ExclusiveIran Blocks Starlink; Experts Say Ties to China, Russia Likely

Welcome to China In Focus, I'm Tiffany Meyer. Our top story, Iran has cut off almost all internet with more than 80 percent of Starlink satellite connections disrupted. Experts say the regime is using a military-grade jamming equipment likely supplied by China or Russia. President Trump says Cuba's oil lifeline from Venezuela is over, signaling tougher action against communist regimes in the Americas. That's what Trump's going to use and he'll do it without firing a shot. From being captured to being forced out of power, we look at how the Chinese Communist Party's authoritarian allies have lost power one after another. President Trump is once again asserting that the U.S. needs to take control of Greenland from Denmark. Why is that important for him to counter China and Russia? Iran's internet blackout has lasted for four days. The country of nearly 90 million people was plunged into digital darkness. Both international and domestic networks were completely severed. Even satellite internet services like Starlink sharply dropped. According to IranWire, an independent online news platform, over 80 percent of Starlink's internet traffic has been disrupted. Israeli journalist Emily Schrader noted that Starlink activity in Iran had been completely jammed. The Iranian regime has reportedly activated a military-grade kill switch to jam Starlink. Experts say the sophisticated jamming technology could likely have been supplied by China or Russia. China has simulated using drone swarms to jam Starlink over Taiwan-sized areas and invested heavily in its Beidou system. However, actual offensive anti-GPS operations remain unconfirmed. On Sunday, President Trump said he would discuss with Elon Musk on the Starlink connectivity. As you know, he's very good at that kind of thing. He's got a very good company, so we may speak to Elon Musk. In fact, I'm going to call him as soon as I'm finished with you. If you call them leaders, I don't know if they're leaders or just they rule through violence, but we're looking at it very seriously. The military is looking at it and we're looking at some very strong options. We'll make a determination. Nationwide anti-Khamenei protests in Iran have now entered the third week, despite deadly clampdowns. At least 500 people have been killed and over 10,000 people have been arrested, according to a U.S.-based rights group, human rights activist news agency. The White House continues to speak out in support of the Iranian people fighting for freedom. Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted on January 10th, President Trump's ally, Senator Lindsey Graham, retweeted Rubio's post, adding to the regime leadership. Then President Trump posted on the same day, Iran is looking at freedom, perhaps like never before. The U.S. stands ready to help. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth retweeted the president's post hours later on Monday. Iran said it's prepared for war, but also ready to negotiate with the U.S. Diplomacy is always the first option for the president. He told all of you last night that what you're hearing publicly from the Iranian regime is quite differently from the messages the administration is receiving privately. I think the president has an interest in exploring those messages. However, with that said, the president has shown he's unafraid to use military options if and when he deems necessary, and nobody knows that better than Iran. Back to Starlink connectivity, Iran Wire reports that Iranian security forces are cracking down on the use of Starlink inside the country. Authorities are carrying out raids on homes and arresting people found possessing satellite equipment. Cuba is emerging as a major target of the Trump administration following Washington's capture of Venezuela's dictator and drug kingpin, Nicolas Maduro. President Trump has been ramping up pressure on Cuba. In his post on Sunday, Trump said, quote, Cuba lived for many years on large amounts of oil and money from Venezuela. Venezuela now has the United States of America, the most powerful military in the world to protect them and protect them. We will. There will be no more oil or money going to Cuba. Zero. I strongly suggest they make a deal before it is too late. Congressman Tim Burchett says it's realistic that the U.S. could change Cuba under President Trump's watch. What he's done is, it's really a masterful move. He's cutting off oil. You know, China was there, and there was no mistaking that timing. They're clearly going to make a move on Taiwan, and they need that oil. Russia needs that oil. And Trump took it over, seized it, and I guess he embargoed it, I guess is what they say. But something else that he did was he stopped Cuba from getting in there. Trump recently said the U.S.'s dominance in the Western Hemisphere is no longer in question. The elimination of communism in the Americas would have profound implications to his goals. The most powerful thing we have is our military, and the second most is our economic power, and that's what Trump's going to use. I support this move. I hope we can end the communist reign on Cuba. A user on X left a message for President Trump proposing that Secretary Marco Rubio take charge of Cuba. Trump responded saying, quote, sounds good to me. President Trump says relations with Venezuela's leadership are working out well. He was speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, saying he plans to meet with Venezuela's interim president, Delcy Rodriguez, soon. Venezuela's really working out well. We're working along really well with the leadership, and we'll see how it all works out. She asked us, can we take 50 million barrels of oil, and I said, yes, we can. It's $4.2 billion, and it's on its way right now to the United States. Trump added that he might block ExxonMobil from investing in Venezuela. This comes after the CEO oil giant called the country, quote, uninvestable during a White House meeting last week. CEO Darren Woods told Trump that Venezuela would need to change its laws before it could be an attractive investment opportunity. Trump said yesterday he didn't like Exxon's response, telling reporters he'd probably be inclined to keep them out. The U.S. embassy in Venezuela says the security situation in the country remains unpredictable. It warned U.S. citizens this weekend not to travel to Venezuela, and all U.S. citizens should leave the country immediately. What's next for Venezuela's oil? President Trump told oil executives in the White House on Friday that oil companies will spend $100 billion to rebuild the capacity and the infrastructure necessary in Venezuela. And on Sunday, Trump warned Cuba on Truth Social, saying that it should make a deal with the U.S. or face the consequences. He added that there will be no more Venezuelan oil or money going to Havana. We spoke with the two guests to break down what this means and the geopolitical implications. Ray Trevino, vice president of operations at PECOS Country operating Texas, and Roddy Martin, founder and CEO of Martin Capital. How big of a deal is this for Cuba? How dependent is the island on Venezuela? Oh, Cuba's toast. They're really in trouble. They have been being subsidized for most of their history, either by the Soviet Union or then after that, you know, slack taken up by the socialists in Venezuela. And that's gone. And it's in two different respects. First, they get a lot of oil that they use in Cuba from Venezuela, but they also resell a lot of that highly subsidized oil on international markets so that they can raise hard currency. And that's how Chavez and Maduro have subsidized them in exchange for which the Cubans have provided security assistance in Venezuela and all kinds of technical expertise. And that's great, but that's also going away. And we killed a decent number of their guys when we took Maduro. So this is catastrophic for Cuba. And they're not going to be able to get oil there from Russia, even if Russia could do that. We're going after Russia's tankers. The shadow fleet is in danger now. And Trump couldn't be any clearer that we're not going to allow that situation to continue. So we're going to see Putin needing to come to the peace table in Ukraine. We're going to see Cuba needing to make a deal. And if the Cuban regime wants to make a deal that Maduro did not make, they might survive in some form. Otherwise, they're gone. I want to dig into the geopolitical implications a bit more. But Ray Furze, Caracas, and Washington are progressing on a $2 billion deal to supply up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil to the U.S. with proceeds going to U.S. Treasury supervised accounts. Talk to us about the Venezuelan crude, though. It's known to be quite thick. How easy is it to process? And where would this oil end up in the U.S., for example? Could we see prices coming down at the pump here at home? That's a great question. And to actually begin to see the prices come down at the pump with Venezuelan oil will take months. The infrastructure alone will take months. And then, of course, we've got to start pumping it. So being ultra conservative, we won't see any true effects of increased barrels globally for months. What this does for the American people, though, is give us that assurance that our strategic petroleum reserves are refilled after this previous administration that depleted them just for political points. Now, to talk about why the president is going to be controlling this money, let's not forget the fact that in Venezuela, money was going to China, Russia, and terrorist groups. So we want to make sure that when we hand them the money, we're not just blindly handing them the money so that they can turn around and give it to our adversaries. And Rod, I want to go to your earlier point about the geopolitical implications here, especially for China, Russia, Iran, etc. Specifically for China, though, Venezuela signed on to the global infrastructure project known as the Belt and Road in 2018. And when it couldn't pay its debts, it often used oil. Given that, how big of a blow is this specifically to China? Oh, it's a terrible blow. And it's an even bigger blow to their geopolitical ambitions. We have a advantage over the Chinese by having the first island chain. So from Luzon, through Taiwan, up through the Ryukyus to Japan, we're holding the Chinese navy in check. And it's very, very hard for them to get through that. If we wanted to blockade them, if we actually went into a war state, they would be in a lot of trouble from that. The CCP wants to duplicate that against us. We will see that growing in space over time. I was on another show talking about that the other day. But we're seeing it in the Caribbean. That's what this gambit about Panama and Venezuela and Cuba really is. Ultimately, that becomes the base for the blue water Chinese navy. That's gone now. There's just no way for them to execute. So this is a catastrophic blow at a grand strategic level. Rodney Martin, Ray Trevino, thank you both so much for joining us. The Chinese Communist Party's friend circle is shrinking. From Venezuela to Syria, authoritarian leaders have lost power one after another. Shifting to Venezuela, last May, Chinese leader Xi Jinping met with Maduro in Moscow, saying both sides have forged an ironclad friendship. Maduro's life was upended seven months later. Now he's in U.S. custody and faces narco-terrorism charges. Along similar lines, Nepal's former prime minister, Sharma Ali, met with China's Xi last August. Xi said China's still ready to work with Nepal to take their partnership to a new height. A month later, was forced to resign. Protests led by young activists broke out nationwide against his decision to ban access to several media platforms. A former chief justice is serving as the interim prime minister. A similar incident happened to the prime minister of Bangladesh. In 2024, she met with Xi. Beijing elevated the relations between the countries to a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership. One month later, she resigned, ending 15 years in power. Thousands of protesters stormed her official residence after her crackdown on peaceful protesters killed 300 people. Moving over to Syria, Chinese leader Xi welcomed former president of Syria in 2023, announcing a strategic partnership between the two countries. The Syrian leader has been in power for 24 years. Over a year later, after meeting Xi, he fled to Russia after rebel forces captured Syria's capital. Coming up, President Trump is asserting that the U.S. needs to take control of Greenland from Denmark. Why is that important for him to counter China and Russia? The U.S. carrier Abraham Lincoln is holding live fire drills in the South China Sea, a region largely claimed by China. We break down why this supercarrier's presence matters for security in the region. And Australia is spending more than $800 million on a critical minerals reserve to reduce reliance on China. More on that after the break here on China In Focus. Welcome back to China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. President Trump continues to assert that the U.S. needs to take control of Greenland. On Sunday, the president repeated what he sees as the risk of Russia and China gaining the upper hand on the island. If we don't take Greenland, Russia or China will take Greenland. And I am not going to let that happen. Is there any deal they can offer you? Yeah, sure. I'd look to make a deal with them. It's easier. But one way or the other, we're going to have Greenland. You know what their defense is? Two dog sleds. In the meantime, you have Russian destroyers and submarines and China destroyers and submarines all over the place. We're not going to let that happen. And if it affects NATO, then it affects NATO. Trump said again that he would like to make a deal to acquire Greenland, a semi-autonomous region that's part of NATO ally Denmark. Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has warned that an American takeover of Greenland would mark the end of NATO. Greenland is the largest island in the world with a population of around 57,000 and doesn't have its own military. Defense is provided by Denmark, whose military is much smaller than that of the U.S. The European Union says it could help provide security for Greenland if Denmark asks. Speaking on Monday, the EU's defense commissioner warned that a U.S. military takeover of Greenland would spell the end of NATO. Next, new concerns over a cover-up linking the Chinese Communist Party with live organ harvesting may have surfaced. Last week, two screenshots from a chat group had gone viral on Chinese social media before they were censored. The content reflected in the chat has alarmed many Chinese citizens. If they're true, it would be the latest indication that Chinese police and hospitals may be coordinating operations targeting people on the streets for organ harvesting. NTD's Flora Hua has the story. The two screenshots quickly went viral after the author posted them on China's version of TikTok, Douyin, on Monday. After translating the messages into English, we dubbed the conversation for listeners. She's buying durian at the fruit stand. Tell XYZ and the others that once she finishes the purchase, they should detain her inside the apartment building and forcibly bring her back directly in an ambulance. Don't let her go home at all. Okay. Judging by her physique, her body fat percentage is likely high. You guys want to take her? Sure. The DNA anti-rejection tests have passed. Jilin University now has liver and kidney recipients. Has the local police station been contacted? I just finished contacting them. When asked whether this means local police were involved in kidnapping the woman, the post author replied with a confirmation. What's more, the reference to Jilin University in the chat likely points to one of the university's two affiliated hospitals. A US-based human rights group that has investigated China's transplant industry for decades has listed both hospitals as highly suspected of engaging in large-scale live organ harvesting. The group was the first one to report that Falun Gong practitioners in China have been the primary target for their organs. The Chinese Communist Party has been brutally persecuting the faith group since 1999. But in recent years, the scale of organ harvesting victims appears to have grown, with increasing media reports of young people going missing in China. Now, both the screenshots and the whistleblower's Douyin account have been completely removed from the platform by Chinese regulators. The censorship has only made the claims more convincing to many. But the story has still left digital footprints. Search records on the platform, such as what happened to the woman kidnapped, show that many users tried to learn the fate of the woman mentioned in the chat. The U.S. Navy's USS Abraham Lincoln is operating in the South China Sea in international waters claimed by China. The nuclear-powered aircraft carrier conducting live fire exercises in the region last week, along with routine resupply operations at sea. The drills included testing the ship's automated rapid-fire weapon systems. It's part of the Navy's ongoing commitment to freedom of navigation in the South China Sea, which is almost entirely claimed by China. The Abraham Lincoln deployed in late November. The nuclear-powered supercarrier is home to more than 5,500 U.S. sailors and Marines. The Abraham Lincoln can operate F-35 stealth fighter jets, making it one of the most advanced carriers in the fleet. Its presence in the South China Sea demonstrates the U.S.'s commitment to deter threats and tensions from foreign adversaries like China in the region. Turning now to Taiwan. The island nation's $40 billion defense bill is still stalled in the legislature. The Beijing-leaning opposition party blocked the bill for a sixth time. Last November, Taiwan's President Lai Ching-de proposed a $40 billion defense budget to strengthen Taiwan's defenses over the next eight years. More than a month later, the bill is still stalled in Taiwan's legislative The United States' de facto ambassador to Taiwan, Raymond F. Green, visited the Speaker of Taiwan's Legislative Yuan last Wednesday to discuss U.S.-Taiwan security cooperation. But two days later, the opposition parties, the Kuomintang and the Taiwan People's Party, voted for the sixth time to block the budget. I hope Director Green's efforts will not have been in vain, and I urge the Kuomintang to recognize the importance of the defense budget, emphasizing that Taiwan's security and cross-strait stability are matters of global concern. President Lai's party lost its legislative majority in 2024. Taiwan's legislature is now controlled by the KMT, an opposition party widely seen as favoring closer ties with Beijing. Reporting from Taiwan, Zhou Chu, NCJ News. U.S. ally Australia is moving to secure critical minerals that are essential for national security and modern technology. It comes as concerns grow over China's control of global supply chains. The Australian government is creating an over $800 million strategic reserve focusing on antimony, gallium and rare earth minerals. These materials are critical for the production of fighter jets, semiconductors and electric vehicles. On Monday, Australia said its treasurer is going to discuss the plans with the U.S. and other allies as global finance leaders meet in Washington. The move is part of a broader effort by the U.S. and its partners to reduce dependence on China. China currently dominates much of the critical mineral markets. Last year, Beijing limited exports of minerals like gallium and antimony, disrupting the supply chains of Western defense and tech manufacturers. And following recent tensions with Japan, Beijing blocked rare earth exports to the country due to disputes over Taiwan. Meanwhile, the Democratic Republic of Congo is sending its first shipment of copper to the U.S. The Congo is the world's second largest supply of copper and home to the largest reserves of cobalt, which are critical for battery production. China has long held a dominant role in Congo's copper and cobalt production. In return, the U.S. will help Congo manage its conflicts with its adversaries in Rwanda. That's all for today's China In Focus. I'm Tiffany Meyer. If you have any feedback on the show or have something you'd like to see us cover, send us an email at chinainfocusintd.com. We'd love to hear from you. For on-the-clock original news coverage, visit us at ntd.com or download our NTD app. Thanks for watching. See you tomorrow.