President Trump: "1,000 missiles" aimed at Iran

[0:00] We have this truth social post from President Trump saying 1,000 missiles are locked and loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran with thousands of more to immediately follow. [0:09] Should the Iranian government act on its threat pronounced in many corners of the globe to assassinate or attempt to assassinate the sitting president of the United States of America, in this case, me, orders have already been given and the U.S. military is ready, willing and able for a one year period of time subject to extension. [0:29] To completely decimate and destroy all areas of Iran. Praise be to Allah, President Donald J. Trump. [0:38] We're going to go ahead and bring in Lucas Tomlinson here to discuss the latest developments with Iran and President Trump. [0:44] Lucas, it is great to see you. Welcome in to Live Now from Fox. [0:49] Well, good afternoon, Ryan. It's great to be with you. [0:52] This all started when President Trump left the two-day NATO summit to Ankara, Turkey, using his backup Air Force One, not the brand new red, white and blue. [1:00] A new jet gifted by the Qatari royal family. President Trump didn't get on his new plane until he had arrived safely in the U.K. over the weekend. [1:08] Then reports about threats on President Trump's life coming from Iran. [1:12] Of course, Turkey is a country that borders Iran, shares a more than 330-mile border. [1:17] And now we hear from the new Supreme Leader, Mustafa Khomeini, in his first public remarks, written, I should add, after his late father, the former Ayatollah, was buried in that six-day state funeral. [1:29] He was finally put into the ground yesterday in Mushad, Iran, northeastern part of the country. [1:35] Earlier in the week, we saw a trading of strikes. Iranian forces hit three tankers in the Strait of Hormuz. [1:42] That prompted President Trump to act while he was at the NATO summit, ordering two nights of air strikes, retaliatory strikes into Iran. [1:50] I'm told a third night could have happened. It did not happen. But the jets were ready to go, I'm told. [1:56] And right now, there's this barb over the airwaves, at least on statements about President Trump. [2:03] He wants to see Iran declare the Strait of Hormuz open. [2:06] We've heard from the Iranians saying, actually, if you look at paragraph 9 of the Memorandum of Understanding, [2:11] we were going to keep the Strait open, impose whatever we want to. [2:15] Now, also in the memo, they weren't supposed to impose tolls for 60 days. [2:19] So now it's this back and forth. But for the past two nights, Ryan, it's been pretty quiet. [2:23] That third strike didn't happen. And so now it's a waiting game. [2:28] We have heard from the new Supreme Leader vowing revenge. [2:31] He did not use President Trump's name, but we heard plenty from the people of Iran, [2:36] particularly in Mashhad, Iran's second largest city, after the Supreme Leader was buried. [2:40] And they wanted to kill President Trump. [2:42] And now, as you read from President Trump, he's saying that if that were to happen, [2:45] he has left instructions to the U.S. military for a large-scale retaliation. [2:49] And what's interesting about this is probably one of the most stern statements we have heard [2:54] from the new regime in Iran related to President Trump, where they're threatening revenge [2:58] for the previous regime, which was killed by the United States. [3:04] Right. I mean, this is when the war started on February 28th. [3:08] It was a combined U.S.-Israeli strike, killing the Supreme Leader and many of his family members. [3:13] In fact, this new Supreme Leader, Mushtaba Hamini, we have not seen him in public since that airstrike, [3:18] since the war started. This was, once again, a written statement, in this case, [3:23] the first statement made since his late father was buried, vowing revenge, [3:28] and is something that the U.S. military is taking seriously. [3:30] In fact, you still have two aircraft carrier strike groups, the USS George H.W. Bush [3:34] and the USS Abraham Lincoln. [3:36] And, Ryan, for our viewers at home, Lincoln has been at sea for over 200 days without a port call. [3:41] President Trump and his secretary of war say those forces will remain in place. [3:46] But now, really, it's up to Iran where we go from here. [3:49] The U.S. military is ready to respond should any more attacks take place. [3:53] The last two days, though, here in the Middle East has been relatively quiet. [3:58] And, of course, we're watching to see what's going to happen with the Strait of Formos [4:01] and if there's any action going to be taken there. [4:03] We have this from Barack Ravid over at Axios saying, [4:07] A U.S. official said the Iranians reached out to the administration [4:10] after two days of skirmishes earlier this week [4:12] and sought further talks to resolve the dispute. [4:15] They told us, we screwed up. [4:17] We made a mistake. [4:18] Let's keep talking, the official claims. [4:21] So are we getting an indication that Iran is willing to start talks again, [4:25] even though we've seen a lot of these talks start [4:28] and then get stalled throughout this whole process? [4:30] The problem for negotiators in Washington, Ryan, [4:36] is that you're dealing with essentially three different governments inside Iran. [4:40] So while the IRGC-led government might take, you know, [4:45] pride in attacking ships in the Strait of Formos, [4:48] could have other parts of the government, [4:50] the president, the foreign minister, Arachi, saying, [4:53] you know, these weren't all strikes, don't know where they came from. [4:55] That makes it very challenging to negotiate with the Iranians. [4:59] And also remember, when President Trump was at the NATO summit in Ankara, [5:03] his administration, the Treasury Secretary, [5:06] revoked Iran's license to sell their oil. [5:08] Big question now is, how do you enforce that? [5:11] Is the blockade going to come back? [5:13] That's something President Trump was asked. [5:15] He said it may come back, but so far we have not heard any orders issued. [5:19] And we've heard complaints from Iran saying this violates the spirit of the MOU. [5:24] Then again, President Trump says the ceasefire is over, [5:26] and many took that to believe the memorandum of understanding is in the bin as well. [5:32] And what can you kind of give us in terms of an update [5:33] on how the United States' relationship with Israel is right now, [5:37] especially considering some of the statements President Trump has made [5:40] about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu not really agreeing with some of his strikes in Lebanon? [5:45] It's been a little bit of a back and forth. [5:47] We understand Israel did not like some of the key factors in the memorandum of understanding. [5:52] But how has it been between the two sides right now? [5:54] And has that relationship gotten better since some of those statements happened? [6:01] It appears it stayed the same. [6:02] You're right, Ryan. [6:03] In the memorandum, the very first point was the ceasefire extends into Lebanon. [6:08] Israeli forces are still in southern Lebanon. [6:11] In fact, it's been since about June 7th that any drones were launched from Hezbollah into northern Israel. [6:17] Those Israeli forces are taking the brunt of any of the attacks. [6:22] But in the last few days, it has been relatively quiet. [6:24] In terms of the relationship, it's no secret that President Trump hurled some invectives at the Israeli Prime Minister. [6:31] Israel was left out of this memorandum of understanding. [6:33] It was only between the United States and Iran. [6:37] Israel, who the U.S. had, of course, joined forces with to start this war. [6:41] We remember when the Israeli Prime Minister came to Washington, talked about the urgency of starting the war. [6:45] The White House said the war would last four to six weeks. [6:48] Here we are, you know, about four months later, and the war is not resolved. [6:53] In fact, President Trump declared pretty defiantly in Ankara that the ceasefire is over. [6:58] So really now, the president seems like he's given some time for some of the negotiators to move in. [7:03] In this case, it's by proxy. [7:05] The Qatari negotiators are hearing from Pakistanis weighing in. [7:09] But right now, it remains to be seen what is really up to Iran, is what officials tell me, what's the next move. [7:15] But there are some Israelis I've spoken to already today that say they feel a little angered that President Trump, [7:22] because they wanted to keep going farther. [7:24] And now they think President Trump is essentially putting Israel in a box when it comes to being able to carry out any operations against Iran. [7:32] What do you think we're going to be watching for next as this develops, [7:35] whether or not talks can get restarted or whether or not the United States ultimately is going to go through with another attack on Iran with Israel involved, too? [7:42] What are you going to be watching for next, and what's going to be the key aspects of the next 24 to 48 hours? [7:50] Well, American officials, particularly in the White House, are looking at the Strait of Hormuz. [7:54] If ships manage to get out, as we saw before this attack earlier in the week, [7:59] dozens of ships were making out of the Strait of Hormuz every day. [8:02] In fact, we saw oil prices drop below $70 a barrel. [8:05] We saw some relief at the gas pump, and certainly that is a major focus of President Trump as we approach the midterm elections. [8:12] So really what everyone is looking at is what's Iran's next move, because the U.S. is holding fire. [8:16] There was two nights of retaliatory strikes. [8:19] There were no strikes the last two nights. [8:22] And they're waiting to see, will Iran let more ships through? [8:26] We've also heard from the Iranians saying they want to control the Strait of Hormuz. [8:29] They do not want ships using that southerly channel around the Omani waters. [8:34] They want to see ships use the northern channel and perhaps not collect tolls, but they want to control it. [8:41] And that is a major point of disagreement between Washington and Tehran right now, Ryan. [8:46] All right. [8:46] A lot to follow. [8:47] Great job, as always, Lucas, on the ground in Tel Aviv, Israel. [8:50] Thank you so much for joining us, Lucas. [8:51] And hopefully we'll see you again soon in the near future. [8:55] Thanks, Ryan. [8:56] Hope all is well in Orlando. [8:58] Thank you, buddy. [8:59] Good to see you. [8:59] Good to see you.