 So last week on the program we talked about our government's escalation with Iran and they insisted based on dubious Israeli intelligence that Iran or one of its allies or proxies was planning some sort of attack on the US or one of its allies and Since then since they escalated the situation has grown increasingly intense and now I'm officially worried because when you have someone like John Bolton in Trump's ear who is now steering the ship This can easily become a bloody situation So I'm gonna tell you why this is so scary, but first I'm gonna show you a clip from ABC news Which is mostly objective they give you the rundown in a really concise manner And then we'll talk about what happened after this tonight amid growing tension with Iran Calls of sabotage near the world's most important oil trading route for oil tankers targeted near the entrance to the Persian Gulf Video showing a gash in one ship's stern at the waterline Appearing like it was rammed or hit by a projectile It comes just days after the US warned commercial vessels in the region that Iran and or its regional Proxies could target commercial sea traffic and one week after the US sent a carrier strike group and B-52 bombers to the Gulf because of fears of possible Iranian attacks on US forces But there is no evidence at this point that Iran was involved in the sabotage of these ships Even President Trump cautious about blaming Iran although he did issue a warning It's gonna be a bad problem for Iran if something happens. I can tell you that they're not gonna be happy Mark the radots with us live tonight from our Washington bureau and Martha still no word on whether Iran could have been behind the Attack on those tankers. Well, David, we have now been told initial assessments have determined It was likely Iran or Iranian proxies using explosives. The US military is now helping in the investigation Iran of course denying any involvement, but with four ships sabotage There was a level of sophistication David So that clip was objective for the most part But towards the end they kind of planted that seed that this has to be Iran I mean come on. This was a sophisticated attack. So obviously it was Iran Now there's talk that maybe this is Houthi rebels, which is an Iranian proxy But let's just be extra kind to them when we shouldn't be kind, but let's be charitable Let's assume that they're right and this is Iran and let's say it's Iran itself Does this justify Regime change or war with Iran does this justify the hundreds of thousands of deaths that would inevitably ensue if we choose to Invade Iran or attack Iran because of this No, of course it doesn't Because during the Iraq war we were told that an attack on US soil was imminent if we did not invade Iraq because Saddam Hussein was allegedly building weapons of mass destruction And now that same argument essentially is being used to justify regime change in Iran They want to get a nuclear weapon. They're planning an attack on the United States or its allies and look at this Inexplicably, there was an attack. It must be Iran. We can't confirm But it must be Iran regardless if we like it or not The United States is taking steps to escalate even further and as Eric Schmidt and Julian E. Barnes of the New York Times reports at a meeting of President Trump's top national security aides last Thursday Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan presented an updated military plan that envisions sending as many as 120,000 troops to the Middle East should Iran attack American forces or accelerate work on Nuclear weapons administration officials said the revisions were ordered by hardliners led by John R. Bolton Mr. Trump's national security adviser They do not call for a land invasion of Iran which would require vastly more troops officials said the development Reflects the influence of mr. Bolton one of the administration's most virulent Iran hawks whose push for confrontation with Tehran Was ignored more than a decade ago by president George W. Bush It is highly uncertain whether mr. Trump who has sought to disentangle the United States from Afghanistan and Syria Ultimately would send so many American forces back to the Middle East It is also unclear whether the president has been briefed on the number of troops or other details in the plans So just pause for a moment and think about how crazy this is a massive escalation is Taking place under Donald Trump's nose and He may not even know that it's happening as commander-in-chief He may not even know what John Bolton is doing and let me remind you that the person who's in charge currently who's escalating Said this back in 2017 2019 we here will celebrate in Tehran. Thank you very much So John Bolton's regime change aspirations are now long overdue He wanted to celebrate the overthrow of the current Iranian regime back in 2019 or before 2019, but it's now 2019. So it's long overdue he's been Salivating over the thought of regime change in Iran now for decades and now that he has a useful idiot as Commander-in-Chief he may very well be able to unilaterally escalate to the point of a hot war with Iran This is incredibly terrifying Now in spite of what John Bolton is doing Trump doesn't realize what's happening. In fact just last week He said this about potentially striking a deal with Iran what I'd like to see with Iran I'd like to see them call me what they should be doing is calling me up sitting down. We can make a deal a fair deal We just don't want to have nuclear weapons not too much to ask So in other words he wants some type of deal with Iran that would prevent them from getting nuclear weapons that would allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to come in periodically to inspect to make sure that they are complying with the terms of the deal basically he wants something that looks like the Iran deal Donald Trump is a complete fucking moron He is a moron This is why John Bolton in spite of whatever non interventionist instincts Trump may have is able to take advantage of Donald Trump's idiocy Because he has no idea what he's doing In fact, he didn't even realize that he was doing the bidding of bloodthirsty neocons like Mike Pompeo and John Bolton when he chose to rip up the Iran deal because Previously, he's actually vocalized concerns about Obama potentially starting a war with Iran But ripping up the Iran deal because it was supposedly bad because Obama did it Opened the doors to regime change in Iran and made it that much more likely that the Warhawks in his own Administration would be able to escalate further and now people in his own administration are doing it under his nose Without his consent as commander-in-chief, and he's talking about some type of a deal. It's infuriating Donald Trump is too stupid to realize what's happening Now if you're still one of the people who are worried about the quote-unquote threat that Iran poses to us understand this They don't pose a threat to us. They don't pose a threat to our allies They don't pose a threat to Israel because Israel is a country that actually has Nuclear weapons, so why would Iran be suicidal enough to try to do anything like that? And if you believe that it was Iran or an Iranian proxy that actually did carry out this attack Which I'm skeptical Let's just recall what happened back in 2002 when we were building the case for regime change in Iraq The same things they said about Iraq then are the same things. They're saying about Iran now And I'll leave you with that and allow you to decide on your own whether or not you should be skeptical here And we know that Iraq is continuing to finance terror And gives assistance to groups that use terrors and undermine Middle-East peace the Iranian regime continues to fuel conflict Terror and turmoil throughout the Middle-East and beyond many nations are joining us in insisting that Saddam Hussein's regime be held Accountable Iran will be held accountable. The danger is already significant And it only grows worth with time This is a threat to the region and a threat to the world and it gets worse day by day by day The same tyrant has tried to dominate the Middle-East and Iran's ambition to dominate the Middle-East remains They could attack our allies or attempt to blackmail the United States America will not be held hostage to nuclear blackmail Regime change in Iraq is the only certain means of removing a great nature a great danger to our nation And therefore the only solution is to change the regime itself because I really do believe we will be greeted as liberators Freedom is right around the corner