Title: DeProgram Show with Ted Ra
Show: DeProgram Show with Ted Rall and Jamarl Thomas
Date: 2026-02-28
URL: https://youtu.be/Bg4Lkirhkp0
Duration: 70:00

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[00:00] Good morning. It's Saturday, February 28th, 2026. I'm Ted Rall, that's John Kiriakou. You're watching a special, extra, unscheduled edition of the program with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou.As you probably already know this morning, the United States and Israel have launched a war against Iran. The president is calling for the overthrow of the Iranian government, and the casualty figures are already quite high. Bomb blasts have been felt throughout Tehran.John, I'm sorry to see you on Saturday morning under such circumstances, but it's good to see you.Ted, my friend Jeannie just texted me from Florida to say that the Dish Network has blocked Al Jazeera from broadcasting here in the United States. They don't want us to see what's happening in the Middle East. We know from CNN and from other sources,the New York Times is reporting,that an Israeli missile hit a girl's school in southern Iran this morning, killing 57 children. So get used to that. That's going to be what this war looks like. The Israelis don't give a [ __ ] about human life, about civilians. And we're going to see a lot of civilian casualties.On the flip side, the Iranians said days ago,even as long as a week ago,that if there were going to be an attack, they would strike U.S. assets around the Persian Gulf. They have done exactly that. They have hit the U.S. military base in Kuwait. They've hit the center of Manama, Bahrain,the capital of Bahrain. They've hit Abu Dhabi. There was a missile intercepted over Dubai. This is a real war. This isn't going to be just a back-and-forth tit-for-tat over the next 24 hours. This is a conflagration.Yeah, that's how I see it too. I don't see it any other way.The president,or the administration, I should say,is predicting just a few days of conflict. I don't see how that's possible.With the Iranians,peace in Ukraine right now, so 24 hours for that.Right. Well, the Iranians are engaged in an existential battle for their government and for their country, and they don't want to go the way of Venezuela and become a vassal state. They're going to fight back hard with everything they've got. And that's inevitably going to cause the United States and Israel to play the victim, even though they started all this. And they're going to say, "Look at what the dastardly Iranians did. We have to retaliate," even though they're the ones that should be retaliated against.I'm seeing from Joseph Roy, 7021, that Comcast Xfinity is also blocking Al Jazeera. That's up in the Boston area.They don't do that just on a whim or by accident. They're doing it because the administration asked them to. And see, this is going to be an ongoing theme. We should probably talk about this for a minute. This is going to be a theme about only allowing the American people to get the information that the government wants them to get. I watch Al Jazeera every day. Yeah, it's the only game in town when it comes to video from Gaza. There's no one else. That's it.So, I mean, already Al Jazeera America was shut down by the Bush administration effectively,not officially, but they leaned on the cable companies so that they couldn't effectively have an outlet. You know, we've seen that over and over here in the U.S. I mean, we're the land of the free, my ass. And, you know, if truth is the first casualty of war, the first thing you want to do is kill the truth or kill any other narrative.John, there's going to be so much to get into. And as usual, even though this is a special edition, please go ahead and post your questions if you're watching live right now in the nine o'clock hour on Saturday morning into the live feed and into the Rumble chat, and we will get to all of those if we can, but we're gonna try.I want to ask you a question. Donald Trump said last night that this was going to be a massive,his words,"massive and ongoing" military campaign. And he also called it "major combat operations." Now those words have very specific meanings in war. That means troops on the ground. Is he just talking? I don't know how much he's been briefed on what the appropriate vocabulary is here. You know, he's not a man of careful language and parsing language. So with him, you have to kind of read less into it than you would with a normal president, I think it's fair to say. But it's hard to imagine U.S. troops on the ground in Iran. Like, what does that look like? I mean, you and I have talked about this many times, John. It is a massive country.The Iranian people may or may not like their government. It's not the most popular government. But what's a lot less popular is the idea of a U.S. occupation or invasion. They don't want that for sure. No one wants that. And also, I gotta say, this is the part that chilled me to the bones: the fact that Israel and the United States are now so intertwined in this massive endeavor,for lack of a better word. I mean, we're really joined at the hip now. This is basically telling the entire Muslim world, "We are one and the same," and what Israel does is what the U.S. does, and vice versa.You know, Israel is wildly unpopular even here in the United States, but it's certainly around the world. You know, for the first time yesterday, there was a poll that showed that most Americans sympathize with the Palestinian cause more. It's really,it's great,the first time since 1948. We just climbed into bed with "Bibi" Netanyahu, who's a [ __ ] monster, and everybody thinks he's a monster. I don't even know where to begin.I'm looking at reactions from around the world right now, and every one of our NATO allies has either expressed condemnation or regret. The only countries that are condemning Iran's retaliation are the countries that are being hit by Iranian missiles.But Ted, looking at the map that you just put up: these attacks are literally all over Iran,at least all over the populated part of Iran. Right. And this really is massive. This isn't just Tehran and maybe some military bases. It is all over the country.Yeah, it is. And look, for people who haven't been to Tehran,I have,it is a big city. It's bigger than New York City. It has a population of 9.7 million people in the city proper, plus significant, huge sprawling suburbs. It is a densely populated city. All major Iranian cities are very modern.You know, this is going to be a war against the civilian population as much as it is a war against "military targets." Look, that's a very important point. Yes, this really is going to be a war against civilians. And we saw that right off the bat. We know how little the Israelis care about civilians because none of us have been blind as we watched the genocide in Gaza, but they are perfectly happy to kill as many Iranian civilians as they possibly can.No, that's true. Look, they've been chomping at the bit. As an American,also, second,look, my first thought is with the people of Iran who do not deserve this, did not provoke this, did not ask for this. And even their government was conned and fooled by President Trump, who engaged the Omanis to conduct diplomacy to try to bring this in for a soft landing, basically lied and said that there were several weeks to resolve this, and then basically launched a dastardly sneak attack. It's kind of similar to what the U.S. accused Japan of right before Pearl Harbor. It's like, "Guys, why did you attack? We were negotiating."That's right. And look at the reporting,it's only early now,this was supposed to be apparently a decapitation strike where we take out Ayatollah Khamenei, with the administration not understanding that taking out Ayatollah Khamenei is going to do anything. No. Nothing. Literally nothing. I mean, Iran is not a dictatorship, and it's like,they ended up also trying to kill him. It's like, well, there's no coming back from that. You bombed the guy's compound. You tried to kill him.You know, I mean, you guys already did that to Soleimani. I mean, the Iranians know exactly where they stand. And Trump also brought up Soleimani last night, reiterating how good it was that he had killed him, how important it was that he killed him, and that we were gonna cut the head off the Iranian leadership. That's just not the case. The Iranians are incredibly resilient.Yeah, they are. And not to mention they have this unique series of overlapping governmental structures,uniquely Persian slash Iranian,where they have a lot of redundancy built into the system, which can cause bureaucratic inefficiency and it's hard to make decisions. But in a situation like this, when you're being attacked by a foreign adversary, it's incredibly useful. They have redundant governmental structures throughout the system. You can take out big swaths of the Iranian government; it's not going to make any difference.No, it's not.D.H. Frank has a great question: Wartime presidents typically get major bumps in approval. I think this war will do the opposite.Agreed. What do you say?I totally agree. Yesterday or the day before yesterday, we talked about a split within the Republican Party between the America First, anti-war MAGA right and the John McCain wing of the party, which is rearing its ugly head again. And I think this is going to be different. I think this is going to seriously hurt Donald Trump.I'm gonna,I would bet money that officials inside the White House, inside the Executive Office of the President, are wringing their hands today saying that Donald Trump just threw away any last hope of stemming Republican losses in the midterm elections.John, I'm 100% sure you're right about that. And mainly for two main reasons that come to mind while my coffee sets in. Number one, the MAGA wing of the GOP is very clear in the polls that they feel that the president has taken his eye off the ball on immigration and on the economy. This is only going to confirm that, right? And also they're not pro-Israel.Then there's the domestic side of this, which is the United States is,you know, just hold on. Let me,I need to get into some of these questions here."How Trump, the master of distraction and the most fickle leader in history, I'm truly worried. How long will this go on? Do you think Iran will need to bow down for it to end?"I think they're in it to the death.That's what I think too. I think this is like Iraq. It's really bad. Look, in terms of Trump's popularity, this is only going to hurt for one big reason: there's been no run-up to this war. There's been no lube before he stuck it in,which is part of the reason that he snuck it in on a Friday night news dump. I mean, the American people have not been told that Iran threatens them, has WMDs, is going to kill them or their friends or anything like that. I mean, there's been no prep at all. So this isn't at all like the Bush administration, which started scheming on 9-12 for an invasion that came a year and a half later against Iraq.And Afghanistan was easier because,again,people forget that the groundwork for invading Afghanistan had already been laid from a propaganda point of view a year or two earlier because of all the reports of the Taliban blowing up the Bamiyan statues and the treatment of women. There was already the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000, the embassy bombings in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. So the American people already thought of Afghanistan as a bête noire.They don't think of Iran as a bête noire. They used to, after the hostage crisis. Sure. But that was half a century ago. Generations ago.Yeah. It's just not true anymore.No, it's not true anymore.So let's do some more questions. Pipsqueak is asking, "Do we think any NATO country will back this?"You know what? I think,I'm ashamed. I'm ashamed to even say these words. Greece is going to back it.Really? Is real in the U.S. Yeah, because the Greeks are broke. The Greeks are weak. Cyprus is sitting on an ocean of natural gas, of which the Greeks have a portion. They're lifting that gas with the Israelis. And I think the Greeks will do anything the Israelis tell them to do. Now that is exactly the opposite of Greek public opinion, which is solidly, strongly with the Palestinians on the Gaza issue and will likely be with the Iranians on this issue because of the Greek people's opposition to war in general.That is insane.Well, I mean, that's,yeah. So we'll have repercussions throughout the world, right? With U.S. allies and Gulf states and all that.Um, talk about unpopular governments. How about Trump's popularity, right? Which is currently,depending on how you look at it,between 36 and 38%, the lowest of his,including his first term in office, right?So, um, look,this is gonna look for MAGA world,oh, yeah, I wanted to say this to you, John,this is going to look for some people in MAGA world as a huge distraction, Epstein distraction machine.You bet it will. You bet it will. It's funny. You look at the Washington Post today, and of course the banner is "U.S. and Israel Attack Iran as Trump Calls for Regime Change." And just underneath: "Musk Asked Epstein for 'the Wildest Party.' Now He Says He Stands Up for Victims." So without this war, this attack,you know what the headline is going to be.Yes, that's true.Yeah. And, you know, look,obviously this was planned. John, you called it weeks ago. You quoted the guy who trained you originally at the agency and said, "You don't send carrier battle groups in if you don't plan to use them," right? Am I paraphrasing correctly?One of our viewers very generously emailed me last week to say that there was a podcaster talking [ __ ] about me and maybe I should respond. So I looked at it,he was really talking a lot of [ __ ] about me. But it was about what I said a week ago, a week and a half ago, that a friend of mine at the White House said that a decision had been made to attack Iran,that it would come this past Monday or Tuesday. Obviously it was delayed a few days, but that the decision had been made. And then he was like, "How the [ __ ] does this guy know? He's been out of the CIA for 20 years. What are we supposed to believe,that people who have access to the information just call him and offer it up?"Yeah, they do,because they're opposed to war. So yeah, there's a major, serious split in the American government over this.One of the things that surprised me when I woke up this morning, Ted, was to see how many U.S. senators of both parties are condemning this action. Donald Trump didn't go to Congress and ask to invoke the,what do you call it?,the War Powers Act to send forces to the Middle East. And there certainly has been no congressional declaration of war.So this is a war crime. It's illegal. It's an illegal attack. And it's completely unprovoked. I mean, there's no attack by the Iranians. There was no threat of imminent attack. There's no threat of not-imminent attack. The Iranians already,the main demand of the United States was "don't develop nuclear weapons." The Iranians said, "No worries. We don't want to develop nuclear weapons." They've been consistent about this since the Islamic Revolution. They voluntarily kept their membership in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty that the Shah had signed. They didn't have to. They could have said, "We just had a revolution. We don't have to keep this old treaty obligation." But they did.Day before yesterday, I was on a Lebanese network called Al-Mayadeen. I love this station. It is such an in-depth,I mean, it's in Arabic, of course,but it's such an in-depth news analysis station. I always say yes when they ask me to go on. Usually they have me sort of as a point-counterpoint with a professor, and they have fantastic professors, especially on American politics. And the day before yesterday, they had me debating the lead nuclear negotiator from Iran. I was shocked when he came on the screen and that's who I was supposed to debate.But he said the same things that you just said: that the Iranians are signatories to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. They allow nuclear inspections. It's the Israelis who have nukes, who won't sign the NPT, and who have forbidden any and all inspections. The Iranians have always been willing to play along with international law on these issues. And I made a point that at first he rejected outright and then finally came around and was like, "Well, okay." I said, "Look, what the two sides are negotiating right now is the JCPOA." True. That's what it is. It's all the same tenets that were in the JCPOA that Trump scrapped unilaterally. Those points being that Iran couldn't enrich uranium to weapons grade, that the uranium that they were enriching as well as Iranian nuclear sites had to be opened to inspection by the IAEA,which is the United Nations body,and that if they were going to enrich uranium, they had to store the uranium in a third country, with the three countries being considered Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Turkey. And the Iranians were agreeing to all that because they had agreed to it 15 years ago with Barack Obama.Yeah, the only thing the Iranians did not agree to was scrapping their medium-range standard conventional missiles. And no country in its right mind would ever agree to something like that.No, they wouldn't. And the United States,all that would be doing is putting what happened last night and this morning off for another couple of years. That's all it would do. Maybe.I'm sorry to interrupt you. Tariq says,thanks for the buck,"You say something that I say all the time. Is the U.S. just a war economy?"Yes. If we were not at war somewhere in the world, our economy would slip into recession. And this has been the case since the 9-11 attacks. That's how everybody in Washington got rich,has been off of our constant, full-time war economy.Robby, our producer, has a question. Putting him on. Hi, Robby.Hey, I just have a quick question. And I've been wrestling with this for a couple of days. And I'm really hoping that the two of you can answer it. Mark Levin keeps going out calling Tucker Carlson a traitor for opposing the strike on Iran. My question is, how can you be a traitor if you oppose an action perpetrated by another country? To be a traitor means I would be actively working against my country, not opposing the geopolitics of another one. So then by that logic, am I a traitor? Can someone explain to me? It's like when they called Julian Assange a traitor. Like, a traitor? He's Australian. What are you talking about?Yeah, it is insane. I don't get it.I despise Trump. I hate the man with a burning,I hate him.When you've lost Robby West, you're done.Okay. Well, thanks, Robby, for that.Um, let's do some more questions here."You Yanks are in another civil war and the fascists are winning. Better get your [ __ ] together. Your democracy is dead."I'm sorry. I think our democracy is on the way out, and I don't think there's any way to save it.I agree."Could this war expose U.S. and Israeli military weaknesses while driving America's main rivals, Russia and China, closer?"Those are absolutely yes. And may I add something about that?Please.Um, when Iran sent the 600 drones last October and the vaunted Iron Dome shot all of them out of the sky except for seven, the fact that seven slow-motion drones got through the Iron Dome was very valuable military intelligence. It was a probing attack. So the Iranians and the Israelis knew it was coming too.That's right. So what do the Israelis do if the Iranians launch a hypersonic against them? Which they probably will. I would if I were Iran. Why not? There's no reason. I mean,not to mention,I wouldn't feel terribly guilty. The Israeli people are behind Netanyahu.Yeah, I mean, that's right. The statistics are,you know,the polling is very clear on that point. I'm really sorry about to hear that.Will Russia and China be closer? Look, Russia and China were getting closer anyway. This is,I think this is part of a,this is on a continuum, right?,of U.S. behavior that is forcing other countries.Right now, if I'm Modi in India, I'm kind of like holding my dick out in the wind. Like, I just came back from hanging out with Bibi. And it's like, I'm not feeling too good this morning.No, I agree. And you know, this,this is 300 million Muslims in this country.Exactly right. Yes, that's exactly right.We should keep a close eye on the Chinese-Russian relationship to Iran. Iran is a BRICS country, as are China and Russia. As that organization becomes stronger, more fulsome, more inclusive, we should expect to see a formal alliance between the Russians, the Chinese, and the Iranians. And then what do we do? We're gonna fight the Russians and Chinese for Israel?That,and John, I have a question for you. Do you think,what's the calculus here for Donald Trump and the U.S. government and his administration? I mean, why is he doing Netanyahu's bidding so slavishly?You know, I think that deep down Donald Trump is an authoritarian. I think that he enjoys looking like a military strongman. And I think that he doesn't actually believe in anything. I don't think he believes in MAGA, "no war." I don't think he has any core beliefs. And I think that he thought that a quick decapitation strike,the Iranians would be dancing in the streets thanking him and thanking God,and he would go down in history as, you know, as Teddy Roosevelt. And that's just simply not going to happen. It was never going to happen.No, but he was the only one that thought that it would.Scott Ritter said this morning,Stephen says,that we failed to kill the Ayatollah in the strike. What information do we have on this?Um, the Israelis are claiming that they think that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was injured. I think they're just talking [ __ ] and they don't have any idea. Um, if you're the Iranians, obviously they knew that this was coming. They knew there was a strong possibility this was coming. I mean, they're not stupid. I would have thought that he would be in another location.No. Yeah. And I'm sure that he was. They're not stupid.Uh, so I guess Donald does not want the video of him [ __ ] a child released, so he'll continue to obey the orders of his Zionist masters.Netanyahu released a statement saying he's backing the Iranian people to overthrow the regime. Oh, I'm sure they're taking lots of cues from him,at the same time he's sending cruise missiles into schools, apartment buildings, and hospitals.Yeah, they love him.Um, what would the purpose of extended boots-on-the-ground campaign be?Hmm. For extending war powers for the president. Well, he would have to go to Congress. I mean, have to go to Congress. I mean, if there's any respect left whatsoever for the Constitution.Yeah. But there may not be. And Congress isn't going to give him authorization to put boots on the ground.Uh, way. And remember what we said last week: George W. Bush, in the weeks and months before the attack on Iraq, crisscrossed the country to swing public opinion. Donald Trump has done literally nothing to swing public opinion. Nothing. That's why this will not work. You can't fight a war that causes Americans to come home in body bags and cost the taxpayer billions of dollars and provokes future terrorist attacks without getting the American people behind you,even if you do, that support may not last, as people like LBJ and Richard Nixon and George W. Bush are well aware. But at least you have to start with it, and you know you're going to,like,that support is going to flow out like a tide ebbing.Right. But that's not,he's not starting with that. Nobody wants this war. There's literally no constituency for it.No, there's no constituency for it.Thank you very much for the 200. I guess those are Emirati dirhams.Dirhams. Yeah, I always want to say "hears." Thank you very much for that.Um, thanks for the fiver. I sent him,I guess,Trump campaign money because I thought he was skeevy enough to double-cross Israel. Boy, was I wrong.Um, we've had that conversation with Robby. We did.To what extent,George Tenet for 21 wants to know,doesn't seem that it's really special ops and assets have been expended in a 12-day war and protests already. And by the way, John, that's a good question, right? I mean, the United States is running low on materiel because it gave so many bombs,especially dumb bombs, also big bunker busters,to Israel to destroy Gaza with. Um, so that indicates to me that they have other weapons in mind.Yeah, I have to agree. It's been no secret that we're short of munitions, and the Israelis were short of munitions. That's why there was no attack on Iran a month ago or two months ago. They were short of munitions. Iran's going to obviously be subject to,they're going to go after their infrastructure. They're going to,it's like massive cyber attacks already underway, an Israeli specialty. That's,they're going to try to bring them to their knees that way. I don't think it's going to work, but,I agree with you. We'll see. I don't think it is going to work.Uh, Qatar airspace is closed. I was about to fly to Europe tomorrow with a stopover in Qatar.Yeah, the airports in Kuwait, Dhahran, Bahrain, Qatar, Abu Dhabi, and Dubai are all closed. No flights in or out. I was just there a week ago. I just can't,can't believe it.Robby's asking, "Do we think Russia and China will assist Iran militarily, or are they on their own?"They're on their own. Yeah. Unfortunately. I think so too.I mean, here's the thing. I'm sure that Vladimir Putin would,less so President Xi. I think Vladimir Putin in his heart thinks it's an atrocity and would like to help his ally, but knows that it would be World War III. And that's the calculus for him.I will say that I would expect the Russians and Chinese to continue supplying the Iranians with air defense systems,but of course have to get them there,air missiles. I mean, obviously there's going to be a naval blockade.Yeah, definitely, definitely.Um, yeah. Another war of choice,and for Israel at that, says D.H. Frank. Way to go, DJT,Donald J. Trump. Your subservience to Israel on,as that country's slim,is a disgrace.Um, do you think Iran did a huge mistake at striking other countries like Qatar, the UAE, and others?Prentic Amir says, you know, it's an interesting,that is a good question, right? Because you can argue it either way.Yeah. I mean, yeah, I think there is some advantage to it, though. I mean, tactically, if you take out like airfields in those Gulf states, those are facilities that are no longer available for the U.S. or the Israelis to use for refueling and resupplying and stuff like that. You're not losing any allies that you had before. These were not your friends to begin with. It's for domestic consumption too: "We're not just taking it, and we're striking back against all the [ __ ]."I guess the counter is, of course, you are making new enemies in the population that you might not have had before. I don't know. What do you think?Yeah, I think that's right.I want to add to,Al Jazeera now is reporting that one person was killed in Abu Dhabi after several missiles launched from Iran were intercepted. I would assume he was killed by falling debris, which would not be unusual. Bahrain said a missile attack targeted the U.S. Fifth Fleet headquarters, which is right there on the water in the capital city of Manama. And Kuwait's defense minister said that the U.S. air base,the Al Udeid Air Base,is currently under attack. But so far, all of the Iranian missiles have been intercepted by Kuwaiti air defenses.Oh, and the Saudi foreign ministry is saying that Riyadh was targeted. I didn't realize that the Iranians were going that far inland. I thought they were keeping it to the east coast of Saudi Arabia. So the capital city of Riyadh was targeted.Trump says,you,the thing we should be looking for, Ted, is the continuing use of drones. One thing that the Iranians are very good at is they build their own suicide drones right there in Iran using Iranian parts, and they can build lots of them. Remember all these drones that they sent against Israel back in October? These were all homemade drones. And when I call them suicide drones, it means that they have explosives strapped to them, and they are remotely flown directly into a target where they explode. They're not meant to launch a missile and then return to their base. So they commit suicide, so to speak.So Al Jazeera says that Erbil airport in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq was targeted twice overnight,and specifically Erbil International Airport was targeted, but air defenses intercepted and shot down a drone there. The reason that's important is because the Iraqi government has said repeatedly that it would not participate in any American attack on Iran. Obviously it's close to the Iranian border. The Kurds have autonomy in the north, and what we could be seeing here is the Kurds independently supporting U.S. actions against Iran and allowing the U.S. military,and by extension the Israeli military,to use their base in Erbil to attack Iran. That's an added little twist here.Could see that.Uh, Senator Mark Warner, who's the top Democrat on the,even though they're a minority right now,in the Senate Intelligence Committee, says that the Gang of Eight, which is sort of the traditional elite group of senators who are briefed ahead of actions like this, were briefed by Marco Rubio,but only a few of them,and that they weren't given any,or at least not a full accounting of the legal justification for the attack.John, there is no legal justification, so I guess there's not that part.There's no legal justification. The administration hasn't even pretended that there is a legal justification. We're doing this because the Israelis told us to. Yeah. That's it.I mean, I've always been hesitant when people have said, "Oh, we're just Israel's [ __ ]." We're Israel's [ __ ]. There it is.Um, Chris Kahi 1999,thanks for the donation. Thanks for standing against this war, John and Ted. Will Russia and China wage a proxy war against us? What's the likelihood of World War III? Also, I'm dying to know what was William F. Buckley's relationship to the CIA? A lot of stuff there.Um, will Russia and China wage a proxy war against us?Well, I mean, we kind of are in one in Ukraine right now, and we could be in one in Taiwan. I mean, certainly one of the assessments,John, you,we always hear this at the agency. Did you guys actually believe this idea that like when the U.S. is tied up in something like this, that our adversaries think, "Oh, this might be a good chance for me to get away with something I might not otherwise have been able to get away with"?Yes. That calculation is always, always in the mix. Yes.I was never sure if that was just something they said or whether that's something they really thought was true.Iran can't meet the United States in open battle, so that means irregular warfare. John, what are the chances that Iran will start terrorist attacks in Israel and the West?I think quite good. I think the chances are high enough that we should expect that to be the case. And it won't be next week. It could be a year,no, no, no. This is a long-term thing. It could be five years from now.Sure. I mean, and it's not necessarily directly ordered from Tehran. It's like this could just be self-inspired people who are ideologically pissed off at what we're doing and decide that, you know, we need to be punched in the nose.Yeah. That's right.Hey guys, glad I caught you. "Does the Constitution still exist? Seems like it's turned into an object."It's, um,you know what it's like, John? It's sort of like how on the New Jersey Turnpike, the speed limit is 55, but no one drives under 80. It's a suggestion, but it's not really enforced. You're not going to get a speeding ticket unless you're going well over 90. That's what the Constitution has become.Yep. Yep."You have time and time again praised Trump, but now you're mad. Now that the loose cannon that everyone has warned you will blow up, you're mad."I actually very much appreciate that criticism. Seriously, I'm not kidding. Um, I don't think it's fair to say that we have been lickspittles of this president. I think we both,first of all, I didn't vote for him. I voted for Jill Stein,to the left of Kamala Harris. Um, but I mean, we're not Trumpies, but we're also willing to give this president his due when he does something right. Um, and I don't think that that makes us, you know, ass-lickers of the administration.I don't know. May disagree.Yeah. I mean, the other day I said nice things about Hillary Clinton for the way she handled herself when she was disrespected by the House Oversight Committee. I hate Hillary Clinton. Saying that she did something right or that she was a victim here does not make me a Hillary Clinton acolyte.Exactly. I'm proud to say that both of us just call it as we see it. I don't have any loyalty to anybody on either side. I know you don't either.Nope. And so, you know, we're human. Sometimes we're wrong, but we call it as we see it.Totally, totally. But I do appreciate,seriously,don't hesitate if you think we're full of [ __ ] to tell us. We'll engage you.Okay. Thanks for the dollars.The U.S.,okay, you already answered that. Thanks for the emergency pod and thank you for the $9.99, D.H.Oh, let's see. Sorry. That's Sean WP. Thank you.Um, "Is the Strait of Hormuz closed?" Roguebot wants to know.That's a great question. I don't think that it's formally closed, but I would guess that I wouldn't send my ship full of oil through there. Would you? And I'll tell you what normally happens in a case like this is Lloyd's of London will make a blanket announcement that everybody's shipping insurance is temporarily suspended.Right, right, right. They're the ones who do all major maritime shipping.Yeah. So get ready for the,The whole,Rudy says, "If you criticize these illegal strikes, you're for Iran propaganda. Bring it."I want Iran to win.Yeah. Okay. I want them to win. I want them to survive. Okay.The War Powers Resolution requires that the president communicate to Congress the committal of troops within 48 hours.It's immoral, not illegal. Sorry, y'all.Um, there's more power though. The War Powers Act is,that's not the only thing at play here though, right? There's no legal justification on,the United States has treaty obligations under international law that we're violating here.Yes. And as a member,as a UN charter member state, right? The UN was our idea.Yeah, it was our idea. That's why it's in New York.Uh, "Do you think Israel will nuke Iran and blame the Iranian nuclear program for the blast?" Charlie, God forbid.Um, I wouldn't put anything past the Israelis. No, I wouldn't either. If the Israelis really believe that they are under threat,that their existence is under threat,yeah, they'll do it. And the winds don't go toward them, so they wouldn't care.That's right. They don't care.Um, you know,at that point, I would have to say, well, I'm already at the point where I feel like Israel has lost its right to exist anyway.Uh, three birds, one stone. Could be,remembering things for the donation. But didn't John say one time that Iran is under Russia's nuclear umbrella?No. No,what I said was that there were discussions between the Iranians and the Russians about bringing Iran under its nuclear umbrella. Putin stepped back from that a couple of days after the statement was first made. And then everybody just assumed,including me,that what it would mean at the end of the day was that it was the message that was supposed to frighten the West away from making this attack, which didn't turn out to be the case.Dangerous Person 666,thanks for the five. "I'm disappointed and surprised that Albanese and Wong from Australia refused to condemn crimes the U.S. or Israel commit. Today supporting this BS. Why does our actual left-wing government capitulate? We hate this."I don't know enough about Australia. Do you, John?I doubt that I know any more than you do.Do we think terrorists,I'm sorry. Let me add one thing. Um, Albanese, for all his opposition credentials, is pro-American. And the Australians recognize that they are the junior partner in that relationship. And so when push comes to shove, the Australians are going to do what the Americans tell them to do. No doubt.Uh, potassium 3502. "Do you think any terrorist sleeper cells will get activated in the U.S.?" This is your expertise, but I'd be,no, no.When I was still inside,and granted my information is old,there were no sleeper cells in the U.S. There are most definitely sleeper cells in places like Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia. They're out there. They're just not here.Um, thanks guys for doing things for the evil robot Arby. Thanks for the 10 bucks. Thanks for doing a Saturday morning broadcast."What could Trump possibly be hiding in from in the Epstein files that he's pulling every distraction lever available,aliens, ICE, Iran, etc.?" Right. It looks like that. Yeah, does,um,who knows? I mean, I gotta say I was,you know, John, I've said it over and over,I just didn't think pedophilia was Trump's bag. You know, I know he liked sex, but I just never,and the reluctance to turn over half of the Epstein files,it was refusal, I should say,coupled with all this distraction and Marjorie Taylor Greene being furious about what she's not telling us everything. I'm starting to reconsider that.Hey, I'll just zero is just now in the last minute and a half is quoting the Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi as saying,and listen to this odd quote,"Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is alive as far as I know."The heck are we supposed to take from that?Well, "as far as I know",that would tend to tell me that either communications are down or that they've got radio silence because they don't want their,That could be it. Could be radio silence.He added that two commanders were killed but most officials remain alive. And then oddly enough, he also added that there is a possibility to reach a deal with the Americans which can guarantee that Iran's nuclear program is peaceful.What?We have some statements from various countries around the world. Russia unsurprisingly condemned the war against Iran as a reckless step, a deliberate, premeditated, and unprovoked act of armed aggression. So Zelensky is all about it. He said it's important that the U.S. is acting decisively. "This understanding must also come to the Russians in the end." He said the Middle East region will become safer and more stable.Man, you got to go back to your comedy shows, Zelensky, if you think that.Um, the president of Finland, Alexander Stubb, said recent events are very deeply worrying. Ensuring nuclear safety and long-term security is of the utmost importance. We condemn all actions to escalate the conflict in the region. Ireland said he's deeply concerned and also is concerned about escalation. Viktor Orbán of Hungary said that strikes on Iran have doubled the importance of the friendship oil pipeline that runs through Ukraine and supplies Russian oil to Slovakia and Hungary. Albania prime minister Edi Rama says he stands firm with Israel and supports the U.S. The E3,France, Germany, and the UK,said they're in close contact with their partners and condemned Iran's retaliatory attacks. Mike Johnson, the Speaker of the House of Representatives and without a doubt the biggest lickspittle to Donald Trump in the world, said that the Trump administration has made every effort to pursue peaceful and diplomatic solutions in response to the Iranian regime's sustained nuclear ambitions, support for terrorism, and the murder of Americans and even their own people.Bullshit.Um, Dinky 33,thank you very very much for 1800 UAE dirhams. Thank you for that very much. And tatty mare,um, please pray for the sailors in the region. Such senseless loss of life for a war of choice. We deserve better leaders. Hope your Lent is going well. Thank you for that. And same to you. And I couldn't agree more with your statement.Ted, may I add one thing? This also just in from Al Jazeera. One of the targeted sites in Tehran is Narmak to the east, believed to be the residence of former populist president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Now listen,he's the former president. He's not in any position of authority. He's retired. He was a moderate too. Targeting him is simply an act of murder. That's it. It's gratuitous. It would be like going to war against Afghanistan and killing Hamid Karzai,who is still living in Kabul.Exactly.Um, John, how would most of the CIA be reacting to all this,scared, excited, genuinely curious? That's a great question.It was my experience during the Iraq war that people put their heads down and did as they were told. I remember my boss telling an assembled group,we're not here to take a political position one way or another, because we all opposed the Iraq war,he said, "We're not here to take a political position one way or another. We are not a policy organization. We are a policy support organization. And so we are going to do what we are told by the White House to do."And my guess is they've had the same conversation today.Rudy, if this goes poorly,which there's a chance it will, higher, better than 50-50 I'd say,this all but destroys JD Vance's 2028 presidential hopes.You know, that's a great point. I agree with that,because JD Vance, first of all, he's, to quote Christopher Moltisanti, the heir apparent, number one. Number two,what makes it really hard for a sitting vice president to run for president at the end of his president's term is the very first question from reporters is "When did you disagree with the president? Tell us, give us an example of when you disagreed with the president." He's not going to be able to say he ever disagreed with Donald Trump. That would be political suicide. Right,it's a Kamala Harris question that she couldn't exactly answer. And it's a question that's asked of every sitting vice president who's running for president. And so he's not going to be able to answer.If anything, this gives Marco Rubio an opening. Rubio said something very interesting two days ago. He said that he will not run for president if it looks like JD Vance is going to be the nominee. Well, you don't know if JD Vance is going to be the nominee until you run against him. And so I think that Rubio is lying to us. I think that he will run for president. I think that JD Vance is young and inexperienced. And I think that he will get swallowed up in a national campaign. I think that the John McCain wing of the Republican Party is ascendant again, that MAGA was a blip and it was tied more to Donald Trump's personality than it was to any wave of political change. And so it's straight back to,not even back,it's a continuation of the bad old days.If you're just joining us, we're covering the U.S. and Israeli attack against Iran. By the way, a new statement from the Iranian government: the governor of Minab County, where that strike against the girls school in southern Iran took place, now says the death toll has risen to at least 63 students with a further 92 injured. This was during daylight when the school was in session, when it was packed with students, according to the foreign minister Abbas Araghchi, posting on X.Asked about the strike, CENTCOM did not deny it. They said that they were aware of these reports and are looking into them.Um, that's horrible. Looking into them. Does that tell you that they're just offering up lip service or does that tell you that it was an Israeli missile that did it?It's an Israeli missile. I thought so 100%. The Israelis specifically target civilians.Yeah, no, that's,they're into total war as they used to call it during World War II.DH Frank: "Presidents, Senators and Congressmen are habitual short-term thinkers. I think this has disastrous long-term geopolitical implications."Yes, I agree with that.Can you briefly discuss the geopolitical implications of this war?Well, I mean, first of all, this is going to put a lot of,do you tell me,I think this is going to put a lot of Sunni governments kind of like on their back heel, where they're going to have more of a division with their citizens over Israel and the United States and their relationships with them than they did in the past, right? I mean, I think this is going to have,this is also going to attach us, like I said at the beginning of this edition. It joins us at the hip to Israel. I mean, we are now,you know,we're not like their allies supporting them in their attack against the people next door in Gaza and the West Bank. We're now joining them in attacking the biggest, most powerful country in the Middle East.Hey, you want to hear something crazy? While we're talking about this, while Israel is hunkering down and waiting for the Iranian response, the Israeli military is bombing southern Lebanon right now.Always,the devil is always busy, as Robby likes to say.Uh, Phil Pentanges,thank you very much for joining the show. I appreciate you becoming a member.Um, we are by the way number six in the nation on Rumble right now, John.Um, I believe this operation was one in which Russia was well aware of and this will draw global interest to the Mideast and I believe Trump is on the same page as Putin,what? Russia defeats the UK/US and Russia? No, I totally disagree with that. Don't think so.Um, what is it that former CIA like Sarah Adams see that John doesn't?I think Sarah Adams is nuts, to tell you the truth. Sarah Adams never had access to classified information. She was an open-source analyst analyzing press and she's made quite a handsome living for herself by predicting imminent disaster. That's why people flock to her. They're like, "Oh my God, she's from CIA and she's saying that the terrorist cells are going to destroy us." That's how she makes a living. She never had access to classified documents.Uh, Iran might be waiting for nightfall to unleash.It's possible. I mean, yeah, it's currently,what's the time difference with Iran? Eight hours.Okay, so that means it's currently six o'clock in the evening in Tehran.Yeah, night's not going to fall for another two hours. We'll see.Um, Pichi pie: "I think you're full of [ __ ] half the time. Ha ha. But I still like watching you guys."Okay. Thanks. You know, just keep watching.Super Telephone 999: "Do we think that the CIA is prepping the Kurds and the Taliban proxy invade Iran in place of ground troops or the U.S. is prepping Delta to perform a similar operation in Venezuela?"Certainly not the Taliban. I'll weigh in on that. No.Alex Pierce,thank you very much for the $50. Very grateful. Thank you.Um, "Iran winning means more Americans will die. I don't support this military action any farm Fuggy says but now that it's happened. I don't think it's appropriate that you say you want Iran to be victorious."You know, I don't think it's "quote unquote" appropriate. But when your government is the aggressor in a war of choice, and there's only going to be this,I kind of feel like people who say, well, there's only two political parties, have to vote for one, but there's only two,there's only two sides here.Yeah. One's going to win and one's going to lose. I don't want the aggressor who's acting illegally to win. So, you know, I mean, I do feel,I love my country. I don't love my government. I want my government to fail in this endeavor. I don't want any Americans to lose their lives in this endeavor. I don't want any Iranians to lose their lives in this endeavor or for that many Israelis to lose their lives in this endeavor. This is all,it's just really pointless and hopeless, but I understand what you're saying, but I just respectfully disagree.Susan: "I wonder if this will ultimately drive the U.S. economy into the ground."Well, your war can do that.Yeah.Um, can we make a distinction between Iran and the Iranian regime,putting Iranians in the same box? It's like putting Americans in the same box as the far-left party present here.Yeah, well, that's,it's shorthand right? When we say "the Iranians" in the context of a war, we're talking about the government. We're not talking about the people.That's right."Al Jazeera is on the side of the U.S. and Israel against Iran. So I wouldn't really trust them right now," says longtime listener.Not true."Why would you think Al Jazeera is reliable information?" Eris wants to know.Because they have people on the ground and they've proven to be solid reporters. Al Jazeera has a very long history. It's been around decades,three and a half decades,and they have proven that they have good reporters, good analysis, and they have people on the ground in these war zones.It says Iran's retaliation hit U.S. bases across multiple Gulf states even striking the U.S. 5th Fleet service center in Bahrain.Yes, tell you about Iran's escalation ladder and its confidence. I do think the Iranians have the ability,at least for the time being,to retaliate. They can't retaliate over the long term, of course, because their resources are finite. But, you know, they said they would inflict as much pain as they could in the event that they were attacked and that's what we're seeing today. They kind of have to,otherwise, what's the point of having a military?That's right.Uh, trip d,thanks for the five bucks.Um, good morning,a non-war question for you John from Sir Bikes A Lot. Thanks for the donation. Can you explain the AI that you use and why I have a friend who pays for ChatGPT?Yeah, sure. I use Perplexity. I find it to be far superior to ChatGPT. ChatGPT lies about me. It just makes stuff up. Um, yeah, I don't like it. And it's been my experience that Perplexity, for whatever reason,reasons I don't fully understand,Perplexity offers much deeper analysis when I ask it to look at things.Yeah, I think Perplexity is trained on a lot of academic white papers.That would make perfect sense because that's what I've used it for.Feral dogs: "These guys love Kamala Harris for 2028."I don't know who these guys are, but it ain't John and I. Not a chance, man.Yegor Huskov,John, thanks for the fiver. "Do you think the Iranians can utilize maritime drones to defeat U.S. ships in the same way the Ukrainians disabled the Russian fleet in the Black Sea?"You know, that's a good question. And it's a hard question to answer. If they have enough drones,yeah, they can make an impact. You know, ships are notoriously excellent at defending themselves from incoming threats. But a ship has only so many defensive missiles on it. If you send a drone against a ship, as the Iranians did a week ago, we're going to shoot it down. If you send 500 drones against a ship, you can't shoot all of them down.It's,uh,so basically these are like,yeah, these are like remote-controlled,well, they're torpedoes basically.Yeah, they're essentially slow-motion torpedoes. That's right.Um, I like this question: "Camera John, if you're still inside the CIA, what would be the single most alarming indicator you'd be watching right now?"Uh, the movement of ground forces. You know, we only have,I'm gonna say,50,000 troops in the region. You can't invade a country of 92 million people with 50,000 troops. If we started moving hundreds of thousands of troops to bases in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, I would be genuinely worried. And there's also talk of taking the only other active aircraft carrier strike force battle group that we have and moving it to the region. That would frighten me.John, I'm able to continue a little bit if you are, but it's up to you. Do you mind?I've got to drive to New York, but let's do another 10 minutes. We can wrap up some questions.Thank you, everyone, for watching this special edition of DeProgram with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou for Saturday, February 28, covering the U.S. and Israeli attack against Iran.Um, so,I like this question a lot, Ali. "I have a more abstract question. How much does Israel truly gain from provoking Iran like this? I understand the goal of a coup and how that benefits,I mean, that won't happen. But is that really what this is? Full-on war?"You know, that's a great question. From the Israeli side, the only thing that the Israelis could call a victory is the complete overthrow and removal of the Iranian government. Anything less and the Israelis lose.So this comment from Joseph: "Iran needs to survive, not win."That's right. Exactly right. That is exactly right. The famous conversation between Dulles and Ho Chi Minh. Right. Like, yes, you know, you will,you Americans will win every battle and we will win the war.Um, A6 killer: "My brother's work at Shannon Airport in Ireland, which is used as a refueling base for American troops on their way to the Middle East. I'll ask him to keep an eye out for an uptick."That's important. And I'm glad to read that because I'm reminded of a conversation I had yesterday with a friend in Cyprus. And she told me that something's going on at the British Air Force base there, Akrotiri.Um, she said they don't release any information, of course, and the British have had it for 100 years. They've never ceded any control to the Cypriots. But she said something's going on. I said, oh, I can tell you what's going on. We're getting ready to bomb Iran. And there it is.Um, speaking of which,uh, Conspiracy Podcast says, "John, have you watched Bustamante's last video about calling you wrong on the timing of the bombings? Plus love your content."Yeah, Bustamante is a clown. All I can do is laugh and shake my head. Bustamante. He's probably already volunteered to go back and fight Iran.Young Locke,thanks for the dollar. "Sending you this message from Ireland. Hope these strikes are wrong,sorry, not 'hope.' These strikes are wrong and wholly indefensible. I hope the American people have the good sense to vote against this in November and in 2028 because this is awful."Um, my problem, John, is who would they vote for? I mean, the Democratic Party is not going to say anything sizable against this. They're not against the war or attacking Iran. They're just,they're against the fact that they haven't been brought into the briefings.Yeah, that's exactly right. That's it right there. It's like they didn't invite us to the war party. And Newsom is pro-Israel and Shapiro not only is pro-Israel but served in the Israeli military. There's not a single Democrat,exactly. There's not a single Democrat running for president who is not pro-Israel. And you can say exactly the same thing about the Republicans.Yeah, there's no one to vote for. It's very depressing. Not to mention, as we've talked about in other contexts, there is definitely an assault on the idea of even having a midterm election this year. You know, as the Washington Post reported late last week, you know, the administration is considering nationalizing the elections, I think, as a sort of first step to declaring a national emergency to possibly not even hold them at all.Um, non-war question for you, John. I've recently become fascinated by Kazakhstan. I never realized how beautiful of a country it is. What's your knowledge and experience like there?Well, Ted's actually the expert on Kazakhstan. But to tell you the truth, we're hoping to get there this summer.We are. That's right.Yeah, Kazakhstan is a stunning country. I've been there many, many times. Um, yeah, I look forward to going back. One of the big secrets is that it's one of the biggest new oil-rich countries in the world starting in 1999. Um, a fascinating country with a rich history. You know, that's for another topic.I want to thank Sergeant Potato too for the 80 Australian dollars. Thank you very much. He says, "John, I'm a big fan. Started listening to your podcast in 2024 and your stories are incredible. The way you tell them makes me feel like I'm right there in the room."That's exactly what my goal is. Wishing you all the success. Thank you very much for that.And there was something,John, do you have an official TikTok account? There are quite a few people impersonating you there.Robby, do I have an official TikTok account? Let me put Robby on. Hold on.You do. It's going to be going live tomorrow. So you do have an official TikTok account and you also have an official Rumble account and all of your shorts are going to be blasting across on Instagram, TikTok, and here on Rumble as well as YouTube.Awesome. Thank you, Robby.Okay. Just some updates. British planes, according to U.S.,UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer,says that British planes are in the sky and over the Middle East to participate in coordinated defense efforts to protect British interests and allies.Uh, the Senate majority leader, John Thune, praised Trump for his attack against Iran. Um, and he said that he's looking forward to a briefing for all of the U.S. senators.Um, and finally,maybe not finally, but,Iran is believed now to have thousands of missiles and drones in its stockpile ready to strike throughout the entire region according to CNN analysis.Yeah, this is not going to be short.I've got breaking news coming in. It looks like that there has been a drone or a missile strike in the Palma district of Dubai.Shit.It looks like a hotel is gone. Wow. Or at least a building next to a hotel.And the Kuwait international airport is currently under attack.So, um, Iran is definitely fighting back.Well, I guess you have nothing to lose.Yeah. You go on my hell. That's what I would do. If you're going to kill me, I'm going to do as much damage as I possibly can.I'm going to text a friend of mine in Dubai right now. Oh my God.It looks like it is actively happening as we speak.Sorry, go ahead.Sorry, the Telegraph, the UK paper is reporting that missiles are being seen flying to and fro over Dubai.Oh my God Almighty.Just looking for some more stuff here.Looks like the Kuwaiti airport was actually hit.It just flew in and out of Kuwait three weeks ago, flew in and out of Dubai a week ago.Uh, launches near,I'm going to butcher this name,Qom, Q-O-M.Qom,the holy city of Iran. Qom.Uh, looks like it's a,it is a swarm of ballistic missiles that people are recording taking off. So I don't know where they're going, but they're going somewhere. Qom is the most important city in Iran for the study of Islam. And, uh, it's also something of an industrial city.To me, there's no reason to hit a city like Qom. There are no Iranian air force bases there, for example. Um, unless you're trying to destroy civilian infrastructure.Uh, oil refinery in Saudi Arabia just went up.Oh my God, this is,what are you looking at?I am looking at Middle East Spectator over on Telegram. And I'm also looking at,the here. Will send you,forward this over to you right now.And I'm also looking at some Russian Telegram channels and they are just,they're sending stuff as we speak.Uh, there's footage online right now of people celebrating and dancing in Tel Aviv.I bet they are. [ __ ] them. That's my message to you. If you're an Israeli, [ __ ] you. From America. This is your war, not mine.Yeah.Yeah, Massey Rokana, 2028.Man.Well, it is as bad as we thought it was going to be.Yeah, yeah, well, totally. So I guess we're going to watch this. John, are you traveling today?Yeah, I'm going to jump in the car now.All right, so maybe we can do this tomorrow. We'll see. This is no promises. This was a spontaneous thing. We saw what was going on and we thought we needed to hop on.So thank you, everyone, for watching.Um, best of our thoughts and prayers, as they say, to the people of Iran.And we,I apologize on behalf of our country really.And, um, you know, it's going to be a rough few days at least.Um, guys,thanks so much for watching and supporting the program with Ted Rall and John Kiriakou.We will be back scheduled on Monday at 9 a.m. Eastern time. That's when we air Monday through Friday, 9 o'clock Eastern time.John, safe travels. Robby, talk to you later.And, uh, we'll,if there's more to bring you and we're able to do it, we will pipe in like we did just now.Uh, otherwise, have a great weekend.Bye. Bye, everybody.
