00:00Without U.S. military intervention, does Iran have the military hardware to eliminate Iran's nuclear and ballistic capabilities?
00:14So I think, in a nutshell, does the U.S. now have to get involved?
00:19It's not even clear that the United States can permanently and decisively eliminate Iran's nuclear program.
00:24It can go a lot further than the Israelis, because, of course, it has the so-called bunker buster bomb that can destroy the deeply buried Fordow enrichment facility.
00:35But the essence of your question is exactly the question we should all be asking ourselves.
00:39Is the United States now going to join the Israelis?
00:42That, to me, is the biggest fork in the road that we've had in a very long time.
00:46It is clear, I think, that if Donald Trump decides that he's going to weigh in in that way, all kinds of things will be unleashed that we simply cannot predict.
00:56And yet there is a flip side to it.
00:58And there is an optimistic scenario, which is that Donald Trump decides not to join the Israeli operation.
01:04Why do I say optimistic?
01:06Because I think that creates a situation where the Israelis know that there is a limit to how much damage they can actually do to Iran's nuclear program.
01:12The Iranians end up on the ropes.
01:14If we end up in, if not a stalemate, at least a situation where neither side is really achieving its objectives.
01:21And Donald Trump can sweep into the rescue and say, you know, push Iran to say, oh, now you have to do a deal.
01:26The Iranians might actually do it one at that point.
01:29And Donald Trump gets to claim that he did a better deal than, you know, Obama and Biden were able to do, that he helped the Israelis, that he solved their problem once and for all without creating a massive war.
01:38The Ayatollah in Iran gets to claim that, you know, he snatched some victory from the jaws of defeat and even potentially divided the United States and Israel left Israel looking isolated.
01:48I recognize that is a spectacularly optimistic scenario.
01:51But it is a scenario that is available to us if Donald Trump decides not to bomb Fordow.
01:56I must admit, you know, this Anyone who boat brings an opportunity, you know, one time to bomb Fordow congress or Kam裟ah in Iran, you know, that it is bad a situation where he does a response.
