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**Drew Mariani** (0:00)
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**John Lott** (0:03)
The Drew Mariani Show.

**SPEAKER_3** (0:05)
On Relevant Radio.

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President Trump issued a new warning to Iran. He posted on True Social, saying, from this point forward, anytime the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, whether it be by missile, rocket, drone, or any other device or weapon, the United States will bomb and destroy one bridge or power plant, including those located next to or in the capital city of Tehran. Thank you for your attention to this matter. It's The Drew Mariani Show on Relevant Radio.

**Drew Mariani** (0:39)
Yeah, that was Fox News reporting on the president's threat, well, at least the newest one, against Iran. Good afternoon, I'm Drew Mariani. Great to be with you today. Thank you for allowing me to spend part of my afternoon with you. We got a full show for you. We're gonna look at a lot of different things, from family estrangement to what's unfolding right now in the Middle East. Let's talk about that a little bit. I've been trying to stay on top of this for you, kind of keep you up to speed on all that's unfolding. And if you've been watching the headlines lately, you probably have noticed something. The rhetoric is just getting stronger. It's beginning to amp up. The military, well, our actions have gone on for multiple days now. It's becoming more frequent, more intense. The stakes seem to be getting higher day by day. And the president, if you listen to what he says, and I'm an observer, I'd love to see patterns and trends. I'd like to parse in nuanced words and just try to read between the lines. The president has issued really one of his strongest warnings yet. And he says, from this point forward, anytime the Islamic Republic of Iran shoots at a ship in the Strait of Hormuz, the United States will bomb and destroy one bridge or one power plant. I mean, I'm a little torn on it, to be honest with you. But I get it. You know, the language in which the Islamic Republic understands is one of strength and power.
But boy, I think of the people in Iran, 90 million Iranians. You start taking out power plants, it's hot over there right now. You think about water and everything else, bridges.
That is an unmistakable message of deterrence. How far will the IRCG go? The administration appears to believe only overwhelming consequences are going to convince Tehran that the attacks on international shipping won't be tolerated. And maybe this is what it takes. They were not willing to come to the table and negotiate, right? So maybe it's going to say, okay, this is how you want to play. You notice one thing too, but one side, Ambassador Joseph Cella is going to be joining us in a second. Israel, there has not been one ballistic missile that has fallen on their soil. And Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israelis made it abundantly clear. They're almost like a rabid dog waiting to be left off their chain. They want to come back in. They want to finish Iran, who threaten to wipe them off the face of the planet.
One missile hits their soil, they're in, and they're going to come back, and they're going to finish the job. So it's kind of interesting that we haven't seen anything come that way. So maybe the United States needs to take a chapter out of that book, maybe that's what the president is doing, by saying, hey, you do this, and this is what you're gonna experience. Of course, Senator Marco Rubio has reinforced the administration's position. He's warning that Iran, if you do this, there'll be consequences. If you violate agreements or you continue to take actions that threaten international security, there will be consequences. And he indicated the United States remains willing to negotiate. Doors still open. You know, we'd love to do this diplomatically.
But they're also making it clear that, you know, you got to be ready to negotiate. And no more, no more game playing. It's got to be, you know, this is all got to be backed by a very, you know, credible rhetoric. So we'll see how this costs. Yesterday, the Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, said that the cost of the war is around $37.5 billion. She's requesting twice as much to continue the war. And this is in addition to the 1.5 trillion the president has requested for his budget. It's costing the American people a lot of money. And we'll see how this all plays out at home. Senator Rand Paul, he told Bloomberg that the real threat's not Iran, it's US debt. So listen to this perspective.