Jonathan Savage has the latest on Middle Eastern attacks

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, things are getting pretty intense with Israel and Iran.
Right now is three hundred thousand people in order to
evacuate a very populated area there in Tehran, the capital
of Iran. Pete Haig Seth addressing how involved in what
our position is the United States that is in all
of this.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
The President's as he said today, his position has not changed.
What you're watching in real time is peace through strength
and America first, our job is to be strong. We
are postured defensively in the region to be strong in
pursuit of a peace deal, and we certainly hope that's
what happens here in America. First means we're going to

(00:40):
defend American personnel and American interest. My job as a
Secretary of Defense is to ensure that our people are
safe and that we're strong so that we can set
the conditions for a deal. And President Trump's made a
clear it's on the table. The question is whether Iran
will take it.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
It does not look like Ron's going to be taking
any deal. In fact, Donald Trump did address that later
and said they should have taken the deal. There's no
negotiations going on now with Iran. But Jonathan Savage our
Fox correspondent in London has been keeping an eye on
this from the perspective across the pond. Jonathan, welcome in,
thanks for being here.

Speaker 3 (01:17):
Hello there, good morning boy.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
I tell you it's been back and forth and some
of the missiles did break through the dome into Israel.
There's been death and destruction there. They hit a Israeli
bomb hit the Iranian state television as we heard earlier,
and somebody was killed in that event while they were
on the air. So what's been happening in the last
twelve fourteen, sixteen hours.

Speaker 3 (01:39):
Yes, the back and forth air strikes, drone strikes have continued.
Israel said to have been quieter last night a little
the war air rate sirens in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem,
and we've just heard the overnight one hundred and four
fifty four people in Israel were taken to hospital after
Iranian strikes. None of their lives are said to be

(01:59):
at risk, but it it does obviously show you that
Iran is able to land a few punches on the
israelis not as many punches as these reelis are able
to land on Iran. A very significant punch was landed
when Israel killed Ali shud Money, Iran's chief of staff,
a man who had only been in the job a

(02:20):
few days since his predecessor was killed in Israel's first
strike of the conflict.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
You know, as the United States obviously has Israel's back
and has been a discussion with Benjamin net and Yahoo.
In the sole process, Israel is leading this charge and
they are saying it is time to end it once
and for all. This is not just a retaliation back
and forth. Okay, we've come to an agreement with peace
and quiet down. I think they're going all the way
this time, regime change or complete annihilation of their nuclear possibilities.

(02:50):
What's the feeling there as far as the intensification of
this and it going all the way?

Speaker 3 (02:56):
Prime Minister Benjamin Nittanya, who has talked about what his
goals are. They are to remove Iran's ballistic missile threat,
to remove Iran's nuclear threat, and to remove generally Iran's
threat existentially to the state of Israel. Now how he
plans to achieve that, we're still not entirely clear. What

(03:18):
is the outcome here? Is it? Iran signing a deal
with the US and others under incredibly restrictive terms. Is
it regime change and if so, how would that look,
what would come after it, and all the potential risks
and uncertainties that go with it. There's also the question
of whether Israel has the capability to buy itself destroy

(03:40):
Iran's nuclear facilities. There's one in particular location which is
said to be so far underground it would need the
kind of bunker busting bombs that only the US could
supply in order to reach it. And is the United
States willing not just to supply those bombs but also
deliver those bombs because Israel doesn't even have the bum
almost deliberate.

Speaker 1 (04:01):
Well, Iran, there's no doubt we'll retaliate if this continues.
They'll do everything they can. But we also know that
their military is you know, average at best. They're not
sustainable long term. The leadership is kind of weak in
their military, and they only have certain capabilities. And I
think Israel is greater and better in the arena when

(04:25):
it comes to military and certainly the United States. So
at the end of the day, if Iran really wants to,
you know, keep going with this, it's not going to
bid well for them. They're going to end up losing this.

Speaker 3 (04:35):
I mean, look at the Iatola Ali Kamene, who it
would appear is only still alive because President trum vetoed
an attempt by Israel to assassinate him. He has lost
most of his main military and security advisors killed by
Israeli air strikes. He's lost some of the people appointed
to replace the ones who are killed in those initial
Israeli air strikes. The head of Iranian intelligence and his

(04:59):
deputy have been killed. Advisors from the elite military force,
the Revolution Regards and another elite force that the Coots Force,
has been targeted as well. This is an Iranian regime
which has been very badly damaged politically and since Lessons
Friday when these strikes started, as well as the damage

(05:20):
of course to their military facilities and their nuclear facilities,
they have been badly weakened.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
Well, we've heard the number three hundred thousand evacuees get
out of Tehran. Let's go it's a heavily populated area.
Is that is dropping the bucket as far as population goes?
And what's with the three hundred thousand number? And to
me it also indicates a big barrage of destruction is
on its way.

Speaker 3 (05:42):
Yeah, it does. And Israel has the ability to deliver
that because it says it has control of the skies
over Tehran. Now, the population of Tehran is roughly the
same as the entire population of Israel, nine to ten million,
so three hundred thousand, a significant number by any by
anyone's counting, but obviously not the majority of the Tyranni population. However, Ever,

(06:06):
since Friday, people have been leaving Tehran of their own accords.
There have been mile long lines at gas stations. There
have been slow, heavy traffic on the highways out of
the city, and that has intensified since Israel's bombardment of
the city has intensified. And I can tell you just
in the last few minutes loud explosions in Tehran and

(06:27):
smoke rising above the city.

Speaker 1 (06:29):
Well, it's not over by any means. And we're right
in the thick of it. And that's why the President
Trump left the G seven in Canada to get back
to the White House to address all the concerns in this.
He is right in the middle of it for sure.
Jonathan Savage in London, thank you, buddy. It's seven thirty
one now, Alabama's Morning News