00:00You were calling for strikes on Iran a very long time ago.
00:03Does all of this feel a bit like a vindication?
00:06Well, unfortunately, you know, if it had been done 20 years ago, it would have been easier and far less risky.
00:12And we'd be we wouldn't be at the brink of having a nuclear power in based in Tehran.
00:19I think the world's got a lot of serious crises going on right now.
00:24The war in Ukraine, threats from China in the East and South China Sea.
00:28And obviously the incredibly difficult situation in the Middle East precipitated by the Hamas attack on Israel on October the 7th, 2023.
00:39So the real trouble here, I think the source of it is Iran under this regime.
00:45I don't think there's a chance for lasting peace and security in the region until that regime is overthrown.
00:51Given that this was a once in a generation sort of level of hostilities, in fact, the greatest hostilities we've ever seen between Iran and Israel and the United States.
01:02I mean, and you say this is a good start. Does that mean you think Israel and the United States should have gone further?
01:08I think much more could have been done. I think it was a mistake to stop the attacks.
01:12It would have been one thing to pause them so that the battle damage assessments, as they call them, could have been refined and we could have had a better idea.
01:21Perhaps also how Iran was responding. Were they moving uranium or equipment around?
01:27Could we verify additional sites that we had not yet known?
01:30But also, I think the strikes were very destabilizing against the regime itself.
01:36We'll now wait to see if the people of Iran, who I think are very dissatisfied, will see if they try and take matters into their own hands here.
01:45You've seen a real decimation of the top Iranian military and Revolutionary Guard leadership.
01:50I think the regime is a lot more fragile than it appears from the outside.
