Latest / The Front / Trump’s attack fleet readies to fire on Iran

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Trump’s attack fleet readies to fire on Iran · The Front

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: It's Friday, February twenty, twenty twenty six. The Royal Family's
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Andrew problem just got a whole lot worse. British police
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: arrested Andrew Mountbatten Windsor overnight as part of their investigation
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: into possible misconduct in public offers. Mount Baton Windsor was
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: a British trade envoy. At the same time he was
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: associating with the American financier and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Documents
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: released by the US Department of Justice show Andrew and
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: his former wife Sarah Ferguson inviting Epstein to Royal palaces,
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: helping grow his network of powerful people, and, in Ferguson's case,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: asking him for jobs and money, and even declaring she
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: loved him. The files also show Andrew sending Epstein official
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: UK documents derived from his work as a trade ambassador.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Mount Baton Windsor has always denied any wrongdoing, but paid
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: millions in an out of court settlement to Virginia Dufrey,
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: a woman who alleged she was trafficked by Epstein and
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: his girlfriend gilln Maxwell. Two men, including the then Duke
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: of York Andrew was detained in custody while police searched
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: properties in Berkshire and Norfolk, including on the King's Sandringham estate.
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  Speaker 1: That story is developing fast and you can read the
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: latest right now at the Australian dot com dot a U.
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: Iran's network of terror spreads all over the world, from
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Hesbalah and Hamas to Australia, where the regimes agents of
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: influence intimidate Iranian refugees and fan the flames of anti Semitism.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: As Donald Trump readies his attack fleet for a strike
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: on Tehran, Chief International correspondent Cameron Stewart joins US to
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: step through Iran's options from here and the Pentagon's battle plan.
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: That's today's story.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: Well, Lauran's supreme leader is throwing threats around as nuclear
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: talks with the US resume.
• 2:12
  Speaker 1: US is surging firepower to the Middle East as President
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: Trump pressures Iran.
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: You know, we have a tremendous force going there, just
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: like we did in Venezuela, even bigger.
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: Cameron Stewart is The Australian's Chief International correspondent, Cameron The
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: United States is assembling an incredible armata in the Middle East,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: the biggest force we've seen there in more than two decades.
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: What is about to happen, Claire?
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: Donald Trump is giving every single sign at the moment
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: that he intends to have a military strike against Iran.
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: His advisors maintained that he hasn't decided, and maybe that
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: is true. However, he has delivered, as you say, more
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: warplanes to the region than any time since the Goal War.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: The second carrier task forced, the carrier Gerald Ford, will
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: ripe region on the weekends, which will give the US
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: enough firepower if it wants not just to strike Iran
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: as they did last June when they hit the nuclear
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: facilities in Iran, but it actually strike and continue a
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: sustained campaign against Iran for several weeks. And so that
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: is the AMAA that Donald Trump has assembled in the region.
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: At the moment, the official line from the White House
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: is thinking about using it, but I think it's increasingly
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: likely he will use it.
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: The President has always been very clear though, with respect
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: to Iran or any country around the world, diplomacy is
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: always his first option, and Iran would be very wise
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: to make a deal with President Trump. And with this administration.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: The United States has got a lot of problems with Iran,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: including that it funds terror proxies in the region, Hamas, Hezbollah,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: and the Hoofies. It also doesn't like Iran's nuclear program,
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: and Donald Trump most recently warned Iranian leaders that if
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: they crack down on their own people, he might intervene militarily.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: That didn't happen when Iran appeared to be massacring tens
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: of thousands of its own people. So which of those
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: three problems is actually causing this escalation right now?
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: Cam Well, at the heart of it, of course, going back,
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: Iran has been the bogie of the United States even
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: since the Iranian Revolution in nineteen seventy nine. Of course
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: the famous hostage crisis that was around that time as well,
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: and US presidents would love to have seen the Iranian
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: regime for many times over, and I think Donald Trump
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: sees an opportunity here to perhaps execute that actual aim
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: in an accidental sense really, because of course we have
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: the Iranian regime rise up against the protesters who were
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: in the streets protesting about economic hardship. They killed at
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: least six thousand of them. Donald Trump promised that help
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: was on the way MARKA would do something about.
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  Speaker 1: It, keep protesting, take your institutions if classible, and save
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: the name of the killers and the abuses miss helpers.
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  Speaker 2: On a sway, he didn't. But the delayed reaction now
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: is that he's transformed that into threatening Iran on several fronts.
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  Speaker 2: He wants Iran to end its in returns of uranium,
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: which effectively would mean it's abandoning its long held desire
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: for a nuclear weapon program. And he also wants Iran
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: to curtail the size and the range of its ballistic
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: missile project and as well as that, he wants Iran
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: to stop financially assisting its terror proxies in the region
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: that includes Hesbala, Amas and the Hoofy rebels. Now, they're
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: the three things that Donald Trump wants and that's a
• 5:46
  Speaker 2: big ask for Iran. And at the moment, what we've
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: seen is a series of negotiations where the Iranians are
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: doing what the Iranians always do, and that's spin it
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: out delay. So we've made some progress, very creamental, let's
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: come back in a few weeks. They want to try
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: and make it slow process that doesn't lead to a
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: military strike. Donald Trump as we know famously in patients,
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: doesn't want to wait around, and so his great question
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: is does he think he's going to get the diplomatic
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: gapdome he wants without striking around, or does he have
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: to go in there and naturally launch military strikes.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: For more than a decade now, Donald Trump's been criticizing
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: the deal that America previously negotiated with Iran to try
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  Speaker 1: and limit all of these things. That was Barack Obama's
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  Speaker 1: twenty fifteen agreement, which saw Iran agree to reduce its
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: uranium in Richmond and so on. You can argue about
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: whether they actually did anything there and allow inspectors in.
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  Speaker 1: In return, they got relief from sanctions and they got
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: access to oil and food. Basically, when you were going
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: through that list of things that Trump wants Iran to do, now,
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  Speaker 1: I really wonder cam what would they be getting out
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: of it?
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: Well, that's right. I think that them to deliver all
• 7:01
  Speaker 2: Trump's demands would effectively mean that they're surrendering anyway before
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: they even have any military conflict. I think that's very unlikely.
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: I think that Trump has also has pivoted more to
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: focus on the nuclear side of things. I think if
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: Trump got a promise from Iran to stop its enrichment procedures,
• 7:20
  Speaker 2: to effectively give up its aim, it's desire for a
• 7:23
  Speaker 2: nuclear weapon. I think he will consider that a great victory.
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: I don't think he would pursue the other issues of
• 7:28
  Speaker 2: ballistic missiles or support for the Axis of Evil, if
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: you like, because I think Iran is not going to
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: go there without a military conflict. It's simply not going
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: to go there in these diplomatic talks. But they're probably
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: not even going to go to the nuclear issue in
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: these diplomatic talks because, as I say, they are stringing
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: it along and not giving any firm commitments whatsoever.
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, RAN's worldview is really shaped by hatred of Israel
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: and hatred of the United States. They feel that they
• 7:55
  Speaker 1: are under potential attack, and that's their justification for kind
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: of arming the reas to fight off the two Great Satans.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: They still have a pretty sizable missile arsenal, as you said,
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  Speaker 1: they fight a lot of them at Israel last year
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: and still have some left. So what's their capacity to
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: fight back if this does become a hot war camp.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: Well, the listeners of the Supreme Leader are Tayler harmony.
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  Speaker 2: They've real a huge capacity. They're going to sink American
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  Speaker 2: warships and they're going too shame the Great Satan Militarily,
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: That of course is not going to happen, But you're right,
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: Bran does have some posent weapons still. It still has
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: long range blistic missiles cler that can hit Israel. It
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: has short range missiles they can hit US fources stationed
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: in the region, in Syria, Iraq, in neighboring countries. So
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  Speaker 2: the concern here from the Israeli side is that there
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: will be a barrage of long range missiles fired at
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: Israel in such a conflict. Can they shoot them down
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  Speaker 2: or would they actually get into Israel and cause major damage.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: The American concern is their troops in the region, and
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  Speaker 2: they got anti missile systems to shoot them down effectively.
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: That's what Trump has been bringing into the region. He's
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: bringing in missile defense systems to shoot down Iranian ballistic missiles.
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: That's why it's taken so long for any conflict to
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: actually erupt. I mean, Trump was very tempted, I think,
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: to strike it Iran at the time that the protesters
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: were being killed by the regime, but he just couldn't
• 9:18
  Speaker 2: because he didn't have enough protective military equipment in the
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: region to guarantee the safety of those US troops, and
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: Israel in fact ask him to delay it as well
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: because Israel was concerned about their vulnerability as well. So, look,
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: Iran does have weapons. It can be dangerous. However, it
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: must be said clear that they were very impotent last
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: time when they struck back or tried to strive back
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  Speaker 2: in June last year, when Israel and the US had
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: a tandem attack on the nuclear facilities in Iran, those
• 9:46
  Speaker 2: Iranian missiles were shot down and they were very impotent.
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  Speaker 2: So I do think Iran the regime is greatly exaggerating
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: the deadly nature of its ability to strive back. That
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: doesn't mean they're not dangerous, but I don't think they
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  Speaker 2: have a huge ability to do great destruction.
• 10:04
  Speaker 1: Donald Trump has said it might be necessary for the
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: United States to use two military bases US bases that
• 10:10
  Speaker 1: are controlled by the United Kingdom. That's Diego Garcia, which
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: is on a UK controlled island in the Indian Ocean,
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: and another base that's called Fairford that's actually in the
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: United Kingdom. That's got kind of World War vibes doesn't
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: it cam if the UK is hosting these attacks.
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: Look, I think the UK would be supportive in an
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: indirect way. I think most of the Western allies would
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: be reasonably supportive of Donald Trump taking some form of
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: action against Iran. Of course, it really depends what that
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: action is. Clear. If it was actually targeting the Iranian
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: military and political leaders, in other words, really going for
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: raising change as opposed to giving around just a black
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: eye militarily, then that might be a little bit more
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: questionable that support. But look, I think at the moment
• 10:58
  Speaker 2: the countries that are really learned about what the US
• 11:01
  Speaker 2: might be doing are actually the Gulf States. They are
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: nervous because they don't like the Iranian regime. They're womanly Sunni,
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: not shear as iran Is, but they do fear that
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: what will replace the regime if it's knocked off. They're
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: more concerned about the vacuum and the uncertainty that that
• 11:18
  Speaker 2: could create, rather than the Iranian regimes surviving intact. So
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: it's interesting that those countries are very wary of the
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: US going ahead, and they've cautioned Donald Trump against it.
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: Were at what feels like a very dangerous point for
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: the whole world right now. Cam and conflict in the
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: Middle East of course has been going on for thousands
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: of years. But can we date this back to her
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: master's attack on Israel in October twenty twenty three? You know,
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: is that what has really precipitated these massive escalation intensions
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: that now see two totally different countries about to have
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: a war.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely, I mean it looks certainly there were a
• 12:13
  Speaker 2: huge tensions between the US and Iran and Israel and
• 12:17
  Speaker 2: Iran prior to that, you know, with that targeted assassinations,
• 12:20
  Speaker 2: muscled operations against Iran. But the real trigger was the
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: October seven massacre of Israelis and the subsequent war in Gaza.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: Iran made some very bad calculations. They asked Hezbolah to
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: start attacking Israel from their Lebanese stronghold. That ultimately resulted
• 12:39
  Speaker 2: in Israel crushing Hezbela. Obviously, Israel has largely crushed a
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: mass Israel has struck out the Houthi Rebels, another Iranian
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: backed oxy force in Yemen. Iran's proxies are being badly weakened.
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: And then Iran itself of course was humiliated frankly with
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: their impotent response through the US and Israeli attack on
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: the nuclear sides and the Israeli attack in the previous
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: year in twenty twenty four. So Iran has made a
• 13:07
  Speaker 2: series of miscalculations ever since October seven, twenty twenty three,
• 13:12
  Speaker 2: which have greatly weakened its position in the region, and that,
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: frankly is why Donald Trump and the Israelis seeing an opportunity,
• 13:20
  Speaker 2: historic opportunity in their eyes, to actually remove this regime
• 13:24
  Speaker 2: at a time when it's never been weaker since nineteen
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: seventy nine when it took power.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: The Iranian regime is of course very powerful within Iran itself.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: It's got a lot of influence outside the country, even
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: as far as Australia. The Australian has been doing a
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: lot of reporting about what life is like for the
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: diaspora Iranians who've come here over the past decades, who've
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: fled the regime and who are now under surveillance and
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: really under the thum of Iran even though they are
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: thousands of kilometers away. On Thursday, The Australian revealed that
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: the daughter of a sanctioned Iranian military leader, someone who's
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: very to the top, has been living in Australia for
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: years and studying for health qualifications that I think has
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: sent a chill through the diaspora community here. What's your
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: sense of how long Iran's reach really is and what
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: they could do in Australia if they wanted to.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: Iran's reach is quite surprising, I think when you look
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: at it, I mean, it is a long way from Australia,
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: and yet they have tentacles in Australia. Iran has people
• 14:28
  Speaker 2: in Australia who are sympathetic to the regime who have
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: been tasked to keep an eye on Iranian Australians here.
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: They're Iranians in Australia who do not like the regime.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: They've effectively got their own spy FORRSE if you like
• 14:40
  Speaker 2: here in Australia. And we've seen that Iran has pushed
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: things in Australia so much so. Today's has accused Iran
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: of organizing anti Semitic attacks on Jewish targets. We had
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: the attack on the Israeli do Synagogue in Melbourne and
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: in late twenty twenty four and also int of Sydney restaurant.
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: Police have declared a fire bombing attack on the israel
• 15:04
  Speaker 1: synagogue in Melbourne Southeast last week as a likely terrorist incident.
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: Police art tonight asking for your help after a cafe
• 15:11
  Speaker 2: in Bondai went up in flames early this morning and
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: ACO is looking into other possible attacks. So that just
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: shows clear what a reach the Iranian regime has and
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: how much they care about exporting their kind of Islam
• 15:26
  Speaker 2: to other countries and putting down dissidents who opposed their
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: regime and who they see as a threat, even though
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: they are clearly across the other side of the world.
• 15:34
  Speaker 2: So Iran has been very active and I think surprisingly active.
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: I think it's really called a lot of people by
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: surprise how active they have been in distant countries like Australia.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: We've talked before on the Front Cam about how if
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: the Iranian regime fell and left a vacuum in Iran itself,
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: that that would create a whole set of new problems
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: and concerns.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: You know, who would.
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: Fill the void if that regime fell. There would also
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: be networks of people all around the world who would
• 16:07
  Speaker 1: be unmoored from that powerful regime. Here in Australia, the
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: people who allegedly are intimidating other Iranians what does that
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: mean for Australia's own domestic security picture.
• 16:20
  Speaker 2: Well, that's right, there would be a lot of people
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: who will suddenly be wondering who their masters are. Of Course,
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: the real problem here, Claire, as you alluded to, is
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: that there is no democratic opposition as such within Iran.
• 16:32
  Speaker 2: Anyone who potentially would be palatable to the West to
• 16:37
  Speaker 2: take over it in Iran is simply not in Iran.
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: And so to trouble is that a regiing falls, who's
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: going to replace it? One presumes it would be someone
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: perhaps a commander from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, but
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: who of course would have been sympathetic to the regime
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: at this minute. So this is the problem, and this
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: is what the Americans don't know. This is why some
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: people are very cautious about the match they're trying to
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: topple the regime, because they simply don't know what comes
• 17:04
  Speaker 2: next to It's not like there's a neat fit to
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: put in there to replace the Eye Tollers. There really isn't,
• 17:10
  Speaker 2: And no matter what anyone said, it would be a
• 17:13
  Speaker 2: period of complete chaos and transition where no one really
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: knew what was happening. In Iran. That's a risk which
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: the Americans and Donald Trump will be taking if they
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: do try and actually take out the regime.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: Cameron Stewart, thank you very much, pleasure. Cameron Stewart is
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: The Australian's chief international correspondent. You can check out all
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: our unrivaled journalism from around the world right now at
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: the Australian dot com dot au