Speaker 1: Starting this hour in the Middle East, the Trump administration
Speaker 1: is expected to roll out what Treasury Secretary Scott Besson
Speaker 1: calls the toughest sanctions in history against Iran.
Speaker 2: Chief Foreign Correspondent Trey Yinks joins us live from Tel
Speaker 2: Aviv with the latest. Hey, Trey.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 3: Hey, guys.
Speaker 2: Good morning.
Speaker 3: The United States is set to unleash new economic sanctions
Speaker 3: against Iran to pressure the regime in Tehran.
Speaker 1: U.S.
Speaker 3: Treasury Secretary Scott Besant wrote on Sunday, President Donald Trump
Speaker 3: and the overwhelming might of our military have significantly dismantled
Speaker 3: Iran's military capabilities and weakened its nuclear program. Now we
Speaker 3: are entering the endgame. At dawn begins an economic D-Day.
Speaker 3: the single greatest financial offensive ever marshaled against an adversary.
Speaker 3: The economic pressure comes as the Iranian rial crossed $ 2
Speaker 3: million to $ 1 U.S., a historic low for the country's currency.
Speaker 3: The head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council responded on X,
Speaker 3: saying if the economic war continues, not a single drop
Speaker 3: of oil will be exported, neither through the Strait of
Speaker 3: Hormuz nor anywhere in the Persian Gulf. Iran will regard
Speaker 3: any country's participation in or support for America's economic war
Speaker 3: against the Iranian people.
Speaker 2: As an act of war.
Speaker 3: Despite this statement, reports do indicate that crossings through the
Speaker 3: Strait of Hormuz are up 400 percent over the last
Speaker 3: two weeks. The United States is overseeing vessels out of
Speaker 3: the Persian Gulf through a safer southern passage. The passage
Speaker 3: does allow for millions of barrels of crude oil to
Speaker 3: be exported each day. Still, the Iranians remain defiant.
Speaker 4: The fact that the United States has once again moved
Speaker 4: from military threats, saying that it will strike and so on,
Speaker 4: to reviving its old plans shows that they are truly
Speaker 4: desperate and have no solution when it comes to the
Speaker 4: great Iranian nation. Therefore, they keep bringing their old plans
Speaker 4: back onto the scene. The U.S.
Speaker 3: Naval blockade also remains in place as CENTCOM says 70
Speaker 3: commercial vessels have been redirected since the blockade was reimposed.
Speaker 3: In terms of U.S. military movement, the USS Abraham Lincoln
Speaker 3: is headed home after being deployed for 274 days. This
Speaker 3: aircraft carrier made its last port call in December, breaking
Speaker 3: a Navy record. The vessel is being replaced by the
Speaker 3: Japan-based USS George Washington. On Friday, President Trump doubled down
Speaker 3: on his position that the Strait of Hormuz is now U.S.
Speaker 1: Territory.
Speaker 5: They'll never have a nuclear weapon. They want to make
Speaker 5: a deal so badly.
Speaker 1: We don't even know if we want because I view
Speaker 1: the Strait of Hormuz as an American territory right now.
Speaker 5: It's an American territory.
Speaker 3: The question remains, will this economic pressure lead to a
Speaker 3: new deal or a return to combat? Guys.
Speaker 1: So, Trey, if we're going to put these sanctions on,
Speaker 1: presumably they're going to be on other countries that deal
Speaker 1: with Iran. If they trade with Iran, they're going to
Speaker 1: be subjected to our sanctions. So that means Pakistan, because
Speaker 1: Pakistan set up a trade deal with Iran. That means Turkey,
Speaker 1: who set up their own trade deal with Iran. People
Speaker 1: are focused on China and Russia. But these other countries
Speaker 1: are going to be in the line of fire. And
Speaker 1: that's kind of a tenuous situation.
Speaker 3: Absolutely. And there's two points to note here. One, the
Speaker 3: Pakistani field marshal that does have a relationship with President
Speaker 3: Trump is on the ground in Tehran today trying to
Speaker 3: work out some of the behind the scenes of what
Speaker 3: is taking place. Remember, there are no direct communications, according
Speaker 3: to both sides now, between the United States and Iran
Speaker 3: about a possible agreement. And this does come on the heels.
Speaker 3: of what are expected to be massive economic sanctions against
Speaker 3: the regime. The second thing has to do with what
Speaker 3: President Trump said earlier this month. He indicated that any
Speaker 3: country around the world that is doing business with Iran,
Speaker 3: providing sanctions relief, or trying to get around these economic
Speaker 3: measures would face economic consequences of their own. And so
Speaker 3: the United States is trying to put into place here
Speaker 3: a program that will not only pressure Tehran, but will
Speaker 3: also deter allies of the Iranians from doing business with
Speaker 3: the regime. The goal here is to economically isolate the
Speaker 3: Iranians from the rest of the world and try to
Speaker 3: get them to change their behavior. But we have to
Speaker 3: look at the situation on the ground. We have been
Speaker 3: stuck in this cycle in the region of strikes and
Speaker 3: statements with no end in sight.
Speaker 5: So, Trey, real quickly, their first plan was to use
Speaker 5: the straight as leverage. And it looks like the administration
Speaker 5: has gotten that under control. So they can't really play
Speaker 5: that game right now, although they'll do some type of
Speaker 5: you know, strikes here and there on different cargo ships.
Speaker 5: But their next plan now is the November midterms. And
Speaker 5: I'm just curious, what is their stated plan? How do
Speaker 5: they plan on leveraging that against the president?
Speaker 3: So the Iranians often, through propaganda outlets, will talk about
Speaker 3: the midterms in the United States. President Trump has told
Speaker 3: Fox News that the midterms are not affecting his decision-making
Speaker 3: process as it relates to Iran. When we look at
Speaker 3: the levers that the Iranians still have to pull, there
Speaker 3: were some interesting statements over the weekend where some top
Speaker 3: IRGC officials were talking again about the country's nuclear program
Speaker 3: and hinting at the fact that they may try to
Speaker 3: advance what remains of that program. But when we look
Speaker 3: at the Strait of Hormuz, the Iranians continue to say
Speaker 3: they are in control of the strait. The reality on
Speaker 3: the ground is very important to look at. The crossings
Speaker 3: to the Strait of Hormuz are up 400% over the
Speaker 3: past two weeks, but they're still down about 90% from
Speaker 3: pre-war levels. What the United States has been able to
Speaker 3: do here on the side, which is quite interesting, is
Speaker 3: oversee vessels that were previously trapped in the Persian Gulf
Speaker 3: safely through this southern passage out of the Strait of Hormuz.
Speaker 3: And this is allowing millions of barrels of Gulf crude
Speaker 3: oil from U.S. allies, not from the Iranians, to be exported.
Speaker 3: And it's undercutting Iranian efforts to maintain control over this
Speaker 3: critical waterway. And so this operation, coupled with the economic
Speaker 3: sanctions and the ongoing U.S. naval blockade, U.S. officials hope
Speaker 3: will ultimately change Iranian behavior. But at this point, we're
Speaker 3: looking at weeks and months ahead with, again, the Iranians
Speaker 3: remaining defiant because they don't care if their people are affected.
Speaker 3: What they do care about, though, is the possibility of
Speaker 3: protests erupting again inside of Iran. And regional intelligence sources
Speaker 3: tell Fox News that is a legitimate concern for officials
Speaker 3: in the Iranian capital.
Speaker 2: All right, Trey, thank you so much. The New York
Speaker 2: Post has an excellent article. It's called Scare. It's on the...
Speaker 2: FRONT COVER, SCARED STRAIGHT. AND IT TALKS ABOUT HOW THE
Speaker 2: IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER IS UNDER MOUNTING PRESSURE FROM THE IRANIANS
Speaker 2: BECAUSE OF THE HIGH INFLATION, UNEMPLOYMENT. THE GRIP ON THE
Speaker 2: STRAIGHT HAS WEAKENED. IT TALKS ABOUT HOW CASH IS TIGHT.
Speaker 2: TOP POLITICAL LEADERS ARE URGING THE REGIME TO FIND A
Speaker 2: WAY OUT. IRAN'S OWN OIL EXPORTS HAVE DROPPED TO NEAR ZERO.
Speaker 2: AND THEN YOU HEARD TREY TALKING ABOUT HOW THERE IS
Speaker 2: FLOW THROUGH THE STRAIGHT. AND IT REPRESENTS A 400% SPIKE
Speaker 2: IN THE LAST TWO WEEKS, WHICH a partial control of
Speaker 2: the straight. So I hope that this pressure and then
Speaker 2: the sanctions today, there will be conversations because you brought
Speaker 2: up a good point about the midterms, but that's still
Speaker 2: nine weeks away. How long can they hold on?
Speaker 5: It's true.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, if they could wait and just try to
Speaker 1: make October hellacious. Gobble off, gobble off. The speaker said
Speaker 1: no matter how much military we have, if our people
Speaker 1: are struggling. and the country lacks financial circulation and economic growth,
Speaker 1: we will not achieve progress. So that's the good cop.
Speaker 1: Now the bad cop is the IRGC.
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