Israel-Iran Conflict and Flag Day

**SPEAKER_1** (0:00)
This hour of The Drew Mariani Show is made possible in part by the Knights of Columbus. Visit kfc.org/relevant. The issues that matter most, right here. The Drew Mariani Show on Relevant Radio.

**Benjamin Netanyahu** (0:16)
Israel launched Operation Rising Lion, a targeted military operation to roll back the Iranian threat to Israel's very survival. This operation will continue for as many days as it takes to remove this threat. In recent months, Iran has taken steps that it has never taken before. Steps to weaponize this enriched uranium. If not stopped, Iran could produce a nuclear weapon in a very short time. It could be a year. It could be within a few months, less than a year. This is a clear and present danger to Israel's very survival.

**Drew Mariani** (0:54)
It's The Drew Mariani Show on Relevant Radio. Yeah, that was the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, on Israel's strike against Iran's nuclear program. And I know the world's been watching. This was a very late last evening watching it. And of course, what you saw was just an absolute, an amazing strike. 200 Israeli fighter jets, 330 bombs, 100 targets in the span of hours. They launched a precise, very preemptive strike across Iran. And you heard it dubbed Operation Rising Lion. It's not just one of the most ambitious military campaigns, but it's one that really showed some real genius in terms of taking out leadership, scientists, negotiators.
They took out nuclear facilities and luckily the strike continues. The Times of Israel was reporting that this was planned for years with intelligence and technology, Mossad operatives on the ground inside Iran. And Iran is, they had an opportunity, they were given 60 days by the president to come to the table to negotiate. They got more aggressive in recent days. And Iran, or Israel, realizing that they're very close to enriching their uranium and having nuclear weapons that they had to go in and they had to take them out. So it was surgical and it was pretty intense. Right now, though, we are seeing retaliation from Iran. They are now responding, including actually a direct hit in Tel Aviv. ABC News has a little bit more.

**SPEAKER_2** (2:45)
Well, what we know so far is that this is expected. They expected some sort of retaliation from Iran. This could either be drones or it could be missiles. Iran is capable of both of those things. There is a shelter in place throughout Israel for American citizens. Certainly, Israelis are very used to this. As you recall, Diane, last October, Iran launched about 180 missiles and drones. Almost all of those were intercepted, but there is always a danger, Diane.

**SPEAKER_5** (3:13)
And Martha, President Trump had said the US was not involved in Israel's attack, but that it would defend Israel or American forces if targeted. So where does this leave the US in all of this?

**SPEAKER_2** (3:23)
I think they will watch this carefully. They have before and they will continue to defend Israel. They've moved some ships closer to the shore there in place to help protect Israel, although they do say they had nothing to do militarily with last night's attack on Iran itself. Although a source did tell me who is familiar with the intelligence that they did provide, as it was called, exquisite intelligence, Diane.

**Drew Mariani** (3:49)
Yeah, either had to be intelligence from the US on that. The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, made it very clear. It's, look, Israel took unilateral action, and our top priority, of course, is to protect US forces. The US says it had no part, but Israel informed Washington ahead of time, and of course, there was the sharing of intel there. Let's talk about it today. I'm joined by Uri Kaufman. I'm delighted to have him here with us today. He's the author of a book called 18 Days in October, The Yom Kippur War and How It Created the Modern Middle East. His work also appeared in Foreign Affairs and Newsweek and the Jerusalem Post and The Independent and a number of other publications as well. Mr. Kaufman, welcome. It's good to have you with us. Thank you for joining us. Mr. Kaufman, are you with us?

**SPEAKER_6** (4:45)
I am.

**Uri Kaufman** (4:46)
Great to be here. So sorry.

**Drew Mariani** (4:47)
Thank you, Uri. It was good to have you. I don't even know really where to begin with this. Let's start with what we are now seeing. Iran is now retaliating against these preemptive strikes. We knew this was coming.
How effective do you think the retaliation will be, or how crippled is Iran right now in terms of everything we've saw unfold within the past 12 to 16 hours?