Iran's Missile Barrage SMASHES Tel Aviv, US-Israeli Defenses FAIL | Sharmine Narwani

Welcome everyone. Welcome back to the show. It's your host Danny Hiong. I'm joined by Charmaine Nani, editor and columnist of The Cradle. Charmaine, thanks so much for joining. >> I'm so happy to be here. Discuss the stuff. Who'd have ever thought? >> Yeah. No, we have to get right to it, everyone. So, hit the like button as you come on because that helps boost this show. And let's start with Iran's escalating strikes on Israel. There were a lot of reports early on Charmaine when this began February 28th that is that Iran was taking a more diverse approach which it has and mostly hitting the Gulf country assets of the US military but Israel has received a pounding in the last several days especially overnight. I believe the uh the uh very reserved count of about 60 missiles uh went overhead uh to Tel Aviv, central Israel and surrounding areas. I'm just going to play some of the videos as as you react. Uh Iran has unveiled a cluster munitions which was seen flying over Israel. Uh essentially the this missile cannot be intercepted at all. Uh and Israel has of course been crying about uh this because the damage has been devastating. Um so sorry the damage has been devastating. These are the scenes after these missiles have hit. Uh, Israelis themselves have broken the sensors. So, a lot of people may some people may not know that Israel heavily censors uh their citizens, so-called journalists, uh, from being able to record this and Western journalists as well. I'll just show one of these reports or maybe we can play both before you react. Here is one. This is what's left of a civilian building here in Tel Aviv after a ballistic missile, an Iranian missile hit it. This was a barrage of about 20 ballistic missiles, all targeting different civilian neighborhoods in Israel. Thankfully, the Israeli population is resilient and is listening to the homeront command guidelines. And thankfully, as far as we know now, >> they say no casualties, but uh we know that Israel is also not very good at keeping those numbers, Charmaine. And here's another one. Behind me is the wreckage from a ballistic missile launched by the Iranian regime. What you can see is a civilian apartment building in Batyam or what's left of it after a ballistic missile directly hit this building. Numerous people were killed. Hundreds were injured and they are now soldiers behind me digging through the rubble to try to find the bodies. They are launching rockets at civilian buildings. So, uh, karma charm, but this is this is showing increasingly, and I'll just show they're hitting deep. Iran is even into the occupied territories of the West Bank. Uh, I'll just show that here. Um, this is one impact that was shown uh, hitting very deep. The air defenses in Israel appear to be depleting very fast. The Iron Dome is not built for this. So, Charmaine, what have you made over the last day of Iran's retaliation? uh what has been significant for you as we move in to over a week now of this war? >> I mean the the US narrative as we watched from Secretary Hegsath and uh the Sentcom chief and others yesterday was we are doing severe damage to Iran. Um we've taken out a majority of their launchers, their rocket launchers and their um their drone launchers. I just I mean first of all how would they know how would they even know that number you know Iran's 1.6 six million square kilometers uh big and uh you know huge chunks of mountainous regions, desert, other uh um difficult territory. And how would they even know? I'm sorry, Danny, can you put the split screen on? It's it it makes it easier for me to focus. Yeah. To see you, too. >> Not like I'm just talking to screen. Thank you. Um I I just want to point out something though before we get into this is you know people are saying the Israeli Israelis have broke through their sensors. I don't believe that to be true. Um one of the women who was explaining what the dam destruction was behind her was looked to be wearing a military uniform. >> I think and this is what's kind of crazy. I think they're letting people show the civilian damage. Yeah. >> In expectation that people will think the Iranians are evil evil child killers. >> You know, I I don't know what universe their brains inhabit, but I mean, all I see on social media where these are being posted is karma's a you know, or haha, you think we're going to cry over this? Um, in terms of the larger picture, I mean, I have I have naysayers around me, too, who are worried that uh Iran's getting hit because we're seeing of, of course, also videos of >> the massive civilian and infrastructural destruction in Thran in particular. And um, you know, it it seems quite horrible and and uh and pervasive. And I I saw an exchange, excuse me, on social media where somebody was saying, "How long can Iran possibly take this? How long can we stomach it?" And actually, one of our writers at the Cradle wrote back, "Have you heard of the 8-year Iran Iraq war?" And it put things into context. We're talking, we're seven days in. Iranians dealt with this for a very, very long time. This is a time when the Iraqis had missiles and every bit of western provided and Gulf provided equipment you could imagine at the time you know from 1980 onwards for 8 years and Iran didn't have a single missile and for them that moment was never again we are going to seek out missile technology if nobody will sell us aircraft we will build these things ourselves we will build an aerospace program we will you know a drone program etc. So, uh, I think I I hate to say this, but I think they can they they have lived the the existing generations have lived through that 8-year war. And I do remember um that uh everyone in the cities every single night, Danny had to turn off their lights so that the, you know, the city would be dark. Absolutely dark. um so that the Iraqis wouldn't have targets. I mean, it was awful. They lived like that for years. The population of Iran doubled during that time. Obviously, no lights at night. You know, people would make jokes about that. Are you a Iran Iraq war baby? You know, but uh they lived through much worse than this. Um, so here's the thing from my perspective for those who are, you know, worried that Iran can't last. Um, I that is not the case in my mind. Not certainly what I saw during the 8-year war. But the other thing is, you know, the other thing I'm hearing a lot is why isn't Iran hitting Israel? Oh my god, it's just a few missiles. It's just it's not this massive salvo of, you know, a hundred missiles. It's two, right? Uh, of course, two extremely devastating ones, you know, each of them having sort of cluster-like munitions of 80, right? Um, but my view was, well, Israel can't survive without the United States, right? So, first you destroy the US's eyes and ears. Um, you destroy their military bases. You destroy how they bring supplies uh in into countries. Um, if you have to hit ports, if you have to hit airfields, right, where US military planes arrive regularly, if you have to hit places where US military, even things like hotels where US military troops are spending their nights, um, Iran is systematically hitting the entire range of US military assets and even shared assets with Gulf countries, right? Um, they've taken down the biggest drones. I mean somebody today was cheering that they' taken you know massive sorry not drones massive um um what's it called radar massive radar in Jordan which has been watching Syria and Lebanon for just so long you know um so people in Lebanon were cheering that and um you know the what the US has to do to counter that what the Israelis have to do to counter that is find launchers in Iran. They're not even looking to take out missiles and missile production facilities anymore. They're going after the launchers, which makes perfect sense. But how are they going to find them, Danny? How, you know, and uh you know, just just to read something that came across um my desk short what a few minutes ago is by Alan Mizrahi, Israeli journalist. And if I could just read the first few lines. >> Sure. He says, "We are witnessing history. Iran is to the surprise of everyone US bases so thoroughly and extensively and so decisively that the world isn't ready to see it. In 4 days, Iran has managed to expand its scope of military domination in the region has destroyed the most precious, most expensive military bases, assets and equipment in the whole world. Uh US bases in Bahrain and Kuwait and Qatar and Saudi Arabia. These are assets that took trillions to build over the course of several decades. We're talking a major chunk of military expenditure for over 30 years going up in smoke in just a few days. And that is that's the picture. Despite what Secretary Hegsth says, despite what the um head of central command or the president of the United States says, it's very clear to everyone what's happening. the the military play aside, there's a whole other thing happening um which is the economic financial supply line impact of this. I was just reading something saying nobody's writing about this but Dubai has 10 days of food supplies left. That's not something uh the Iranian government wants to happen. But it's kind of like how the Americans have besieged country after country after country, right? Yemen, poorest country, um and besieged for years. Cuba now, what what's what's your problem with Cuba? You know, there's no imminent threat from Cuba starving them out, trying to do that to Venezuela, uh any adversary. and uh and and so it's not just food, it's water, it's obviously their ability to um to make money because oil and gas uh prochemicals, fertilizers, this is the bread and butter of many of these states. Uh and uh we've seen obviously prices for these commodities skyrocket globally. And then we've heard um we heard Japan saying just a few days ago that they might have to sell uh over $600 billion dollar of US ETFs in order to get the cash to spend on what they need for their populations. But today and yesterday and the day before we have been hearing from Persian Gulf states um this idea that they might have to pull their investments you know the investments that Trump has wanted and force them to provide for the United States just you know the the cash cows that these Gulf countries are they might have to pull trillions of dollars out of the US economy. Will he let them? You know that's another question. uh if he doesn't let them, nobody will trust anything in the United States, anything connected to the US dollar anymore. Right now, the entire ecosystem of US-led um financial order or disorder is crumbling in front of her eyes. And it just comes back to the fact that Iran closed the straight of hormones and enforced it very lightly. It hit a few ships that tried, right? Um, if you like, uh, Iran is now in control of the world's energy resources. It's tap on, tap off, tap on, tap off, you know, like a spigot. But that connects to the global global financial markets and the global economy. Again, it's not just oil and gas going through there. It's it's food. It's it's commodities for living, right? Tap on, tap off. And this in itself is a reason for many countries to push the US to stop the war. >> Um the Americans have another pressure lever which is the destruction of all their military infrastructure in this region. But not just that, Danny. Sorry I'm talking so much. There's a third element to this too. How has the US remained a hedgeim? Um because a lot of it is chest thumping and power projecting through non-stop headlines, threats um you know coercion uh and and punishment right like sanctions etc. Uh one could argue that the US sorry Iran has overnight destroyed the US secondary sanction regime. The United States, the Department of Treasury, Bessent was forced today to give Indians a 30 or India a 30day extension on buying Russian gas. That's going to have to be the case for everybody. Russia tried for four years to get this gone. Iran did it in 6 days, you know, in six days. What's anyone going to do about secondary sanctions now? They don't care. They have to have fuel to fuel their economies. Um but the most important thing and here's a fourth element sorry is that literally um what does this do to US power the sense that only the US can protect you and I'm not just talking about the Persian Gulf countries but East Asian um allies like South Korea and uh and Japan. I mean, in one one fell swoop, not only are are is all of the US military in infrastructure being destroyed in its allied states in the Persian Gulf with the US unable to stop any of it. Oh, we intercepted some things. Well, guess what? Your house is still burning, you know, but it's also made the Persian Gulf consider whether it's worth it even having US bases there ever, ever, ever again. And they've noted that uh the Americans when they're trying to grab more interceptors and radars from further field to use in this war are directing it to Israel. Right. >> Why? I mean, it's it's such it's such a humiliation for for the Arab countries that have stood up against Gaza, against the, you know, not even just kept mum about the genocide, everything Israel and the US has done in this region only to have the US um kick it in its backside. >> Yeah. No, I mean this is extensive and and Charmaine, people do belittle uh you see it all over social media. You see, of course, in the western mainstream media, Iran's especially its retaliation toward Israel because Iran sees Israel, I think rightfully so, as one big military base, one big forward operating center. So, uh, and Israel being a colony, uh, does use they they claim human shields, their entire settler population is basically sitting, um, on the Israeli, uh, military infrastructure. Yeah. >> So, so people belittle this kind of response where they basically, you know, are are firing into Tel Aviv and and causing pretty significant damage, but there's that economic element that you mentioned, Charmaine, that people uh do not appreciate as much where you have Israel, their reports saying that Israel's economy is going to be hemorrhaging something like uh $2.9 billion dollar a day because, you know, when you see scenes like this, Charine. Uh that's significant damage and that is happening uh more than once per day. This is happening now 50 times, 60 times where you have massive uh uh missile launches coming into Israel. And even if Israel intercepts a third of those, it's getting less and less every day. Uh this kind of damage causes real problems. And and this is just Israel. And you mentioned and I can show a graphic uh that Iran is hitting everywhere. Iran has hit everywhere. This is where Iran has essentially hit um every single country that has a US military that has a US military installation. Uh here we go. Okay, it's not letting me. Here we go. [laughter] uh every single country that has a US military installation has uh seen those installations be hit and that has an economic impatar shut off the gas. Qatar is shut off the gas. How how long can that really last until Qatar is essentially in a massive crisis, not to mention Europe, which relies on Qataria gas to such a huge degree. Anyway, back to you, Sheremy. >> I'm not so worried about Israel not being uh completely obliterated right now. I you know I I've as I was saying earlier contended that the US US military is what basically backs Israel. Israel does nothing without the US military uh aiding or supporting um meaning alongside it or behind it. Uh you have to take out the US military assets. You know is Israeli planes can't get to Iran without being without fueling refueling in the air. um you you you take out the hardware as much as you can and then Israel basically becomes a sitting duck and then you do to it what you will. Um, so I think that comes as you know a I mean which is the bigger which is a bigger goal which is a bigger get I don't know we're moving US bases for the region forever. Don't forget many people in this region see Israel as the largest US forward operating base in the world. Okay. Save the best for last. I don't know. So Iranians have this thing called tahik Danny. It's like when they cook rice in a rice cooker, there's a thick crispy rice at the bottom. I don't know if you've ever had that, >> but children in Iran fight over this. Okay? And there are people, and we say you're the tacti first, you know, you're the you're the per you're kind of person who eats your tactique first on your plate or the one who saves it for last. Um, I've always thought the better people are the ones who save it for last. it. Israel's a tadik, you know, in this case. I think also consider what's happening with Israel's uh opening up a warf frontont against Lebanon now >> just >> out of nowhere. And no, it turns out no Hezbollah didn't um uh didn't uh instigate this attack. I think yesterday uh the IDF chief said uh we were going to attack do a full-scale attack just a few days later. Uh- which is what Hezbollah claims. We knew about it and so we decided to preempt it. Uh I I think what's happening there is insane. If you were being pummeled like this, do you open another warfront? So they I I don't know. I don't know how their brains work. You know, I was talking to young people who were saying that makes no sense militarily and they know nothing about military strategy. Literally opening up a warfront. Of course, they unders they they believed that Hezbollah was so depleted and so weakened they bought their own spin. All right. >> They really did. They actually and there's admissions to this. Keep going. And I'm going to pull up the admission to it as well. Okay? Because what happens all of a sudden to their absolute amazement, other than Hezbollah sending um missiles, drones, and rockets over the border willy-nilly, um you have Hezbollah troops back south of the Latani River not letting Israel, Israelis move an inch. And I say this because I don't know if you remember a year and a bit ago before the ceasefire was declared, >> you had had the awful pager terrorist attack followed by the walkie-talkie attack the next day. >> You had the assassination of Hassan Nasallah, the secretary general of Hezbollah. And you know, the Israelis and others assumed their entire command structure, right, would collapse. But in fact on the border with Israel, the Hezbollah uh special forces and others uh so the Radwan forces were stopping Israelis from making you know taking even one inch of territory. It was only the ceasefire that enabled Israeli troops to come in. They couldn't come in except for short ambushes and run back across their borders before that. This is after all those atrocities wreaked on Lebanon and wreists. So right now again we're seeing um Hezbollah troops in you know south of the Latani doing the same thing. I this is extraordinary. At the same time the entire population of the south and the southern suburb of Beirut has been displaced. I think today um one of the Lebanese ministries said it was 500,000 people. Um and and this was literally overnight. Um I was traveling outside the country and I got a call from a friend of mine who stayed there before when trouble happens and you know just said it's 4:00 a.m. we've got to move now. You know do you have a bedroom? And it was literally all of the south you know for some people it took 16 hours to drive. The traffic was so you know dense. Um and the Lebanese government, we're hearing that they're sheltering them. They're providing sheltering. But the kinds of shenanigans that are going on in Lebanon right now, Danny, it's disgusting. You have >> you have people, you have the head. Okay. So, the Lebanese forces is a Christian uh a right-wing Christian militia. All right. And political >> tied to the Marin the Marinites. Is that what they're called? The >> Yeah. But not all Marinites are like that. But I know Marinites who like his van, you know. So, [laughter] but no, I do. When I first ever went to Lebanon in 2009, I was staying with a family that were part Syrian and part Shia um in the southern suburb who um hated his bullah. And my the person taking me around Palestinian refugee camps was a a Marinite Christian woman who loved Hassan Nasallah. So, you know, I understood that Lebanon is not simple and you can never quite wrap your head around it, but um th this guy who's head of I think basically the largest um pro- US whatever pro- west uh TV channel in Lebanon uh is saying on national television I have reports that Hezbollah are hiding weapons in this hospital in Ben Shabel. It's a sort of very pro-resistent southern Lebanese town. He said that on national television as though to give the Israelis, you know, the freedom to blow up a hospital. You know, I I I mean, the the treachery of these people, they should literally be strung up. This is I don't I don't understand why, you know, when Hassan was alive in 2006, it happened. He came out after the victory and said to all Lebanese, you're not allowed. Even people who wanted vengeance for family members getting killed. A lot of Lebanese were killed in that war and lot were aided. Sorry, in the civil war, right? Um not 2006, in the civil war. A lot of them were uh um uh killed by Lebanese collaborators who then fled fled over the border to Israel. Um and uh he said you're not allowed to touch a hair on the head of the bodies of family members of collaborators. We have a system of justice. You turn them over to the authorities, you know, and that's it. And it was it was so noble. But you know, some sometimes I think a lot of people feel frustrated by this kind of well-behaved access, you know. So right now we're seeing a great deal of treachery. Um the Israelis have not launched the big strikes in the sense that I think they've sort of been taken aback by uh the resistance troops and their determination. So we'll see. So anyways, the point is the Lebanese are bemoning wise in Iran hitting um you know Israel harder. I think Israel is the tactic save for last um or for next rather and it could happen anytime and I think it will be absolutely brutal. I think Iran gave signs of what they would do from the get-go, which is civilian targets, civilian infrastructure, everything was on. And that was the most important thing. It has resisted over three previous major operations against Israel. It has resisted um and and restrained itself to military targets only and very few. But it's uh it it's existential now. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It is indeed existential and uh you know the situation I think uh the strategy is quite clear. Uh Iran is not even hiding it. They're saying they're exhausting all of their very old uh missiles that they didn't even run through during the 12-day war. Some of them dating back more than 10 years. And they're going to launch all of those. I believe uh they said they are nearly complete with launching all of those before the next coming days. They're going to launch more advanced weapons that will be completely uninterable. But uh uh I think the the big uh uh uh problem that Israel now faces and that the entire region faces is the air defense interceptors are going to go bye-bye. Iran has already hit two. So you mentioned the radar and I'll pull that up. They hit they hit the THAAD radar which is an immense development that you at the Cradle U reported on. They destroyed this advanced THAAD radar in Jordan. Now, I believe there's only like 11 THAAD uh missile interceptor uh systems in the entire world for the United States and Iran, I believe, has destroyed two of those already in the region. And Israel, I believe, has one and they keep getting hit. So there's a big problem here I think in the coming days Jim where uh none these eyes that are gone now it's going to be very hard to intercept and we saw during the 12- day war what happened Israel had to say we need this to stop what what exactly could be different now Charmaine this is the same this is the same situation except worse because now uh these layers of defenses that Israel and the United States thought they had are going away uh by Iranian missile there. [snorts] >> Yeah. Um what I you know I I I don't uh I I think this is the reason for for many years now not just since Israel saw Iran's capabilities in operation true promise one uh that Israel has wanted to you know really not cared about the nuclear issue wanted to go after Iran using the popular PR refrain nuclear weapons but actually missile its missiles program was its priority because there are just no interceptors that exist in the world for the Qur missile for instance you know or the or you know Iran's hypersonics and whatever the things we haven't seen yet right um I I uh yeah I mean I I don't know how the US is posturing so confidently you know I actually was watching and thinking wow Wow, this is how spin works in the fog of war. >> When you speak confidently, that's almost enough to make everyone say, "Okay, we're good. We're good." You know, it's not good. It's not good. The Israelis, if you if you want to know what's happening, folks, okay, Americans watching this, go to the Hebrew media. >> Yes, Israelis know how to panic. That is for sure. Are they not happy? >> They are they are not happy and they're bashing at each other and it's pretty awful. Um, so yeah, that's that's all I have to say about that. I mean, take out radars, take our take out interceptor. It doesn't even matter, you know. I mean, the radar stuff matters a lot because you want to blind them. You want to blind your enemy. And uh, it's a very, very important thing you have to do in the early days of any war. um how much of this was detected through uh foreign help, you know, um behind Iran. I don't know. I don't even know that I buy the argument that Iran's getting great uh satellite and whatever you know visual info intel from the Chinese because actually why do we even think that Iran couldn't have built this capability itself you know um the Chinese may have allowed them cuz cuz you know Iran has an aerospace program so it launches satellites into space ostensively to watch everything but I'm sure like anything Iran does um they're sabot sabotage and blocks, right, on on what they can do with that. So, um, yeah, I think so far it's it's going along. I I mean, Danny, where were we last Friday? [gasps] >> Yeah, >> the world has changed. >> But what we're looking at today because we're in West Asia and we're pissed at the cradle, okay, about what's going on. I mean, we've been pissed since October 7th, 2023. All right. Um, is a tweet we put out today. I sent it to you that the US stealth pilot. >> Oh, right. Yes. I'll pull that. >> Right. US stealth pilot who took off from Israel's OVDA air base forgot to turn off his transmitter on his way to Iran and was detected over Saudi Arabia. This has been reported by Khan correspondent Blumenthal. This is Israeli media is reporting it. Um and he cites flight radar 24. This is right after the Iranians thank publicly thanked Saudi Arabia, okay, for pledging not to allow its territory or airspace to be used in attacks during the war. Now, here's the thing, okay? The um he's citing flight radar. That means everyone can see it. Okay. Um, that's crazy. That's crazy. You know, in the in the world of regional diplomacy, you don't want to be caught out in a dishonorable lie. You know, the the the the sort of um the language of diplomacy in this region is my brother, my brother. You know, you're you're virtual enemies, but it's you still talk that way, you know, my brother. the Iranians thank their brothers in Saudi Arabia, you know, just yesterday >> and and and and don't forget all these countries, all these Gulf countries prior to any um actual uh kinetic conflict had said things like we're not going to allow people to use our territory airspace and then we saw US missiles being um launched from a ground launcher, right? That is in the Gulf. So, um, there's, you know, this my brother my brother isn't going to work long with with the, you know, for the Iranians. This is going to have to be nipped in the bud right now. And we might see some Saudi targets, you know, in the next 24 hours as a result of this. This is, you know, this is completely amoral. >> And it shows uh who exactly is in the driver's seat when it comes to these Gulf countries. It is not the so-called sovereign governments of the monarchies. It's not. It's the United States. And we're seeing that very very very clearly as this uh war goes on. Charmine. >> Um >> yeah, but as this new this kind of thing comes out, I'm sure the Americans are twisting arms there. Um but at some point these these rulers are going to say no to the Americans very clearly and they won't survive. Exactly. >> Yeah. they'll have full support of their citizenry for saying no to the Americans and not having you know I I I don't can't remember which war it was was it Iraq one where um there was so much animosity in Saudi Arabia for US troops and US I think women in uniform American women in unifor whatever trapesing around Saudi Arabia in the open like that that the Saudis had to eject US bases from Saudi Arabia and then they crept back in a bit later. So, um it's not like there isn't a precedent, but uh right now the Saudis cannot make the argument that we need US protection against Iran because it's the opposite. The US are drawing Iran into Saudi territory. >> Yeah. Well, uh, I wanted Charmaine to talk to you about, uh, this contrast between how the US says it's going and versus, uh, what we're seeing as clear evidence, uh, that there's a lot of confidence in Iran about not only the retaliation, but about where this war is going. Now, this isn't to belittle, of course, the fact that there are civilian casualties. The US and Israel are doing what they do, which is targeting schools, hospitals, uh targeting civilian infrastructure because they hope both the US and Israel that Iran will break. >> Now CNN um uh Charmaine is in Iran right now and they were allowed to come in and film and they had a different uh uh they had a different interpretation of what's happening in Iran right now that I think is should be noted. >> A quick break for a coffee along the way. We've been driving for several hours. There's a couple of things that we've noticed. Number one is that first of all, all the shops are open. All the shops are really well stocked even with with fresh things like for instance fruits and vegetables. Um coffee obviously also available as well. And then also the gas stations. There's no long lines as gas stations. Fuel seems readily available and you just don't see any sort of degree of panic anywhere. So I think that will come to shock US and Israeli war makers. Um and I think this one uh to end uh this um amalgamation. Uh Charmaine, we also had of course there's been rumors about a Kurdish USbacked incursion invasion into Iran, ground offensive ground troops. How the US has even talked back and forth about maybe sending US ground troops to Iran. Well, Abasagachi, the uh foreign minister of Iran, was asked on NBC about this, and here was his response. >> Invasion in your country. >> Hold on. Sorry about that. Let me rewind it. >> Are are you afraid of a US invasion in your country? >> No, we are waiting for them. >> You you were waiting for the US military to invade the ground troops. >> Yes, because we are confident that we can confront them and that would be a big disaster for them. So, you're saying that that Iran is ready and willing to take on the US military if there were to be ground troops? >> Well, we were ready for this war uh even more than the previous war. >> So, there you have it. Uh Charmaine, uh if confidence was a bluff, then Iran is do you know conducting the biggest bluff in the history of all wars. But it appears that there is some contrast between how the US is framing this and how Iran is framing this or how Iran is reacting. >> Do you know that thing? And like I mean you've seen pop culture, people have aura, right? It's a big word that Jenzie uses, aura. Um, I feel like no matter how much high-tech stuff you're putting out there, propaganda you're putting out there with, you know, your greatest Marvel characters and whatever, you know, um, the shine has has [laughter] is gone from these things. And, uh, you know, so many people contrast this. It was just, you know, big propaganda video and then that little side smile, you know, and the shock, the shock of >> um the host is the best part. I mean, that has to be a meme that lasts a very, very long time. Every time the US talks about going to war anywhere else, that one has to come out again because they just simply don't understand. It's like Miz Rahi, the the uh Israeli journalist uh that that I quoted um says, you know, he says uh we are witnessing history. Iran is to the surprise of everyone effing up US bases so thoroughly and extensively and so decisively that the world isn't ready to see it. That host is not ready to see it. Okay, Donald Trump is insisting, you know, we've had accounts now from behind the scenes in the leadup to the war that every time Trump was with his generals and they were saying something he didn't want to hear, he was losing his mind and saying, "No, you know, give me a different answer." And and this is what you get. And what you have is this at the end of this is going to be this clunky rusty old American, you know, PR machine that has has missed, you know, they come across boomerlike for Gen Z now. They're just, oh, we can see through the cracks. What who are you trying to kid? Right. And then the Iranians very subtle and to the point, you know, no razzledazzle. I I mean in the propaganda war um well first of all honestly Danny one of the things that's most shocking about this and the US has never never not done this it's always set the stage for a war it's always made sure public opinion has been bought and paid for okay and fully propagandized and they have majority of the population supporting a war before they go in in this case it was absolutely not the case a majority was against this war and every day they vacasillated on message and you know you're there you're watching it so I don't uh I don't see I don't know sorry I know there's a second and third part to your question but it's gone out of my head because I can't get the host out of my head you know what do you mean what do you mean >> yeah I mean it's >> US TROOPS ARE COMING GODAMN IT YOU know >> yeah I mean and that's the that's the uh op that's like the the final boss so to speak the end game of any war that the US wages right it's throwing everything you have short of >> boots on the ground boots on the ground >> and then saying which is a big crisis you know in whatever you think of him in the audience I don't know you know whatever people may their views of Iran or him when he says it's going to be a disaster that's not a view that only Iran shares that's a view that a lot of the US establishment shares that's a lot that's a view that a lot of Americans share given how unpopular this war is and this isn't to say. Of course, here you have the whole scentcom page, right? If you go to ScentCom, you'll see uh all you will see is them hitting targets, right? So, you know, we can't verify the validity of these. We know that there's been a lot of decoys being hit um as well. But this is to acknowledge that yes, uh the US is bombing Iran and the US is hitting quote unquote targets. But Charmaine, when we see the confus, when we see CNN in Iran, Yeah. saying that there isn't panic, >> then that shows a level of preparation, a reaction that must be driving both the US and Israel very very very mad because that's that's bad. Not to mention what Iran can do militarily, which is happening, too. I mean, I just want to say I've always thought that if anything like what happens in West Asia happened in Western Europe or the United States, people would fall apart on day one because we have we have centuries of invasion and um ousting the invaders, right? We ousted the crusaders and we ousted everybody and then they came back in a different formation and the region has been weak and weakened you know since colonial days. Um but it's always risen again right Asia was where the global economy was I mean you know global economy global commerce global trade was born then through some aberration of history it went west for a couple of hundred years and guess what the natural organic waste swinging back to where all the resources are in the world so there's a sort of in the DNA of a lot of people in this region is just you know we we have to bear it and better times will come. And then there is the faith element in Iran, you know, especially the the the fact that, you know, 90 something percentage percent of Iranians are Shia Muslims who have, you know, a strong element of um rejecting injustice core to their their Shia value system. Okay? rejecting injustice, sacrificing to um to overthrow those who you know the evil ones, the evildoers, right? So sacrifice, martyrdom, look at how the supreme leader of Iran spoke in in the days, right? U I think some of the speeches that went around Western median were translated, you know, I I get my honor and my dignity from you the people or um why would I scurry away to some hiding place when my people can't save themselves, right? I mean, it's it's a whole different way of thinking and it's civilizational. And when people talk about a country like Iran, 2500 plus years old, compared to the US, 250 um years old, going, you know, whoop whoop whoop, right? And boots on the ground and like, you know, yippy cay. It's just I don't know. It's immature, right? It's just immature. It's it's like we've been dazzled with the pyroactics of technology and you know and the dazzle of it and the and the propagandizing of it for so long um that we bought into we bought into this thing you know we bought into US hijgemony in a big way but it's unraveling so fast now it's quite astounding and I will say you know like most people who were anti-imperialists in the world nothing against America your government, you know, and I think it's increasingly we see that Americans have no way to change their government unless they rise up and die for it. Okay. Um but we also have no way of stopping American wars unless Americans die. All right. Either way, you're going to have to die for this uh calamity that has been wrought upon the world to stop. >> Yeah. Uh that's a that's a really important point. That's a really important point especially to get across to uh those uh living in the United States who uh don't uh support this which is the vast majority and you know I think uh you know we we have Charmaine of course we can cover this over and over and over again right uh this is Sentcom again I want to reiterate this is Sentcom saying that Iran has hit all these targets and a lot of them have been destroyed these bases are not operating um to any degree. Uh and we also have of course which I think is a really important point uh here is an important oil facility in Bahrain. Uh uh there you have there you have citizens of Bahrain videotaping in cheering. This is a scene that you see all the time. Uh missiles going overhead of Jordans uh citizens there cheering. here you have people uh videotaping as if it's something very nice to see uh something to share around and show uh people and so it's this kind of atmosphere that I think is causing a lot of concern for the United States and I just want to pull up how Donald Trump has been taking it in particular because he wrote this he is doubling down you said you're surprised at how the US is sounding so confident well Donald Trump's uh very unhinged kind of social media post here calling for un unconditional surrender. That's the only time there will be a deal. Uh that there's going to be a great future for Iran. We're going to make it great again. Uh that's what we're doing. Uh there's a lot of coping, I think, happening here. In the Time magazine uh uh article where he was interviewed, he was asked whether Americans should worry about retaliation. He says, "I guess, but I think they're worried about that all the time. We think about it all the time. We plan for it, but yeah, we expect some things. Like I said, people will die. When you go to war, people will die." But the message, Charmaine, is very mixed because uh you have Republicans, his own party, contradicting him all the time. He's calling it a war. And you have Mike Johnson here. He doesn't want to call it a war. >> We just had an important series of votes on the House floor. As you know, the War Powers Resolution failed. That is the right result. Uh we are not at war. We have no intention of being at war. The president and the department of defense have made this very clear. The department of war has made it very clear. This is a a limited operation. It's a operation that's limited in its scope and duration. So it's a limited operation. But there then you had Trump, you know, in an unhinged manner talking about how people die in war. Americans he's talking about. So this is a very I think there's a big crisis emerging that a lot of people aren't talking about. You had a I believe it was a former Marine uh I don't know if he was a Congress person. Uh he had his arm broken. Uh I >> Yeah, I saw that video and he was in full uniform and it and he and he wasn't yelling or hysterical. I think a congress doing this to a UN Marine, you know, and it >> I'll find it. But yeah, you continue. >> Yeah. Um you know, war is um unpredictable. Uh there are highs and lows in the sense of depending on what side you're on, right? Um there are battles within wars. Uh and some you lose, some you win. In this sense, I cannot see an American win at all. I mean, at all. And why is that? Well, they've they've lost everything they have in this region militarily, right, so far. Okay. They Iran has shown that the US controls nothing in the Persian Gulf. That it is Iran that controls whether there is um um movement of vessels, shipping, whether there's economy that happens in the Persian Gulf or not. It is by the way the biggest latoral state of the Persian Gulf, meaning it has the longest contiguous border on the Persian Gulf of any of the countries of that area. Uh what we're seeing is Israel being hammered. This was never supposed to be a visual that we'd see and and now Israel is being hammered in all its vulnerabilities and that will increase. I don't see any win scenario for the US. Um unless every speck of Iran is destroyed and how is that a win for the US? But worse so as this war is waged uh by the Americans, Americans themselves are turning on their government, not just their government, all aspects of their government, Democrat or Republican, right? It comes at a time where the discourse in America is about the Epstein elite, right? It's everywhere. Nobody I mean, it's just not stopped. This is Trump's biggest nightmare. This is the you know western elitees biggest nightmare or global elite for that matter. Um they are all somehow whether they participated in the rape or eating of babies or the you know I who knows what. Um it's kind of like what happened with Harvey Weinstein, right? Um you may not have been raped by him or you may not have known someone who'd been raped by him, but you knew it was going on. You know what I mean? So they're all complicit and so the rot is at the top and um how can a country wage a war like this when it's rotting from within? It has the biggest um budget deficit in global history which is galloping along, right? It has it it's split down the middle in sides and the sides aren't just Republican and Democrat. They're pro-Israel and anti-Israel. There's so many things now. They're the color for your skin. They're, you know, um whether you're real American or not, it's it's kind of, you know, empire has has rotted already. And we, you know, this war may be the nail, you know, that nail in its coffin. So, for anyone who thinks I'm being too jubilant, um, well, we're journalists, okay? So what happens is when you do this 24/7 anyways and you can't stop reading about the news even in peace time and then a war comes on the adrenaline is so crazy literally you can't sleep and you got to laugh at things okay so please excuse me for not being you know so serious all the time >> I mean the Iranian people if we take your leadership they are putting on if we just think it's a fake case, which I don't think it is. I don't think we've we don't see Iran resorting to bluffs or lies or there when Arach is on television, he is >> speaking a very particular kind of message. You want to believe it or not, it's that's up to you. But I think the results are showing exactly um where the panic, where the frustration, where the inconsistency lies. I think that's a big one where you have literally the same administration, the same political party uh saying different things all of the time and then publishing videos where uh they're claim in very very very very low resolution claiming they are hitting all kinds of targets when we've already seen over and over again how good Iran is. If you want to acknowledge something Iran is doing, they have decoys everywhere and they have made a humiliation. I want to play this video though of the Marine who was just absolutely um attacked by a senator, a US senator. This was Ryan McGinness who was literally just protesting uh uh the war. And here is how he was treated. And I this doesn't look like an administration and a government that's confident about its position. Here we go. No one WANTS TO FIGHT FOR ISRAEL. >> His hand. His hand. [screaming] Oh, >> his hand. Sir, >> let go of your hand. Let go of the door. >> THE SENATOR BROKE HIS HAND. A SITTING US SENATOR JUST BROKE THE HAND of a marine. >> Sirenate stuck in the door. >> Sir, >> a US senator JUST BROKE THE HAND OF A MARINE. >> A US. >> So there you have it. Uh Charming, I mean your reactions. I mean this is this is the state of things around this world. There is not a consensus in the US political establishment about this. There's many trying to double down. There's of course Democrats being very feckless about it and allowing uh for this to go on with very little protests. But at the same time uh we see that there are many holes to this that are only going to get wider as the crisis mount. >> You know I just something that might be shocking to people who know me and my politics for many years. Um I have a real um soft spot for veterans. Um uh even American ones. I mean actually of all wars. These are usually young men and women who have either been brought up in a military culture or you know go sign up with their armies for various reasons if not drafted and then become pawns you know become absolute pawns and whose lives are absolutely ruined. I have to say the amount of American and Israeli soldiers who kill themselves. You do not see that in Iran. You did not see that with the Syrian army under Bashar Assad. You didn't you didn't you do not see that with Hezbollah. You do not see that with the Russian army. You do not see that with the PLA. And the reason is they don't fight useless wars. They fight true wars. you know, wars in the old wars. The kings always rode into battle leading his troops, right? The king wasn't protected from the wars. He would ride into battle and war would therefore only happen when it was a necessity to protect, you know. Well, of course, there were those uh who who who tried to um what's it called? You know, the expansionist wars and the the wars of conquest. That's another thing. In this case, in this region, a lot of the wars are defensive wars. And nobody's going to feel bad about what happens during war. But what these young Americans have to experience. They go into a foreign land. The climate is different. Everything's different. You know, um they complain they're not getting the right shielding and this and that, right, from their multi-trillion dollar budgets, right, that they have. and and their pawns. You know, all the American presidents who've sanctioned war, they're not on the front line. They never go unless super protected. In my experience, I was not only married to um a war veteran, but um I did projects on veterans in college. Uh I have a great deal of sympathy for them. And when I was living in Washington DC for a good many years, I always found the US military guys um very much more sage than I found the civilian uh the civilian sector. Okay? Because the the US military would always game scenarios. They would always put themselves I mean when I did the model United Nations in college, West Point, right? West Point College that year was um was was Libya. Do you know what I mean? They actually thrust themselves into the adversar's mind. They learn things. They they they they uh they learn they be they become more humble because they learn from the inside. Okay. They're supposed to question strategy. I don't know if that exists in the US military anymore. I feel for these characters, you know, and and I think more and more veterans are just we don't hear loudly enough from veterans, but veterans are usually the most anti-war people I've met in the United States. Um, so I think seeing this man in full uniform and not screaming and shouting, okay, um, but his hand broke that is is a real tragedy, I think. Yeah, I don't I really don't know how much more to say about that. I I found it disgusting. I find the American government disgusting. I find American leaders disgusting and vile and American billionaires disgusting and vile. And when they when Americans go, "Oh, why did Jack Ma disappear? The Chinese government took him and like beat some cents into him." You know, like how dare they? That's not free and democratic. YOU GUYS COMPLAIN ABOUT YOUR BILLIONAIRES all day long. So when China reminds their billionaires, hang on, you're not bigger than the state. You're not bigger than the greater good and the the the the communal good, right? Um uh they've done something wrong. I think uh I I don't know. I don't think there are any answers to America right now. I've always contended I mean it's been for almost 20 years now. contended that America needs to crash and burn and be rebuilt because there are no band-aid solutions for this one. >> Yeah. Well, uh uh you know, I think the question is what role will people in the United States play in whether in and you know where what that crash and burn looks like? We know that the economic system always crashes and we know that this war Charmaine we're already we covered it all here today or at least we covered a lot of it. We know where the holes are. We know where the crises are mounting. We know from economic to the military side to the political side, there's going to be mounting crisis the longer this goes on. And uh the question will be how do people in the United States react to this? Uh and how do they, you know, um do exactly that? You know, do they crash and burn and build something new? Hell, I am not a you know, I I'm not rah rah US history, you know, initial founding, all of that. But hell, even uh the founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson said, you know, uh if you gotta, you know, if the government ain't working for you, then you got to get get a new government, you know, and that's >> that that's kind of what's happening right now. Uh the government is not working for people in the United States. Of course, it is beholden to all of the forces that you just mentioned, including the billionaires and >> the rest. Look, just as we're experiencing something new, a a global south country um that is wiping out US military bases and assets in this region. We're like, "Oh, what? What?" You know, we we we haven't seen that before. There's a lot of new things that we're going to have to see, right? We've been taught to unsee. Let's be frank about that. You know, there's nothing conspiratorial here. The fact is that you know the US government and a lot of western governments as economies have like especially as economies have declined have sought to control um and sway the the the views of their populations. They talk openly about it. It's not like you know DARPA the the um technology arm of the US uh department of defense uh has has developed tools in which you have US servicemen that can be 10 different personalities online and these tools are deployed to sway perceptions on social media right I mean this is open source information so I would say what the Americans were telling us at the beginning of the Arab Spring they were blaring ing from their headlines um that the fear barrier has been broken. Oh, look, in Egypt, the fear barrier has been broken. In Syria, the fear barrier has been broken. In Libya, the fear I mean, it just went on and on and on. And the fact is those words are compelling. It makes you think about what you're doing in that moment. And you're like, you're right. I have no fear now. Right? And a new narrative is set. You need to jump over your fear barrier. What's What are you going to do? I mean, what what are they going to do? Shoot Americans? Yeah, they will. They will. >> Okay. And then they'll have to stop >> because American uh the American population is the most well-armed population in the world. Okay. What did you buy those things for? Surely not to kill every moose in America. Okay. There's a reason you're armed potentially. Um I I don't uh I don't know how this is going to go. I mean, obviously peaceful is best, but I think you have the most militarized US government and establishment in its history, perhaps >> in the early days it was more I don't know. Um and and and yet you also have the most militarized public, right? And the only thing to change that is the fear barrier in America. >> Yeah. Yeah. And I think this is a good place uh to conclude, Charmaine, because uh there's going to be a lot more uh updating needed as this war goes on and we see the trajectory clear up more and more as these crises mount. I want to make sure everybody knows. I'm going to pull up um all the super chats and the new members. I really appreciate all that support, but I want to make sure everyone knows to go to the video description after the show and check out uh The Cradle. And you can support The Cradle uh via their donation button in their website. Uh so be sure to do that. Hit the like button as you go. And there's all the um place to support this channel in the video description as well. Charmaine, is there anything you want to say before we >> Yeah, I just want to say since uh Saturday, since the onset of the war, the Cradle um the Cradle's YouTube channel uh once a day at I guess 8:00 p.m. Beirut time, which is probably 100 p.m. US time, Eastern Standard Time, is giving a recap of the day's events and and the wars development. So for anyone who wants to dive really deep into the weeds of what's happening in West Asia, we welcome you. >> Great. And uh there was one question here. I don't know if there was one ironic question. Will US use iron beam? Uh will Israel use the iron beam instead? Not sure what that means. Uh >> oh, >> it's a thing. >> It's a thing. >> Yeah, we actually did an article on it on the cradle and I can't remember any of it because it was a few years ago. It was before all this. Uh, the iron beam is supposed to be like a laser beam that interceptor. Okay. Okay. >> So, I don't think it's ever been used yet. I think it's just tested, >> but you know, we we'll see. We'll see. Ju just to let you know it's a real thing. >> Yeah. Great. And there was one question about uh the support that Iran is getting in the world. Much of the world seems to be behind Iran right now. What has shifted this? Um I think we covered that quite good, but if there's any comment you want to make on this quite well. Um I think >> uh Iran's Iran so far is making every attempt and made it clear that we're going to do this on our own. I don't know Danny if you saw the um social media posts or or the articles about Chinese netizens um calling up and contacting the the Iranian embassy in Beijing to donate. And Iran's like, "Thank you very much, kind people, but we really don't need that kind of help now." They have turned down, I mean, the Russians said, I think, >> uh, was it the Kremlin said the other day, yesterday or day before, that the Iranians have not asked for help yet. Um, Iran does have already access partners in this region. The the Iraqi resistance are helping. >> Um, and and but but I don't know. I don't think that's guided by Iran. Iraq has its own things to re address with the Americans and American military. >> I would [laughter] say that >> yeah and and Hezbollah knows that the you know that that Israel's it was was going to attack all of Lebanon. So that started kind of organically of its own potentially nothing to do with Iran. So um Iran already has and Yemen hasn't even Ansaran Yemen has mentioned this. I can't and and we know it's coming. There have been people on social media wondering like hm if the straight of four moves is closed. Can the bubble men end up straight in the Red Sea be used as a kind of uh to make up for these losses? >> Can you imagine choke point here and choke point there? It's >> and I think Yemen is waiting. This is my prediction is that Yemen is waiting for the effects of Iran's own capacity to slow down activity in the straight of Hormuz and then when there's a shift when they when they start to see a lot of activity coming out of the region from the Red Sea from the up that they will then they will strike and that will because I think people don't understand how important it is to have a kind of surprise element to this not to say okay we're going to go in we're going to do it now to do it when it hurts the most when there's a heavy reliance and and you don't want to tell these companies, the insurance companies, all this that, oh yeah, you're going to do this now. Like, no, no, no. You're going to do it when it is going to hurt the most and it's going to surprise be a surprise. And that I think that's what is coming down the line as the economy and world situation gets worse. >> You know, I mean, we were talking about Aura earlier. I mean, I have to say in the last two and a half years, I mean, the player with Aura in West Asia is Yemen. I I I mean, we're we're still trying to figure out a great t-shirt caption cuz we have merch as well at the cradle for this. We can't capture it quite yet, but we're so sort of like, you know, adrenaline up about this, as I was saying earlier, and we said, why is Yemen what what is Yemen thinking? Is Yemen going? So, we decided to call someone in Ansar, political bureau member, and we have an article, was it out yesterday or today, quoting him? And you know, per usual, in times of conflict, it's really hard to get statements from officials. He said, "We are in this war, >> but when we're going to turn on our thing is depends on our leaders on the trigger." >> Yeah. But again, I don't think this is going to be Iran calling Ansaran saying, "Can you help us with this?" That's not how Iran wants to wage this war. For your viewers who may not understand this, Operation True Promise 1, two, and three were nothing for Iran. Iran kept saying, and believe what Iran says. Iran has continuously said, "We have been preparing for 40 years with a war with the United States because they're the ones who have the eye on us. We're we're preparing for war with a superpower. Israel's just a sideshow, right?" And now you can see the preparation, you know, being unfolded. And so I think Iran's built the capabilities and the asymmetrical strategies and tactics to fight a superpower. So for it to then call on Russia and China and God knows who else for help. >> It's not the look it's going for if you want to put it that way, you know. So a a lot less to see. And I'm sure we will in our respective channels be covering every twist and turn. >> Uh Danny, by the way, I love being on your show. I don't know. I feel like there's such a >> Let's do it. Let's do it. We're >> I just I just like the way our [laughter] conversation flows. >> Yeah. No, I mean I I you know cuz this channel uh is really dedicated to putting out the perspective that people may not get and I definitely don't get in the western mainstream media but even alternative media uh they may not get it either. Uh you know and I've been saying people said Charmaine to me Danny what do you have to say for yourself? Hezbollah gone. uh Iran, you know, it's operation true promises. They didn't no deterrence. Uh Gaza completely, utterly, right, a a disaster, all of this. And then now you see in this moment the resistance is uh very much in play uh everywhere. And uh it goes to show that there is an adage that this channel will never um go against which is because I think his history just bears fruit of this fact that >> resistance does not >> you don't you don't kill actual resistance. You can there are different you know it can eb it can flow it can face setbacks but when the there's a moment to strike like Iran is right now then you'll see it strike and you'll see exactly what people have spent decades of blood sweat and tears uh fighting for which is their independence and sovereignty and whatever system they want to build for themselves uh in their own self-determined way that is I think the po a big point that nobody's getting but yeah no I I try to have people on who respect that who who understand this and who at least um will engage with it because a lot of of course we know mainstream media doesn't want to engage with this. >> No, it's why people are watching us. You know, they know the truth of it. They really do. I I am constantly [sighs] for people, you know, people say like uh politicians who say like, you know, the people the masses are stupid. I think the masses sense things well before, you know, leaders do. Honestly, I I do. >> So, um yeah. Good for us, right, for doing the work we do. [laughter] >> Yeah, seriously, every we should all give ourselves pats on the back. And of course, for everyone watching our programs. Without further ado, everyone, we're going to end here. Hit the like button before you go. Uh the cradle is in the video description. Check it out after you hit the like button. And then of course, all the places support this show are there, too. Thanks everyone who watched, gave a super chat. Everyone who didn't, um we appreciate you, too. And until next time everyone, I'll see you tomorrow at uh 1 pm Eastern time, March 7th with Stanislav Kaprnik who will give a further military update of what's going on overnight. All right, everybody. Catch you on the next update. Bye-bye.

Renowned journalist Sharmine Narwani of The Cradle joins the show to break down Iran's historic 21st wave of retaliation against US and Israel dubbed Operation True Promise 4, and what the strikes tell us about the state of the ongoing war. Support the Cradle: https://thecradle.co/ SUPPORT THE CHANNEL ON PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/dannyhaiphong Support the channel in other ways: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/dannyhaiphong Substack: chroniclesofhaiphong.substack.com Cashapp: $Dhaiphong Venmo: @dannyH2020 Paypal: https://paypal.me/spiritofho Follow me on Telegram: https://t.me/dannyhaiphong #iran #trump #israel