00:00Fox News alert. The clock ticks on a deal with Iran.
00:04President Trump says if they don't get one soon and the ceasefire expires,
00:07then a lot of bombs will go off.
00:09A critical question in all of this is who is really in charge of Iran?
00:15Yes, who will remain in charge?
00:18The Institute for the Study of War reports that an IRGC commander,
00:23Major General Ahmad Wahidi.
00:26Ahmad Wahidi, oh.
00:28And his inner circle may now hold the real control over both Iran's military response.
00:34Not al-Quala Khamenei. This is the new main top one in Iran.
00:40Response and the negotiations. So, who is he?
00:44He is a senior-most IRGC commander. He's the former commander of the Quds Force.
00:49That's an elite secretive branch of the IRGC.
00:53He's a former both defense and interior minister.
00:57Oh, he's a minister as well.
01:00For hardline views on domestic and foreign policy.
01:03There's an Interpol red notice out for him for bombing a Jewish community center in Argentina.
01:10Damn, he got an Interpol red notice.
01:12And even though he's free in Iran.
01:14Under sanctions from the U.S., Canada, and the EU.
01:18Damn.
01:19Former CIA case officer and senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
01:23Ruhl Mark Gurecht joins me now.
01:26Ruhl, thanks for being with us here today.
01:29So, tell me a little bit more about this.
01:32Welcome, Ruhl. Let's talk about these things, okay?
01:35Ahmad Wahidi.
01:39Yeah, I mean, I think it's fair to say that you would describe him as a hardliner.
01:44I don't know if he's really more hardline than, say, Muhammad.
01:48He's Ruhl Mark Gurecht, former CIA case officer.
01:53Ahmad Baal Khayya Qalibov, the Speaker of Parliament,
01:56the individual who led the negotiations in Islamabad before and may lead them again.
02:02He's just not, he's far less colorful.
02:05He is a creature of the Guard Corps.
02:07He's known for being fairly cold-hearted.
02:11You know, he survived the Iran-Iraq War.
02:14Okay, he survived the Iran and Iraq War.
02:18IRGC commander likely controls negotiations,
02:21and he's the main one, one person only, who has the powers right now.
02:27That probably is the defining moment in his life,
02:30in the way you should understand him.
02:32So, he is not one to give ground.
02:37Okay, oh.
02:38Can you tell me the relationship between the IRGC,
02:40presumably now under his command, the military response of Iran,
02:43and the political establishment of Iran,
02:46whatever's left of the mullahs and those that lead their parliament?
02:52Yeah, yeah.
02:53That's an excellent question,
02:54and it's difficult to answer that one accurately, I think.
02:57I mean, there are lots of points of view in this.
03:00You can answer it from that way, that way, this way, that way, everywhere.
03:03Yeah, okay.
03:04Because the information we have of what's going on inside of Iran is somewhat sparse.
03:10So, it's natural that in a state of war,
03:13the Revolutionary Guard Corps, the senior commanders,
03:16are going to become the dominant voices inside of Iran.
03:22It is kind of a military control in a country.
03:26Yeah, it is kind of that.
03:28Case after, six months after the war is over, I don't know.
03:32But, you know, he's a very important player.
03:34I don't think he has ultimate authority.
03:37I think still there's a consensual leadership in the country.
03:41He has to take into consideration other members.
03:43Yeah, there might be some people who is on top of him,
03:46and he takes some yes and no's from them.
03:49Guard Corps and also other members of the clerical establishment and the civilian elite.
03:56But, you know, he's a tough individual.
04:00Very tough.
04:01And, like I said before, I would expect him to, you know, be quite willing to continue the fight.
04:10Yes, they are.
04:11Iran has always, always said that they are continuing the fight.
04:16They are.
04:17Well, if you were watching just a few moments ago, we had Lieutenant Colonel Scott Mann on in his prime
04:21words to me,
04:22where essentially I hope everyone is diligent about what is happening here at home,
04:26the threats that we might face here in America.
04:29There is a story out today of a woman in California that's been arrested at LAX.
04:34She's accused of selling weapons for Iran.
04:36Her name is Shamim Mafi.
04:39She's an Iranian national.
04:40She's a permanent resident, lawful, since 2016, came under President Barack Obama.
04:45She's accused of brokering deals for the sale of drones, bombs, bomb fuses, millions of rounds of ammunition.
04:51Wow, what's happening there?
04:53Shamim Mafi, Iranian national, accused of brokering armed deals between Iran and Sudanese military,
05:00including millions of rounds of ammo, ammunition.
05:04Federal said, brokered sale of 55,000 bomb fuses.
05:09Initiation between the Iranians and the Sudanese armed forces.
05:13Yes.
05:14This, of course, is not the same thing as domestic terrorism,
05:17but it does highlight the type of people that are in this country,
05:19sometimes lawfully, sometimes illegally.
05:21Yes.
05:21That have allegiances somewhere other than the United States.
05:25This story, is this an illustration of a problem that we have here on American soil?
05:31This is the footage of we have that exact girl when she got arrested by FBI.
05:38Well, I mean, we haven't had very good export controls.
05:43That's gotten a lot better.
05:45I mean, when cameras first got into the Iranian centrifuge cascades,
05:51we discovered that many of their most essential machinery was actually manufactured in Boston.
05:58So, you know, the Iranians have been experts at developing, you know, dual-use import networks.
06:07Oh, damn, dual-use import networks.
06:10Never heard about it.
06:11Never heard about it.
06:12This is something big, I guess.
06:14That continues.
06:15They've been under sanctions for quite some time.
06:18Now, on the suggestion of whether they may have, you know,
06:22cells, black operations in the United States, I remain somewhat skeptical.
06:27I think we would have already seen them.
06:30And I think there has been a real degradation.
06:34Iranian woman accused of weapons sales for regime.
06:38And you're listening right now to Rul Maghred, FDN, for defense of democracies.
06:44And the two primary intelligence services in Iran, the ministry, and also in the Revolutionary Guard Corps,
06:50and their overseas operations in the West.
06:53That doesn't mean they're not lethal, but I think...
06:56We have some of the pictures of the woman who is the accused of selling things.
07:01And we have Facebook.
07:03They don't have the personnel that they once did.
07:07And they've also probably lost a great deal of Hezbollah's support.
07:11Hezbollah.
07:12So, it's still a threat.
07:14But I suspect the FBI isn't paralyzed by that threat.
07:19So, just to be clear, you said that their capabilities...
07:22You can see how rich this woman is.
07:24He got some cars.
07:25I mean, luxury cars.
07:26...been degraded.
07:27But you also suggest that if they had those capabilities, you think they would have already deployed them.
07:31They would have done an attack on...
07:33Yes, yes, yes.
07:34Absolutely.
07:35That's what he's saying, man.
07:37...soil, if they had the capability to have that attack.
07:40Yes.
07:41Yeah, I think they probably would have by now.
07:43I think they would have needed it.
07:45It would have made them happy to do it.
07:47Particularly after the Supreme Leader died, if not before, actually.
07:50Yes.
07:51You know, running overseas networks is much harder than it is in the spy books.
07:57Spy books are just stories, man.
08:00This is real life.
08:02Real life does not work like books, okay?
08:05They have a great deal of difficulty now moving people.
08:09Particularly into the United States.
08:11So, you'd have to recruit people that are already here.
08:13It's a challenging environment for them.
08:16Very, very big challenge.
08:16And they really have...
08:17They've operated better in Europe.
08:19They operate much better in the Middle East and Asia.
08:22Yeah.
08:22But, you know...
08:24In America, in our country, it is little to no possible because we have FBI and good force.
08:31You have to watch it, but they're certainly not in the league that they might have been, say, 30 years
08:39ago.
08:40All right.
08:41Well, thanks for being with us here today.
08:42Rul, Mark Garrett.
08:44Thank you, Rul.
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