tamil Bin Hammad Althani, he's not just condemned the attacks on Qatar, but he's also thanked the Amir for his support and care of the Indian community in Qatar. Now there's in fact significant Indian diaspora over there. and Qatar happens to be one of those liberal moderate Islamic nations not just apart from being US ally. The fact of the matter is that of late in the last decade ever since Prime Minister Modi came to power we've seen that there's been an increase and ramping up in the overall bilateral trade relationship between Qatar and India. in fact there are several economies that are now closing down to expatriates and apart from the fact that when the H1B visa crackdown started happening people were inadvertently looking towards the Middle East and Qatar was one viable option so that apart let's talk about the oil trade Qatar happens to be one of our largest LNG suppliers and that in itself is growing worry given that the straight of has been locked down by Iran so it's important that India stands in solidarity with one of its key bilateral trading partners. India has in fact been very supportive of all of these US allies given that India's stance on terrorism has been amply clear that any form of terror or any form of violence or violent retaliatory measures will not be supported by India and Prime Minister Modi has always urged for dialogue and diplomacy to take place as has been the statement of the MEA as well. Yes, and as it is not lost on anyone, we've got large population of Indians working and living in these countries. So in the last 48 hours, the prime minister has spoken to leaders of UAE, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, and Qatar. Eight countries in total, seven of them being these Middle Eastern countries of course barring Israel that the PM was also visiting just before this attack began. Sanjay Varma, former diplomat, continues to be with us and I'm coming back to you now. Now want to focus little bit more on the American messaging from freeing the Iranian people from the regime change from the slaining of Ali Kamini. Now they're kind of trying to justify their decapitation strikes which were the first strikes as more larger military objective. How do you read into their messaging and is the world buying it? don't think world is buying their messaging. It is highly fragmented, highly discoherent. and the reason is basically that probably the reasoning and logics were not put in place before they went into this war and therefore the messaging is also coming out as something which is incoherent. But there again if the key objectives were to be achieved in couple of days time that was the initial messaging why is it taking so long and which means it was not only the narrative which was miscommunicated or misconstrued but it was also the strategy which had to be reconsidered as something which was miss and you know Marco Rubio's statement which also read out short while ago where he said we knew that if Iran was to be attacked even if by someone else we'd have to be part to it and that simply points to Israel. Is this something that is going to mount some internal question against the Donald Trump administration given that you know you have to give very clear reasons as to why you are invading or attacking country if imminent threat was the reason Iran now says this suggests there was no imminent threat to America from Iran. See us being beacon of democracy as they always call themselves the entire thing is anti-US constitution as well the strike should have had gotten the from the congress they had not got that so therefore even from the US legal point of view or constitutional point of view the strike was missing few legalistic points and when you come outside the US you look at Europe Europe is no for buying what US is saying as the narrative. Spain had asked their bas US bases to be shut down and leave Spain. If you look at UK, the way in which it has offered its use of its bases that is also quite discordant with the relationship with UK always had with the US as the ally. Look at the French narrative. Look at the German narrative. So there is rift brewing in EU as well on the narrative itself. Forget about other things. The legality can be questioned by the jurists whether international or domestic. All right. Stay with me sir. also want to now talk about how United States top nuclear negotiator has made startling accusation and it strikes at the heart of global fears over Thran's nuclear ambitions. But also this might be one of the justifications America provides for going into Iran. According to the US envoy Steve Bitco, Iranian negotiators openly told American officials that they controlled about 460 kilograms of uranium enriched to about 60%, level just below weapons grade and far above what's needed for peaceful energy programs. That amount, Witchkov said, is enough material for 11 nuclear bombs if it was further refined. So, let's break down for you how advanced is really Iran's so-called nuclear program. Remember these are based of various estimates or reports. nobody really knows or has an exact idea. Iran currently allegedly holds approximately 441 kg of uranium enriched to 60%. The stockpile is over 9,000 kg total enriched uranium mass. The challenge is that this uranium needs to be 90% enriched for be becoming nuclear arm. An existing stockpile could have been enough for 10 to 11 nuclear devices. This is what the watchdog is also estimating. Sanjay sir, I'm coming back to you. Do you think this would provide enough sucker to those who may be looking for the legitimate reasons as to why US went into Iran and could these estimates be correct? Estimates seem to be correct. But the problem is that if the negotiations break down, do the countries go on board? and that is that is the main pillar of the entire narrative. So that means that if India and China is conducting negotiation negotiation doesn't succeed. Does it mean that we start inflicting harm on each other? So it's larger global sense which we need to get out of it from the data and details which have come out. don't think this was good enough reason for launching an attack and putting the entire world into darkness. also want to shift our attention now to the other big update and which is that Iran has announced that it has shut down the strait of hormones and warned that any vessel attempting to pass could be targeted and set on fire. Remember this is very important stretch between these Gulf countries and Iran with Dubai at its closest tip which is home to about 20 to 25% of all global oil trade passing through this very narrow and shallow stretch called the straight of hormones. This remains one of the world's most critical oil choke points with global economies relying heavily on this. Before we talk more about this, let's also bring you another update that we're tracking. Donald Trump has released another statement. He has gone on to say on Iran air defense, air force, navy leadership is gone. They want to talk. said too late. This is the message that is coming in from the American president. Now, just day or two ago, he had said, want them on the negotiating table and I'll be happy to negotiate." Iran said, "We don't want any negotiations with Washington anymore." But now, Donald Trump is saying maybe because of the continuous retaliation against its Gulf partners, that there's not going to be any more talks. He says that Iranian air defense, air force, navy, and leadership is all gone. They want to talk now, but said too late. We'll also get you more. As far as this latest statement is concerned, this is is this closing the doors? Is it shutting the door on any negotiations with Iran anymore? Remember, Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu have already warned that they're not going to stop. They talked about week's long action and they're saying that because of Iranian response, they're going to now double the impact of their original strikes. Both Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu have warned that they're going to hit Iran so badly that it would be worse than what it was earlier. We'll get you more updates on this as Donald Trump is releasing one more statement. as far as the strikes on Iran are concerned. He says the Iranian air defense, the air force, navy and leadership is all gone. So what does it mean for Iran even though it continues to mount those attacks? Remember the Iranian Iranian military or Iranian representatives have already said that their military is working independently. All units are working independently. They will do what they deem fit because of course the top leadership is gone. The primary attacks were already done. The secondary and the tertiary attacks will also follow is something that both Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu have already warned about. Let's go across to Rahul Shiv Shankar joining us from our newsroom. Rahul, big statement coming in from Donald Trump once again. Yeah. Yeah. we'll go across to Rahul in just bit, but we we're showing to you on your screen the latest statement that has been released. This is awritten one. Of course in the past he has not only released written statements but also you know structured bites that he has released earlier. Rahul is back with us. Rahul if you can hear me big statement coming in from Donald Trump. Yeah very big statement. Look, many people were thinking that the fact that he had assassinated or decapitated the Iranian regime and the 50 leaders that would be sufficient for Donald Trump to come out and claim victory and call an end to this campaign and say that look I've achieved what wanted to and tell the American people that he had done what no other American president had done since 1979 though they had tried. But that is an option that he is foreclosed by suggesting that he's not in any mood to negotiate with the Iranian regime. And this is exactly what was saying. If this war is to have any meaning or any real end to it, there has to be regime change. So once again, you're seeing sort of flip-flop because Trump first said that I'm not interested in regime change. Then he went on to say this is about regime change. Then he says, "I'm man of peace." Then he goes and carries out preemptive strike, which is actually euphemism for decapitation strike. Then he says, "Well, we're not interested in regime change. We have achieved the objectives that we set out to which is decapitated Iran's leadership hopefully brought up new crop of leaders which would be less radical, more open, more aminable to working with the west and obviously declaring their nuclear program open for public scrutiny or for UN scrutiny and so forth. But here, once again, he's done U-turn of sorts by saying, "Well, we aren't done. We're going to go the whole hog." Obviously, this would include regime change. We won't stop Iran attacks. And this is also message that will sort of send bit of chill down the spine of some of the others in the Gulf, the allies that have played host to American bases because they will come out and say that look, we are getting mashed here between your war with Iran and our interests. And think large number of balls are now up in the air really because the Iranians will have to factor this in. If the Americans are in it for the long haul, if Trump has refused negotiations, that means he's looking at military endgame and the Iranians will have to recalibrate because if they were thinking that the US would perhaps backpedal and in about 3 or 4 weeks would perhaps end hostilities, then they are mistaken. And at least this is what Trump is saying. Now whether this is bargaining tactic to get leverage, he's done that of course taken maximalist positions even when it has come to trade diplomacy or tariff persuasion. So, we don't quite know what Trump's idea is, but there's been lot of chatter amongst the experts and geostrategists that they're not seeing what the endgame is without putting boots on the ground in Iran. Just carrying out these mass ballistics/surgical strikes is not going to attenuate the Iranian regime enough for them to sort of walk away from power and come graveling to the United States of America. So we don't quite know what is the again the agenda that is driving Trump but quite clearly at least as of now this forecloses the possibility of this war ending anytime soon right do thank you for joining us and putting this into perspective certainly these questions are mounting now what was the objective to begin with and how soon can America and Israel achieve those object objectives because as turn to our next big po talking point. This is global economy issue. Now, as we've been telling you, the straight of hormones has been blocked by Iran because of this war. Was it necessary to begin with and to thrust the entire global economy into uncertainty? The big question right now on everybody's mind is what is the alternative to the straight of Hormuz? So, let me just bring to you the Gulf region has some limited backup routes to keep oil flowing. Let's take you through those alternatives to the straight of Hormuz. First up is the Saudi Arabia's East West pipeline. This goes directly to the Red Sea. This has capacity of about 5 million barrels per day and it can be expanded to about 7 million. So let me just point this out to you on the map. This is the straight of Hormuz which is now blocked. This is Saudi Arabia and on the other border of Saudi Arabia is the Red Sea. Now here is their port of Yanbu which is also capable of you know sending out oil barrels to the rest of the world although its capacity is only about 5 million per day barrels versus 20 million per day of the straight of hormones. So this is one of those routes that can be employed of course it's not going to be able to take it over completely as far as this route is concerned. Why is this important? Because it completely bypasses the straight of hormones. you don't really need to go to that side and you're not affected as far as this blockade is concerned. Let's also move forward as far as the other options are concerned. So like said moves the crude from eastern oil peels to the Red Sea and it bypasses the horns entirely. But there is another option again limited option and wouldn't quite fulfill the requirement completely which is the UA's Abu Dhabi crude oil pipeline. This goes through the Gulf of Oman. This can carry about 1 and half million barrels per day directly to the port of Fujera. And this also makes the straight of Hormuz blockade you know not important because this is as you can see on the map just before the straight of Hormuz. So this port of Fujera is here in close to Dubai. This is before the narrowest point of the straight of hormone. So even if this is blocked and nothing can go in and out to the Persian Gulf here in the Gulf of Oman from here at least the ships and vessels can travel and again this is not going to completely replace the straight of hormones but this lies ahead of the hormones enabling uninterrupted exports even during blockade. So this is the alternative route that countries will possibly be looking at right now. we don't quite know what are the preparations that have been made as far as this is concerned. Moving on, an important aspect of the action in Iran and elimination of Ayatella Kamini is how the women of Iran feel and have reacted. Let's get you some of those reactions from around the world. Iranian women's national football team made headlines after what came across like refusal to sing the national anthem during their Asian Cup opener against South Korea. gesture that went viral very quickly, viewed as mark of quiet defiance against regime that particularly suppressed women. Beyond the field, women across the Iranian diaspora have also of course shown their shock. We're getting some more breaking updates now coming in. Iran has now said that it is ready for negotiations, but there will be no compromise on dignity. So there seem to be some developments happening very very quickly. Just short while ago we had Donald Trump saying they asked for talks. said it is too late. Iran is now coming out and saying we do want negotiations now but with no compromise to our dignity. Does this mean now that the leadership the clerics the IRGC is now on its knees? Because remember just yesterday they had indicated that there will be no talks with Washington anymore. So the big update that's coming in right now back to back is that while Donald Trump is playing hard ball now saying there's going to be no more talks with Iran, their air defense and their air power, their naval power, their ground support, everything is gone. Their leadership is gone. Iran is now saying that they're ready for talks. But will US now negotiate with them anymore? or has Iran lost the chance that it had maybe till yesterday evening to do these negotiations is the big question. They're saying they don't want any compromise on their dignity, but they're now onto the table after rejecting any possibility of negotiations with America just yesterday. Akansa is joining us with more on this. Akansa, this is flip-flop on all sides. Absolutely. And the these mixed messages are not just coming from the United States, but you're also getting them from the Iranian side. Remember the former IRGC head and part of the transition in Iran that is in fact Ali Larijani who was playing the role of power broker was initially reported to have said that we are ready for talks but then he took tox and he said that no there is absolutely no scope for talks. But now again close to how many indicating that they are indeed ready for negotiations is an indication that perhaps Iran is also now very much aware that they cannot sign up for war of attrition. as we all know we've been debating that Iran is finding itself extremely isolated. Look at their allies. they are nowhere around whether it is North Korea, Russia, primarily China, one that is actually exchanging technology providing them with intelligence as well has in fact completely backed off in terms of providing them with any assistance and that's classic China playbook but that aside initially there were indications coming from the United States also that there could be scope for negotiations sorry but as you rightly highlighted Donald Trump has already ruled out that possibility now Shivani. Yes. So what does that mean as far as the end of this conflict is concerned? Akansa that will be the big question isn't it? Everybody would want that maybe they can get onto the table and agree on to certain terms that's going to give Iran in fact if you look at the upper hand that clearly is in the hands of the United States and also of Israel because now US is going to be in position of strength. they will ensure that they dictate the terms and conditions of more moderate sort of government even if it were to be with the IRGC or say the Shia Islamic cleric council to be part of that transition. Absolutely. So we'll wait and see what would could be the terms if at all and would there be different Iranian regime now time for very short break. My colleague Anand is joining you on the other side. IDF spokesperson Ben Cohen who joins us from the front lines. Really, thank you Ben for speaking with us. What's the situation right now in Israel? What are we expecting by the way of timelines? Is this war going according to plan? So, just returned from the bomb shelter from siren that was just in the area. We started this operation, Operation Roaring Lion on Saturday morning when the IDF and the US armed forces started joint operation intended to do one thing, and that's eliminate an existential threat. threat that's relevant to the state of Israel, to the United States, and to the world at large, and that's been proved over the last few days. The strikes started on Saturday morning when we eliminated more than 40 senior Iranian commanders, including Supreme Leader Kamini, and they continued over recent days as we struck aerial defense targets, ballistic missile targets, and other Iranian terrorist regime targets in Tehran and in Iran at large. Over the last 36 hours, the Hezbollah terrorist organization, the Iranian terrorist regime's main proxy, made strategic mistake and decided to fire dozens of rockets and UAVs at Israel. And at this time, in congruent to IDF strikes and US armed forces strikes in Iran, the IDF is striking Hezblah terrorist organization commanders and targets in order to eliminate that threat on Israeli civilians. So, of course, we're hearing that the new Iranian defense minister has been eliminated in fresh wave of strikes from Israel. But what we're seeing also is resistance coming from Iran. They seem to have hunkered down. They're sending these drones. Many people are saying that this is strategy where they are trying to exhaust your munitions, the Iron Dome, patience of the Gulf allies. Is this what Iran's game plan is? Or are they actually not being able to react using some of their hypersonic weapons and other bigger weapons because of compulsion? What's exactly happening from your perspective? How do you read this? So, can tell you that after 2 and 1/2 years of war and after the 7th of October, the IDF has learned that we never underestimate our enemies. We understand the threat that the Iranian terrorist regime poses. And as far as it goes to their strategy, can tell you one thing for certain, and that's that they have strategy to target and hurt civilians specifically. This isn't just message. It's concrete intelligence we have at hand. They're sending those ballistic missiles and their drones to civilian areas. Welcome to very very special edition of Inside the Bunker and it's the offensive offensive from both sides that continues to escalate with the idea of releasing latest satellite imagery of its precision strikes on the Iranian leadership compound. Now the conflict has entered dangerous new phase with Iran shutting down the straight of Hormuz which is channel for 20 to 30% of global oil supply. Meanwhile, the US and Iran too continue to mount the offensive against each other across land and sea. Now, in this very special edition of Inside the Bunker with the one and only Tom Cooper, what we are going to do is deep dive into the kind of tech and weaponry that's being used by both sides. We'll focus on the Iranian side today or the Israeli side today. But first up, have look at these pictures. Now if you see these pictures, what are these pictures? These pictures seem to be like airplanes that have been kept outside the Meabad air base in Iran. But Tom, what are they actually? Well, this is one of the funny stories of this war. Actually, already the last war in June. They look like F4 Phantoms. And one has to admit they are perfectly camouflaged as well. That means yellow color, brown color, green color, perfectly positioned from the air, from the satellite. These aircraft look even from the UAV. These aircraft look exactly like like original aircraft. Yeah. Fact is actually they are these are wooden decoys. This entire facility serves no other purpose but manufacturing such wooden decoys. And if you check up there on top, you see here, yes, that's an F5 decoy. Okay. Yes. So these decoys are then told to to Iranian air bases positioned in specific positions in selected positions, right? And the Israelis are left to discover them, to find them and to target them, right? To waste their ammunition and time and so on, right? So this is as you can see, you can see these are 2 4 6 8 10 11 enter squadron word under apostrophes of air force. Yeah. which existent for no other purposes purposes but to fool the isra Israelis. Fool the Israelis. And do the Israelis get fooled? Yes, they do. can even show you specific example if if if you show me the the Google Earth map again, right? last year we have seen Israelis striking two F-14s at Meabad base not far away from where this workshop is. Okay. So they have destroyed one F-14 and we're very happy about this. Right. We'll try and pull that up in bit. we don't have it on the at the moment. We don't have the map there. But this edition of inside the bunker, what want to do is for you to explain to our viewers very very clearly what is the kind of weaponry that's being used. So let's start with the airplanes. So, one of the first things that that stood for stood out for me is that you said that the Israelis the Israelis are not going into the Iranian territory, but they have aircraft that can fire missiles right into the deep into the Iranian territory from the Syrian skies or the Iraqi skies. Right now, let's start with this. This is the F-15D. What is the F-15D? This is an originally F-15 was developed as an air superiority fighter which means an aircraft made to fight air combat only air combat nothing else. So over the time Israel experienced ever less resistance in the air. Therefore it convered converting its F-15s into fighter bombers. That means it started equip equipping them with bombs. So now the latest development, latest modification for Israeli F-15DS. These are two seat as you can see, two ejection seats. Mhm. Here is also SATCO maintainer. Right. Latest modification for this aircraft is air launched ballistic missile which is huge weapon as you can see it here. This is black sparrow or one from the sparrow family of of weaponry. It consists of booster which is accelerating it and the actual warhead and re-entry vehicle. Right? So suspect that this is one of the aircraft that that was used or deployed to kill for example. This could be the aircraft that was used to kill Kam. Why you say that this could be the aircraft that was used to kill Kam? Because the first strike the opening strike of this war right was for the Israelis to deploy such weaponry to hit Kam. What what is this weapon? What is this? this is said this is the black sparrow. One of the sparrow weapon weapons of sparrow family. It's dropped down from the aircraft. Okay. Then it accelerates on its own. Accelerates on its own and then it is not easy to launch. This is this is not you know just you you fly straight and then you drop the weapon and it flies away. But the aircraft also has to accelerate to specific speeds and climb. So it's launched like this. Okay. Okay, the aircraft, you know, the missile contin the missile goes, the aircraft is best launch position is for the aircraft to be climbing. Climbing. Yes. So the the weapon separates and then then then the engine turns on, turns out and flies flies ballistically. Ballistically. And this is also GPS marked precision in terms of all the possible gadgets in order to make it as precise as possible. We have seen this weapon by the way in deployed last year for the strike on Hamas negotiators in Qatar as well. Right. And it's fast aircraft because it goes up to mark 2.5 and it's got twin engines F100 engines. So that means there is always the option of if one engine is hit on single engine the aircraft can actually course of course that it has lots of survivability built in into the aircraft. But point is foremost F-15 is big enough to carry such weapon. Right. The other one next point is this is one of the weapons that India has recently purchased or ordered from Israel. Okay. This is principal reason why I'm showing it because in the future India India is going to have similar weapons on it. So we've come back another one big big development even as we'll go back to the tech aspect of it. That's the sparrow that we've bought. But diplomatic engagement is more important for peace. Even as prime minister Narendra Modi, he has spoken to eight nations already including Israel and Oman. But he's also come out and spoken to the Sultan of Oman and he's condemned the sovereignty violation of Oman. So Bhat is very closely not openly saying making statements but calling up nations and saying that it is important to engage and you cannot disturb the sovereignty or attack the sovereignty of neighboring nations in war that you're fighting with distant enemy. somewhere this message coming across and saying that this sovereignty violation is not correct. This is even as Oman, Qatar and some of the other nations are slowly shutting down their facilities in terms of for safety. Exactly. Trying what Iran is trying to do but Iran is not making friends here. It bat has got engagements. We've got lot of trade and also Bharti people who are working in these countries and that's why not just ensuring the safety but also calling and saying we respect your sovereignty and anybody disturbing or impinging on this sovereignty is not right and it obviously will not create place for dialogue. Let's go back now after that update. Let's quickly go back to the other conversation that we were having. the F-15D and the black and the black sparrow or from the Sparrow family. This is warhead or weapon head that we have tried to now get acquire and this will be fixed on our Rafal or the Sukoys. Yeah, probably on Rafal. On the Rafal and it is already in service in India. It is already in service on Mirage 2000s. On the Mirage called spice. this is the spice. Okay. So this this this is the spice and that is the that was the one that was used in the in in the Balakot operation for example. Yes. Yeah. This is also already one of the weapons already in service in India. Python. Python. Yes. That's the Python. Python or or spider when launched from from the ground. Python or or the spider. Let's look at the next aircraft. The F-16C. Airtoair air to ground missions. Speed is about Mach 2. F1 110 or F00 engine. Yes. And one of the most produced fourth gen fighters. So the Israelis are also pressing this. What's unique about this? Well, unique is this versatility. This is an older variant arguably, but you can always add more advanced weapons on it. And again, if you launch spies from from shallow climb at full acceleration, it fires very very far away up to 200 km away. Now, it also seems to be able to carry more payload. Is that is that true? Because it's single engine aircraft. Well, carry more payload. It's this is relative. Generally, they're carrying they're loading them just with two spices. It's only for operations of short range. They are loading them with four spices. Four spices. But it's single seater. Single seater. So, there aren't three there because that was trainer aircraft. And it's not even two-seater. So, it's single spider. Just single seater. So, this will be smaller and lighter aircraft. Smaller and lighter. Yes. Much smaller than F-15. Roughly 50% smaller. Yeah. But very nimble. This is comparable actually. Rafal is superior to F-16. Rafal is superior to F-16. Another one which is tried and tested and which actually works for us viewers is the Sukoy MK30i. Now this is also part of the Israeli Air Force. somewhere the Russians seem Indian Air Force. This is also part This is the Indian Air Force. this is one of the latest subvariants of SO30 MKI. Okay. Again mark 2. Is it similar to the F-16D? Yes, it's just bigger. It's just bigger and more powerful in regards of engines than the F-15D in particular. Also two-seater. You don't see the second seat because it's under the cockpit. Under the cockpit. Okay. And this is now the latest subvariant recognizable as such. But two antennas. Yeah. Here and here. Uhhuh. Which are enabling it to be linked to the to ground stations to the entire integrated air defense system of India. and to transfer the video feed from the ground up to the co into the cockpit of the of the aircraft. That means whatever the ground station knows the crew knows knows it as well. have shown it shown it here. This is an color profile drew with my hand. Yeah. With Derby air to air missiles also of Israeli. Okay. Origin. So it was al this weapon was already integrated on on this on SU30 on on the SU30 despite these weapon systems being newer compared to the aircraft which is much older but this aircraft was able to carry or adapt how do thanks to very advanced electronics avionics and computers of Indian origin the aircraft is very adaptable that means you can essentially put whatever you want on on SO30 MKI you just need to test the separation so often trajectories and so on but essentially you can put on SU30 whatever you want whatever you want you can put anything whatever you want on the SU30 we'll show you what all has been put on the SU30 the next one is where it's tipped with the bum hose now how is this possible this is the most powerful weaponry in in in service with the Indian air force again SO30 here and all the submarant no antennas for for software radios, but it has Brahmos. This is the Brahmos. Yes. This is what it looks like when it's packed, so to say, when it's released. Okay. On release, there's two two small jets kicking away the the cap is covering the intake. Okay. So, and then the missile accelerates on its own. Next step in the brahos when when it's once it's launched this is it's actually yes this is the this is the booster okay this falls off once the missile missile has accelerated to its crew speed so essentially you have then this part of the missile flying away from the aircraft okay and then just this part of the missile striking the target striking the target so the missile actually becomes smaller smaller and lighter and lighter so that is able to go faster the other thing is the missile the Brahmos's loop is something that nobody's been able to figure out. It's it's got an loop doesn't it? the the cruise missile because of which the the interception of the bramos becomes very very difficult. Yeah. It can it can maneuver in its terminal attack phase which means once for example you can program it to fly low along the ground and the other way is to program it to up and then to dive up on the target in order to for example penetrate an underground target. underground target like Kirana Hills. Like the Kirana Hills. So this is the bramhose as it is when it is loaded on or packed onto the aircraft. Yes. And then this is between the intakes. So only the front part is visible when it's attached to the aircraft. Attached to the aircraft. So this is how it looks. Then as it drops this part breaks away. The jets push this off. Open up the cap. So then it becomes tipped like this. And then this part the back part is the booster which the moment it gets so cruise mode. So till this part is shaved off something like here. What is particular about Brahmos in comparison to its Russian or origin the Indian scientists have developed very long booster which is actually stretching through the through the through the body of the of the missile which is stretching the range of the missile further in comparison to to its original. So it is very powerful missile. We have seen it in action last year right? But it is very big hefty weapon. Therefore, India is already working on Brahmos NG which is new generation which is going to be smaller, lighter and compatible with smaller aircraft than SO30. Right now, one of the older aircrafts which he talked about that had the spice and also the Hammer is the Mirage 2000. Now again tried and tested aircraft among the Indian Air Force. What makes this aircraft so special and and what is it going to be replaced with in the future generations? Mirage was always special because of its avionics, because of these computers which are making other type of or actually easy to to adapt additional weaponry unit. Then during the car war Indian Air Force wanted to have guided bombs. It was relatively simp relatively simple underpost to put an lantern targeting pod and guided bombs acquired from Israel on it. In this case, this one is shown in its latest variant which is Mirage 2000 IH. This is very advanced system nowadays including Mika airto-air missiles and Israeli made spice. Yes. Additionally, spice is coming in several calibers in 250 kg. This is this is this variant in in 500 kg and in,000 1,000 kg variant. Depending on the target, you can put this this kit of the weapon. This is the guidance head of the spice. These are the fins, the steering fins. You can put it attach it to whatever warhead you want to use. Right? And therefore, it's spice 500, 1,000, and 2,000. 1,000 and 2,000. There's there's one thing which we've we skipped but because we want to bring the focus back onto the Iran Israel US conflict right now is the F16i. The Israeli Air Force is also pressing this into service. What's and it's it's been customized for the Israeli Air Force. This is customized variant just for the Israeli Air Force. Sure. from it. The Loen Martin has developed different other subvariants for different other air forces, but this is heavily customized variant for Israeli air force with extra-l large fuel tanks in order to reach Iran. Right. And then it has for example is compatible with such weapon weaponry like Delila. Okay, this is Delila. Yes, this is Delila. This is turbo jet turbo jet powered mini cruise missile with ranges on 200 km. Here it is under the aircraft. Okay, the needs for its deployment this big guidance spot. That means the rear the weapon system officer in the rear seat seat is constantly in contact so to so to say with with weapon. Additionally, it carries lantern or litening port. This is this dark port under the intake. So very advanced aircraft. It's two-seater. It's two-seater. Pilot is in front. weapon system officer in the rear. and what is also typically for Israel you can see this little red white green yes this is soal kill marking in this case for his UAV shot down several years ago right what is also little bit different between Israeli and Indian air force like this Gaudi unit in Zia right you can instantly recognize every single Israeli unit by by the marking markings it's applying on its fins right so so that's how That's the marking for the Israeli app. This is for the for the 2011 squadron also called nicknamed the war squadron. Now this what you said is again interesting. This is kill marking. So kill marking means that this aircraft and the pilot has shot down something. So it could be Hezbollah target or something else but it has shot down. So this has got kills. So that's how the the potency of the pilot and the aircraft or the legend builds amongst the aircraft. Exactly. Yes. There are also such kill markings for strikes on Iranian reactors, on Iraqi reactors, on Syrian reactor and so on. They applying them depending on what what right now out of the Israeli weapon systems and the guided missiles. Which do you think was India now trying to acquire? You said spice and hammer are already there. are we looking at trying to get the Delila also? I'm not sure about Delila, but certainly rocks or air Laura. think this is on the other artwork of the F-16i if you have copied it. Okay. do we have the other F-16D? Was it on the F-16D? F16i. F16i. F16i. We've just got this one. Never mind. This is F15. But it is essentially it is such weapon. Okay. Air is just even even heftier and looks little bit different in in front. Laura or rocks. They all have two names. One for export one for Israeli service. Essentially India is purchasing exactly this kind of weapons as well. And what's more on this aircraft behind the missile you can see this jammer port. Yes. This is something for example Tjas is already carrying. Tjas is already carrying this jammer. It's already in service in India. Right. So this is also point you know what does this jammer actually do quickly. We running out of time. It is it is emitting electronic emissions which are jamming any kind of approaching radar guarded missiles. It's hiding the aircraft behind some sort of electronic cloud making it invisible for for enemy missiles any of the missiles and the radar to follow. So it's like it's like frequency shield that's being built around the aircraft and TUS has that. So this was all about the aircrafts that the Israelis are now pressing into service and also how it is marrying into the Indian Air Force. But this is just the beginning. What about the drones? What about the UAVs? Who's got the better tech? And who's got the kamicazi? All of that here on Inside the Bunker with Tom Cooper very soon. Stay with us. Complete devastation. in direct hit by missile. Picture is that the US is not able to defend. Are they drowning massive the number of ballistic missiles? Where is it that Iran is actually placing its resources right now? Tabres Sanandage Gam and this is now what they are doing since yesterday they are conducting more or less organized US bases have been targeted drone has been shot down now Iran can then threaten or attack enemy nationals massive missile and drone attack over here Iran now has been completely in some ways dominated with ballistic missile attack means the the Kuwaiti air defense was on big strain. IDF spokesperson Ben Cohen who joins us from the front lines. Really, thank you Ben for speaking with us. What's the situation right now in Israel? What are we expecting by the way of timelines? Is this war going according to plan? So, just returned from the bomb shelter from siren that was just in the area. We started this operation, Operation Roaring Lion on Saturday morning when the IDF and the US armed forces started joint operation intended to do one thing, and that's eliminate an existential threat. threat that's relevant to the state of Israel, to the United States, and to the world at large. that's been proved over the last few days. The strikes started on Saturday morning when we eliminated more than 40 senior Iranian commanders, including Supreme Leader Kami, and they continued over recent days as we struck aerial defense targets, ballistic missile targets, and other Iranian terrorist regime targets in Tehran and in Iran at large. Over the last 36 hours, the Hezbollah terrorist organization, the Iranian terrorist regime's main proxy, made strategic mistake and decided to fire dozens of rockets and UAVs at Israel. And at this time, in congruent to IDF strikes and US armed forces strikes in Iran, the IDF is striking Hezblah terrorist organization commanders and targets in order to eliminate that threat on Israeli civilians. So, of course, we're hearing that the new Iranian defense minister has been eliminated in fresh wave of strikes from Israel. But what we're seeing also is resistance coming from Iran. They seem to have hunkered down. They're sending these drones. Many people are saying that this is strategy where they are trying to exhaust your munitions, the Iron Dome, patience of the Gulf allies. Is this what Iran's game plan is? Or are they actually not being able to react using some of their hypersonic weapons and other bigger weapons because of compulsion? What's exactly happening from your perspective? How do you read this? So, can tell you that after 2 and 1/2 years of war and after the 7th of October, the IDF has learned that we never underestimate our enemies. We understand the threat that the Iranian terrorist regime poses. And as far as it goes to their strategy, can tell you one thing for certain, and that's that they have strategy to target and hurt civilians specifically. This isn't just message. It's concrete intelligence we have at hand. They're sending those ballistic missiles and their drones to civilian areas, not just in Israel, but in the entire Middle East. Okay. Well, what we're also hearing is that the longer this war continues, and I'm going to ask you little bit about timelines, but the longer this war is continuing, costs are also escalating as we know. Right now, I'm hearing that oil is up by about 8 to 10%, silver is up by 11%, the straight of hormones is completely blocked. The new Iranian defense minister of course has been eliminated and just discussed that with you and you're doing fantastic job of trying to eliminate the top leadership. But is that really having an effect? Can bombs substitute for ground invasion and affect regime change? So one is that question and the longer we obviously stay in this war there are Namaste Jind and welcome to this edition of the right stand. I'm Arandar Simhan. The Middle East is now viewers engulfed in full-scale regional war that has rapidly expanded beyond its initial fronts, drawing in major states and also non-state actors in volatile conflict. The current crisis erupted when Israel and the United States launched coordinated air strikes deep into Iran, including targeted attacks on key leadership and military infrastructure, killing Iran Supreme Leader Ayatal Ali Kam and other senior figures. Now, in retaliation, Iran has fired ballistic missiles and armed drones not only at Israel, but also at US forces and US bases in several of the Gulf nations in that region, including strikes that hit parts of the United Arab Emirates, causing casualties and infrastructure damage and prompting widespread air defense responses across Dubai, the the country of Qatar, the nation of Kuwait, Bahrain, and also Saudi Arabia. At the same time, Iran aligned militia and proxies have also entered the conflict. Hezbollah and Lebanon launched rockets and drones at northern Israel, ending fragile ceasefire and quickly drawing devastating Israeli air strikes on Beirut and southern Lebanon. Thousands of civilians have been displaced amid intense bombardment and crossber fire. The violence is now spread across at least nine countries in the Middle East affecting major cities from Thran to Beirut, Dubai to Doha and shaking civilian life far beyond traditional battle lines. In Urbal in Iraq, you've had another militia front propped up by the Iranians attacking US security forces and their residential accommodation premises and services. Now, here's the latest from the war zone. bust up. Donald Trump has said it's too late for Iran to negotiate. He's saying their top leaders across politics and defense have been wiped out. I'm not going to talk to them anymore. IDF has struck Iranian leadership compounds in Thran and they've released the video of how they did it. And why bombing and how did they collect that intelligence is case study in itself. Now, Iran has also targeted oil facilities across the Arab nations, forcing nations like Qatar and Saudi Arabia and Oman to shut down some of its refineries and its facilities, clearly wanting to get the commercial angle in and hurt nations commercially. Drone strikes on US assets in Saudi Arabia and Iraq have been reported and filmed. The Indian embassy has relocated students in Thran because Bharat is focusing on what it will do to protect its citizens. Now let's listen into what Marco Rubio had to say even as the conflict escalates. It seems the United States is struggling with the rationale even as Trump has said that there is no room for negotiation. This is the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio who now says there was an imminent threat from Iran. understand what the confusion is. Let me explain it to you. The United States is conducting an operation to eliminate the threat of Iran's short-range ballistic missiles and the threat posed by their navy, particularly to naval assets. That is what it is focused on doing right now and it's doing quite successfully. I'll leave it to the Pentagon and the Department of War to discuss the tactics behind that and the progress that's being made. That is the clear objective of this mission. There absolutely was an imminent threat and the imminent threat was that we knew that if Iran was attacked and we believed they would be attacked that they would immediately come after us and we were not going to sit sit there and absorb blow before we responded because the department of war assessed that if we did that if we waited for them to hit us first after they were attacked and by someone else Israel attacked them they hit us first and we waited for them to hit us we would suffer more casualties and more deaths. We went proactively in defensive way to prevent them from inflicting higher damage. Had we not done so, there would have been hearings on Capitol Hill about how we knew that this was going to happen and we didn't act preemptively to prevent more casualties and more loss of life. So there could be loss of infrastructure but there could not be loss of life. So Sir Marubio they're trying to say that listen we've acted we've preempted particular strike. Similarly, like what the IDF has always said, listen, they had already made plans. They had already made plans to try and call for the death of Israel and they were going to get ready 8,000 ballistic missiles by 2027 and wipe out Israel once and for all. And that's the reason why we needed to act first. That's what the Israelis have always maintained. Now somewhere from the Americans the same tone that our strikes were preemptive but have they been shifting goalpost and has Iran's lowcost high impact war strategy and their very clear focus taken them by surprise now why Iran's game plan is to raise the cost of conflict for the United States and its allies while being in heavily disadvantaged position. Iran still has war strategy in place to try and hit back at the United States militarily. Now, let's try and understand. In the first step, Iran plans to blind US forces by hitting critical radar and command and control modes. And to achieve this, they would employ swarm drones and short-range missiles to hit critical nodes in the US communication systems. Now, what it hopes to achieve is to disable early warning systems of the US forces. In the second step, Iran then plans to deplete US air defense systems by forcing it to use expensive missile batteries to counter its cheap drones. And how it plans to achieve this is by launching waves of inexpensive missiles at American bases and ships. And Iran can then drain the US missile stocks and increase operational costs, weakening the air defense network over period of time. Step three, overwhelm the US air defense. Iran then wants to aims to breach the air defense and strike critical targets. And this is how Iran aims to achieve this with larger high-speed or hypersonic missiles, cruise missiles. Iran then aims to penetrate remaining defenses and hit strategic installations maximizing the damage. Now Iran is also striking energy centers. So it is raising the cost of war commercially. Also it is also putting pressure on other nations who will suffer because of an energy crunch. So it is actually sending shocks waves through the energy markets. Look at this. Saudi Arabia's Ras Tanura has been shut down. Qatar's Ras Lafan LNG hub that's also been shut down. Then you have Oman in Dukam the Dukamort fuel tanks. This one again it's been shut down. UAE the Fujira oil field was targeted and it's up in smoke. So it had to be temporarily shut down. And most importantly, the straight of horm Iranians are saying, "We see any ship, we're going to bomb it." Now, when they take position like this, one wonders, did the enemy or did the enemy from Iran's perspective or did the allies from America's perspective not game this? Those who mounted epic fury, is this an epic fail that they didn't war game this? Tom Cooper continues to stay with us. KL built, former prime minister and foreign minister of Sweden and co-chair of the European Council for Foreign Relations should also be joining us. I'm just going to check if he's through with us. We'll go straight across to Mr. KL Built. Khal, Namaste. Thank you very very much. we have Swiss in our midst here. and now we have Swede. let me ask you, what's your assessment of what's happening here? Have US and Israel not gamed this properly? Are they getting into war of attrition? That remains to be seen. We're just couple of days in it. But it is of course war that was initiated with unclear background and with unclear aims and it's very difficult to see where this is going to end and what victory would be either for one or the other side. So it is very muddled situation, highly dangerous with easier would say to identify who will be the losers than to identify possible winners. Mhm. what do you think will be Iran's offramp? Because there are many who believe they have lost their supreme leader. They will have to go back and show revenge and unless they get an offramp, they're not going to back off. And Trump does not seem to have the stomach for long war. So how do you see this progressing? No, think what the Iranian objective is is rather simple is re regime survival. mean when when when Trump and Netanyahu initiated the war, they talked very explicitly about sort of regime change. They they backed off somewhat since then. But for the for the ones running the regime or trying to run the regime in Tyran, survival of the regime is number one objective. and I'm quite certain that if they manage to survive the regime in the one or the other four clearly weakened whatever they will declare victory and they will say we stood up against the most mighty force that you could think of the word today we are still here and and that's going to be dilemma because the US pronounce these very sort of expensive aims of regime change and if that's not achieved who is the victor who's the loser But but from your vantage point, how do you see this progressing? Do you see this dragging on beyond 15 days? Could well be. But mean the the uncertain uncertain thing that we don't know that much about is when does either side run out of missiles and ordinance. mean the Iranians don't have an unlimited amount of ballistic missiles and drones even if numbers are fairly substantial obviously. but the the western side the Americans and the Gulf allies mean they have very expensive defense systems that they are deploying at the moment and and Israel is the same. Do they have endless numbers of them? No they don't. So we might see them sort of starting to fade away gradually in terms of the intensity of the war at some point in time. do you think Trump may just decide 3 days later that he's already won the war because the K&A are dead, the top leadership is dead and Trump may just say America may just say, "Okay, we are done. We're getting out. Now it's the rest for rest of the region to sort out this mess." Well, there are more or less difficult things in the world. And the one thing that would not go into is predicting the behavior of Donald Trump because he's notoriously unpredictable. think he was very clear yesterday that he's going to go on for quite some time but quite some time whether that is further 3 days or 3 weeks don't think then he knows that himself. Is there clear objective? Many credit India for having clear objective with operation Synindhur that the aim was the terror infrastructure and that was demolished and then India backed off and even though there was military response from Pakistan India then just responded gradedly to that and then they were able to back off here the Americans seem to be shifting the goalpost by the day first it was regime change then it is nuclear arsenal now it's ballistics and thereafter we don't know where this is your thoughts? No, we don't. We don't. And think one of the history lessons of history is that if you start war, if you consider that absolutely necessary and it should be necessary. One shouldn't start war on just hunch of some sort. You should have clearly defined objective for your forces. You must tell your military, this is what we expect you to do, and that must be clearly defined. If you do that, they either succeed or they fail. but if you just launch them into war and then go all over the place with different objectives or shifting ones and impossible ones then it becomes very difficult even difficult for the war fighters themselves what are they supposed to do and even more difficult for the politicians or the strategist who are going to say where where are we heading where is this going to end what's going to be after the war we don't know is it possible that other nations could be dragged into it you you see Europe getting dragged into and not in any major way. can see and think it's already happening that sort of French and European assets or UK assets that are in the region. mean they have fighters there that have been there permanently that they take part in defensive missions. but wouldn't call that dragged into war. the the dismantling of the Kamune regime. If they are able to achieve that, what would that mean for politics and geopolitics around this region and also globally? Because Iran's been considered rogue nation. Many believe 80 to 90% of the trouble in this region and globally has emanated from Iran over the last four or five decades. Well, yes, but of course other problems in the region. mean some some if if if you go to the region you can heard Israel described in those particular terms as well and said the Palestinian issue and the way that has been handled by the Israelis have created profound uncertainty in the entire region. don't think anyone contemplates to attack Israel because of that. But but if the regime were to collapse in Iran, it's big country. Not by Indian standards, but by European standards, 90 million people. what comes after? would love there to be representative government in the democracy in Iran, but do see that happening in the state of general chaos or collapse? I'm very hesitant. Right, Carl Bill, thank you very much for speaking with us and thank you for your time. We're going to just bring it back into the studio with Tom Cooper and also go across to our other guests. we have Major General Yako Amidra who's back with us. Former National Security Adviser Israel from Tel Aviv, Ambassador Rajiv Dorra. he zoomed out. he was zoned in into the into the in our studios this morning. hope you had good round of golf, Ambassador. But meanwhile, Major God of Arya is also with us and we also have Roxan Shagini, Iranian analyst who's joining us from Germany. Thank you everybody. we've just got pictures and you were explaining this Tom and let's just start with these pictures of Israeli demolition of the trucks which are launchers, missile launchers. these are Iranian missile launchers. And like you said, if you can just freeze this picture and can we go full frame here on that picture? Would freeze. those 3 and 1/2 ton trucks. That's what he's been talking about that they look like ordinary commercial trucks. Can we call that picture here quickly? and this is the classic strategy. just before this, if you could Yeah, if you could freeze it there. Yeah. This is one of small trucks 3 and 12 tons probably. Well, unclear on this photograph. either used for to launch the UAVs to the side from three boxes or to carry one short range ballistic missile tactical ballistic missile. This is something like perhaps 150 to 300 km. Okay. So this means almost any kind of local delivery truck is suspicious for the Americans and Israelis these days. So how many trucks are they going to shoot down? That that's what how how many trucks are they going to shoot out? Do you look at that truck? so it there were so many trucks like this. How many are the Israelis going to chase remains question. let's go across to the major general and ask him from Israel. has Israel bitten off more than it can chew with with respect to trying to bring down Iran because if regime change was the objective that doesn't seem to be happening anytime soon Mr. role. First of all, there were other aims for the war before the regime change is to eliminate the ability of the Iranians to produce missiles in the future and to completely destroy the military nuclear project of the Iranians. That was first priority before regime. We are we don't know how to make regime change. What we can make is to make the regime much weaker and then the Iranians will have to decide if they want regime change. We cannot be the the Iranian opposition with not pretend to be the the the Iranian opposition. What we want to be is the the to be sure that the Iranians cannot continue with the ballistic missile production with the military nuclear project and to prepare the circumstances for the Iranians to make the change in their regime. We are not making regime change. We are not Iranians and the Iranians have to make that decision. But what if the Iranians decide not to make regime change? What if the the current lot is able to sustain it and and they everybody accepts Ali Raza? So what will happen if the Iranians decide not to do it? First, the Iranians will not have the ability to resume the nuclear project. the Iranians will not be in pos in in position to manufacture ballistic missiles that can be launched into Israel. and see Iran will be much weaker and it will be easier to take care in the future that they will not resume both the nuclear and the missile project if the Iranians decide that this is the regime that they want. All what we have can do in the future is to make sure to guarantee that they don't have the ability to destroy Israel. Do you believe the Iranians have gamed your defense systems? The three tier defense system that includes arrows, David Sling, and the Iron Dome. the Iranians have figured out way to sneak past it because no no the statistic is very clear very few percentage of what they are launching is reaching Israel we never said that our defense is 100% it cannot be and from all the around 200 and more missiles that they launch into Israel you can see that the number of missile which reach target inside Israel are very very few let's assume that it is 90%. 10% out of 200 it's 20 missiles. It's not more than that. So no we have very good defense system. 90% I'm not saying this is the percentage. don't know they publish the of the success but it's around 90%. 85 90% of the missiles didn't reach any target in Israel and think that very good no one has better system than those systems and we are learning all the time and we are enhancing our capabilities right no offense men but in operation Synindur our effectivity was 99.6% 6% but but and also over larger spread of area and terrain but in this case Israel I'm just going to open it up Major General Amidor getting our other guests into the conversation Tom Cooper there is on social media open source intelligence claims of Iranians having cluster bombs Iranians having cluster bombs we've got news just coming through Donald Trump seems to have just taken to truth social and he's posted he said something we just we just read Donald Trump's big warning to Iran. We have unlimited upper tier weaponry. Now in the morning he said we could have had more about the upper tier weaponry. Now he's saying we have unlimited upper tier weaponry. How what do you read from this storm? Another desperate threat in in total. You say it's desperate threat. Yes. You don't believe that there could be something big that could be happening tonight? Well, there are only two weapons haven't seen being deployed by the United States in this war so far. One would be the GBU57. This MOAB is 10,000 kg massive bombs, penetrator bombs, and the other would be nuclear weapon. The other would be nuclear weapon. No, but he says have unlimited mid to upper tier weaponry. So that's what he said, mid to upper tier weaponry. I'm going to check with our team if he can just juxtapose what he's tweeted or put out just now on Truth Social. against what he put out in the morning where he said we have the smaller arms and infinite and better than the the but as far as the upper tier because of Biden and him giving it to be you know Mr. Zelinski, we don't have as many as we should have, etc., etc. We just put that out and this. So, within hours, there is conf there's different statement that's come from Donald Trump. Typical Trump. that's typical Trump, master of shifting the goalpost. But we also had pictures of the Iranians having cluster munition. Yes, they have they have bought them from the and this was fired over Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. And there were lot of missiles that seem to have landed in Tel Aviv. The Israelis may not accept it, but it's there on open source. Your thoughts? Is that possible? Yes, this is it is possible. They have deployed one such warhead, at least one against Tel Aviv last year in summer. So, it is perfectly possible that they have repeated the exercise now. It's possible. Major General Goroaria. Major Goravaria. Major Gorovar. Yes. No. Anand what I'm saying is that think what they have is limited and in fact Donald Trump mentioned it earlier also when the case came up for India receiving the Apache helicopters that it paid for and that is what Donald Trump said he publicly said that we do not have the capacity to manufacture and people keep on saying we want to buy American weapons but we don't know how to supply those American weapons and this is exactly what is happening so agree with Tom when he says most of this is bluster most of what Donald Trump says we have unlimited Nobody has unlimited weapons. Nobody has unlimited weapons. Correct. Least of all the United States of America. So think I'll go with what Tom said. Yeah. That this is lot of bluster. But are we looking at it from just the Iranian lens because they are counter punching so well and at cost-effective manner or are we underestimating the firepower of the Americans and the Israeli? Because what the Israeli have achieved in the first few hours nobody thought they would be able to do. So we can't take that away from them. Nobody thought that the commune would be bombed out of existence. Trump has achieved that. So he's already ticked the legacy box along with Nathanu Major. No. yeah, absolutely. agree with you there. But see what is happening is the lack of objectives in this war. That is what is the problem. They're shifting goalposts and they actually expected people to come out on the streets and take over the institutions in Iran as soon as they heard of Kavan's death. That was the expectation of Donald Trump. That did not happen. Now about the Israelis, Israelis have very clear-cut objectives. The Israelis are not confused. Donald Trump and his cabinet are confused. That is what I'm saying. Yeah. The Israelis know who they want to wipe out and they're going to absolutely absolutely they're they're going to use this lion's roar as an operation to try and wipe out who they so they already put boots on ground in Lebanon. They're going to go hammer in tongs against the Hezbollah immediate threats. Ambassador Rajiv Togra Roxana coming to you after this. Yes, Ambassador Rajiv Tubra. Well, I'll I'll I've been thinking about an entirely different track. Yeah. you see wars whether it is one versus two, one versus one have specific criteria for judgment. for example Russia Ukraine you can easily sort of measure in your mind that Russia has been able to get couple of miles or not succeeded in getting more than what it wanted. So it's you can call it failure of Russia or war being stalled or war not achieving its results. But here in Iran versus so many different actors, you don't have specific criteria. You don't have territorial name by which you can judge victory or defeat. it's all in the air. And with man like Trump, since the goalpost keeps shifting, you don't know how to judge the results of war. But what you can and other complicating factor is the huge amount of censorship whether on Iran's part or Washington's part or Israel's part. Hardly anything is getting out into the open space except what emerges through radio grabs. So it's it's difficult to judge how the war is going. we don't even know how many American ships have been hit if at all. So all we can say is that yes the war is not going unidirectional. Iran has not folded over. Iran continues to fight and Iran is playing playing smart diplomatic move by saying if the latest reports are correct that yes we want to negotiate but on our terms. Right. Roxanna one of the aspects is why is it that there hasn't been the kind of outpouring on the streets the moment the communes were gone because that was one dynamic out of the multi-pronged assault on the regime that was being expected even Shahaza Palvi is exalting everybody who has any Iranian roots not just Shia any Iranian rules to come down and then take control of proceedings and take back Persia that's not happening No, that's not happening because Prince Resnavi and Donald Trump said you have to stay home until we call you. They are staying home because they have been called to stay home. Is not time to go out because if they go out they will be killed like one and half months ago 40,000 people in just demonstration. need to mention couple of things. There has been you know who is the winner, who is the loser. maybe we don't know how long this war is going to have to continue. We don't know who is the winner but we know who is the loser if we don't continue this regime they have been supporting terrorist groups for 47 years this is not to ignore you cannot say no they have been supporting financially and powerful they said day one when Hini moved to Iran he said we are going to export our ideology you are not doing with the internal problem in Iran It's ideology whose plan is to take over and we will we see that in New York in France in Paris in Germany they are taking over they're exporting their ideology but who knew who could believe that after Nazi and the power of Nazi government there will be democracy after that you cannot be quiet just because we are escaped we don't know what's happening 47 years they try to negotiate with Iran. They ended up giving money to keep this regime quiet. Just see what they do. They are crazy. They don't care about any political affair. They don't care about what is written in the books. They are going to use the last missiles they have to make cow in the world to bullying the government, to bullying the politicians, to bullying the countries to stay in power. They are not going to give up and it's not going to be good time. We are losing buildings. We are losing life. But we have been losing 47 years many lives. This is not an internal problem about Iranians life. This is an international and the world problem. And you should see that like you should see that we deserve democracy who believe that democracy will come after Germany or so many countries. This is revolution. It has been taking long. Yeah. Right. But you know it's it's revolution that's been taking long. Trump has come out and said we are not putting boots on ground somewhere trying to indicate that the Persian people themselves are going to be the boots on ground eventually. You are saying the call to take to the streets or come out in the open has not yet been made. They are just still saying get ready get ready get ready. It's time for the people to take over. But amidst all of this, oil production has been fully suspended at the Rumala oil field, Iraq's largest and the world's second largest oil field. So there is going to be an energy crisis that's going to be brewing. Tom Cooper, even as the Iranians say they have not attacked Oman at all, but Oman is shutting its operations. Oman is claiming that its sovereignty has been attacked. Qatar has shut down operations. They're not not just LG. all the other production they've stopped including methanil and also ura etc. The biggest issue my opinion is the closure of Qatari LG production because this is hitting lots of countries hard especially considering one does not know how long this might might might last right and unless this is quickly solved we are facing some very hard times including India which is which imports what 20% of its or more of its energy from this in this fashion, right? Even as we speak, the IDF has confirmed that their air force has launched the ninth wave of attacks on Tehran. So, what's going to be unleashed today? We'll have to wait and watch. Even as Iran says Trump has trillions of dollars in debt and he is eyeing Iranian oil. So, is that the crux of it all? Ambassador Rajifra. Well you know as said earlier there is so much of fog in this war that you can't come to single judgment. You have to change your views your assessments your analysis almost minute by minute. on the other hand what we have to see is what is going to pinch us or what is coming at us that is beyond the actors themselves beyond Iran and beyond Israel and the United States because the game now is for example you've listed out that Qatar has shut its gas operations Oman has shut its oil operations Saudi Arabia has done that who does it hurt it does not hurt Iran it does not hurt Israel it does not hurt America. In fact, America profits out of it, right? It hurts countries like India. It hurts countries in Europe. And that is why Europe is cautioning. In fact, some countries in Europe are saying that we are not with USA in its attack on Iran. Spain for example has asked American fighters to get out of Spain. Italian prime minister has spoken against the war. Croatia has said very clearly it is not with war. think the same may be the case with Hungary. So things are in flux but what everyone and here I'm talking about people at large not just in the Arab world or the Persian world but people whether they are in India or in Rome or Paris they feel that this unnecessary war is going to hurt worldwide economy sooner or later and it will pinch us. Well, if it if it pegs back the other economies and helps show up or bring them closer to the Trump mechanics or the American mechanics hedge money because Nathan Yahoo also said this that this puts America once again front and center of the world order. That's what this this war does. He said that earlier in the day that nobody has that clarity or gumption that Trump has. These are the latest pictures that are coming in. this is Iran has targeted Tel Aviv. So these are pictures coming in from Tel Aviv. Major General Ahmed Roar. So clearly missiles are landing, drones are landing, people are taking these pictures. so Israel is facing the brunt. They are able to breach the defense systems. and this is showing massive damage. at least vehicular damage. It's landed in civilian area. That's what we see. Vehicles are on fire. and these pictures are coming women are upset and they are saying they're actually saying bada or curse you that's what they are saying was Israel it was understood that it is war when you have war the other side is also his capabilities and from time to time you have to to take the the price and we are ready to to pay the price up till Now it is not high price. We have around 15 Israelis which had been killed during the three and and around 100 injured all around Israel. It is something that we know how to live with. If we succeed to reduce the capabilities of the Iranians in the future to to launch missiles into Israel and to have the nuclear project, it's worth the price. So, with all due respect, this is price that Israelis know how to take, right? The the share market in Israel is is up, is not down. people understand that at the end of the war we will be in much better position because the weaker Iran is the better for Israel right about about the change we spoke no one can guarantee and what we are doing is to reduce the capabilities of the Iranians as much as we can with the American or the Americans with us we achieve lot up till now and we will continue to bomb to to bomb Iran regime and to try that the regime will be even weaker in the future and as said at the end the decision if if they want to continue with the same regime or not is the decision of the Iranians. Our job is to make the regime very very weak and we are slowly slowly doing it. the Americans destroy big part of the Iranian navy military and probably we will continue and now we are hitting Iranian right command command and control centers basis of the you have you have see even if you're trying to weaken Iran and they have been able to decentralize their command earlier in the day president actually Iran has right now viewers banned all export of food. So they're going to try and store as much of food and grainery that they can. They they have also what they've also done is they have said that we have decentralized each of the provinces have got now got the authority to manage matters on their own. They know how to do it. So they've not just decentralized the command centers of the IRGC but even in terms of governance across the provinces of Iran. They have they have gamed this. They have they've figured this out. interesting development here. Major Arya and Tom Cooper just requesting you to come in on this that Barak Rabid Barak Ravid of Axios. Yes, Major Amitro. You are Major General Amitro. You wanted to say something. Yes, want to say. Yes. Look, if you from the results, how many missiles that they succeeded to launch, how many missiles weeded to intercept, how many salvos they succeeded to make in big numbers. Their system is very weak and becoming weaker all the time. They didn't succeed even to put us in situation in which our system couldn't answer to the to the threat. For that you need big salvos and they didn't succeed to produce even one big salvos in the whole three days of the war. Yeah, you make very fair point and viewers we have to also put out and qualify here on our coverage. There is blanket ban or if may say absolute coverage or zero access to footage from inside Iran. It we're not getting anything from Iran. What's coming is via the Israeli sources and what we're getting is from Israel and some of the other Gulf nations. The pounding that Iran has received, it's all confirmations coming from the IDF. Iran is there no local upload or access of data or access of footage of what's happening in Iran and the kind of pounding that's happening in Iran or Thran is receiving. Even as we speak, Thran and Karaj are seeing fresh wave of attacks from the IDF, the Israeli Air Force which continues to own the Thrani airspace or the Israi airspace. We'll go to go across and understand from Tom in bit. Before that big development this Barakra of Axios and also CNN analyst has come out and said President Trump spoke by phone with Kurdish leaders in Iraq on Sunday to discuss the USIsrael war with Iran and what might come next. Three sources with knowledge of the call have told me and other reporters. What does this mean? Tom Cooper and to our other other guests. So the Kurds being activated by the American. Yeah. The talk is we call this rum rumorous intelligence in in in my myself my circles is that the Americans attempting to organize mix of special forces their own special forces and Kurdish forces which would then enter Iran and this would be American boots on the ground. something like they have organized in 2003 for invasion of Iraq and then advanced deep into into northern Iraq and down to Mosul and air that they are now trying to do something similar in northern Iraq and in eastern Turkey right no because they're saying Trump spoke to leaders from two main Kurdish factions in Iraq think we've just Mr. Major General Amid Ro has just woken up, gotten up and gone. Yeah, thanks for that reacting there. Trump spoke to leaders from two main Kurdish factions in Iraq, Masoud Bzani and Bafel Talibani. day after the war started, two of the sources have said source with knowledge of the call said they were sensitive and declined to give details of their content. What does that mean, Major Arya? Do you agree with Tom? Yeah. Yeah, would agree with Tom to very large extent. Yes, it can be done. whether it'll be, you know, of any consequence inside Iran is something that we can always discuss and debate because all the while they were talking about an internal uprising. Yeah, they were talking about people who would rise one day and like the Iranian analyst here, the lady said that the call has not yet been given. so clearly if you are asking the Iraqis you know you call them Kurds but the fact of the matter is that they are currently stationed in Iraq and how many will they be thousand 10,000 20,000 how many of Iran is huge country Iran is huge country two quick points but 40% of 40% of Persia not doesn't necessarily subscribe to the Ayatollah and his leadership they've been persecuted and among the remaining 60% not necessarily all of them subscribe to the radical views of the Moola regime. So they have they may not have spoken till now. They may come back and come out and speak and perhaps join. So absolutely Anand. So there are two quick points that I'd like to make with your permission. Number one, BBC has quoted Brigadier General Ibraim Jabari who's from the Revolutionary Guards and he says that the price of oil is $81 barrel. what we're waiting for is and what we are trying to do, our end game is to make sure it reaches $200 bank. So, that is one thing that they clearly trying to do. Number two, you know, you said that the authority has now been given to the provinces or it's no longer central. That has happened inside the revolutionary guard also the Islamic revolutionary guard court. It's happened there. And don't be surprised if because you have wiped out their central leadership. The senior leadership is gone. They were killed. How many of these elements are rogue? How many of these elements are acting without central authority? And how many of these elements are fanatics? Because that is what the ayatah actually you know for the past 40 plus years doing there. How many of these people are fanatics who are just doing whatever they want till the time they can sustain it. Right. Ambassador Rajiv Togra is this. Well, let me come back to your Kurdish question. mean firstly think we have to understand where the Kurdish population exists. for long time Kurds in Turkey had revolted against the Turkish imposition. Now they have been pulverized. Similarly, Kurds in Syria in the part closer to Turkey had also not liked Turkeykey's imposition. But then they again have been bombed and pulverized and they have been made to submit. The other major Kurdish population is in North Iraq which is oil producing area and Bzani whom you mentioned has been leader from Saddam days especially post Saddam days. In fact, some of us in the diplomatic service had met him. He continues to be, if the report is correct, that Trump spoke to him, continues to be an important leader. So Trump speaking to him is because Iran has Kurdish population of its own, an area contiguous to Iraq. But that does not mean they are aligned. they also know that they've been made use of whether it was by Saddam, whether it was by Turkey or America itself. So don't know how far America would succeed in this effort but really doubt that they'll be able to make much more in road beyond little. All right, let let's quickly understand here. I'm going to ask you to come and join me. Tom, if you can quickly understand where are the Kurds? where are the Yeah. Draw this for you. No problem. Yeah. Okay. So, and also Thran and Kuraj. Why is it that the Israelis are bombing on the ninth wave also? Thran and Kuraj. Yeah. First the Kurds. First the Kurds. First the Kurds. Yeah. Okay. So, there are Kurds in eastern Turkey. Okay. There are Kurds in Syria. Okay. There are Kurds in northern Iraq. Okay. And that is ironic. Iran is the only country that contains an area named Kurdistan. Kurdistan. Yeah. It is province here in Iran. Of course, there are Kurds up here in Tabris province as well. Okay. So, 1916 British promised the the Kurds their own nation or some say no, they didn't and so on and so on. But the problem is until today the Kurds for are foremost disunited between themselves. Great. They are led by their tribal leaders who usually command organizations that that including designation democratic but have nothing with democ democracy to do right. they were short of gaining autonomy in Turkey but then started quaring between each other which of 47 different languages are they going to use as official Kurdish in Turkey. Yes. Now what's happened lately is that the that the PK this which is terrorist organization and considered as such in United States in all of Europe has given up it its pretentions to control all of northeastern Syria all this this entire area right so they they have fled partially to Iraq okay and it now seems at least according to my contacts that the Americans are gathering them somewhere here in Iraq and trying to figure out how to use them against Iran. The problem is this the the Iranian offshot of PKK, right, is not particularly popular. It's finding no sympathies in Iran at all, right? Because it was it was working with with Saddam Hussein during the war with Iran, right? Let me ask you if the Kurds gets mobilized here on this side and then you have the Balo being mobilized here on this side of from of Iran. if may say and then there is some street mobilization of the local population which are anti- kami the infiltration happens will there be pro possibility of trying to showcase or perhaps portray to the world an uprising on the streets doubt this doub tell you why Iranian Kurds whoever ask in Iran who is well in our positioned always says an uprising against the moola is only going to get serious when there are troubles in Tabris. in Tabres. He is not north not north not north not north not north not north not north not north not north not north not north not north not north not north not north not north not north not north not north not north not western Iran northwestern Iran yes so and until that now there were no there were no there were no troubles in tabres even dur in January when Mosad was so successful in boasting this this protesting increasing the number of protesters on the streets of Iran there were no troubles in tabres there were no troubles in tab so this means that Mosad was not successful with mobilizing Iranian courts okay let's get Roxanna Chagini to quickly react on this that unless there is trouble in Tabres or an uprising in Tabres is there is not going to be an unseating of the moolas from the seat of power. Agree, disagree, Roxanna Chagini. agree and disagree. Azaris and Cabri is very important part of Iran. They played big role in the revolution in 197 and we need their action. We need them to be alive. But good news is Princess Resi is in speak with them. There is so many news that we receive from Iran that maybe is not coming to the agencies or news TV stations and radio. We know that the things are organized in Iran more than other people out of the country know we know that we are 8 10 million Iranian out of the country. We know what we want. We want the democracy and we have vision. There is plan by Prince Resi. Nobody knows. God knows maybe it works maybe it not works but we cannot give up just because we are not sure is very important agree we have bakiari we have baluchi we have court and there are very strong provinces that we need all now Mr. Trump and Isra and prisoners of pli they are having talk with them and they're because everybody wants mas out this is cult and just imagine they have no ally they are attacking all Arab countries they have no religion moral limitation they are attacking Israel they're attacking USA and just imagine if they have nuclear weapon they are going to attack the whole world they are planning for that for 47 years and they are very strong. agree with the gentleman that we don't know because there is no leader anymore but everybody can lead, everybody can decide. We know that there is price to pay and we are willing to pay the price. Iranian people are pay the price. Now it's time the whole world get together and stop this Nazi of 2026. They are Nazi. They are Hitler of the time. They have ideology and they want to take the word. agree with that. We need Tabrizi. We need Azari. That's right. Right. I've got limited time. Can you just delete this and let's just zoom in on Thran and Karaj. Why is it that Thran and Karaj are being attacked right now? what what is the target? Thran and Karaj is not so far away. Karaj is not so far away from Thran, is it? Yeah. There you go. So there is Thran and there is Karaj. Why are they being attacked? So let me mark this on the Yeah. Use use the pink because that's visual. it's it's readable. Blue. Yeah. Yeah. Blue works better. Okay. Let's do it in blue. Okay. So, carage is firstly site of one of the major radar stations of the Iranian air defense. Okay. There current furthermore there is there are several factories of for for manufacturer of ammunition, munition, missiles and so on. So, so can we say here this is radar, radar stations and also munitions? Exactly. Okay. So, that is why Karaj is being attacked by the Israelis essentially. Okay. If the Israelis and the Americans want to approach Tehran in order to bomb Tehran, they have to first neutralize air defenses in Karach. Karaj. So there there is concentration of air defenses in Karach. And why bomb? Well, in order to hit, for example, the regime as you have seen them reporting in their videos today. So that means why is that important? Because when the Israel is come and and launch their their air launched ballistic missiles for example or if they come over Sun and Dodge and then release their missiles like icebreaker and similar 300 km range the guys in carage are shooting this down. Okay, that means only part of Israel in American ammunition is actually reaching. So this is why they are bombing Kaj in order to to neutralize the air defenses in Kaj. Right now what we see viewers is lot of it is concentrated towards the western and central parts western parts of Iran. Central Iran has not yet come into play. But if western Iran is where the command and control systems are and where from the radar systems are and if this is bombed then your natans and some of the other nuclear sites also are in this region. Now if they are able to try and strike and neutralize this force and pummel even the remaining leadership that has stepped in in place of Ayatal Kami then what happens is there vacuum is that time very close when Israel will and Rashar Zapalovi will urge the Iranians to take to the streets and nearly 8 to 10 million Iranians who are spread across the world will also come back to Persia. We'll have to wait and watch. To all our guests, thank you very very much. Have to wind up. We've run out of time. But the coverage continues. Brass Saxs with Zaku Jacob up next. IDF spokesperson Ben Cohen who joins us from the front lines. Really, thank you Ben for speaking with us. What's the situation right now in Israel? What are we expecting by the way of timelines? Is this war going according to plan? So, just returned from the bomb shelter from siren that was just in the area. We started this operation, Operation Roaring Lion, on Saturday morning when the IDF and the US armed forces started joint operation intended to do one thing, and that's eliminate an existential threat. threat that's relevant to the state of Israel, to the United States, and to the world at large, and that's been proved over the last few days. The strike started on Saturday morning when we eliminated more than 40 senior Iranian commanders, including Supreme Leader Kamayi, and they continued over recent days as we struck aerial defense targets, ballistic missile targets, and other Iranian terrorist regime targets in Tehran and in Iran at large. Over the last 36 hours, the Hezbollah terrorist organization, the Iranian terrorist regime's main proxy, made strategic mistake and decided to fire dozens of rockets and UAVs at Israel. And at this time, in congruent to IDF strikes and US armed forces strikes in Iran, the IDF is striking Hezblah terrorist organization commanders and targets in order to eliminate that threat on Israeli civilians. So, of course, we're hearing that the new Iranian defense minister has been eliminated in fresh wave of strikes from Israel. But what we're seeing also is resistance coming from Iran. They seem to have hunkered down. They're sending these drones. Many people are saying that this is strategy where they are trying to exhaust your munitions, the Iron Dome, patience of the Gulf allies. Is this what Iran's game plan is or are they actually not being able to react using some of their hypersonic weapons and other bigger weapons because of compulsion? What's exactly happening from your perspective? How do you read this? So, can tell you that after 2 and 1/2 years of war and after the 7th of October, the IDF has learned that we never underestimate our enemies. We understand the threat that the Iranian terrorist regime poses. And as far as it goes to their strategy, can tell you one thing for certain, and that's that they have strategy to target and hurt civilians specifically. This isn't just message. It's concrete intelligence we have at hand. They're sending those ballistic missiles and their drones to civilian areas, not just in Israel, but in the entire Middle East. Okay. Well, what we're also hearing is that the longer this war continues, and I'm going to ask you little bit about timelines, but the longer this war is continuing, costs are also escalating as we know. Right now, I'm hearing that oil is up by about 8 to 10%, silver is up by 11%, the straight of horm is completely blocked. The new Iranian defense minister of course has been eliminated and just discussed that with you and you're doing fantastic job of trying to eliminate the top leadership but is that really having an effect? Can bombs substitute for ground invasion and affect regime change? So one is that question and the longer we obviously stay in this war there are these knock-on effects. So how do you react to that? So we operate in accordance to clear military objectives and that military objective is to eliminate that existential threat. Those ballistic missiles, the launchers, the infrastructure to eliminate the ability of the Iranian terrorist regime to operate their proxies on our borders as we see with Hezbollah and to eliminate the ability of the Iranian terrorist regime to pose military threat upon Israel and the Middle East. And we will continue to do that for as long as the political echelon asks of us. We have many targets at hand. We continue to strike all the time and we'll do that for as long as need be. But want to make clear our target is to eliminate that military to eliminate that military threat. And the IDF in contrast to the Iranian terror regime strikes military targets. there are some experts who say that your stockpiles will fast deplete and you will then have to sort of recalibrate. Is there danger of that? The IDF has been at war for two and half years on more than seven fronts. We've been prepared to operate on all of those fronts and we've been able to continuously protect ourselves on all of those fronts. We have the capacity and the ability to keep operating for as long as we'll need to even in multiple fronts at once in order to protect Israeli civilians. Can you explain the reason behind crossing the border once again into Lebanon and launching what some people are saying is ground offensive? What's the idea behind that? Of course. So on October 8th when Hezblah made the decision to start firing indiscriminately rockets and UAVs at Israeli civilians, Israel made choice to evacuate tens of thousands of civilians from their homes in northern Israel. After October 7th, we understand that we can't allow for reality where terrorist organizations on our borders move our civilians away. For that reason, overnight, IDF troops situated themselves in an enhanced forward defensive posture. And want to emphasize this isn't ground invasion. We have IDF troops on the northern side of the border with Lebanon in order to protect ourselves from Hezbollah because we understand that there are civilians in the north and we need our IDF troops to be able to protect them from the terrorists who can get in their way. explain to us little bit about the strategy that has been employed because what we're seeing is that there is constant barrage of missiles that are coming out of Iran or drones that are coming out and somehow making it across the straight of Hormuz or the Gulf and landing in the UAE and other geographies. How is that happening if you have aerial domination? So again, the IDF operates in coordination with the United Good evening. You're watching Brass Stacks. I'm Zak Jacob. The war in Iran is continuing for the fourth day today and Iran is expanding the ambit of the war. Now it has attacked the US embassy in Riyad in addition to oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, in Bahrain, in Qatar, in the United Arab Emirates, and even in Oman. Iran's strategy is simple. Expand this war. Bring in as many countries as possible. Drag the entire region into this conflict. Iran has gone. It's gone guerrilla against America's most traditional Gulf Arab allies in the hope that these countries will put pressure on Trump to quickly end this war. America, as result, is now constantly having to shift the goalpost. Initially, it was regime change. Now, it's not regime change. It's dismantling Iran's ballistic missiles and its naval program. Will this war end quickly given that Trump does not want long protracted drawn out war? Or the bigger question is if this war has to end quickly, then what will be the offramp for Iran? Now, here are some defining moments from the conflict that we've seen in the last 24 hours. Today is the fourth day. The action began on Saturday when US and Israeli troops launched Operation Epic Fury. But here are some of the defining moments from the last 24 hours. Two drones, and this happened early this morning. Two drones struck the United States embassy compound in the Saudi Arabian capital, Riyad. There you go. This was the first time that Riyad was struck. Yesterday, an oil facility, an Aramco oil facility was struck. But this was the first time the capital of Saudi Arabia was struck. There was limited fire and minor material damage that happened to the embassy compound. The embassy had to be shut today. President Donald Trump said that the US response to the embassy attack would be clear soon, meaning that there will be some form of retribution. That's not the only attack that happened today in Saudi Arabia. fire broke out at the Fujira oil industry. This was in the UAE because of the falling debris from drone interception that happened again in the United Arab Emirates. They've had their hotels, their apartment buildings, their residential complexes targeted over the last 4 days. Now it was an oil facility there. Also in Iraq in central Erbil there was hotel that came under fire. It was coordinated drone swarm attack launched from Iran onto this hotel in Erbil in Iraq. This hotel apparently was being used as clandistan barak for American troops and for American contractors. So wide range of countries. There was also an attack on an oil field in Bahrain today. So whether it's the UAE, whether it's Saudi Arabia, whether it's up north in Iraq, whole bunch of these Gulf Arab countries, many of whom are American military and treaty allies, have been attacked over the last 4 days. So the question is, what is Iran trying to achieve? Now, we'll get to that in second. But as these missiles continue to fly, the question is, has America miscalculated? Or have they truly justified their actions or has it simply plunged the world into another unpredictable war? First, you had Donald Trump, the president on the night of the campaign on Saturday morning India time. He came out and he spoke to the world. He launched this war by saying that when the American operation, the Israeli operation is finished, you come and you take over your government. He was appealing to the people of Iran clearly in an attempt for them to overthrow their government. The message was clear. America was openly calling for regime change. Then yesterday evening, the defense secretary of the secretary of war, Pete Hexath stepped in signaling slight shift. He said, and quote, "This is not so-called regime change war, but the regime did sure change." Now, suddenly the official line was that this is no longer about overthrowing the government, even as the leadership in Iran was completely decimated. And then subsequently yesterday in congressional hearing, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that this operation was purely military one. He framed it in purely military terms and said that it was to eliminate the threat of Iran's short and long range ballistic missiles and to decapitate the Iranian Navy. No longer about regime change, it was about specific focus on naval capabilities and reducing missile capabilities. The focus is now moved on to neutralizing Iran's capabilities rather than political goals like regime change. So the American message has changed over the last 3 or 4 days from regime change to denial of regime change to defensive mission leaving both allies and the American public scrambling to understand what America's objective is in this operation epic fury. The Department of War launched Operation Epic Fury, the most lethal, most complex, and most precise aerial operation in history. We didn't start this war, but under President Trump, we are finishing it. Their war on Americans has become our retribution against their Ayatollah. If you threaten Americans anywhere on Earth, we will hunt you down without apology and without hesitation, and we will kill you. Understand what the confusion is? Let me explain it to you. The United States is conducting an operation to eliminate the threat of Iran's short-range ballistic missiles and the threat posed by their navy, particularly to naval assets. That is what it is focused on doing right now and it's doing quite successfully. I'll leave it to the Pentagon and the Department of War to discuss the tactics behind that and the progress that's being made. That is the clear objective of this mission. So, the tensions in the Middle East are having spillover effect and it's triggered politics back home as well. The opposition ever since the confirmation of Kabini's killing has been up in arms against the Modile government condemning its silence on this issue. They say this pertains to the sovereignty and territorial integrity of another nation state. In detailed editorial piece penned by Sonia Gandhi, the former Congress president, she has called the silence of the Modi government an abdication of principles. She's called Modi mute spectator amidst this war. She's mentioned that India cannot ignore its traditional foreign policy. The BJP has retorted and sharply countered this narrative reminding the Congress of its silence when Muhammad Gaddafi was killed back in 2011. Again, an American operation, joint allied operation. this was in Libya. Also, the change of guard in Iraq where Saddam Hussein was hunted down after operation desert storm and then hanged to death after sham trial. The BJP in pointed attack has slammed the Congress for what it calls selective memory and selective outrage just for gaining political mileage. So this has now become political back and forth between the Congress and the BJP. The BJP insists diplomacy cannot be for expedient reasons. The Congress too was guilty of keeping quiet when other world leaders were attacked in such unilateral operations. Let's play out some of the political reactions. The government of India should decide on which side they stand. We had the spine the then prime minister whether it is Dr. Manmahan Singh or whether it was Shimati Indra Gandhi They went they addressed the American press in front of their president and said that America was doing wrong. Where is that spine now? Where is the prime minister? Why is he so silent? Mr. Manmmoan Singh had the courage and had the weight to speak in the US that the US invasion of Iraq is wrong. Foreign policy is in shambles. They don't know how to conduct foreign policy and the prime minister thinks hugging foreign diplomats is foreign policy. All right. want to first go across for political face off on this. RP Singh is national spokesperson of the BJP. Dr. Shama Mohammed the national spokesperson of the Congress party. Navs suri is former Indian high commissioner to Egypt and the United Arab Emirates. Wawad is senior journalist and Middle East expert. And we'll also be joined by Riven Duza who's the managing editor of the Times Kuwait. Of course, lot of Indian experts there having difficult time. But let me start with the political spokespersons first. RP Singh. So Sonia Gandhi has written this opinion piece. She has said that this is not silence. This is abdication. and that she's also pointed to the fact that just 48 hours after Prime Minister Modi left Israel, the Israelis and the Americans have done this joint strike and killed Ayatah Ali Hamini and not word of condemnation from the Indian government. Please respond. Well, the prime minister has consistently called for restrained dialogue and diplomacy and then that's very clear that we are talking about the dialogue between Iran and between the America and Israel. So what else? But problem is that they see the foreign policy through the spectacles of the World Bank politics here. mean I'm very sorry to say that that they can't go beyond this. And I'll just play small video probably you can hear this. This is the reason that they Congress Congressman that's the that's the real reason mean mean they they can't think beyond the local politics and local vote bank politics here and then for that regard they will go to any extent and let me remind them they voted they voted against Iran on behalf of America in 2005 2006 2009 when it was IEA resolution and not only that mean remember they have launched spy satellite mean just on record again the spy satellite here it is will show you the clipping here. India launches launches it right satellite to spy Iran. this was there and this checked thrice with various other sources and this is true that in 2008 they did that. So it is their suitability and again prime minister of the country is very clear that peace should be there and then negotiation should happen. Okay. Let me ask Dr. Sha Mhammed you know diplomacy can cannot be for politically expedient reasons. Even when the UPA was in power, there were killings of world leaders that happened and the UPA did not say word. Mo Gaddafi, longtime leader of Libya, was killed. UPA did not say word. Saddam Hussein, longtime leader of Iraq, was killed. UPA did not say word. So why are you holding Mr. Modi and his government to different standard? Zaka, when the war on Iraq happened, we did not stand with it. Let's understand during that time there was the story about weapons of mass destruction. It was going through the congress in America to the United Nations. remember the presentations and then after two years of deliberation 63 countries stood with America and they invaded Iraq. Even then we were against it. When it came to Libya also we have said that it is not right. We were we were not in agreement. We said there should be ceasefire immediately. Now let's understand what is happening here. Here in operation fury there is nothing. They they just do it all of second. There is never been discussion in the congress in America. There was no involvement of the United Nations. The Pentagon has briefed the congressmen that saying that there is no intelligence which says that there is imminent threat by the Iranians to the Americans. Also let's understand at other the other side the Omani foreign minister was negotiating with the Iranians and the Iranians clearly said that they will not keep any of the stockpiles of the enriched uranium and they will not make nuclear bomb. So these things were going side by side and all of sudden they attack they kill the ayurella. It's not that am fan of the eye of Thurala or any of it but was was coming to exactly that. Why are you seemingly def defending man who was the most brutal dictator that the world has seen? That is why ESPECIALLY YOU BEING WOMAN ESPECIALLY YOU BEING THE WOMAN what you did with the woman. Can just speak? did not interrupt you Mr. RP and RPC. Please give that respect. Sorry. Yeah. Thank you very much. What I'm trying to say, Zaka, is that we saw Maduro being kidnapped from Venezuela to America. He's in jail. What is happening in the world, you have somebody, it's sovereign nation. You go and just kill. It's an unprovoked attack. It doesn't matter who it is. Tomorrow we might have somebody or for that matter any other country. You can't go in for an unprovoked attack without any discussion with your own Congress. That is the issue here. There is an unprovoked attack and let's understand along with it WHAT IS THE DAMAGE 136 young children killed and now many other civilians and on the other side Israel is attacking Lebanon Beirut and 56 people killed there. mean what is going on here? Dr. Sham Mohammed the same regime of the Ayatollah crushed to death 6,800 people according to THE HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH you know brutally crushed Iranians. Why don't you SPEAK FOR THEM? WHY CAN'T ASK ONE THING? CAN'T WE then go and ATTACK TOMORROW PAKISTAN? DO NOT LIKE THE REGIME THERE. WANT WANT MONEY OUT. LET'S GO AND ATTACK PAKISTAN. THAT'S GOING TO BE THE FUTURE, ISN'T IT? SO, MAY ASK you question? One second before get get this graphic on. Tomorrow, if the Americans launch an operation, once again, if they launch an operation against Asimir and and decapitate the Pakistani leadership, are you saying the Congress party will not welcome it? What I'm trying to say is that of course we are against Pakistan but there should be world order Zaka you can't just go and keep attacking people tomorrow it could BE THE CHINESE ATTACKING US WHAT THAT could also happen isn't it the Chinese can tell Americans you attacked you know Iran we want to finish off India's head or whatever it can be that RP saying please respond and I'll go to this graphic about why India is also willy-nilly player in this conflict but RP be saying this is about territorial integrity. This is about sovereignty of country. Whether you like it or not, the Ayatollah was was was complete you know brutal dictator. But the fact is that he was chosen by the people of Iran and that you know no other third country can come and just eliminate and think that there is no consequence to it. Well, Zaka, I'm sorry. Chosen. You said you had chosen. No, chosen as in the the people people chose the Islamic revolution and he happened to be the leader of the Islamic revolution. 50% of the population is against him. The womens are against him and then the the way he has treated the woman there. mean Masa mean he the way she was killed and then many more have pictures I'll show you the pictures also how women are being treated there and then THEY ALL CELEBRATING THERE WHAT ABOUT TALIBAN? WHAT ABOUT TALIBAN? WHAT ABOUT TALIBAN? TELL ME WHY DID WE WELCOME THE TALIBAN IN INDIA? AGREE WITH YOU. YOU HAVE WELCOMED THE TALIBAN in India. You send them to Diaban. You put the red carpet for them. GO AND ATTACK AFGHANISTAN. WOMEN ARE WOMEN CAN'T GO TO SCHOOL THERE. WOMEN CANNOT GO TO HOSPITALS THERE. ask you Singh why don't we attack them Afghanistan in the same breath? Tell me that. And why one second? Let let him Yeah, let him respond. Yeah. Okay. No, let him respond. Let him respond. Yeah. Prime Minister Rammon Singh, the people of India deeply love you, George Bush. RESPOND TO WHAT ASKED YOU about the Taliban. Ma'am, one second. Let him let him let him please respond. see this is not fair. respect you, ma'am. Please. And treat you as one of very sensible spokesman of the Congress party. Please. mean, thank you very much. So, what exactly happened? mean and he was appreciating he was virtually giving hugs or giving his best to prime minister sorry President George Bush after the Iraq what happened in Iraq. So it is all duplicacy of the Congress party is basically suitability of the suitability because of gold bank and nothing more than as for Afghanistan please what Afghanistan is doing to Pakistan is good enough. Okay. Now one second the why the reason why and let I'll bring in Abd Suri and Dr. Wawad into this. The reason why India is willy-nilly party to this conflict or at least is certainly affected by this conflict is because Iran has now threatened to shut down the straight of Hormuz. Now 20% of all of the world's oil supplies pass through the straight of Hormuz and any vessel the Iranians have claimed that any vessel that attempts to pass will be targeted and will be set on fire. Already think about half dozen oil tankers have been set on fire since this war began on Saturday morning. So why is this significant for India? Almost half of all of India's oil imports pass through the strategic straight of Hormos. India's crude oil import the dependence of India's crude oil import is above 85% in fact 88% of all of India's crude is imported. bulk of it comes from the Gulf countries from the UAE from Iraq from Saudi Arabia. Oil flows can be rerouted but it's going to be more expensive. There's going to be higher freight costs. There's going to be higher manpower costs. There's going to be sea charges. All kinds of costs are going to going to get added to this. LPG happens to be India's biggest vulnerability as far as the straight of hormones and its disruption is concerned because 80 to 85% of India's LPG demand comes through the straight of hormones which is bulk bulk imported from countries in the Middle East. majority of LPG cargo is sourced via the straight of Hormos. There's no strategic LPG reserves unlike let's say crude where we have thin structural buffer. So India has anywhere between six to eight weeks of structural buffer as far as crude oil is concerned. But LPG there is no buffer. Around 60% of India's LNG liqufied natural gas imports transit through the straight of Hormus. Again, there is limited flexibility to replace LPG and LNG supplies quickly if the Iranians completely shut off and cut off this trade of hormones. So that's one part of it, the oil trade. There's remittances as well. Remember, India imports 88% of its crude oil and it's highly sensitive to any disruptions that happen in West Asia. Back in February, crude oil imports were the second highest ever at 5.22 22 million barrels per day about 2 and a.5 million barrels per day are imported by India via the straight of Hormos. 50% dependency on the straight of Homos 10 million almost 1 cr Indians expats live and work in the Gulf countries the GCC countries Saudi Arabia Oman Bahrain Kuwait they are employed in various sectors construction hospitality healthcare services this is significant number of students as well who are there in the UAE in Saudi Arabia there about 10,000 in Iran forget about how many there are inqatar in Kuwait etc There's also significant trade between India and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries. 2024 2025 trade with the GCC stood at 178 billion. India also has an FDA with the UAE and comprehensive economic partnership agreement with Oman. India's remittances which were $55 billion in 201011 has gone up to $118 billion in 2324. bulk of it comes from the Gulf countries and these disruptions could impact household incomes. It could impact foreign exchange. India's stock market has reacted as well. The Sensex slumped over a,000 points. The nifty went below 24700. market capitalization that's been lost 6 12 lakh crore rupees in just one single day. The rupee also fell past the 91 rupees to dollar mark as well. want to bring in Nabd Suri into this conversation. Mr. Suri, you know the the the problem is that you know our oil dependencies, our remittance and expat dependencies all of this whether India likes it or not, India has huge skin in this game and the contention being made by the opposition parties is because India is such an important stakeholder. The prime minister should have said something or the minister of external affairs should have said something. They should have condemned the killing of sitting spiritual political religious head of of another sovereign country and by not saying anything it's abdication. How would you see it? Is it abdication or is it good diplomacy? Personally, think Zaka we might have spoken behind the scenes and not made public statements. think for the government it's tight rope to balance different and sometimes mutually contradictory interests. one is our defense relationship with Israel. and the second is the interests that we have in the Gulf and our long-standing relationship with Iran. but do think that yes, we could have found ways to express our unhappiness about the unilateral strikes. English language and diplomacy gives us enough ways to express it and to maintain that that balance that we traditionally have done. and you know it is serious situation for us. We have as you outlined very very vital interests. You've mentioned number of them. would just add one more which is even more than the rising crude oil prices is the damage to the kqatar LG facilities and that's going to impact our fertilizer industry as well because that uses LNG as feed stock and think the longer the straight offers stays closed the greater the impact will be on lot of so what are the Iranians trying to do are they trying to you know go guerrilla on all these Gulf countries draw them into this conflict and get them to put pressure on Trump. What are they what it seems like they're taking the whole house down with them? Yeah. mean, if you are in battle for survival and as as has been said before, have no track with the Kamei regime and their repressive practices. But if you are in their position and twice in the middle of ne negotiations you've been bombed. you will look at further negotiations with pinch of salt and secondly you will try to bring the house down because you do want to inflict maximum pain maximum economic damage so that the next round of negotiations as and when it happens is on terms that you can engineer more favorably to yourself. And think what it's going to come down to is the Iranians capacity to absorb more pain, more damage and in the meantime also hit out at countries in the region and economic interest in the region and it's going to have really damaging effect on the global economy and on India's economic interest if this war continues beyond the next week or so. Okay. Can can go back to the map and and I'll show you the energy interests that Iran has struck? want to go back to the map. The energy facilities across the Gulf. Remember the Gulf countries thrive on energy facilities. And look at look at the number of oil fields, oil refineries that the Iranians have struck just in the last 24 to 48 hours. yesterday they struck at the Rastonura oil refinery. That's Aramco's oil refinery. It's one of the biggest in the world. Certainly the biggest in that region that had to be shut down for period of time. So that's one big oil refinery that they struck yesterday in Saudi Arabia. Today the Raslafan drilling hub in Qatar again big oil field that that has been hit badly as well. Then you had here in the east two oil facilities one Fujayra in the United Arab Emirates that's been hit as well and the Dukum port oil tankers that were off the Dukum port in Oman. And remember Oman was mediator. Oman mediated three rounds of talks between the Americans and the Iranians including two in Geneva just few days before these attacks were launched. and the Dukum port. Fuel tankers of that port were targeted as well. So what is Iran trying to do? Of course, all of this and plus they're also trying to block the straight of Hormuz. Now if you look at the places inside Iran that have been hit by the Americans and the Israelis in the last 24 hours, they've hit the breeze in the north that's almost bordering Azarbaijan. They've also hit Kerman Sha, Ilam, Shiraz, Minab, and Thran. In the last 3 days, over thousand targets have been hit inside Iran. Now, the contention by the Americans and the Israelis are many of these are security, military or intelligence facilities, sometimes even ballistic missile facilities. They've also hit the Isvahan nuclear center again today. So, the point is that the Israelis and Americans are just getting started. They are not letting up. And want to go back to Dr. while hour on this in terms of you know what is what are both sides trying to achieve first tell me what the Iranians are trying to achieve by attacking these oil facilities that's in the last 24 hours earlier they were attacking you know the Palm Jayra they were attacking the Burj Alarab hotel the Dubai international airport what are they trying to do well Zaka first of all this is illegitimate war imposed on the Iranian by the Americans and the Israelis and it is against any international law or UN charter. We have to agree on that first of all. Second, Iranian have already sent message to all the Arab countries. The GCC hosting the American military bases that any attack by the American these are going to be legitimate target for them. Then they have started the war and they attacked nine countries in fact so far including the GCC, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon as well. So therefore there is movement of the Iranian on those direction because Iran knows that if this war only will be limited to its own territories it's going to be devastating for Iran. So dragging all the region into original war is what actually achieved two objective even for the United States. United States wanted to ensure that it is global power war that they can can catch the straight of Hormus, the Red Seas and the Mediterranean and that can cause disturbance of the global trade and oil. That's one of the issues the American are after. The second one is the regional war and you know it very well that is the hijgemony Israel militarily, politically and economically to remain in this part of the world. But the Iranians start attacking places where they think that the Marines are hiding. Is it in hotels? It's in mall. It's in the It's in the airport. So, but that does not give the Iranian the clean chit to attack these bases. Definitely because the Arab countries and the GCC in particular condemned the Iranian act. And now if you close the straight of Hormuz, you are the first stakeholder to suffer on this. As you said in your presentation, it is it is in the food security, oil security and diaspora. So who was suffering at this point? It is all the Asian country. So the best job for all the Arab for the Arabs and India and the rest of the world is to put an end to this hostility and end this war madness of this war. Okay, I'll come I'll come to how this may end in second. want also want to bring in Raven Duza who's the managing editor of the Times Kuwait and lot of Indian expats are stuck in the Gulf almost 1 cr of them across these nine or 10 different countries. Did the Gulf countries and many of whom have been attacked Dr. Howard saying nine of them have been attacked. This is an onslaught from Iran whether it's on oil facilities, hotels, on tourist facilities, etc. How how have they reacted? Were they caught off guard that they are dragged into this war and now it's become regional conflict? to be honest, don't think they expected this retaliation from the Iranians because this is the second time that the Israelis and have attacked Iran and the first time they just did small face saving measure where they attacked Qatar and they had informed them earlier but this time it's much more serious. Yes, nobody was prepared even though the Iranians promised or vowed to retaliate if Israel and America attacked. Okay, we didn't even see the American attack. even though we we expected it, we didn't see it coming so soon. it came with volume of missiles and air attack and the Iranians did what they did. having said that you know they killed their supreme leader Kahani and think it was also partly responsible for the retaliation or the response that they were but Mr. you know, how how do you think these countries are now going to respond? Because, you know, they they've had this American security umbrella or protective cover for all of these years. Now, that security umbrella has been blown apart. mean, all of these countries have been attacked. So, how are they expected to to respond to this? Do they have the capability to retaliate or will they still go back to America to help them retaliate? They will retaliate. This this talk yes quite quite relevant but this talk they will retaliate and then they will be dragged into govern. So the job is already being done by the Americans and the Israelis and of course ideally they would love to retaliate. They would love the Gulf nations to to be dragged into the war and create chaos. But think good sense is prevailing for now because retaliation by the Arab Gulf states is going to create much larger war and danger. So think they are at this point of time exercising caution and waiting and watching. And by the way so they are they are exercising caution. They don't want to get caught in this whole spiral. So, how will this war likely now play out over the next few days? I'll get Suri and then Dr. Aad on this. Iran wants to maximize this war. It wants to spread this war. It wants to drag everybody in the Americans. Frankly, for Donald Trump, think he's already got his biggest prize catch, which is Ayatah Ali Hamini. He has very little propensity for long drawn out wars. The Israelis would like to go on for bit more. How does this play out over the next week, 10 days, 2 weeks? Nab Suri, first you know when you start war without clearly defined objectives, then you end up in this kind of situation where the exit route is not clear. You start by saying that it's about Iran's nuclear program, then you extend it to its missile program, then you go beyond and say it's about regime change. And think what you're beginning to see is the first signs of divergence between the Israeli objectives. mean, Prime Minister Netanyahu has gone on record to say that this is what he wanted for the last 40 years, the destruction of the Iranian regime. that may not be the Americans object objective. and and for the Americans, think the threshold of taking pain and casualties is far lower, particularly in year with midterm elections coming up than than for the Israelis. So you're going to see that con that divergence of of objectives and and am afraid that there isn't clear exit route at this point of time unless the Americans were to unilaterally say that we've achieved our objective of killing Kani and that's the end of it. Dr. Abad, I'll give you the final word in minute. yesterday President Trump was asked you know how long does he envision this operation? He said about 4 weeks. Do you think this will last beyond 4 weeks? Absolutely it will go beyond four weeks. When you're targeting an innocent supreme leaders of religious leader of country without no reason that's not the end of the war by the way you saw the people pouring in the street showing sympathy for him and that's clear indication that still he had popularity among the Iran the Iranian so therefore you cannot kill person and you say you are going to end this war the war will not end Iranian have put the three leaders alternative to every leader have been killed by the Israeli and the American and this war will drag on for longer period and the more coffins goes to the United States the faster this war will stop. Okay, we'll leave it at that. Dr. Aad, Nabd Suri, Dr. Sham Mohammed, RP Singh and Mr. Riven Duza, thank you very much for joining us. We'll see how this plays out. But one direction in which it's moving is Iran clearly wants to expand this throughout the entire region. Like said, it's gone guerilla over the entire Gulf countries. It wants to drag the entire house down. America wants the exact opposite, not least because America has been the security guaranter for many of these Gulf Arab countries. Iran has dramatically widened its retaliation against American interests across the Gulf, even as tensions between Iran and the United States escalates into broader regional confrontation. With Donald Trump warning that mo the most intense face of American air strikes is still yet to come. The conflict has spilled beyond Israel and beyond Iran. US embassies and military bases have been attacked. Global oil supplies have been threatened. Gulf Arab countries are facing their biggest security nightmare in decades. As missile barges, drone attacks, and air strikes ripple across the region, fears are mounting that this crisis could spiral into much more prolonged and far more dangerous Middle East war. dig little deeper. Iran broadened its retaliatory attacks on American targets in the Gulf. Even as US President Donald Trump and his administration have been signaling that the USIsraeli strikes on Iran could intensify. Trump has even threatened that the biggest wave of attacks is yet to come. The fighting expanded into many Gulf Arab countries, most prominently into Lebanon, where the Iranian allied terror proxy Hezbollah fired rockets into Israel. This in turn prompted Israel to bombard Hezbollah strongholds outside Beirut. Early Tuesday, the Israeli military said it was attacking again in Iran and in Lebanon, targeting Hezbollah command centers and weapon storage facilities. Around the same time, the United Arab Emirates and their defense ministry put out press release saying that their air defenses were dealing with barrage of ballistic missiles from Iran. And within hours, the Saudi Defense Ministry said that the American embassy in Riyad had been attacked by two drones. They said it resulted in limited fire and minor damage. But the embassy was closed Tuesday. No casualties were reported, but this is the biggest attack on an American facility in the Middle East since this war began. In Washington, President Trump offered an open-ended time frame for the US military campaign. He said it could last up to 4 weeks, if not longer. He also seemed to change the goalpost from regime change to hitting Iran's ballistic missiles program to downing Iran's naval fleet. We will easily prevail. We're already substantially ahead of our time projections, but whatever the time is, it's okay. Whatever it takes, we will always and we have from right from the beginning beginning we projected four to five weeks but we have capability to go far longer than that. We'll do it. Later on in the day on Capitol Hill, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters that the hardest hits are yet to come from the US military. The Pentagon confirmed that the number of American service personnel killed in the Iranian strikes had now risen to six and three American fighter jets were shot down by Kuwaiti air defenses in what the US military called apparent friendly fire. All six crew members from these F-15s ejected safely and they were recovered. Early in the morning, the United States embassy in Riyad in Saudi Arabia said that it was attacked by two drones according to initial estimates from the Saudi Ministry of Defense. The ministry said that there was limited fire and minor damage to the building. However, the embassy did warn people to avoid the location, saying there had been an attack on the facility. They also put out security alert and shelter in place notification, not just for Riyad, but also for Jedha and Dahran. These are cities in Saudi Arabia which have massive US missions. The embassy's announcement came even as countries across the Middle East, some of which host American military bases, were facing Iran's revenge. Riyad has so far been spared of the spate of attacks that had rocked other Gulf cities, including Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and Manama, the capital of Bahrain. Iran has fired hundreds of missiles and drones at these Gulf states in retaliation after the barrage of American and Israeli strikes over the past 3 days. The majority of Iranian attacks were intercepted according to governments in the Gulf countries. But from Bahrain to Oman to Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, all Gulf countries, which are under an American security umbrella, have been hit hard. At least four people were killed and more than 100 others injured in these attacks across the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and Oman. While the casualty count may not be much, the safe haven image of these countries has been completely blown to smitherines. Iran has launched at least 300 missiles and 800 drones across the Persian Gulf, which is home to several American military bases. The United States Central Commander Sentcom said that Iran had attacked more than dozen locations in the region, including civilian centers like airports, hotels, and residential areas. Part of the aim of Iran was to draw in America's Gulf Arab allies into wider regional conflict. Thran is also hoping that these countries will put pressure on Trump to scale down this war quickly. That is what they were trying to do is put themselves in place of immunity where the damage they could inflict on the region would be so high that no one can do anything about their nuclear program or their nuclear ambitions. Early on Tuesday, the United Arab Emirates and their Ministry of Defense put out on social media that the Emirates air defenses were dealing with barrage of ballistic missiles coming in from Iran. Similarly, the defense ministry in Bahrain too said its air defense systems had successfully destroyed and downed about 70 missiles and more than 75 drones from Iran since this conflict began. But the Emirates in particular had started to resume flights on limited basis. More than thousand flights had been cancelled in Dubai alone over the last 3 days. But Iranian leaders remain defiant. The country's top security official, Ali Larijani, denied reports that Iran's new leaders were seeking to negotiate with America. He chastised Donald Trump for delusional fantasies and for plunging the Middle East into chaos. Iran, he said, is ready for long war. America, on the other hand, has put 4-week deadline. That's President Trump's words. senior Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps official also warned that not single drop of oil would pass through the straight of Hormus, which is passageway for about 1/if of the world's oil supply. An adviser to the Revolutionary Guards commander said on Iranian state TV that Iran would set on fire any ship that's trying to transit through the Straight of Hormuz. Traffic has already slowed down through trickle. The revolutionary guards have been warning ships away from the straits over the last few days, but Iran had not directly attacked any of these tankers. More than half dozen ships were already set on fire. This war is far from getting over anytime soon. Iran will have to be given an off-ramp quickly, or America will also have to find pliable successor to the Supreme Leader Hami. Either option is not going to be easy to execute. So the big question is how will this war in the Gulf end? It's no longer just America and Israel on the one side and Iran on the other. The entire Middle East. America's Gulf Arab allies from Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Oman have all been dragged into this wider regional conflict. How may this possibly move towards some kind of cessation or culmination? I'm now joined by very special guest. Professor Jeffrey Saxs is leading economist with the Columbia University. Thank you very much, professor, for speaking with us. first of all, what is your assessment of what has happened over these last 3 days? This joint American Israeli air strikes on Iran, the taking out of Ayat Ali Hamini, the Supreme Leader of Iran. What do you make of what's happened over these last three days? This is reckless illegal and very dangerous action. this is blatant violation of the UN charter. and it is leading to regional war. Obviously it has to stop. the way for this fighting to end is for the United States and Israel to leave because they started this. This is why it happened. There was no motivation for it other than basically the hegemonic aspirations of Israel to control the Middle East and the United States to control the world. And other than that, there was no imminent threat. There was no reason for this. Killing the religious leader as well as the head of state of Iran was poisonous action. the US and Israel made terrible mistake and they have to stop the fighting. The President Trump's motivations, I'll get to Israel in one second, but President Trump's motivations in this war was to eliminate Ayatollah Ali Hamini, the supreme leader of Iran. He's done that. He's achieved that already within the first 24 hours of this war. Why is he still continuing this war? Then, how can president of the United States have as goal the murder of the head of state of another country? It's barbaric. if that's his goal, it's barbaric, it's illegal, it's vulgar, it's dangerous. Having said that, the United States should stop any further attacks and just leave. Do you believe that Trump really cares about regime change? mean, look at what he did in Venezuela. He there was no regime change. He replaced one man with woman. He can do the same thing in Iran. He can't do anything other than commit murder or kidnap presidents. So everything is delusional. You are correct though. He can just go home. which he should do. Leave the rest of us in peace. This is move completely against the interests of the United States of America and against the opinion of the American people who are 3 to1 that is 75% to 25% against this action. So why do you think he's continuing it particularly for president who came to office saying he's not going to you know launch these endless wars in the Middle East or anywhere else in the world. His MAGA base doesn't approve of it. Why is he still stuck in this? think that there are two reasons. One, the US deep state which is led by the CIA has global hegemonic aspirations. Those continue and the CIA is the main driver of American foreign policy, not the president of the United States. The second reason is Israel. Israel is tightly connected with the CIA through Mossad. This is longstanding plan. Netanyahu said yesterday, this is the culmination of his 40 years dream. This isn't something that just came up last week because negotiations bogged down. this is something that Israel has been calling for for decades. Israel has very unusual strangle hold on the United States including the CIA which is in very close partnership with Mossad. So this is deep state operation. it is also part of broader USIsraeli hegemonic approach. it's not disconnected from what happened in Venezuela because that's also part of the idea. The US wants to control the Americas. It wants to control the Middle East. It wants to have the lever over oil. It wants to tell India whether to get oil or not to get oil and at what price to get oil and at what price not to get oil and whether to trade with Russia. Now it wants to say whether to trade with Iran. who's going to get control. So this is matter of control. It's absolutely reckless and completely in violation of every international standard. The the prime minister of India was there in Israel 2 days before Israel and America launched this operation against Iran and many are saying that that's not coincidence. What do you make of that? hope it is coincidence. this action by Israel is criminal action in my view and very dangerous one and hope that India as president of the bricks this year upholds the UN charter. the United States and Israel have blatantly, vulgarly and dangerously threatened the UN charter with this action. the UN charter article 2 paragraph 4 says that no nation may threaten the use of force or use force against another sovereign state. That's straightforward. So this is absolutely vulgar and dangerous violation and Netanyahu explained it as said clearly. He's been dreaming of this for decades. I've been making that very point for years and years and years. And then Netanyahu came out and confirmed it. This is his lifelong ambition to bring the United States into civilizational war with Iran. How reckless is that? Iran has responded by targeting some of these Gulf Arab allies of the United States, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait. why do you think they're doing that? And how may the US choose to now respond to this? Well, they're not targeting those countries. They're targeting the US military bases in those countries. This is difference. These countries and many others are essentially occupied by the United States. when you have US military base, you're occupied by the United States. You lose your freedom. you lose your maneuver. You have the CIA hosted in your own country. You're always looking over your own shoulder. What Iran is doing is attacking network of US military bases along the Persian Gulf. America was the main security guaranter for all of these countries, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar. that security guarantee seems bit weak now in the la given what's happened in the last few days. often quote famous adage of Henry Kissinger who said that to be an enemy of the United States is dangerous but to be friend is fatal. Countries that rely on the US security guarantee go under usually by the United States itself which turns on you. But to be friend of the United States is absolutely to put yourself in peril. Look at Ukraine. The United States said we have your back. You will join NATO. And Ukraine is being destroyed because it regime came to power that said we'll go with the US rather than neutrality and the consequences are devastating for these Gulf states. It's big mistake that they think that their security comes from the United States, their insecurity comes from the United States. So finally, Professor Saxs, how do you see this war ending? how do you see this war ending and by when do you see this war ending? know how it can end, which is that the United States and Israel should go back to their own homes and stop bothering other people and the war would end. Iran would stop fighting and the war would end. That's how it should end. How it will end, cannot say obviously because we're led by irrational and dangerous people in the United States and Israel. so they have lusted for this war against their own publics, against all logic, against all strategic considerations and these are very dangerous people and in the United States we do not have constitutional order. We do not have Congress that plays role. This is basically an executive branch decisionmaking by the CIA and by the White House. So, it's very dangerous and very unpredictable. This makes no sense this war. It's dangerous for everybody. It's dangerous for India. It's dangerous for China. It's dangerous for the bricks. It's dangerous for Europe. It's dangerous for the Middle East. It's dangerous for the United States. It was war of choice that never should have happened. All right, Professor Jeffrey Saxs from the Columbia University, thank you very much for joining us here on CNN. Good to be with you. Thank you. Thank you. Complete devastation. direct hit by missile. Picture is that the US is not able to defend as drone massive the number of ballistic missile. Where is it that Iran is actually placing its resources right now? sanage and this is now what they are doing. Since yesterday they are conducting more or less organized US bases have been targeted. Drone has been shot down now. Iran can then threaten or attack enemy nationals. massive missile and drone attack over here. Iran now has been completely in some ways dominated with ballistic missile attack. It means the the Kuwaiti air defense was under big strain. IDF spokesperson Ben Cohen who joins us from the front lines. Really, thank you Ben for speaking with us. What's the situation right now in Israel? What are we expecting by the way of timelines? Is this war going according to plan? So, just returned from the bomb shelter from siren that was just in the area. We started this operation, Operation Roaring Lion, on Saturday morning when the IDF and the US armed forces started joint operation intended to do one thing, and that's eliminate an existential threat. threat that's relevant to the state of Israel, to the United States, and to the world at large, and that's been proved over the last few days. The strike started on Saturday morning when we eliminated more than 40 senior Iranian commanders, including Supreme Leader Kamayi, and they continued over recent days as we struck aerial defense targets, ballistic missile targets, and other Iranian terrorist regime targets in Tehran and in Iran at large. Over the last 36 hours, the Hezbollah terrorist organization, the Iranian terrorist regime's main proxy, made strategic mistake and decided to fire dozens of rockets and UAVs at Israel. And at this time, in congruent to IDF strikes and US armed forces strikes in Iran, the IDF is striking Hezblah terrorist organization commanders and targets in order to eliminate that threat on Israeli civilians. So, of course, we're hearing that the new Iranian defense minister has been eliminated in fresh wave of strikes from Israel. But what we're seeing also is resistance coming from Iran. They seem to have hunkered down. They're sending these drones. Many people are saying that this is strategy where they are trying to exhaust your munitions, the Iron Dome, patience of the Gulf allies. Is this what Iran's game plan is? Or are they actually not being able to react using some of their hypersonic weapons and other bigger weapons because of compulsion? What's exactly happening from your perspective? How do you read this? So, can tell you that after 2 and 1/2 years of war and after the 7th of October, the IDF has learned that we never underestimate our enemies. We understand the threat that the Iranian terrorist regime poses. And as far as it goes to their strategy, can tell you one thing for certain, and that's that they have strategy to target and hurt civilians specifically. This isn't just message. It's concrete intelligence we have at hand. They're sending those ballistic missiles and their drones to civilian areas, not just in Israel, but in the entire Middle East. Okay. Well, what we're also hearing is that the longer this war continues, and I'm going to ask you little bit about timelines, but the longer this war is continuing, costs are also escalating as we know. Right now, I'm hearing that oil is up by about 8 to 10%, silver is up by 11%, the straight of horm is completely blocked. The new Iranian defense minister of course has been eliminated and just discussed that with you and you're doing fantastic job of trying to eliminate the top leadership, but is that really having an effect? Can bombs substitute for ground invasion and affect regime change? So one is that question and the longer we obviously stay in this war, there are these knock-on effects. So how do you react to that? So we operate in accordance to clear military objectives and that military objective is to eliminate that existential threat. Those ballistic missiles, the launchers, the infrastructure to eliminate the ability of the Iranian terrorist regime to operate their proxies on our borders as we see with Hezbollah and to eliminate the ability of the Iranian terrorist regime to pose military threat upon Israel and the Middle East. And we will continue to do that for as long as the political echelon asks of us. We have many targets at hand. We continue to strike all the time and we'll do that for as long as need be. But want to make clear our target is to eliminate that military to eliminate that military threat. And the IDF in contrast to the Iranian terror regime strikes military targets. there are some experts who say that your stockpiles will fast deplete and you will then have to sort of recalibrate. Is there danger of that? The IDF has been at war for two and half years on more than seven fronts. We've been prepared to operate on all of those fronts and we've been able to continuously protect ourselves on all of those fronts. We have the capacity and the ability to keep operating for as long as we'll need to even in multiple fronts at once in order to protect Israeli civilians. Can you explain the reason behind crossing the border once again into Lebanon and launching what some people are saying is ground offensive? What's the idea behind that? Of course. So on October 8th when Hezbollah made the decision to start firing indiscriminately rockets and UAVs at Israeli civilians, Israel made choice to evacuate tens of thousands of civilians from their homes in northern Israel. After October 7th, we understand that we can't allow for reality where terrorist organizations on our borders move our civilians away. For that reason, overnight, IDF troops situated themselves in an enhanced forward defensive posture. And want to emphasize this isn't ground invasion. We have IDF troops on the northern side of the border with Lebanon in order to protect ourselves from Hezbollah because we understand that there are civilians in the north and we need our IDF troops to be able to protect them from the terrorists who can get in their way. explain to us little bit about the strategy that has been employed because what we're seeing is that there is constant barrage of missiles that are coming out of Iran or drones that are coming out and somehow making it across the straight of Hormuz or the Gulf and landing in the UAE and other geographies. How is that happening if you have aerial domination? So again, the IDF operates in coordination with the United States armed forces and other allies in order to do aerial defense as effectively as possible. The Iranian terrorist regime has very clearly proved over recent days that they are not just threat to Israel and to the United States, but to the region at large. They're firing ballistic missiles in every direction. We do the best within our operational capacity to defend ourselves, but we understand that there are risks. There are risks involved when you have terrorist regime with hundreds of and thousands of ballistic missiles that they want to fire on civilians. want to come back to that original question. The Americans have now come out and said that regime change was not the objective. Trump has come out and said it. Heath has come out and said it. Rubio seems to be suggesting it. Do you share that? So again, as said, the objective is very clear. It's to eliminate that existential threat that we have on the state of Israel and at large. And that's military threat. It's the fact that the Iranian regime since Rising Lion, which is the operation the IDF conducted last year in June, have set out goal for themselves to manufacture 8,000 ballistic missiles by 2027. Now, imagine for yourself for moment. There was hit few days ago in Bmish in Israel. synagogue in Israel that gets direct. Hello and welcome viewers. Let's begin with the headlines tonight. Let's put this entire day four into perspective for you. Lots been happening on the ground. Donald Trump says it is too late for Iran to negotiate. says the United States has unlimited mid to upper tier weaponry to punish Iran. That's the big headline at the top of the hour. Iran moves to escalate the cost of the conflict. Targets oil production sites in Saudi Arabia, Oman, UAE, and Qatar. Global oil prices shoot up by 8%. 8%. viewers. Iran issues dire warning to the United States and Israel says that the process that has begun will soon engulf all of Europe. This is going to be spreading, say the Iranians. And as Iran launches missile strikes across the Arab world, Israel blasts mobile missile launchers into Iran to drone swarm strikes. It's all happening viewers on day four and it's getting more intense and it is definitely viewers spreading. Israeli strikes hit the assembly of experts in comm in Iran the body that chooses the supreme leader of the country. So here is an attempt by Israel and the United States to double the decapitation toll. And NATO chief Mark Rott says there is broad backing among European allies from President Donald Trump's military campaign against Iran. That axis is going to stay together. And viewers, last but not least, India expresses grave concerns over the West Asia war says 1 cr Indians work in the Gulf and security and stability of the region impacts Indian economy. The oil ministry says it will source petroleum products through nonstrait of Homus routes as the prime minister calls eight world leaders in the last 48 hours and they're all in the Gulf. Viewers, where is the war in the Gulf heading? That's the single most important question. The swift resolution that Trump hoped for appears unlikely. Not because the Iranians are not on the ropes, but because Trump's objectives appear unattailable to large number of people. Trump has said that the US with Israel will weaken the regime in Thran to the point that it will not or it will melt away. And if it does not, it will be so smashed, so degraded that the Iranian people will take to the streets to overthrow it. In other words, regime change is the logical end point. Of course, Trump and his fellow cabinet ministers have been flipping and flopping. Are we with regime change? Are we not? But finally, he says he wants to go the whole way. Why drag the entire Gulf into war only to leave the mulas in power? Let them continue even if they are on their lease doesn't obiate the original problem. In time they will regroup and attempt to clandestinely build Iran's nuclear weapons program back up to where it is today. So regime change is the only desirable option as far as the US and Israel are concerned. But are Israel and US anywhere near affecting regime change in Iran? not by long stretch with Trump ruling out putting boots on the ground and instead opting for long range precision missile strikes. But nowhere in the world has purely aerial operation ousted authoritarians. Knowing that they can't be yanked out of office, the mullers have hunkered down. Their best bet is to wait it out and move away from direct confrontation. Thran is framing the conflict as war of endurance, not immediate victory. Figures such as Ali Larijani have cast it as test of staying power, betting that Iran can sustain between 60 to 90 days of highintensity confrontation and gradually shift Washington's cost benefit calculus. Tactically, not unlike Ukraine that was also fighting Goliath in the shape of Russia, Iran too appears to be taking an asymmetrical layered approach, targeting enemy radar first, exhausting their air defenses with drones and lowcost missiles. This tactic allows the Iranians to preserve advanced systems for later phases. Iran is activating proxy partners gradually pressuring energy infrastructure and maritime routes to stretch enemy defenses. The tactic is creating chaos. The straight of hormones is shut. Energy supplies are disrupted. Countries are sweating. Money, cash, investors are fidgety. Expats, the backbone of the US states are wanting to go home. It has turned into war of attrition. Does another potential war without end loom? Fundamental question. Is Iran Trump's Ukraine? Viewers, it's question that I'm going to pose tonight to all our guests. Tom Cooper, the world's number one military analyst, is with me on the table and he's been here with us gaming this entire war from day one. Major General JD Bakshi, defense expert is here with us. Dr. Anand Ranganatan, author, Meek Cook, Republican strategist also here with us and Tatiana Kukarva, Russian journalist who we have had on the show many times is here with us. So want to first bring in the two military experts and want to first begin with General Bakshi. General Bakshi, we salute you. You've always been at the forefront of expressing the sharpest opinion in this country. So, I'm going to ask you very straightforward question tonight. As man who has been in combat, taken bullet for the country, want to ask you from your experience looking at this war very closely, is Ukraine trap emerging for Trump? Is Iran going to become Trump's Ukraine? Could that be possibility? It could be it is already actualizing. Look, there has been overreach on the part of the United States, Israel. They thought that very effective first strike on 28th February that decapacitated 48 top leaders of Iran would bring Iran to its knees and they could do Venula redux. Wow. Nothing of that sort has happened because before the Americans struck, the Iranians had already worked out their counter strategy, which was to decentralize their command and control to delegate to the 31 Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps districts. Don't forget the Russian the the the is Iranian missiles are all over the country. They're not focused in any one particular area. They are deep underground. Their whole cities underground with multiple exit tunnels from which the launchers can go out, fire and come back. They could sustain this from their mountain hideouts for months. for months and therefore it was no surprise within one hour of this so-called decapacitating strike the Iranian had started hitting back 70 missiles on the first day on American targets on Israeli targets primarily they were hitting the radars they were trying to blind them right then they very night they fired about 200 plus missiles again they had started initially with six Gulf countries where there were American bases, they have widened it to nine. They have launched two attacks on the Abraham Lincoln. Don't forget the Abraham Lincoln was first within the Hormuz Gulf of Hormuz. When the Americans got very worried about this being sunk, they took it out of the Gulf of Hormuz and into the Gulf of Oman. And yesterday when it was hit by four ballistic missiles, they say that they were able to shoot them all down. To my mind, the Isra the Iranians were now just zeroing in. They were just zeroing in. They were trying to gauge reaction, record all that telemetry so that they could perfect the strike. Look, Rahul, one proper full scale hit on an American aircraft carrier. That means 5,000 sailors down, right? Even if they don't get an aircraft carrier, there are three destroyers, AG's class, Arlay Burke class in the in the Gulf of Hormuz. One goes down 250 to 300 American sailors down. This is midterm election years. Body bags in this year can cost Donald Trump very dear. Okay, very extremely costly. It would be. There are various the Gulf of Hormuz is already blocked. Already blocked. The price of oil is going to hit $100 barrel. It is going to hit the economies of Europe, of America itself, of India, Japan, China, South Korea. We all have stake that this nonsense stops at the earliest. Yeah. We must focus on our national interest, not we are not the fan club of Donald Trump. Yes. Right. And even though we are very friendly with Israel, there is state at which we have to count the costs to our national security. think you put it so we have friendly ties with both. We cannot afford ties with both. India should take the lead in getting this to stop. We have to because we can't afford long protracted fight just as the US and Israel can't. Let's be very honest, viewers, and want to turn to this camera and want to take my friend here, Tom Cooper, to that big wall because what we're going to show you, viewers, is something that you haven't seen till now. And I'm going to show you map, map that going to tell you what really is happening. Tom, what are we seeing? These big red dots, how are they? What are they? How have they been captured? What do they tell us? This is map. that was eventually published by Israeli think tank ENSS based on between others satellite photographs of areas that where there were in the last four days there were bigger fires registered. So you're saying that these are special satellites that capture areas where there are big fires. Yeah. For example, this is fires. This is Israel. Yes. mean this looks as if it's completely burning and Israel and southern Lebanon. So Israel and southern Lebanon for example is up here. These are the boundaries of Israel. No of Lebanon of Lebanon here. And that's Israel. Yes. And so you have situation where there are some big fires in both areas. Yes. Up here and central. This is this is Tel Aviv. This is Tel Aviv. This looks as if it's not one-way street. This is fight that is also being fought in Israel itself. And now you look at Iran and you look at Kuwait and you look at Riyad. These are lesser intensity fires. The red ones are really big that have raged for 24 hours or maybe even longer. Right. don't I'm not sure how long, but it's interesting to see. We have we have Bakran here, Qatar, we have United Arab Emirates and the tip of Oman up here also heavily hit. And this red area. Yeah, this is this is the this is the this is Dubai. This is Abu Dhabi. And this is the the no Hostraite. The Horm Strait. And then along the coast several objects have been hit hit obviously. And this is of course Iran. We expect to see heavy heavy fires in Iran because of the bombardment. But what we didn't expect was this picture and we didn't expect this whole picture because this tells us this whole picture. This tells us that there has been fair amount of Iranian strike back. Yes. For example, indeed we can follow Busher. This is one of big biggest ports in northern Persian Gulf. You can follow for example you know Mad Abbas in this area and obviously the Americans striking Iranian missile sites around the coast which are firing at Bahan and Qatar plus here Shabaha Shabaha yes so all of this viewers is theater and this is all being captured now by these satellites let's go back there and let's talk little bit about so Tom are we to suggest and are you telling me that perhaps Perhaps at the end of the day, this is not the easy in andout war that we were thinking it was going to be. That's this is obvious from the start. is the Iranians are firing many more missiles than they used to fire for example in June last year. In June last year with maximum was something like 50 day at Israel. In this case, they're firing so many that Israel is not even not even reporting exactly how many missiles are fired at Israel. psychic Israel. But how many missiles does Iran have? We believe they have limited stockpile. So, can they just carry on and on and what happens when they run out of missiles? That's the end of them, isn't it? Last year they they didn't run out of ballistic missiles that could hit or that could hit reach Israel even after 2 days 12 days of war. But the Israelis were out of antibbolistic missiles. Not only the Israelis, the Americans were out of antibbolistic missiles after seven or eight days of war. And the Americans have spent quarter of their stocks of anti-bballistic missiles just to defend Israel last last year in June. Therefore, things are not looking good for specific side in this case. Well, we'll get into whether regime change is possible just with aerial strikes little later with Tom and another top military expert. We're going to bring that conversation onto the table in about 10 to 12 minutes. But want to go across to Meek Cook who joins me from America. We also have Tatiana Kukurva and Dr. Ranganatu who are yet to speak. So Miss Cook, let me bring you into the conversation and ask you simply this. Are the Americans little lost? The direct answer is no. mean we have been very clear for five decades. We have watched Iran wage terror war not only against their allies in the Gulf that are no longer allies today against every single country including the United States of America. We have lost thousands of American citizen lives, troops and then there was an assassination attempt on President Trump. Let's not forget that. So as we look at this, we have been very clear this is not about regime change. Look at the way we targeted attacks. We took out the supreme leader. We took out over 49 top military officials and then on top of that we have been targeted in not only the airways but in US in some of the port areas as well. The straight of Harmut is extremely important for us to protect and when you talk about oil prices today this is how India can protect itself. If we actually have strategic alliance and peace then we won't see the fluctuations of oil prices that by the way have been occurring since 1979. It has been consistent and the only way to achieve peace not only for the United States but for the geopolitical sphere that we're talking about today is to make sure that we don't have nuclear weapons in Iran. They have been stockpiling nuclear weapons. They did not come to Geneva in good faith. They refused to work with the United States and we have to draw very clear line in the sand. And for anybody who thinks that we're not actually succeeding, mean, this is day four. Look at what we accomplished in 24 hours. think every ally including India should be on board and supporting us so we can actually achieve peace in the Middle East and economic prosperity for all. Well, let me tell you that the Indian government is supporting Israel and the United States in this endeavor that has pretty much been made clear because we haven't come out and condemned like some other countries have the killing of Kamina. So and there's lot of pressure on the Indian prime minister to do that. So the Indian prime minister is not doing that which should be and nor should he that's up to us to decide. Thank you very much. mean understand where you're coming from but that's up to us for for us to decide. But just want to ask you this. If it's not going to be regime change then these mullas are not going anywhere. They'll regroup. They'll be back. They might they might for the sake of it for optics sit across table have perunctionary conversation with you but they'll be back to doing what they do best which is terrorizing their public jailing their women and young youth activists killing Kurds and sponsoring terror and also developing nuclear weapon. Let me tell you that because they are driven by something greater than just the need for power. This is an ideological fight against the west and they've said it in as many ways and as many words. So want to ask you why are you going to give them this opportunity to regroup? Put troops on the ground. Take them out like you did in Iraq and Afghanistan. Wow. We don't need to put troops on the ground today. mean, the fact is that we have our capabilities between Israel ballistic missiles and all of our defense. Is the United States scared? American is the US scared of putting troops on the ground? I'll tell you why. because about about five or six months ago, you waged 12-day war against Iran and these moolas were back to the point where you've had to return with whole bunch of new weapons with the largest deployment in decades to take them out and they'll be back again. We actually took out their nuclear facility during that 12 days. So, we have continued to ramp up efforts to actually destabilize their regime. And when you talk about the fact that these individuals are extremely motivated, you're basically saying sit back and do nothing. Wait for Trump's four years and then the next president to come in and for us to go back and forth for another 50 years where we're all held hostage. And that's unacceptable. There are ways for us not to put troops on the ground and to still wage war, to work with our allies. And by the way, the Gulf States have all been attacked by Iran, so they're getting involved. The Saudis have come out strongly and said that they're actually going to be pushing back and they're going to be defending the region. Wow. So viewers, this entire area that prided itself in being relatively stable now is plunged in chaos. Oil prices are shooting through the roof. oil prices are shooting through the roof. city states like Kuwait and Abu Dhabi that promised that they would be an oasis of tranquility and peace and built their new economies by attracting capital and moving away from fossil fuels to the tune of about 70% of the GDP are today very worried because the moment drone passes by everyone freezes and work stops. viewers, their economies splutter to halt and investors look for the exit door. That's what's going to happen, viewers. All these Gulf nations with their towering, shimmering, glitzy skyscrapers are going to find that those office spaces will be wide open. There'll be nobody working there. And that miracle will collapse and it will collapse viewers into abjectness and instability. So, we'll create another problem. That's what many people think. It's not my opinion. This is what many people think. And I'm just going to bring in Tatiana Kukurva. Tatiana Kukurva. Miss Kuch says, "Look, we're doing what the world wants us to do. We're doing the best by the people of Iran. We're taking out this horrible regime, which it is. It's horrible regime, and one is glad that it's happening. But was this operation not thought through?" And why isn't Russia helping the West in also sorting this out? Well, first of all, Rahul, love that you brought up Afghanistan. you know, and this is perfect example really of America putting boots on the ground in an effort to try and take out fundamentalist hardline regime. Those 20 years and thousands and thousands of American troops lost in that battle reversed in one year. Might remind you who's in power in Afghanistan right now? is the same Taliban that the US spent 20 years on trying to combat. And this is the reality right here, right now. We can talk the big talk about trying to topple fundamentalist government. But the fact of the matter is when you take out the head of state in targeted killing, you don't topple regime. You kill person, you give the nation, you give every single supporter of that regime an enemy, two enemies in fact, you completely confirm the philosophy behind it. And said it couple of days ago to to an Israeli speaker and will say it again, the fact that the Iranian regime was saying, "Look, we need to eliminate Israel because it is threat to Iran." Well, now you have actual proof that Israel along with the US can come in and kill the leader of state. This is not about the fact that, you know, whether Herman was good or bad. This is again, as you said, rightfully so. This is not our place to decide. It is for Iranians to decide whether he's good or bad. It he is the supreme leader of country. The fact is that there will be there is already replacement. There will be permanent replacement. You do not achieve regime change and this is this is spectacular hypocrisy. astonishing when we talk about an actual regime change. Well, mean, look, it's not as if the Russians have held back when it has come to trying to destabilize another country. You've done it with Ukraine. So, like the way that everyone's sort of preaching here without practicing that that No, no. Come on. This is this is different story though. Look, we did not flying airlift. Vladimir Zilinski is alive and well. First and foremost, it's been four years. He's alive and well. Yeah. after five assets of that is very different scenario. Look, mean, you know, that that's that's because you guys messed up in the first 48 hours of the war. You could have got Zilinski in body. We just don't do things in an American way. Okay? You know, there's not one way to to do things. This is exactly the problem. Look, we we've been we've been down that we've been down that cold war shoot earlier. So, look, hang on. No. Okay. Look, look, mean, we're talking about this particular instance right now and and want to bring Miss Cook back for quick response. Me Cook, you want to respond to Tatiana Kukarva and then want to bring in the doctor. Yeah, the good doctor, might add. Yes. Well, think there's lot of comparisons between what's happened in Afghanistan and even Ukraine and Russia. We're looking at completely different region when we talk about the Middle East and we have to be cognizant of that. We have different president. We have somebody who has backbone and leadership capability capabilities and he's been very clear here. So these long drawn out wars is not something President Trump is going to do. He's been very clear to try and do this within four to five weeks. But he has clear military objective. He wants to ensure Iran does not have nuclear weapons not for his term for generations to come. And it's up to the Iranian people who they decide to elect as their next leader. Okay. So Dr. Ranganatan this is about his legacy. This is about Trump being benevolent to the world and ensuring that we don't have horrible horrible and sorry to say don't like to use adjectives but perverse leadership imprisoning their own people and exporting terror. good evening Rahul and good evening to my fellow panelists. You know could listen to this conversation for hours because speak as lay man and there are experts out here but there is reason why remain lay man because pardon me disagree with three of the views put forward by the experts there. Let me come one by one as far as you know Maheki who's Republican analyst says well yes India should not condol the or express condolences of the death. Yeah, she's right. agree with her. But then America should be the last person telling us what to do, what not to do. Just barely month after Pakistan perpetrated dastardly terror attack on us and we retaliated in Operation Sindur that America did not support openly, you had President Trump welcoming the two perpetrators, barbarians of Pakistan onto the White House. This is how much they respect India's identity and independence as far as it comes to combating terror. So let's not take lessons from America. Number two, as far as my good friend Tatyana Gi is concerned, I'm coming one by one, so please pardon my ignorance out there. When she says it is up to the Iranians to decide who their leader should be, may humbly disagree because here was supreme leader who was commander of the Iranian armed forces that were directly or indirectly at war with Israel. He was leader who was clandersteinly enriching uranium, existential threat to Israel. Who publicly said, "In 25 years, want to wipe Israel off the map." Who was supporting terror organizations that were perpetrating terror around the world, including Husbollah, Husbollah and Hamas who killed and maimed thousands of Israelis, would he not be legitimate target? mean you know replace Iran with Pakistan and Israel with India and 100 out of 100 Indians would say if any Pakistani were to do exactly the same things India has legitimate right to go after him. So that's point number two. Point number three is let me come very quickly to two things that are arguments in favor of Israel and America and two against. In favor they have awesome intelligence on the ground. We saw on day one they eliminated 50 of the top Iranians. That speaks lot about the intelligence that you know the Israelis and the Americans have. Number two, awesome firepower. There is no doubting that. Number three, majority of the Iranians are or were against this despotic regime. This is not to say this was the only despotic regime that has nuclear arsenal. There is hypocrisy there. agree with Tatiana. But the fact is think Israelis and Americans are banking on from the ground up the the the the rebellion starts and starts to topple the existing regime. The things that are against Israel and America is very simple. America this war is not the same as Putin's war in Ukraine in the last 3 years. Conservative estimate says that 320,000 Russian soldiers just the soldiers not civilians have been killed. is prepared for long drawn out war. mean, which other country would accept 320,000 soldiers killed? Here you have, you know, 10 body bags coming in and Trump is going to have jitters. So, that is one thing that is profoundly against. Please remember America has never won long drawn out war. Vietnam, it lost 47,000 US soldiers. We know how it ended. Afghanistan, we know how it ended. So unless this was going to be quick war, it is going to be disastrous war for America. So let me tell you viewers, there's some breaking news coming in and I'm going to go straight across to Tel Aviv. Thank you. And I'm going to welcome John Spencer, US military expert, one of the other top experts in the world. And we have of course continue to have with us Tom Cooper. But breaking news coming in. Iran continues air strikes on Tel Aviv with ballistic projectiles that Israel's air defense system could not stop. We are being told even as the IDF struck in fact there those are some pictures from Iranian missile strikes in Tel Aviv. I'm going to go straight across to Sanjay Suri. hope you're okay where you are because these do look like devastating strikes. You know Rahul through all of this information and analysis one or two things stand out quite remarkably by way of simple fact. We know by way of fact that the Iranian leadership had been saying for long time that they will widen the war and they will target nations hosting US bases. When that attack came as warned as promised these places were defenseless. The US has not been able to defend its bases. There's not been adequate protection for its own or for the country that is hosting these bases. Right? How is it that this protection failed in spite of all the warnings, in spite of all the information? Yes, great intelligence where Kami was. But what happened to the intelligence on this front? But what are we seeing? mean, these pictures look in Israel. mean, just look at these pictures, Sanjay. don't know if you can see them on your screen, but this does look like quite an expanse of the city has been hit. These What kind of missiles are these, Tom? What would you make of them? I'm trying to make out. Looks like multiple re-entry vehicles, perhaps even cluster cluster bomb units deployed against downtown Tel Aviv or at least well well we don't quite know. look, I'm refuse to believe that these pictures they can just remove them. just refuse to believe right now that these pictures there is truth to them. mean I'm just feel that there's something odd about those pictures. mean we would have heard by now that that kind of strike is devastating. There there were reports some two hours ago about very severe strike on one part of Tel Aviv. Okay. Well, you know, just let's just be cautious because let's just find out where those pictures have come from. Those pictures look little too hard to accept at face value. might be wrong, but it just does appear that those pictures look unrealistic to me. I'm not going to believe those pictures. So, let's just cast them aside. Let's let's just go with what we know that there have been strikes that some of these missiles have got through. How many? We don't know. How many? We don't know. What the situation on the ground is, we don't know. But just want to go straight across to John Spencer, US military expert. Tom Cooper is also here with us. Thank you, John Spencer, for taking out the time and being little more patient than we expected you to be because it is about 6 minutes into your time. So, I'm just going to ask you fundamentally this. The US regime sorry, the US government has decided and of course the Israelis have decided that they're going to use the aerial route to soften up the Iranian regime. Will this be enough? Will this be enough to affect regime change and attain the goals that Trump has now defined or do you need boots on the ground or some other sort of intervention? would say of course predictions are really hard but it's very unlikely that air power alone in this context would achieve that and that's why lot of the strategy has been to talk to the Iranian people and for this popular uprising as byproduct because there are very few historical cases of air power alone causing regime change whether it's Serbia and Melisse or Libya different contextes as whole. Although this morning there is very credible report that the Israel struck the supreme council that was trying to elect new Ayatollah. that will have considerable impact but think the intent here is to paralyze the regime. war is act of force to compel your enemy to do your will. that's what think we're seeing here. not direct strategy to cause regime change, but and think the president has said this as well as Secretary of Defense, set the conditions for regime change. And just about your video, I've seen multiple reports from those in Tel Aviv that say that's an AI generated fake video. Yeah, it could be because it just does look very very fake. It mean I've not heard Yes. Just too much. It looks fake to me and it just doesn't add up because by now mean you know we would have had statements from Netanyahu. You would have had fair bit of reaction coming out of Israel that did look catastrophic to be honest Tom. But do do you agree roughly with what John is saying? Essentially yes. would just add that as as as to me it's obvious that Trump has miscalculated in his three-day special military operation is has ended exactly like the one by Putin in Ukraine. That's all can add in this regards. That's that's the question that we were debating, John Spencer, before we came out to you. That is this going to be one of those pointless exercises where we're going to get embroiled in war that's really not going anywhere spectacular. war without end, without really closing story. don't think so. you do lot of comparative analysis as well and wrote the actual the case on the battle of Keev when Putin took his shot. had Putin had the capability to eliminate Zalinski. all the you know all the senior military figures or any personality in the push of button Putin didn't have that capability. while he tried this almost the attack of Baghdad type of approach on Kee to do psychological impact. That's the context little different if you look at Iran even if what was happening in January with the conditions of the internal stability right the internal stability of the population the economic situation the water situation all those variables now whether again don't think it'll be forever war think this is actually trying to end forever war and change the behavior of the Islamic regime of take away capabilities of the nuclear program, the ballistic missile program, of the Navy's threat to the Straits of Hermuse. every war has to look at its context. Whether this is futile effort, don't think so. Even if it's if anything, you you have set the conditions for different paradigm to be in place, one that Israel and the United States will strike any threat coming from the regime going forward. think that's decadesl long paradigm that is being broken. and it's always pursuit of political goal. All wars pursues political goal. What's the goal which is everybody keeps asking whether that goal of regime change is the intent of the operation? And if you look at even Putin's special military operation, his intent was to instill more Russianfriendly government. he failed to do that. and now of course goals can change and that's happened. think for this operation the goals have been pretty clear. We're all questioning whether that ultimate goal of regime change can happen with the current ends, ways, and means kind of that that's being given. think we're in wait and see. mean, we're only 4 days, you know, few days into the operation. and to have 50 plus of all of the old way of thinking happening in Iran, not just the Ayatollah, but 40 senior commanders of that hardliners. don't think anybody can tell you like how's this going to go given the the variety of context that is the, you know, Iran basically. Okay. So, how do you how are you assessing the timelines here? because we're seeing evidence of large number of strikes on Iran. We've had one on the spiritual headquarters in Qu and we're not seeing the Iranian regime throw in the tower. What does that tell you? Again, it's, you know, with the amount of information despite all of our open source intelligence, it's hard to know. of course, we know from the Iranian constitution that that that meeting that was being held was to elect new ayatollah. the fact that all of the generals were taken out, of course, we believe there are plans put in place for such scenario and that's why you have possibly this what would say is just illrational behavior of attacking all of the Gulf States and all basically these 14 different states and basically isolating yourself. we don't really know who's in charge, who's making the decisions. So, it's hard to say whether the current kind of decapitation campaign, the the paralysis of this operation, which is historic, and you look back at even American operations in the past, the invasion of Afghanistan, the invasion of Iraq, any of them, we've just never had this deep intelligence, infiltration, precision ability no military has. This is really historic. So the outcomes of predicting of it, there is no comparative case to say, well, this will likely lead to this. think we're still in wait and see who's in charge, what happens next. don't think the air strikes will taper off. The United States president said that you haven't even seen the biggest day or the biggest basically air strikes. Even if you look back to the Persian Gulf 42-day war, the United States did 160,000 sorties, 250,000 bombs and missiles over 43 days to change the behavior of then Saddam Hussein in invasion of Kuwait. And it led to positive outcome, which is again why we have to debate the the goal. Well, that's debatable. mean, Saddam went, yes, you captured him, you hung him, but we saw what Iraq turned into. So if if you want it to be less radicalized state, then perhaps something more needs to be done than just sort of cutting the head of the snake because this is hydra we're talking about, not really snake. So you cut off one head and 10 more appear. So anyhow, look, mean, you you're that's not what was talking about, right? I'm not talking about the 2003. I'm talking about changing the behavior, right? This is why you have to look at what the goals of the war are stated by those participants, belligerents of it. we don't have voice right now. So, you believe that this action will be enough to deter the Iranians from ever contemplating making nuclear weapon again or even exporting terror as they have done. can't make that decision. according to even the last of the of the negotiation of Wickoff that the the old people were not willing to negotiate that and that's why again the if you want that level of goal behavior change this is the ideal that you have one voice in Iran and the possibilities right it's hard for even if it's 90% of the population to rise up if they don't have arms right even if you go back to the the 79 revolution the air force joined the revolution. So that is complication. no, don't think we're at the point right now where we believe this would change the behavior. And that's why, you know, you you keep eliminating the leadership and the hardliners to where is this going to create the byproduct of regime change to really get them to changing that behavior? or would they come would they come to the negotiation table which the president said I'm willing to negotiate again but it's going back to kind of like the Ukraine Russia what is negotiation you know you can't negotiate away survival sovereignty this is very specifically the goal just like Kuwait was stop you know invading other countries in this case would be to give up that nuclear program do not would not say we're there yet no well don't don't forget viewers that the Iranians by some accounts offered in fact to give up their program and they said that we accept all sorts of inspections. So well look mean all of this now doesn't really matter. What matters is where are we going to go with this war? What is the end point and think we're getting some views on that. Thank you very much gentlemen. Thank you very much. just want to move on to the politics because here in India viewers as you know and let's move on to that story. The Congress party has been slamming India's silence diplomatic silence on what? on the killing of Kamina and Sonia Gandhi has written an article today that has appeared in some newspapers accusing the prime minister of abdication. She has come out and said government silence over Kamani is not equal to neutrality. Silence is an abdication of principles in sense of morality. India cannot remain mute spectator. Traditional foreign policy values have been ignored. Now viewers, the BJP has come out and let's put out that graphic also for you to see. The BJP has come out and said that the Congress was silent for example when Gaddafi was killed in 2011. So why are they lecturing us? They also put the national interest first. They took calculated decision not to sit there and condemn the West or the others who decided to overthrow Muhammad Gaddafi. They didn't control or condemn Gaddafi's hanging up's mom on Saddam Hussein's hanging. Also, selective memory and selective outrage are not entirely strong and sustainable arguments. So this is what has been said. So let's open this up because we have with us Sanjay Ja and want to bring him into this conversation. and Sanjay Jha it's bit rich for the Congress party to be sitting here and lecturing Prime Minister Modi on morality and pointing out that he has acted against principles when for example the Congress party if you even go back into the past and you look at its own stand against China when China was out expanding its sphere of influence grabbing other countries, taking over territories. Back in the day, they didn't say much. They didn't say anything when you had situation where Gaddafi was toppled or where Saddam Hussein was toppled. And there are several other examples of the Iranians not being real friends of India either. In fact, you even took positions against the Iranians in the United Nations. Mhm. So what are we talking about here? Rahul, good evening to you and to Anand as well. Let's try and have serious debate. Hopefully no interruptions. want to make couple of points very succinctly because I'm assuming the viewers will have known by now what is really going on. Point number one, Narendra Modi and say so with full responsibility as prime minister of this country has abdicated strategic autonomy and is actually become part of the USIsrael access. India is playing footsie with two powers. One run by sexual predator, the other by man accused of genocide and we are playing footsie. He was there in Tel Aviv in parliament and the silence of Narendra Modi's government on the assassination of Ayotala Kami is basically statement being made by India that we will not issue press release of even condolence forget condemnation unless we get approval from Tel Aviv or Washington and are we approving political assassination of head of state? Is that how low India has become in terms of his global stature that we are cauter? We are not going to say word on the assassination of head of state in Iran. Are we serious here? Point number two and this cannot be ignored that end of day everybody knows that Iran attack by the Americans and by the Israelis happened when the negotiations were on. So this is obviously nothing to do with regime change. And by the way, who is America to do regime change? Can they just do Venezuela whenever they want? Trump is threatening Greenland. mean, he's threatening Canada. mean, he can't run his own country today, and he's talking of regime change. And you have Israel, which basically doesn't even believe in the two-state solution, wanting regime change. Basically this is nothing but actually on Epstein file. This is an Epstein file story. Okay. One second. You know Sanjay Sanjay Ja perfectly okay. mean look you're entitled to your views but let me also tell you that on the other side was Hamas that actually didn't believe in two-stage solution. Hamas first resolution if you read their manifesto their first one said that we want to cleanse the land from the sea to the river. It's just not going and then they made modification to that initial resolution because the United Nations latched on to it but they continued viewers to carry out terror attacks. Now I'm not getting into the specifics there because that doesn't involve us. My point is and want to bring in Dr. Anan Ranganatan to respond. Sanjay Ja says and there is truth to what is being said here to some extent that we cannot allow America or anyone to carry out regime change operations whenever they think it is okay for them to do so. So there is that point. At what point does India say hang on Trump you can't be doing this or should we be saying it at all? Rahul, when has India not or stepped in to not allow America orchestrate regime change in the last 80 years? Give me one instance. America has orchestrated perhaps 17 or 18 regime changes. Has India stepped in and said we are not going to allow you to do that? So that's point number one. Point number two, Sanjay did not answer your blunt questions. That is if BJP has not expressed condolences at the passing away of dictator, the Congress also did not express condolences at the passing away of Gaddafi and Saddam. In fact, supported Congress and support Congress for not expressing condolences at the killing of dictators. Even though those two dictators were quite friendly with India, even though this one Kami was you know calling India an oppressor state and talking about all nonsense that India and Hindu state is massacring Muslims that's point number two. Point number three is we have to look after our interests. It is not our war. It is war of Israel with Iran. Now ask very simple question. is an Pakistani leader. For example, mean just just give you one very simple example. When people say Rahul Gandhi say we must not we must express condolences. He was not legitimate target. Kami simple question. want to reduce it to simple question. Would Pakistani leader who is commanderin-chief of his armed forces that attack India directly or indirectly all the time? who stalks nuclear arms and enriches uranium clandestinely, who calls India cancer and vows that he will wipe India off the map, who trains and supports and funds multiple terror organizations, who arms and sends hordes of terrorists to India to kill thousands of innocents. Would such leader be legitimate target for India? Now, replace Pakistan with Iran and India with Israel. What's your answer? If in war between Israel and Iran, wasn't this guy legitimate target? Any common sensical person would say yes, he was just like any Pakistani leader who would be doing exactly what Kamini was doing to Israel. Any Pakistani leader does that to India. We would treat him as legitimate target. So don't know where this irrationality springs in. There is only one reason for it to spring in. Vote bank politics and shameless appeasement. Okay. Sanjay Ja. Yes. mean, look, if there is if Israel is being attacked by proxies that are sponsored by Iran, and it's just not Israel, there are other Gulf nations too that are bled by Iran and its proxies. If they are to legitimately say that, look, we're not going to deal with this. This guy, he spilled enough Israeli blood or Syrian blood or Iraqi blood or what have you. The time has come when we take him out. Would you support that? Yes or no? Would you support for example an Indian prime minister who decided to take out Sharif Shabbash Sharif? Well, let me tell you one thing Rahul that it is tragedy that Narendra Modi's become so weak. But you're not answering the question. You can attack Modi as much as you want, but please answer the question. want to ask you where was the where was the Congress's high principle when Gaddafi was pulled out of pipe and beaten Mhm. and toppled where was where was where was the Congress have walked in and said we're going to create cord and sanitary for ourselves leave and we're also going to go after Hezbollah. So that's really what's happening here and that's clear message that is coming in. But even as we see collateral in terms of other countries that seem to be bearing the brunt, the direct fight between Israel and Iran will continue and the latest in fact we're seeing is something that's coming in from Tel Aviv where smoke seems to be rising in. there are injuries in Bets that have been reported as well. There was direct hit in Tel Aviv. That's the latest that we are gathering as far as attacks of Iran on Israel are concerned. These are all drones, missiles that are being fired from the Iranian side into Israel. There are several cities in Israel that seem to be particularly targeted by Iran. Rasal Ain is one of them. Tel Aviv and Betamesh which was also targeted two days ago where nine civilians was killed. Nine civilians were killed. That's another piece of information that is now just trickling in. to get sense of what exactly is transpiring. believe Aman Sharma is also now joining us getting us more inputs of what exactly is transpiring in the region. Well, Punam, what we have right now is detailed statement being issued by India. The Ministry of External Affairs issuing detailed statement on the conflict that is happening. The MEI is now saying that unfortunately in the holy month of Ramadan, the situation in the entire Middle East region has deteriorated significantly and continuously. India is also reiterating that it is most concerned about the safety of Indians who live in the Middle East. Nearly 8 million people of Indian origin live in the Middle East. It is Indian statement is saying that the deaths and the destruction have mounted even as normal life and economic activities have come to halt as approximate neighbor with critical stakes in the security and stability of the region. These developments evoke great anxiety. This is what Indian government is now saying. There are almost 1 cr Indian citizens who live and work in the Gulf region. Their safety and well-being is of utmost priority. We cannot be impervious impervious to any development that negatively affects them. That is what the Indian government is saying. No outright condemnation yet of Kmeni's killing. But the Indian government is very clear Rahul on what they are saying now. Well, you know the priorities are very clear. We have to safeguard our interests. The Kamani matter think has been left aside and we've already sort of spoken and expressed our deep concern but the point is from oil to remittances India's exposed and had put out some facts little while back and I'm going to read some of them to you. India imports 90% of its crude oil as we know. so we are also highly sensitive to West Asian disruptions because as you know from west Asia West Asia 51% of the supply comes in Russia is the next 20%. Straight of hormuz is now choked. So we're fearing that we're going to have problems on that front. LG as you know is not coming out of one of the biggest LG producers in the world. Interestingly Rahul they mentioned that in the statement as well. India is saying that our trade and energy supply chains also traverse this geography. Any major disruption has serious consequences for the Indian economy as country whose nationals are prominent in the global workforce. India is also firmly opposed to attacks on merchant shipping. So India is clearly saying its economy could have serious consequences if the states of Hormonos remains blocked. Absolutely. Because look right now we are pulling ahead. As you know the GDP numbers were released just about 3 or 4 days ago. And you saw that the projections for the next year have also been increased. know this is new series but nonetheless we are looking at an upside and suddenly you have this disruptive war which is going to throw all those calculations once again out of the window. Then there is the question that you were talking about which is remittance economy which is from the dashpora. What are we talking about 1 cr Indians that live and work in GCC countries in which UAE alone is 43 lakhs. So 43 lakhs which is 39% of the population four out of 10 are living in just the UAE and if you break it down beyond that Saudi Arabia is 2.7 million so 27 lakhs Kuwait is 1 million that's 10 lakhs Qatar is just under that that's about 8 lakhs and where are these sectors that they're employed in these are construction hospitality healthcare services and all of these by the way are locked down in the UAE because of these drone attacks that have come through. So it's also India that is going to start facing the problem. And then of course there is the trade and business link that is also referred to in this statement. Absolutely. think the Indian government by its statement is breaking it very clear that India does not want any impact on its economy. It wants Indian citizens to be safe and that is why it's 57 57 billion dollars of our exports go to the GCC and we are talking about perishable goods. lot of our food etc goes there and that becomes problematic. when you really look at it from that perspective our entire focus right now is to boost our exports and find markets for our exports. That's why we've just signed as you know trade agreement with couple of Gulf countries also and the prime minister is working with the government to try and forge other agreements with other countries. We've just had the Canadians here and the Canadians have says by the year end we're going to have free trade agreement. We've had it with the UK and the EU. So we are moving quickly. We're also negotiating with the United States. But look at this clearly and that is why India is again reiterating its call for dialogue and diplomacy. The MEA statement saying we raise our voice clearly in the favor of an early end to the conflict. Many lives have been regrettably lost and we express our grief in that regard. So think the MA statement clearly putting the record straight on what really India's priorities are. And in this morning we saw Sonia Gandhi write piece you know asking India why it was not you know condemning Kmeni's death but think Indian government has made its priorities very clear through this long and detailed statement. She said she said silence was abdication without actually in any way taking positions. just want to state some facts before bring in both Graha and Punam. The facts are that even the UPA in its time did not take position. For example, when Gaddafi was ousted by again regime change operation, Saddam Hussein was assassinated. Saddam Hussein was assassinated. Well, hung actually he was captured and then hung or even when you've had regime change in other quarters of the world. So there is little bit of hypocrisy there and clearly it's born out of sense of political compulsion. And back to you in the studio. Right. Absolutely Rahul and Amanda there. Thank you so much for that assessment. India is making it amply clear that they have stakes in the region and they want deescalation very very soon. But here look at what we have for you in the studio. We are looking at the global collective where do the in fact alliances lie. What are the blocks that one is looking at? If you take look at this world alignment block here on the studios in the wall there you see the big block here which is of course led by the United States of America that also goes on to include Israel, the UK of course and also France, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar basically all the Gulf nations they go on to form this one block that comes under west and there is an anti-West block clearly with with Iran, Russia and China and that's why this entire straight of hormos that also Rahul was referring to and how India's strategic interest and also the energy flow that in fact happens from the straight of Hormuz has been blocked the other countries their vessels have been blocked but there are two countries their vessels are being allowed to pass and that strategically is also China Russia to an extent doesn't cross the straight of Hormus that much but China has been granted that leverage even as Iran goes on to announce that blockade in the straight of horm So this is what we are talking about block one which is western block which is where you see of course the global powers like US UK France and there is block two which has of course Iran, China and Russia. We will need Rahul's assessment all this and India's position so to speak and we'll expand onto that thought Rahul that you were making earlier now that the statement by the ministry of external affairs is also out. Yeah, thanks thanks Gria there for that. Yes, we put that out so beautifully, didn't we? It was very clear division between the east really and the allies there in the west so to speak which is this block that is supporting the United States. remember my mind goes back to that famous quote by Henry Kissinger that to be friend of America is fatal. Actually an enemy is bad enough but being friend is fatal. large number of these countries that had tied up with the Americans given them bases in exchange for petro dollars as the term hours the Hezblah terrorist organization the Iranian terrorist regime's main proxy made strategic mistake and decided to fire dozens of rockets and UAVs at Israel. And at this time, in congruent to IDF strikes and US armed forces strikes in Iran, the IDF is striking Hezblah terrorist organization commanders and targets in order to eliminate that threat on Israeli civilians. So, of course, we're hearing that the new Iranian defense minister has been eliminated in fresh wave of strikes from Israel. But what we're seeing also is resistance coming from Iran. They seem to have hunkered down. They're sending these drones. Many people are saying that this is strategy where they are trying to exhaust your munitions, the Iron Dome, patience of the Gulf allies. Is this what Iran's game plan is or are they actually not being able to react using some of their hypersonic weapons and other bigger weapons because of compulsion? What's exactly happening from your perspective? How do you read this? So, can tell you that after 2 and 1/2 years of war and after the 7th of October, the IDF has learned that we never underestimate our enemies. We understand the threat that the Iranian terrorist regime poses. And as far as it goes to their strategy, can tell you one thing for certain, and that's that they have strategy to target and hurt civilians specifically. This isn't just message. It's concrete intelligence we have at hand. They're sending those ballistic missiles on their drones to civilian areas, not just in Israel, but in the entire Middle East. Okay. Well, what we're also hearing is that the longer this war continues, and I'm going to ask you little bit about timelines, but the longer this war is continuing, costs are also escalating as we know. Right now I'm hearing that oil is up by about 8 to 10%. Silver is up by 11%. The straight of Hormuz is completely blocked. The new Iranian defense min Hello Namaskar. This is First Post and you're watching Vantage with me Balky Sharma. Day four of the war. It's expanding and dragging in more players. Iran says the gates of hell are open. Israel says it will respond with force. Meanwhile, missiles continue to fly in all directions. We'll bring you the latest updates tonight and the videos that sum up this war from strikes in Lebanon to mass graves in Iran and Israelis partying in bomb shelters. We're also looking at who could join next. Will the Gulf states fire back? Will Europe be dragged into this conflict? We ask because now European bases are also under attack. Also, the backstory of how Ayatah Kame was tracked. report says Israel hacked Thran's traffic cameras and studied patterns for years. In Thran, the big discussion is that of succession. Who will be the next Ayatollah? Will it be Kumeni's grandson? Also trying to make sense of Donald Trump's strategy. What's his plan? Did he bite more than he can chew? And the economics of exhaustion. Iran's $20,000 drones are exhausting America's $4 million interceptors. That's all your questions answered in our special segment as we try to make sense of this chaos. The headlines first. Prime Minister Narendra Modi calls the leaders of Qatar, Oman and Kuwait. He expressed his concern over the attacks on their countries. The Prime Minister also discussed the security of the Indian community residing in these Gulf countries. Around 10 million Indians live in the region. Italy summons the Iranian ambassador to protest drones drone attack on UK base in Cyprus. The country's deputy prime minister said he reiterated Rome Stan that Italy is not part of the US and Israel's war against Iran. Reports say the British base could have been hit by drones launched by his bullah from nearby Lebanon. Donald Trump says the historical relationship between the US and Britain is not like it used to be. This comes amid diplomatic spat over the war against Iran. British Prime Minister Kia Starmmer had angered Trump by initially refusing to play any role in the war. Star later agreed to allow the US limited use of its military bases. Russia's central bank sues the European Union over indefinitely freezing its assets. Around $230 billion dollars of Moscow's reserves have been frozen by the block over the Ukraine war. Russia cannot access the assets till it ends the war and provides reparations to Ukraine. And the Sudan's government says drone attacks on its territory are coming from Ethiopia. For nearly 3 years, civil war has been raging in the Sudan. But this is the first time that Ethiopia has been officially accused of interference. There is no let up in West Asia. Iran is talking about opening the gates of hell. Their missiles and drones are slamming into Gulf states and Israeli cities. It's fast turning into war of attrition. American air defenses versus Iranian missiles. Today, Thran struck the US embassy in Saudi Arabia. Two drones slammed into the American building and soon it was engulfed in smoke. Yesterday, the US embassy in Kuwait was also hit. So, Washington has decided to shut both embassies. The UA was also targeted by drones today. One of the interceptions caused fire at major oil facility. Missiles also targeted Israeli cities. large wave was fired early in the morning. Some of them were shot down by Israeli and US air defenses, but few missiles did find their target. They hit multiple locations in central Israel. Reports say nine people have been injured. And what about the other side? Well, Israel has opened second front against Lebanon. Their fighter jets are bombing targets deep in Beirut. As of now, 40 people have been killed have been wounded in Lebanon. And it's not just an aerial onslaught. Israel has ordered ground invasion as well. They plan to create buffer zone in southern Lebanon. Meanwhile, the Hezbollah is trying to fight back. They're firing rockets at northern Israel, leading to midair interceptions by the Iron Dome. This is the secondary front for Israel. Iran remains the primary target. Their fighter jets continue to bomb locations in the west and in Thran. Today, they hit government buildings in the capital, including the presidential office and the Assembly of Experts. These are sites attacked in Iran. Now, this assembly of experts, this assembly building is where the next supreme leader is supposed to be selected. But Israel has blown it up. boy. Like yesterday, they're also hitting missiles and launchers. Remember, Iran has the largest missile stockpile in West Asia. It is their biggest weapon in this war. Israeli jets are flying multiple sorties into Iran. They're taking out more and more launching sites. Israel claims they have carried out 60 waves of attacks put together. More than 2,000 Iranian targets have been hit. Which brings us to the US. What is the American military up to? The US has deployed its B2 and B1 bombers. They're using these planes to strike underground silos and launching sites, locations that cannot be breached easily. In addition, the US is also bombing internal security targets, things like police stations, detention centers, intelligence offices. The Americans are going after all of this in Iran. And these facilities are used by the regime to crack down on disscent. By attacking them, the US is hoping to weaken the regime's grip on power. Basically, they're setting the stage for massive protests in Iran. And that sums up the battlefield updates. What about diplomacy? Is anyone interested in an off-ramp? Well, look at Donald Trump's latest message, and I'm quoting, "Their air defense, air force, navy, and leadership is gone. They want to talk. said too late. And just to be clear, until yesterday, Trump did want to talk to the Iranians. He said the new Iranian leadership had reached out to him, but then Iran's security chief rebuffed him. He said there would be no negotiations with the Americans. So now, 24 hours later, Trump has also made U-turn. He says there will be no talks. But here's the problem. Wars are not just fought with resolve. Great. You need weapons to keep fighting them. Multiple US media reports say the Pentagon is worried. That's the US Defense Ministry. They're worried. They fear long war will deplete American stockpile. So once again, Trump came out with long social media post. And let me quote again from what he said. The United States munition stockpiles have at the medium and upper medium grade never been higher or better. As was stated to me today, we have virtually unlimited supply of these weapons. Wars can be fought forever and very successfully using just these supplies. At the highest end, we have good supply, but are not where we want to be. Well, that's half admission by Donald Trump. He says the high-end stockpile is not where he wants to be. And yet, he's not deescalating. Trump actually says bigger wave of attacks is coming. So, it's not clear what he's trying to say. Like said, more than 2,000 Iranian targets have already been hit. More than 2,000 targets. So, what would bigger wave look like? That's the question. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is betting on quick success. He says this will not be an endless war. hear the people are saying we're going to have an endless war here. said it's could be quick and decisive. It may take some time, but it's not going to take years. It's not an endless war. In fact, it's an effort right now to achieve the peace that we all yearn and pray for. And think together we'll achieve it. Trump is saying something different though. We'll tell you about his position later on the show. But for now, listen to the Iranian military. They are not backing down either. Despite the sustained attacks from the other side, the Iranians continue to hit back. The Iranian guards say the gates of hell are opening for America and Israel. The enemy must await continuous punitive attacks. The gates of hell will open more and more, moment by moment, upon the United States and Israel. It's basically race against time. Iran wants to grind out the enemy air defenses much like they did in last year's 12-day war. Meanwhile, Israel is betting on blitzcree. They want to defang Iran's missiles before their air defenses run out. It's question of what will happen first. Like said, it's day before the war and by now you know the drill. This war is playing out on your screens, too. Your feed is flooded. Every hour, thousands of videos are pouring in. So, every day, we try to cut through the noise. We bring you the most important videos from the last 24 hours because, as we keep saying, misinformation is flying faster than missiles. And with artificial intelligence in the mix, it's harder than ever to tell what is real. So, let's bring you our top videos. The top videos that you need to see today. Video number one is from Beirut. Beirut is the capital of Lebanon. As you know, the war is spreading across the region. Multiple countries are coming under fire. And last night, it was Lebanon that took the hit. Lebanon is home to the Hisbullah. It's Shia militant group and regional proxy of Iran. Now, Israel says Hisbullah has joined the war, which is why they're hitting Hisbullah bases in Lebanon. The Israelis are hitting these bases. As you can see on your screens, these are visuals on there are visuals on the blasts. They show Israeli strikes on multiple Hezbollah targets. Multiple videos captured the exact moment of the attack. People were seen sprinting away in panic. Onlookers dropped everything and ran for cover. Thick plumes of smoke erupted into the sky and in matter of seconds, chaos took over the streets. Video number three is from Iran. It is disturbing video. So we advise viewer discretion. These are images from city called Minab in the south of the country. USIsraeli strike hit school in the city. It killed 160 school girls. Now the US and Israel insist that they were not behind the strike, but Iran has been slamming them. And now we have images of mass graves being dug to bury the children. Take look. Multiple funerals were held in Minad. Thousands also gathered to mourn these school girls. Here's another video from Iran. It shows people running for their lives. This is after an air strike near the Russian embassy in Thran. Footage shows locals dragging injured people. Some were even overcome with grief. It's not just Iran. Israel too is coming under fire. Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benamin Netanyahu visited West Jerusalem. He tooured site that was struck by Iranian missiles. When stand here in place that was bombarded by the terrorist in Tehran against innocent civilians, you see the difference. The tyrants of Tehran target civilians. We target the tyrants of Tehran to protect civilians. And what is war without the weapons? Like said, all sides are releasing war videos every hour. Iran released footage showing the launch of its missiles, especially the Kadr and Imad missiles. Meanwhile, America's Central Command showed off US firepower, including the B2 bomber. Caught in this crossfire are the Gulf States. Iran is attacking them left, right and center. And while the physical damage has been limited, the strikes have shattered the sense of security. Cities like Dubai were seen as safe havens. Centers of global finance and tourism. An attack on Dubai was unimaginable and yet it happened. And since then, the mood has shifted. Yes, the skyscrapers still shine. Yes, the malls are still packed. But there's an edge in the air and it seems the leadership knows this. So today, in an attempt to show that Dubai is safe, the UA president himself went to mall. We're talking about MBZ, Muhammad bin Zed al- Nayan. He was seen walking through the Dubai mall. With him was the crown prince of Dubai, Shik Hamdan. Later, they enjoyed meal at restaurant. They even interacted with other people visiting the mall. Dubai is out shopping amid falling missiles. Israel is one step step ahead. It is partying. They have Jewish holiday called Purim, but the government has banned public gatherings. So, Israelis have moved the party underground. They're celebrating in garages and bomb shelters. Those are our top videos for today. The military war is not slowing down and neither is the information war around it. So, like we say every day, make sure you verify what you're sharing online. Iran's strategy is clear. They want to make this regional war. war that will hurt America's allies in the Gulf. war that hurts countries like Saudi Arabia, the UA, and Qatar. We have seen relentless missiles and drone strikes from Iran. First at US bases in these countries, then at civilian sites like hotels, and now at energy facilities. Yesterday, Iran hit Saudi Arabia's largest oil refinery, Aramco's Ras Tanura, on the Persian Gulf. The refinery was shut down following the Iranian strikes. On the same day, Iran also hitQar's Ras Lafan facility. This is run by Qatar Energy, the largest LG producer in the world. DHA too has shut down this facility. And then today, the UA was hit. Their oil facility in Fujera was struck by by drone debris. Also today, the Iranians have shut the straight of Hormuz. This waterway carries 20% of global oil trade. It's key export route for the Gulf States and Iran has shut it. Of course, Iran is doing this on purpose. They know that the energy this that energy is lifeline of the Gulf economy. If you cut that off, you can choke them. You can make them desperate. You can make the Gulf States desperate. The question is what happens after that? Well, there are three possibilities. One, the Gulf States continue holding defensive posture. Basically, they keep shooting down Iranian drones and missiles. But there's problem with that. They do not have endless air defenses. They're using multiple interceptors to shoot down missiles. So, the worry is they will run out of stock. Reports say some Gulf states have used up missiles built up over years in just 4 days. And apparently, the US is not replenishing their stock. When some Gulf states asked for interceptors, the United States ignored them. So the current status quo is not sustainable. You cannot endlessly defend against drones and missiles. Which brings us to the second possibility. The Gulf States can enter the war. They can either allow Israel and the US to strike Iran from their airspace or they can hit back themselves. Yesterday, Qatar scrambled fighter jets against Thran. They shot down two Iranian war plananes. In Saudi Arabia, too, patience is wearing thin. The Saudi kingdom has placed their military on state of high alert. The question is, will they take the plunge? Will they join the war? Let's look at their firepower first. Saudi Arabia has around 280 fighter aircraft. This includes the F-15 and the Euro Fighter Typhoon. The UAE has around 100 fighters. This includes the F-16s and the French Mirage 2000s. Qatar has also also has more than 100 aircraft. This includes the Rafal, the Euro Fighter and the Mirage. Now, politically, it makes more sense for the Gulf States to join the fighting to attack Iran themselves because if they open the airspace to Israel, the locals may not like it. The Arab population, as you know, is overwhelmingly anti-Israel. Having said that, an attack carries its own risks. For starters, you could be crowding the airspace. We saw what happened in Kuwait. Three American jets were shot down by Kuwait's own air defenses. So there's that's real risk. And secondly, Iran may hit back even harder. Iran's ballistic missiles could destroy oil and power facilities in the Gulf. It would take years, if not decades, to rebuild these. Which brings us to the final possibility. the Gulf states can push for peace. Now, this too is happening. According to reports, the UA and Qatar are privately lobbying for quick ceasefire. They're asking American allies to find an offramp for Donald Trump. If true, this is ideal for Iran. This was the whole point of attacking the Gulf States. Iran wanted them to put pressure on Trump, to push Trump for ceasefire. Of course, Trump may or may not listen to them. He says he's willing to fight long war. It's certainly massive dilemma for these Gulf states. They cannot shoot down missiles forever, nor can they risk even bigger Iranian attacks. And of course, they can't do nothing. So, they will have to pick one of these options. Whatever they choose, expect them to act together. These attacks from Iran have united the Gulf States like never before. So, any response will likely be joint one. IDF spokesperson Ben Cohen who joins us from the front lines. Really, thank you Ben for speaking with us. What's the situation right now in Israel? What are we expecting by the way of timelines? Is this war going according to plan? So, just returned from the bomb shelter from siren that was just in the area. We started this operation, Operation Roaring Lion, on Saturday morning when the IDF and the US armed forces started joint operation intended to do one thing, and that's eliminate an existential threat. threat that's relevant to the state of Israel, to the United States, and to the world at large, and that's been proved over the last few days. The strikes started on Saturday morning when we eliminated more than 40 senior Iranian commanders, including Supreme Leader Kamini, and they continued over recent days as we struck aerial defense targets, ballistic missile targets, and other Iranian terrorist regime targets in Tehran and in Iran at large. Over the last 36 hours, the Hezbollah terrorist organization, the Iranian terrorist regime's main proxy, made strategic mistake and decided to fire dozens of rockets and UAVs at Israel. And at this time, in congruent to IDF strikes and US armed forces strikes in Iran, the IDF is striking Hezblah terrorist organization commanders and targets in order to eliminate that threat on Israeli civilians. So, of course, we're hearing that the new Iranian defense minister has been eliminated in fresh wave of strikes from Israel. But what we're seeing also is resistance coming from Iran. They seem to have hunkered down. They're sending these drones. Many people are saying that this is strategy where they are trying to exhaust your munitions, the Iron Dome, patience of the Gulf allies. Is this what Iran's game plan is? Or are they actually not being able to react using some of their hypersonic weapons and other bigger weapons because of compulsion? What's exactly happening from your perspective? How do you read this? So, can tell you that after 2 and 1/2 years of war and after the 7th of October, the IDF has learned that we never underestimate our enemies. We understand the threat that the Iranian terrorist regime poses. And as far as it goes to their strategy, can tell you one thing for certain, and that's that they have strategy to target and hurt civilians specifically. This isn't just message. It's concrete intelligence we have at hand. They're sending those ballistic missiles and their drones to civilian areas, not just in Israel, but in the entire Middle East. Okay. Well, what we're also hearing is that the longer this war continues, and I'm going to ask you little bit about timelines, but the longer this war is continuing, costs are also escalating as we know. Right now, I'm hearing that oil is up by about 8 to 10%, silver is up by 11%, the straight of horm is completely blocked. The new Iranian defense minister of course has been eliminated and just discussed that with you and you're doing fantastic having an effect. Can bombs substitute this one. Iran was attacked on Saturday. It retaliated first by attacking Israel and US assets, then by targeting Gulf Arab states, and now it has begun hitting the Europeans. Iran has struck British air base in Cyprus and it has fired drones at French base in the UAE. Plus, air defense systems have been activated at multiple European facilities in the region. Long story short, Europe is being dragged into this war. European assets are under attack and European leaders are struggling to respond because this is not war they want to get into. But if they're targeted, they will have to respond. So far, we've heard from their biggest players, the UK, France, and Germany. We've seen them responding. They issued joint statement over the weekend. The statement carried direct message to Iran. Stop your attacks or we will strike back. Strong words. It appears that the big three in Europe are putting up strong and united front. But in practice, European nations are heading in different directions. Take Britain for instance. London received request from Washington. The US wanted access to two British bases in West Asia. The Americans wanted to use these bases to launch attacks on Iran. The UK resisted first, but then it agreed and it called them defensive strikes. The United States has requested permission to use British bases for that specific and limited defensive purpose. We have taken the decision to accept this request to prevent Iran firing missiles across the region, killing innocent civilians, putting British lives at risk, and hitting countries that have not been involved. He said it's for defensive purpose. Well, here's the problem with that framing. The United States is the one that is driving this escalation. This is not defensive operation in any sense of the term. So effectively British bases will be used as launch pads for American attacks. France meanwhile has taken different direction. France has deployed Rafal fighter jets over the UAE. This is to protect French naval and air bases from Iranian attacks. And then there is Greece. Athens has now ordered military deployment to Cyprus. Greece is deploying two frigates and two F-16 fighter jets. What about Germany? Germany has decided to wait and watch. Germany says it will act only if its own soldiers come under direct attack. But the risk of an escalation is no longer hypothetical. Thran has made it real today. Today, Iran issued warning to European states. Its foreign ministry released statement. It said any action by European countries will be regarded as an act of war. And in response, Iran says it will target European cities. Iran is threatening to target European cities if European countries respond or take any action. Clearly, Europe is being drawn into this fighting. It's conflict that they'd hoped to avoid. The threat assessment for them has changed almost overnight. And now European governments are rushing to manage the fallout. They've started pulling out their nationals. Those who were stranded across West Asia, Italy has started airlifting its nationals out of Dubai. Other countries are expected to follow suit. European leaders have begun consultations. This comes after Ursula Bond faced criticism over the weekend. Soon after Iran was attacked, the EU chief made statement. She announced an emergency meeting to discuss the conflict. an emergency meeting not within hours but on Monday basically after the weekend. And sure enough, the internet mocked her response to this war. Memes spread on social media saying that Europe's war response could wait until after the weekend. Then on Monday, she made statement. Allow me to quote from what she said. She said that she was focusing on wide range of things from energy to nuclear, from transport to migration to security. She also said we must be prepared for the fallout. So far, Europe has not been direct target, but after today's statement from Thran, European states are clearly in the crosshairs, increasingly being drawn into conflict that they were hoping to avoid. It was quiet Saturday morning in Thran. Iran's supreme leader walked into what was supposed to be another meeting and minutes later he was dead. Ayatah Kame was killed in joint strike by the US and Israel. But you already know this. Our story tonight is not the strike. Our story is the run-up to the strike and how it came about. It begins with surveillance. Surveillance that went on for years. This is according to new report by the Financial Times. It talks about surveillance so thorough that Israel knew Iran like the back of their hand. We're not talking about spying operation limited to few officials. We are talking about hacking city's entire traffic network. You heard that right. Apparently, Israel hacked into Thran's traffic network and that meant access to cameras. You see, Iran has built very extensive internal surveillance system. It had installed cameras to spy on its own people, to monitor protesters and dissenters. Unfortunately for them, the same cameras were used by the enemy to spy on the regime. One camera placed at just the right angle reportedly showed something small, but something very, very critical. It showed the place where Ayatollah Kamina's security detail parked their cars. So, Israel started analyzing this footage. They started analyzing the patterns. When do the guards arrive? Where do they park their cars? Who drives which official? Who protects whom? Who swap shifts. Israel gathered all these details by hacking Thran's traffic cameras. And it proved to be gamecher because you don't kill leader by watching him. Leaders are hard to track anyway. You kill leader by watching the people around him. And that's what Israel did over time. The Israeli intelligence built data files. They called these pattern of life files. That's what they built. They gathered home addresses, commuting routes, and duty hours of these guards. It's like building Google Maps timeline, but for regime's inner circle. And Israel did this for years. Leading the project was Unit 8200. This is Israel's elite signals intelligence unit. The report says unit 8200 fed mountains of data into AIdriven systems. I'm talking about billions of data points, phone signals, camera feeds, movement patterns, relationship maps. They use something called network analysis. What does that mean? It's basically mapping who talks to whom and who influences whom. You try to make sense of network. And with this they built whole picture of Ayatah Kamina's daily life. Now here's where this becomes almost sci-fi. On the day of the strike, something strange happened. Cellular networks around Kamina's compound were disrupted. Phones rang busy and warnings could not get through. Say you were Kab's bodyguard. You could not reach your team. Your calls were failing. At the same time, Israeli and US intelligence was at work. They confirmed that Kame was at his residence and that he was meeting top officials. And here's the other thing. They were not just depending on data. American intelligence also had human source confirming all of this. That's what reports say that they also had human intelligence. Now, Iran knew that an attack was coming. They knew that Israel and the US were going to strike at some point. Of course, the Ayatollah knew that knew that, too. But apparently he refused to go to bunker. He wanted to die as so-called martyr. What Theran did not anticipate was timing. They did not think that the strike would come in the morning. They did not think that it would happen in broad daylight. That's what happened. And as dramatic as this backstory is, it's not new for Israel. Their intelligence is known for things like this, for operations like this. You may remember what happened in 2024, the pager explosions. Israel crippled Hezbollah's communication network. Their rank and file used pagers to communicate. Israel hacked those devices and blew them up. So thousands of pagers exploded simultaneously and this killed thousands of Hisbullah fighters. That operation too is said to have taken years of infiltration, years of analyzing the same data, of figuring out patterns and knowing when to strike. And it tells you lot about modern warfare. Wars today are not fought with just missiles and jets. They're fought with data, with years of invisible surveillance and algorithms. And it's something that Israel has mastered the long game in world of fastm moving conflicts. When Ayatah Kami died, Ayatah Kummeni rather died in 1989. Iran did not hand over power to his family. It handed power to Ali Kam. He was cleric, loyalist and safe pick for the regime. For 35 years, Ali Kam held the line. Now he's gone. new name is doing the rounds as his possible replacement and that's Hassan Humeni. He is the grandson of Ayatah Kmeni, the founder of the Islamic Republic. So why is his name gaining traction? There are several factors that work in his favor. There is name of course but beyond that Hassan Kmeni is moderate, someone who could potentially reconnect the regime with large population that is growing alienated. Our next report has more. Iran is facing question it has not faced in 35 years. Who leads the Islamic Republic? Ayatollah Ali Kam is dead. The man who held absolute authority over the military, the judiciary, foreign policy is gone. And the name being spoken most in the corridors of Tehran is not new one. It is Kmeni, not the founder, his grandson. Hassan Kmeni is 53 years old. He holds no government title. He has never served as minister, judge, or an administrator. But he holds something no appointment can manufacture, the name of the revolution itself. He is the custodian of his grandfather's mausoleum in southern Thran. That mausoleum is not just tomb. It is shrine, pilgrimage site, the physical symbol of the Islamic Republic's founding moment. And Hassan Kmeni stands at its center. He is the most visible of Ayatollah Ruhola Kmeni's 15 grandchildren. Within Iran's clerical establishment, he is seen as relative moderate. He has close ties to former presidents Muhammad Katami and Hassan Rouani, both of whom pursued engagement with the West when in office. That is the political tradition Hassan Kmeni represents. Reform within the system, engagement, not confrontation. His track record reflects this. In 2021, Iran's Guardian Council made key decision. This is the body that vets candidates who can stand in elections. The council barred reformist candidates from running for president. Hassan Kmeni pushed back publicly against the council's decision. The following year brought an even sharper test. In 2022, Masa Amini, young Iranian woman, died in the custody of the morality police. She had been accused of violating conservative dress codes. Her death ignited protests across Iran. Hassan Kmeni did not look away. He demanded accountability from the state. January this year brought fresh unrest to Iran. Protests swept through cities. Dissent was widening. The Islamic Republic was visibly under pressure, not just from outside, but from within. And inside Iran's political establishment, conversation began. Could moderate successor steady the ship? Some senior politicians believed in the idea. The case for Hassan Kmeni gained momentum. Kamini himself had taken note. Last June, during the 12-day war with Israel, he went into hiding. And from that hideout, he named three men, three possible replacements for Supreme Leader Hassan Kmeni was one of those three names. But Hassan Kmeni's path to the top is not straightforward. The body that will decide Iran's next Supreme Leader is the Assembly of Experts. It has 88 members, all senior Shia clerics. They are elected but only candidates vetted by the guardian council can stand which means the assembly skews conservative and the hardliners have other options. Kamini's short list included two other names. The first Ali Asgar Hijazi Kamei's chief of staff. He may no longer be factor. The Israeli military says he was killed in the strikes on Thran. The second Golam Hussein Moseni AJ, head of Iran's judiciary. Again, he is hardliner. There is fourth name circulating too. Mojaba Kamani, the Supreme Leader's own son. He is powerful. He has operated in the shadows for years. Certain factions want him. But Kamani himself made his position clear. He did not want the post of supreme leader to become hereditary. So the choice narrows. The assembly of experts will decide and they will do so under extraordinary circumstances. country at war, cities under attack and younger population that is watching closely. Donald Trump calls himself the president of peace. He wanted peace to be his biggest legacy. No endless wars, no foreign interventions, no nation building. Except now he's doing all three. Trump has bombed seven countries in one year. Seven countries. Iraq, Syria, Venezuela, Nigeria, Yemen, Somalia, and of course, Iran. In Venezuela, he kidnapped the head of state. In Iran, he killed the supreme leader, both without any global sanction or approval. Trump's predecessors gave elaborate excuses for their wars. They talked about building democracy. They spoke about nation building. Donald Trump is not wasting time with fake excuses. He is bombing countries because he can, because he thinks American might makes him right. Of course, we don't expect anything less from US president. The only difference is that this one promised to be different. He built his career around opposing foreign wars. Unlike other candidates for the presidency, war and aggression will not be my first instinct. You cannot have foreign policy without diplomacy. superpower understands that caution and restraint are really truly signs of strength. But actually, my personality is what kept us out of war. was the only president in nearly four decades who did not get America into any new conflicts. Instead, brought our troops and our wonderful children back home. brought them back home where they belong. Proudest legacy will be that of peacemaker and unifier. That's what want to be, peacemaker and unifier. guess Trump lied. Shocking, isn't it? This is man who openly committed the Nobel Peace Prize. He shamelessly took the Nobel Medal from last year's winner, Venezuela's Maria Korina Machado. And weeks later, he went ahead and bombed Iran. Reports say at least 700 civilians have been killed so far, including more than 100 innocent school girls. Just compare his actions to his words. Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that he ended eight wars. He also formed so-called Board of Peace to end global conflicts. Again, days later, he bombed Iran. wonder what Pakistan's prime minister will now say. He called Donald Trump the savior of South Asia. Is he now saving West Asia, too? Do the Iranians and the Arabs feel safe yet? bet they don't. And don't forget Trump's multiple claims on Indian fighter jets. You may remember this. He kept swinging from 8 to 11 jets down. Listen to this first. They weren't fighting. They were fighting. 11 jets were shot down. Very expensive jets. Eight planes shot down. They were going to go nuclear in my opinion. 10 planes were shot down. They were going at it. The real answer is three. Not Indian or Pakistani jets, but American jets. In 3 days of fighting, the US military has already lost three jets, three F-15s in Kuwait. And guess how? Shot down by friendly fire. Basically, the Kuwaiti air defense has shot down American jets. Let's hope he'll remember that number well. Three jets downed. But on serious note, the Trump White House is under lot of fire. They seem confused and unserious. Consider what happened yesterday. Trump attended medal ceremony for soldiers. He also paid tributes to the troops killed in the ongoing war and then out of nowhere he made this detour. We have lot of great service members here with us to in this beautiful building. Isn't it beautiful? We're adding on to the building little bit. We're improving the building. See that nice drape? When that comes down right now, you see very, very deep hole. But in about year and half from now, you're going to see very, very beautiful building. And there's your entrance to it right there. In fact, it looks so nice, don't think I'll even think I'll save money on the doors cuz it can't get more beautiful than that. picked those drapes in my first term. always like gold, but think we can save lot of money. just saved just saved curtains. How about that? Trump has just plunged West Asia into war and now he's joking about his ballroom. In times like this, the world is looking for clarity. They want the US president to spell out his goals and his timelines, but the very opposite is happening. Trump officials are giving out conflicting versions of the war. We'll focus on three main issues. First is the trigger. Why did the US military launch this attack? Listen to what the Secretary of State and the Secretary of War had to say. We believe the objective that we have set for this mission, which is the destruction of their ballist ballistic missile capabilities, both launch capability and manufacturing, can be achieved without ground forces. Are there currently any American boots on the ground in Iran? no. But we're not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do. think it's one of those fallacies for long time that this department or presidents or others should tell the American people this and our and our enemies. By the way, here's exactly what we'll do. Marco Rubio says Israel was going to attack anyway. The US feared that Iran would retaliate against US bases, too. So, Washington decided to attack first. I'm afraid this is not what preemptive means. This is provocation, not preeemption. But the Pentagon, that's the US Defense Ministry, they're offering completely different version. They say this attack was always in the works. It's meant to destroy Iran's missiles and its navy. So, clear discrepancy there. Now, to the second issue. Will America put soldiers on the ground? Again, two different answers. We believe the objective that we have set for this mission, which is the destruction of their ballist ballistic missile capabilities, both launch capability and manufacturing, can be achieved without ground forces. Are there currently any American boots on the ground in Iran? no. But we're not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do. think it's one of those fallacies for long time that this department or presidents or others should tell the American people this and our and our enemies, by the way, here's exactly what we'll do. Now, the third issue, how long will this campaign last? The Pentagon chief says this will not be an endless war. But Donald Trump says it'll last for as long as it takes. This is not Iraq. This is not endless. was there for both. Our generation knows better and so does this president. He called the last 20 years of nation building wars dumb. And he's right. We're already substantially ahead of our time projections. But whatever the time is, it's okay. Whatever it takes, we will always and we have from right from the be beginning, we projected four to five weeks, but we have capability to go far longer than that. At first, Trump said the war could last four to five weeks. Now, he says as long as it takes. So, which one is it? Trump officials also appear confused about their end goal. The president himself had openly called for regime change in Iran. But as Secretary of War says, this is not regime change war. call upon all Iranian patriots who yearn for freedom to seize this moment to be brave, be bold, be heroic, and take back your country. America is with you. made promise to you and fulfilled that promise. The rest will be up to you, but we'll be there to help. This is not so-called regime change war, but the regime sure did change, and the world is better off for it. No stupid rules of engagement, no nation building quagmire, no democracy building exercise, no politically correct wars. We fight to win and we don't waste time or lives. Again, which one is it? Trump is treating this war like school project, something that he can make up along the way. But the fact is, he's playing with the lives of millions of people. War is not real estate deal or TV show. It's as real as it gets. IDF spokesperson Ben Cohen who joins us from the front lines. Really, thank you Ben for speaking with us. What's the situation right now in Israel? What are we expecting by the way of timelines? Is this war going according to plan? So, just returned from the bomb shelter from siren that was just in the area. We started this operation, Operation Roaring Lion, on Saturday morning when the IDF and the US armed forces started joint operation intended to do one thing, and that's eliminate an existential threat. threat that's relevant to the state of Israel, to the United States, and to the world at large, and that's been proved over the last few days. The strikes started on Saturday morning when we eliminated more than 40 senior Iranian commanders, including Supreme Leader Kamini, and they continued over recent days as we struck aerial defense targets, ballistic missile targets, and other Iranian terrorist regime targets in Tehran and in Iran at large. Over the last 36 hours, the Hezbollah terrorist organization, the Iranian terrorist regime's main proxy, made strategic mistake and decided to fire dozens of rockets and UAVs at Israel. And at this time, in congruent to IDF strikes and US armed forces strikes in Iran, the IDF is striking Hezblah terrorist organization commanders and targets in order to eliminate that threat on Israeli civilians. So, of course, we're hearing that the new Iranian defense minister has been eliminated in fresh wave of strikes from Israel. But what we're seeing also is resistance coming from Iran. They seem to have hunkered down. They're sending these drones. Many people are saying that this is strategy where they are trying to exhaust your munitions, the Iron Dome, patience of the Gulf allies. Is this what Iran's game plan is? Or are they actually not being able to react using some of their hypersonic weapons and other bigger weapons because of compulsion? What's exactly happening from your perspective? How do you read this? So, can tell you that after 2 and 1/2 years of war and after the 7th of October, the IDF has learned that we never underestimate our enemies. We understand the threat that the Iranian terrorist regime poses. And as far as it goes to their strategy, can tell you one thing for certain, and that's that they have strategy to target and hurt civilians specifically. This isn't just message. It's concrete intelligence we have at hand. They're sending those ballistic missiles and their drones to civilian areas, not just in Israel, but in the entire Middle East. Okay. Well, what we're also hearing is that the longer this war continues, and I'm going to ask you little bit about timelines, but the longer this war is continuing, costs are also escalating as we know. Right now, I'm hearing that oil is up by about 8 to 10%, silver is up by 11%, the straight of horm is completely blocked. The new Iranian defense minister of course has been eliminated and just discussed that with you and you're doing fantastic job of trying to eliminate the top leadership but is that really having an effect? Can bombs substitute for ground invasion and affect regime change? So one is that question and the longer we obviously stay in this war there are these knock-on effects. So how do you react to that? So we operate in accordance to clear military objectives and that military objective is to eliminate that existential threat. Those ballistic missiles, the launchers, the infrastructure to eliminate the ability of the Iranian terrorist regime to operate their proxies on our borders as we see with Hezbollah and to eliminate the ability of the Iranian terrorist regime to pose military threat upon Israel and the Middle East. And we will continue to do that for as long as the political echelon asks of us. We have many targets at hand. We continue to strike all the time and we'll do that for as long as need be. But want to make clear our target is to eliminate that military to eliminate that military threat. And the IDF in contrast to the Iranian terror regime strikes military targets. The battle lines are getting deeper in the Middle East. Hello and welcome. I'm Aush Man Singh Jamal and you are watching CNN News8's rolling coverage of the conflict in the Middle East as West Asia enters its fourth day of conflict. We bring you the latest updates. Iran is expanding the ambit of the conflict going gorilla against America's traditional Gulf Arab allies in the hope that these countries will put pressure on Donald Trump to quickly end the war. America as result is now constantly shifting the goalpost. We get you the big updates. Donald Trump now makes it extremely clear regime change is the aim of the entire conflict also heading out at Spain as well as the United Kingdom when it comes to supporting the American efforts in the Middle East. Moreover, Iran moves to escalate the cost of the conflict targets. Oil production sites in Saudi Arabia, Oman, the UAE, and Qatar. Global oil prices shoot to by whopping 8% sending shock waves across the energy markets across the globe. Iran now issues dire warning to the United States and Israel says that the process that has begun will soon engulf Europe. This also comes as Donald Trump has criticized his European allies for not fully supporting his war efforts in the Middle East. And as Iran launches missile strikes across the Arab world, Israel blasts mobile missile units in Iran to Iran's drone swarm strikes that have crippled the energy markets across the globe by hitting those oil sites in the Arab world. Moreover, Israeli strikes hit the assembly of experts in Quam in Iran, the body that chooses the supreme leader of the country. Meanwhile, NATO chief Mark Rut says that there is broad backing among European allies for President Donald Trump's military campaign even as Donald Trump is giving different sentiment to his European allies. So, is this conflict in the Middle East going to turn into another diplomatic row between the European allies as well as the United States? Has Trump now soured the NATO allies when it comes to the conflict in the Middle East? We'll have to wait and see how that plays out. Even though Donald Trump is adamant that regime change will be the mission of the United States and Israel. And back home, India expresses grave concerns over the West Asia war says 1 cr Indians work in the Gulf and security and stability of the region impacts in the Indian economy. Oil ministry says it will source petroleum products through non straight of horm roots. So new routes being being analyzed by the Indian administration to ensure that the energy security remains intact and oil prices don't shoot up back home. But getting big piece of breaking news that's coming in where US President Donald Trump held press briefing just short while back and made it extremely clear that America's aim in the Middle East is regime change in Iran talking about the Ayatollah regime. Now that is the pitch that's coming in from the US president saying that while his subordinates are moving the goalpost time and time again Donald Trump has said in just short while back in press briefing that his aim is regime change in the nation of Iran. He reiterated that the United States has unlimited middle and upper ammunition to destroy the terrorist regime. also making it extremely clear that Iran will have to cow down to US military pressure, claiming that Iran has no option but to negotiate. Even when it comes to negotiation, Donald Trump has said that it's too late for them to negotiate and the Iranian regime has to fall. There has to be new set of leaders to take over the country and to protect the democratic principles when it comes to the movement calling for an end to dictatorship in Iran. That is what Donald Trump has said. He also said that if the United States did not intervene, Iran would have been armed with nuclear weapon. Listen in to what the US president had to say as he justifies the cause for war. In effect, trying to rein in the NATO allies to continue the efforts in the Middle East. You see, we were having negotiations with these lunatics and it was my opinion that they were going to attack first. They were going to attack. if we didn't do it, they were going to attack first. felt strongly about that. And we have great negotiators, great people, people that do this very successfully and have done it all their lives very successfully. And based on the way the negotiation was going, think they were going to attack first. And didn't want that to happen. So, if anything, might have forced Israel's hand, but Israel was ready and we were ready. And we've we've had very very powerful impact. Spain has been terrible. In fact, told Scott to cut off all dealings with Spain. Spain first of all, it started when every every European nation at my request paid 5% which they should be doing and everybody was enthusiastic about it. Germany, everybody. And Spain didn't do it. And now Spain actually said that we can't use their bases. And that's all right. We don't. We could use their base if we want. We could just fly in and use it. Nobody's going to tell us not to use it, but we don't have to. But they were unfriendly. And so told him, "We don't want to. Spain has absolutely nothing that we need other than great people. They have great people. And I'm not, by the way, I'm not happy with the UK either. that island that you read about the lease. Okay. He made for whatever reason he made lease of the island. Somebody came and took it away from him and it's taken 3 4 days for us to work out where we can land there. It would have been much more convenient landing there as opposed to flying many extra hours. So we are very surprised. We're hitting them very hard and the the big scale hitting goes now. They no longer have air protection. They no longer have any detection facilities at all left. And so they're going to they're going to be in for lot of hurt. These are bad people. These are people that killed guess it's 35,000. It's coming out. 35,000 over the last three weeks protesters. 35,000 violently killed. So these are bad people. And the leader of the pack is gone. And as you know, 49 people were taken out in the first hit. And guess there was another hit today on the new leadership and it looks like that was pretty substantial also. And let's get to our guests as the developments come in thick and fast from the Middle East. I'm joined by Lefnan Kono Duran Avatar, former commander of the special forces of the IDF. Thank you sir for joining us on the broadcast as well as Ashok Sajjanar, former diplomat. Also joining us is Yasmin Mad, Iranian scholar as well as political activist. Thank you so much for joining us ladies and gentlemen. Left colonel Avatal, I'll come to you first. The fourth day of operation roaring lion. Netanyahu very confident about the action that has been taken against the Iranian regime. Donald Trump also full support behind the Israeli government. But given the fact that the energy corridor in the Arab world is now under constant pressure and threat given the fact that even oil prices have shot up, has there been some level of miscalculation from the Americans as well as the Israelis? It's yet to be seen looking forward what will be the consequences in terms of tactical achievements and the objective that were set. The objective was set very fast, very quickly in the first few days. elimination of the leadership, the whole infrastructure of air defense system. So basically Iran is completely open eliminating the the navy, the Iranian navy. But still of course you have to look at the long the long run. What is the end game of this of this war and this is where Trump steps in with the regime shift. the question which regime he actually said that even the the second the second line of regime was eliminated. So who is the regime shift? It talks about better leadership. Is it like in the prospect of this liberal democracy whatever that can emerge in Iran? It's hard to see this. The question what kind of new leadership can emerge that can end this game. The strategy of the Iranian is is very clear. Create enough chaos that would force the hand of Trump and would force the hand of the US and then to conclude this with negotiation. It's not clear. Right. and Yasmin Mat when it comes to regime change now that's something Donald Ronald Trump is talking extensively about the first pitch coming in from the United States was to dismantle the nuclear arsenal as well as the nuclear capabilities of the Iranian regime now Donald Trump you just heard him he said that the Ayatollah's regime has killed over 35,000 people and these are bad people as per the US president and another regime needs to take control is that easier said than done given the institutions of power in Iran It's easier said than done. there are number of issues. First of all, the 35,000 is an exaggerated figure. lot of people were killed, probably few thousand, and that's bad enough. There's no need to exaggerate. However, this regime has many enemies. Protests shows that it's clear, but it also has support base. And that support you have seen when the family was killed, that support was on the streets of major cities. So you're either going to have civil war or this government, this regime in its various formats will be able to repress the protesters. You are not going to have suddenly these people moving away and the new government liberal democracy. don't know what that is nowadays given the world situation but democracy suddenly flourishes out of it. This government has repressed liberal opposition, left opposition, secular opposition. Who is left to replace? Many people believe that Trump believes he can replace this with others within the current regime or strong man from the commanders of the revolutionary guard. Maybe he has people in mind. don't know. But none of this will serve the people of Iran or the protesters. now the protesters will have to calculate are they going to face these huge crowds where nationalism patriotism has changed the equation in terms of how many people are against the regime how many people are for the regime we don't know right and that's very interesting take sinar want to come to you on that could we see the resurgence of new wave of Iranian nationalism of Of course there's lot of anger against the Ayatollah's regime but given walked in and said we're going to create cord and sanitary for ourselves leave and we're also going to go after Hezbollah. So that's really what's happening here and that's clear message that is coming in. But even as we see collateral in terms of other countries that seem to be bearing the brunt, the direct fight between Israel and Iran will continue and the latest in fact we're seeing is something that's coming in from Tel Aviv where smoke seems to be rising in. there are injuries in Betsomesh that have been reported as well. There was direct hit in Tel Aviv. That's the latest that we are gathering as far as attacks of Iran on Israel are concerned. These are all drones, missiles that are being fired from the Iranian side into Israel. There are several cities in Israel that seem to be particularly targeted by Iran. Rasalain is one of them. Tel Aviv and Betamesh which was also targeted two days ago where nine civilians was killed. Nine civilians were killed. That's another piece of information that is now just trickling in. to get sense of what exactly is transpiring. believe Aman Sharma is also now joining us giving us more inputs of what exactly is transpiring in the region. Well, Punam, what we have right now is detailed statement being issued by India. The Ministry of External Affairs issuing detailed statement on the conflict that is happening. The MEIA is now saying that unfortunately in the holy month of Ramadan, the situation in the entire Middle East region has deteriorated significantly and continuously. India is also reiterating that it is most concerned about the safety of Indians who live in the Middle East. Nearly 8 million people of Indian origin live in the Middle East. It is Indian statement is saying that the deaths and the destruction have mounted even as normal life and economic activities have come to halt as approximate neighbor with critical stakes in the security and stability of the region. These developments evoke great anxiety. This is what Indian government is now saying. There are almost 1 cr Indian citizens who live and work in the Gulf region. Their safety and well-being is of utmost priority. We cannot be impervious impervious to any development that negatively affects them. That is what the Indian government is saying. No outright condemnation yet of Kmeni's killing. But the Indian government is very clear Rahul on what they are saying now. Well, you know the priorities are very clear. We have to safeguard our interests. The Kamani matter think has been left aside and we've already sort of spoken and expressed our deep concern but the point is from oil to remittances India's exposed and had put out some facts little while back and I'm going to read some of them to you. India imports 90% of its crude oil as we know. so we are also highly sensitive to West Asian disruptions because as you know from West Asia West Asia 51% of the supply comes in Russia is the next 20%. Straight of hormones is now choked. So we're fearing that we're going to have problems on that front. LG as you know is not coming out of one of the biggest LG producers in the world. Interestingly Rahul they mentioned that in the statement as well. India is saying that our trade and energy supply chains also traverse this geography. Any major disruption has serious consequences for the Indian economy. As country whose nationals are prominent in the global workforce, India is also firmly opposed to attacks on merchant shipping. So India is clearly saying its economy could have serious consequences if the states of foremost remains blocked. Absolutely. Because look, right now we are pulling ahead as you know the GDP numbers were released just about 3 or 4 days ago. And you saw that the projections for the next year have also been increased. know this is new series but nonetheless we are looking at an upside and suddenly you have this disruptive war which is going to throw all those calculations once again out of the window. Then there is the question that you were talking about which is remittance economy which is from the dashpora. What are we talking about 1 cr Indians that live and work in GCC countries in which UAE alone is 43 lakhs. So 43 lakhs which is 39% of the population four out of 10 are living in just the UAE and if you break it down beyond that Saudi Arabia is 2.7 million so 27 lakhs Kuwait is 1 million that's 10 lakhs Qatar is just under that that's about 8 lakhs and where are these sectors that they're employed in these are construction hospitality healthcare services and all of these by the way are locked down in the UAE because of these drone attacks that have come through. So it's also India that is going to start facing the problem. And then of course there is the trade and business link that is also referred to in this statement. Absolutely. think the Indian government by its statement is making breaking it very clear that India does not want any impact on its economy. It wants Indian citizens to be safe and that is why it's 57 57 billion of our exports go to the GCC and we are talking about perishable goods. lot of our food etc goes there and that becomes problematic. when you really look at it from that perspective our entire focus right now is to boost our exports and find markets for our exports. That's why we've just signed as you know trade agreement with couple of Gulf countries also and the prime minister is working with the government to try and forge other agreements with other countries. We've just had the Canadians here and the Canadians have says by the year end we're going to have free trade agreement. We've had it with the UK and the EU. So we are moving quickly. We're also negotiating with the United States. But look at this clearly and that is why India is again reiterating its call for dialogue and diplomacy. The MEA statement saying we raise our voice clearly in the favor of an early end to the conflict. Many lives have been regrettably lost and we express our grief in that regard. So think the MEA statement clearly putting the record straight on what really India's priorities are. And in the morning we saw Sonia Gandhi write piece you know asking India why it was not you know condemning Kami's death but think Indian government has made its priorities very clear through this long and detailed statement. She said she said silence was abdication without actually in any way taking positions. just want to state some facts before bring in both Gria and Punam. The facts are that even the UPA in its time did not take position. For example, when Gaddafi was ousted by again regime change operation when Saddam Hussein was assassinated, Saddam Hussein was assassinated or well hung actually he was captured and then hung or even when you've had regime change in other quarters of the world. So there is little bit of hypocrisy there and clearly it's born out of sense of political compulsion. And back to you in the studio. Right. Absolutely Rahul and Amanda, thank you so much for that assessment. India is making it amply clear that they have stakes in the region and they want deescalation very very soon. But here look at what we have for you in the studio. We are looking at the global collective. Where do the in fact alliances lie? What are the blocks that one is looking at? If you take look at this world alignment block here on the studios in the wall there you see the big block here which is of course led by the United States of America that also goes on to include Israel, the UK of course and also France, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar basically all the Gulf nations they go on to form this one block that comes under west and there is an anti-West block clearly with Iran, Russia and China and that's why this entire straight of hormones that also Rahul was referring to and how India's strategic interest and also the energy flow that in fact happens from the straight of hormos has been blocked. The other countries their vessels have been blocked but there are two countries their vessels are being allowed to pass and that strategically is also China. Russia to an extent doesn't cross the straight of Hormus that much but China has been granted that leverage even as Iran goes on to announce that blockade in the straight of Hormos. So this is what we are talking about block one which is western block which is where you see of course the global powers like USU UK France and there is block two which has of course Iran, China and Russia. We will need Rahul's assessment all this and India's position so to speak and we'll expand onto that thought Rahul that you were making earlier now that the statement by the ministry of external affairs is also out. Yeah, thanks thanks Gria there for that. Yes, we put that out so beautifully, didn't we? It was very clear division between the east really and the allies there in the west so to speak which is this block that is supporting the United States. remember my mind goes back to that famous quote by Henry Kissinger that to be friend of America is fatal. Actually an enemy is bad enough but being friend is fatal. large number of these countries that had tied up with the Americans, given them bases in exchange for petro dollars as the term was because they were selling oil to the Americans. And the Americans said that look, we can take care of you. We can provide you security shield. You do your business. You sell us the oil. We'll take care of your strategic as well as your external security interests. These countries went into this arrangement and today the Americans are calling the favor back and you have situation where the entire Gulf is now in chaos and large number of these countries as you know founded their reputation on providing stability. So they said that look lot happens in this area but we're immune from it. It happens between Israel and Lebanon and Iran and Iraq. But here we are in little island of our own so to speak where in the Gulf and in across the street of Homus there's tranquility. We are moving towards service and financial economy much like Singapore and London had done in the past and large number of them were transitioning away from fossil fuels because as you know these are non-renewable energy resources. So after point in time they're going to run out. So these countries were building their own economies. There lot of infrastructure that was created, real estate to extract to to to actually attract expats, top professionals and money, investments and all of that today going up in smoke because of this sort of war between the two blocks and India has done well not hypothecating either its security or its interest to any of these two blocks. So think we've done well by not picking sides. But will India feel the impact on? Let's go straight across to IDF spokesperson Ben Cohen who joins us from the front lines. Really? Thank you Ben for speaking with us. What's the situation right now in Israel? What are we expecting by the way of timelines? Is this war going according to plan? So, just returned from the bomb shelter from siren that was just in the area. We started this operation, Operation Roaring Lion on Saturday morning when the IDF and the US armed forces started joint operation intended to do one thing, and that's eliminate an existential threat. threat that's relevant to the state of Israel, to the United States, and to the world at large, and that's been proved over the last few days. The strikes started on Saturday morning when we eliminated more than 40 senior Iranian commanders, including Supreme Leader Kami, and they continued over recent days as we struck aerial defense targets, ballistic missile targets, and other Iranian terrorist regime targets in Tehran and in Iran at large. Over the last 36 hours, the Hezbollah terrorist organization, the Iranian terrorist regime's main proxy, made strategic mistake and decided to fire dozens of rockets and UAVs at Israel. And at this time, in congruent to IDF strikes and US armed forces strikes in Iran, the IDF is striking Hezbollah terrorist organization commanders and targets in order to eliminate that threat on Israeli civilians. So, of course, we're hearing that the new Iranian defense minister has been eliminated in fresh wave of strikes from Israel. But what we're seeing also is resistance coming from Iran. They seem to have hunkered down. They're sending these drones. Many people are saying that this is strategy where they are trying to exhaust your munitions, the Iron Dome, patience of the Gulf allies. Is this what Iran's game plan is or are they actually not being able to react using some of their hypersonic weapons and other bigger weapons because of compulsion? What's exactly happening from your perspective? How do you read this? So, can tell you that after 2 and 1/2 years of war and after the 7th of October, the IDF has learned that we never underestimate our enemies. We understand the threat that the Iranian terrorist regime poses. And as far as it goes to their strategy, can tell you one thing for certain, and that's that they have strategy to target and hurt civilians specifically. This isn't just message. It's concrete intelligence we have at hand. They're sending those ballistic missiles and their drones to civilian areas, not just in Israel, but in the entire Middle East. Okay. Well, what we're also hearing is that the longer this war continues, and I'm going to ask you little bit about timelines, but the longer this war is continuing, costs are also escalating as we know. Right now, I'm hearing that oil is up by about 8 to 10%, silver is up by 11%, the straight of horm is completely blocked. The new Iranian defense minister of course has been eliminated and just discussed that with you and you're doing fantastic job of trying to eliminate the top leadership. But is that really having an effect? Can bombs substitute for ground invasion and affect regime change? So one is that question and the longer we obviously stay in this war there are these knock-on effects. So how do you react to that? So we operate in accordance to clear military objectives and that military objective is to eliminate that existential threat. Those ballistic missiles, the launchers, the infrastructure to eliminate the ability of the Iranian terrorist regime to operate their proxies on our borders as we see with Hezbollah and to eliminate the ability of the Iranian terrorist regime to pose military threat upon Israel and the Middle East. And we will continue to do that for as long as the political echelon asks of us. We have many targets at hand. We continue to strike all the time and we'll do that for as long as need be. But want to make clear our target is to eliminate that military to eliminate that military threat. And the IDF in contrast to the Iranian terror regime strikes military targets. there are some experts who say that your stockpiles will fast deplete and you will then have to sort of recalibrate. Is there danger of that? The IDF has been at war for two and half years on more than seven fronts. We've been prepared to operate on all of those fronts and we've been able to continuously protect ourselves on all of those fronts. We have the capacity and the ability to keep operating for as long as we'll need to even in multiple fronts at once in order to protect Israeli civilians. Can you explain the reason behind crossing the border once again into Lebanon and launching what some people are saying is ground offensive? What's the idea behind that? Of course. So on October 8th when Hezbollah made the decision to start firing indiscriminately rockets and UAVs at Israeli civilians, Israel made choice to evacuate tens of thousands of civilians from their homes in northern Israel. After October 7th, we understand that we can't allow for reality where terrorist organizations on our borders move our civilians away. For that reason, overnight, IDF troops situated themselves in an enhanced forward defensive posture. And want to emphasize this isn't ground invasion. We have IDF troops on the northern side of the border with Lebanon in order to protect ourselves from Hezbollah because we understand that there are civilians in the north and we need our IDF troops to be able to protect them from the terrorists who can get in their way. explain to us little bit about the strategy that has been employed because what we're seeing is that there is constant barrage of missiles that are coming out of Iran or drones that are coming out and somehow making it across the straight of Hormuz or the Gulf and landing in the UAE and other geographies. How is that happening if you have aerial domination? So again, the IDF operates in coordination with the United States armed forces and other allies in order to do aerial defense as effectively as possible. The Iranian terrorist regime has very clearly proved over recent days that they are not just threat to Israel and to the United States, but to the region at large. They're firing ballistic missiles in every direction. We do the best within our operational capacity to defend ourselves, but we understand that there are risks. There are risks involved when you have terrorist regime with hundreds of and thousands of ballistic missiles that they want to fire on civilians. want to come back to that original question. The Americans have now come out and said that regime change was not the objective. Trump has come out and said it. Hexath has come out and said it. Rubio seems to be suggesting it. Do you share that? So again, as said, the objective is very clear. It's to eliminate that existential threat that we have on the state of Israel and at large. And that's military threat. It's the fact that the Iranian regime since Rising Lion, which is the operation the IDF conducted last year in June, have set out goal for themselves to manufacture 8,000 ballistic missiles by 2027. Now, imagine for yourself for moment. There was hit few days ago in Bameish in Israel. synagogue in Israel that gets direct impact. Nine people are dead. Imagine 8,000 missiles that can each create that direct impact. That's an existential threat. So, we have military objective and that military objective is to remove the existential threat that the terrorist regime prevents on us. That's what we're striking, military targets. Well, Ben Cohen, thank you very much for speaking with me. Let's just follow me. Thank you very much. We're going to check back with you in just few days. But here we are joining the take three XL. Lovely to see usual. Yeah, you know, interesting conversation. Let's just pick it up from there itself. What left Benoa actually had to say that it was after Roaring Lion last year, the 12-day war that it was not in Israel that they said death to Iran. It was not in Israel that there was clock tower that said that set clock countdown and it was not the Israeli prime minister who set down countdown clock back saying that by 2027 we've got to set up 8,000 ballistic missiles and we need to wipe out Israel in the next 2 years. It happened in Iran. So Israel's point has always been we've never said death to Iran. It's the Iranians who under Kami who have said death to Israel, death to America, let's kill all Jews. Tom Cooper, beg to differ little bit in this regards because one so rhetoric as fiery and as venomous as as that of the Iranian regime without defending it is one thing and the ability to actually do something is entirely different situation. That's why always say Iranians can cry as much as they like that they're going to wipe out Israel, but they can't do that. On the contrary, as we can see, Israel can with especially with US support bomb Iran up and down as as it almost as it likes. Not entirely as it likes, but but that's also true that from the from 2024, 2025 till 2027, even now Iran has significantly amped up its ballistic missiles caching. If you see right now in the last two days, Zaka, you know, is also with us and viewers, let's get this. The estimate is that they have at least 600 missiles that have been fired already. Yeah. Already. So, and they are saying we're just getting started. So, that means unless they're sitting on stockpile of medium to short range and of course long-range missiles of about 3,500 plus missiles, they're not going to be able to to make this post. So look Anand I've been saying this even yesterday I'm saying this today Iran has finite number of missiles right and whatever they can expend in this particular war because the Iranian nation is going to continue even beyond these these few days of the war will have to be let's say they have number of missiles it'll have to be number whatever the factor is so the most conservative estimates say they have 2,000 or 3,000 missiles the most expansive estimates say they have upwards of 10,000 So my point is it's finite number. At some point, you know, all this firing of missiles will have to stop. Even with the drones, as cheap as they are, mean, we were talking about it, you know, $2,000, $3,000, whatever it is, $10,000. The point is that there's finite number of ammunition that the Iranians have and that's going to run out at some point. Look, what what is at play? This is the big picture as see it. Iran needs to seek revenge. their supreme leader, their spiritual guide, their political and you know the the the the man who really controlled that state over the last 40 years is dead and dead brutally. mean don't want to get into objectives and stuff but he got killed like dog. I'm sorry to say this but that's really what happened. Now the point is Iran needs to do something to be seen as avenging that right? That's their way out. So, how do see this war ending? It has to be either of two possibilities. One is Iran needs way out, which is that they have to take high value American target out. Look at what happened last June when the 12-day war concluded. How did it end? Yeah, it ended with Iran hitting the Aluded air base in Qatar, which is an American air base. Nobody died because people were all evacuated, but at least they hit an American air base and they could tell back to their people. So, that was their offramp. That was their offramp. Yeah. What is the offramp now? Right now there is no offramp which is why they continuing offramp right now Rahul what they have said larani has actually said it and they have said that it's BB Netanyahu they are they're not going to hit BB Netanyahu said this yesterday I've been inside BB Netanyahu's office they are saying they are saying exactly what the Israelis said about Ki saying we know his movements we know where he is going we know what he is doing they are now out for Nathan Yahoo's head that's where they will settle because clearly they don't want to touch Trump but here it is Nathan Yao and someone like Trump says it was either me or Hame and Hami had to go that was also something which Trump said so how do you see this we'll get into the nuclear aspect and also Trump shifting goalposts through the course of this conversation but first your thing about what is Iran's offramp here which is going to perhaps deescalate this look first of all don't believe that the Iranians are looking to actually take revenge think the regime there is looking to survive with the Trump administration and others now coming out and saying that look at the end of the day we're not looking for regime change don't see where this where the end is where this war is going what are the objectives now if it wasn't regime change then what was this about okay you've eliminated few people but more people will step in and if they step in and the US and the Israelis say, we've neutered their weapon systems and this that the other." Fine, the war might end. There might be an offramp offered or maybe they will come to the table, but that regime won't go and after another four or years or 2 years or 3 years, you'd have another buildup and you'll have another replay. So this war is ending in inanities to me or going there. Now the prime minister is talking to the Sultan of Oman, the crown prince of Kuwait over the Gulf War. think the best bet now for these Gulf nations also sort of come together and form bridge. They are the ones who should sort of talk to Iran and they should talk to the United States, pull back and say, "Guys, think the time has come when you redefine what you're up to here. Come to the table. Let's start the negotiations." they can't become part of the problem because they're clearly bleeding and we've got situation where the MEA has mentioned that we're worried now about the soal shock hitting us. Right. Agree, disagree. Tom Cooper, agree or disagree. I'm I'm for example, agree with Zaka when he says it depends on missile talk. said right right away this is going to be game of numbers. Point is, however, that also the the Israeli US missile talks cannot be fantastic because just yesterday they have they plus the plus the US customers for Petriot missiles in the in the Gulf has wiped out the entire year worth of production of Patriot missiles just yesterday. This is something like 600 missiles they are gone spent and between others in order to shut down three US aircraft. So don't see where is this where should this go. It is it is the same story with all wars Israel has initiated already since 19 56. there's always somebody on the other side who is little or mortal threat for the country then they invade there's war there are sometimes hundreds sometimes thousands this war is where is it going and every time don't see any clear objectives here let's understand first they said they want regime change now they killed the but there is there is there doesn't seem to be regime change at this moment happening because they've immediately got somebody in place in Aliza and he seems to be following the not how Iraq played out when when Saddam was sort of hounded out of office and chemical Ali and all his cabinet was sort of found and shot dead the regime imploded because it was actually minority Bist party which controlled majority here exactly the situation is that these people are from the larger population there is homogeneity so people will just step in to say we have to defend the larger interests of Iran If we become shahid, no promps, you know, sorry, beg to differ on this. people tend to to to sort of paint Iran as this homogeneous society. It is not. Only 60% of Iran is Persian. The remaining 40% is Kurds, you know, Azeris, there are all kinds of other Balo, there are all kinds of other minorities. Now, here's the thing. When theyed out Saddam Hussein in 2003, it was unfinished business from 1991. The father bush could not finish it. The son Bush came and tried to finish it. When they hounded out Saddam Hussein in 2003, it took them two months between the launch of the war, think it was called oper operation desert storm, and then 2 months later they found Saddam Hussein. Those famous words, you know, we got it right here. The principal objective of the Trump administration, certainly for Mr. Trump individually, was to smoke out Hamini. And he's got that on day one. tomorrow, like this morning, daybreak in the US. If Trump wakes up and says, "That's it. America is done. I'm done. I'm ending this war." Israel cannot continue this war on its own. The rest of the region cannot continue this war on its own. It depends entirely on the United States. No, but having said that, the rest of the Hang on, what is there to disagree about? Hang on. So, the point is, the point is Trump has got whatever he wanted. All I'm saying is that this war that this that this that this war is going nowhere. If Trump pulls out, you know what people are going to say? That you started conflict in the region. All of us have been burnt by this and you walk away from the table without being able to kick out the regime because he's what he wanted. No, no, hang on one second. One second. You You might have the bragging rights, but at the end of the day, that's the end of it. The regime is still there. The regime is still there. The regime is still there. The women are still going to be sort of unfortunately terrorized. Young civilians who have risen up or at least expressed their support for the outside world are still going to be tormented and jailed. They will be back and it'll be an only matter of one thing. hate to break it to you. Trump doesn't care. It doesn't matter. Trump doesn't care. All he wanted was the head of the snake. He's not the head of the snake. What did start by saying? What did start by saying that this regime doesn't want revenge? It wants to survive because it just knows that look there are interests. There are business interests. This is not some business interest. These are business interest. No one walks away from the business interest. You have Pakist drones and eight cruise missiles. There were 68 injuries and some damages which are medium and low. We would like to highlight that the sounds that we hear in different areas in the UAE are the result of interception of ballistic weapons and and attacking the drones and crew. This proves the readiness of the Ministry of Defense in the UAE and and armed forces and departments concerned in all departments which confirms that we are dealing with all types of threats. Ladies and gentlemen, Now we will show you some samples of attacking our our jet Mirage 2000 attacking the aggression of Iranian the Iranian forces. This is brief of sample of intersection and destroying of the attacks and aggression by the cruises and play jets of from Iran. Also, ladies and gentlemen, would like to highlight the drones that were damaged and missiles that were damaged by our air force. We start with this ballistic tactical missile which was damaged. We intersected hundreds of these missiles. We another another another missile cruise missile which is threat that we face and it is difficult sometimes to deal with these crews but we destroyed them and intersected them through our defense forces in the UAE. Also, Shahed drone 136 was intersected. Hundreds of these were destroyed and damaged. Iran says the gates of hell are open. Israel says it will respond with force. Meanwhile, missiles continue to fly in all directions. We'll bring you the latest updates tonight and the videos that sum up this war from strikes in Lebanon to mass graves in Iran and Israelis partying in bomb shelters. We're also looking at who could join next. Will the Gulf states fire back? Will Europe be dragged into this conflict? We ask because now European bases are also under attack. Also, the backstory of how Ayatah was tracked. report says Israel hacked Thran's traffic cameras and studied patterns for years. In Thran, the big discussion is that of succession. Who will be the next Ayatollah? Will it be Humeni's grandson? Also trying to make sense of Donald Trump's strategy. What's his plan? Did he bite more than he can chew? And the economics of exhaustion. Iran's $20,000 drones are exhausting America's $4 million interceptors. That's all your questions answered in our special segment as we try to make sense of this chaos. The headlines first. Prime Minister Narendra Modi calls the leaders of Qatar, Oman and Kuwait. He expressed his concern over the attacks on their countries. The Prime Minister also discussed the security of the Indian community residing in these Gulf countries. Around 10 million Indians live in the region. Italy summons the Iranian ambassador to protest drones drone attack on UK base in Cyprus. The country's deputy prime minister said he reiterated Rome Stan that Italy is not part of the US and Israel's war against Iran. Reports say the British base could have been hit by drones launched by his bullah from nearby Lebanon. Donald Trump says the historical relationship between the US and Britain is not like it used to be. This comes amid diplomatic spat over the war against Iran. British Prime Minister Kia Starmmer had angered Trump by initially refusing to play any role in the war. Star later agreed to allow the US limited use of its military bases. Russia's central bank sues the European Union over indefinitely freezing its assets. Around $230 billion dollars of Moscow's reserves have been frozen by the block over the Ukraine war. Russia cannot access the assets till it ends the war and provides reparations to Ukraine. And the Sudan's government says drone attacks on its territory are coming from Ethiopia. For nearly 3 years, civil war has been raging in the Sudan. But this is the first time that Ethiopia has been officially accused of interference. There is no let up in West Asia. Iran is talking about opening the gates of hell. Their missiles and drones are slamming into Gulf states and Israeli cities. It's fast turning into war of attrition. American air defenses versus Iranian missiles. Today, Thran struck the US embassy in Saudi Arabia. Two drones slammed into the American building and soon it was engulfed in smoke. Yesterday, the US embassy in Kuwait was also hit. So, Washington has decided to shut both embassies. The UA was also targeted by drones today. One of the interceptions caused fire at major oil facility. Missiles also targeted Israeli cities. large wave was fired early in the morning. Some of them were shot down by Israeli and US air defenses, but few missiles did find their target. They hit multiple locations in central Israel. Reports say nine people have been injured. And what about the other side? Well, Israel has opened second front against Lebanon. Their fighter jets are bombing targets deep in Beirut. As of now, 40 people have been killed have been wounded in Lebanon. And it's not just an aerial onslaught. Israel has ordered ground invasion as well. They plan to create buffer zone in southern Lebanon. Meanwhile, the Hezbollah is trying to fight back. They're firing rockets at northern Israel, leading to mid-air interceptions by the Iron Dome. This is the secondary front for Israel. Iran remains the primary target. Their fighter jets continue to bomb locations in the west and in Thran. Today, they hit government buildings in the capital, including the presidential office and the Assembly of Experts. These are sites attacked in Iran. Now, this assembly of experts, this assembly building is where the next supreme leader is supposed to be selected. But Israel has blown it up. boy. Like yesterday, they're also hitting missiles and launchers. Remember, Iran has the largest missile stockpile in West Asia. It is their biggest weapon in this war. Israeli jets are flying multiple sorties into Iran. They're taking out more and more launching sites. Israel claims they've carried out 60 waves of attacks, put together. More than 2,000 Iranian targets have been hit. Which brings us to the US. What is the American military up to? The US has deployed its B2 and B1 bombers. They're using these planes to strike underground silos and launching sites, locations that cannot be breached easily. In addition, the US is also bombing internal security targets, things like police stations, detention centers, intelligence offices. The Americans are going after all of this in Iran. And these facilities are used by the regime to crack down on disscent. By attacking them, the US is hoping to weaken the regime's grip on power. Basically, they're setting the stage for massive protests in Iran. And that sums up the battlefield updates. What about diplomacy? Is anyone interested in an off-ramp? Well, look at Donald Trump's latest message, and I'm quoting, "Their air defense, Air Force, Navy, and leadership is gone. They want to talk. said too late." And just to be clear, until yesterday, Trump did want to talk to the Iranians. He said the new Iranian leadership had reached out to him, but then Iran's security chief rebuffed him. He said there would be no negotiations with the Americans. So now, 24 hours later, Trump has also made U-turn. He says there will be no talks. But here's the problem. Wars are not just fought with resolve. You need weapons to keep fighting them. Multiple US media reports say the Pentagon is worried. That's the US defense ministry. They're worried. They fear long war will deplete American stockpile. So once again, Trump came out with long social media post. And let me quote again from what he said. The United States munition stockpiles have at the medium and upper medium grade never been higher or better. As was stated to me today, we have virtually unlimited supply of these weapons. Wars can be fought forever and very successfully using just these supplies. At the highest end, we have good supply, but are not where we want to be. Well, that's half admission by Donald Trump. He says the high-end stockpile is not where he wants to be. And yet, he's not deescalating. Trump actually says bigger wave of attacks is coming. So, it's not clear what he's trying to say. Like said, more than 2,000 Iranian targets have already been hit. More than 2,000 targets. So, what would bigger wave look like? That's the question. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is betting on quick success. He says this will not be an endless war. hear the people are saying we're going to have an endless war here. said it's could be quick and decisive. It may take some time, but it's not going to take years. It's not an endless war. In fact, it's an effort right now to achieve the peace that we all yearn and pray for. And think together we'll achieve it. Trump is saying something different, though. We'll tell you about his position later on the show, but for now, listen to the Iranian military. They are not backing down either. Despite the sustained attacks from the other side, the Iranians continue to hit back. The Iranian guards say the gates of hell are opening for America and Israel. The enemy must await continuous punitive attacks. The gates of hell will open more and more, moment by moment, upon the United States and Israel. It's basically race against time. Iran wants to grind out the enemy air defenses much like they did in last year's 12-day war. Meanwhile, Israel is betting on blitzkrieg. They want to defang Iran's missiles before their air defenses run out. It's question of what will happen first. Like said, it's day before the war and by now you know the drill. This war is playing out on your screens too. Your feed is flooded. Every hour, thousands of videos are pouring in. So, every day we try to cut through the noise. We bring you the most important videos from the last 24 hours because, as we keep saying, misinformation is flying faster than missiles. And with artificial intelligence in the mix, it's harder than ever to tell what is real. So, let's bring you our top videos. The top videos that you need to see today. Video number one is from Beirut. Beirut is the capital of Lebanon. As you know, the war is spreading across the region. Multiple countries are coming under fire. And last night, it was Lebanon that took the hit. Lebanon is home to the Hisbullah. It's Shia militant group and regional proxy of Iran. Now, Israel says Hisbullah has joined the war, which is why they're hitting Hisbullah bases in Lebanon. The Israelis are hitting these bases. As you can see on your screens, these are visuals on there are visuals on the blasts. They show Israeli strikes on multiple Hezbollah targets. Multiple videos captured the exact moment of the attack. People were seen sprinting away in panic. Onlookers dropped everything and ran for cover. Thick plumes of smoke erupted into the sky and in matter of seconds, chaos took over the streets. video number three is from Iran. It is disturbing video. So we advise viewer discretion. These are images from city called Minab in the south of the country. USIsraeli strike hit school in the city. It killed 160 school girls. Now the US and Israel insist that they were not behind the strike, but Iran has been slamming them. And now we have images of mass graves being dug to bury the children. Take look. Multiple funerals were held in Minad. Thousands also gathered to mourn these school girls. Here's another video from Iran. It shows people running for their lives. This is after an air strike near the Russian embassy in Thran. Footage shows locals dragging injured people. Some were even overcome with grief. It's not just Iran. Israel too is coming under fire. Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benamin Netanyahu visited West Jerusalem. He tooured site that was struck by Iranian missiles. When stand here in place that was bombarded by the terrorist in Tehran against innocent civilians, you see the difference. The tyrants of Tehran target civilians. We target the tyrants of Tehran to protect civilians. And what is war without the weapons? Like said, all sides are releasing war videos every hour. Iran released footage showing the launch of its missiles, especially the Kadr and Imad missiles. Meanwhile, America's Central Command showed off US firepower, including the B2 bomber. Caught in this crossfire are the Gulf States. Iran is attacking them left, right and center. And while the physical damage has been limited, the strikes have shattered the sense of security. Cities like Dubai were seen as safe havens. Centers of global finance and tourism. An attack on Dubai was unimaginable and yet it happened. And since then, the mood has shifted. Yes, the skyscrapers still shine. Yes, the malls are still packed. But there's an edge in the air and it seems the leadership knows this. So today, in an attempt to show that Dubai is safe, the UA president himself went to mall. We're talking about MBZ, Muhammad bin Zed al- Nayan. He was seen walking through the Dubai mall. With him was the crown prince of Dubai, Shik Hamdan. Later, they enjoyed meal at restaurant. They even interacted with other people visiting the mall. Dubai is out shopping amid falling missiles. Israel is one step step ahead. It is partying. They have Jewish holiday called Purim, but the government has banned public gatherings. So, Israelis have moved the party underground. They're celebrating in garages and bomb shelters. Forever. Those are our top videos for today. The military war is not slowing down and neither is the information war around it. So, like we say every day, make sure you verify what you're sharing online. Iran's strategy is clear. They want to make this regional war. war that will hurt America's allies in the Gulf. war that hurts countries like Saudi Arabia, the UA, and Qatar. We have seen relentless missiles and drone strikes from Iran. First at US bases in these countries, then at civilian sites like hotels, and now at energy facilities. Yesterday, Iran hit Saudi Arabia's largest oil refinery, Aramco's Ras Tanura, on the Persian Gulf. The refinery was shut down following the Iranian strikes. On the same day, Iran also hitQatar's Ras Lafan facility. This is run byQatar Energy, the largest LG producer in the world. DHA 2 has shut down this facility. And then today the UA was hit. Their oil facility in Fuera was struck by by drone debris. Also today, the Iranians have shut the straight of Hormuz. This waterway carries 20% of global oil trade. It's key export route for the Gulf States and Iran has shut it. Of course, Iran is doing this on purpose. They know that the energy this that energy is lifeline of the Gulf economy. If you cut that off, you can choke them. You can make them desperate. You can make the Gulf States desperate. The question is, what happens after that? Well, there are three possibilities. One, the Gulf States continue holding defensive posture. Basically, they keep shooting down Iranian drones and missiles. But there's problem with that. They do not have endless air defenses. They're using multiple interceptors to shoot down missiles. So, the worry is they will run out of stock. Reports say some Gulf states have used up missiles built up over years in just 4 days. And apparently the US is not replenishing their stock. When some Gulf states asked for interceptors, the United States ignored them. So, the current status quo is not sustainable. You cannot endlessly defend against drones and missiles. Which brings us to the second possibility. The Gulf states can enter the war. They can either allow Israel and the US to strike Iran from their airspace or they can hit back themselves. Yesterday, Qatar scrambled fighter jets against Thran. They shot down two Iranian war plananes. In Saudi Arabia too, patience is wearing thin. The Saudi Kingdom has placed their military on state of high alert. The question is, will they take the plunge? Will they join the war? Let's look at their firepower first. Saudi Arabia has around 280 fighter aircraft. This includes the F-15 and the Euro Fighter Typhoon. The UAE has around 100 fighters. This includes the F-16s and the French Mirage 2000s. Qatar has also also has more than one 100 aircraft. This includes the Rafal, the Euro fighter and the Mirage. Now, politically, it makes more sense for the Gulf states to join the fighting to attack Iran themselves because if they open the airspace to Israel, the locals may not like it. The Arab population, as you know, is overwhelmingly anti-Israel. Having said that, an attack carries its own risks. For starters, you could be crowding the airspace. We saw what happened in Kuwait. Three American jets were shot down by Kuwait's own air defenses. So there's that's real risk. And secondly, Iran may hit back even harder. Iran's ballistic missiles could destroy oil and power facilities in the Gulf. It would take years, if not decades, to rebuild these. Which brings us to the final possibility. The Gulf states can push for peace. Now, this too is happening. According to reports, the UA and Qatar are privately lobbying for quick cease fire. They're asking American allies to find an off-ramp for Donald Trump. If true, this is ideal for Iran. This was the whole point of attacking the Gulf States. Iran wanted them to put pressure on Trump, to push Trump for ceasefire. Of course, Trump may or may not listen to them. He says he's willing to fight long war. It's certainly massive dilemma for these Gulf states. They cannot shoot down missiles forever. Nor can they risk even bigger Iranian attacks and of course they can't do nothing. So they will have to pick one of these options. Whatever they choose, expect them to act together. These attacks from Iran have united the Gulf States like never before. So any response will likely be joint one. IDF spokesperson Ben Cohen who joins us from the front lines. Really, thank you Ben for speaking with us. What's the situation right now in Israel? It retaliated first by attacking Israel and US assets, then by targeting Gulf Arab states, and now it has begun hitting the Europeans. Iran has struck British air base in Cyprus, and it has fired drones at French base in the UAE. Plus, air defense systems have been activated at multiple European facilities in the region. Long story short, Europe is being dragged into this war. European assets are under attack and European leaders are struggling to respond because this is not war they want to get into. But if they're targeted, they will have to respond. So far, we've heard from their biggest players, the UK, France, and Germany. We've seen them responding. They issued joint statement over the weekend. The statement carried direct message to Iran. Stop your attacks or we will strike back. Strong words. It appears that the big three in Europe are putting up strong and united front. But in practice, European nations are heading in different directions. Take Britain for instance. London received request from Washington. The US wanted access to two British bases in West Asia. The Americans wanted to use these bases to launch attacks on Iran. The UK resisted first, but then it agreed and it called them defensive strikes. The United States has requested permission to use British bases for that specific and limited defensive purpose. We have taken the decision to accept this request to prevent Iran firing missiles across the region, killing innocent civilians, putting British lives at risk, and hitting countries that have not been involved. He said it's for defensive purpose. Well, here's the problem with that framing. The United States is the one that is driving this escalation. This is not defensive operation in any sense of the term. So effectively British bases will be used as launch pads for American attacks. France meanwhile has taken different direction. France has deployed Rafal fighter jets over the UAE. This is to protect French naval and air bases from Iranian attacks. And then there is Greece. Athens has now ordered military deployment to Cyprus. Greece is deploying two frigates and two F-16 fighter jets. What about Germany? Germany has decided to wait and watch. Germany says it will act only if its own soldiers come under direct attack. But the risk of an escalation is no longer hypothetical. Thran has made it real today. Today, Iran issued warning to European states. Its foreign ministry released statement. It said any action by European countries will be regarded as an act of war. And in response, Iran says it will target European cities. Iran is threatening to target European cities if European countries respond or take any action. Clearly, Europe is being drawn into this fighting. It's conflict that they had hoped to avoid. The threat assessment for them has changed almost overnight. And now European governments are rushing to manage the fallout. They've started pulling out their nationals. Those who were stranded across West Asia. Italy has started airlifting its nationals out of Dubai. Other countries are expected to follow suit. European leaders have begun consultations. This comes after Ursula Bond faced criticism over the weekend. Soon after Iran was attacked, the EU chief made statement. She announced an emergency meeting to discuss the conflict. an emergency meeting not within hours but on Monday basically after the weekend and sure enough the internet mocked her response to this war. Memes spread on social media saying that Europe's war response could wait until after the weekend. Then on Monday she made statement allow me to quote from what she said. She said that she was focusing on wide range of things from energy to nuclear from transport to migration to security. She also said we must be prepared for the fallout. So far, Europe has not been direct target, but after today's statement from Thran, European states are clearly in the crosshairs, increasingly being drawn into conflict that they were hoping to avoid. It was quiet Saturday morning in Thran. Iran's supreme leader walked into what was supposed to be another meeting and minutes later he was dead. Ayatah Kame was killed in joint strike by the US and Israel. But you already know this. Our story tonight is not the strike. Our story is the run-up to the strike and how it came about. It begins with surveillance. Surveillance that went on for years. This is according to new report by the Financial Times. It talks about surveillance so thorough that Israel knew Iran like the back of their hand. We're not talking about spying operation limited to few officials. We are talking about hacking city's entire traffic network. You heard that right. Apparently, Israel hacked into Thran's traffic network and that meant access to cameras. You see, Iran has built very extensive internal surveillance system. It had installed cameras to spy on its own people, to monitor protesters and dissenters. Unfortunately for them, the same cameras were used by the enemy to spy on the regime. One camera placed at just the right angle reportedly showed something small, but something very, very critical. It showed the place where Ayatollah Kame's security detail parked their cars. So, Israel started analyzing this footage. They started analyzing the patterns. When do the guards arrive? Where do they park their cars? Who drives which official? Who protects whom? Who swap shifts. Israel gathered all these details by hacking Thran's traffic cameras. And it proved to be gamecher because you don't kill leader by watching him. Leaders are hard to track anyway. You kill leader by watching the people around him. And that's what Israel did over time. The Israeli intelligence built data files. They called these pattern of life files. That's what they built. They gathered home addresses, commuting routes, and duty hours of these guards. It's like building Google Maps timeline, but for regime's inner circle. And Israel did this for years. Leading the project was Unit 8200. This is Israel's elite signals intelligence unit. The report says unit 8200 fed mountains of data into AIdriven systems. I'm talking about billions of data points, phone signals, camera feeds, movement patterns, relationship maps. They use something called network analysis. What does that mean? It's basically mapping who talks to whom and who influences whom. You try to make sense of network. And with this they built whole picture of Ayatah Kam's daily life. Now here's where this becomes almost sci-fi. On the day of the strike something strange happened. Cellular networks around Kam's compound were disrupted. Phones rang busy and warnings could not get through. Say you were Kam's bodyguard. You could not reach your team. Your calls were failing. At the same time, Israeli and US intelligence was at work. They confirmed that Kame was at his residence and that he was meeting top officials. And here's the other thing. They were not just depending on data. American intelligence also had human source confirming all of this. That's what reports say that they also had human intelligence. Now, Iran knew that an attack was coming. They knew that Israel and the US were going to strike at some point. Of course, the Ayatollah knew that knew that, too. But apparently he refused to go to bunker. He wanted to die as so-called martyr. What Thran did not anticipate was timing. They did not think that the strike would come in the morning. They did not think that it would happen in broad daylight. That's what happened. And as dramatic as this backstory is, it's not new for Israel. Their intelligence is known for things like this, for operations like this. You may remember what happened in 2024, the pager explosions. Israel crippled Hezbollah's communication network. Their rank and file used pagers to communicate. Israel hacked those devices and blew them up. So thousands of pagers exploded simultaneously and this killed thousands of Hisbullah fighters. That operation too is said to have taken years of infiltration, years of analyzing the same data, of figuring out patterns and knowing when to strike. And it tells you lot about modern warfare. Wars today are not fought with just missiles and jets. They're fought with data, with years of invisible surveillance and algorithms. And it's something that Israel has mastered. The long game in world of fastm moving conflicts. When Ayatah Kam died, Ayatah Kumeni rather died in 1989. Iran did not hand over power to his family. It handed power to Ali Kam. He was cleric, loyalist and safe pick for the regime. For 35 years, Ali Kam held the line. Now he's gone. new name is doing the rounds as his possible replacement and that's Hassan Hmeni. He is the grandson of Ayatah Kmeni, the founder of the Islamic Republic. So why is his name gaining traction? There are several factors that work in his favor. There is the name of course but beyond that Hassan Kmeni is moderate, someone who could potentially reconnect the regime with large population that is growing alienated. Our next report has more. Iran is facing question it has not faced in 35 years. Who leads the Islamic Republic? Ayatollah Ali Kam is dead. The man who held absolute authority over the military, the judiciary, foreign policy is gone. And the name being spoken most in the corridors of Tehran is not new one. It is Kmeni, not the founder, his grandson. Hassan Kmeni is 53 years old. He holds no government title. He has never served as minister, judge, or an administrator. But he holds something no appointment can manufacture, the name of the revolution itself. He is the custodian of his grandfather's mausoleum in southern Thran. That mausoleum is not just tomb. It is shrine, pilgrimage site, the physical symbol of the Islamic Republic's founding moment. And Hassan Kmeni stands at its center. He is the most visible of Ayatollah Ruhola Kmeni's 15 grandchildren. Within Iran's clerical establishment, he is seen as relative moderate. He has close ties to former presidents Muhammad Katami and Hassan Rouani. Both of whom pursued engagement with the west when in office. That is the political tradition Hassan Kmeni represents reform within the system. Engagement not confrontation. His track record reflects this. In 2021, Iran's Guardian Council made key decision. This is the body that vets candidates who can stand in elections. The council barred reformist candidates from running for president. Hassan Kmeni pushed back publicly against the council's decision. The following year brought an even sharper test. In 2022, Masa Amini, young Iranian woman, died in the custody of the morality police. She had been accused of violating conservative dress codes. Her death ignited protests across Iran. Hassan Kmeni did not look away. He demanded accountability from the state. January this year brought fresh unrest to Iran. Protests swept through cities. Dissent was widening. The Islamic Republic was visibly under pressure, not just from outside, but from within. And inside Iran's political establishment, conversation began. Could moderate successor steady the ship? Some senior politicians believed in the idea. The case for Hassan Kmeni gained momentum. Kamani himself had taken note. Last June, during the 12-day war with Israel, he went into hiding. And from that hideout, he named three men, three possible replacements for Supreme Leader Hassan Kmeni was one of those three names. But Hassan Kmeni's path to the top is not straightforward. The body that will decide Iran's next Supreme Leader is the Assembly of Experts. It has 88 members, all senior Shia clerics. They are elected but only candidates vetted by the guardian council can stand which means the assembly skews conservative and the hardliners have other options. Kamani's short list included two other names. The first Ali Asgar Hijazi Kamei's chief of staff. He may no longer be factor. The Israeli military says he was killed in the strikes on Thran. The second Golam Hussein Moseni AJ, head of Iran's judiciary. Again, he is hardliner. There is fourth name circulating too. Mojaba Kamei, the Supreme Leader's own son. He is powerful. He has operated in the shadows for years. Certain factions want him. But Kamani himself made his position clear. He did not want the post of supreme leader to become hereditary. So the choice narrows. The assembly of experts will decide and they will do so under extraordinary circumstances. country at war, cities under attack, and younger population that is watching closely. Donald Trump calls himself the president of peace. He wanted peace to be his biggest legacy. No endless wars, no foreign interventions, no nation building. Except now he's doing all three. Trump has bombed seven countries in one year. Seven countries. Iraq, Syria, Venezuela, Nigeria, Yemen, Somalia, and of course, Iran. In Venezuela, he kidnapped the head of state. In Iran, he killed the Supreme Leader, both without any global sanction or approval. Trump's predecessors gave elaborate excuses for their wars. They talked about building democracy. They spoke about nation building. Donald Trump is not wasting time with fake excuses. He is bombing countries because he can because he thinks American might makes him right. Of course, we don't expect anything less from US president. The only difference is that this one promised to be different. He built his career around opposing foreign wars. Unlike other candidates for the presidency, war and aggression will not be my first instinct. You cannot have foreign policy without diplomacy. superpower understands that caution and restraint are really truly signs of strength. But actually, my personality is what kept us out of war. was the only president in nearly four decades who did not get America into any new conflicts. Instead, brought our troops and our wonderful children back home. brought them back home where they belong. Proudest legacy will be that of peacemaker and unifier. That's what want to be, peacemaker and unifier. guess Trump lied. Shocking, isn't it? This is man who openly committed the Nobel Peace Prize. He shamelessly took the Nobel Medal from last year's winner, Venezuela's Maria Corina Machado. And weeks later, he went ahead and bombed Iran. Reports say at least 700 civilians have been killed so far, including more than 100 innocent school girls. Just compare his actions to his words. Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that he ended eight wars. He also formed so-called Board of Peace to end global conflicts. Again, days later, he bombed Iran. wonder what Pakistan's prime minister will now say. He called Donald Trump the savior of South Asia. Is he now saving West Asia, too? Do the Iranians and the Arabs feel safe yet? bet they don't. And don't forget Trump's multiple claims on Indian fighter jets. You may remember this. He kept swinging from 8 to 11 jets down. Listen to this first. They weren't fighting. They were fighting. 11 jets were shot down. Very expensive jets. Eight planes shot down. They were going to go nuclear in my opinion. 10 planes were shot down. They were going at it. The real answer is three. Not Indian or Pakistani jets, but American jets. In three days of fighting, the US military has already lost three jets, three F-15s in Kuwait. And guess how? Shot down by friendly fire. Basically, the Kuwaiti air defense has shot down American jets. Let's hope he'll remember that number well. Three jets downed. But on serious note, the Trump White House is under lot of fire. They seem confused and unserious. Consider what happened yesterday. Trump attended medal ceremony for soldiers. He also paid tributes to the troops killed in the ongoing war. And then out of nowhere, he made this detour. We have lot of great service members here with us to in this beautiful building. Isn't it beautiful? We're adding on to the building little bit. We're improving the building. See that nice drape? When that comes down right now, you see very, very deep hole. But in about year and half from now, you're going to see very, very beautiful building. And there's your entrance to it right there. In fact, it looks so nice, don't think I'll even think I'll save money on the doors because it can't get more beautiful than that. picked those drapes in my first term. always like gold, but think we can save lot of money. just saved just saved curtains. How about that? Trump has just plunged West Asia into war and now he's joking about his ballroom. In times like this, the world is looking for clarity. They want the US president to spell out his goals and his timelines, but the very opposite is happening. Trump officials are giving out conflicting versions of the war. We'll focus on three main issues. First is the trigger. Why did the US military launch this attack? Listen to what the Secretary of State and the Secretary of War had to say. We believe the objective that we have set for this mission, which is the destruction of their ballist ballistic missile capabilities, both launch capability and manufacturing, can be achieved without ground forces. Are there currently any American boots on the ground in Iran? no. But we're not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do. think it's one of those fallacies for long time that this department or presidents or others should tell the American people this and our and our enemies. By the way, here's exactly what we'll do. Marco Rubio says Israel was going to attack anyway. The US feared that Iran would retaliate against US bases, too. So, Washington decided to attack first. I'm afraid this is not what preemptive means. This is provocation, not preeemption. But the Pentagon, that's the US Defense Ministry, they're offering completely different version. They say this attack was always in the works. It's meant to destroy Iran's missiles and its navy. So, clear discrepancy there. Now, to the second issue. Will America put soldiers on the ground? Again, two different answers. We believe the objective that we have set for this mission, which is the destruction of their ballist ballistic missile capabilities, both launch capability and manufacturing, can be achieved without ground forces. Are there currently any American boots on the ground in Iran? no. But we're not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do. think it's one of those fallacies for long time that this department or presidents or others should tell the American people this and our and our enemies, by the way, here's exactly what we'll do. Now, the third issue, how long will this campaign last? The Pentagon chief says this will not be an endless war. But Donald Trump says it'll last for as long as it takes. This is not Iraq. This is not endless. was there for both. Our generation knows better and so does this president. He called the last 20 years of nation building wars dumb. And he's right. We're already substantially ahead of our time projections. But whatever the time is, it's okay. Whatever it takes, we will always and we have from right from the beginning, we projected four to five weeks, but we have capability to go far longer than that. At first, Trump said the war could last four to five weeks. Now, he says as long as it takes. So, which one is it? Trump officials also appear confused about their end goal. The president himself had openly called for regime change in Iran, but his secretary of war says this is not regime change war. call upon all Iranian patriots who yearn for freedom to seize this moment to be brave, be bold, be heroic and take back your country. America is with you. made promise to you and fulfilled that promise. The rest will be up to you, but we'll be there to help. This is not so-called regime change war, but the regime sure did change, and the world is better off for it. No stupid rules of engagement, no nation building quagmire, no democracy building exercise, no politically correct wars. We fight to win and we don't waste time or lives. again. Which one is it? Trump is treating this war like school project, something that he can make up along the way. But the fact is, he's playing with the lives of millions of people. War is not real estate deal or TV show. It's as real as it gets. Scott to cut off all dealings with Spain. Spain. First of all, it started when every every European nation at my request paid 5% which they should be doing. And everybody was enthusiastic about it. Germany, everybody. And Spain didn't do it. And now Spain actually said that we can't use their bases. And that's all right. We don't. We could use their base if we want. We could just fly in and use it. Nobody's going to tell us not to use it, but we don't have to. But they were unfriendly. And so told him we don't want to Spain has absolutely nothing that we need other than great people. They have great people. And I'm not by the way I'm not happy with the UK either. that island that you read about the lease. Okay. He made for whatever reason he made lease of the island. Somebody came and took it away from him and it's taken three four days for us to work out where we can land there. It would have been much more convenient landing there as opposed to flying many extra hours. So, we are very surprised. We're hitting them very hard. And the the big scale hitting goes now. They no longer have air protection. They no longer have any detection facilities at all left. And so they're going to they're going to be in for lot of hurt. These are bad people. These are people that killed. guess it's 35,000. It's coming out. 35,000 over the last 3 weeks protesters, 35,000 violently killed. So these are bad people and the leader of the pack is gone and as you know 49 people were taken out in the first hit and guess there was another hit today on the new leadership and it looks like that was pretty substantial also. And let's get to our guests as the developments come in thick and fast from the Middle East. I'm joined by Lefn Kono Duran Avatar, former commander of the special forces of the IDF. Thank you sir for joining us on the broadcast as well as Ashok Sajjunar, former diplomat. Also joining us is Yasmin Madar, Iranian scholar as well as political activist. Thank you so much for joining us ladies and gentlemen. Left colonel Avatal, I'll come to you first the fourth day of operation roaring lion. Netanyahu very confident about the action that has been taken against the Iranian regime. Donald Trump also full support behind the Israeli government. But given the fact that the energy corridor in the Arab world is now under constant pressure and threat given the fact that even oil prices have shot up, has there been some level of miscalculation from the Americans as well as the Israelis? It's yet to be seen looking forward what will be the consequences in terms of tactical achievements and the objective that were set. The objective was set very fast very quickly in the first few days elimination of the leadership the whole infrastructure of air defense system. So basically Iran is completely open eliminating the the navy the Iranian navy. But still of course you have to look at the long the long run. What is the end game of this of this war? And this is where Trump steps in with the regime shift. But the question which regime he actually said that even the the second the second line of regime was eliminated. So who is the regime shift? She talks about better leadership. Is it like in the prospect of this liberal democracy whatever that can emerge in Iran? It's hard to see this. The question what kind of new leadership can emerge that can end this game. The strategy of the Iranian is is very clear. Create enough chaos that would force the hand of Trump and would force the hand of the US and then to conclude this with negotiation. It's not clear. Right. and Yasmin Mat when it comes to regime change now that's something Donald Ronald Trump is talking extensively about the first pitch coming in from the United States was to dismantle the nuclear arsenal as well as the nuclear capabilities of the Iranian regime now Donald Trump you just heard him he said that the Ayatollah's regime has killed over 35,000 people and these are bad people as per the US president and another regime needs to take control is that easier said than done given the institutions of power in Iran It's easier said than done. there are number of issues. First of all, the 35,000 is an exaggerated figure. lot of people were killed, probably few thousand, and that's bad enough. There's no need to exaggerate. However, this regime has many enemies. Protests shows that it's clear, but it also has support base. And that support you have seen when the ham was killed that support was on the streets of major cities. So you either going to have civil war or this government this regime in its various formats will be able to repress the protesters. You are not going to have suddenly these people moving away and the new government liberal democracy. don't know what that is nowadays given the world situation but democracy suddenly flourishes out of it. This government has repressed liberal opposition, left opposition, secular opposition. Who is left to replace? Many people believe that Trump believes he can replace this with others within the current regime or strong man from the commanders of the revolutionary guard. Maybe he has people in mind. don't know. But none of this will serve the people of Iran or the protesters. Now the protesters will have to calculate are they going to face these huge crowds where nationalism patriotism has changed the equation in terms of how many people are against the regime how many people are for the regime we don't know right and that's very interesting take sinar want to come to you on that could we see the resurgence of new wave of Iranian nationalism of course there's lot of anger. Israelis have walked in and said we're going to create cord and sanitary for ourselves leave and we're also going to go after Hezbollah. So that's really what's happening here and that's clear message that is coming in but even as we see collateral in terms of other countries that seem to be bearing the brunt. The direct fight between Israel and Iran will continue and the latest in fact we're seeing is something that's coming in from Tel Aviv where smoke seems to be rising in. there are injuries in Betsomesh that have been reported as well. There was direct hit in Tel Aviv. That's the latest that we are gathering as far as attacks of Iran on Israel are concerned. These are all drones, missiles that are being fired from the Iranian side into Israel. There are several cities in Israel that seem to be particularly targeted by Iran. Rasalain is one of them. Tel Aviv and Betamesh which was also targeted two days ago where nine civilians was killed. Nine civilians were killed. That's another piece of information that is now just trickling in to get sense of what exactly is transpiring. believe Aman Sharma is also now joining us getting us more inputs of what exactly is transpiring in the region. Well, Punam, what we have right now is detailed statement being issued by India. The Ministry of External Affairs issuing detailed statement on the conflict that is happening. The MEIA is now saying that unfortunately in the holy month of Ramadan the situation in the entire Middle East region has deteriorated significantly and continuously. India is also reiterating that it is most concerned about the safety of Indians who live in the Middle East. Nearly 8 million people of Indian origin live in the Middle East. It is Indian statement is saying that the deaths and the destruction have mounted even as normal life and economic activities have come to halt as approximate neighbor with critical stakes in the security and stability of the region. These developments evoke great anxiety. This is what Indian government is now saying. There are almost 1 cr Indian citizens who live and work in the Gulf region. Their safety and well-being is of utmost priority. We cannot be impervious impervious to any development that negatively affects them. That is what the Indian government is saying. No outright condemnation yet of Kmeni's killing. But the Indian government is very clear Rahul on what they are saying now. Well, you know the priorities are very clear. We have to safeguard our interests. The Kamani matter think has been left aside and we've already sort of spoken and expressed our deep concern. But the point is from oil to remittances India's exposed and had put out some facts little while back and I'm going to read some of them to you. India imports 90% of its crude oil as we know. so we are also highly sensitive to West Asian disruptions because as you know from West Asia West Asia 51% of the supply comes in Russia is the next 20%. Straight of hormones is now choked. So we're fearing that we're going to have problems on that front. LG as you know is not coming out of one of the biggest LG producers in the world. Interestingly Rahul they mentioned that in the statement as well. India is saying that our trade and energy supply chains also traverse this geography. Any major disruption has serious consequences for the Indian economy. As country whose nationals are prominent in the global workforce, India is also firmly opposed to attacks on merchant shipping. So India is clearly saying its economy could have serious consequences if the states of foremost remains blocked. Absolutely. Because look right now we are pulling ahead as you know the GDP numbers were released just about 3 or 4 days ago and you saw that the projections for the next day have also been increased. know this is new series but nonetheless we are looking at an upside and suddenly you have this disruptive war which is going to throw all those calculations once again out of the window. Then there is the question that you were talking about which is remittance economy which is from the diaspora. What are we talking about 1 cr Indians that live and work in GCC countries in which UAE alone is 43 lakhs. So 43 lakhs which is 39% of the population four out of 10 are living in just the UAE. And if you break it down beyond that Saudi Arabia is 2.7 million. So 27 lakhs Kuwait is 1 million that's 10 lakhs. Qatar is just under that that's about eight lakhs. And where are these sectors that they're employed in? These are construction, hospitality, health care, services. And all of these by the way are locked down in the UAE because of these drone attacks that have come through. So it's also India that is going to start facing the problem. And then of course there is the trade and business link that is also referred to in this statement. Absolutely. think the Indian government by its statement is breaking it very clear that India does not want any impact on its economy. It wants Indian citizens to be safe and that is why it's 57 57 billion dollars of our exports go to the GCC and we are talking about perishable goods lot of our food etc goes there and that becomes problematic when you really look at it from that perspective our entire focus right now is to boost our exports and find markets for our exports that's why we've just signed as you know trade agreement with couple of Gulf countries also and the prime minister is working with the government to try and forge other agreements with other countries. We've just had the Canadians here and the Canadians have says by the year end we're going to have free trade agreement. We've had it with the UK and the EU. So we are moving quickly. We're also negotiating with the United States. But look at this clearly and that is why India is again reiterating its call for dialogue and diplomacy. The MEA statement saying we raise our voice clearly in the favor of an early end to the conflict. many lives have been regrettably lost and we express our grief in that regard. So think the MA statement clearly putting the record straight on what really India's priorities are and in the morning we saw Sonia Gandhi write piece you know asking India why it was not you know condemning Kamehameh's death but think Indian government has made its priorities very clear through this long and detailed statement. She said she said silence was abdication without actually in any way taking positions just want to state some facts before bring in both Gria and Punam. The facts are that even the UPA in its time did not take position. For example, when Gaddafi was ousted by again regime change operation, Saddam Hussein was assassinated. Saddam Hussein was assassinated. Well, hung actually he was captured and then hung or even when you've had regime change in other quarters of the world. So there is little bit of hypocrisy there and clearly it's born out of sense of political compulsion. And back to you in the studio. Right. Absolutely Rahul and Amanda, thank you so much for that assessment. India is making it amply clear that they have stakes in the region and they want deescalation very very soon. But here look at what we have for you in the studio. We are looking at the global collective. Where do the in fact alliances lie? What are the blocks that one is looking at? If you take look at this world alignment block here on the studios in the wall there you see the big block here which is of course led by the United States of America that also goes on to include Israel, the UK of course and also France, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar basically all the Gulf nations they go on to form this one block that comes under west and there is an anti-West block clearly with Iran, Russia and China and that's why this entire straight of hormones that also Rahul was referring to and how India's strategic interest and also the energy flow that in fact happens from the straight of hormos has been blocked the other countries their vessels have been blocked but there are two countries their vessels are being allowed to pass and that strategically is also China Russia to an extent doesn't cross the straight of Hormus that much but China has been granted that leverage even as Iran goes on to announce that blockade in the straight of horm This is what we are talking about block one which is western block which is where you see of course the global powers like USU UK France and there is block two which has of course Iran, China and Russia. We will need Rahul's assessment all this and India's position so to speak and we'll expand onto that thought Rahul that you were making earlier now that the statement by the ministry of external affairs is also out. Yeah, thanks thanks Gria there for that. Yes, we put that out so beautifully, didn't we? It was very clear division between the east really and the allies there in the west so to speak which is this block that is supporting the United States. remember my mind goes back to that famous quote by Henry Kissinger that to be friend of America is fatal. Actually an enemy is bad enough but being friend is fatal. large number of these countries that had tied up with the Americans, given them bases in exchange for petro dollars as the term was because they were selling oil to the Americans. And the Americans said that look, we can take care of you. We can provide you security shield. You do your business. You sell us the oil. We'll take care of your strategic as well as your external security interests. These countries went into this arrangement and today the Americans are calling the favor back and you have situation where the entire Gulf is now in chaos and large number of these countries as you know founded their reputation on providing stability. So they said that look lot happens in this area but we're immune from it. It happens between Israel and Lebanon and Iran and Iraq. But here we are in little island of our own so to speak where in the Gulf and in across the street of Homus there's tranquility. We are moving towards service and financial economy much like Singapore and London had done in the past and large number of them were transitioning away from fossil fuels because as you know these are non-renewable energy resources. So after point in time they're going to run out. So these countries were building their own economies. There lot of infrastructure that was created, real estate to extract to to to actually attract expats, top professionals and money, investments and all of that today going up in smoke because of this sort of war between the two blocks and India has done well not hypothecating either its security or its interest to any of these two blocks. So think we've done well by not picking sides. But will India feel the impact on us? Let's go straight across to IDF spokesperson Ben Cohen who joins us from the front lines really. Thank you Ben for speaking with us. What's the situation right now in Israel? What are we expecting by the way of timelines? Is this war going according to plan? So, just returned from the bomb shelter from siren that was just in the area. We started this operation, Operation Roaring Lion on Saturday morning when the IDF and the US armed forces started joint operation intended to do one thing, and that's eliminate an existential threat. threat that's relevant to the state of Israel, to the United States, and to the world at large, and that's been proved over the last few days. The strikes started on Saturday morning when we eliminated more than 40 senior Iranian commanders, including Supreme Leader Kamayi, and they continued over recent days as we struck aerial defense targets, ballistic missile targets, and other Iranian terrorist regime targets in Thran and in Iran at large. Over the last 36 hours, the Hezbollah terrorist organization, the Iranian terrorist regime's main proxy, made strategic mistake and decided to fire dozens of rockets and UAVs at Israel. And at this time, in congruent to IDF strikes and US armed forces strikes in Iran, the IDF is striking Hezbollah terrorist organization commanders and targets in order to eliminate that threat on Israeli civilians. So, of course, we're hearing that the new Iranian defense minister has been eliminated in fresh wave of strikes from Israel. But what we're seeing also is resistance coming from Iran. They seem to have hunkered down. They're sending these drones. Many people are saying that this is strategy where they are trying to exhaust your munitions, the Iron Dome, patience of the Gulf allies. Is this what Iran's game plan is? Or are they actually not being able to react using some of their hypersonic weapons and other bigger weapons because of compulsion? What's exactly happening from your perspective? How do you read this? So, can tell you that after 2 and 1/2 years of war and after the 7th of October, the IDF has learned that we never underestimate our enemies. We understand the threat that the Iranian terrorist regime poses. And as far as it goes to their strategy, can tell you one thing for certain, and that's that they have strategy to target and hurt civilians specifically. This isn't just message. It's concrete intelligence we have at hand. They're sending those ballistic missiles and their drones to civilian areas, not just in Israel, but in the entire Middle East. Okay. Well, what we're also hearing is that the longer this war continues, and I'm going to ask you little bit about timelines, but the longer this war is continuing, costs are also escalating as we know. Right now, I'm hearing that oil is up by about 8 to 10%, silver is up by 11%, the straight of horm is completely blocked. The new Iranian defense minister of course has been eliminated and just discussed that with you and you're doing fantastic job of trying to eliminate the top leadership. But is that really having an effect? Can bombs substitute for ground invasion and affect regime change? So one is that question and the longer we obviously stay in this war there are these knock-on effects. So how do you react to that? So we operate in accordance to clear military objectives and that military objective is to eliminate that existential threat. Those ballistic missiles, the launchers, the infrastructure to eliminate the ability of the Iranian terrorist regime to operate their proxies on our borders as we see with Hezbollah and to eliminate the ability of the Iranian terrorist regime to pose military threat upon Israel and the Middle East. And we will continue to do that for as long as the political echelon asks of us. We have many targets at hand. We continue to strike all the time and we'll do that for as long as need be. But want to make clear our target is to eliminate that military to eliminate that military threat. And the IDF in contrast to the Iranian terror regime strikes military targets. there are some experts who say that your stockpiles will fast deplete and you will then have to sort of recalibrate. Is there danger of that? The IDF has been at war for two and half years on more than seven fronts. We've been prepared to operate on all of those fronts and we've been able to continuously protect ourselves on all of those fronts. We have the capacity and the ability to keep operating for as long as we'll need to even in multiple fronts at once in order to protect Israeli civilians. Can you explain the reason behind crossing the border once again into Lebanon and launching what some people are saying is ground offensive? What's the idea behind that? Of course. So on October 8th when Hezbollah made the decision to start firing indiscriminately rockets and UAVs at Israeli civilians, Israel made choice to evacuate tens of thousands of civilians from their homes in northern Israel. After October 7th, we understand that we can't allow for reality where terrorist organizations on our borders move our civilians away. For that reason, overnight, IDF troops situated themselves in an enhanced forward defensive posture. And want to emphasize this isn't ground invasion. We have IDF troops on the northern side of the border with Lebanon in order to protect ourselves from Hezbollah because we understand that there are civilians in the north and we need our IDF troops to be able to protect them from the terrorists who can get in their way. explain to us little bit about the strategy that has been employed because what we're seeing is that there is constant barrage of missiles that are coming out of Iran or drones that are coming out and somehow making it across the straight of Hormuz or the Gulf and landing in the UAE and other geographies. How is that happening if you have aerial domination? So again, the IDF operates in coordination with the United States armed forces and other allies in order to do aerial defense as effectively as possible. The Iranian terrorist regime has very clearly proved over recent days that they are not just threat to Israel and to the United States, but to the region at large. They're firing ballistic missiles in every direction. We do the best within our operational capacity to defend ourselves, but we understand that there are risks. There are risks involved when you have terrorist regime with hundreds of and thousands of ballistic missiles that they want to fire on civilians. want to come back to that original question. The Americans have now come out and said that regime change was not the objective. Trump has come out and said it. Hexath has come out and said it. Rubio seems to be suggesting it. Do you share that? So again, as said, the objective is very clear. It's to eliminate that existential threat that we have on the state of Israel and at large. And that's military threat. It's the fact that the Iranian regime since Rising Lion, which is the operation the IDF conducted last year in June, have set out goal for themselves to manufacture 8,000 ballistic missiles by 2027. Now, imagine for yourself for moment. There was hit few days ago in Bameish in Israel. synagogue in Israel that gets direct impact. Nine people are dead. Imagine 8,000 missiles that can each create that direct impact. That's an existential threat. So, we have military objective and that military objective is to remove the existential threat that the terrorist regime prevents on us. That's what we're striking, military targets. Well, Ben Cohen, thank you very much for speaking with me. Let's just follow me. Thank you very much. We're going to check back with you in just few days but here we are joining the take three XL lovely to usual. Yeah you know interesting conversation let's just pick it up from there itself what left Benoa actually had to say that it was after roaring lion last year the 12-day war that it was not in Israel that they said death to Iran. It was not in Israel that there was clock tower that said that set clock countdown and it was not the Israeli prime minister who set down countdown clock back saying that by 2027 we've got to set up 8,000 ballistic missiles and we need to wipe out Israel in the next 2 years. It happened in Iran. So Israel's point has always been we've never said death to Iran. It's the Iranians who under Kami who have said death to Israel, death to America, let's kill all Jews. Tom Cooper, beg to differ little bit in this regards because one so rhetoric as fiery and as venomous as as that of the Iranian regime without defending it is one thing and the ability to actually do something is entirely different situation. That's why always say Iranians can cry as much as they like that they're going to wipe out Israel, but they can't do that. On the contrary, as you can see, Israel can with especially with US support bombed Iran up and down as as it almost as it likes. Not entirely as it likes, but but that's also true that from the from 2024, 2025 till 2027, even now Iran has significantly amped up its ballistic missiles caching. If you see right now in the last two days, Zaka, you know, is also with us and viewers, let's get this. The estimate is that they have at least 600 missiles that have been fired already. Yeah. Already. So, and they are saying we're just getting started. So, that means unless they're sitting on stockpile of medium to short range and of course long-range missiles of about 3,500 plus missiles, they're not going to be able to to make this post. So, look, Anand, I've been saying this even yesterday. I'm seeing this today. Iran has finite number of missiles, right? And whatever they can expend in this particular war because the Iranian nation is going to continue even beyond these these few days of the war will have to be let's say they have number of missiles. It'll have to be number whatever the factor is. So the most conservative estimates say they have 2,000 or 3,000 missiles. The most expansive estimates say they have upwards of 10,000. So my point is it's finite number. At some point, you know, all this firing of missiles will have to stop. Even with the drones, as cheap as they are, mean, we were talking about it, you know, $2,000, $3,000, whatever it is, $10,000. The point is that there's finite number of ammunition that the Iranians have and that's going to run out at some point. Look, what what is at play? This is the big picture as see it. Iran needs to seek revenge. their supreme leader, their spiritual guide, their political and you know the the the the man who really controlled that state over the last 40 years is dead and dead brutally. mean don't want to get into objectives and stuff but he got killed like dog. I'm sorry to say this but that's really what happened. Now the point is Iran needs to do something to be seen as avenging that right? That's their way out. So, how do see this war ending? It has to be either of two possibilities. One is Iran needs way out, which is that they have to take high value American target out. Look at what happened last June when the 12-day war concluded. How did it end? Yeah, it ended with Iran hitting the Aluded air base in Qatar, which is an American air base. Nobody died because people were all evacuated, but at least they hit an American air base and they could tell back to their people. So, that was their offramp. That was their offramp. Yeah. What is the offramp now? Right now there is no offramp which is why they're continuing offramp right now Rahul what they have said larani has actually said it and they have said that it's BB Netanyahu they are they're not going to hit BB Netanyahu said this yesterday I've been inside BB Netanyahu's office they may not they are saying they are saying exactly what the Israelis said about Ki saying we know his movements we know where he is going we know what he is doing they are now out for Nathan Yahoo's head that's where they will settle because clearly they don't want to touch Trump but here it is Nathan Yao and someone like Trump says it was either me or Hame and Hame had to go that was also something which Trump said so how do you see this we'll get into the nuclear aspect and also Trump shifting goalposts through the course of this conversation but first your thing about what is Iran's offramp here which is going to perhaps deescalate this look first of all don't believe that the Iranians are looking to actually take revenge think the regime there is looking to survive with the Trump administration and others now coming out and saying that look at the end of the day we're not looking for regime change don't see where this where the end is where this war is going what are the objectives now if it wasn't regime change then what was this about okay you've eliminated few people but more people will step in and if they step in and the US and the Israelis say, we've neutered their weapon systems and this that the other." Fine, the war might end. There might be an offramp offered or maybe they will come to the table, but that regime won't go and after another four or years or 2 years or 3 years, you'd have another buildup and you'll have another replay. So this war is ending in inanities to me or going there. Now the prime minister is talking to the Sultan of Oman, the crown prince of Kuwait over the Gulf War. think the best bet now for these Gulf nations also sort of come together and form bridge. They are the ones who should sort of talk to Iran and they should talk to the United States, pull back and say, "Guys, think the time has come when you redefine what you're up to here. Come to the table. Let's start the negotiations." they can't become clearly bleeding and we've got situation where the MEA has mentioned that we're worried now about the so-called oil shock hitting us. Right. Agree, disagree. Tom Cooper, agree or disagree. I'm I'm for example, agree with Zaka when he says it depends on missile stock. said right right away this is going to be game of numbers. The point is however that also the the Israeli US missile talks cannot be fantastic because just yesterday they have they plus the plus the US customers of Patriot missiles in in the in the Gulf has wiped out the entire year worth of production of Patriot missiles just yesterday. This is something like 600 missiles they are gone spent and between others in order to shut down three US aircraft. So don't see where is this where should this go. It is it is the same story. It is all wars Israel has initiated already since 1956. There's always somebody on the other side who is letter or mortal threat for the country. Then they invade there's war. There are sometimes hundreds sometimes thousands. This war is where is it going? And every time don't see any clear objectives here. Let's understand. First they said they want regime change. Now they killed the but there is there doesn't seem to be regime change at this moment happening because they've immediately got somebody in place in Ali Resa and he seems to be following the not how Iraq played out when when Saddam was sort of hounded out of office and chemical Ali and all his cabinet was sort of found and shot dead. The regime imploded because it was actually minority baist party which controlled majority here. Exactly. The situation is that these people are from the larger population. There is homogeneity. So people will just step in to say we have to defend the larger interests of Iran and if we are become shahid no pronounce you know sorry beg to differ on this. people tend to to to sort of paint Iran as this homogeneous society. It is not. Only 60% of Iran is Persian. The remaining 40% is Kurds. you know Azeris. there are all kinds of other balo there are all kinds of other minorities. Now here's the thing when they hounded out Saddam Hussein in 2003 it was unfinished business from 1991. The father Bush could not finish it. The son Bush came and tried to finish it. When they hounded out Saddam Hussein in 2003 it took them 2 months between the launch of the war think it was called oper operation desert storm and then two months later they found Saddam Hussein. those famous words, you know, we got it right here. The principal objective of the Trump administration, certainly for Mr. Trump individually, was to smoke out Hamini. And he's got that on day one. Tomorrow, like this morning, daybreak in the US, if Trump wakes up and says, "That's it. America is done. I'm done. I'm ending this war." Israel cannot continue this war on its own. The rest of the region cannot continue this war on its own. It depends entirely on the United States. No, wait. But having said that, that's the reason. Hang on. Hang on. What is there to disagree about? Hang on. So the point is, what's the point is Trump has got whatever he wanted. All I'm saying is that this he can stop the war tomorrow that this that this that this war is going nowhere. If Trump pulls out, you know what people are going to say? That you started conflict in the region. All of us have been burnt by this and you walk away from the table without being able to kick out the regime because he's what he wanted. Hang on one second. One second. You You might have the bragging rights, but at the end of the day, that's the end of it. The regime is still there. The regime is still there. The regime is still there. The women are still going to be sort of unfortunately terrorized. Young civilians who have risen up or at least expressed their support for the outside world are still going to be tormented and jailed. They will be back and it'll be an only matter of one second. hate to break it to you. Trump doesn't care. It doesn't matter. All he wanted was the head of the snake, not the head of the snake. It doesn't matter. What did start by saying? What did start by saying? That this regime doesn't want revenge. It wants to survive because it just knows that look there are interests. There are business interests. This is not some business interest. These are business interests. No one walks away from the business interest. You have Pakist also destroying eight eight drones and and eight cruise missiles. There were 68 injuries and some damages which are medium and low. We would like to highlight that the sounds that we hear in different areas in the UAE are the result of interception of ballistic weapons and and attacking the drones and crew. This proves the readiness of the Ministry of Defense in the UAE and and armed forces and departments concerned in all departments which confirms that we are dealing with all types of threats. Ladies and gentlemen, Now we will show you some samples of attacking our our jet Mirage 2000 attacking the aggression of Iranian the Iranian forces. This is brief of sample of intersection and destroying of the attacks and aggression by the cruises and play jets of from Iran. Also, ladies and gentlemen, would like to highlight the drones that were damaged and missiles that were damaged by our air force. We start with this ballistic tactical missile which was damaged. We intersected hundreds of these missiles. We another another missile cruise missile which is threat that we face and it is difficult sometimes to deal with these crews but we destroyed them and intersected them through our defense forces in the UAE. Also, Shahed drone 136 was intersected. Hundreds of these were destroyed and damaged. Iran says the gates of hell are open. Israel says it will respond with force. Meanwhile, missiles continue to fly in all directions. We'll bring you the latest updates tonight and the videos that sum up this war from strikes in Lebanon to mass graves in Iran and Israelis partying in bomb shelters. We're also looking at who could join next. Will the Gulf states fire back? Will Europe be dragged into this conflict? We ask because now European bases are also under attack. Also, the backstory of how Ayatah was tracked. report says Israel hacked Thran's traffic cameras and studied patterns for years. In Thran, the big discussion is that of succession. Who will be the next Ayatollah? Will it be Kumeni's grandson? Also trying to make sense of Donald Trump's strategy. What's his plan? Did he bite more than he can chew? And the economics of exhaustion. Iran's $20,000 drones are exhausting America's $4 million interceptors. That's all your questions answered in our special segment as we try to make sense of this chaos. The headlines first. Prime Minister Narendra Modi calls the leaders of Qatar, Oman and Kuwait. He expressed his concern over the attacks on their countries. The Prime Minister also discussed the security of the Indian community residing in these Gulf countries. Around 10 million Indians live in the region. Italy summons the Iranian ambassador to protest drones drone attack on UK base in Cyprus. The country's deputy prime minister said he reiterated Rome Stan that Italy is not part of the US and Israel's war against Iran. Reports say the British base could have been hit by drones launched by his bullah from nearby Lebanon. Donald Trump says the historical relationship between the US and Britain is not like it used to be. This comes amid diplomatic spat over the war against Iran. British Prime Minister Kia Starmmer had angered Trump by initially refusing to play any role in the war. Star later agreed to allow the US limited use of its military bases. Russia's central bank sues the European Union over indefinitely freezing its assets. Around $230 billion dollars of Moscow's reserves have been frozen by the block over the Ukraine war. Russia cannot access the assets till it ends the war and provides reparations to Ukraine. And the Sudan's government says drone attacks on its territory are coming from Ethiopia. For nearly 3 years, civil war has been raging in the Sudan. But this is the first time that Ethiopia has been officially accused of interference. There is no let up in West Asia. Iran is talking about opening the gates of hell. Their missiles and drones are slamming into Gulf states and Israeli cities. It's fast turning into war of attrition. American air defenses versus Iranian missiles. Today, Thran struck the US embassy in Saudi Arabia. Two drones slammed into the American building and soon it was engulfed in smoke. Yesterday, the US embassy in Kuwait was also hit. So, Washington has decided to shut both embassies. The UA was also targeted by drones today. One of the interceptions caused fire at major oil facility. Missiles also targeted Israeli cities. large wave was fired early in the morning. Some of them were shot down by Israeli and US air defenses, but few missiles did find their target. They hit multiple locations in central Israel. Reports say nine people have been injured. And what about the other side? Well, Israel has opened second front against Lebanon. Their fighter jets are bombing targets deep in Beirut. As of now, 40 people have been killed have been wounded in Lebanon. And it's not just an aerial onslaught. Israel has ordered ground invasion as well. They plan to create buffer zone in southern Lebanon. Meanwhile, the Hezbollah is trying to fight back. They're firing rockets at northern Israel, leading to mid-air interceptions by the Iron Dome. This is the secondary front for Israel. Iran remains the primary target. Their fighter jets continue to bomb locations in the west and in Thran. Today, they hit government buildings in the capital, including the presidential office and the Assembly of Experts. These are sites attacked in Iran. Now, this assembly of experts, this assembly building is where the next supreme leader is supposed to be selected. But Israel has blown it up. boy is like yesterday. They're also hitting missiles and launchers. Remember, Iran has the largest missile stockpile in West Asia. It is their biggest weapon in this war. Israeli jets are flying multiple sorties into Iran. They're taking out more and more launching sites. Israel claims they've carried out 60 waves of attacks put together. More than 2,000 Iranian targets have been hit. Which brings us to the US. What is the American military up to? The US has deployed its B2 and B1 bombers. They're using these planes to strike underground silos and launching sites, locations that cannot be breached easily. In addition, the US is also bombing internal security targets, things like police stations, detention centers, intelligence offices. The Americans are going after all of this in Iran. And these facilities are used by the regime to crack down on disscent. By attacking them, the US is hoping to weaken the regime's grip on power. Basically, they're setting the stage for massive protests in Iran. And that sums up the battlefield updates. What about diplomacy? Is anyone interested in an off-ramp? Well, look at Donald Trump's latest message, and I'm quoting, "Their air defense, air force, navy, and leadership is gone. They want to talk. said too late. And just to be clear, until yesterday, Trump did want to talk to the Iranians. He said the new Iranian leadership had reached out to him, but then Iran's security chief rebuffed him. He said there would be no negotiations with the Americans. So now, 24 hours later, Trump has also made U-turn. He says there will be no talks. But here's the problem. Wars are not just fought with resolve. You need weapons to keep fighting them. Multiple US media reports say the Pentagon is worried. That's the US defense ministry. They're worried. They fear long war will deplete American stockpile. So once again, Trump came out with long social media post. And let me quote again from what he said. The United States munition stockpiles have at the medium and upper medium grade never been higher or better. As was stated to me today, we have virtually unlimited supply of these weapons. Wars can be fought forever and very successfully using just these supplies. At the highest end, we have good supply, but are not where we want to be. Well, that's half admission by Donald Trump. He says the high-end stockpile is not where he wants to be. And yet, he's not deescalating. Trump actually says bigger wave of attacks is coming. So, it's not clear what he's trying to say. Like said, more than 2,000 Iranian targets have already been hit. More than 2,000 targets. So, what would bigger wave look like? That's the question. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is betting on quick success. He says this will not be an endless war. hear the people are telling we're going to have an endless war here. said it's could be quick and decisive. It may take some time, but it's not going to take years. It's not an endless war. In fact, it's an effort right now to achieve the peace that we all yearn and pray for. And think together we'll achieve it. Trump is saying something different though. We'll tell you about his position later on the show. But for now, listen to the Iranian military. They are not backing down either. Despite the sustained attacks from the other side, the Iranians continue to hit back. The Iranian guards say the gates of hell are opening for America and Israel. The enemy must await continuous punitive attacks. The gates of hell will open more and more, moment by moment, upon the United States and Israel. It's basically race against time. Iran wants to grind out the enemy air defenses much like they did in last year's 12-day war. Meanwhile, Israel is betting on blitzcree. They want to defang Iran's missiles before their air defenses run out. It's question of what will happen first. Like said, it's day before the war and by now you know the drill. This war is playing out on your screens, too. Your feed is flooded. Every hour, thousands of videos are pouring in. So, every day we try to cut through the noise. We bring you the most important videos from the last 24 hours because, as we keep saying, misinformation is flying faster than missiles. And with artificial intelligence in the mix, it's harder than ever to tell what is real. So, let's bring you our top videos. The top videos that you need to see today. Video number one is from Beirut. Beirut is the capital of Lebanon. As you know, the war is spreading across the region. Multiple countries are coming under fire. And last night, it was Lebanon that took the hit. Lebanon is home to the Hisbullah. It's Shia militant group and regional proxy of Iran. Now, Israel says Hisbullah has joined the war, which is why they're hitting Hisbullah bases in Lebanon. The Israelis are hitting these bases. As you can see on your screens, these are visuals on there are visuals on the blasts. They show Israeli strikes on multiple Hezbollah targets. Multiple videos captured the exact moment of the attack. People were seen sprinting away in panic. Onlookers dropped everything and ran for cover. Thick plumes of smoke erupted into the sky and in matter of seconds, chaos took over the streets. Video number three is from Iran. It is disturbing video. So we advise viewer discretion. These are images from city called Minab in the south of the country. USIsraeli strike hit school in the city. It killed 160 school girls. Now the US and Israel insist that they were not behind the strike, but Iran has been slamming them. And now we have images of mass graves being dug to bury the children. Take look. Multiple funerals were held in Minad. Thousands also gathered to mourn these school girls. Here's another video from Iran. It shows people running for their lives. This is after an air strike near the Russian embassy in Thran. Footage shows locals dragging injured people. Some were even overcome with grief. It's not just Iran. Israel too is coming under fire. Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benamin Netanyahu visited West Jerusalem. He tooured site that was struck by Iranian missiles. When stand here in place that was bombarded by the terrorist in Tehran against innocent civilians, you see the difference. The tyrants of Tehran target civilians. We target the tyrants of Tehran to protect civilians. And what is war without the weapons? Like said, all sides are releasing war videos every hour. Iran released footage showing the launch of its missiles, especially the Kadr and Imad missiles. Meanwhile, America's Central Command showed off US firepower, including the B2 bomber. Caught in this crossfire are the Gulf States. Iran is attacking them left, right and center. And while the physical damage has been limited, the strikes have shattered the sense of security. Cities like Dubai were seen as safe havens. Centers of global finance and tourism. An attack on Dubai was unimaginable and yet it happened. And since then, the mood has shifted. Yes, the skyscrapers still shine. Yes, the malls are still packed. But there's an edge in the air and it seems the leadership knows this. So today, in an attempt to show that Dubai is safe, the UA president himself went to mall. We're talking about MBZ, Muhammad bin Zed al- Nayan. He was seen walking through the Dubai mall. With him was the crown prince of Dubai, Shik Hamdan. Later, they enjoyed meal at restaurant. They even interacted with other people visiting the mall. Dubai is out shopping amid falling missiles. Israel is one step step ahead. It is partying. They have Jewish holiday called Purim, but the government has banned public gatherings. So, Israelis have moved the party underground. They're celebrating in garages and bomb shelters. Forever. Those are our top videos for today. The military war is not slowing down and neither is the information war around it. So, like we say every day, make sure you verify what you're sharing online. Iran's strategy is clear. They want to make this regional war. war that will hurt America's allies in the Gulf. war that hurts countries like Saudi Arabia, the UA, and Qatar. We have seen relentless missiles and drone strikes from Iran. First at US bases in these countries, then at civilian sites like hotels, and now at energy facilities. Yesterday, Iran hit Saudi Arabia's largest oil refinery, Aramco's Ras Tanura, on the Persian Gulf. The refinery was shut down following the Iranian strikes. On the same day, Iran also hitQatar's Ras Lafan facility. This is run by Qatar Energy, the largest LG producer in the world. DHA 2 has shut down this facility and then today the UA was hit. Their oil facility in Fujera was struck by by drone debris. Also today, the Iranians have shut the straight of Hormuz. This waterway carries 20% of global oil trade. It's key export route for the Gulf States and Iran has shut it. Of course, Iran is doing this on purpose. They know that the energy this that energy is lifeline of the Gulf economy. If you cut that off, you can choke them. You can make them desperate. You can make the Gulf States desperate. The question is, what happens after that? Well, there are three possibilities. One, the Gulf States continue holding defensive posture. Basically, they keep shooting down Iranian drones and missiles. But there's problem with that. They do not have endless air defenses. They're using multiple interceptors to shoot down missiles. So, the worry is they will run out of stock. Reports say some Gulf states have used up missiles built up over years in just 4 days. And apparently the US is not replenishing their stock. When some Gulf states asked for interceptors, the United States ignored them. So, the current status quo is not sustainable. You cannot endlessly defend against drones and missiles. Which brings us to the second possibility. The Gulf states can enter the war. They can either allow Israel and the US to strike Iran from their airspace or they can hit back themselves. Yesterday, Qatar scrambled fighter jets against Thran. They shot down two Iranian war plananes. In Saudi Arabia too, patience is wearing thin. The Saudi Kingdom has placed their military on state of high alert. The question is, will they take the plunge? Will they join the war? Let's look at their firepower first. Saudi Arabia has around 280 fighter aircraft. This includes the F-15 and the Euro Fighter Typhoon. The UAE has around 100 fighters. This includes the F-16s and the French Mirage 2000s. Qatar has also also has more than one 100 aircraft. This includes the Rafal, the Euro fighter and the Mirage. Now, politically, it makes more sense for the Gulf States to join the fighting to attack Iran themselves because if they open the airspace to Israel, the locals may not like it. The Arab population, as you know, is overwhelmingly anti-Israel. Having said that, an attack carries its own risks. For starters, you could be crowding the airspace. We saw what happened in Kuwait. Three American jets were shot down by Kuwait's own air defenses. So there's that's real risk. And secondly, Iran may hit back even harder. Iran's ballistic missiles could destroy oil and power facilities in the Gulf. It would take years, if not decades, to rebuild these. Which brings us to the final possibility. The Gulf states can push for peace. Now this too is happening. According to reports, the UA and Qatar are privately lobbying for quick cease fire. They're asking American allies to find an off-ramp for Donald Trump. If true, this is ideal for Iran. This was the whole point of attacking the Gulf States. Iran wanted them to put pressure on Trump to push Trump for ceasefire. Of course, Trump may or may not listen to them. He says he's willing to fight long war. It's certainly massive dilemma for these Gulf states. They cannot shoot down missiles forever, nor can they risk even bigger Iranian attacks. And of course, they can't do nothing. So, they will have to pick one of these options. Whatever they choose, expect them to act together. These attacks from Iran have united the Gulf States like never before. So, any response will likely be joint one. IDF spokesperson Ben Cohen who joins us from the front lines. Really, thank you Ben for speaking with us. What's the situation right now in Israel? It retaliated first by attacking Israel and US assets, then by targeting Gulf Arab states, and now it has begun hitting the Europeans. Iran has struck British air base in Cyprus and it has fired drones at French base in the UAE. Plus, air defense systems have been activated at multiple European facilities in the region. Long story short, Europe is being dragged into this war. European assets are under attack and European leaders are struggling to respond because this is not war they want to get into. But if they're targeted, they will have to respond. So far, we've heard from their biggest players, the UK, France, and Germany. We've seen them responding. They issued joint statement over the weekend. The statement carried direct message to Iran. Stop your attacks or we will strike back. Strong words. It appears that the big three in Europe are putting up strong and united front. But in practice, European nations are heading in different directions. Take Britain for instance. London received request from Washington. The US wanted access to two British bases in West Asia. The Americans wanted to use these bases to launch attacks on Iran. The UK resisted first, but then it agreed and it called them defensive strikes. The United States has requested permission to use British bases for that specific and limited defensive purpose. We have taken the decision to accept this request to prevent Iran firing missiles across the region, killing innocent civilians, putting British lives at risk, and hitting countries that have not been involved. He said it's for defensive purpose. Well, here's the problem with that framing. The United States is the one that is driving this escalation. This is not defensive operation in any sense of the term. So effectively British bases will be used as launch pads for American attacks. France meanwhile has taken different direction. France has deployed Rafal fighter jets over the UAE. This is to protect French naval and air bases from Iranian attacks. And then there is Greece. Athens has now ordered military deployment to Cyprus. Greece is deploying two frigates and two F-16 fighter jets. What about Germany? Germany has decided to wait and watch. Germany says it will act only if its own soldiers come under direct attack. But the risk of an escalation is no longer hypothetical. Thran has made it real today. Today, Iran issued warning to European states. Its foreign ministry released statement. It said any action by European countries will be regarded as an act of war. And in response, Iran says it will target European cities. Iran is threatening to target European cities if European countries respond or take any action. Clearly, Europe is being drawn into this fighting. It's conflict that they'd hoped to avoid. The threat assessment for them has changed almost overnight. And now European governments are rushing to manage the fallout. They've started pulling out their nationals. Those who were stranded across West Asia. Italy has started airlifting its nationals out of Dubai. Other countries are expected to follow suit. European leaders have begun consultations. This comes after Ursula Bondan faced criticism over the weekend. Soon after Iran was attacked, the EU chief made statement. She announced an emergency meeting to discuss the conflict. An emergency meeting not within hours but on Monday, basically after the weekend. And sure enough, the internet mocked her response to this war. Memes spread on social media saying that Europe's war response could wait until after the weekend. Then on Monday, she made statement. Allow me to quote from what she said. She said that she was focusing on wide range of things from energy to nuclear, from transport to migration to security. She also said we must be prepared for the fallout. So far, Europe has not been direct target, but after today's statement from Thran, European states are clearly in the crosshairs, increasingly being drawn into conflict that they were hoping to avoid. It was quiet Saturday morning in Thran. Iran's supreme leader walked into what was supposed to be another meeting and minutes later he was dead. Ayatah Kame was killed in joint strike by the US and Israel. But you already know this. Our story tonight is not the strike. Our story is the run-up to the strike and how it came about. It begins with surveillance. Surveillance that went on for years. This is according to new report by the Financial Times. It talks about surveillance so thorough that Israel knew Iran like the back of their hand. We're not talking about spying operation limited to few officials. We are talking about hacking city's entire traffic network. You heard that right. Apparently, Israel hacked into Thran's traffic network and that meant access to cameras. You see, Iran has built very extensive internal surveillance system. It had installed cameras to spy on its own people, to monitor protesters and dissenters. Unfortunately for them, the same cameras were used by the enemy to spy on the regime. One camera placed at just the right angle reportedly showed something small, but something very, very critical. It showed the place where Ayatollah Kamin's security detail parked their cars. So, Israel started analyzing this footage. They started analyzing the patterns. When do the guards arrive? Where do they park their cars? Who drives which official? Who protects whom? Who swap shifts. Israel gathered all these details by hacking Thran's traffic cameras. And it proved to be gamecher because you don't kill leader by watching him. Leaders are hard to track anyway. You kill leader by watching the people around him. And that's what Israel did over time. The Israeli intelligence built data files. They called these pattern of life files. That's what they built. They gathered home addresses, commuting routes, and duty hours of these guards. It's like building Google Maps timeline, but for regime's inner circle. And Israel did this for years. Leading the project was Unit 8200. This is Israel's elite signals intelligence unit. The report says unit 8200 fed mountains of data into AIdriven systems. I'm talking about billions of data points, phone signals, camera feeds, movement patterns, relationship maps. They use something called network analysis. What does that mean? It's basically mapping who talks to whom and who influences whom. You try to make sense of network. And with this they built whole picture of Ayatollah Kam's daily life. Now here's where this becomes almost sci-fi. On the day of the strike something strange happened. Cellular networks around Kam's compound were disrupted. Phones rang busy and warnings could not get through. Say you were Kamina's bodyguard. You could not reach your team. Your calls were failing. At the same time, Israeli and US intelligence was at work. They confirmed that Kame was at his residence and that he was meeting top officials. And here's the other thing. They were not just depending on data. American intelligence also had human source confirming all of this. That's what reports say that they also had human intelligence. Now, Iran knew that an attack was coming. They knew that Israel and the US were going to strike at some point. Of course, the Ayatollah knew that, knew that, too. But apparently he refused to go to bunker. He wanted to die as so-called martyr. What Theran did not anticipate was timing. They did not think that the strike would come in the morning. They did not think that it would happen in broad daylight. That's what happened. And as dramatic as this backstory is, it's not new for Israel. Their intelligence is known for things like this, for operations like this. You may remember what happened in 2024, the pager explosions. Israel crippled Hezbollah's communication network. Their rank and file used pagers to communicate. Israel hacked those devices and blew them up. So thousands of pagers exploded simultaneously and this killed thousands of Hezbollah fighters. That operation too is said to have taken years of infiltration, years of analyzing the same data, of figuring out patterns and knowing when to strike. And it tells you lot about modern warfare. Wars today are not fought with just missiles and jets. They're fought with data, with years of invisible surveillance and algorithms. And it's something that Israel has mastered the long game in world of fastmoving conflicts. When Ayatah Kmin died, Ayatah Kummeni rather died in 1989. Iran did not hand over power to his family. It handed power to Ali Kam. He was cleric, loyalist, and safe pick for the regime. For 35 years, Ali Kam held the line. Now he's gone. new name is doing the rounds as his possible replacement and that's Hassan Humeni. He is the grandson of Ayatah Kmeni, the founder of the Islamic Republic. So why is his name gaining traction? There are several factors that work in his favor. There is the name of course but beyond that Hassan Kini is moderate, someone who could potentially reconnect the regime with large population that is growing alienated. Our next report has more. Iran is facing question it has not faced in 35 years. Who leads the Islamic Republic? Ayatollah Ali Kam is dead. The man who held absolute authority over the military, the judiciary, foreign policy is gone. And the name being spoken most in the corridors of Tehran is not new one. It is Kmeni, not the founder, his grandson. Hassan Kmeni is 53 years old. He holds no government title. He has never served as minister, judge, or an administrator. But he holds something no appointment can manufacture, the name of the revolution itself. He is the custodian of his grandfather's mausoleum in southern Thran. That mausoleum is not just tomb. It is shrine, pilgrimage site, the physical symbol of the Islamic Republic's founding moment. And Hassan Kmeni stands at its center. He is the most visible of Ayatollah Ruhola Kmeni's 15 grandchildren. Within Iran's clerical establishment, he is seen as relative moderate. He has close ties to former presidents Muhammad Katami and Hassan Rouhani both of whom pursued engagement with the west when in office. That is the political tradition Hassan Kmeni represents reform within the system. Engagement not confrontation. His track record reflects this. In 2021, Iran's Guardian Council made key decision. This is the body that vets candidates who can stand in elections. The council barred reformist candidates from running for president. Hassan Kmeni pushed back publicly against the council's decision. The following year brought an even sharper test. In 2022, Masa Amini, young Iranian woman, died in the custody of the morality police. She had been accused of violating conservative dress codes. Her death ignited protests across Iran. Hassan Kmeni did not look away. He demanded accountability from the state. January this year brought fresh unrest to Iran. Protests swept through cities. Dissent was widening. The Islamic Republic was visibly under pressure, not just from outside, but from within. And inside Iran's political establishment, conversation began. Could moderate successor steady the ship? Some senior politicians believed in the idea. The case for Hassan Kmeni gained momentum. Kamani himself had taken note. Last June, during the 12-day war with Israel, he went into hiding. And from that hideout, he named three men, three possible replacements for Supreme Leader Hassan Kmeni was one of those three names. But Hassan Kmeni's path to the top is not straightforward. The body that will decide Iran's next Supreme Leader is the Assembly of Experts. It has 88 members, all senior Shia clerics. They are elected but only candidates vetted by the guardian council can stand which means the assembly skews conservative and the hardliners have other options. Kamani's short list included two other names. The first Ali Asgar Hijazi Kamei's chief of staff. He may no longer be factor. The Israeli military says he was killed in the strikes on Thran. The second Golam Hussein Moseni AJ, head of Iran's judiciary. Again, he is hardliner. There is fourth name circulating, too. Mojaba Kamini, the Supreme Leader's own son. He is powerful. He has operated in the shadows for years. Certain factions want him. But Kamini himself made his position clear. He did not want the post of supreme leader to become hereditary. So the choice narrows. The assembly of experts will decide and they will do so under extraordinary circumstances. country at war, cities under attack and younger population that is watching closely. Donald Trump calls himself the president of peace. He wanted peace to be his biggest legacy. No endless wars, no foreign interventions, no nation building. Except now he's doing all three. Trump has bombed seven countries in one year. Seven countries. Iraq, Syria, Venezuela, Nigeria, Yemen, Somalia, and of course, Iran. In Venezuela, he kidnapped the head of state. In Iran, he killed the Supreme Leader, both without any global sanction or approval. Trump's predecessors gave elaborate excuses for their wars. They talked about building democracy. They spoke about nation building. Donald Trump is not wasting time with fake excuses. He is bombing countries because he can, because he thinks American might makes him right. Of course, we don't expect anything less from US president. The only difference is that this one promised to be different. He built his career around opposing foreign wars. Unlike other candidates for the presidency, war and aggression will not be my first instinct. You cannot have foreign policy without diplomacy. superpower understands that caution and restraint are really truly signs of strength. But actually, my personality is what kept us out of war. was the only president in nearly four decades who did not get America into any new conflicts. Instead, brought our troops and our wonderful children back home. brought them back home where they belong. Proudest legacy will be that of peacemaker and unifier. That's what want to be, peacemaker and unifier. guess Trump lied. Shocking, isn't it? This is man who openly committed the Nobel Peace Prize. He shamelessly took the Nobel Medal from last year's winner, Venezuela's Maria Korina Machado. And weeks later, he went ahead and bombed Iran. Reports say at least 700 civilians have been killed so far, including more than 100 innocent school girls. Just compare his actions to his words. Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that he ended eight wars. He also formed so-called Board of Peace to end global conflicts. Again, days later, he bombed Iran. wonder what Pakistan's prime minister will now say. He called Donald Trump the savior of South Asia. Is he now saving West Asia, too? Do the Iranians and the Arabs feel safe yet? bet they don't. And don't forget Trump's multiple claims on Indian fighter jets. You may remember this. He kept swinging from 8 to 11 jets down. Listen to this first. They weren't fighting. They were fighting. 11 jets were shot down. Very expensive jets. Eight planes shot down. They were going to go nuclear in my opinion. 10 planes were shot down. They were going at it. The real answer is three. Not Indian or Pakistani jets, but American jets. In three days of fighting, the US military has already lost three jets, three F-15s in Kuwait. And guess how? Shot down by friendly fire. Basically, the Kuwaiti air defenses shot down American jets. Let's hope he'll remember that number well. Three jets downed. But on serious note, the Trump White House is under lot of fire. They seem confused and unserious. Consider what happened yesterday. Trump attended medal ceremony for soldiers. He also paid tributes to the troops killed in the ongoing war. And then out of nowhere, he made this detour. We have lot of great service members here with us to in this beautiful building. Isn't it beautiful? We're adding on to the building little bit. We're improving the building. See that nice drape? When that comes down right now, you see very, very deep hole. But in about year and half from now, you're going to see very, very beautiful building. And there's your entrance to it right there. In fact, it looks so nice, don't think I'll even think I'll save money on the doors because it can't get more beautiful than that. picked those drapes in my first term. always like gold. But think we can save lot of money. just saved just saved curtains. How about that? Trump has just plunged West Asia into war and now he's joking about his ballroom. In times like this, the world is looking for clarity. They want the US president to spell out his goals and his timelines, but the very opposite is happening. Trump officials are giving out conflicting versions of the war. We'll focus on three main issues. First is the trigger. Why did the US military launch this attack? Listen to what the Secretary of State and the Secretary of War had to say. We believe the objective that we have set for this mission, which is the destruction of their ballist ballistic missile capabilities, both launch capability and manufacturing, can be achieved without ground forces. Are there currently any American boots on the ground in Iran? no. But we're not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do. think it's one of those fallacies for long time that this department or presidents or others should tell the American people this and our and our enemies. By the way, here's exactly what we'll do. Marco Rubio says Israel was going to attack anyway. The US feared that Iran would retaliate against US bases, too. So, Washington decided to attack first. I'm afraid this is not what preemptive means. This is provocation, not preeemption. But the Pentagon, that's the US Defense Ministry, they're offering completely different version. They say this attack was always in the works. It's meant to destroy Iran's missiles and its navy. So, clear discrepancy there. Now, to the second issue. Will America put soldiers on the ground? Again, two different answers. We believe the objective that we have set for this mission, which is the destruction of their ballist ballistic missile capabilities, both launch capability and manufacturing, can be achieved without ground forces. Are there currently any American boots on the ground in Iran? no. But we're not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do. think it's one of those fallacies for long time that this department or presidents or others should tell the American people this and our and our enemies, by the way, here's exactly what we'll do. Now, the third issue, how long will this campaign last? The Pentagon chief says this will not be an endless war. But Donald Trump says it'll last for as long as it takes. This is not Iraq. This is not endless. was there for both. Our generation knows better and so does this president. He called the last 20 years of nation building wars dumb. And he's right. We're already substantially ahead of our time projections. But whatever the time is, it's okay. Whatever it takes, we will always and we have from right from the be beginning, we projected four to five weeks, but we have capability to go far longer than that. At first, Trump said the war could last four to five weeks. Now, he says, as long as it takes. So, which one is it? Trump officials also appear confused about their end goal. The president himself had openly called for regime change in Iran, but as Secretary of War says, "This is not regime change war." call upon all Iranian patriots who yearn for freedom, to seize this moment, to be brave, be bold, be heroic, and take back your country. America is with you. made promise to you and fulfilled that promise. The rest will be up to you, but we'll be there to help. This is not so-called regime change war, but the regime sure did change and the world is better off for it. No stupid rules of engagement, no nation building quagmire, no democracy building exercise, no politically correct wars. We fight to win and we don't waste time or lives again. Which one is it? Trump is treating this war like school project, something that he can make up along the way. But the fact is he's playing with the lives of millions of people. War is not real estate deal or TV show. It's as real as it gets Scott to cut off all dealings with Spain. Spain. First of all, it started when every every European nation at my request paid 5% which they should be doing. And everybody was enthusiastic about it. Germany, everybody. And Spain didn't do it. And now Spain actually said that we can't use their bases. And that's all right. We don't. We could use their base if we want. We could just fly in and use it. Nobody's going to tell us not to use it, but we don't have to. But they were unfriendly. And so told him we don't want to Spain has absolutely nothing that we need other than great people. They have great people. And I'm not by the way I'm not happy with the UK either. that island that you read about the lease. Okay. He made it for whatever reason he made lease of the island. Somebody came and took it away from him and it's taken three four days for us to work out where we can land. It would have been much more convenient landing there as opposed to flying many extra hours. So, we are very surprised. We're hitting them very hard. And the the big scale hitting goes now. They no longer have air protection. They no longer have any detection facilities at all left. And so they're going to they're going to be in for lot of hurt. These are bad people. These are people that killed. guess it's 35,000. It's coming out. 35,000 over the last 3 weeks protesters, 35,000 violently killed. So these are bad people and the leader of the pack is gone. And as you know, 49 people were taken out in the first hit. And guess there was another hit today on the new leadership. And it looks like that was pretty substantial also. And let's get to our guests as the developments come in thick and fast from the Middle East. I'm joined by Left Karn Duran Avatar, former commander of the special forces of the IDF. Thank you sir for joining us on the broadcast as well as Ashok Sajjan, former diplomat. Also joining us is Yasmin Madar, Iranian scholar as well as political activist. Thank you so much for joining us ladies and gentlemen. Left Colonel Avatal, I'll come to you first. The fourth day of operation roaring lion. Netanyahu very confident about the action that has been taken against the Iranian regime. Donald Trump also full support behind the Israeli government. But given the fact that the energy corridor in the Arab world is now under constant pressure and threat given the fact that even oil prices have shot up, has there been some level of miscalculation from the Americans as well as the Israelis? It's yet to be seen looking forward what will be the consequences in terms of tactical achievements and the objective that were set. The objective was set very fast very quickly in the first few days elimination of the leadership the whole infrastructure of air defense system. So basically Iran is completely open eliminating the the navy the Iranian navy. But still of course you have to look at the long the long run. What is the end game of this of this war? And this is where Trump steps in with the regime shift. But the question which regime he actually said that even the the second the second line of regime was eliminated. So who is the regime shift? She talks about better leadership. Is it like in the prospect of this liberal democracy whatever that can emerge in Iran? It's hard to see this. The question what kind of new leadership can emerge that can end this game. The strategy of the Iranian is is very clear. Create enough chaos that would force the hand of Trump and would force the hand of the US and then to conclude this with negotiation. It's not clear. Right. and Yasmin Mather when it comes to regime change now that's something that Donald Ronald Trump is talking extensively about the first pitch coming in from the United States was to dismantle the nuclear arsenal as well as the nuclear capabilities of the Iranian regime now Donald Trump you just heard him he said that the Ayatollah's regime has killed over 35,000 people and these are bad people as per the US president and another regime needs to take control is that easier said than done given the institutions of power in Iran It's easier said than done. there are number of issues. First of all, the 35,000 is an exaggerated figure. lot of people were killed, probably few thousand, and that's bad enough. There's no need to exaggerate. However, this regime has many enemies. Protests shows that it's clear, but it also has support base. And that support you have seen when the family was killed, that support was on the streets of major cities. So you're either going to have civil war or this government, this regime in its various formats will be able to repress the protesters. You are not going to have suddenly these people moving away and the new government liberal democracy. don't know what that is nowadays given the world situation but democracy suddenly flourishes out of it. This government has repressed liberal opposition, left opposition, secular opposition. Who is left to replace? Many people believe that Trump believes he can replace this with others within the current regime or strong man from the commanders of the revolutionary guard. Maybe he has people in mind. don't know. But none of this will serve the people of Iran or the protesters. Now the protesters will have to calculate are they going to face these huge crowds where nationalism patriotism has changed the equation in terms of how many people are against the regime how many people are for the regime we don't know right and that's very interesting take sinar want to come to you on that could we see the resurgence of new wave of Iranian nationalism of There's lot of anger. Israelis have walked in and said we're going to create cord and sanitary for ourselves, leave and we're also going to go after Hezbollah. So that's really what's happening here and that's clear message that is coming in. But even as we see collateral in terms of other countries that seem to be bearing the brunt, the direct fight between Israel and Iran will continue and the latest in fact we're seeing is something that's coming in from Tel Aviv where smoke seems to be rising in. there are injuries in Betsomesh that have been reported as well. There was direct hit in Tel Aviv. That's the latest that we are gathering as far as attacks of Iran on Israel are concerned. These are all drones, missiles that are being fired from the Iranian side into Israel. There are several cities in Israel that seem to be particularly targeted by Iran. Rasalain is one of them. Tel Aviv and Betamesh which was also targeted two days ago where nine civilians was killed. Nine civilians were killed. That's another piece of information that is now just trickling in to get sense of what exactly is transpiring. believe Aman Sharma is also now joining us getting us more inputs of what exactly is transpiring in the region. Well, Punam, what we have right now is detailed statement being issued by India. The Ministry of External Affairs issuing detailed statement on the conflict that is happening. The MEIA is now saying that unfortunately in the holy month of Ramadan the situation in the entire Middle East region has deteriorated significantly and continuously. India is also reiterating that it is most concerned about the safety of Indians who live in the Middle East. Nearly 8 million people of Indian origin live in the Middle East. It is Indian statement is saying that the deaths and the destruction have mounted even as normal life and economic activities have come to halt as approximate neighbor with critical stakes in the security and stability of the region. These developments evoke great anxiety. This is what Indian government is now saying there are almost one cr Indian citizens who live and work in the Gulf region. Their safety and well-being is of utmost priority. We cannot be impervious impervious to any development that negatively affects them. That is what the Indian government is saying. No outright condemnation yet of Kmeni's killing. But the Indian government is very clear Rahul on what they are saying now. Well, you know the priorities are very clear. We have to safeguard our interests. The Kamani matter think has been left aside and we've already sort of spoken and expressed our deep concern. But the point is from oil to remittances India's exposed and had put out some facts little while back and I'm going to read some of them to you. India imports 90% of its crude oil as we know. so we are also highly sensitive to West Asian disruptions because as you know from West Asia West Asia 51% of the supply comes in Russia is the next 20%. Straight of hormones is now choked. So we're fearing that we're going to have problems on that front. LG as you know is not coming out of one of the biggest LG producers in the world. Interestingly Rahul they mentioned that in the statement as well. India is saying that our trade and energy supply chains also traverse this geography. Any major disruption has serious consequences for the Indian economy. As country whose nationals are prominent in the global workforce, India is also firmly opposed to attacks on merchant shipping. So India is clearly saying its economy could have serious consequences if the states of Hormos remains blocked. Absolutely. Because look right now we are pulling ahead as you know the GDP numbers were released just about 3 or 4 days ago and you saw that the projections for the next day have also been increased. know this is new series but nonetheless we are looking at an upside and suddenly you have this disruptive war which is going to throw all those calculations once again out of the window. Then there is the question that you were talking about which is remittance economy which is from the diaspora. What are we talking about 1 cr Indians that live and work in GCC countries in which UAE alone is 43 lakhs. So 43 lakhs which is 39% of the population four out of 10 are living in just the UAE. And if you break it down beyond that Saudi Arabia is 2.7 million so 27 lakhs. Kuwait is 1 million that's 10 lakhs. Qatar is just under that that's about eight lakhs and where are these sectors that they're employed in? These are construction, hospitality, health care services and all of these by the way are locked down in the UAE because of these drone attacks that have come through. So it's also India that is going to start facing the problem and then of course there is the trade and business link that is also referred to in this statement. Absolutely. think the Indian government by state is breaking it very clear that India does not want any impact on its economy. It wants Indian citizens to be safe and that is why it's 57 57 billion of our exports go to the GCC and we are talking about perishable goods lot of our food etc goes there and that becomes problematic. when you really look at it from that perspective our entire focus right now is to boost our exports and find markets for our exports. That's why we've just signed as you know trade agreement with couple of Gulf countries also and the prime minister is working with the government to try and forge other agreements with other countries. We've just had the Canadians here and the Canadians have says by the year end we're going to have free trade agreement. We've had it with the UK and the EU. So we are moving quickly. We're also negotiating with the United States. But look at this clearly and that is why India is again reiterating its call for dialogue and diplomacy. the MEA statement saying we raise our voice clearly in the favor of an early end to the conflict. Many lives have been regrettably lost and we express our grief in that regard. So think the MA statement clearly putting the record straight on what really India's priorities are and in the morning we saw Sonia Gandhi write piece you know asking India why it was not you know condemning Kami's death but think Indian government has made its priorities very clear through this long and detailed statement. She said she said silence was abdication without actually in any way taking positions. just want to state some facts before bring in both Gria and Punam. The facts are that even the UPA in its time did not take position. For example, when Gaddafi was ousted by again regime change operation when Saddam Hussein was assassinated, Saddam Hussein was assassinated when hung actually he was captured and then hung or even when you've had regime change in other quarters of the world. So there is little bit of hypocrisy there and clearly it's born out of sense of political compulsion. And back to you in the studio. Right. Absolutely Rahul and Amanda, thank you so much for that assessment. India is making it amply clear that they have stakes in the region and they want deescalation very very soon. But here look at what we have for you in the studio. We are looking at the global collective. Where do the in fact alliances lie? What are the blocks that one is looking at? If you take look at this world alignment block here on the studios in the wall there you see the big block here which is of course led by the United States of America that also goes on to include Israel, the UK of course and also France, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar basically all the Gulf nations they go on to form this one block that comes under west and there is an anti-West block clearly with Iran, Russia and China and that's why this entire straight of hormones that also Rahul was referring to and how India's strategic interest and also the energy flow that in fact happens from the straight of hormos has been blocked the other countries their vessels have been blocked but there are two countries their vessels are being allowed to pass and that strategically is also China Russia to an extent doesn't cross the straight of Hormus that much but China has been granted that leverage even as Iran goes on to announce that blockade in the straight of horm This is what we are talking about. Block one which is western block which is where you see of course the global powers like US UK France and there is block two which has of course Iran, China and Russia. We will need Rahul's assessment all this and India's position so to speak and we'll expand onto that thought Rahul that you were making earlier now that the statement by the ministry of external affairs is also out. Yeah, thanks thanks Gria there for that. Yes, we put that out so beautifully, didn't we? It was very clear division between the east really and the allies there in the west so to speak which is this block that is supporting the United States. remember my mind goes back to that famous quote by Henry Kissinger that to be friend of America is fatal. Actually an enemy is bad enough but being friend is fatal. large number of these countries that had tied up with the Americans, given them bases in exchange for petro dollars as the term was because they were selling oil to the Americans. And the Americans said that look, we can take care of you. We can provide you security shield. You do your business. You sell us the oil. We'll take care of your strategic as well as your external security interests. These countries went into this arrangement and today the Americans are calling the favor back and you have situation where the entire Gulf is now in chaos and large number of these countries as you know founded their reputation on providing stability. So they said that look lot happens in this area but we're immune from it. It happens between Israel and Lebanon and Iran and Iraq. But here we are in little island of our own so to speak where in the Gulf and in across the street of Homus there's tranquility. We are moving towards service and financial economy much like Singapore and London had done in the past and large number of them were transitioning away from fossil fuels because as you know these are non-renewable energy resources. So after point in time they're going to run out. So these countries were building their own economies. There lot of infrastructure that was created, real estate to extract to to to actually attract expats, top professionals and money, investments and all of that today going up in smoke because of this sort of war between the two blocks and India has done well not hypothecating either its security or its interest to any of these two blocks. So think we've done well by not picking sides. But will India feel the impact on us? Let's go straight across to IDF spokesperson Ben Cohen who joins us from the front lines. Really, thank you Ben for speaking with us. What's the situation right now in Israel, what are we expecting by the way of timelines? Is this war going according to plan? So, just returned from the bomb shelter from siren that was just in the area. We started this operation, Operation Roaring Lion, on Saturday morning when the IDF and the US armed forces started joint operation intended to do one thing, and that's eliminate an existential threat. threat that's relevant to the state of Israel, to the United States, and to the world at large, and that's been proved over the last few days. The strikes started on Saturday morning when we eliminated more than 40 senior Iranian commanders, including Supreme Leader Kamayi, and they continued over recent days as we struck aerial defense targets, ballistic missile targets, and other Iranian terrorist regime targets in Tehran and in Iran at large. Over the last 36 hours, the Hezbollah terrorist organization, the Iranian terrorist regime's main proxy, made strategic mistake and decided to fire dozens of rockets and UAVs at Israel. And at this time, in congruent to IDF strikes and US armed forces strikes in Iran, the IDF is striking Hezbollah terrorist organization commanders and targets in order to eliminate that threat on Israeli civilians. So, of course, we're hearing that the new Iranian defense minister has been eliminated in fresh wave of strikes from Israel. But what we're seeing also is resistance coming from Iran. They seem to have hunkered down. They're sending these drones. Many people are saying that this is strategy where they are trying to exhaust your munitions, the Iron Dome, patience of the Gulf allies. Is this what Iran's game plan is or are they actually not being able to react using some of their hypersonic weapons and other bigger weapons because of compulsion? What's exactly happening from your perspective? How do you read this? So, can tell you that after 2 and 1/2 years of war and after the 7th of October, the IDF has learned that we never underestimate our enemies. We understand the threat that the Iranian terrorist regime poses. And as far as it goes to their strategy, can tell you one thing for certain, and that's that they have strategy to target and hurt civilians specifically. This isn't just message. It's concrete intelligence we have at hand. They're sending those ballistic missiles and their drones to civilian areas, not just in Israel, but in the entire Middle East. Okay. Well, what we're also hearing is that the longer this war continues, and I'm going to ask you little bit about timelines, but the longer this war is continuing, costs are also escalating as we know. Right now, I'm hearing that oil is up by about 8 to 10%, silver is up by 11%, the straight of horm is completely blocked. The new Iranian defense minister of course has been eliminated and just discussed that with you and you're doing fantastic job of trying to eliminate the top leadership. But is that really having an effect? Can bombs substitute for ground invasion and affect regime change? So one is that question and the longer we obviously stay in this war there are these knock-on effects. So how do you react to that? So we operate in accordance to clear military objectives and that military objective is to eliminate that existential threat. Those ballistic missiles, the launchers, the infrastructure to eliminate the ability of the Iranian terrorist regime to operate their proxies on our borders as we see with Hezbollah and to eliminate the ability of the Iranian terrorist regime to pose military threat upon Israel and the Middle East. And we will continue to do that for as long as the political echelon asks of us. We have many targets at hand. We continue to strike all the time and we'll do that for as long as need be. But want to make clear our target is to eliminate that military to eliminate that military threat. And the IDF in contrast to the Iranian terror regime strikes military targets. there are some experts who say that your stockpiles will fast deplete and you will then have to sort of recalibrate. Is there danger of that? The IDF has been at war for two and half years on more than seven fronts. We've been prepared to operate on all of those fronts and we've been able to continuously protect ourselves on all of those fronts. We have the capacity and the ability to keep operating for as long as we'll need to even in multiple fronts at once in order to protect Israeli civilians. Can you explain the reason behind crossing the border once again into Lebanon and launching what some people are saying is ground offensive? What's the idea behind that? Of course. So on October 8th when Hezbollah made the decision to start firing indiscriminately rockets and UAVs at Israeli civilians, Israel made choice to evacuate tens of thousands of civilians from their homes in northern Israel. After October 7th, we understand that we can't allow for reality where terrorist organizations on our borders move our civilians away. For that reason, overnight, IDF troops situated themselves in an enhanced forward defensive posture. And want to emphasize this isn't ground invasion. We have IDF troops on the northern side of the border with Lebanon in order to protect ourselves from Hezbollah because we understand that there are civilians in the north and we need our IDF troops to be able to protect them from the terrorists who can get in their way. explain to us little bit about the strategy that has been employed because what we're seeing is that there is constant barrage of missiles that are coming out of Iran or drones that are coming out and somehow making it across the straight of Hormuz or the Gulf and landing in the UAE and other geographies. How is that happening if you have aerial domination? So again, the IDF operates in coordination with the United States armed forces and other allies in order to do aerial defense as effectively as possible. The Iranian terrorist regime has very clearly proved over recent days that they are not just threat to Israel and to the United States, but to the region at large. They're firing ballistic missiles in every direction. We do the best within our operational capacity to defend ourselves, but we understand that there are risks. There are risks involved when you have terrorist regime with hundreds of and thousands of ballistic missiles that they want to fire on civilians. want to come back to that original question. The Americans have now come out and said that regime change was not the objective. Trump has come out and said it. Hexath has come out and said it. Rubio seems to be suggesting it. Do you share that? So again, as said, the objective is very clear. It's to eliminate that existential threat that we have on the state of Israel and at large. And that's military threat. It's the fact that the Iranian regime since rising line, which is the operation the IDF conducted last year in June, have set out goal for themselves to manufacture 8,000 ballistic missiles by 2027. Now, imagine for yourself for moment. There was hit few days ago in Bameish in Israel. synagogue in Israel that gets direct impact. Nine people are dead. Imagine 8,000 missiles that can each create that direct impact. That's an existential threat. So, we have military objective and that military objective is to remove the existential threat that the terrorist regime prevents on us. That's what we're striking, military targets. Well, Ben Cohen, thank you very much for speaking with me. Let's just follow me. Thank you very much. We're going to check back with you in just few days. But here we are joining the take three XL. Lovely to see usual. Yeah, you know interesting conversation. Let's just pick it up from there itself. What left Ben Coella actually had to say that it was after roaring lion last year the 12-day war that it was not in Israel that they said death to Iran. It was not in Israel that there was clock tower that said that set clock countdown and it was not the Israeli prime minister who set down countdown clock back saying that by 2027 we've got to set up 8,000 ballistic missiles and we need to wipe out Israel in the next 2 years. It happened in Iran. So Israel's point has always been we've never said death to Iran. It's the Iranians who under Kami who have said death to Israel, death to America, let's kill all Jews. Tom Cooper, beg to differ little bit in this regards because one so rhetoric as fiery and as venomous as as that of the Iranian regime without defending it is one thing and the ability to actually do something is entirely different situation. That's why always say Iranians can cry as much as they like that they're going to wipe out Israel, but they can't do that. On the contrary, as you can see, Israel can with especially with US support bomb Iran up and down as as it almost as it likes. Not entirely as it likes, but but that's also true that from the from 2024, 2025 till 2027, even now Iran has significantly amped up its ballistic missiles cache. If you see right now in the last 2 days, Zaka, you know, is also with us and viewers, let's get this. The estimate is that they have at least 600 missiles that have been fired already. Yeah. Already. So, and they are saying we're just getting started. So, that means unless they're sitting on stockpile of medium to short range and of course long-range missiles of about 3,500 plus missiles, they're not going to be able to to to make this post. So, look Anand, I've been saying this even yesterday, I'm saying this today. Iran has finite number of missiles, right? And whatever they can expend in this particular war, because the Iranian nation is going to continue even beyond these these few days of the war will have to be, let's say they have number of missiles, it'll have to be number, whatever the factor is. So the most conservative estimates say they have 2,000 or 3,000 missiles. The most expansive estimates say they have upwards of 10,000. So my point is it's finite number. At some point, you know, all this firing of missiles will have to stop. Even with the drones, as cheap as they are, mean, we were talking about it, you know, $2,000, $3,000, whatever it is, $10,000. The point is that there's finite number of ammunition that the Iranians have and that's going to run out at some point. Look, what what is at play? This is the big picture as see it. Iran needs to seek revenge. their supreme leader, their spiritual guide, their political and you know the the the the man who really controlled that state over the last 40 years is dead and dead brutally. mean don't want to get into objectives and stuff but he got killed like dog. I'm sorry to say this, but that's really what happened. Now the point is Iran needs to do something to be seen as avenging that, right? That's their way out. So, how do see this war ending? It has to be either of two possibilities. One is Iran needs way out, which is that they have to take high value American target out. Look at what happened last June when the 12-day war concluded. How did it end? Yeah, it ended with Iran hitting the Aluded air base in Qatar, which is an American air base. Nobody died because people were all evacuated, but at least they hit an American air base and they could tell back to their people. So, that was their offramp. That was their offramp. Yeah. What is the offramp now? Right now there is no offramp which is why they continuing offramp right now Rahul what they have said larjani has actually set it and they have said that it's BB Netanyahu they they're not going to hit BB Netanyahu said this yesterday I've been inside BB Netanyahu's office they are saying they are saying exactly what the Israelis said about Ki saying we know his movements we know where he is going we know what he is doing they are now out for Netanyahu's head that's where they will settle because clearly they don't want to touch Trump but here it is Nathan Yao and someone like Trump says it was either me or Hame and Kame had to go that was also something which Trump said so how do you see this we'll get into the nuclear aspect and also Trump shifting goalposts through the course of this conversation but first your thing about what is Iran's offramp here which is going to perhaps deescalate this look first of all don't believe that the Iranians are looking to actually take revenge think the regime there is looking to survive with the Trump administration and others now coming out and saying that look at the end of the day we're not looking for regime change don't see where this where the end is where this war is going what are the objectives now if it wasn't regime change then what was this about okay you've eliminated few people but more people will step in and if they step in and the US and the Israelis say, we've neutered their weapons systems and this that the other." Fine, the war might end. There might be an off-ramp offered or maybe they will come to the table, but that regime won't go and after another four or years or 2 years or 3 years, you'd have another buildup and you'll have another replay. So this war is ending in inanities to me or going there. Now the prime minister is talking to the Sultan of Oman, the crown prince of Kuwait over the Gulf War. think the best bet now for these Gulf nations also sort of come together and form bridge. They are the ones who should sort of talk to Iran and they should talk to the United States, pull back and say, "Guys, think the time has come when you redefine what you're up to here. Come to the table. Let's start the negotiations." they can't become part of the problem because they're clearly bleeding and we've got situation where the MEA has mentioned that we're worried now about the so-called oil shock hitting us. Right. Agree, disagree. Tom Cooper, agree or disagree. I'm I'm for example, agree with Zaka when he says it depends on missile talk. said right right away this is going to be game of numbers. The point is however that also the the Israeli US missile stocks cannot be fantastic because just yesterday they have they plus their plus the US customers of Patriot missiles in in the in the Gulf has wiped out the entire year worth of production of Patriot missiles just yesterday. This is something like 600 missiles. They they are gone they spent and between others in order to shut down three US aircraft. So don't see where is this where should this go. It is it is the same story with all wars Israel has initiated already since 19 56. There's always somebody on the other side who is letter or mortal th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th threat for the country then they invade there's war there are sometimes hundreds sometimes thousands and this war is where is it going and every time and don't see any clear objectives here let's understand first they said they want regime change now they killed the kami but there is there is there doesn't seem to be regime change at this moment happening because they've immediately got somebody in place in Ali Resa and he seems to be following following the communist. This is not how Iraq played out. When when Saddam was sort of hounded out of office and Chemical Ali and all his cabinet was sort of found and shot dead, the regime imploded because it was actually minority baist party which controlled majority here. Exactly. The situation is that these people are from the larger population. There is homogeneity. So people will just step in to say we have to defend the larger interests of Iran and if we are become shahid no prompts you know sorry beg to differ on this people tend to to to sort of paint Iran as this homogeneous society it is not only 60% of Iran is Persian the remaining 40% is Kurds you know Azeris there are all kinds of other balo there are all kinds of other minorities now here's the thing when they hounded out Saddam Hussein In 2003, it was unfinished business from 1991. The father Bush could not finish it. The son Bush came and tried to finish it. When they hounded out Saddam Hussein in 2003, it took them 2 months between the launch of the war, think it was called oper operation desert storm, and then 2 months later they found Saddam Hussein. Those famous words, you know, we got him right here. The principal objective of the Trump administration, certainly for Mr. Trump individually, was to smoke out Hamini. And he's got that on day one. Tomorrow, like this morning, day break in the US, if Trump wakes up and says, "That's it. America is done. I'm done. I'm ending this war." Israel cannot continue this war on its own. The rest of the region cannot continue this war on its own. It depends entirely on the United States. No, but having said that, the rest of the reg to disagree about Hang on. So, the point is, the point is Trump has got whatever he wanted. What I'm saying is that this war that this that this that this war is going nowhere. If Trump pulls out, you know what people are going to say? That you started conflict in the region. All of us have been burnt by this and you walk away from the table without being able to kick out the regime because he's what he wanted. No, no, hang on one second. One second. He you might have the bragging rights, but at the end of the day, that's the end of it. The regime is still like the regime is still there. The regime is still there. The women are still going to be sort of unfortunately terrorized. Young civilians who have risen up or at least expressed their support for the outside world are still going to be tormented and jailed. They will be back and it'll be an only matter of one second. hate to break it to you. Trump doesn't care. It doesn't matter. Trump doesn't care. All he wanted was the head of the snake. He's got the head of the snake matter. What did start by saying? What did start by saying that this regime doesn't want revenge? It wants to survive because it just knows that look there are interests. There are business interests. This is not some business interest. These are business interests. No one walks away from the business interest. You have Pakist also destroying eight drones and and eight cruise missiles. There were 68 injuries and some damages which are med medium and low. We would like to highlight that the sounds that we hear in different areas in the UAE are the result of interception of ballistic weapons and and attacking the drones and crew. This proves the readiness of the Ministry of Defense in the UAE and and armed forces and departments concerned in all departments which confirms that we are dealing with all types of threats. Ladies and gentlemen, Now we will show you some samples of attacking our our jet Mirage 2000 attacking the aggression of Iranian the Iranian forces. This is brief of sample of intersection and destroying of the attacks and aggression by the cruises and play jets of from Iran. Also, ladies and gentlemen, would like to highlight the drones that were damaged and missiles that were damaged by our air force. We start with this ballistic tactical missile which was damaged. We intersected hundreds of these missiles. We another another another missile cruise missile which is threat that we face and it is difficult sometimes to deal with these crews but we destroyed them and intercepted them through our defense forces in the UAE. Also, Shahed drone 136 was intercepted. Hundreds of these were destroyed and damaged. Iran says the gates of hell are open. Israel says it will respond with force. Meanwhile, missiles continue to fly in all directions. We'll bring you the latest updates tonight and the videos that sum up this war from strikes in Lebanon to mass graves in Iran and Israelis partying in bomb shelters. We're also looking at who could join next. Will the Gulf states fire back? Will Europe be dragged into this conflict? We ask because now European bases are also under attack. Also, the backstory of how Ayatollah Kame was tracked. report says Israel hacked Thran's traffic cameras and studied patterns for years. In Thran, the big discussion is that of succession. Who will be the next Ayatollah? Will it be Humeni's grandson? Also trying to make sense of Donald Trump's strategy. What's his plan? Did he bite more than he can chew? And the economics of exhaustion. Iran's $20,000 drones are exhausting America's $4 million interceptors. That's all your questions answered in our special segment as we try to make sense of this chaos. The headlines first. Prime Minister Narendra Modi calls the leaders of Qatar, Oman and Kuwait. He expressed his concern over the attacks on their countries. The Prime Minister also discussed the security of the Indian community residing in these Gulf countries. Around 10 million Indians live in the region. Italy summons the Iranian ambassador to protest drones drone attack on UK base in Cyprus. The country's deputy prime minister said he reiterated Rome's stand that Italy is not part of the US and Israel's war against Iran. Reports say the British base could have been hit by drones launched by his bullah from nearby Lebanon. Donald Trump says the historical relationship between the US and Britain is not like it used to be. This comes amid diplomatic spat over the war against Iran. British Prime Minister Kia Starmer had angered Trump by initially refusing to play any role in the war. Starmmer later agreed to allow the US limited use of its military bases. Russia's central bank sues the European Union over indefinitely freezing its assets. Around $230 billion dollars of Moscow's reserves have been frozen by the block over the Ukraine war. Russia cannot access the assets till it ends the war and provides reparations to Ukraine. And the Sudan's government says drone attacks on its territory are coming from Ethiopia. For nearly 3 years, civil war has been raging in the Sudan. But this is the first time that Ethiopia has been officially accused of interference. There is no let up in West Asia. Iran is talking about opening the gates of hell. Their missiles and drones are slamming into Gulf states and Israeli cities. It's fast turning into war of attrition. American air defenses versus Iranian missiles. Today, Thran struck the US embassy in Saudi Arabia. Two drones slammed into the American building and soon it was engulfed in smoke. Yesterday, the US embassy in Kuwait was also hit. So, Washington has decided to shut both embassies. The UA was also targeted by drones today. One of the interceptions caused fire at major oil facility. Missiles also targeted Israeli cities. large wave was fired early in the morning. Some of them were shot down by Israeli and US air defenses, but few missiles did find their target. They hit multiple locations in central Israel. Reports say nine people have been injured. And what about the other side? Well, Israel has opened second front against Lebanon. Their fighter jets are bombing targets deep in Beirut. As of now, 40 people have been killed have been wounded in Lebanon. And it's not just an aerial onslaught. Israel has ordered ground invasion as well. They plan to create buffer zone in southern Lebanon. Meanwhile, the Hezbollah is trying to fight back. They're firing rockets at northern Israel, leading to midair interceptions by the Iron Dome. This is the secondary front for Israel. Iran remains the primary target. Their fighter jets continue to bomb locations in the west and in Thran. Today, they hit government buildings in the capital, including the presidential office and the Assembly of Experts. These are sites attacked in Iran. Now, this assembly of experts, this assembly building is where the next supreme leader is supposed to be selected. But Israel has blown it up. Running boy. Like yesterday, they're also hitting missiles and launchers. Remember, Iran has the largest missile stockpile in West Asia. It is their biggest weapon in this war. Israeli jets are flying multiple sorties into Iran. They're taking out more and more launching sites. Israel claims they've carried out 60 waves of attacks, put together. More than 2,000 Iranian targets have been hit. Which brings us to the US. What is the American military up to? The US has deployed its B2 and B1 bombers. They're using these planes to strike underground silos and launching sites, locations that cannot be breached easily. In addition, the US is also bombing internal security targets, things like police stations, detention centers, intelligence offices. The Americans are going after all of this in Iran. And these facilities are used by the regime to crack down on disscent. By attacking them, the US is hoping to weaken the regime's grip on power. Basically, they're setting the stage for massive protests in Iran. And that sums up the battlefield updates. What about diplomacy? Is anyone interested in an off-ramp? Well, look at Donald Trump's latest message, and I'm quoting, "Their air defense, Air Force, Navy, and leadership is gone. They want to talk. said too late. And just to be clear, until yesterday, Trump did want to talk to the Iranians. He said the new Iranian leadership had reached out to him. But then Iran's security chief rebuffed him. He said there would be no negotiations with the Americans. So now 24 hours later, Trump has also made U-turn. He says there will be no talks. But here's the problem. Wars are not just fought with resolve. You need weapons to keep fighting them. Multiple US media reports say the Pentagon is worried. That's the US defense ministry. They're worried. They fear long war will deplete American stockpile. So once again, Trump came out with long social media post. And let me quote again from what he said. The United States munition stockpiles have at the medium and upper medium grade never been higher or better. As was stated to me today, we have virtually unlimited supply of these weapons. Wars can be fought forever and very successfully using just these supplies. At the highest end, we have good supply, but are not where we want to be. Well, that's half admission by Donald Trump. He says the high-end stockpile is not where he wants to be. And yet, he's not deescalating. Trump actually says bigger wave of attacks is coming. So, it's not clear what he's trying to say. Like said, more than 2,000 Iranian targets have already been hit. More than 2,000 targets. So, what would bigger wave look like? That's the question. Israel's Prime Minister Benamin Netanyahu is betting on quick success. He says this will not be an endless war. hear the people are saying we're going to have an endless war here. said it's could be quick and decisive. It may take some time, but it's not going to take years. It's not an endless war. In fact, it's an effort right now to achieve the peace that we all yearn and pray for. And think together we'll achieve it. Trump is saying something different though. We'll tell you about his position later on the show. But for now, listen to the Iranian military. They are not backing down either. Despite the sustained attacks from the other side, the Iranians continue to hit back. The Iranian guards say the gates of hell are opening for America and Israel. The enemy must await continuous punitive attacks. The gates of hell will open more and more, moment by moment, upon the United States and Israel. It's basically race against time. Iran wants to grind out the enemy air defenses much like they did in last year's 12-day war. Meanwhile, Israel is betting on blitzkrieg. They want to defang Iran's missiles before their air defenses run out. It's question of what will happen first. Like said, it's before the war and by now you know the drill. This war is playing out on your screens, too. Your feed is flooded. Every hour, thousands of videos are pouring in. So, every day, we try to cut through the noise. We bring you the most important videos from the last 24 hours because, as we keep saying, misinformation is flying faster than missiles. And with artificial intelligence in the mix, it's harder than ever to tell what is real. So, let's bring you our top videos. The top videos that you need to see today. Video number one is from Beirut. Beirut is the capital of Lebanon. As you know, the war is spreading across the region. Multiple countries are coming under fire. And last night, it was Lebanon that took the hit. Lebanon is home to the Hezbollah. It's Shia militant group and regional proxy of Iran. Now, Israel says Hisbullah has joined the war, which is why they're hitting his bases in Lebanon. The Israelis are hitting these bases. As you can see on your screens, these are visuals on there are visuals on the blasts. They show Israeli strikes on multiple Hezbollah targets. Multiple videos captured the exact moment of the attack. People were seen sprinting away in panic. Onlookers dropped everything and ran for cover. Thick plumes of smoke erupted into the sky and in matter of seconds, chaos took over the streets. Video number three is from Iran. It is disturbing video. So we advise viewer discretion. These are images from city called Minab in the south of the country. US-Israeli strike hit school in the city. It killed 160 school girls. Now the US and Israel insist that they were not behind the strike, but Iran has been slamming them. And now we have images of mass graves being dug to bury the children. Take look. Multiple funerals were held in Minad. Thousands also gathered to mourn these school girls. Here's another video from Iran. It shows people running for their lives. This is after an air strike near the Russian embassy in Thran. Footage shows locals dragging injured people. Some were even overcome with grief. It's not just Iran. Israel too is coming under fire. Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited West Jerusalem. He tooured site that was struck by Iranian missiles. When stand here in place that was bombarded by the terrorist in Thran against innocent civilians, you see the difference. The tyrants of Tehran target civilians. We target the tyrants of Tehran to protect civilians. And what is war without the weapons? Like said, all sides are releasing war videos every hour. Iran released footage showing the launch of its missiles, especially the Kadr and Imad missiles. Meanwhile, America's Central Command showed off US firepower, including the B2 bomber. Caught in this crossfire are the Gulf States. Iran is attacking them left, right and center. And while the physical damage has been limited, the strikes have shattered the sense of security. Cities like Dubai were seen as safe havens. Centers of global finance and tourism. An attack on Dubai was unimaginable and yet it happened. And since then, the mood has shifted. Yes, the skyscrapers still shine. Yes, the malls are still packed. But there's an edge in the air and it seems the leadership knows this. So today, in an attempt to show that Dubai is safe, the UA president himself went to mall. We're talking about MBZ, Muhammad bin Zed al- Nayan. He was seen walking through the Dubai mall. With him was the crown prince of Dubai, Shik Hamdan. Later, they enjoyed meal at restaurant. They even interacted with other people visiting the mall. If Dubai is out shopping amid falling missiles, Israel is one step step ahead. It is partying. They have Jewish holiday called Kurim, but the government has banned public gatherings. So, Israelis have moved the party underground. They're celebrating in garages and bomb shelters. Forever. Those are our top videos for today. The military war is not slowing down and neither is the information war around it. So, like we say every day, make sure you verify what you're sharing online. Heat. Heat. Iran's strategy is clear. They want to make this regional war. war that will hurt America's allies in the Gulf. war that hurts countries like Saudi Arabia, the UA, and Qatar. We have seen relentless missiles and drone strikes from Iran. first at US bases in these countries, then at civilians sites like hotels, and now at energy facilities. Yesterday, Iran hit Saudi Arabia's largest oil refinery, Aramco's Ras Tanura on the Persian Gulf. The refinery was shut down following the Iranian strikes. On the same day, Iran also hitQatar's Ras Lafan facility. This is run byQatar Energy, the largest LG producer in the world. Doha too has shut down this facility and then today the UA was hit. Their oil facility in Fuera was struck by by drone debris. Also today the Iranians have shut the straight of Hormuz. This waterway carries 20% of global oil trade. It's key export route for the Gulf states and Iran has shut it. Of course, Iran is doing this on purpose. They know that the energy this that energy is lifeline of the Gulf economy. If you cut that off, you can choke them. You can make them desperate. You can make the Gulf States desperate. The question is what happens after that? Well, there are three possibilities. One, the Gulf States continue holding defensive posture. Basically, they keep shooting down Iranian drones and missiles. But there's problem with that. They do not have endless air defenses. They're using multiple interceptors to shoot down missiles. So, the worry is they will run out of stock. Reports say some Gulf states have used up missiles built up over years in just 4 days and apparently the US is not replenishing their stock. When some Gulf states asked for interceptors, the United States ignored them. So, the current status quo is not sustainable. You cannot endlessly defend against drones and missiles. Which brings us to the second possibility. The Gulf states can enter the war. They can either allow Israel and the US to strike Iran from their airspace or they can hit back themselves. Yesterday, Qatar scrambled fighter jets against Thran. They shot down two Iranian warplanes. In Saudi Arabia too, patience is wearing thin. The Saudi kingdom has placed their military on state of high alert. The question is, will they take the plunge? Will they join the war? Let's look at their firepower first. Saudi Arabia has around 280 fighter aircraft. This includes the F-15 and the Euro Fighter Typhoon. The UAE has around 100 fighters. This includes the F-16s and the French Mirage 2000s. Qatar has also also has more than 100 aircraft. This includes the Rafal, the Euro Fighter and the Mirage. Now, politically, it makes more sense for the Gulf States to join the fighting to attack Iran themselves because if they open the airspace to Israel, the locals may not like it. The Arab population, as you know, is overwhelmingly anti-Israel. Having said that, an attack carries its own risks. For starters, you could be crowding the airspace. We saw what happened in Kuwait. Three American jets were shot down by Kuwait's own air defenses. So there's that's real risk. And secondly, Iran may hit back even harder. Iran's ballistic missiles could destroy oil and power facilities in the Gulf. It would take years, if not decades, to rebuild these, which brings us to the final possibility. The Gulf States can push for peace. Now, this too is happening. According to reports, the UA and Qatar are privately lobbying for quick ceasefire. They're asking American allies to find an off-ramp for Donald Trump. If true, this is ideal for Iran. This was the whole point of attacking the Gulf States. Iran wanted them to put pressure on Trump to push Trump for ceasefire. Of course, Trump may or may not listen to them. He says he's willing to fight long war. It's certainly massive dilemma for these Gulf states. They cannot shoot down missiles forever. Nor can they risk even bigger Iranian attacks. And of course, they can't do nothing. So, they will have to pick one of these options. Whatever they choose, expect them to act together. These attacks from Iran have united the Gulf States like never before. So, any response will likely be joint one. IDF spokesperson Ben Cohen who joins us from the front lines. Really, thank you Ben for speaking with us. What's the situation right now in Israel? It retaliated first by attacking Israel and US assets, then by targeting Gulf Arab states, and now it has begun hitting the Europeans. Iran has struck British air base in Cyprus and it has fired drones at French base in the UAE. Plus, air defense systems have been activated at multiple European facilities in the region. Long story short, Europe is being dragged into this war. European assets are under attack and European leaders are struggling to respond because this is not war they want to get into. But if they're targeted, they will have to respond. So far, we've heard from their biggest players, the UK, France, and Germany. We've seen them responding. They issued joint statement over the weekend. The statement carried direct message to Iran. Stop your attacks or we will strike back. Strong words. It appears that the big three in Europe are putting up strong and united front. But in practice, European nations are heading in different directions. Take Britain for instance. London received request from Washington. The US wanted access to two British bases in West Asia. The Americans wanted to use these bases to launch attacks on Iran. The UK resisted first, but then it agreed and it called them defensive strikes. The United States has requested permission to use British bases for that specific and limited defensive purpose. We have taken the decision to accept this request to prevent Iran firing missiles across the region, killing innocent civilians, putting British lives at risk, and hitting countries that have not been involved. He said it's for defensive purpose. Well, here's the problem with that framing. The United States is the one that is driving this escalation. This is not defensive operation in any sense of the term. So effectively British bases will be used as launch pads for American attacks. France meanwhile has taken different direction. France has deployed Rafal fighter jets over the UAE. This is to protect French naval and air bases from Iranian attacks. And then there is Greece. Athens has now ordered military deployment to Cyprus. Greece is deploying two frigates and two F-16 fighter jets. What about Germany? Germany has decided to wait and watch. Germany says it will act only if its own soldiers come under direct attack. But the risk of an escalation is no longer hypothetical. Thran has made it real today. Today, Iran issued warning to European states. Its foreign ministry released statement. It said any action by European countries will be regarded as an act of war. And in response, Iran says it will target European cities. Iran is threatening to target European cities if European countries respond or take any action. Clearly, Europe is being drawn into this fighting. It's conflict that they'd hoped to avoid. The threat assessment for them has changed almost overnight. And now European governments are rushing to manage the fallout. They've started pulling out their nationals. Those who were stranded across West Asia. Italy has started airlifting its nationals out of Dubai. Other countries are expected to follow suit. European leaders have begun consultations. This comes after Ursula Bondan faced criticism over the weekend. Soon after Iran was attacked, the EU chief made statement. She announced an emergency meeting to discuss the conflict. an emergency meeting not within hours but on Monday basically after the weekend and sure enough the internet mocked her response to this war. Memes spread on social media saying that Europe's war response could wait until after the weekend. Then on Monday she made statement allow me to quote from what she said. She said that she was focusing on wide range of things from energy to nuclear from transport to migration to security. She also said we must be prepared for the fallout. So far, Europe has not been direct target, but after today's statement from Thran, European states are clearly in the crosshairs, increasingly being drawn into conflict that they were hoping to avoid. It was quiet Saturday morning in Thran. Iran's supreme leader walked into what was supposed to be another meeting and minutes later he was dead. Ayatollah Kame was killed in joint strike by the US and Israel. But you already know this. Our story tonight is not the strike. Our story is the run-up to the strike and how it came about. It begins with surveillance. Surveillance that went on for years. This is according to new report by the Financial Times. It talks about surveillance so thorough that Israel knew Iran like the back of their hand. We're not talking about spying operation limited to few officials. We are talking about hacking city's entire traffic network. You heard that right. Apparently, Israel hacked into Thran's traffic network and that meant access to cameras. You see, Iran has built very extensive internal surveillance system. It had installed cameras to spy on its own people, to monitor protesters and dissenters. Unfortunately for them, the same cameras were used by the enemy to spy on the regime. One camera placed at just the right angle reportedly showed something small, but something very, very critical. It showed the place where Ayatollah Kam's security detail parked their cars. So, Israel started analyzing this footage. They started analyzing the patterns. When do the guards arrive? Where do they park their cars? Who drives which official? Who protects whom? Who swap shifts. Israel gathered all these details by hacking Thran's traffic cameras. And it proved to be gamecher because you don't kill leader by watching him. Leaders are hard to track anyway. You kill leader by watching the people around him. And that's what Israel did over time. The Israeli intelligence built data files. They called these pattern of life files. That's what they built. They gathered home addresses, commuting routes, and duty hours of these guards. It's like building Google Maps timeline, but for regime's inner circle. And Israel did this for years. Leading the project was Unit 8200. This is Israel's elite signals intelligence unit. The report says unit 8200 fed mountains of data into AIdriven systems. I'm talking about billions of data points, phone signals, camera feeds, movement patterns, relationship maps. They use something called network analysis. What does that mean? It's basically mapping who talks to whom and who influences whom. You try to make sense of network. And with this they built whole picture of Ayatah Kam's daily life. Now here's where this becomes almost sci-fi. On the day of the strike something strange happened. Cellular networks around Kam's compound were disrupted. Phones rang busy and warnings could not get through. Say you were Kam's bodyguard. You could not reach your team. Your calls were failing. At the same time, Israeli and US intelligence was at work. They confirmed that Kame was at his residence and that he was meeting top officials. And here's the other thing. They were not just depending on data. American intelligence also had human source confirming all of this. That's what reports say that they also had human intelligence. Now, Iran knew that an attack was coming. They knew that Israel and the US were going to strike at some point. Of course, the Ayatollah knew that knew that, too. But apparently he refused to go to bunker. He wanted to die as so-called martyr. What Thehan did not anticipate was timing. They did not think that the strike would come in the morning. They did not think that it would happen in broad daylight. That's what happened. And as dramatic as this backstory is, it's not new for Israel. Their intelligence is known for things like this, for operations like this. You may remember what happened in 2024, the pager explosions. Israel crippled Hezbollah's communication network. Their rank and file used pagers to communicate. Israel hacked those devices and blew them up. So thousands of pagers exploded simultaneously and this killed thousands of Hisbullah fighters. That operation too is said to have taken years of infiltration, years of analyzing the same data, of figuring out patterns and knowing when to strike. And it tells you lot about modern warfare. Wars today are not fought with just missiles and jets. They're fought with data, with years of invisible surveillance and algorithms. And it's something that Israel has mastered. The long game in world of fastm moving conflicts. When Ayatah Kam died, Ayatah Kumeni rather died in 1989. Iran did not hand over power to his family. It handed power to Ali Kam. He was cleric, loyalist and safe pick for the regime. For 35 years, Ali Kam held the line. Now he's gone. new name is doing the rounds as his possible replacement and that's Hassan Hmeni. He is the grandson of Ayatah Kmeni, the founder of the Islamic Republic. So why is his name gaining traction? There are several factors that work in his favor. There is the name of course, but beyond that, Hassan Kmeni is moderate, someone who could potentially reconnect the regime with large population that is growing alienated. Our next report has more. Iran is facing question it has not faced in 35 years. Who leads the Islamic Republic? Ayatollah Ali Kam is dead. The man who held absolute authority over the military, the judiciary, foreign policy is gone. And the name being spoken most in the corridors of Tehran is not new one. It is Kmeni, not the founder, his grandson. Hassan Kmeni is 53 years old. He holds no government title. He has never served as minister, judge, or an administrator. But he holds something no appointment can manufacture, the name of the revolution itself. He is the custodian of his grandfather's mausoleum in southern Thran. That mausoleum is not just tomb. It is shrine, pilgrimage site, the physical symbol of the Islamic Republic's founding moment. And Hassan Kmeni stands at its center. He is the most visible of Ayatollah Ruhola Kmeni's 15 grandchildren. Within Iran's clerical establishment, he is seen as relative moderate. He has close ties to former presidents Muhammad Katami and Hassan Rouani. Both of whom pursued engagement with the west when in office. That is the political tradition Hassan Kmeni represents reform within the system. Engagement not confrontation. His track record reflects this. In 2021, Iran's Guardian Council made key decision. This is the body that vets candidates who can stand in elections. The council barred reformist candidates from running for president. Hassan Kmeni pushed back publicly against the council's decision. The following year brought an even sharper test. In 2022, Masa Amini, young Iranian woman, died in the custody of the morality police. She had been accused of violating conservative dress codes. Her death ignited protests across Iran. Hassan Kmeni did not look away. He demanded accountability from the state. January this year brought fresh unrest to Iran. Protests swept through cities. Dissent was widening. The Islamic Republic was visibly under pressure, not just from outside, but from within. And inside Iran's political establishment, conversation began. Could moderate successor steady the ship? Some senior politicians believed in the idea. The case for Hassan Kmeni gained momentum. Kamani himself had taken note. Last June, during the 12-day war with Israel, he went into hiding. And from that hideout, he named three men, three possible replacements for Supreme Leader Hassan Kmeni was one of those three names. But Hassan Kmeni's path to the top is not straightforward. The body that will decide Iran's next Supreme Leader is the Assembly of Experts. It has 88 members, all senior Shia clerics. They are elected but only candidates vetted by the guardian council can stand which means the assembly skews conservative and the hardliners have other options. Kamani's short list included two other names. The first Ali Ascar Hijazi Kamei's chief of staff. He may no longer be factor. The Israeli military says he was killed in the strikes on Thran. The second Golam Hussein Moseni AJ, head of Iran's judiciary. Again, he is hardliner. There is fourth name circulating too. Mojaba Kamei, the Supreme Leader's own son. He is powerful. He has operated in the shadows for years. Certain factions want him. But Kamani himself made his position clear. He did not want the post of supreme leader to become hereditary. So the choice narrows. The assembly of experts will decide and they will do so under extraordinary circumstances. country at war, cities under attack, and younger population that is watching closely. Donald Trump calls himself the president of peace. He wanted peace to be his biggest legacy. No endless wars, no foreign interventions, no nation building. Except now he's doing all three. Trump has bombed seven countries in one year. Seven countries. Iraq, Syria, Venezuela, Nigeria, Yemen, Somalia, and of course, Iran. In Venezuela, he kidnapped the head of state. In Iran, he killed the Supreme Leader, both without any global sanction or approval. Trump's predecessors gave elaborate excuses for their wars. They talked about building democracy. They spoke about nation building. Donald Trump is not wasting time with fake excuses. He is bombing countries because he can because he thinks American might makes him right. Of course, we don't expect anything less from US president. The only difference is that this one promised to be different. He built his career around opposing foreign wars. Unlike other candidates for the presidency, war and aggression will not be my first instinct. You cannot have foreign policy without diplomacy. superpower understands that caution and restraint are really truly signs of strength. But actually, my personality is what kept us out of war. was the only president in nearly four decades who did not get America into any new conflicts. Instead, brought our troops and our wonderful children back home. brought them back home where they belong. Proudest legacy will be that of peacemaker and unifier. That's what want to be, peacemaker and unifier. guess Trump lied. Shocking, isn't it? This is man who openly committed the Nobel Peace Prize. He shamelessly took the Nobel Medal from last year's winner, Venezuela's Maria Corina Machado. And weeks later, he went ahead and bombed Iran. Reports say at least 700 civilians have been killed so far, including more than 100 innocent school girls. Just compare his actions to his words. Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that he ended eight wars. He also formed so-called Board of Peace to end global conflicts. Again, days later, he bombed Iran. wonder what Pakistan's prime minister will now say. He called Donald Trump the savior of South Asia. Is he now saving West Asia, too? Do the Iranians and the Arabs feel safe yet? bet they don't. And don't forget Trump's multiple claims on Indian fighter jets. You may remember this. He kept swinging from 8 to 11 jets down. Listen to this first. They weren't fighting. They were fighting. 11 jets were shot down. Very expensive jets. Eight planes shot down. They were going to go nuclear in my opinion. 10 planes were shot down. They were going at it. The real answer is three. Not Indian or Pakistani jets, but American jets. In three days of fighting, the US military has already lost three jets, three F-15s in Kuwait. And guess how? Shot down by friendly fire. Basically, the Kuwaiti air defense has shot down American jets. Let's hope he'll remember that number well. Three jets downed. But on serious note, the Trump White House is under lot of fire. They seem confused and unserious. Consider what happened yesterday. Trump attended medal ceremony for soldiers. He also paid tributes to the troops killed in the ongoing war. And then out of nowhere, he made this detour. We have lot of great service members here with us to in this beautiful building. Isn't it beautiful? We're adding on to the building little bit. We're improving the building. See that nice drape? When that comes down right now, you see very, very deep hole. But in about year and half from now, you're going to see very, very beautiful building. And there's your entrance to it right there. In fact, it looks so nice, don't think I'll even think I'll save money on the doors cuz it can't get more beautiful than that. picked those drapes in my first term. always like gold, but think we can save lot of money. just saved just saved curtains. How about that? Trump has just plunged West Asia into war and now he's joking about his ballroom. In times like this, the world is looking for clarity. They want the US president to spell out his goals and his timelines. But the very opposite is happening. Trump officials are giving out conflicting versions of the war. We'll focus on three main issues. First is the trigger. Why did the US military launch this attack? Listen to what the Secretary of State and the Secretary of War had to say. We believe the objective that we have set for this mission, which is the destruction of their ballist ballistic missile capabilities, both launch capability and manufacturing, can be achieved without ground forces. Are there currently any American boots on the ground in Iran? no. But we're not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do. think it's one of those fallacies for long time that this department or presidents or others should tell the American people this and our and our enemies. By the way, here's exactly what we'll do. Marco Rubio says Israel was going to attack anyway. The US feared that Iran would retaliate against US bases, too. So, Washington decided to attack first. I'm afraid this is not what preemptive means. This is provocation, not preeemption. But the Pentagon, that's the US Defense Ministry, they're offering completely different version. They say this attack was always in the works. It's meant to destroy Iran's missiles and its navy. So, clear discrepancy there. Now, to the second issue. Will America put soldiers on the ground? Again, two different answers. We believe the objective that we have set for this mission, which is the destruction of their ballist ballistic missile capabilities, both launch capability and manufacturing, can be achieved without ground forces. Are there currently any American boots on the ground in Iran? no. But we're not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do. think it's one of those fallacies for long time that this department or presidents or others should tell the American people this and our and our enemies, by the way, here's exactly what we'll do. Now, the third issue, how long will this campaign last? The Pentagon chief says this will not be an endless war. But Donald Trump says it'll last for as long as it takes. This is not Iraq. This is not endless. was there for both. Our generation knows better and so does this president. He called the last 20 years of nation building wars dumb. And he's right. We're already substantially ahead of our time projections. But whatever the time is, it's okay. Whatever it takes, we will always and we have from right from the beginning, we projected four to five weeks, but we have capability to go far longer than that. At first, Trump said the war could last four to five weeks. Now, he says as long as it takes. So, which one is it? Trump officials also appear confused about their end goal. The president himself had openly called for regime change in Iran, but his secretary of war says this is not regime change war. call upon all Iranian patriots who yearn for freedom to seize this moment to be brave, be bold, be heroic and take back your country. America is with you. made promise to you and fulfilled that promise. The rest will be up to you, but we'll be there to help. This is not so-called regime change war, but the regime sure did change, and the world is better off for it. No stupid rules of engagement, no nation building quagmire, no democracy building exercise, no politically correct wars. We fight to win and we don't waste time or lives. again. Which one is it? Trump is treating this war like school project, something that he can make up along the way. But the fact is, he's playing with the lives of millions of people. War is not real estate deal or TV show. It's as real as it gets. Scott to cut off all dealings with Spain. Spain. First of all, it started when every every European nation at my request paid 5% which they should be doing. And everybody was enthusiastic about it. Germany, everybody. And Spain didn't do it. And now Spain actually said that we can't use their bases. And that's all right. We don't. We could use their base if we want. We could just fly in and use it. Nobody's going to tell us not to use it, but we don't have to. But they were unfriendly. And so told him we don't want to Spain has absolutely nothing that we need other than great people. They have great people. And I'm not by the way I'm not happy with the UK either. that island that you read about the lease. Okay. He made for whatever reason he made lease of the island. Somebody came and took it away from him and it's taken three four days for us to work out where we can land there. It would have been much more convenient landing there as opposed to flying many extra hours. So, we are very surprised. We're hitting them very hard. And the the big scale hitting goes now. They no longer have air protection. They no longer have any detection facilities at all left. And so they're going to they're going to be in for lot of hurt. These are bad people. These are people that killed. guess it's 35,000. It's coming out. 35,000 over the last 3 weeks protesters, 35,000 violently killed. So these are bad people and the leader of the pack is gone. And as you know, 49 people were taken out in the first hit and guess there was another hit today on the new leadership and it looks like that was pretty substantial also. And let's get to our guests as the developments come in thick and fast from the Middle East. I'm joined by Lefn Kono Duran Avatar, former commander of the special forces of the IDF. Thank you sir for joining us on the broadcast as well as Ashok Sajjun, former diplomat. Also joining us is Yasmin Mad, Iranian scholar as well as political activist. Thank you so much for joining us ladies and gentlemen. Left colonel Avatal, I'll come to you first. The fourth day of operation roaring lion. Netanyahu very confident about the action that has been taken against the Iranian regime. Donald Trump also full support behind the Israeli government. But given the fact that the energy corridor in the Arab world is now under constant pressure and threat given the fact that even oil prices have shot up, has there been some level of miscalculation from the Americans as well as the Israelis? It's yet to be seen looking forward what will be the consequences in terms of tactical achievements and the objective that were set. The objective was set very fast very quickly in the first few days elimination of the leadership the whole infrastructure of air defense system. So basically Iran is completely open eliminating the the navy the Iranian navy but still of course you have to look at the long the long run. What is the end game of this of this war? And this is where Trump steps in with the regime shift. But the question which regime he actually said that even the the second the second line of regime was eliminated. So who is the regime shift? She talks about better leadership. Is it like in the prospect of this liberal democracy whatever that can emerge in Iran? It's hard to see this. The question what kind of new leadership can emerge that can end this game. The strategy of the Iranian is is very clear. Create enough chaos that would force the hand of Trump and would force the hand of the US and then to conclude this with negotiation. It's not clear. Right. and Yasmin Mat when it comes to regime change now that's something Donald Ronald Trump is talking extensively about the first pitch coming in from the United States was to dismantle the nuclear arsenal as well as the nuclear capabilities of the Iranian regime now Donald Trump you just heard him he said that the Ayatollah's regime has killed over 35,000 people and these are bad people as per the US president and another regime needs to take control is that easier said than done given the institutions of power in Iran It's easier said than done. there are number of issues. First of all, the 35,000 is an exaggerated figure. lot of people were killed, probably few thousand, and that's bad enough. There's no need to exaggerate. However, this regime has many enemies. Protests shows that it's clear, but it also has support base. And that support you have seen when the ham was killed that support was on the streets of major cities. So you either going to have civil war or this government this regime in its various formats will be able to repress the protesters. You are not going to have suddenly these people moving away and the new government liberal democracy. don't know what that is nowadays given the world situation but democracy suddenly flourishes out of it. This government has repressed liberal opposition, left opposition, secular opposition. Who is left to replace? Many people believe that Trump believes he can replace this with others within the current regime or strong man from the commanders of the revolutionary guard. Maybe he has people in mind. don't know. But none of this will serve the people of Iran or the protesters. Now the protesters will have to calculate are they going to face these huge crowds where nationalism patriotism has changed the equation in terms of how many people are against the regime how many people are for the regime we don't know right and that's very interesting take sinar want to come to you on that could we see the resurgence of new wave of Iranian nationalism of There's lot of anger. Israelis have walked in and said we're going to create cord and sanitary for ourselves, leave and we're also going to go after Hezbollah. So that's really what's happening here and that's clear message that is coming in. But even as we see collateral in terms of other countries that seem to be bearing the brunt, the direct fight between Israel and Iran will continue. And the latest in fact we're seeing is something that's coming in from Tel Aviv where smoke seems to be rising in. there are injuries in bets that have been reported as well. There was direct hit in Tel Aviv. That's the latest that we are gathering as far as attacks of Iran on Israel are concerned. These are all drones, missiles that are being fired from the Iranian side into Israel. There are several cities in Israel that seem to be particularly targeted by Iran. Rasal Ain is one of them. Tel Aviv and Betamesh which was also targeted two days ago where nine civilians was killed. Nine civilians were killed. That's another piece of information that is now just trickling in to get sense of what exactly is transpiring. believe Aman Sharma is also now joining us getting us more inputs of what exactly is transpiring in the region. Well, Punam, what we have right now is detailed statement being issued by India. The Ministry of External Affairs issuing detailed statement on the conflict that is happening. The MEIA is now saying that unfortunately in the holy month of Ramadan the situation in the entire Middle East region has deteriorated significantly and continuously. India is also reiterating that it is most concerned about the safety of Indians who live in the Middle East. Nearly 8 million people of Indian origin live in the Middle East. It is Indian statement is saying that the deaths and the destruction have mounted even as normal life and economic activities have come to halt as approximate neighbor with critical stakes in the security and stability of the region. These developments evoke great anxiety. This is what Indian government is now saying. There are almost 1 cr Indian citizens who live and work in the Gulf region. Their safety and well-being is of utmost priority. We cannot be impervious impervious to any development that negatively affects them. That is what the Indian government is saying. No outright condemnation yet of Kmeni's killing. But the Indian government is very clear Rahul on what they are saying now. Well, you know the priorities are very clear. We have to safeguard our interests. The Kamani matter think has been left aside and we've already sort of spoken and expressed our deep concern. But the point is from oil to remittances India's exposed and had put out some facts little while back and I'm going to read some of them to you. India imports 90% of its crude oil as we know. so we are also highly sensitive to West Asian disruptions because as you know from West Asia West Asia 51% of the supply comes in Russia is the next 20%. Straight of Hormuz is now choked. So we're fearing that we're going to have problems on that front. LG as you know is not coming out of one of the biggest LG producers in the world. Interestingly Rahul they mentioned that in the statement as well. India is saying that our trade and energy supply chains also traverse this geography. Any major disruption has serious consequences for the Indian economy. As country whose nationals are prominent in the global workforce, India is also firmly opposed to attacks on merchant shipping. So India is clearly saying its economy could have serious consequences if the states of Hormos remains blocked. Absolutely. Because look right now we are pulling ahead as you know the GDP numbers were released just about 3 or 4 days ago and you saw that the projections for the next day have also been increased. know this is new series but nonetheless we are looking at an upside and suddenly you have this disruptive war which is going to throw all those calculations once again out of the window. Then there is the question that you were talking about which is remittance economy which is from the dashpora. What are we talking about 1 cr Indians that live and work in GCC countries in which UAE alone is 43 lakhs. So 43 lakhs which is 39% of the population four out of 10 are living in just the UAE. And if you break it down beyond that Saudi Arabia is 2.7 million so 27 lakhs. Kuwait is 1 million that's 10 lakhs. Qatar is just under that that's about eight lakhs. And where are these sectors that they're employed in? These are construction, hospitality, health care, services and all of these by the way are locked down in the UAE because of these drone attacks that have come through. So it's also India that is going to start facing the problem and then of course there is the trade and business link that is also referred to in this statement. Absolutely. think the Indian government by its statement is breaking it very clear that India does not want any impact on its economy. It wants Indian citizens to be safe and that is why it's 57 57 billion dollars of our exports go to the GCC and we are talking about perishable goods lot of our food etc goes there and that becomes problematic when you really look at it from that perspective our entire focus right now is to boost our exports and find markets for our exports that's why we've just signed as you know trade agreement with couple of Gulf countries also and the prime minister is working with the government to try and forge other agreements with other countries. We've just had the Canadians here and the Canadians have says by the year end we're going to have free trade agreement. We've had it with the UK and the EU. So we are moving quickly. We're also negotiating with the United States. But look at this clearly and that is why India is again reiterating its call for dialogue and diplomacy. The MEA statement saying we raise our voice clearly in the favor of an early end to the conflict. many lives have been regrettably lost and we express our grief in that regard. So think the MA statement clearly putting the record straight on what really India's priorities are and in the morning we saw Sonia Gandhi write piece you know asking India why it was not you know condemning Kame's death but think Indian government has made its priorities very clear through this long and detailed statement she said she said silence was abdication without actually in any way taking positions just want to state some facts before bring in both Graha and Punam the facts are that even the UPA in its time did not take position. For example, when Gaddafi was ousted by again regime change operation was assassinated, Saddam Hussein was assassinated. Well, hung actually he was captured and then hung or even when you've had regime change in other quarters of the world. So there is little bit of hypocrisy there and clearly it's born out of sense of political compulsion. And back to you in the studio. Right. Absolutely. Rahul and Amanda, thank you so much for that assessment. India is making it amply clear that they have stakes in the region and they want deescalation very very soon. But here look at what we have for you in the studio. We are looking at the global collective where do the in fact alliances lie. What are the blocks that one is looking at? If you take look at this world alignment block here on the studios in the wall there you see the big block here which is of course led by the United States of America that also goes on to include Israel, the UK of course and also France, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Qatar basically all the Gulf nations they go on to form this one block that comes under west and there is an anti-West block clearly with with Iran, Russia and China and that's why this entire straight of Hormuz that also Rahul was referring to and how India's strategic interest and also the energy flow that in fact happens from the straight of Hormuz has been blocked the other countries their vessels have been blocked but there are two countries their vessels are being allowed to pass and that strategically is also China Russia to an extent doesn't cross the straight of Hormus that much but China has been granted that leverage even as Iran goes on to announce that blockade in the straight of Hormu So this is what we are talking about block one which is western block which is where you see of course the global powers like US UK France and there is block two which has of course Iran, China and Russia. We will need Rahul's assessment all this and India's position so to speak and we'll expand onto that thought Rahul that you were making earlier now that the statement by the ministry of external affairs is also out. Yeah, thanks thanks Gria there for that. Yes, we put that out so beautifully, didn't we? It was very clear division between the east really and the allies there in the west so to speak which is this block that is supporting the United States. remember my mind goes back to that famous quote by Henry Kissinger that to be friend of America is fatal. Actually an enemy is bad enough but being friend is fatal. large number of these countries that had tied up with the Americans, given them bases in exchange for petro dollars as the term was because they were selling oil to the Americans. And the Americans said that look, we can take care of you. We can provide you security shield. You do your business. You sell us the oil. We'll take care of your strategic as well as your external security interests. These countries went into this arrangement. And today, the Americans are calling the favor back. and you have situation where the entire Gulf is now in chaos and large number of these countries as you know founded their reputation on providing stability. So they said that look lot happens in this area but we're immune from it. It happens between Israel and Lebanon and Iran and Iraq. But here we are in little island of our own so to speak where in the Gulf and across the street of Homus there's tranquility. We are moving towards service and financial economy much like Singapore and London had done in the past and large number of them were transitioning away from fossil fuels because as you know these are non-renewable energy resources. So after point in time they're going to run out. So these countries were building their own economies. There lot of infrastructure that was created real estate to extract to to to actually attract expats, top professionals and money, investments and all of that today going up in smoke because of this sort of war between the two blocks and India has done well not hypothecating either its security or its interest to any of these two blocks. So think we've done well by not picking sides. But will India feel the impact on? Let's go straight across to IDF spokesperson Ben Cohen who joins us from the front lines. Really, thank you Ben for speaking with us. What's the situation right now in Israel? What are we expecting by the way of timelines? Is this war going according to plan? So, just returned from the bomb shelter from siren that was just in the area. We started this operation, Operation Roaring Lion, on Saturday morning when the IDF and the US armed forces started joint operation intended to do one thing, and that's eliminate an existential threat. threat that's relevant to the state of Israel, to the United States, and to the world at large, and that's been proved over the last few days. The strikes started on Saturday morning when we eliminated more than 40 senior Iranian commanders, including Supreme Leader Kamini, and they continued over recent days as we struck aerial defense targets, ballistic missile targets, and other Iranian terrorist regime targets in Tehran and in Iran at large. Over the last 36 hours, the Hezbollah terrorist organization, the Iranian terrorist regime's main proxy, made strategic mistake and decided to fire dozens of rockets and UAVs at Israel. And at this time, in congruent to IDF strikes and US armed forces strikes in Iran, the IDF is striking Hezblah terrorist organization commanders and targets in order to eliminate that threat on Israeli civilians. So, of course, we're hearing that the new Iranian defense minister has been eliminated in fresh wave of strikes from Israel. But what we're seeing also is resistance coming from Iran. They seem to have hunkered down. They're sending these drones. Many people are saying that this is strategy where they are trying to exhaust your munitions, the Iron Dome, patience of the Gulf allies. Is this what Iran's game plan is? Or are they actually not being able to react using some of their hypersonic weapons and other bigger weapons because of compulsion? What's exactly happening from your perspective? How do you read this? So, can tell you that after 2 and 1/2 years of war and after the 7th of October, the IDF has learned that we never underestimate our enemies. We understand the threat that the Iranian terrorist regime poses. And as far as it goes to their strategy, can tell you one thing for certain, and that's that they have strategy to target and hurt civilians specifically. This isn't just message. It's concrete intelligence we have at hand. They're sending those ballistic missiles and their drones to civilian areas, not just in Israel, but in the entire Middle East. Okay. Well, what we're also hearing is that the longer this war continues, and I'm going to ask you little bit about timelines, but the longer this war is continuing, costs are also escalating as we know. Right now, I'm hearing that oil is up by about 8 to 10%, silver is up by 11%, the straight of horm is completely blocked. The new Iranian defense minister of course has been eliminated and just discussed that with you and you're doing fantastic job of trying to eliminate the top leadership but is that really having an effect? Can bombs substitute for ground invasion and affect regime change? So one is that question and the longer we obviously stay in this war there are these knock-on effects. So how do you react to that? So we operate in accordance to clear military objectives and that military objective is to eliminate that existential threat. Those ballistic missiles, the launchers, the infrastructure to eliminate the ability of the Iranian terrorist regime to operate their proxies on our borders as we see with Hezbollah and to eliminate the ability of the Iranian terrorist regime to pose military threat upon Israel and the Middle East. And we will continue to do that for as long as the political echelon asks of us. We have many targets at hand. We continue to strike all the time and we'll do that for as long as need be. But want to make clear our target is to eliminate that military to eliminate that military threat. And the IDF in contrast to the Iranian terror regime strikes military targets. there are some experts who say that your stockpiles will fast deplete and you will then have to sort of recalibrate. Is there danger of that? The IDF has been at war for two and half years on more than seven fronts. We've been prepared to operate on all of those fronts and we've been able to continuously protect ourselves on all of those fronts. We have the capacity and the ability to keep operating for as long as we'll need to even in multiple fronts at once in order to protect Israeli civilians. Can you explain the reason behind crossing the border once again into Lebanon and launching what some people are saying is ground offensive? What's the idea behind that? Of course. So on October 8th when Hezbollah made the decision to start firing indiscriminately rockets and UAVs at Israeli civilians, Israel made choice to evacuate tens of thousands of civilians from their homes in northern Israel. After October 7th, we understand that we can't allow for reality where terrorist organizations on our borders move our civilians away. For that reason, overnight, IDF troops situated themselves in an enhanced forward defensive posture. And want to emphasize this isn't ground invasion. We have IDF troops on the northern side of the border with Lebanon in order to protect ourselves from Hezbollah because we understand that there are civilians in the north and we need our IDF troops to be able to protect them from the terrorists who can get in their way. explain to us little bit about the strategy that has been employed because what we're seeing is that there is constant barrage of missiles that are coming out of Iran or drones that are coming out and somehow making it across the straight of Hormuz or the Gulf and landing in the UAE and other geographies. How is that happening if you have aerial domination? So again, the IDF operates in coordination with the United States armed forces and other allies in order to do aerial defense as effectively as possible. The Iranian terrorist regime has very clearly proved over recent days that they are not just threat to Israel and to the United States, but to the region at large. They're firing ballistic missiles in every direction. We do the best within our operational capacity to defend ourselves, but we understand that there are risks. There are risks involved when you have terrorist regime with hundreds of and thousands of ballistic missiles that they want to fire on civilians. want to come back to that original question. The Americans have now come out and said that regime change was not the objective. Trump has come out and said it. Hexath has come out and said it. Rubio seems to be suggesting it. Do you share that? So again, as said, the objective is very clear. It's to eliminate that existential threat that we have on the state of Israel and at large. And that's military threat. It's the fact that the Iranian regime, since Rising Lion, which is the operation the IDF conducted last year in June, have set out goal for themselves to manufacture 8,000 ballistic missiles by 2027. Now imagine for yourself for moment there was hit few days ago in BHSish in Israel. synagogue in Israel that gets direct impact, nine people are dead. Imagine 8,000 missiles that can each create that direct impact. That's an existential threat. So we have military objective and that military objective is to remove the existential threat that the terrorist regime prevents on us. That's what we're striking, military targets. Well, Ben Coen, thank you very much for speaking with me. Let's just follow me. Thank you very much. We're going to check back with you in just few days. But here we are joining the take three XL. Lovely to see usual. Yeah, you know, interesting conversation. Let's just pick it up from there itself. What left and Benella actually had to say that it was after Roaring Lion last year, the 12-day war that it was not in Israel that they said death to Iran. It was not in Israel that there was clock tower that said that set clock countdown and it was not the Israeli prime minister who set down countdown clock back saying that by 2027 we've got to set up 8,000 ballistic missiles and we need to wipe out Israel in the next 2 years. It happened in Iran. So Israel's point has always been we've never said death to Iran. It's the Iranians who under Kami who have said death to Israel, death to America. Let's kill all Jews. Tom Cooper. beg to differ little bit in this regards because one so rhetoric as fiery and as venomous as as that of the Iranian regime without defending it is one thing and the ability to actually do something is entirely different situation. That's why always say Iranians can cry as much as they like that they're going to wipe out Israel, but they can't do that. On the contrary, as you can see, Israel can with especially with US support bomb Iran up and down as as it almost as it likes. Not entirely as it likes, but but that's also true that from the from 2024, 2025 till 2027, even now Iran has significantly amped up its ballistic missiles caching. If you see right now in the last two days, Zaka, you know, is also with us and viewers, let's get this. The estimate is that they have at least 600 missiles that have been fired already. Yeah. Already. So, and they are saying we're just getting started. So, that means unless they are sitting on stockpile of medium to short range and of course long range missiles of about 3,500 plus missiles, they're not going to be able to to to make this post. So look Anand I've been saying this even yesterday I'm saying this today Iran has finite number of missiles right and whatever they can expend in this particular war because the Iranian nation is going to continue even beyond these these few days of the war will have to be let's say they have number of missiles it'll have to be number whatever the factor is so the most conservative estimates say they have 2,000 or 3,000 missiles the most expansive estimates say they have upwards of 10,000 So my point is it's finite number. At some point, you know, all this firing of missiles will have to stop. Even with the drones, as cheap as they are, mean, we were talking about it, you know, $2,000, $3,000, whatever it is, $10,000. The point is that there's finite number of ammunition that the Iranians have, and that's going to run out at some point. Look, what what is at play? This is the big picture as see it. Iran needs to seek revenge. their supreme leader, their spiritual guide, their political and you know the the the the man who really controlled that state over the last 40 years is dead and dead brutally. mean don't want to get into objectives and stuff but he got killed like dog. I'm sorry to say this but that's really what happened. Now the point is Iran needs to do something to be seen as avenging that right? That's their way out. So, how do see this war ending? It has to be either of two possibilities. One is Iran needs way out, which is that they have to take high value American target out. Look at what happened last June when the 12-day war concluded. How did it end? Yeah, it ended with Iran hitting the Aluded air base in Qatar, which is an American air base. Nobody died because people were all evacuated, but at least they hit an American air base and they could tell back to their people. So, that was their offramp. That was their offramp. Yeah. What is the offramp now? Right now there is no offramp which is why they continuing offramp right now Rahul what they have said larjani has actually said it and they have said that it's BB Netanyahu they they're not going to hit BB Netanyahu said this yesterday I've been inside BB Netanyahu's office they are saying they are saying exactly what the Israelis said about Ki saying we know his movements we know where he is going we know what he is doing they are now out for Netanyahu's head that's where they will settle because clearly they don't want to touch Trump but here it is Nathan Yao and someone like Trump says it was either me or Hame and Hame had to go that was also something which Trump said so how do you see this we'll get into the nuclear aspect and also Trump shifting goalposts through the course of this conversation but first your thing about what is Iran's offramp here which is going to perhaps deescalate this look first of all don't believe that the Iranians are looking to actually take revenge think the regime there is looking to survive with the Trump administration and others now coming out and saying that look at the end of the day we're not looking for regime change don't see where this where the end is where this war is going what are the objectives now if it wasn't regime change then what was this about okay you've eliminated few people but more people will step in and if they step in and the US and the Israelis say, we've neutered their weapons systems and this that the other." Fine, the war might end. There might be an offramp offered or maybe they will come to the table, but that regime won't go and after another four or years or 2 years or 3 years, you'll have another buildup and you'll have another replay. So this war is ending in inanities to me or going there. Now the prime minister is talking to the Sultan of Oman, the crown prince of Kuwait over the Gulf War. think the best bet now for these Gulf nations also sort of come together and form bridge. They are the ones who should sort of talk to Iran and they should talk to the United States, pull back and say, "Guys, think the time has come when you redefine what you're up to here. Come to the table. Let's start the negotiations." they can't become part of the problem because they're clearly bleeding and we've got situation where the MEA has mentioned that we're worried now about the so-called oil shock hitting us. Right. Agree, disagree. Tom Cooper, agree or disagree. I'm I'm for example, agree with Zaka when he says it depends on missile stock. said right right away this is going to be game of numbers. The point is however that also the the Israeli US missile stocks cannot be fantastic because just yesterday they have they plus their plus the US customers of Patriot missiles in in the in the Gulf has wiped out the entire year worth of production of Patriot missiles just yesterday. This is something like 600 missiles. They they are gone they spent and between others in order to shut down three US aircraft. So don't see where is this where should this go. It is it is the same story with all wars Israel has initiated already since 1956. there's always somebody on the other side who is little or mortal th threat for the country then they invade there's war there are sometimes hundreds sometimes thousands this war is where is it going and every time and don't see any clear objectives here let's understand first they said they want regime change now they killed the kami but there is there is there doesn't seem to be regime change at this moment happening because they've immediately got somebody in place in Ali Resa and he seems to be following the communist. This is not how Iraq played out. When when Saddam was sort of hounded out of office and Chemical Ali and all his cabinet was sort of found and shot dead, the regime imploded because it was actually minority baist party which controlled majority here. Exactly. The situation is that these people are from the larger population. There is homogeneity. So people will just step in to say we have to defend the larger interests of Iran and if we are become shahid no proms you know sorry beg to differ on this people tend to to to sort of paint Iran as this homogeneous society it is not only 60% of Iran is Persian the remaining 40% is Kurds you know Azeris there are all kinds of other balo there are all kinds of other minorities now here's the thing when they hounded out Saddam Hussein In 2003 it was unfinished business from 1991. The father Bush could not finish it. The son Bush came and tried to finish it. When they hounded out Saddam Hussein in 2003 it took them 2 months between the launch of the war think it was called oper operation desert storm and then 2 months later they found Saddam Hussein. Those famous words you know we got it. We got it right here. The principal objective of the Trump administration certainly for Mr. Trump individually was to smoke out Kamini. And he's got that on day one. Tomorrow, like this morning, day break in the US, if Trump wakes up and says, "That's it. America is done. I'm done. I'm ending this war." Israel cannot continue this war on its own. The rest of the region cannot continue this war on its own. It depends entirely on the United States. No, but having said that, the rest of the REG has got whatever he wanted. What I'm saying is that this war that this that this that this war is going nowhere. If Trump pulls out, you know what people are going to say? That you started conflict in the region. All of us have been burnt by this and you walk away from the table without being able to kick out the regime because he's what he wanted. No, no, hang on one second. One second. He you might have the bragging rights, but at the end of the day, that's the end of it. The regime is still like the regime is still there. The regime is still there. The women are still going to be sort of unfortunately terrorized. Young civilians who have risen up or at least expressed their support for the outside world are still going to be tormented and jailed. They will be back and it'll be an only matter of one thing. hate to break it to you. Trump doesn't care. It doesn't matter. Trump doesn't care. All he wanted was the head of the snake. He's got the head of the snake matter. What did start by saying? What did start by saying that this regime doesn't want revenge? It wants to survive because it just knows that look there are interests. There are business interests. This is not some business interest. These are business interest. No one walks away from the business interest. You have Pakisting eight drones and eight cruise missiles. There were 68 injuries and some damages which are medium and low. We would like to highlight that the sounds that we hear in different areas in the UAE are the result of interception of ballistic weapons and and attacking the drones and crew. This proves the readiness of the Ministry of Defense in the UAE and and armed forces and departments concerned in all departments which confirms that we are dealing with all types of threats. Ladies and gentlemen, Now we will show you some samples of attacking our our jet Mirage 2000 attacking the aggression of Iranian the Iranian forces. This is brief of sample of intersection and destroying of the attacks and aggression by the cruises and play jets of from Iran. Also, ladies and gentlemen, would like to highlight the drones that were damaged and missiles that were damaged by our air force. We start with this ballistic tactical missile which was damaged. We intersected hundreds of these missiles. We another another missile cruise missile which is threat that we face and it is difficult sometimes to deal with these crews but we destroyed them and intersected them through our defense forces in the UAE. Also, Shahed drone 136 was intersected. Hundreds of these were destroyed and damaged. Iran says the gates of hell are open. Israel says it will respond with force. Meanwhile, missiles continue to fly in all directions. We'll bring you the latest updates tonight and the videos that sum up this war from strikes in Lebanon to mass graves in Iran and Israelis partying in bomb shelters. We're also looking at who could join next. Will the Gulf states fire back? Will Europe be dragged into this conflict? We ask because now European bases are also under attack. Also, the backstory of how Ayatollah Kame was tracked. report says Israel hacked Thran's traffic cameras and studied patterns for years. In Thran, the big discussion is that of succession. Who will be the next Ayatollah? Will it be Humeni's grandson? Also trying to make sense of Donald Trump's strategy. What's his plan? Did he bite more than he can chew? And the economics of exhaustion. Iran's $20,000 drones are exhausting America's $4 million interceptors. That's all your questions answered in our special segment as we try to make sense of this chaos. The headlines first. Prime Minister Narendra Modi calls the leaders of Qatar, Oman and Kuwait. He expressed his concern over the attacks on their countries. The Prime Minister also discussed the security of the Indian community residing in these Gulf countries. Around 10 million Indians live in the region. Italy summons the Iranian ambassador to protest drones drone attack on UK base in Cyprus. The country's deputy prime minister said he reiterated Rome's stand that Italy is not part of the US and Israel's war against Iran. Reports say the British base could have been hit by drones launched by his bullah from nearby Lebanon. Donald Trump says the historical relationship between the US and Britain is not like it used to be. This comes amid diplomatic spat over the war against Iran. British Prime Minister Kia Starmer had angered Trump by initially refusing to play any role in the war. Starmmer later agreed to allow the US limited use of its military bases. Russia's central bank sues the European Union over indefinitely freezing its assets. Around $230 billion dollars of Moscow's reserves have been frozen by the block over the Ukraine war. Russia cannot access the assets till it ends the war and provides reparations to Ukraine. And the Sudan's government says drone attacks on its territory are coming from Ethiopia. For nearly 3 years, civil war has been raging in the Sudan. But this is the first time that Ethiopia has been officially accused of interference. There is no let up in West Asia. Iran is talking about opening the gates of hell. Their missiles and drones are slamming into Gulf states and Israeli cities. It's fast turning into war of attrition. American air defenses versus Iranian missiles. Today, Thran struck the US embassy in Saudi Arabia. Two drones slammed into the American building and soon it was engulfed in smoke. Yesterday, the US embassy in Kuwait was also hit. So, Washington has decided to shut both embassies. The UA was also targeted by drones today. One of the interceptions caused fire at major oil facility. Missiles also targeted Israeli cities. large wave was fired early in the morning. Some of them were shot down by Israeli and US air defenses, but few missiles did find their target. They hit multiple locations in central Israel. Reports say nine people have been injured. And what about the other side? Well, Israel has opened second front against Lebanon. Their fighter jets are bombing targets deep in Beirut. As of now, 40 people have been killed have been wounded in Lebanon. And it's not just an aerial onslaught. Israel has ordered ground invasion as well. They plan to create buffer zone in southern Lebanon. Meanwhile, the Hezbollah is trying to fight back. They're firing rockets at northern Israel, leading to midair interceptions by the Iron Dome. This is the secondary front for Israel. Iran remains the primary target. Their fighter jets continue to bomb locations in the west and in Thran. Today, they hit government buildings in the capital, including the presidential office and the Assembly of Experts. These are sites attacked in Iran. Now, this assembly of experts, this assembly building is where the next supreme leader is supposed to be selected. But Israel has blown it up. Running boy like yesterday. They're also hitting missiles and launchers. Remember, Iran has the largest missile stockpile in West Asia. It is their biggest weapon in this war. Israeli jets are flying multiple sorties into Iran. They're taking out more and more launching sites. Israel claims they've carried out 60 waves of attacks, put together. More than 2,000 Iranian targets have been hit. Which brings us to the US. What is the American military up to? The US has deployed its B2 and B1 bombers. They're using these planes to strike underground silos and launching sites, locations that cannot be breached easily. In addition, the US is also bombing internal security targets, things like police stations, detention centers, intelligence offices. The Americans are going after all of this in Iran. And these facilities are used by the regime to crack down on disscent. By attacking them, the US is hoping to weaken the regime's grip on power. Basically, they're setting the stage for massive protests in Iran. And that sums up the battlefield updates. What about diplomacy? Is anyone interested in an off-ramp? Well, look at Donald Trump's latest message, and I'm quoting. Their air defense, air force, navy, and leadership is gone. They want to talk. said too late. And just to be clear, until yesterday, Trump did want to talk to the Iranians. He said the new Iranian leadership had reached out to him. But then Iran security chief rebuffed him. He said there would be no negotiations with the Americans. So now 24 hours later, Trump has also made U-turn. He says there will be no talks. But here's the problem. Wars are not just fought with resolve. You need weapons to keep fighting them. Multiple US media reports say the Pentagon is worried. That's the US defense ministry. They're worried. They fear long war will deplete American stockpile. So once again, Trump came out with long social media post. And let me quote again from what he said. The United States munition stockpiles have at the medium and upper medium grade never been higher or better. As was stated to me today, we have virtually unlimited supply of these weapons. Wars can be fought forever and very successfully using just these supplies. At the highest end, we have good supply, but are not where we want to be. Well, that's half admission by Donald Trump. He says the high-end stockpile is not where he wants to be. And yet, he's not deescalating. Trump actually says bigger wave of attacks is coming. So, it's not clear what he's trying to say. Like said, more than 2,000 Iranian targets have already been hit. More than 2,000 targets. So, what would bigger wave look like? That's the question. Israel's Prime Minister Benamin Netanyahu is betting on quick success. He says this will not be an endless war. hear the people are saying we're going to have an endless war here. said it's could be quick and decisive. It may take some time, but it's not going to take years. It's not an endless war. In fact, it's an effort right now to achieve the peace that we all yearn and pray for. And think together we'll achieve it. Trump is saying something different though. We'll tell you about his position later on the show. But for now, listen to the Iranian military. They are not backing down either. Despite the sustained attacks from the other side, the Iranians continue to hit back. The Iranian guards say the gates of hell are opening for America and Israel. The enemy must await continuous punitive attacks. The gates of hell will open more and more moment by moment upon the United States and Israel. It's basically race against time. Iran wants to grind out the enemy air defenses much like they did in last year's 12-day war. Meanwhile, Israel is betting on blitzkrieg. They want to defang Iran's missiles before their air defenses run out. It's question of what will happen first. Like said, it's day before the war and by now you know the drill. This war is playing out on your screens, too. Your feed is flooded. Every hour, thousands of videos are pouring in. So, every day we try to cut through the noise. We bring you the most important videos from the last 24 hours because, as we keep saying, misinformation is flying faster than missiles. And with artificial intelligence in the mix, it's harder than ever to tell what is real. So, let's bring you our top videos. The top videos that you need to see today. Video number one is from Beirut. Beirut is the capital of Lebanon. As you know, the war is spreading across the region. Multiple countries are coming under fire. And last night, it was Lebanon that took the hit. Lebanon is home to the Hezbollah. It's Shia militant group and regional proxy of Iran. Now, Israel says Hisbullah has joined the war, which is why they're hitting Hisbollah bases in Lebanon. The Israelis are hitting these bases. As you can see on your screens, these are visuals on there are visuals on the blasts. They show Israeli strikes on multiple Hezbollah targets. Multiple videos captured the exact moment of the attack. People were seen sprinting away in panic. Onlookers dropped everything and ran for cover. Thick plumes of smoke erupted into the sky and in matter of seconds, chaos took over the streets. Video number three is from Iran. It is disturbing video, so we advise viewer discretion. These are images from city called Minab in the south of the country. US-Israeli strike hit school in the city. It killed 160 school girls. Now, the US and Israel insist that they were not behind the strike, but Iran has been slamming them. And now we have images of mass graves being dug to bury the children. Take look. Multiple funerals were held in Minad. Thousands also gathered to mourn these school girls. Here's another video from Iran. It shows people running for their lives. This is after an air strike near the Russian embassy in Thran. Footage shows locals dragging injured people. Some were even overcome with grief. It's not just Iran. Israel too is coming under fire. Yesterday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited West Jerusalem. He tooured site that was struck by Iranian missiles. When stand here in place that was bombarded by the terrorist in Thran against innocent civilians, you see the difference. The tyrants of Tehran target civilians. We target the tyrants of Tehran to protect civilians. And what is war without the weapons? Like said, all sides are releasing war videos every hour. Iran released footage showing the launch of its missiles, especially the Kadr and Imad missiles. Meanwhile, America's Central Command showed off US firepower, including the B2 bomber. Caught in this crossfire are the Gulf States. Iran is attacking them left, right, and center. And while the physical damage has been limited, the strikes have shattered the sense of security. Cities like Dubai were seen as safe havens. Centers of global finance and tourism. An attack on Dubai was unimaginable and yet it happened. And since then, the mood has shifted. Yes, the skyscrapers still shine. Yes, the malls are still packed. But there's an edge in the air and it seems the leadership knows this. So today in an attempt to show that Dubai is safe, the UA president himself went to mall. You're talking about MBZ, Muhammad bin Zed al- Nayan. He was seen walking through the Dubai mall. With him was the crown prince of Dubai, Shik Hamdan. Later they enjoyed meal at restaurant. They even interacted with other people visiting the mall. If Dubai is out shopping amid falling missiles, Israel is one step step ahead. It is partying. They have Jewish holiday called Purim, but the government has banned public gatherings. So, Israelis have moved the party underground. They're celebrating in garages and bomb shelters. Forever. Those are our top videos for today. The military war is not slowing down and neither is the information war around it. So, like we say every day, make sure you verify what you're sharing online. Heat. Heat. Iran's strategy is clear. They want to make this regional war. war that will hurt America's allies in the Gulf. war that hurts countries like Saudi Arabia, the UA, and Qatar. We have seen relentless missiles and drone strikes from Iran. first at US bases in these countries, then at civilians sites like hotels, and now at energy facilities. Yesterday, Iran hit Saudi Arabia's largest oil refinery, Aramco's Ras Tanura, on the Persian Gulf. The refinery was shut down following the Iranian strikes. On the same day, Iran also hit Qatar's Ras Lafan facility. This is run byQatar Energy, the largest LG producer in the world. Doha too has shut down this facility and then today the UA was hit. Their oil facility in Fuera was struck by by drone debris. Also today the Iranians have shut the straight of Hormuz. This waterway carries 20% of global oil trade. It's key export route for the Gulf States and Iran has shut it. Of course, Iran is doing this on purpose. They know that the energy this that energy is lifeline of the Gulf economy. If you cut that off, you can choke them. You can make them desperate. You can make the Gulf States desperate. The question is what happens after that? Well, there are three possibilities. One, the Gulf States continue holding defensive posture. Basically, they keep shooting down Iranian drones and missiles. But there's problem with that. They do not have endless air defenses. They're using multiple interceptors to shoot down missiles. So, the worry is they will run out of stock. Reports say some Gulf states have used up missiles built up over years in just 4 days and apparently the US is not replenishing their stock. When some Gulf states asked for interceptors, the United States ignored them. So, the current status quo is not sustainable. You cannot endlessly defend against drones and missiles. Which brings us to the second possibility. The Gulf states can enter the war. They can either allow Israel and the US to strike Iran from their airspace or they can hit back themselves. Yesterday, Qatar scrambled fighter jets against Thran. They shot down two Iranian warplanes. In Saudi Arabia too, patience is wearing thin. The Saudi kingdom has placed their military on state of high alert. The question is, will they take the plunge? Will they join the war? Let's look at their firepower first. Saudi Arabia has around 280 fighter aircraft. This includes the F-15 and the Euro Fighter Typhoon. The UAE has around 100 fighters. This includes the F-16s and the French Mirage 2000s. Qatar has also also has more than 100 aircraft. This includes the Rafal, the Euro Fighter and the Mirage. Now, politically, it makes more sense for the Gulf States to join the fighting to attack Iran themselves because if they open the airspace to Israel, the locals may not like it. The Arab population, as you know, is overwhelmingly anti-Israel. Having said that, an attack carries its own risks. For starters, you could be crowding the airspace. We saw what happened in Kuwait. Three American jets were shot down by Kuwait's own air defenses. So there's that's real risk. And secondly, Iran may hit back even harder. Iran's ballistic missiles could destroy oil and power facilities in the Gulf. It would take years, if not decades, to rebuild these, which brings us to the final possibility. The Gulf States can push for peace. Now, this too is happening. According to reports, the UA and Qatar are privately lobbying for quick ceasefire. They're asking American allies to find an off-ramp for Donald Trump. If true, this is ideal for Iran. This was the whole point of attacking the Gulf States. Iran wanted them to put pressure on Trump to push Trump for ceasefire. Of course, Trump may or may not listen to them. He says he's willing to fight long war. It's certainly massive dilemma for these Gulf states. They cannot shoot down missiles forever. Nor can they risk even bigger Iranian attacks. And of course, they can't do nothing. So, they will have to pick one of these options. Whatever they choose, expect them to act together. These attacks from Iran have united the Gulf States like never before. So, any response will likely be joint one. IDF spokesperson Ben Cohen who joins us from the front lines. Really, thank you Ben for speaking with us. What's the situation right now in Israel? It retaliated first by attacking Israel and US assets, then by targeting Gulf Arab states, and now it has begun hitting the Europeans. Iran has struck British air base in Cyprus and it has fired drones at French base in the UAE. Plus, air defense systems have been activated at multiple European facilities in the region. Long story short, Europe is being dragged into this war. European assets are under attack and European leaders are struggling to respond because this is not war they want to get into. But if they're targeted, they will have to respond. So far, we've heard from their biggest players, the UK, France, and Germany. We've seen them responding. They issued joint statement over the weekend. The statement carried direct message to Iran. Stop your attacks or we will strike back. Strong words. It appears that the big three in Europe are putting up strong and united front. But in practice, European nations are heading in different directions. Take Britain for instance. London received request from Washington. The US wanted access to two British bases in West Asia. The Americans wanted to use these bases to launch attacks on Iran. The UK resisted first, but then it agreed and it called them defensive strikes. The United States has requested permission to use British bases for that specific and limited defensive purpose. We have taken the decision to accept this request to prevent Iran firing missiles across the region, killing innocent civilians, putting British lives at risk, and hitting countries that have not been involved. He said it's for defensive purpose. Well, here's the problem with that framing. The United States is the one that is driving this escalation. This is not defensive operation in any sense of the term. So effectively British bases will be used as launch pads for American attacks. France meanwhile has taken different direction. France has deployed Rafal fighter jets over the UAE. This is to protect French naval and air bases from Iranian attacks. And then there is Greece. Athens has now ordered military deployment to Cyprus. Greece is deploying two frigates and two F-16 fighter jets. What about Germany? Germany has decided to wait and watch. Germany says it will act only if its own soldiers come under direct attack. But the risk of an escalation is no longer hypothetical. Thran has made it real today. Today, Iran issued warning to European states. Its foreign ministry released statement. It said any action by European countries will be regarded as an act of war. And in response, Iran says it will target European cities. Iran is threatening to target European cities if European countries respond or take any action. Clearly, Europe is being drawn into this fighting. It's conflict that they'd hoped to avoid. The threat assessment for them has changed almost overnight. And now European governments are rushing to manage the fallout. They've started pulling out their nationals. Those who were stranded across West Asia. Italy has started airlifting its nationals out of Dubai. Other countries are expected to follow suit. European leaders have begun consultations. This comes after Ursula Bond faced criticism over the weekend. Soon after Iran was attacked, the EU chief made statement. She announced an emergency meeting to discuss the conflict. an emergency meeting not within hours but on Monday basically after the weekend and sure enough the internet mocked her response to this war. Memes spread on social media saying that Europe's war response could wait until after the weekend. Then on Monday she made statement allow me to quote from what she said. She said that she was focusing on wide range of things from energy to nuclear from transport to migration to security. She also said we must be prepared for the fallout. So far, Europe has not been direct target, but after today's statement from Thran, European states are clearly in the crosshairs, increasingly being drawn into conflict that they were hoping to avoid. It was quiet Saturday morning in Thran. Iran's supreme leader walked into what was supposed to be another meeting and minutes later he was dead. Ayatollah Kame was killed in joint strike by the US and Israel. But you already know this. Our story tonight is not the strike. Our story is the run-up to the strike and how it came about. It begins with surveillance. Surveillance that went on for years. This is according to new report by the Financial Times. It talks about surveillance so thorough that Israel knew Iran like the back of their hand. We're not talking about spying operation limited to few officials. We are talking about hacking city's entire traffic network. You heard that right. Apparently, Israel hacked into Thran's traffic network and that meant access to cameras. You see, Iran has built very extensive internal surveillance system. It had installed cameras to spy on its own people, to monitor protesters and dissenters. Unfortunately for them, the same cameras were used by the enemy to spy on the regime. One camera placed at just the right angle reportedly showed something small, but something very, very critical. It showed the place where Ayatollah Kamina's security detail parked their cars. So, Israel started analyzing this footage. They started analyzing the patterns. When do the guards arrive? Where do they park their cars? Who drives which official? Who protects whom? Who swap shifts. Israel gathered all these details by hacking Thran's traffic cameras. And it proved to be gamecher because you don't kill leader by watching him. Leaders are hard to track anyway. You kill leader by watching the people around him. And that's what Israel did over time. The Israeli intelligence built data files. They called these pattern of life files. That's what they built. They gathered home addresses, commuting routes, and duty hours of these guards. It's like building Google Maps timeline, but for regime's inner circle. And Israel did this for years. Leading the project was Unit 8200. This is Israel's elite signals intelligence unit. The report says unit 8200 fed mountains of data into AIdriven systems. I'm talking about billions of data points, phone signals, camera feeds, movement patterns, relationship maps. They use something called network analysis. What does that mean? It's basically mapping who talks to whom and who influences whom. You try to make sense of network. And with this they built whole picture of Ayatah Kam's daily life. Now here's where this becomes almost sci-fi. On the day of the strike something strange happened. Cellular networks around Kamina's compound were disrupted. Phones rang busy and warnings could not get through. Say you were Kam's bodyguard. You could not reach your team. Your calls were failing. At the same time, Israeli and US intelligence was at work. They confirmed that Kame was at his residence and that he was meeting top officials. And here's the other thing. They were not just depending on data. American intelligence also had human source confirming all of this. That's what reports say that they also had human intelligence. Now, Iran knew that an attack was coming. They knew that Israel and the US were going to strike at some point. Of course, the Ayatollah knew that knew that, too. But apparently he refused to go to bunker. He wanted to die as so-called martyr. What Thehan did not anticipate was timing. They did not think that the strike would come in the morning. They did not think that it would happen in broad daylight. That's what happened. And as dramatic as this backstory is, it's not new for Israel. Their intelligence is known for things like this, for operations like this. You may remember what happened in 2024, the pager explosions. Israel crippled Hezbollah's communication network. Their rank and file used pagers to communicate. Israel hacked those devices and blew them up. So thousands of pagers exploded simultaneously and this killed thousands of Hisbullah fighters. That operation too is said to have taken years of infiltration, years of analyzing the same data, of figuring out patterns and knowing when to strike. And it tells you lot about modern warfare. Wars today are not fought with just missiles and jets. They're fought with data, with years of invisible surveillance and algorithms. And it's something that Israel has mastered. The long game in world of fastm moving conflicts. When Ayatah Kam died, Ayatah Kumeni rather died in 1989. Iran did not hand over power to his family. It handed power to Ali Kam. He was cleric, loyalist and safe pick for the regime for 35 years. Ali Kam held the line. Now he's gone. new name is doing the rounds as his possible replacement and that's Hassan Humeni. He is the grandson of Ayatah Kmeni, the founder of the Islamic Republic. So why is his name gaining traction? There are several factors that work in his favor. There is the name of course but beyond that Hassan Kmeni is moderate, someone who could potentially reconnect the regime with large population that is growing alienated. Our next report has more. Iran is facing question it has not faced in 35 years. Who leads the Islamic Republic? Ayatollah Ali Kam is dead. The man who held absolute authority over the military, the judiciary, foreign policy is gone. And the name being spoken most in the corridors of Tehran is not new one. It is Kmeni, not the founder, his grandson. Hassan Kmeni is 53 years old. He holds no government title. He has never served as minister, judge, or an administrator. But he holds something no appointment can manufacture, the name of the revolution itself. He is the custodian of his grandfather's mausoleum in southern Thran. That mausoleum is not just tomb. It is shrine, pilgrimage site, the physical symbol of the Islamic Republic's founding moment. And Hassan Kmeni stands at its center. He is the most visible of Ayatollah Ruhola Kmeni's 15 grandchildren. Within Iran's clerical establishment, he is seen as relative moderate. He has close ties to former presidents Muhammad Katami and Hassan Rouani. Both of whom pursued engagement with the west when in office. That is the political tradition Hassan Kmeni represents reform within the system. Engagement not confrontation. His track record reflects this. In 2021, Iran's Guardian Council made key decision. This is the body that vets candidates who can stand in elections. The council barred reformist candidates from running for president. Hassan Kmeni pushed back publicly against the council's decision. The following year brought an even sharper test. In 2022, Masa Amini, young Iranian woman, died in the custody of the morality police. She had been accused of violating conservative dress codes. Her death ignited protests across Iran. Hassan Kmeni did not look away. He demanded accountability from the state. January this year brought fresh unrest to Iran. Protests swept through cities. Dissent was widening. The Islamic Republic was visibly under pressure, not just from outside, but from within. And inside Iran's political establishment, conversation began. Could moderate successor steady the ship? Some senior politicians believed in the idea. The case for Hassan Kmeni gained momentum. Kamani himself had taken note. Last June during the 12-day war with Israel, he went into hiding. And from that hideout, he named three men, three possible replacements for Supreme Leader Hassan Kmeni was one of those three names. But Hassan Kmeni's path to the top is not straightforward. The body that will decide Iran's next Supreme Leader is the Assembly of Experts. It has 88 members, all senior Shia clerics. They are elected, but only candidates vetted by the Guardian Council can stand, which means the assembly skews conservative. And the hardliners have other options. Kaman's short list included two other names. The first, Ali Ascar Hijazi, Kamei's chief of staff. He may no longer be factor. The Israeli military says he was killed in the strikes on Tehran. The second Golam Hussein Moseni AJ, head of Iran's judiciary. Again, he is hardliner. There is fourth name circulating too. Mojaba Kamani, the Supreme Leader's own son. He is powerful. He has operated in the shadows for years. Certain factions want him. But Kamani himself made his position clear. He did not want the post of supreme leader to become hereditary. So the choice narrows. The assembly of experts will decide and they will do so under extraordinary circumstances. country at war, cities under attack and younger population that is watching closely. Donald Trump calls himself the president of peace. He wanted peace to be his biggest legacy. No endless wars, no foreign interventions, no nation building. Except now he's doing all three. Trump has bombed seven countries in one year. Seven countries. Iraq, Syria, Venezuela, Nigeria, Yemen, Somalia, and of course, Iran. In Venezuela, he kidnapped the head of state. In Iran, he killed the Supreme Leader, both without any global sanction or approval. Trump's predecessors gave elaborate excuses for their wars. They talked about building democracy. They spoke about nation building. Donald Trump is not wasting time with fake excuses. He is bombing countries because he can because he thinks American might makes him right. Of course, we don't expect anything less from US president. The only difference is that this one promised to be different. He built his career around opposing foreign wars. Unlike other candidates for the presidency, war and aggression will not be my first instinct. You cannot have foreign policy without diplomacy. superpower understands that caution and restraint are really truly signs of strength. But actually, my personality is what kept us out of war. was the only president in nearly four decades who did not get America into any new conflicts. Instead, brought our troops and our wonderful children back home. brought them back home where they belong. Proudest legacy will be that of peacemaker and unifier. That's what want to be, peacemaker and unifier. guess Trump lied. Shocking, isn't it? This is man who openly committed the Nobel Peace Prize. He shamelessly took the Nobel Medal from last year's winner, Venezuela's Maria Corina Machado. And weeks later, he went ahead and bombed Iran. Reports say at least 700 civilians have been killed so far, including more than 100 innocent school girls. Just compare his actions to his words. Donald Trump has repeatedly claimed that he ended eight wars. He also formed so-called Board of Peace to end global conflicts. Again, days later, he bombed Iran. wonder what Pakistan's prime minister will now say. He called Donald Trump the savior of South Asia. Is he now saving West Asia, too? Do the Iranians and the Arabs feel safe yet? bet they don't. And don't forget Trump's multiple claims on Indian fighter jets. You may remember this. He kept swinging from 8 to 11 jets down. Listen to this first. They weren't fighting. They were fighting. 11 jets were shot down. Very expensive jets. Eight planes shot down. They were going to go nuclear in my opinion. 10 planes were shot down. They were going at it. The real answer is three. Not Indian or Pakistani jets, but American jets. In 3 days of fighting, the US military has already lost three jets, three F-15s in Kuwait. And guess how? Shot down by friendly fire. Basically, the Kuwaiti air defense has shot down American jets. Let's hope he'll remember that number well. Three jets downed. But on serious note, the Trump White House is under lot of fire. They seem confused and unserious. Consider what happened yesterday. Trump attended medal ceremony for soldiers. He also paid tributes to the troops killed in the ongoing war. And then out of nowhere, he made this detour. We have lot of great service members here with us to in this beautiful building. Isn't it beautiful? We're adding on to the building little bit. We're improving the building. See that nice drape? When that comes down right now, you see very, very deep hole. But in about year and half from now, you're going to see very, very beautiful building. And there's your entrance to it right there. In fact, it looks so nice, don't think I'll even think I'll save money on the doors because it can't get more beautiful than that. picked those drapes in my first term. always like gold, but think we can save lot of money. just saved just saved curtains. How about that? Trump has just plunged West Asia into war and now he's joking about his ballroom. In times like this, the world is looking for clarity. They want the US president to spell out his goals and his timelines. But the very opposite is happening. Trump officials are giving out conflicting versions of the war. We'll focus on three main issues. First is the trigger. Why did the US military launch this attack? Listen to what the Secretary of State and the Secretary of War had to say. We believe the objective that we have set for this mission, which is the destruction of their ballist ballistic missile capabilities, both launch capability and manufacturing, can be achieved without ground forces. Are there currently any American boots on the ground in Iran? no. But we're not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do. think it's one of those fallacies for long time that this department or presidents or others should tell the American people this and our and our enemies. By the way, here's exactly what we'll do. Marco Rubio says Israel was going to attack anyway. The US feared that Iran would retaliate against US bases, too. So, Washington decided to attack first. I'm afraid this is not what preemptive means. This is provocation, not preeemption. But the Pentagon, that's the US Defense Ministry, they're offering completely different version. They say this attack was always in the works. It's meant to destroy Iran's missiles and its navy. So, clear discrepancy there. Now, to the second issue. Will America put soldiers on the ground? Again, two different answers. We believe the objective that we have set for this mission, which is the destruction of their ballist ballistic missile capabilities, both launch capability and manufacturing, can be achieved without ground forces. Are there currently any American boots on the ground in Iran? no. But we're not going to go into the exercise of what we will or will not do. think it's one of those fallacies for long time that this department or presidents or others should tell the American people this and our and our enemies, by the way, here's exactly what we'll do. Now, the third issue, how long will this campaign last? The Pentagon chief says this will not be an endless war. But Donald Trump says it'll last for as long as it takes. This is not Iraq. This is not endless. was there for both. Our generation knows better and so does this president. He called the last 20 years of nation building wars dumb. And he's right. We're already substantially ahead of our time projections. But whatever the time is, it's okay. Whatever it takes, we will always and we have from right from the beginning, we projected four to five weeks, but we have capability to go far longer than that. At first, Trump said the war could last four to five weeks. Now, he says as long as it takes. So, which one is it? Trump officials also appear confused about their end goal. The president himself had openly called for regime change in Iran, but his secretary of war says this is not regime change war. call upon all Iranian patriots who yearn for freedom to seize this moment to be brave, be bold, be heroic, and take back your country. America is with you. made promise to you and fulfilled that promise. The rest will be up to you, but we'll be there to help. This is not so-called regime change war, but the regime sure did change, and the world is better off for it. No stupid rules of engagement, no nation building quagmire, no democracy building exercise, no politically correct wars. We fight to win and we don't waste time or lives. again. Which one is it? Trump is treating this war like school project, something that he can make up along the way. But the fact is, he's playing with the lives of millions of people. War is not real estate deal or TV show. It's as real as it gets. Scott to cut off all dealings with Spain. Spain first of all it started when every every European nation at my request paid 5% which they should be doing and everybody was enthusiastic about it. Germany everybody and Spain didn't do it and now Spain actually said that we can't use their bases and that's all right. We don't we could use their base if we want. We could just fly in and use it. Nobody's going to tell us not to use it but we don't have to. but they were unfriendly and so told him we don't want to Spain has absolutely nothing that we need other than great people. They have great people and I'm not by the way I'm not happy with the UK either. that island that you read about the lease. Okay. He made it for whatever reason he made lease of the island. Somebody came and took it away from him and it's taken three four days for us to work out where we can land there. It would have been much more convenient landing there as opposed to flying many extra hours. So we are very surprised. We're hitting them very hard and the the big scale heading now. They no longer have air protection. They no longer have any detection facilities at all left. And so they're going to they're going to be in for lot of hurt. These are bad people. These are people that killed. guess it's 35,000. It's coming out. 35,000 over the last three weeks, protesters. 35,000 violently killed. So these are bad people. And the leader of the pack is gone. And as you know, 49 people were taken out in the first hit. And guess there was another hit today on the new leadership and it looks like that was pretty substantial also. And let's get to our guests as the developments come in thick and fast from the Middle East. I'm joined by Lefan Colonel Doron Avatal, former commander of the special forces of the IDF. Thank you sir for joining us on the broadcast as well as Ashok Sajjinar, former diplomat. Also joining us is Yasmin Madr, Iranian scholar as well as political activist. Thank you so much for joining us ladies and gentlemen. Lefn Colonel Avatal, I'll come to you first. The fourth day of operation roaring lion. Nathan Yahoo very confident about the action that has been taken against the Iranian regime. Donald Trump also full support behind the Israeli government. But given the fact that the energy corridor in the Arab world is now under constant pressure and threat given the fact that even oil prices have shot up, has there been some level of miscalculation from the Americans as well as the Israelis? It's yet to be seen looking forward what will be the consequences in terms of tactical achievements and the objective that were set. The objective was set very fast, very quickly in the first few days. elimination of the leadership the whole infrastructure of air defense system. So basically Iran is completely open eliminating the the navy the Iranian navy. But still of course you have to look at the long the long run. What is the end game of this of this war? And this is where Trump steps in with the regime shift. But the question which regime he actually said that even the the second the second line of regime was eliminated. So who is the regime shift? talks about better leadership. Is it like in the prospect of this liberal democracy whatever that can emerge in Iran? It's hard to see this.