Title: Will Israel Use Nukes? Iran Threat & The Truth About “Good G
Show: The Deep Focus Show
Date: 2026-03-24
URL: https://youtu.be/rWCw_et5fW0
Duration: 37:00

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[00:03] Hi everybody. I'm John Kiriakou and welcome back to another episode of Deep Focus Q&A. My favorite part of the show. But as always, before we get started, I want to thank you, thank you, thank you for your confidence in this show, for subscribing, for liking, for sharing, telling your friends and family, and making your comments and please keep them coming. So, today we've got a whole new set of questions. I'm going to start with Jason Walton. Jason says, "Hey John, huge fan

[00:35] of your media and very thankful as an American for the patriot you are. Thank you." "In your own opinion, how likely is it that Israel uses a nuclear weapon? And would that be the final straw where the US government grows a backbone and goes against them? Wishing you the best. God bless." Man, this is a really tough question. A couple of weeks ago, and I may have mentioned this in the last Q&A, maybe I didn't, I don't recall, but I got together for dinner with a group of people that meets every couple of months. It's

[01:05] four or five professors, an a newspaper editor, the former NPR Washington Bureau Chief, and it's like an old-fashioned salon where we sit and talk about the issues of the day. It's it's all off the record and and people can speak freely. One of the people who attended this last dinner has been following these issues for 50 years and really knows what he's talking about. He believes that the Israelis are indeed

[01:36] prepared to use a nuclear weapon against Iran. Um the Samson uh policy is real. And that if the Israelis feel that they are truly threatened, that the existence of the state of Israel is threatened, they will take down everybody else around them. Beginning with Iran. But I'll tell you where he disagrees with you. He believes that Israel would use a nuclear weapon with the support of the United States.

[02:09] He said that his analysis is that Donald Trump views nuclear weapons as the final taboo in warfare. And that Trump wants to break that taboo so that future presidents have the ability to use nuclear weapons against our enemies. I have chills just even speaking the words. The United States is the only country in the history of the planet that has used a nuclear weapon and we've done it

[02:40] twice. So, I'm deeply concerned that this is even being discussed and perhaps that's why the two two sides at least are making noises indicating that they might be willing to get together to talk about an off-ramp. Uh but for me personally, do I believe that Israel would use a nuclear weapon? Yeah, I do.

[03:11] Yes, I do. I don't want to believe. I my brain can't wrap itself around the notion that the United States would support the use of nuclear weapons. I think it would be just a disaster of historic epic proportions. So, fingers crossed that cooler heads prevail. Martin McCours, thank you for the 11.99

[03:41] euros. Hey John, I'm a Turk from West Thrace, Thraki in Greece. I have some questions. When you were in Athens, did you get to know anything of the Greek intelligence? whether Greek intelligence has concern about the minorities in West Thrace, especially in times like the Cyprus war, the death of Dr. Sadik Ahmed in an accident. Um also, I think it is an old rumor or conspiracy theory that Greece has hidden a prison near its border with Turkey to arrest West Thracian Turks

[04:14] that are serving in the military. Could you imagine that it's like that? I don't think the Greek government interest in this region except EU border control and security. When I travel through mainland Greece, it feels like the region after Thessaloniki and Kavala is a no man's land. The infrastructure is bad and more and more people are leaving, especially young people. The relationship between Greeks and Turks is actually really good in the region. You have a lot of friends around the world. I wonder if you have some Turk

[04:45] Turks as your friends. Keep up the good work. That's an easy question. Yes, I do. I'm very proud to say I do have Turkish friends, not just here in the United States, but in Turkey as well. Thank you for these excellent excellent questions. So, let me take them one at a time. When I was in Athens, did I know anything about the Greek intelligence service and whether it had concerns about minorities in Western Thrace? They did not have concerns about minorities in Western Thrace.

[05:16] You know, it's it's the politicians that are the problem between Greece and Turkey. First of all, people of of Turkish ethnicity in Western Thrace are called Turkish-speaking Greeks by the Greek government and they are called ethnic Turks by the Turkish government. I think they should be called whatever they want to be called. Does it really matter to governments whether you call yourself a Greek

[05:48] Turkish-speaking Greek or a minority Turk, makes no difference to me. I think you should decide what you want to be called. But, in terms of the intelligence service, no. Literally never came up a single time. Even in times of trouble like the war in Cyprus, the the standoff over Imia, the the Western Thracian ethnic Turks, it just never never came up. And I was at the Greek

[06:20] intelligence service literally every single day. Uh you say that there's this old rumor conspiracy conspiracy theory that Greece has a hidden prison near its border. Not in my experience. I think that's really all it is is a conspiracy theory. Um certainly no Greek official ever mentioned it to me or to anybody else at the American Embassy. And it wouldn't make any sense. I mean, the the 1967 to 1974 military junta was

[06:50] such a such a trauma to to Greece as a nation. Just the idea of a secret prison, like the military junta had between 1967 and '74, is just so anathema, Greek word, anathema to what Greece is today. I can't imagine such a thing could possibly exist. Um Mainland Greece, buddy, I have to agree with you. Thessaly Thessaloniki is one of Europe's

[07:22] great cities. Kavala is a terrific place. Outside of Thessaloniki and Kavala, especially in the center of Greece, as you move west, it's a no man's land. Um it needs to be developed. The infrastructure is terrible, and you are exactly right that young people are leaving. They're going to Germany and the Netherlands and Belgium, London, Canada, the US, Australia. Greece is losing its population, especially of

[07:54] young educated people to the point where it is going to eventually threaten the viability of the country as a legitimate country. I agree with you that the relationship between Greeks and Turks on a on a person-to-person level, and especially in Thraki, is very solid. So, thank you for those excellent questions. Bugs and Clowns, thank you for the $4.99. Bugs and Clowns says, "Hi John, I have two questions. Number one, do you

[08:25] think there's a chance that Netanyahu is dead, especially with the AI video that came out from Israel?" I don't think he's dead. You know, of course there's a there's a chance, but I think we would have we would have heard something. Donald Trump can't keep his mouth shut. I think Trump would have let something slip, but I do think that Netanyahu is in hiding. There were rumors that he was in Germany at the start of the war. There were rumors that he was hiding in Cyprus later on, you know, after a couple of weeks. Um he will give press conferences

[08:59] that don't appear to be AI. A lot of them do, but there there have been some that appear to be legit where he's simply surrounded by Israeli flags. That's in a bunker, clearly, but that bunker could be anywhere on the planet. I don't believe he's dead, but I believe he's hiding, which also says a lot about Benjamin Netanyahu. Number two, Bugs and Clowns says, "I live in Hawaii. Should I be worried about Iran targeting Pearl Harbor? There's lots of panic surrounding this topic out here. Thank you for all you do, and good luck on

[09:30] your pardon. Your videos make my day. Thank you. P.S. Will you ever come to Hawaii?" Pff. Totally, definitely, yes, especially when my sister and her husband buy a condo in Honolulu, which is on the table. I know a lot of people in Oahu would love to hear a talk from you. Oh, that I would love to do that. You know what? I hadn't thought of that. I'm going to talk to my agent. You'd be surprised how many students here want to go into intelligence. I do not think Iran will attack Pearl Harbor. First of

[10:00] all, they don't have the the ability. We hear about these Iranian cells. There are no Iranian cells in the United States. There never have been. There are Iranian cells in Canada and here and there elsewhere around the world, but especially in places like Pakistan, India, maybe the Philippines, not in the United States, and not Pearl Harbor. Um that would be a symbolic attack. And you know, the Arabs might

[10:31] want to do a symbolic attack. In Arab culture, symbolism is very important. The Iranians, no way. If they want to do an attack, they're going to they're going to try to kill as many people as possible. Not that they're planning to do that. I don't believe that they are. I don't believe that there's any Iranian presence in in Hawaii at all. So, don't worry. And thanks for the uh Thanks for the idea on on a speech in Oahu. I'm I'm going to have to do that. Grim Reaper, thank you for the very generous $50. Grim Reaper says, "Hey

[11:03] John, I am a huge fan and hope you get your pardon and your pension back. Thank you very much. I have three questions for you. With your rise in popularity, are you concerned for the safety of you and your family from bad actors in the government or powers that be? What book of yours would you recommend I read first? What are some things you are monitoring in geopolitics that aren't making headlines these days? Ooh, that third one's a tough one. Give me a second to think about it. So, first of all, thank you very much. With my rise in popularity, which has come like

[11:35] literally overnight in the last 4 weeks, um I'm more worried about I'm more worried about individual crazy people. For a couple of reasons. First, odd as it may sound, I get regular death threats. Um I will fill you in on one. A guy called me at 3:00 in the morning, obviously drunk, making direct threats

[12:06] to kill me. This [ __ ] idiot, excuse my language, used his own cell phone. As soon as I woke up, I I keep my ringer off all the time. So, it didn't wake me up or anything, but when I saw the the voicemail, I listened to the voicemail, and I was like, "Oh, really? Really? Okay." So, I came downstairs, I went to binverified.com, have a subscription there, put the guy's number in, and boom, it popped right up, his name, his address, his whole history.

[12:37] So, I texted him. And I said, "Dave, you [ __ ] [ __ ] you have the balls to call me and threaten my life? What's your problem?" I said, "Don't ever do it again, cuz if you do, you're going to have to expect it when you least expect it." And I hit send. And he answered, and he's like, "Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I was drunk last night, and I was watching your videos,

[13:08] and I didn't realize what I was doing. I am so sorry." And I texted him, and I said, "If you're not going to deal with me next time, you're going to deal with the FBI. Don't let there be a next time." He's like, "I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry." Most people are just nuts. They'll tell me they'll they'll they'll write to me and say that, you know, the CIA planted a chip in their head or the CIA is communicating with them through a filling in their tooth, seriously. Or,

[13:38] you know, the CIA tried to kill them six times this year. And I'm like, buddy, if the CIA wanted you dead, you'd be in the ground. They're not going to miss six times. It's your imagination. And some people are so like in my face, I have to say as calmly as possible, I suggest you seek immediate psychiatric intervention. Which just pisses them off more. So, most of the time I just ignore them. Sometimes they're so provocative, I I feel like I have to respond. Um

[14:10] I'm worried enough about them that I now wear a bulletproof vest uh under my suit when I give speeches. I felt that after Charlie Kirk and a couple friends, you know, have expressed concern, I thought that it was money well spent. It's very thin. It's a It's a bulletproof and stab-proof, you know, level 3B vest, so I feel confident wearing it. Um but better safe than sorry. I'm not worried about the government in

[14:41] this administration. I would be very much worried about the government if the likes of Barack Obama and his cronies came back into into power. Yeah, that would worry me. And uh what book of mine would I recommend that you read first? You know, I I really think for for the full background, The Reluctant Spy was probably the best. That was my first one, but it's out of print and it's it's People are charging like $500 for it on eBay. It's ridiculous. I wish I had

[15:13] more. I'd I'd just send them out to people. I used to give them out for free. But they don't exist anymore. Um I think the best book I've ever written is the second one, Doing Time Like a Spy. Uh that one actually won two literary awards. You might want to check that one out. And what are the some of the things that I'm monitoring monitoring in geopolitics that aren't making headlines? There's an ongoing war, a hot war, um between India, I'm sorry, between

[15:43] Pakistan and Afghanistan right now that is resulting in just enormous uh civilian casualties that nobody is paying attention to. Nobody. That's one. Two, I am very very worried about what the Trump administration is going to do in Cuba. Very worried. Um and I'm I'm worried about the the re-rise of the neocons here in the United States. I don't think that

[16:16] I don't think that Marco Rubio is good for this country. I think that he and and uh Lindsey Graham are two peas in a pod, that they are perfectly happy to get us into wars all over the world. I think it's bad for the American people. I think it's bad for the US economy. It's bad for our relationships with just about every other country in the world. We can't just wantonly invade and and overthrow countries whose politics we

[16:46] don't like. We've gotten ourselves into much trouble over the years. It's easy to invade a country. It's easy to overthrow its leaders and kill them. It's really really hard to get out. And we're just going to see more and more American dead in these wars. I just there's no upside to it. Thank you for those excellent questions. I want to take a break and bring you a message from one of our sponsors. What if one signature from President Trump could create more American millionaires

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[18:22] johnlovesgold.com to get your free copy. That is johnlovesgold.com or you can call 888 g o l d 053 and they'll mail one to you. I'm Dotsum. Thank you very much for the $25. I'm Dotsum says, "Hey John, I have two questions. I consume a lot of geopolitical content and it makes me a bit pessimistic. Me, too, unfortunately, about saving

[18:52] money, traveling the world, and the future of our country. So, do you have any advice on how to navigate the future world we're walking into? Second question is, have you seen any of Professor Jang's content? Very interesting stuff. Thank you in advance. Thank you for your stories and thank you for being you. I got my fingers crossed for you to get that pardon. Thank you very much. Yeah, this is a tough one. I am an inveterate world traveler. I got the travel bug

[19:22] when I was 19 years old and I haven't been able to quench it ever since. I I've been bragging for ages on podcast that I've been to 72 countries. Day before yesterday I went to my 73rd. I was just 2 and 1/2 hours by train from Poland and I thought, "Hey, you know what? I'm going to go to Poland and see what they have." And it was a pretty great place. This summer my podcast colleague Ted Rall and I plan to go with our partners to

[19:56] Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. Why? Only cuz we've never been there. His girlfriend speaks Russian, my girlfriend speaks Farsi, so we figured they could do the translating for us, but I'd like to add those four countries. And I'm going to give a speech in Vietnam on August the the 10th. So I'm adding a bunch more countries. With that said, I'm genuinely worried about it. For a bunch of reasons. I'm worried about where this war in Iran

[20:27] is going to go. I'm worried if we're going to be sucked into something that we never expected, never intended. I don't trust the Israelis. Um and what happens if this becomes a longer-term war? We have bases in a lot of these countries. Are we going to start using those bases? Are we going to commit ground troops? And if we do, does that draw other countries in? What's the response going to be from the Russians or from the Chinese? I don't I just don't trust anything that I'm seeing right now. I'm genuinely

[20:59] worried about it. Now, I would say don't not travel. Continue to travel. Continue to do whatever you want to do, but be aware of your surroundings, avoid crowds, avoid places where Americans congregate or more generally Westerners congregate. Frankly, I would avoid the Persian Gulf right now. Either side of it. Um, I was supposed to go to Dubai every

[21:29] month for a week for the next 9 months. That's been put on indefinite hold. The airspace is closed. Half the time the airports are closed, not just in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, but in Manama, Bahrain, and uh and in Kuwait. Now, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia is here in Washington this morning and he publicly said that he wants the United States to continue fighting and to destroy Iran. So, on the one hand we're we're hearing about the president engaging with the

[22:00] Iranians towards some sort of an off-ramp and the Saudis saying, "No, we want you to kill them all." You know, I know that hope is not a strategy, but we've got to hope for the best and continue living our own lives. Professor Jang, you know, I had never heard of Professor Jang until about 3 weeks ago. So, I started watching his his podcast and his content. This guy is very very bright, very insightful, and I would recommend that people check him out. I think he speaks a lot of truth

[22:33] and I'm liking I'm liking the stuff so far. Thanks for that. Gandalf the Wise, thank you so much for the 500 I'm not sure what ARS stands for. Oh, Argentine reals, thank you so much. Thank you for that. Hey John, have you ever been to Argentina? Tell me a story related to Argentina. Love your channel. I spent my second honeymoon in Argentina. I was there for 3 weeks and oh my god, did I fall in love with the place.

[23:04] Where do you even begin? I went We started off in Buenos Aires. And you know, if you had just dropped me in the center of Buenos Aires and said, "Look around you and tell me where you think you are." I would have looked around and I would have said, "Italy, maybe France." It is so European and so cultured. It's so wonderful. There's so much to do, so many places to see. So, after a

[23:34] week in Buenos Aires, we went to um we went to Iguazu in the north on the tri-border with Brazil and Paraguay. And the waterfalls there, that was probably the single most beautiful natural phenomenon I've ever seen in my life. Um I saw a black panther just walking down the path. I toucans in all the trees. I've never

[24:05] seen anything like it before. And you got to watch out for the giant snakes. But uh I saw an aardvark. Where in the world you going to see an aardvark just walking down the street? Well, not not a street, but you get my idea. Um and then we went to Ushuaia, the southernmost inhabited place on Earth. We went in August, which was the dead of winter. The sun never came up. But oh my god, the best seafood I've ever had in my life. We took a dog sled up, you know, one of

[24:38] the the Andes and then we got on a steamer and we went to Antarctica. It was the craziest trip I've ever had. But I'll tell you what one of the highlights was. The architecture in Buenos Aires is so stunning that we were standing outside the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, my wife and I, taking a a picture. And we were commenting on the architecture. And this man walked up to us, a man in a suit, and he said, "Are

[25:08] you tourists?" And we said, "Yes, we're on our honeymoon. And we were just struck at the at the beauty of the architecture of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs." And he says, "Ah, yes." He said, "This building has housed the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1887 or 1888, whatever it was. And it's built in the, you know, proto-Bauhaus style." And he gave us this whole like architectural briefing. While he's standing there telling us about the building, people were coming up to him and saying,

[25:40] "Hello." And shaking his hand. "It's so nice to see you. How are you? Nice to see you." So I said to him, "Excuse me for my ignorance, but you're obviously somebody. Who are you?" And he said, "Oh, huh." He says, "I'm the Minister of Foreign Affairs. I went out to lunch. I saw you take the picture and I thought, they must be tourists. So I came over to say hello." What other country in the world is that going to happen in? He could not have been any friendlier.

[26:11] He gave us a true architecture lesson on this gorgeous building. And that was just emblematic of of how lovely the Argentine people are. And besides all that, they have some of the best food in the world. I mean, the beef is legendary. The literally the first thing we did before we even checked into the hotel, we went to a to a steakhouse. I'll warn you in advance, they eat literally everything.

[26:42] Every part of the cow. I didn't. I couldn't. But oh my god, the quality of the food there, it's ridiculous. And then we did the tourist thing and we went to see a a a Evita in in one of the theaters and then we went to see a Zorba the Greek in Spanish. I couldn't understand a single word, but the music was all Greek written by Mikis Theodorakis, my favorite composer. And you know, I just have to say even though my marriage didn't last, my beautiful

[27:13] memories of Argentina certainly did. G Rod Thank you for the 20 bucks, G Rod. G Rod says, "Hi John, I hope you're doing well. Do you have any tips on protecting yourself from targeting by proxy, documenting surveillance, and pinpointing who might be behind your surveillance? Also, best wishes on your pardon and pension." Um yeah, I do. I wrote a book back in 2017 called um The CIA Insider's Guide to

[27:44] Surveillance and Surveillance Detection. And I get into some of these these tech issues. I would also recommend you check out a website called ivycyber.com, i v y c y b e r dot com. Uh it's created by a friend of mine, Sean uh O'Brien. Sean is a professor of of cyber law at Yale University Law School and he's the founder of the Yale Privacy Lab. He can walk you through all this stuff

[28:15] step by step by step. Uh I think it's important to know that on kind of a broad scale, we're all under surveillance. You know, certainly electronically. Actually, Sean just sent me a phone. I just got it yesterday. It's a It's just a run-of-the-mill Galaxy you know, Samsung Galaxy. You can get them in any store. They're at Target, they're at Walmart, they're everywhere. But he loaded it with some software that he wrote called Privacy Safe. So I can take it overseas

[28:46] and it encrypts literally everything. It's got a kill button. So, if I get stopped by I guess ICE is in the airports now as of today, or stopped by anybody else, or stopped by a hostile intelligence service, or hot stopped by the FBI, or whatever. I mean, this thing is as good as a as a paperweight. They're not getting anything from it. So, check out ibcyber.com and my book, I think it's I'm pretty sure it's still in print. You know what? Even if it's not, it's it's going into

[29:17] reprint with a forward by Tucker Carlson in the next month or so. So, thanks for that question. Dumplino's Bricks, thank you for the five bucks. Dumplino's says, "Hey John, hope you're having a good day. I wanted to ask uh what you know, or your opinions on MACV SOG during the Vietnam War, and have you met anyone associated with them. I love studying the Vietnam War and specifically special forces. Love your videos and thanks for everything."

[29:48] You know, MACV SOG was one of those controversial organizations. There were so many of them during the Vietnam War. Um were they CIA? Probably. I can tell you that when I was at the CIA um there were some celebrations of the various CIA components that were active during the Vietnam War.

[30:19] I do not recall MACV SOG being one of them. Um and I wondered at the time if that was because maybe that was something that we wanted to forget. I don't know. There there was a lot of bad juju coming out of CIA activities in uh in Vietnam. Like a lot of heroin coming in. So, I I don't know to tell you the truth. I've never met anyone associated with them.

[30:50] And uh honestly, I don't even know if they're the good guys or the bad guys. I would like to bring you a message from our second uh generous sponsor. If there is one thing we've learned over the last few years, it is that access to medication can change quickly depending on politics, regulation, and corporate influence. That is why it's important to have a pharmacy that focuses on access and transparency, not bureaucracy. This is the reason why people are turning to All Family Pharmacy. Instead

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