Speaker 1: Hey there, folks.
Speaker 2: It is Sunday, June twenty second, and a lot of
Speaker 2: you went to bed last night, or you went out
Speaker 2: last night thinking everything was cool, and you woke up
Speaker 2: this morning thinking, wait, are.
Speaker 3: We had war?
Speaker 2: Welcome to this episode of Amy and TJ, an extra episode,
Speaker 2: a Sunday episode we are recording here and Rhodes. I
Speaker 2: think that was the case for a lot of people
Speaker 2: waking up this morning expression their heads like wait, what's
Speaker 2: going on?
Speaker 3: It certainly was not something that anyone was anticipating. And
Speaker 3: President Trump, I believe, wanted it that way. You know,
Speaker 3: he had said leading up till this weekend, I don't
Speaker 3: know what I'm going to do.
Speaker 1: We'll see what I'm going to do.
Speaker 3: He was being coy about what his decision would be
Speaker 3: on how to deal with Iran if we were to
Speaker 3: join Israel. I don't know that any of us were
Speaker 3: expecting this, though I certainly wasn't. The US struck three
Speaker 3: nuclear facilities with a fleet of B two stealth bombers,
Speaker 3: They had submarine launched cruise missiles, a fighter aircraft as well,
Speaker 3: all participating in this, and it happened around two thirty
Speaker 3: am Iran time.
Speaker 2: So it's a lot of folks, so you're going to
Speaker 2: be seeing a lot. There's a lot of coverage today
Speaker 2: Sunday morning shows. It's all that's being talked about. It's
Speaker 2: all it's going to be talked about all day, and
Speaker 2: what's going to be talked about is what's happening over
Speaker 2: the next couple of days. So if you want to
Speaker 2: hear the debates, in the back and forth and the
Speaker 2: questions about the constitutionality, the president is being obviously soundly
Speaker 2: criticized by folks on the other side of the aisle,
Speaker 2: saying this is an unconstitutional move. He did not get
Speaker 2: congressional approval. They're having those fights. Republicans are shooting and
Speaker 2: hollering and yelling and cheering and saying this is something
Speaker 2: that buy and Obama should have done. Dah da da da.
Speaker 2: That's same thing. If that's a debate you want to hear,
Speaker 2: this ain't the place for that. We're going to try
Speaker 2: to simplify this for you and break this down to
Speaker 2: the very basics, and you kind of got out there.
Speaker 2: What were talking about is the who, what, when, where,
Speaker 2: how and why? The who is the US versus Iran?
Speaker 3: The what is?
Speaker 2: Yes has entered the conflict between Iran and Israel BI
Speaker 2: launching strikes on nuclear sites in Iran. When last night
Speaker 2: where three sites four, toh Fahan and Natans. How they
Speaker 2: use those BE twelve bombers and those bunker buster bombs
Speaker 2: to do this? Also, US submarines were involved in launched
Speaker 2: missiles into Iran. And why the US claims the nuclear
Speaker 2: program has the ultimate aim of developing a nuclear bomb
Speaker 2: and that is not something they're allowed that the world
Speaker 2: we could say it's going to be allowed to do.
Speaker 2: So the question now robes is what happens next and
Speaker 2: how alert does a US need to be around the world.
Speaker 1: That's correct.
Speaker 3: So a lot of folks say the next forty eight
Speaker 3: hours are crucial depending on whether or not Iran.
Speaker 1: Decides to retaliate.
Speaker 3: We heard Secretary of State Mark or Rubio saying if
Speaker 3: Iran retaliates, it will be the worst mistake they've ever made.
Speaker 1: Okay, but it's.
Speaker 3: Unclear if they feel weakened, they feel like, hey, we
Speaker 3: want to come to the table, we want to come
Speaker 3: and negotiate, or do they feel embarrassed or emboldened to
Speaker 3: strike back.
Speaker 1: And the truth is what their capabilities are. We don't know.
Speaker 3: Trump initially said when he announced this to the world
Speaker 3: that he had or we had completely obliterated the nuclear
Speaker 3: abilities or capabilities of Iran, and the Pentagon has dialed
Speaker 3: that back a little bit, saying it's too early to
Speaker 3: know what ability they may still have, but certainly we
Speaker 3: severely damaged those sites. So it's unclear what even Iran
Speaker 3: has in its arsenal in terms of retaliation. And then
Speaker 3: there's also the note that we've got forty thousand or
Speaker 3: so troops stationed around the world that are within missile
Speaker 3: reach of Iran, so could they retaliate that way? And
Speaker 3: then even here in the homeland, in New York City,
Speaker 3: the NYPD has announced that there's enhanced security at religious
Speaker 3: and cultural and diplomatic sites around the city, and I'm
Speaker 3: sure that's happening in other parts of this country as well.
Speaker 3: So there's a lot of question marks, and frankly, there's
Speaker 3: a lot of fear out there. I know that I
Speaker 3: feel slightly on edge just knowing that we've entered into
Speaker 3: this war and we don't know what this country's going
Speaker 3: to do. No president of this country has directly attacked
Speaker 3: Iran before. We don't know what comes next.
Speaker 2: Well, but the US, all of us wondering and waiting
Speaker 2: in the meantime, you're going to hear some pretty severe language.
Speaker 2: There is going to be some pretty harsh rhetoric, that
Speaker 2: rhetoric that's going to scare the hell out of all
Speaker 2: of you when we hear it. A lot of this
Speaker 2: is posturing. We understand, we get it, but to hear
Speaker 2: it and to know what all these countries now their
Speaker 2: military capabilities and what they have been willing to do
Speaker 2: in the past week. Again, we're here because Israel launched
Speaker 2: a preemptive strike on Iran's nuclear capabilities about what a
Speaker 2: week and a half ago, almost that was a two
Speaker 2: fridays ago. So they've been exchanging and lobbying missiles back
Speaker 2: and forth at each other. You take this conflict Israel
Speaker 2: versus Iran, Israel versus Hamas, Russia versus Ukraine, and it's
Speaker 2: just kind of we seem to be at an unstable
Speaker 2: point in the world right now, and it's not, and
Speaker 2: it's very uncomfortable. It seems so far away, it seems
Speaker 2: so foreign to us. But this is now. You have
Speaker 2: US forces directly involved in what some are calling, Yes,
Speaker 2: we are at war with Iran. Jd Vance specifically say
Speaker 2: we are not at war with Iran. He said that
Speaker 2: this one. He said, we're at war with Iran's nuclear program.
Speaker 2: But Iran has said some of this. Foreign ministers said
Speaker 2: the US has now crossed a very big red line
Speaker 2: and that we'll have everlasting consequences, and that Iran now
Speaker 2: reserves all options to retaliate. That's just scary talk.
Speaker 1: It's very scary.
Speaker 3: I know.
Speaker 1: One thing.
Speaker 3: Hopefully, or at least getting the world involved could potentially
Speaker 3: hopefully get some of this rhetoric down and perhaps getting
Speaker 3: people to the table. The UN Security Council is holding
Speaker 3: an emergency meeting.
Speaker 1: They just announced it. It's going to happen at three pm.
Speaker 3: Eastern Times as of this recording, a few hours from now.
Speaker 3: But Tehran asked for this, and they want the UN
Speaker 3: Security Council to condemn the actions of the United States,
Speaker 3: and they want support from the international community in terms
Speaker 3: of what happened overnight, and they want the world to
Speaker 3: weigh in. And so we'll see what happens at that
Speaker 3: UN Security Council meeting this afternoon, if anything at all.
Speaker 2: The Secretary of General has already weighed in and has
Speaker 2: condemned what the US has done, and he said, quote,
Speaker 2: there is a growing risk now that this conflict could
Speaker 2: rapidly get out of control with catastrophic consequence. Was for civilians,
Speaker 2: the region, and the world. Russia even came out and condemned.
Speaker 2: Obviously Russia has been a partner with Iran on many things,
Speaker 2: but that form, mister came out and strongly condemned what
Speaker 2: the US has done, SAIDs it grows violation of international law.
Speaker 2: It's kind of something that you hear some Democrats at
Speaker 2: least whot and holler about right now. This is a
Speaker 2: violation of law, international law and the US Constitution. He
Speaker 2: was not supposed to do this. He is not the
Speaker 2: first president to go at it alone without congressional authorization.
Speaker 2: We do know that. But you see some of those
Speaker 2: typical back and forth happening. But right now it's again,
Speaker 2: this ain't the podcast for you if you want to
Speaker 2: to some of those political debates, but right now we're
Speaker 2: just trying to give you what happened and where we
Speaker 2: are and some of the details of this operation. You remember,
Speaker 2: I can't remember which day it was, but we all
Speaker 2: got word that B two bombers were moving from the
Speaker 2: US and being positioned in Guam. Those headlines came out
Speaker 2: several days ago, and we learned today now rogues at
Speaker 2: the that was just a ruse. That was an actual
Speaker 2: decoy to throw off Iran and throw off the world
Speaker 2: about what they were going to do. Those b two
Speaker 2: bombers left from Missouri base there flew to Guam. Everybody's saying, Okay,
Speaker 2: they're getting positioned, they're getting ready for something. They said
Speaker 2: that was just to throw people off, So it some
Speaker 2: gamesmanship was even done. So we're getting some interesting details
Speaker 2: about how this all came about.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it is remarkable what took place and the
Speaker 3: reaction that's happening. You know, we think we talk about
Speaker 3: Iran retaliating, but certainly there are plenty of militias and
Speaker 3: militants in the Middle East in the region who have
Speaker 3: Iran's backing and have threatened the United States in the
Speaker 3: ways that they can. Even we're hearing from Yemens, Iran
Speaker 3: backed Huthi militia threatened to attack American ships in the
Speaker 3: Red Sea if the US attacked Iran. There are ways
Speaker 3: in which we could see retaliation, not even just from
Speaker 3: Iran itself, but from some of the groups around the
Speaker 3: region who are defending Iran, and this is deeply concerning.
Speaker 3: If for anyone who has loved ones who are serving
Speaker 3: in this military overseas, yes, it's a little scary here
Speaker 3: back at home, but I can't imagine what those folks
Speaker 3: are going through right now this morning, imagining that their
Speaker 3: loved ones are out there defending our country but now
Speaker 3: are at even more risk than ever before given the
Speaker 3: actions of President Trump.
Speaker 2: And we told this is not supposed to be a
Speaker 2: protracted This is not expected to be a protracted involvement
Speaker 2: by the United States. That's what they say. But we
Speaker 2: have to wait to see what Iran does. The President
Speaker 2: certainly did Iran did warn Iran last night in his
Speaker 2: speech at the White House at ten o'clock Eastern time,
Speaker 2: do not retaliate. We just hit you, but don't you
Speaker 2: dare hit back. Because the President put everybody on notice
Speaker 2: that he was going to be willing to take further
Speaker 2: steps if needed. But at this point it doesn't appear
Speaker 2: the US this was a move to hurt their nuclear
Speaker 2: program and try to get them back to the table.
Speaker 2: It seems a weird thing to do. Let me, I'm
Speaker 2: gonna bomb you and now don't do anything but come
Speaker 2: to the table and talk. That was the plan. And look,
Speaker 2: after all this is going on, we still don't know
Speaker 2: how badly the nuclear capabilities of Iron have been impacted.
Speaker 2: There are no independent folks who can go in there
Speaker 2: and check. And there were some reports that Iran ahead
Speaker 2: of time moved a lot of their nuclear material out
Speaker 2: of some of these facilities ahead of time. So we
Speaker 2: just don't know. But this this bunker bunker buster bombs,
Speaker 2: these things ropes are fascinating. We've been hearing so much
Speaker 2: about them. These they've been used now for the first
Speaker 2: time in combat. But the V two bombers and the
Speaker 2: bunker buster, this is the height of US military capability,
Speaker 2: technology and advancement.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and where are we the only, if not one
Speaker 3: of the only We're the only country I thought that
Speaker 3: was true who has this type of bomb Because this Foidah,
Speaker 3: especially this Foidah facility that you've heard a lot about
Speaker 3: if you've been paying attention, Israel was not able to
Speaker 3: penetrate it. This is basically inside a mountain, and so
Speaker 3: we were the only ones who had the type of
Speaker 3: bomb that could get in there and actually destroy what
Speaker 3: we were able to do in their millet in their
Speaker 3: excuse me there, in their nuclear program in this mountain.
Speaker 3: So yes, if they moved some of it, fine, but
Speaker 3: that was their safest place. It was a secret actual
Speaker 3: actually until President Obama was able to point out in
Speaker 3: two thousand and nine, we realized, we found out that
Speaker 3: they were all of this while while they were saying
Speaker 3: they were ending the nuclear program, actually underground in this mountain,
Speaker 3: working on it feverishly. And so this is the main area,
Speaker 3: this Foidah facility, that we were able to penetrate at
Speaker 3: least and cause some damage. We obviously don't know how
Speaker 3: much damage.
Speaker 2: These things are absolutely fascinating. I couldn't get a price
Speaker 2: tag on the bombs, but they said they dropped fourteen
Speaker 2: of these bunker busters. Give you an idea that sounds wild,
Speaker 2: But these things are thirty thousand pounds each. I was
Speaker 2: trying to get some kind of context for that, and
Speaker 2: it was difficult to do so. But the B two
Speaker 2: bomber is the only one can carry the damn thing.
Speaker 2: You can't drop this bomb any other way than with
Speaker 2: this B two bomber, this stealth bomber. This thing is Look,
Speaker 2: you've seen some of these on TV. This is one
Speaker 2: sexy looking piece of machinery. It's just the jet black
Speaker 2: Stealth Fighter B two bomber, so you know what that
Speaker 2: looks like. But this bunker buster is thirty thousand pounds.
Speaker 2: I was trying to find some context. A Chevrolet Suburban,
Speaker 2: which is probably the biggest vehicle you'll see on the
Speaker 2: road today, weighs about sixty five hundred pounds. So these
Speaker 2: bombs are about the equivalent of five Chevrolet suburbans in weight.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: And these B two bombers they cost the US military
Speaker 2: two point one billion dollars per bomb, per plane. So
Speaker 2: the bomb, yeah, not the bombs themselves, but the planes
Speaker 2: that are carrying these bombs are two billion dollar planes.
Speaker 2: It's incredible the effort we put into protecting this country
Speaker 2: at times, and the money when we talk about Pentagon
Speaker 2: budgets and all this stuff. Folks, this was one mission
Speaker 2: that took moments, and the type of capability and your
Speaker 2: taxpayer dollars were, I assure you on those planes and
Speaker 2: on those bombs. It's just fascinating what the military is
Speaker 2: capable of doing.
Speaker 1: It certainly is and.
Speaker 3: Obviously they were able to zero in on their targets.
Speaker 3: But the concern is, as we hear Hexa say, and
Speaker 3: you mentioned that we don't want to prolong conflict, what
Speaker 3: Iran does next is going to absolutely determine the way forward.
Speaker 3: And it's also disturbing because, look, there was hope that
Speaker 3: there was going to be a negotiated solution to end
Speaker 3: the fire in between Israel and Iran, and there was
Speaker 3: talk that Iran was in some way communicating indirectly with
Speaker 3: the United States open to some sort of negotiation. So
Speaker 3: I don't know, we don't know what set Trump off,
Speaker 3: what made him make this decision. He had mentioned at
Speaker 3: one point that he would wait for as long as
Speaker 3: two weeks to give diplomacy a chance, and then suddenly,
Speaker 3: out of nowhere, bam, we strike Iran. And so this
Speaker 3: is certainly concerning because how does Iran come to the
Speaker 3: table after this? How does Iran say, okay, let's negotiate now.
Speaker 3: That seems like something that wouldn't happen after something like this.
Speaker 3: They would be angry. They would want to retaliate, they
Speaker 3: would want to defend, they would want to show their prowess.
Speaker 3: They would want to say, hey, yeah, and we're not
Speaker 3: going to let you United States bully us. We're not
Speaker 3: going to let you Israel bully us. And that's just
Speaker 3: deeply disturbing, just on a human level. You're thinking, I'm
Speaker 3: thinking about it like that. As a human being, the
Speaker 3: reaction when someone hits you is to hit back. It's
Speaker 3: not to come to them tootiating table. It's not to say,
Speaker 3: let's figure this out peacefully after you've been attacked.
Speaker 2: They're not going to win. Everybody knows Iran cannot in.
Speaker 2: Iran knows that you can't defeat the United States. So
Speaker 2: what is going to be their ultimate goal do not know,
Speaker 2: but they have several options that the rhetoric suggests. I'll
Speaker 2: give you a couple of things here from the foreign
Speaker 2: minister we talked about earlier, but also the Iranian president.
Speaker 2: In some of the language they're using against the US,
Speaker 2: it says the US has launched a dangerous war against Iran.
Speaker 2: The world must not forget that it was the United States,
Speaker 2: during an ongoing diplomatic process, that betrayed diplomacy by supporting
Speaker 2: the aggressive actions of the genocidal and lawless Israeli regime.
Speaker 2: This is from the foreign minister who says the US
Speaker 2: is also warmongering and has a lawless administration in Washington
Speaker 2: that is solely and fully responsible for the dangerous consequences
Speaker 2: and this act of aggression. So right now, again this
Speaker 2: is so so fresh, and the responses are coming out
Speaker 2: right now that are strongly many places condemning what the
Speaker 2: US has done. But we have I don't know when
Speaker 2: the temperature is going to come down because we're talking
Speaker 2: about the US attacking Iran.
Speaker 3: Oh.
Speaker 2: Yeah, by the way, Iran and Israel are shield attacking
Speaker 2: each other. Yeah, that's happening as we speak. Still, that's
Speaker 2: going into where we ninth day of that tenth day
Speaker 2: of that something like that. It continues. It was uncomfortable
Speaker 2: thinking that that more war is ramping up instead of
Speaker 2: They've been trying to end what's happening in Ukraine with
Speaker 2: Russia for three years. It hasn't happened. We're a year
Speaker 2: and a half into Israel versus Gaza that doesn't seem
Speaker 2: to have an end. Repeated peace talks on and off
Speaker 2: and on and off, and so now here we go
Speaker 2: again right with another and the US directly involved. It's
Speaker 2: just it's unsettling, is probably the only way to put it.
Speaker 1: Yeah, that's a good way to put it.
Speaker 3: My stomach feels like it's in not it's just the
Speaker 3: not knowing what's next and not knowing how this unfortunately escalates.
Speaker 1: And just a few hours after we attacked.
Speaker 3: Iran, Iran launched a new round of missiles towards Israel.
Speaker 3: So they heated that back up. And even though the
Speaker 3: US says that Iran has depleted its stock pile of
Speaker 3: certain types of missiles, Iran still has plenty of other weapons,
Speaker 3: including rockets and drones, and so this is not going
Speaker 3: away anytime soon.
Speaker 2: And this the President's spoke, of course at the White
Speaker 2: House last night, but he did put out a state
Speaker 2: and true social is really where things sometimes can get hot.
Speaker 2: But this is statement. We have completed our very successful
Speaker 2: attack on the three nuclear sites in Iran. All planes
Speaker 2: are now outside of Iran airspace. A full payload of
Speaker 2: bombs was dropped on the primary site, Foordoh. All planes
Speaker 2: are safely on their way home. Congratulations to our great
Speaker 2: American warriors. There is not another military in the world
Speaker 2: that could have done this. Now is the time for peace.
Speaker 2: Thank you for your attention to this matter. That's how
Speaker 2: he signed all folks, He said, thank you for your
Speaker 2: attention to this matter. It seems odds saying hey, we
Speaker 2: just bombed everybody, thanks for listening, and now is the
Speaker 2: time for peace. We're done, but now is the time
Speaker 2: for peace. I can I'm sure if somebody has done
Speaker 2: that as a kid or something. You smack somebody and
Speaker 2: then you say, oh, I'm just playing. Okay, let's stop. Stop,
Speaker 2: stop planing, stop planning. After you throw a punch. It
Speaker 2: was a true social It's always interesting.
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness, And we're getting word and this is
Speaker 3: going to be happening throughout the day. Today the US
Speaker 3: Embassy in Beirut ordering the departure of non emergency personnel
Speaker 3: and family members from Lebanon. And this is you know,
Speaker 3: several areas around in the Middle East, we have embassies,
Speaker 3: we have staff, we have people, and can you imagine
Speaker 3: what they must be thinking and going through right now.
Speaker 1: So, yes, the US say is because of.
Speaker 3: The volatile and unpredictable security situation in the region, they're
Speaker 3: asking American citizens in Lebanon to exercise caution and monitor
Speaker 3: the news. So yes, if you are an ex pat,
Speaker 3: or if you are a member of the military, or
Speaker 3: you are in any way representing the United States in
Speaker 3: the Middle East.
Speaker 1: This has got to be incredibly unsettling.
Speaker 2: So we just wanted to hop on and give you
Speaker 2: an update, try to get through a little bit of
Speaker 2: the clutter, just let you know exactly where we are,
Speaker 2: and I'll end I guess on. I'm not sure what
Speaker 2: kind of note I'm ending on, but it's not necessarily
Speaker 2: a war note. This just came across in the live
Speaker 2: updates from the Associated Press all we were talking about.
Speaker 2: Pete Hegseth on Sunday today made a statement saying that
Speaker 2: our boys and those bombers are on their way home
Speaker 2: right now, and someone corrected him. The Associated Press is
Speaker 2: reporting one of the pilots of those BE two bombers
Speaker 2: was in fact a woman. I love that, you know what.
Speaker 2: Let me just leave it there. That's a nice little nugget,
Speaker 2: cool to hear. I don't think heg ssth was saying
Speaker 2: anything negative or anything. We just all hand comment our
Speaker 2: boys are on the way home. One of the pilots
Speaker 2: of those of that be too was a woman.
Speaker 1: So that's the perfect note to end.
Speaker 2: I'll leave you with that note.
Speaker 3: I love that, all right, and yes, thank you for
Speaker 3: listening to us and of course, we will continue to
Speaker 3: drop some episodes if it warrants. We certainly hope you
Speaker 3: have a peaceful and wonderful Sunday despite all of the
Speaker 3: news in the world.
Speaker 1: But thank you for listening to us.