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US Army intel veteran praises sanctions on Iran · DEEP INSIGHT

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Fox News alert.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Donald Trump just said the Strait of Hormuz is ours. Quote,
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: that sucker is open. The Iranian response is very mild.
• 0:09
  Speaker 2: They don't want us to go back at them. That's
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: the whole ballgame. The rest does not matter. The Strait
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: was Iran's final card to play. They wanted it shut
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: down for good, threatening to clip any tanker that sailed through.
• 0:20
  Speaker 2: They hit a few this week. And they infected the
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: water with mines. We have scooped them up. And now
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: they can barely touch a ship. So the Navy's moved
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: to cleanup duty, sending SEALs, divers, underwater drones, all to
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: clear out the mines. And it's working.
• 0:34
  Speaker 3: Bottom line, today, international shipping lanes are open and momentum
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: is building. Iran has exported zero oil from its shores
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: since we resumed the naval blockade in mid-July. We have
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: been highly effective. No ships have entered or left an
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: Iranian port without our permission. CENTCOM forces have demonstrated time
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: and time again that we are laser-focused on this mission.
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: We remain vigilant, lethal and resolved.
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: Admiral Cooper is just great. Anytime he's talking, I think
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: we benefit. So far, oil is flowing, 30 tankers exiting
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: the strait every single night. But the number wants to
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: be— they want the number to be at 50 by mid-September,
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: when it's big time, when it's going well. They have
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: about 125. So Iran's feeling economic D-Day. Best in strangling
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: their wallets with Operation Economic Outcast. You got 60 companies,
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: ships tied to Iran, have all been blacklisted. We know
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: it's all been blockaded, too. The president says they're scraping
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: for any cash just to pay their own troops, and
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: most aren't getting paid. They're running up a tab they
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: cannot cover, and sources say Tehran wants to talk. Steve
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: Witkoff's been sitting down with Qatar and Pakistan to see
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: where things can go. But let's not get too comfortable.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: These two might not be playing for our team.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: Both of these countries are complicit in favoring Iran, even
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: though they attempt to be mediators with us. The president
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: has relations with the leaders of each country and values
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: that personal relationship. But how these countries behave, they behave
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: in their own interest here, for sure, is primary. And
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: that interest has lied completely more in favor of Iran
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: than the United States.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: Pakistan just set up a trade deal with the Iranians
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: last week. Michael Predgen joins us now. He's a former U.S.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: Army intelligence officer, knows as much about the region as anyone. Michael,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: where do you think we're at right now as you
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: see that Operation Economic Fury is now in play?
• 2:41
  Speaker 4: Yeah, our biggest obstacle, Brian, is Trump's personal relationships with
• 2:46
  Speaker 4: the leaders of Pakistan, Qatar and other countries, to include Turkey,
• 2:50
  Speaker 4: Russia and China. When we look at what Qatar is
• 2:54
  Speaker 4: doing and what Pakistan is doing, they continue to to
• 2:59
  Speaker 4: act as mediators, but they always take the side of
• 3:01
  Speaker 4: Iran or Hamas or another terrorist group. And we need
• 3:05
  Speaker 4: to stop that. We're not going to get anywhere. Having
• 3:07
  Speaker 4: Witkoff out there negotiating this, it's just the wrong person
• 3:11
  Speaker 4: to do it. Rubio should be doing it. Witkoff wants
• 3:14
  Speaker 4: to incentivize a deal. That's not how you do this
• 3:16
  Speaker 4: with a terrorist-supporting country or terrorist organizations. And the reason
• 3:22
  Speaker 4: Qatar wants this so bad, Brian, is because Qatar, if Iran,
• 3:25
  Speaker 4: if the regime falls, the spotlight will go on Qatar
• 3:29
  Speaker 4: as the world's leading state sponsor of terror. It hasn't
• 3:32
  Speaker 4: been designated as that yet, but it is a state
• 3:34
  Speaker 4: sponsor of terror. It funds the Taliban, Hamas. It works
• 3:38
  Speaker 4: as a pass-through for Iranian money to its proxies. And
• 3:41
  Speaker 4: we've got to stop dealing with these guys. They're not
• 3:43
  Speaker 4: helping us get anywhere.
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: If we go back to an MOU-type deal and money
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: starts flowing into Iran, terror is back. Look at the
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: gas lines right now in Iran. It's really beginning to
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: take a toll. This is not the time to talk.
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: And like you said, having Radcliffe in there and Rubio
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: seems to make more sense.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: But you also brought me to what.
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: The supreme leader said today. What did he say that
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: was significant?
• 4:07
  Speaker 4: Well, this is key, because the supreme leader today tied
• 4:11
  Speaker 4: the regime's survival to the economy. So, this stranglehold that
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: the U.S. is putting on Iran is working. We are
• 4:18
  Speaker 4: letting ships out that we decide to come out of
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: the Strait of Hormuz. And we're doing this circulation, this
• 4:24
  Speaker 4: economic stranglehold on Iran by taking that Venezuelan oil away
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: from Russia, China and Iran, and then going after countries
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: that act as a bypass for U.S. sanctions on Iran. Today,
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: a bank in the UAE was sanctioned for basically laundering $ 1.
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: 8 billion.
• 4:45
  Speaker 4: And another bank was sanctioned for working as a pass-through
• 4:49
  Speaker 4: to fund Iraqi militias, the proxy militias in Iraq that
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: have been attacking Americans and attacking Israel and Saudi Arabia.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: What do you think John Radcliffe was telling Vladimir Putin
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: through emissaries in the 72 hours he left, in the
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: six hours he was on the ground in Russia?
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: Listen, we're going to take away Iran from, you know—
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: from Russia, right? They have drones going into Ukraine that
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: are working with Russia. We're basically trying to tell Russia, listen,
• 5:20
  Speaker 4: your ability to export oil and work as a bypass
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: for Iranian oil and its illicit back-channel sanctions evasion has
• 5:29
  Speaker 4: to stop. That's what he needs to tell Putin. We
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: need to actually go after China. We've selected about 20
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: companies to sanction, but we haven't done that yet. So,
• 5:40
  Speaker 4: everybody's being warned right now, Brian. Russia is a $ 1. 8
• 5:45
  Speaker 4: trillion economy. Iran is a $ 400 billion economy, when they're
• 5:48
  Speaker 4: both good. Right now, they're not. Russia lost access to
• 5:52
  Speaker 4: that Venezuelan oil. Russia's losing access to Iranian oil. China's
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: losing access to Iranian oil and Venezuelan oil. So hopefully
• 5:59
  Speaker 4: Ratcliffe actually told them, listen, you're going to have to
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: decide whether you want to get to peace in the
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: Ukraine and work with the U.S. or continue to act
• 6:08
  Speaker 4: as a sanctions evasion mechanism for Iran.
• 6:13
  Speaker 2: And they're going to have to decide, are we going
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: to stand up to Russia because they're providing satellite imaging
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: that's getting our guys killed? And they're providing other material
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: to reconfigure their military arsenal over in Iran. If we
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: stand up to them now, I think it'll pay off
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: in the future. Michael, no one knows that better than you. Michael,
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: thanks so much for joining us tonight.