WEBVTT - Trump v Iran: What now?

0:00:03.720 --> 0:00:06.840
<v Speaker 1>From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Kristin Amiot.

0:00:07.040 --> 0:00:13.560
<v Speaker 1>It's Monday, June twenty three, twenty twenty five. Australian business

0:00:13.560 --> 0:00:16.400
<v Speaker 1>owners are being hit by more than one hundred federal

0:00:16.440 --> 0:00:20.159
<v Speaker 1>and state taxes. They've called on Treasurer Jim Chalmers to

0:00:20.280 --> 0:00:23.600
<v Speaker 1>use the upcoming Productivity Summit to give them some relief

0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:27.720
<v Speaker 1>through tax reform. That exclusive story is live right now

0:00:27.760 --> 0:00:36.720
<v Speaker 1>at the Australian dot com dot au. What now for

0:00:36.800 --> 0:00:40.320
<v Speaker 1>the Middle East? Will Australia go to war? And did

0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:44.680
<v Speaker 1>America's giant strike against Iran work? Those are some of

0:00:44.720 --> 0:00:48.760
<v Speaker 1>the lingering questions after the United States bombed three Iranian

0:00:48.840 --> 0:00:53.920
<v Speaker 1>nuclear facilities. Today, Foreign editor Greg Sheridan on this dangerous

0:00:53.960 --> 0:01:00.560
<v Speaker 1>new phase in the Middle Eastern conflict.

0:01:01.360 --> 0:01:04.640
<v Speaker 2>Tonight, I can report to the world that the strikes

0:01:04.680 --> 0:01:10.960
<v Speaker 2>were a spectacular military success. Iran's key nuclear and Richmond

0:01:11.000 --> 0:01:14.400
<v Speaker 2>facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.

0:01:15.840 --> 0:01:19.080
<v Speaker 1>This is an address given by United States President Donald

0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:23.360
<v Speaker 1>Trump after the nation's military unleashed almighty hell on Iran's

0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:25.920
<v Speaker 1>nuclear facilities around.

0:01:25.920 --> 0:01:28.880
<v Speaker 2>The bully of the Middle East must now make peace.

0:01:29.680 --> 0:01:32.280
<v Speaker 2>If they do not, future attacks would be far greater

0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:33.600
<v Speaker 2>and a lot easier.

0:01:35.120 --> 0:01:37.920
<v Speaker 1>I spoke with the Australians Foreign editor Greg Sheridan on

0:01:38.000 --> 0:01:38.880
<v Speaker 1>Sunday afternoon.

0:01:39.959 --> 0:01:44.080
<v Speaker 3>It is hugely significant and we can't fully gauge it

0:01:44.120 --> 0:01:47.080
<v Speaker 3>significance today. Indeed, anyone who tells you they know what's

0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:50.160
<v Speaker 3>going to happen next is either taking drugs or lying

0:01:50.240 --> 0:01:54.520
<v Speaker 3>to you. But this is the first direct attack by

0:01:54.560 --> 0:01:58.000
<v Speaker 3>the United States on Iran. I think Trumps put to

0:01:58.000 --> 0:02:01.960
<v Speaker 3>bed the Taco equation. Trump always chickens out the idea

0:02:02.000 --> 0:02:04.480
<v Speaker 3>that he would threaten and bluster but not actually carry

0:02:04.520 --> 0:02:09.440
<v Speaker 3>through with action. So I think there are several levels

0:02:09.600 --> 0:02:13.040
<v Speaker 3>of significance. The first question is if the Americans in

0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:16.720
<v Speaker 3>fact destroy the four DHO nuclear facility as they say

0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:19.880
<v Speaker 3>they did. If they were successful in that, then that

0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:23.840
<v Speaker 3>means Iran is gravely weakened. If they are unsuccessful in that,

0:02:24.120 --> 0:02:26.720
<v Speaker 3>then Iran might be back with a nuclear weapon in

0:02:26.800 --> 0:02:30.720
<v Speaker 3>no time. It certainly is a tremendous boost for Benjamin

0:02:30.800 --> 0:02:34.480
<v Speaker 3>Nettan Yahoo Netan Yahoo. He has his pluses and his minuses,

0:02:34.480 --> 0:02:37.239
<v Speaker 3>but he's a very formidable guy and is even more

0:02:37.280 --> 0:02:41.560
<v Speaker 3>formidable when Trump is directing American power in his support.

0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:47.560
<v Speaker 3>It's very unclear how Iran will respond. We don't know

0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:52.440
<v Speaker 3>exactly what the regional consequences will be, so it's a huge, sprawling,

0:02:53.040 --> 0:02:59.120
<v Speaker 3>unpredictable moment. If the Americans have ended the Iranian nuclear program,

0:02:59.400 --> 0:03:03.680
<v Speaker 3>then they have done a great service to humanity. But

0:03:04.160 --> 0:03:06.680
<v Speaker 3>that's a big if, and there will be a cost.

0:03:06.800 --> 0:03:08.080
<v Speaker 4>We don't know what the cost will be.

0:03:11.560 --> 0:03:15.800
<v Speaker 1>Here's how it happened. About three pm on Saturday, Sydney time,

0:03:16.320 --> 0:03:20.040
<v Speaker 1>several US Air Force B two bombers took off from

0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:24.079
<v Speaker 1>the Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. B twos can

0:03:24.120 --> 0:03:27.680
<v Speaker 1>carry so called bunker buster bombs, which are capable of

0:03:27.720 --> 0:03:33.720
<v Speaker 1>destroying underground infrastructure. Around the same time, President Donald Trump

0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:36.600
<v Speaker 1>left his golf club in New Jersey to return to

0:03:36.680 --> 0:03:39.480
<v Speaker 1>the White House, where he met with his national security

0:03:39.520 --> 0:03:43.200
<v Speaker 1>team in the Situation Room. Under the cover of darkness,

0:03:43.440 --> 0:03:47.720
<v Speaker 1>the B twos dropped multiple fifteen thousand kilogram bunker busters

0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:52.960
<v Speaker 1>on Iran's nuclear infrastructure, including the Photo nuclear site, about

0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:57.520
<v Speaker 1>one hundred kilometers from the capital Tehran. Photo was built

0:03:57.560 --> 0:04:01.040
<v Speaker 1>inside a mountain to protect it from aerial attacks, but

0:04:01.240 --> 0:04:04.760
<v Speaker 1>US military officials said the site where the International Atomic

0:04:04.880 --> 0:04:07.840
<v Speaker 1>Energy Agency said the uranium required to make an atomic

0:04:07.920 --> 0:04:10.720
<v Speaker 1>bomb had been enriched to over eighty percent in twenty

0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:15.800
<v Speaker 1>twenty three, was decimated. The Esfahan and Natan's facilities were

0:04:15.840 --> 0:04:20.400
<v Speaker 1>also struck, potentially destroying what remained of Iran's nuclear capability

0:04:20.680 --> 0:04:24.680
<v Speaker 1>after Israel launched Operation Rising Lion just over a week ago.

0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:28.520
<v Speaker 1>Confirmation of the operation came via a series of posts

0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:32.680
<v Speaker 1>on Donald Trump's Truth social platform. On Sunday morning, We've

0:04:32.760 --> 0:04:36.640
<v Speaker 1>used AI to bring those posts to life.

0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:39.720
<v Speaker 2>We have completed our very successful attack on the three

0:04:39.800 --> 0:04:43.000
<v Speaker 2>nuclear sites in Iran. All planes are safely on their

0:04:43.000 --> 0:04:47.280
<v Speaker 2>way home. Congratulations to our great American warriors. There is

0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:50.480
<v Speaker 2>not another military in the world that could.

0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:50.719
<v Speaker 4>Have done this.

0:04:52.120 --> 0:04:53.640
<v Speaker 1>And then a warning.

0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:57.240
<v Speaker 2>Any retaliation by Iran against the United States will be

0:04:57.279 --> 0:05:01.200
<v Speaker 2>met with force far greater than what was witnessed tonight.

0:05:02.640 --> 0:05:06.560
<v Speaker 1>Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later released a pre recorded

0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:10.200
<v Speaker 1>message praising the decision by Donald Trump to inject the

0:05:10.320 --> 0:05:11.960
<v Speaker 1>United States into the war.

0:05:13.240 --> 0:05:17.480
<v Speaker 5>History will record that President Trump acted to deny the

0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:22.760
<v Speaker 5>world's most dangerous regime the world's most dangerous weapons. His

0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:26.800
<v Speaker 5>leadership today has created a pivot of history that can

0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:29.919
<v Speaker 5>help lead the Middle East and beyond to a future

0:05:29.960 --> 0:05:31.840
<v Speaker 5>of prosperity and peace.

0:05:35.200 --> 0:05:37.839
<v Speaker 1>In the aftermath of the bombings, a news anchor on

0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:42.280
<v Speaker 1>Iranian state television said, mister President, you started it and

0:05:42.400 --> 0:05:43.280
<v Speaker 1>we will end it.

0:05:43.960 --> 0:05:48.600
<v Speaker 5>Nad al yea is juan huda ambrikar shomar shudul charity

0:05:48.960 --> 0:05:50.200
<v Speaker 5>va matamomshkah.

0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:54.200
<v Speaker 1>At the same time, a map of US military bases

0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:58.520
<v Speaker 1>in the Middle East was broadcast. Then, on Sunday afternoon,

0:05:58.880 --> 0:06:02.680
<v Speaker 1>around launched a fresh shabablistic missile attack on Israel, and

0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:06.599
<v Speaker 1>the nation's foreign minister are bas Arakshi accused the US

0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:10.760
<v Speaker 1>of engaging in extremely dangerous, lawless and criminal behavior. In

0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:16.160
<v Speaker 1>a post on x formerly known as Twitter, Greg, how

0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:18.960
<v Speaker 1>do you expect Iran will respond to this display of

0:06:18.960 --> 0:06:20.440
<v Speaker 1>force by the United States?

0:06:20.600 --> 0:06:20.760
<v Speaker 4>So?

0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:23.320
<v Speaker 3>Iran has three things it can do in response. It

0:06:23.360 --> 0:06:28.120
<v Speaker 3>can fire missiles, it can engage proxies to attack Israel,

0:06:28.200 --> 0:06:31.640
<v Speaker 3>America and Arabs who are seen to be their friends.

0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:36.159
<v Speaker 3>And it can sponsor acts of murderous barbaric terrorism around

0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:39.560
<v Speaker 3>the world. I think it will do all three, but

0:06:39.680 --> 0:06:43.840
<v Speaker 3>it's a bit unclear what its capabilities are. So the

0:06:43.920 --> 0:06:49.920
<v Speaker 3>Israelis think they've taken out nearly half of Iran's missile capability,

0:06:50.240 --> 0:06:52.880
<v Speaker 3>but that still means Iran has a lot of missiles left.

0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:54.800
<v Speaker 4>Israel has very good missile.

0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:58.720
<v Speaker 3>Defense, but it's not foolproof, so some Iranian missiles are

0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:01.920
<v Speaker 3>getting through. Think there's any effort on the Iranians part

0:07:02.040 --> 0:07:06.480
<v Speaker 3>really to target Israeli military facilities. I think they're perfectly

0:07:06.480 --> 0:07:10.200
<v Speaker 3>happy if they hit residential apartment box. They just wanted

0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:14.760
<v Speaker 3>to stress Israel and hurt its morale and show that

0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:17.440
<v Speaker 3>they are fighting back. This could go on for a

0:07:17.440 --> 0:07:20.800
<v Speaker 3>long time, or the Iranians might decide to stop. If

0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:24.360
<v Speaker 3>they don't stop Israel, and perhaps America will take out

0:07:24.400 --> 0:07:26.920
<v Speaker 3>a lot more of their missiles and maybe some of

0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:30.960
<v Speaker 3>their other targets as well. So there is a danger

0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:34.840
<v Speaker 3>in escalation here. As to the proxies, Iran had a

0:07:34.960 --> 0:07:38.240
<v Speaker 3>full suite of proxies, a ring of fire around Israel.

0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:42.280
<v Speaker 3>It had the Hoodies in Yemen, the Shia militia in Iraq,

0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:46.720
<v Speaker 3>Allied government in Syria, massive military force in Hesbela and

0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:51.240
<v Speaker 3>Southern Lebanon and Hamas, and the Palestinian Islamic g had,

0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:55.360
<v Speaker 3>amongst the Palestinians, all forces which it financed and it armed,

0:07:55.480 --> 0:07:59.640
<v Speaker 3>and it directed to some extent. Now Hezbolah has been

0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:03.440
<v Speaker 3>dentially neutralized by the israelis Hamas is not in a

0:08:03.480 --> 0:08:07.120
<v Speaker 3>position to mount a serious attack on Israel, and the

0:08:07.160 --> 0:08:10.960
<v Speaker 3>Syrian government has fallen to its own enemies, and Israel

0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:14.240
<v Speaker 3>has wiped out the conventional weapons of the Syrian military,

0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:17.840
<v Speaker 3>so Israel is much less threatened by proxies than previously.

0:08:18.400 --> 0:08:22.080
<v Speaker 3>The Hoodies can keep firing missiles if they like, but

0:08:22.960 --> 0:08:25.000
<v Speaker 3>they get very very few.

0:08:24.840 --> 0:08:26.440
<v Speaker 4>Of their missiles through to Israel.

0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:30.680
<v Speaker 3>If they resume attacks on American shipping in the Red Sea,

0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:33.719
<v Speaker 3>the Americans will strike them again, and the Americans hurt

0:08:33.760 --> 0:08:37.760
<v Speaker 3>them very badly when they strike them previously. So the

0:08:37.800 --> 0:08:41.960
<v Speaker 3>most intact of the Iranian proxies would be the Shia

0:08:42.040 --> 0:08:47.200
<v Speaker 3>militia in Iraq. They hate America and they are generally

0:08:47.960 --> 0:08:51.960
<v Speaker 3>pretty obedient to Iran. But it'll be fascinating to see

0:08:51.960 --> 0:08:54.800
<v Speaker 3>what the relationship between Iran and its proxies is now.

0:08:55.480 --> 0:08:57.720
<v Speaker 3>It's one thing for the proxies to do Iran's bidding

0:08:57.760 --> 0:09:00.719
<v Speaker 3>when it looks like Iran is winning. Iran has all

0:09:00.720 --> 0:09:03.400
<v Speaker 3>this influence all over the region, and Iran has lots

0:09:03.400 --> 0:09:07.800
<v Speaker 3>of money and lots of capabilities, but Iran is much

0:09:07.840 --> 0:09:10.960
<v Speaker 3>diminished now, it's not winning, and being a friend of

0:09:11.000 --> 0:09:13.600
<v Speaker 3>Iran in the region is now very dangerous.

0:09:13.760 --> 0:09:14.240
<v Speaker 4>If they do.

0:09:14.240 --> 0:09:17.080
<v Speaker 3>Attack Americans after what Trump has said, I think they'll

0:09:17.120 --> 0:09:21.400
<v Speaker 3>be a very harsh response against Iran. And then finally,

0:09:21.520 --> 0:09:24.280
<v Speaker 3>Iran is the chief state sponsor of international terrorism. It

0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:28.199
<v Speaker 3>kills its own dissidence all over the world. It's responsible

0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:30.920
<v Speaker 3>for a great deal of anti Jewish terrorism, so you

0:09:31.000 --> 0:09:33.199
<v Speaker 3>probably will see an uptick of that. So I think

0:09:33.240 --> 0:09:35.280
<v Speaker 3>they will respond in all three of those fronts, but

0:09:35.559 --> 0:09:38.760
<v Speaker 3>whether they are able to respond in a decisive way

0:09:38.920 --> 0:09:40.720
<v Speaker 3>on any of those fronts is unclear.

0:09:41.880 --> 0:09:45.080
<v Speaker 1>Has this situation increased the possibility of a terror threat

0:09:45.200 --> 0:09:46.920
<v Speaker 1>in the United States? Do you think?

0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:47.319
<v Speaker 4>Oh?

0:09:47.400 --> 0:09:50.040
<v Speaker 3>Yes, absolutely, And all over the world it's increased the

0:09:50.040 --> 0:09:53.120
<v Speaker 3>possibility of a terror threat in Australia. The Iranian government

0:09:53.280 --> 0:09:57.680
<v Speaker 3>has a very particular, very extreme Islamist ideology at its heart,

0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:01.760
<v Speaker 3>and it financed terrorism all over the world. Terrorism is

0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:05.360
<v Speaker 3>relatively cheap to finance. You just need one bad guy

0:10:05.880 --> 0:10:09.600
<v Speaker 3>and some explosives really in most contexts, or one bad

0:10:09.640 --> 0:10:12.360
<v Speaker 3>guy and a motorcar in a lot of contexts. And

0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:16.120
<v Speaker 3>although the majority of Islamist terrorism has been Sunni. Iran

0:10:16.559 --> 0:10:20.240
<v Speaker 3>tries to exert an ideological leadership even over Sunni extremists,

0:10:20.960 --> 0:10:24.520
<v Speaker 3>and it also pays people to conduct terrorism. There was

0:10:24.600 --> 0:10:28.600
<v Speaker 3>a trial of an attempted assassination on Donald Trump, which

0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:31.160
<v Speaker 3>didn't get to the physical stage of an assault, but

0:10:31.480 --> 0:10:33.360
<v Speaker 3>the guy who was put on trial was led by

0:10:33.360 --> 0:10:36.679
<v Speaker 3>American prosecutors to be looking for a hitman to hire

0:10:36.800 --> 0:10:40.600
<v Speaker 3>on Iran's behalf to kill Donald Trump. So I think

0:10:40.800 --> 0:10:44.920
<v Speaker 3>you could see Iran has conducted shocking murderous terrorism in

0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:48.320
<v Speaker 3>Argentina and across Europe and so forth. I think the

0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:53.160
<v Speaker 3>terrorist threat is probably increased everywhere. On the other hand,

0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:56.720
<v Speaker 3>if Iran gets caught red handed behind acts of terrorism

0:10:56.960 --> 0:11:02.360
<v Speaker 3>in Trump and Netanyahu, they enemies who are now willing

0:11:02.440 --> 0:11:06.440
<v Speaker 3>to respond them mean, Iran has been brilliant at taking

0:11:06.520 --> 0:11:10.600
<v Speaker 3>murderous actions, which somehow or other they do through a proxy,

0:11:11.000 --> 0:11:14.400
<v Speaker 3>and therefore the retaliation is against the proxy and not

0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:15.160
<v Speaker 3>against them.

0:11:15.920 --> 0:11:18.040
<v Speaker 4>So that situation has changed now.

0:11:18.120 --> 0:11:20.880
<v Speaker 3>One result of October seven, the terrorist attacks on Israel

0:11:21.360 --> 0:11:25.439
<v Speaker 3>is that Israel's strategic calculus has changed and the acceptance

0:11:25.480 --> 0:11:29.200
<v Speaker 3>of threat has changed, And so both Israel and Donald

0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:32.520
<v Speaker 3>Trump confront Iran with a situation it hasn't had before,

0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:36.480
<v Speaker 3>which is it will now be held responsible itself for

0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:40.120
<v Speaker 3>the actions of its proxies. And if Iran thinks it's

0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:43.160
<v Speaker 3>at a rough ten days, much rough things could happen.

0:11:44.600 --> 0:11:47.320
<v Speaker 1>Donald Trump, of course, has been seeking a deal with

0:11:47.400 --> 0:11:50.440
<v Speaker 1>Iran to end its enrichment of uranium for months now,

0:11:50.480 --> 0:11:54.760
<v Speaker 1>and those diplomatic efforts have ultimately failed. On Sunday, he

0:11:54.840 --> 0:11:58.080
<v Speaker 1>posted on his truth social platform that Iran should have

0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:01.200
<v Speaker 1>accepted the deal presented to them when they had the chance.

0:12:01.640 --> 0:12:05.439
<v Speaker 2>What a shame and waste of human life, simply stated,

0:12:05.520 --> 0:12:09.719
<v Speaker 2>Iran cannot have a new clear weapon. I said it

0:12:09.840 --> 0:12:11.240
<v Speaker 2>over and over again.

0:12:12.240 --> 0:12:14.800
<v Speaker 1>Why act now and with such force?

0:12:15.320 --> 0:12:19.240
<v Speaker 3>Well, Iran has been in negotiations forever now. Iran has

0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:25.080
<v Speaker 3>never agreed to give up uranium enrichment, and these negotiations

0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:28.120
<v Speaker 3>have been spluttering along for years and years and years.

0:12:28.320 --> 0:12:30.560
<v Speaker 3>And Iran thought it was just playing rapid oupe again,

0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:33.720
<v Speaker 3>that it could just go on forever with these negotiations.

0:12:34.440 --> 0:12:38.000
<v Speaker 3>But the negotiations are not really complex. They're actually really

0:12:38.120 --> 0:12:41.960
<v Speaker 3>very simple. Iran has to give up all uranium enrichment

0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:45.640
<v Speaker 3>facilities and it has to agree to an inspections regime

0:12:46.160 --> 0:12:49.560
<v Speaker 3>which is intrusive and credible because they have a very

0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:54.040
<v Speaker 3>long record over many years of lying routinely about their

0:12:54.120 --> 0:12:57.960
<v Speaker 3>nuclear activities. They have lied at every point, They've cheated

0:12:57.960 --> 0:13:01.080
<v Speaker 3>at every point. The International Atomic Energy Agency says they're

0:13:01.080 --> 0:13:04.480
<v Speaker 3>in breach of their treaty obligations. The fact is that

0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:07.000
<v Speaker 3>all of the talks and all of the negotiations have

0:13:07.080 --> 0:13:10.840
<v Speaker 3>failed up till now, and Trump offered them a deal,

0:13:10.920 --> 0:13:13.480
<v Speaker 3>but the deal was a deal they could never accept.

0:13:13.760 --> 0:13:17.760
<v Speaker 3>If they gave up all enrichment activities and agreed to

0:13:17.800 --> 0:13:21.440
<v Speaker 3>an inspections regime, which was really credible, they would be

0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:24.000
<v Speaker 3>giving up their nuclear weapons program, and they don't want

0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:26.560
<v Speaker 3>to do that. And now, of course it would be

0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:28.480
<v Speaker 3>even harder for them to do that because they would

0:13:28.480 --> 0:13:32.320
<v Speaker 3>have to accept humiliating defeat by the Americans. The other

0:13:32.360 --> 0:13:36.040
<v Speaker 3>big consequence is what are Iran's bad guy friends going

0:13:36.080 --> 0:13:39.160
<v Speaker 3>to do about this? Iran got the converter which makes

0:13:39.559 --> 0:13:44.400
<v Speaker 3>uranium into nuclear fuel from China, and they got the

0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:47.920
<v Speaker 3>converter which makes nuclear fuel into metal which you need

0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:51.480
<v Speaker 3>to create a bomb, also from China. There are hard

0:13:51.559 --> 0:13:53.960
<v Speaker 3>questions to be asked about how is China going to

0:13:54.000 --> 0:13:57.440
<v Speaker 3>relate to Iran in the light of all this, because

0:13:57.640 --> 0:14:00.120
<v Speaker 3>it's much easier for Iran to reconstruct their program if

0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:03.439
<v Speaker 3>they get assistance from China, much harder if they don't.

0:14:03.600 --> 0:14:06.160
<v Speaker 3>Or maybe they'll get assistance from North Korea, which would

0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:09.720
<v Speaker 3>be Chines's assistants, delivered as it were, by a Chinese proxy.

0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:13.720
<v Speaker 3>These are enormous questions to ponder. No one would say

0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:16.920
<v Speaker 3>Trump has solved everything by taking out their facilities, But

0:14:17.400 --> 0:14:20.840
<v Speaker 3>the best sources I can find think that if they

0:14:20.920 --> 0:14:24.080
<v Speaker 3>have destroyed these facilities, they've set back in Rand's program

0:14:24.120 --> 0:14:27.520
<v Speaker 3>probably by seven to ten years. That's a very big achievement.

0:14:27.560 --> 0:14:29.800
<v Speaker 3>That's a very big achievement. And it's not as if

0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:32.840
<v Speaker 3>in that seven to ten years, Israelis and Americans won't

0:14:32.880 --> 0:14:34.600
<v Speaker 3>be watching what Iran gets up to.

0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:42.440
<v Speaker 1>Coming up, did Donald Trump backflip on the Middle East?

0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:58.080
<v Speaker 1>Donald Trump campaigned on an America First platform, saying he'd

0:14:58.160 --> 0:15:01.600
<v Speaker 1>keep America out of these kinds of foreign entanglements, But

0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:04.800
<v Speaker 1>he said in Sunday's address that I decided a.

0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:07.560
<v Speaker 2>Long time ago that I would not let this happen.

0:15:07.680 --> 0:15:09.080
<v Speaker 2>It will not continue.

0:15:09.720 --> 0:15:13.880
<v Speaker 1>Do Donald Trump's politics actually matter in the current circumstances?

0:15:14.120 --> 0:15:16.680
<v Speaker 3>Now, Trump did say he was going to keep out

0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:19.560
<v Speaker 3>of foreign entanglements and forever wars, but this is not

0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:22.400
<v Speaker 3>a forever war. The idea that America keeps out of

0:15:22.440 --> 0:15:26.720
<v Speaker 3>military entanglements doesn't mean that there are no circumstances ever

0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:30.320
<v Speaker 3>on the face of the planet where America will intervene,

0:15:30.600 --> 0:15:34.120
<v Speaker 3>especially with air power which involves no ground forces. So

0:15:34.160 --> 0:15:37.280
<v Speaker 3>I don't think Trump has done anything inconsistent here, not

0:15:37.400 --> 0:15:40.680
<v Speaker 3>that Trump is ever worried by consistency or anything like that.

0:15:41.400 --> 0:15:44.880
<v Speaker 3>If the Iranians are successful in killing large numbers of

0:15:44.920 --> 0:15:48.040
<v Speaker 3>Americans in the Middle East and have massive terrorist outrages

0:15:48.080 --> 0:15:50.400
<v Speaker 3>in the United States and so the politics of this

0:15:50.520 --> 0:15:52.800
<v Speaker 3>may come back to hurt Trump.

0:15:53.040 --> 0:15:54.800
<v Speaker 4>Or if the Iranians.

0:15:54.560 --> 0:15:57.800
<v Speaker 3>Blow up Saudi oil facilities and there's an economic crisis

0:15:57.800 --> 0:16:01.320
<v Speaker 3>as a consequence, it's possible that politics could come back

0:16:01.360 --> 0:16:06.720
<v Speaker 3>to hurt Trump. But a one day intervention from the

0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:12.920
<v Speaker 3>air to destroy nuclear facilities which were producing weapons grade

0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:17.280
<v Speaker 3>highly enriched uranium for a regime which is killed and

0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:20.480
<v Speaker 3>murdered Americans for forty years, I think that falls well

0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:24.040
<v Speaker 3>within the purview of any American present. The other thing

0:16:24.120 --> 0:16:28.080
<v Speaker 3>is Trump is not actually really an isolationist. He doesn't

0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:31.920
<v Speaker 3>really want to police the world. But if you hit America,

0:16:32.200 --> 0:16:35.720
<v Speaker 3>he'll hit you back one hundred times harder. But of course,

0:16:36.320 --> 0:16:38.480
<v Speaker 3>in the end, the proof is in the pudding. If

0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:41.880
<v Speaker 3>it works out disastrously badly, it will be seen to

0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:44.600
<v Speaker 3>have been a terrible decision. If it results in a

0:16:44.600 --> 0:16:47.400
<v Speaker 3>weaker Iran, which can cause less damage to America and

0:16:47.560 --> 0:16:52.360
<v Speaker 3>its allies, it'll be seen as an active genius.

0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:03.680
<v Speaker 1>Greg Sheridan is The Australian's Foreign editor. This story is

0:17:03.720 --> 0:17:06.600
<v Speaker 1>developing quickly. For all the latest on the conflict in

0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:09.600
<v Speaker 1>the Middle East, visit the Australian dot com dot au