00:00First of all, I just want to stop by asking you because on Saturday you gave an interview in which you said that your gut feeling was that the United States would become involved in the Israel-Iran war, which it did within a matter of hours of you making that comment.
00:14And we'll come back to that in just a moment. But do you think that brief U.S. involvement with the bombing of the Iranian nuclear sites is really what drew a line under that 12-day war?
00:25First of all, good to be with you. And thank you for, you know, complimenting my gut. It's good to know that sometimes it's accurate. It was a decisive move.
00:35Israel, over the course of many weeks, could have achieved the same thing with successive bombing raids against Fordow, Isfaham, and the Nantan's facility, perhaps even with ground forces, with special forces.
00:49But there's also a tremendous symbolic weight to the president's decision. It sent an unequivocal message of America's commitment to Israel's security, America's commitment to the security of the Gulf.
01:03It sent a very powerful message to America's adversaries in the world.
01:06I would imagine that there were people in Beijing today who are saying, well, maybe we have to think twice before we attack Taiwan.
01:15Russia also took a step backward after President Trump gave the order to bomb Fordow.
01:21So in many ways, that action not only changed the balance of power in our region, it had global ramifications geopolitically.
