Trump: Today Iran Will Be Hit Very Hard; 'Shield of Americas' Summit | NTD Evening News (Mar. 7)

Our top story tonight, President Trump bowing Iran will be hit very hard. That's as he attends the dignified transfer of six U.S. soldiers killed in Kuwait, pledging to keep Americans' death to a minimum. Mario Tsu with the latest. Today, President Trump meeting with leaders in the Americas, announcing a new military coalition. He's pushing the goals of the Dunro Doctrine to counter adversarial influence in the region. The U.S. approves the sale of millions of dollars in munitions to Israel as the war rages on now for over a week. Middle East affairs analyst David Wormser on what this means for the Iranian regime. Thank you for joining us tonight. I'm Arlene Richards. President Trump saying the Iranian regime has apologized and surrendered to its neighbors in the Middle East, a promise he says was only made because of the relentless U.S.-Israel joint attack. This coming as the president hosts the first Shield of the Americas Summit in Florida, where he's announcing a new military coalition to eradicate cartels. Our Washington correspondent Mario Tsu brings us the latest from Doral, Florida. And we're doing very well in Iran. You see the result, and it's been amazing. We've knocked out 42 Navy ships, some of them very large, in three days. That was the end of the Navy. We knocked out their Air Force. We knocked out their communications, and all telecommunications is gone. President Trump vowing that Iran will be hit, quote, as he predicts the regime's complete collapse. That's as he says Iran has apologized and surrendered to its Middle East neighbors, a promise that could have only happened due to the, quote, relentless U.S.-Israel attacks. The president adds, quote, It's not working out too well. And they're bad people. They're just bad people. When you look at October 7th and beyond October 7th, look at all the killing that they've done. They would have had a nuclear weapon and, you know, they're crazy, and they would have used it. So we did the world a favor. And while the administration's main focus is now on Iran, President Trump says that communist Cuba is in its last moments of life post-Maduro's capture. Cuba's at the end of the line. They're very much at the end of the line. They have no money. They have no oil. They have a bad philosophy. They have a bad regime that's been bad for a long time. You know, Cuba's a disaster. The president making these remarks at the first Shield of the Americas summit, pledging to reassert U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere. These brutal criminal organizations pose an unacceptable threat to national security. And they provide a dangerous gateway for foreign adversaries in our region. And we don't want them near our country either. We don't want them to come in. They're cancer, you know. They're cancer. And we don't want it spreading. He's announcing a new military campaign called the America's Counter-Cartel Coalition, which will leverage military resources, including the possible use of missiles. The proclamation formally launching this coalition says the United States will train and mobilize the militaries of partner nations to help dismantle cartels. Every leader here today is united in the conviction that we cannot and will not tolerate the lawlessness in our hemisphere any longer. The only way to defeat these enemies is by unleashing the power of our militaries. Meanwhile, President Trump joining a somber ceremony at Dover, marking the final homecoming of six soldiers killed when an Iranian drone struck a U.S. facility in Kuwait. The service members were all assigned to the 103rd Sustainment Command, an Army Reserve unit out of Iowa. President Trump calling them the great heroes of our country and vowing to avenge their deaths. Reporting from Doral, Mario Tsu, NTD News. President Trump at today's summit also emphasizing the need to limit the influence of foreign powers like China, Russia, and Iran in the Western Hemisphere. And joining me now is Marco Chacos, the editor-in-chief of The Epoch Times Brazil. He's also the Latin America correspondent for the paper's U.S. edition. And Michael Lucci, founder and CEO of State Armor, which helps states enact solutions to global security threats, especially those posed by the Chinese regime. I want to thank you both so much for joining us. Thank you. Thank you so much. And before we begin, let's listen to some of the president's remarks on the foreign interference. So in these situations in Venezuela and Cuba, we should make clear under our new doctrine, and it is a doctrine, we will not allow hostile foreign influence to gain a foothold in this hemisphere. That includes the Panama Canal, which we talked about. We're not going to allow it. And together we'll protect our sovereignty, our security, and our cherished freedom and independence. Michael, your reaction to the president's action here? I think that this action is an application of the Don Roe doctrine, but also of American grand strategy. What the United States wants to do is to be hegemonic or totally dominant in certain areas of the world and for no one else to be dominant in any other areas of the world. So, of course, starting with the Western Hemisphere, with our friends, partners, and allies in Central and South America, the goal is to eliminate communists and cartels. Those are the two major threats to our hemisphere. And we're seeing the socialist communist regime of Venezuela has been changed. Cuba is probably soon to come. And the drug cartels that are murdering thousands of Americans every year are under pressure throughout Central and South America. That will establish American deterrence across our hemisphere. It will drive out the Russians, the Chinese communists, Hezbollah terrorists who have also found a foothold across the Western Hemisphere. Now, Marcos, in the backdrop to all of this is the Iran War. And when it comes to foreign interference, you've mentioned that not just China, but even Iran has had its hands in this hemisphere. So give us an idea of how much influence they've had in Latin America. Sure. So Iranian influence has been widespread in Latin America. We can talk about Hezbollah and other groups that are backed by the Iranian regime trading in arms and drugs with criminal groups throughout the region, including Colombia's FARC throughout the years, and also the first capital command in Brazil, among others. We can also expand that to the biggest terrorist attacks in the history's region, 1992 and 1994 in Buenos Aires. Those were actively planned by Hezbollah, backed by Iran, including one man who used to work in Iran's embassy in Argentina, a man named Mohsen Rabbani, which has also been detected going through the region, entering through Venezuela and going through Brazil and other countries in the region for terrorism recruitment. We can expand that as a security threat to the United States. For instance, in 2007, the FBI thwarted last minute a terrorist plot to blow up fuel stocks, fuel terminals in JFK Airport in New York. It was being planned through Hezbollah and Iran, coming from Guyana and Venezuela. So this just gives you a gist of the scale of their operations. In Venezuela especially, we can also talk about investigations that allude to the possibility of uranium being trafficked from Latin America to Iran. Now, Michael, how does this foreign influence translate to risk to U.S. national security? Well, what we saw during the last four years before President Trump was that there was this endless flow, maybe 10 million people crossed our border. Many of these people were identified as terrorists or associated with the Chinese military, associated with Hezbollah, associated with other groups that pose us real significant threat. As friends and allies in Central and South America align with American policy of preventing the growth of drug cartels and the Chinese Communist Party, Russia, Hezbollah, throughout our hemisphere, that will lessen the threat significantly over time, structurally, not just as a one-off, because you'll have alliance and alignment between the United States and our partners throughout Central and South America. So overall, this will just enhance the security of everyone, whether it's through greater control of our border or just less terrorism and cartel activity across our hemisphere. Now, Marcos, some of these countries that attended, like Panama and Bolivia, have significant relationships with China and even Iran. And of course, we're now seeing a shift on this front in some cases. So something to note is that Mexico and Brazil didn't attend this summit. Will this coalition eventually need their support to fully secure the Western Hemisphere? I mean, when you're talking to Mexico, Brazil and also Colombia, which is notably absent of the summit, if you want to really fight the cartels, you have to deal with those countries. If you want to counter China, you will have to deal with those countries. When we talk the cooperation between the Chinese Communist Party and Mexican cartels to essentially flood the United States with fentanyl, of course, you will need Mexico to be in there. When we talk about the greatest cocaine producer in the world, that's of course Colombia, Colombian cartels. And when you talk about key ports that are used to traffic cocaine worldwide, you're also talking about Santos and Paranaguá, among other ports in Brazil. So the U.S. will eventually need to have those countries on board. It's interesting because when we talk about the national security strategy that was published last year and the overall national security documents, of the current administration, we're talking about two axes of action. So, of course, it's preferable if you have leaders that are politically aligned, like Nayib Bukele or Javier Millet in El Salvador and Argentina, respectively. But it also talks about the possibility that you can pressure or work with partners who are not that aligned in their political tradition to try to make things work out. And I also think that we're seeing this sort of pressure play out very heavily in both Colombia, Mexico, and also, of course, Brazil. Michael, what are your thoughts on this? I think that we've seen success in the Mexican theater. I mean, arguably the largest cartel leader in Mexico has been removed by the Mexican military with the assistance of United States intelligence on that. So it's certainly the case for the Americas, for the United States and otherwise, that Mexico is a key player in this. Now, they might have to talk about one thing publicly, while perhaps cooperating with the United States privately in order to maintain stability within their country. It seems like something like that might be happening because we have started to see significant operations against the Mexican cartels. If it's not with the assistance of the Mexican government, well, the United States needs to do something about these cartels that are leading to the deaths of, say, 50,000 to 100,000 Americans through fentanyl that's ultimately coming from China. Maybe it's being stamped in Mexico. Sometimes it's being stamped elsewhere into pills, and that's flooding our country, killing. It's the number one cause of death for military age men in the United States. It's unacceptable, and I think that President Trump's making it clear to Mexico's leaders that we're not going to sit by as you have cartels killing tens of thousands of Americans every year. Now, I want you to listen to some of what the president said about cartels, which he ties to foreign influence, so let's go to that now. These brutal criminal organizations pose an unacceptable threat to national security, and they provide a dangerous gateway for foreign adversaries in our region, and we don't want them near our country either. We don't want them to come in. They're cancer, you know? They're cancer, and we don't want it spreading. Now, Marcos, President Trump called the cartels a gateway for foreign adversaries. Talk to us about that. Well, like I mentioned previously, we can talk about Hezbollah trading in arms and drugs, and, of course, Hezbollah is essentially an Iranian proxy, and that spreads throughout the region. Another example I can give you is the widespread presence of Trinidad Agua in the United States, which has now been designated as a terrorist organization. Of course, their activities have drastically diminished, if not been nullified by deportations and by the pressure in Venezuela. The point is that those organizations are very closely linked to asymmetrical warfare by Iran, and ultimately, there are reports that suggest this is also linked to Russia and China in the sense that those organizations, despite being commanded by Iran, are only able to function because the funding that Iran can provide them comes from trading in oil with China. So when we talk about the totalitarian axis of American adversaries in North Korea, Iran, China, and Russia, you can get to a link of events where those cartels are essentially doing their bidding. And this is not new. When we talk about Cuba specifically, they have provided logistics, funding, and training for communist cartels in the region because those cartels are not exclusively criminal organizations in a wide amount of cases. If you talk about Sendero Luminoso in Peru, the National Liberation Army and the FARC in Colombia, if you talk, going further back to the 60s and 70s, about the MR-8 and the Var Palmares in Brazil, those are communist guerrillas that have intermingled their activities with drug trafficking. So you can see how this has a political hue to it, and this helps us understand how this plays out. Now, Michael, speaking of China, we can see how China props up Mexican cartels through the fentanyl precursors, and this drug is killing tens of thousands of Americans a year, a serious threat. So do you expect the president to take more aggressive military action going forward to root out these cartels? I expect the president of the United States will do or the president of Mexico will do it. So I think that President Trump is going to continue to pose the condition to Mexico that either you take care of this problem or we will take care of this problem. And I think that the problem, I think you rightly note that the problem doesn't remain just south of the border. Of course, yes, fentanyl comes in when the United States allows the border to be open. The cartels are the ones who actually operationalize trafficking of terrorists and children and otherwise into the United States. But furthermore, they create substantial criminal networks within the United States. And who is it that launders all of that money, all those fentanyl profits? So they make money killing Americans. It's the Chinese Communist Party through a variety of ways that launders that money back through China to the cartels that everybody ends up getting paid. Some of that goes through Canada, actually. Some of that goes to the Canadian banking system, which is a big part of the reason why the United States is not especially happy with Canada right now, is that Canada has been extraordinarily slow. I mean, frankly, they haven't taken action in cracking down on these money laundering networks, these criminal networks that are based largely in Vancouver, but otherwise. And so it's an entire network of criminality where the Chinese Communist Party is supplying a lot of the chemicals that kill people, but then they're laundering the money on the back end and just enhancing criminality within the United States. All right. Marcos and Michael, I want to thank you both so much for joining us. Thank you. Coming up, the U.S. approves the sale of millions of dollars in munitions to Israel as the war rages on now for over a week. Middle East affairs analyst David Wormser on what this means for the Iranian regime. Today, President Trump saying Iran will be hit very hard as the war rages for over a week. The State Department also approving millions of dollars in munitions to Israel. Joining me now is David Wormser, Middle East affairs analyst at the Center for Security Policy and former senior advisor to U.S. Vice President Cheney on the Middle East and strategic affairs. David, thank you so much for joining us. So first, David, the president says areas and groups of people that weren't on the U.S. hit list are now under serious consideration. What could this mean for Iran? Well, I think what it probably means is that we're expanding. If in the first few phases of the war, we thought there might be some leader that rises at the top of the structure, who sees the writing on the wall and is willing to finally cut a deal to surrender or, or in the very least, to give in on all the things that we had demanded, we were sparing some people. It seems that that list of no people who were being spared probably now is going to be discarded and the regime itself is being overthrown and people are basically being told surrender or get out. Either way, you're finished. So that's what he means, I think, by more people. I think what you're going to start seeing is some of the clerics that are core to the regime, some of the politicians that you've seen core to the regime, people perhaps like Larijani or Pozeshkin or so forth, the president. These are the sorts of people that have been spared so far that maybe now may find themselves on a target list. The second thing, as far as areas go, I believe it's areas of function that have not been touched. For example, the energy sector, it's critical oil and gas be taken out in the core of the country because you can't run a motorcycle, a car or vehicle without gasoline. And if you hit all the gasoline stations and depots, you essentially, the repressive structures of the state run out of gas and they can't show up to suppress people. So I think we're talking those sorts of changes right now. And how are you reading Iran's apologizing to its neighbors over the strikes? Well, I think it's realizing that the attempt to create pressure on the United States and Israel to stop the war by leaning on their Sunni associates, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain and so forth, Saudi Arabia, has failed. The United States isn't at all moved by that. And on the other hand, it's created a lot of trouble. Turkey, which is working fairly closely with the Iranian regime, is trying to implore them not to do it anymore because it's only causing more anger in the Arab world and creating the optics of the Israeli air force defending Arab nations. I mean, it's bad enough the United States is defending Arab nations, Israelis defending Arab nations. For those who don't like Israel, that is a terrible image to have. And so I think the Turks prevailed on Iran to stop the attacks on those Arab countries that are facilitating American attacks. At the same time, I think those Arab countries have sent the signal to Iran that they will not let America operate from their territory, whether it's Jordan, Saudi Arabia and so forth, going forward. And that way they can remove themselves from the cycle of violence. Whereas UAE, for example, still allows America to operate. So we're going to listen now to the president giving an update on the operation. So let's listen. It's been amazing. We've knocked out 42 Navy ships, some of them very large, in three days. That was the end of the Navy. We knocked out their air force. We knocked out their communications. And all telecommunications is gone. So how degraded is Iran's military now? It's very degraded. I mean, I think the president's been pretty accurate here. I know he sometimes is rather flamboyant and so forth, but he's being, I think, pretty sober and accurate here. There really is no more Navy. There really is minimal, negligible air defense. The missile forces we see from the first day in which you had a couple of hundred missiles shot, and 500, 600 drones shot by Iran at the various countries, including Israel and UAE and so forth, to now when we're seeing less than 10, it's a linear decline. The amount of launchers are being destroyed are probably around 75 percent at this point. Iran really is beginning to lose its ability to hurt anybody outside of the country, which is why, by the way, we may see Yemen, the Houthis, and we are seeing Hezbollah intervene, because that's the only strategic structure Iran still has to hurt somebody. And so we see them entering the war, but they most likely are not going to have a major effect either. So Iran really is degraded in the internal security structures. You're seeing a tremendous amount of attacks in the last 24 hours, destroying the repressive structures of the Iranian state and beginning to lay the groundwork for clearing the deck for an uprising. Now, David, meanwhile, the State Department has approved the sale of $152 million in munitions to Israel without congressional approval. So how will this play into the war? Well, it'll help the Israelis continue to have a major role here. One thing we have found with the Israelis is they really are, whatever $2 billion or $3 billion we gave them, they are serving as a major element of the American war effort here against Iran to defend the whole region and stabilize the whole region. They are operating, the only air force in the world operating at the same level as the United States Air Force. They're smaller, of course, but they're at the same level of capability. The United States now says they're actually the second most powerful air force in the world. So by selling them those bombs, we reduce the number of times we ourselves have to go bomb somebody. And that shortens the span of the war. The second thing is that the Israelis do have this problem of Hezbollah and probably in the next few hours the Yemenites, the Houthis. And that means that the Israelis will have to have more munitions in order to fight those wars, probably not simultaneously but sequentially. So the Israeli amount of ordnance used is being burned very fast. But for the United States, we're happy for them to do it because it's as if American aircraft are doing it capably in full integration with our air force without us even having to take that risk. And it's just somebody doing the heavy lifting with us. And as you know, President Trump has called for an unconditional surrender. So do you believe that Iran will surrender? And if they do, what would that look like? Well, again, I think the president phrased it probably correctly, which is they will surrender. The question is who and at what level. We saw sort of a surrender, sort of what we're looking for is something like what the Japanese did at the end of World War II where the government understood it was over. And essentially signed away the nation and said, we're done. We can't fight anymore. Fine. We'll leave power. But if that doesn't happen, the president has basically said they don't have at the end of this. They will not have the means to fight. And at that point, the Iranian people take it. So one way or the other, this regime is done and they will no longer be able to fight. They will essentially surrender or be involuntarily surrendered. All right, David Worms, we're going to see how long that takes for them to surrender. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. And President Trump on social media today criticizing the U.K.'s response to getting involved in the Iran war, calling the United Kingdom our once great ally. Trump saying the U.K. is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East. Trump then adding, we don't need them any longer and we don't need people that join wars after we've already won. Earlier this week, Trump said British Prime Minister Keir Starmer hadn't been helpful, adding that he never thought he'd see that from the U.K. This was just after reports surfaced that the U.K. had blocked the use of a British base for potential strikes on Iran. Trump said Starmer took far too long to change his mind. The relationship between the U.S. and U.K. dates back to the end of World War II some 80 years ago. And now we're going to toss to a video of President Trump earlier today on Air Force One. Wives, family, beautiful ceremony. I guess you've got to see that at least once. Any questions? President Trump, did what you just witnessed make you think differently about going ahead with this war or even putting troops on the ground in the Middle East? We're winning the war by a lot. We've decimated their whole evil empire. It'll continue, I'm sure, for a little while. Paris. The Paris was so proud of their boy, as they call him, my boy. In one case, the young lady. The Paris is so proud. Many of them have military parishes, you know. But it's always a very sad thing. The war itself is going unbelievably. It's as good as it can be. We have Pete here. We have Steve Whitkoff here. We have some additional questions. You're one week in now, sir. You're one week in at this point. How long, as of now, do you expect? Well, I think we've accomplished more in one week than anyone thought possible. We've wiped out their Navy 44 ships. We've wiped out their Air Force, every plane. We've wiped out most of their missiles. You see the missiles aren't coming much anymore. We've also hit their manufacturing areas where they make the missiles very hard. Their drone capacity is way down. It hurts. Including about every form of leadership you can have, we've wiped out. Do you still expect up to six weeks total? We'll project time, whatever it takes. But the military is almost nonexistent, if you will. We could hit the military itself very hard, but maybe we will, maybe we won't. We haven't made that determination. I have a question for both of you. Are you worried about gas prices right now? This is a short excursion into something that should have been done for 47 years. 47 years it's taken to do this. No president had the guts to do it. Are you worried you're going to end up coming back to Dover for these such dignified transfers? Isn't it? The Washington Post. Would you say it's part of war? The deaths are part of war, yeah. It's part of war. It's a sad part of war. It's the bad part of war. Did the United States bomb a girls' elementary school in southern Iran on the first day of the war and kill 175 people? Based on what I've seen, that was done by Iran. Is that true, Mr. Hexen? It was Iran who did that? We're certainly investigating. But the only side that targets civilians is Iran. We think it was done by Iran. They're very inaccurate, as you know, with their munitions. They have no accuracy whatsoever. It was done by Iran. Can you give us an idea of what unconditional surrender looks like to you? I mean, what do you want from Iran? I said unconditioned, not conditioned. I said unconditioned. It's when they cry uncle or when they can't fight any longer and there's nobody around to cry uncle. That could happen, too. We've wiped out their leadership numerous times already. So it's if they surrender or if there is nobody around to surrender, but they're rendered useless in terms of military. Mr. President, Peter asked you a question yesterday. He's supporting Iran somehow in this. No, I haven't had that whatsoever. If they are, they're not doing a very good job because Iran is not doing too well. What about the Strait of Hormuz? There's no traffic really going through it right now. Well, that's the ship's choices, but we haven't cleaned out. We've wiped out their navy. Their navy is now at the bottom of the sea. So that's the choice. This is an excursion. We figured oil prices would go up, which they will. They'll also come down. They'll come down very fast, and we will have gotten rid of a major cancer on the face of the earth. We will have taken out a cancer. Don't forget October 7th. Don't forget all of the things that have happened over the years, all caused by these people. So what we're doing is a great thing, not only for our country and not only for Israel, not only for the Middle East, but for the world. Secretary Mnuchin announced some moves to temporarily allow certain Russian oil sales to India. Are you considering any other moves, including the SPR? Well, if there were some, I would do it just to take a little of the pressure off. But I think that the oil pressure—but there's a lot of oil. We've got a lot of oil. Our country has a tremendous amount, and we have—there's a lot of oil out there. That will get healed very quickly. Would you consider using the SPR or tapping into the SPR at some point? Strategic reserve? Yeah. Well, I'm the one that built them up. Biden used them so that he could get some extra votes in the election. It turned out it wasn't even him that ran. It was Kamala. And she obviously didn't get any extra votes because we won in an absolute landslide. So he should have used it for that. He used it to get—I filled it up, and he brought it down to the lowest level it's ever been. We will start at the appropriate time, which is basically a gut instinct. I think we will start filling up these strategic reserves. What are the circumstances where you'd send in ground troops? How are you thinking about that? I don't even want to talk about it now. I mean, that's—I don't think it's an appropriate question. You know I'm not going to answer it. Could there be? Possibly, for very good reason. Have to be very good reason. And I would say if we ever did that, they would be so decimated that they would be able to fight at the ground level. Are you thinking about the oil facility there? There's an oil facility kind of on the coast of Iran that could be secured by ground troops. There's been some speculation that could be a target. I don't know what the speculation is, but I certainly wouldn't be able to tell you that. I'd be in trouble with myself if I told you that. President Trump, do you need troops to secure the enriched uranium at the nuclear sites? We'll find out about that. We haven't talked about it, but it was a total obliteration. They haven't been able to get to it. And at some point maybe we will. You know, that would be a great thing. But right now we're just decimating them. But we haven't gone after it. But it's something we could do later on. We wouldn't do it now. Maybe we'll do it later. I want to just come back every 10 years. And mostly you'll have presidents, mostly, that won't do that because they don't get it. We don't want to come back every 5 years or every 10 years and do this. We want to pick a president that's not going to be leading their country into a war. Do you have any questions for Pete or Steve? Come on up. Mr. Whitelaw, is there still space to do a deal with whatever is left of the Iranian government? I think there is. I think that's going to be up to the president. That's what I think. But they didn't seem to be very amenable in those first set of negotiations. You heard what I said. They said we have the inalienable right to enrich. They bragged about having 60% enriched fuel enough for 11 bombs. They told me and Jared, we're not going to give you diplomatically early. So, you know, I think they're going to need a change of attitude. What sort of thing do you want to see in a deal? I mean, do you think you have maximum negotiating leverage at this point? I think the president has proved that we have a lot of negotiating leverage. Maybe maximum, but we're not looking to settle. They'd like to settle. We're not looking to settle. The British government has now offered use of some bases. And you had previously said you were very disappointed in them. The two aircraft carriers. I mean, about British bases, they said. You see my response that I just put out? I just put out a response. Give me the offer to send two aircraft carriers. Maybe, maybe, but they're not sure. I just put out a response to them. I said, we don't need them. It's not the right time. It would have been nice to have had them two weeks ago. But the response I put out, I think, says it very well for you. For us to also open the door to other strikes against them. Look, they are among the most evil people ever on earth. They cut babies' heads off. They chop women in half. What they did, take a look at October 7th. Take a look at what they've done over the last 47 years. So I know nothing about a desalinization plant other than to say, if they're complaining about a desalinization plant, we complain about the fact that they shouldn't be chopping babies' heads off, okay? Mr. Mikov, have you communicated just not to send targeting information and other assistance to the Iranians? I strongly said that. And do you believe that they are? Do you see any evidence? We don't know, but it's not doing very well. If they are, it's not helping much. If you take a look at what's happened to Iran in the last week, if they're getting information, it's not helping them much. What would it mean to you if they were? I mean, even if it's not helping the Iranians particularly much, it's still involving themselves in a conflict that they're not directing. I guess they'd say we do it against them, wouldn't they? Wouldn't they say that, we do it against them? All the information that they want, but the people they're sending it to are overwhelmed. Russia would be overwhelmed, too. Anybody would be overwhelmed. We have the greatest military on Earth, and I built it in my first term. And unfortunately, I'm forced to use it now. But when you look at what we did with Venezuela, when you look at what we did with the B-2 bombers, that was a very big moment because Iran was going to have a nuclear weapon within two or three weeks, and that stopped it. And it stopped it cold. And you ask about maybe going back and getting that. It could happen at the right time. Is Iran running out of missiles and drones, or do you expect those counterattacks to continue? Not only that, manufacturing capability also. We've hit the manufacturing very hard. They're at about 9% of what they sent out in the first two days, and we think that's because they don't have that much. They've also knocked out about 70% of the rocket, of the launchers. The launchers are a big deal, very hard to get, very expensive. You want to talk about leverage. With every passing day, we have more and more leverage because we have more and more capabilities. We're hitting them harder and harder, and they have less of an ability to defend themselves. So we're pressing the offensive every single day, creating all the leverage the president needs for the outcome he wants. I mean, they're sending in much less, much less drones. They're being decimated. Now, you know, at some point, I don't think there'll be anybody left maybe to say, we surrender, but they're being decimated. And when you look also, all of a sudden, they apologized to the Middle Eastern states that they shot at them. I was very surprised to see they did that. But you mark that down as a victory for us and for the Middle Eastern states, who are really friends of ours. But I guess they're not going to be shooting at them anymore. They apologized, and we'll see what happens. But that's a big loss. That's a surrender right there. I called it a surrender today. When they apologized and said they're not shooting at them anymore, that's really a surrender to those states and to us. Anything else? Some Iranians are concerned that the Kurds will carve out kind of an autonomous region, as they did in Syria and Iraq. We're not looking to the Kurds going in. We're very friendly with the Kurds, as you know, but we don't want to make the war any more complex than it already is. Have you ruled that out? I have ruled it out. I don't want the Kurds going in. I don't want to see the Kurds get hurt, get killed. We've had a good relationship. They will need to go in, but we really... I've told them I don't want them to go in. Iran will look the same. The war is complicated enough without getting the Kurds involved. And do you think the map of Iran looks the same after this is all done? I can't tell you. Probably not. Do you know how many shipping companies have taken the U.S. off on its offer of insurance to go through the Strait of Hormuz? We have it set up. We have a great insurance and reinsurance system. But I don't. Sir, when you talk about... When this ends, we're going to have a much safer world. You know that. So, you know, this is a minor excursion. But when this ends, we're going to have a much safer world. And we will have gotten rid of a lot of sick and demented people, the leadership. So we got rid of the one leadership, and we got rid of the second level of leadership. Now they're on their third or fourth level of leadership. And they have leaders right now that nobody even knows who they are. Thank you very much, everybody. Thank you. Okay, we were just listening to President Trump there on Air Force One earlier today, answering questions to reporters. He was joined by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and also Steve Whitkoff. He talked about wanting to be involved in the picking of the Iranian leader. He also reiterated what he said earlier today at a summit in Florida, that the U.S. is winning the war by a lot, saying forces are decimating the evil empire where it hurts. He's adding that we've wiped out their leadership and claiming they can no longer fight. He mentioned October 7th, the incident in Israel. And he also said at the end that he didn't want the Kurds to get involved, saying the war is complicated enough. And coming up, gas prices suddenly at their highest levels since 2024 as the Iran war enters its second week. That and more after the break. Gas prices now at their highest level since August 2024 as the war in Iran is now a week old. AAA reports the national average is now just over $3.40 a gallon. That's an increase of 43 cents from a week ago. Diesel prices also rising more than 75 cents to just over $4.50 a gallon. The higher prices come as the Strait of Hormuz has been effectively shut down. The Strait normally moves about 20 million barrels of oil per day to various parts of the world, making up nearly 20% of the world's production. When asked about the rising prices, Trump told Reuters he wasn't concerned, saying prices will drop very rapidly when the war is over. From the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran and the death of Iran's supreme leader to new domestic initiatives at home, NTD's Daniel Monaghan has your White House Week in review. The U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran after repeated nuclear talks failed to produce results. Ayatollah Khamenei is dead. The two countries hitting hundreds of missile and air defense sites and wiping out multiple layers of the Iranian regime's leadership. Six soldiers have been killed since the beginning of Operation Epic Fury. As one nation, we grieve for the true American patriots who have made the ultimate sacrifice. Iran, in response, launched widespread retaliatory strikes, targeting Israel as well as U.S. military sites in Bahrain and locations in Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. Israeli forces also targeted a meeting of Iran's Supreme Council on Tuesday where officials had gathered to select a successor to Khamenei. Most of the people we had in mind are dead, so we had some in mind from that group that is dead. And now we have another group, they may be dead also. CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper said Thursday that Iran's fighting capacity has been dramatically reduced since the start of the campaign. Ballistic missile attacks have decreased by 90% since day one. Drone attacks have decreased by 83% since day one. An American submarine also sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean. We're now up over 30 ships. And in just the last few hours, we hit an Iranian drone carrier ship. NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte praising Operation Epic Fury on Fox News. The Commander-in-Chief, the leader of the free world, President Donald J. Trump, I really commend what is happening here, taking out Khamenei, taking out the nuclear capability. In lighter news, President Trump meets with leaders of major technology companies at the White House. Big tech companies are committing to fully cover the cost of increased electricity production required for AI data centers. It's been remarkable to watch this transformational moment and you positioning America to lead. The concurrent resolution is not adopted. Meanwhile, the House rejected an effort to block President Trump's Iran war powers. Lawmakers voted 219 to 212 against requiring congressional authorization for further military action. A similar effort also failed to pass in the Senate a day earlier. Health Secretary R.F.K. Jr. announcing that over 50 medical schools will begin requiring nutrition training starting next fall. More than 30,000 physicians each year will now graduate equipped with nutrition education to help prevent, treat, and reverse chronic disease. Kennedy also unveiled a new initiative aimed at teaching Americans how to cook again. Every American can feed themselves cheaper than fast food. And Secretary of War Pete Hegseth signs a joint security declaration at the America's Counter Cartel Conference held at U.S. Southern Command. To cooperate on whole-of-government efforts on border security, countering narco-terrorism, trafficking, securing critical infrastructure. The cartels that operate in this hemisphere are the ISIS and the Al-Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere and should be treated just as brutally and just as ruthlessly as we treat those organizations. And Attorney General Pam Bondi was subpoenaed by a House panel over the Epstein files, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is out at DHS and will now serve as special envoy for the Shield of the Americas. Daniel Monahan, NTD News. And that's the news for this evening. Thank you for tuning in. I'm Arlene Richards. Good night.