Iran responds to Trump's address with new missile attacks

[0:00] Iran is responding to the threats and timeline issued last night by President Trump. [0:04] Trump said the U.S. military is on track to complete its objectives in the next two to three weeks. [0:11] Tehran dismissed Trump's assessment of its capabilities and responded with new missile attacks targeting Israel and Gulf nations. [0:18] The Iranian military also issued its own warning, claiming it still has stockpiles of missiles and drones, which it says the U.S. does not know about. [0:26] The centers you believe you have targeted are insignificant, and our strategic military production takes place in locations you are completely unaware of. [0:36] Iran still controls the Strait of Hormuz, preventing oil tankers from passing through and causing gas prices globally to spike. [0:44] Trump says if Iran does not reopen the Strait by Monday, he'll target the country's energy facilities. [0:51] And for more on the war in Iran, we went to bring in Hal Kempfer, national security expert and also former Marine intelligence officer. [0:57] Hal, thanks. [0:58] Thank you so much for joining us. [1:00] Thank you, Jenna. [1:01] So I want to start with a little bit of breaking news. [1:03] The Pentagon just announced today that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has asked the Army's top officer, General Randy George, to step down. [1:12] This was done without any reason. [1:14] What is your assessment of this move? [1:16] Well, it happens. [1:18] And as you've seen, this administration has changed over a number of flag and general officers. [1:22] You know, C.Q. Brown, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, when the administration stopped, he was he was. [1:27] He was replaced, as was, you know, Lisa Franchetti, who was the chief chief of naval operations and then a variety of three stars were replaced as well. [1:38] And frankly, they want to basically build a senior cadre of military officers, I think, that they know and understand. [1:47] And in the case of Randy, Randy George, he he's he came in under the Biden administration. [1:52] He took took on that position. [1:55] And Christopher Neve, who's replaced. [1:57] Him was actually the senior military adviser to Pete Hegseth as the secretary. [2:03] So Secretary Hegseth knows him, understands him. [2:06] They know each other. [2:07] And when you're dealing with policy matters and certainly things as as, you know, tense as a war, you want to have people you understand, communicate with. [2:17] So it's not a real shock that this has happened. [2:20] And it does happen. [2:21] It's happened in other administrations as well. [2:23] And coming just after those comments by President Trump. [2:26] Now, U.S. forces today. [2:27] They struck a major bridge in Iran, eliminating a planned military supply route for sustaining Iran's ballistic missiles, their attack drones, which we heard about earlier. [2:37] How much longer is this sustainable for Iran? [2:42] Well, Iran's got probably has more problems than it will let on. [2:45] You know, rhetorically, you'd think, well, we could take everything you throw at us and we're fine and we're doing good. [2:50] Reality is their Navy is shot. [2:52] Their Air Force is gone. [2:54] Their ability to launch ballistic missiles and drones at the rate. [2:58] They used to be able to is vastly diminished. [3:01] And of course, they've lost a lot of leadership figures. [3:03] So their command control communications, everything's down. [3:06] And now you're seeing us going after something which is a vital line of communication and ability for them to logistically support these forces. [3:14] And we're saying, look, and if you really don't negotiate or come up with a solution, we're going to literally turn off the lights and go out for power stations. [3:22] So Iran's got a lot of problems. [3:24] I think we're kind of incrementally moving into what we could target. [3:28] And the president recently has said that Iran's leadership has been weakened. [3:32] But we did see the son of the previous supreme leader appointed, and he's considered even more hard line. [3:39] So do you think the diplomatic solution is as feasible as it was before? [3:44] What needs to happen here? [3:46] Well, what we've seen is, you know, Mustafa Khomeini doesn't really have he hasn't really assert himself at all. [3:52] Nobody's really sure what his actual physical condition is. [3:56] And it's widely believed he was. [3:58] He was severely injured in that same strike that killed his father. [4:01] So what you've seen is the Revolutionary Guard Corps, a lot of hardcore generals, not the senior guys were there before. [4:08] Senior guys were taken out, but more junior guys, but very ideological, are trying to assert their influence. [4:15] At the same time, we're starting to see some stress fractures within the regime. [4:20] Maybe not apparent to everybody, but you're starting to see that, you know, the president and others are feeling that this IRGC takeover, if you will, [4:28] is really undoing the regime itself. [4:31] So you might see that, you know, we focus on the opposition, but you could see, and it's always been predicted at some point, [4:37] that you could see a split happen between the more secular side of the government and this more ideological, religious side of the government. [4:44] Yes, and that ideological side really controlling the military, as you mentioned. [4:49] Now, Iran did say today that they plan to retain control of the Strait of Hormuz. [4:54] That has been a big pressure point here with that squeeze on oil shipping. [4:58] We also saw an effort in the United Nations today to try and authorize some military action there. [5:05] But three countries, Russia, China, and France, are opposed. [5:10] If this goes to a vote on Friday, what do you think could happen? [5:13] I don't think anything is going to get passed from the Security Council and the U.N. [5:18] I mean, it's possible, but I find it very difficult. [5:21] You know, Russia fully supports Iran, and so they might use their veto authority. [5:25] And China is moving some oil and some other stuff. [5:29] They're going to send their ships through the Strait of Hormuz, so they might veto it or disabstain. [5:33] But it only takes one veto on the Security Council to stop anything from moving forward. [5:38] But what we are seeing is we have 40 countries, and the U.S. was not part of this, [5:42] did a big virtual conference around the world talking about they're all stakeholders in the Strait of Hormuz, [5:47] talking about what they might do, where they might be able to help. [5:51] I think that's progress, if you will. [5:54] And then, of course, you're seeing this two- to three-week sort of maximum effort thing [5:59] that the U.S. is going to be doing, certainly along with Israel. [6:01] And we might see some changes in what's happening in the Strait of Hormuz. [6:05] You know, the potential, certainly the forces are there to take some islands that could put the, you know, change who controls the Strait. [6:12] That's a potential, don't know if it's going to be done, but it's certainly being talked about a lot. [6:17] A lot of discussion around military action there. [6:19] We're going to have to leave it for now, but Hal Kempfer, thank you so much for joining us today [6:24] and having this larger discussion about what's going on in Iran. [6:27] Thank you, Jenna.