March 8, 2026

Theory 2 Action podcast: Why War? Why Now? and What's Going on with the Strait of Hormuz

FAN MAIL--We would love YOUR feedback--Send us a Text Message A Berlin classroom TV in 1989 flickers back to life as we open with a personal “Liberty Line” on what happens when people lose their fear—and why that matters for the courage we see across Iran today. From that human spark, we move straight into the hard edges of policy: why the United States chose to act, why the timeline narrowed, and how nuclear math—not rhetoric—drove urgency. We unpack Mark Halperin’s clear framing of continu...

FAN MAIL--We would love YOUR feedback--Send us a Text Message

A Berlin classroom TV in 1989 flickers back to life as we open with a personal “Liberty Line” on what happens when people lose their fear—and why that matters for the courage we see across Iran today. From that human spark, we move straight into the hard edges of policy: why the United States chose to act, why the timeline narrowed, and how nuclear math—not rhetoric—drove urgency.

We unpack Mark Halperin’s clear framing of continuity across administrations: every recent president drew the same red line against an Iranian nuclear weapon. Then we pressure-test the “why now” with Steve Witkoff’s firsthand accounts from Muscat and Geneva: opening claims of an “inalienable right” to enrich, a flat rejection of a decade of prepaid civilian fuel, pride in roughly 460 kilograms at 60% enrichment, and a refusal to share a take-home draft. With enrichment able to jump from 60% to weapons grade in about a week, listeners get a precise view of stockpiles, centrifuge capacity, and the shrinking window for peaceful outcomes.

Next, we cross to the Strait of Hormuz and bust a headline myth. A seasoned mariner and maritime scholar walks us through live AIS maps and anchorages to show why tankers paused: war risk insurance, not an impenetrable military blockade. We explain PI and hull coverage, additional war risk endorsements, premium spikes after strikes, and the knock-on effects for East Asia’s energy supply. We also weigh reports of U.S. insurance backstops and potential escorts—plus the massive liability questions that come with them.

Along the way, we highlight a deeper shift: niche digital experts on platforms like YouTube and podcasts are outpacing legacy media on speed, specificity, and verification. That matters when 20% of global oil depends on decisions made by shipowners, underwriters, and captains watching the same data you can pull on your phone.

Hit play to get a concise, sourced breakdown of why war and why now, what enrichment levels really signal, and how the world’s most vital oil lane can stall for financial reasons more than firepower. If this helped you see the story more clearly, please follow, rate, and share the show with a friend who loves straight facts and smart context. What part of the analysis changed how you see the crisis?

Key Points from the Episode:

• memory of the Berlin Wall and fear breaking
• rising courage among Iranians and regime fragility
• bipartisan U.S. red line against an Iranian nuclear weapon
• Halperin’s framing of why and why now
• Witkoff’s details on failed enrichment talks and timelines
• enrichment levels, breakout speed, and stockpile math
• digital media’s advantage over legacy outlets
• Strait of Hormuz traffic, insurance risk, and escorts
• practical resources for tracking marine traffic

Other resources:

Want to leave a review? Click here, and if we earned a five-star review from you **high five and knuckle bumps**, we appreciate it greatly!

00:00 - Opening And Housekeeping

01:02 - Liberty Line: Berlin Wall Memory

02:16 - Freedom’s Echo In Iran

03:53 - Framing Why War And Why Now

05:18 - Halperin’s Case For Clarity

07:38 - Four Stated U.S. Objectives

10:45 - Bipartisan Red Line On Iran Nukes

13:20 - Negotiations Stalled And Timelines

16:02 - Witkoff’s Hannity Details

19:31 - Enrichment, Bomb Timelines, And Stockpiles

23:05 - Levin Interview: Deal Tells And Stalling

27:22 - Takeaway: Why And Why Now Answered

28:58 - Pivot To Strait Of Hormuz

30:05 - Digital Sources Beat Legacy Media

32:12 - Marine Traffic And Risk Picture

35:22 - War Risk Insurance Drives Decisions

38:40 - US Underwriting And Escort Limits

41:20 - Closing Thoughts And Resources

WEBVTT

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Welcome to the Theory to Action Podcast, where we examine the timeless treasures of wisdom from the great books in less time to help you take action immediately and ultimately to create and lead a flourishing life.

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Now, here's your host, David Kaiser.

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Hello, everybody, I'm David, and welcome back to the Theory to Action Podcast.

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Before we begin, a little housekeeping, this is a video and audio podcast.

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And today's show, we are going to be covering why this war and why now, and how and why the legacy media continues to fail the American people.

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And then we're going to zoom over to the Strait of Horror moves for an economic perspective with some unique insights from the digital media side, which I think you're going to like.

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But before we get into those topics, let's kick off the show with my Liberty Line.

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In 1989, I was a freshman in high school, sitting in German class when history cracked open before my eyes.

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The television flickered with images from the Berlin Wall, people climbing the wall, crying, laughing, clawing at the concrete like it was paper.

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My teacher, an authentic, liberty loving German, stood frozen, tears streaming down her face.

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She had family on both sides of the wall, one free, one imprisoned by communism, day after day.

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As history was changing the Berlin Wall was coming down.

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My teacher kept bringing in that television day after day for us to witness history.

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And in those quiet moments between her sobs, my class, me included, learned something powerful.

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When people lose their fear, the walls come down.

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Human beings yearn to breathe free air.

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That same spirit, that same unstoppable current is rising right now in Iran.

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We saw it a couple weeks ago, even a month ago.

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You hear you heard it in the chants of the crowd.

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In the women casting off the symbols of oppression and a generation done with the lies and the control, the tyranny.

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Forty-seven years after or for forty-seven years that Terran tyranny has finally met their match.

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The truth is coming out.

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Courage is increasing, and faith in something better is right around the corner.

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When the Iranian regime collapses, and it will it won't just change one nation.

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It will echo like the Berlin Wall coming down in 1989.

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It will shake the Middle East, it will silence the terror corridors throughout that whole region and around the world, and it will remind the world that freedom, no matter how long it's suppressed, always finds a crack in the wall.

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I saw freedom once, win once, and through the tears of that German teacher who knew what liberty cost.

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I believe that with every ounce of conviction that I have, someday soon there will be another teacher in another classroom who will watch her people step into that same light.

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Let us pray so.

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And that, my friends, is today's Liberty Line.

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Okay, folks, let's move on to topic number one and why this war, why now, what the legacy media gets wrong.

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I'm gonna pull some clips from Mark Halprin, who is a legacy journalist, but someone who's really, I have found uh in the last year, year and a half, has has redeemed himself as as a legacy journalist and has a podcast, next up, video podcast.

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We're gonna watch some clips from it.

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I think he calls balls and strikes pretty well.

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So let's jump over there.

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And there's so much for us to debate in America in the in the midst of this war with Iran.

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Like I said, this is next up his video podcast, and I think he's gonna set the yeah, he's gonna set the stage for us on how we want to frame this question, why war and why now, and what the legacy media gets wrong.

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Let's look check this out.

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America's relationship with Israel, whether the how this could end favorably for America, the world, the Iranian people, uh, how much it's gonna cost, whether the president should consider putting ground forces in Iran, what the role of uh America would be in regime change.

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There's a lot to debate.

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And what I'm here to tell you, based on talking to Democrats and Republicans this week and experts on uh modern American history, is there's one thing that I don't think needs to be debated.

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And that's why did the president do this and why now?

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I don't think that's ambiguous.

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It's cast as ambiguous.

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I even hear from some Republicans who support this effort.

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They need better answers to that.

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I don't think we do.

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And the reason I'm I'm focusing on this is the focus on that debate, why did he do it and why now obscures the conversations about these other issues.

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And these other issues, I think, are debatable.

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They are they are ripe for national conversation.

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The the question of why and why now has has been set back at times by the administration itself, by Secretary Rubio, for instance, saying, why now?

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Because Israel was going to attack Iran, which would have led Iran to attack the United States, and that meant the US had to strike first.

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That was kind of walked back.

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I don't think that answers the why why now question.

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So some of this unnecessary debate has been real quick, just want to interject this.

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Secretary of State Rubio did walk that back, but what I find even more compelling is there's some reporting that even the Saudis were pushing the president to strike Iran.

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Because I believe the speculation is, at least in the reporting, is the Saudis certainly want to do the Abraham Accords, and they were well on their way to doing the Abraham Accords until Hamas struck Israel on October 7, 2023.

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That set back the whole region.

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So it's one thing if Iran was going to strike the United States or strike, strike Israel, and then the United States would have had to respond.

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I think a more compelling storyline, it's probably going to take a while for it to unfold, is did the Saudis really influence the president to strike Iran because they did not want any nuclear armed Iran in the region?

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And we certainly haven't wanted one, and that's been the policy of numerous administrations brought on by the administration itself.

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And of course, the president himself, in his various pronouncements here, has not always been disciplined.

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And and so to the extent they're frustrated, as I am, that the debate about why and why now continues, they've brought some of it on themselves.

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But I don't think it requires much looking at both what's been said in the last few days since this began or recent history to understand the why and the why now.

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So let's talk about it.

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Most cleanly, Caroline Levitt at her daily briefing on Wednesday, read the list of why and why now.

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Here's Caroline Levitt from the White House briefing on Wednesday, S3, please.

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At the beginning of Operation Epic Fury, launched last weekend, President Trump laid out clear objectives to the American people on what the U.S.

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military seeks to accomplish through these major combat operations.

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Number one, destroy the regime's deadly ballistic missiles and completely raise their missile industry to the ground.

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Number two, annihilate the Iranian regime's Navy.

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And so far, we have destroyed more than 20 Iranian ships, including their top submarine last night, using a torpedo for the first time since World War II.

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There is not a single Iranian ship underway in the Arab Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormous, or the Gulf of Oman.

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Number three, Operation Epic Fury will ensure the regime's terrorist proxies in the region can no longer destabilize the region or the free world and attack our armed forces.

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And thus far, Iran's proxies are hardly putting up a fight.

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Number four, this mission will guarantee that Iran can never obtain a nuclear weapon.

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Best way to unclog your arteries, cut out salt, nope, take blood pressure meds, nope, follow the dash.

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Okay.

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Sorry for the commercials.

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That's the free version of YouTube.

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So yeah, White House Press Secretary Carolyn Levitt clearly explained four distinct reasons.

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They've been laid out by everyone in the administration repeatedly.

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I don't think there's any ambiguity why now and why war.

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I think Halprin let's listen a little bit more to Halperin.

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That laid out very clearly from this from the podium by the president's spokesperson.

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As long as I'm president of the United States, Iran will never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.

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Good morning.

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Okay, so that was Donald Trump's position.

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Since he's been on the national stage as a politician over 11 years now, Iran cannot have nuclear weapons.

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That's the why.

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But it's not a it's not a weird position of Donald Trump.

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Every one of the people who've been president uh preceding Donald Trump has had the exact same point of view.

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Here are Donald Trump's three predecessors, and and in the case of Joe Biden's predecessor and successor, talking about their view of whether Iran should be allowed to have nuclear weapons.

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This is number S6, please.

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The idea of Iran having a nuclear weapon is unacceptable.

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I strongly believe that our national security interest now depends upon preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.

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Iran will never get a nuclear weapon on my watch, as they say.

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Okay, so Bush, Obama, Biden, same thing.

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They can't have nuclear weapons.

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Now, none of them, in an attempt to keep Iran from having nuclear weapons, did the did this kind of operation that we see now.

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They tried to sanction them.

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In the case of Barack Obama, they tried to negotiate a deal with them.

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So they had the same goal, but a different attitude about how to get it done.

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And they all failed.

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Okay?

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Now, some people are supporters of the Obama deal say it succeeded in the short term, but no, Iran still has nuclear weapons and not on a path to nuclear weapons, still state sponsor of terror, still a Navy, still ballistic missiles.

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Okay, still a threat to America, Americans and our allies around the world.

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But not every So again, that's the why.

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Why now?

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He I think he references I think he references the negotiation with Steve Whitkoff in this clip.

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Trying to negotiate.

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He was be he'd be happy to have these objectives achieved.

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Happier, of course, to have these objectives achieved through negotiation.

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But as I know and have reported, that wasn't in the cards.

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The Iranians were not reliable negotiating parties.

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So the why now is negotiations weren't going to work.

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The why now is the Iranian people recently rose up and went into the streets.

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The president said, in the view of many rightfully, that the American America would have their back.

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The why now is his presidency's only got three more years to go.

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At some point, Donald Trump was determined to not leave this unfinished business.

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His predecessors all said Iran couldn't have nuclear weapons and they couldn't figure out how to get it done.

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This may not work.

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This may lead to a quagmar or a massive loss of life or an even worse Iranian regime.

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But if the question is why do you do this and why now, as I said, I think the answer is clear.

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Amen.

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Absolutely.

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Amen.

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I thought it was that was a wonderful clip, series of clips that Halperham put together, very powerful, very compelling, because it essentially answers the question why and why now.

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We're going to pull some more clips.

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I think the interview with Steve Witkoff on Hannity.

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He offers some compelling information.

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And then we're going to follow that on by Witkoff appearing on the Mark Levin show, where that's a half half-hour long podcast.

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We're just going to grab some very short clips.

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But this has been a very transparent series of negotiations, especially all the information that we have received in the public versus going back to the Obama administration, the JCPOA.

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We find out that really didn't wasn't effective.

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And certainly in in many other negotiations around the world, these big agreements.

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So my point is that all these countries and the Vatican as a as a head of its own country, they say they provide details, but boy, the Steve Witkoff, Jared Kushner's details and negotiations have been very clear, very detailed, and that came very fast after it all broke down.

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Okay, we answered the why in our question of why war.

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Now let's go to why now and answer that question because Steve Witkoff, like I said, just sheds a ton of light with a lot of details.

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All right, this is a Fox News alert.

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President Trump is back at the White House tonight after a historic weekend from his command center at Mar-a-Lago.

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You ought a lot of latitude in that room.

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Bring us inside that room.

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First of all, Sean, thanks.

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Good night, good evening, and thanks for having me.

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So just to give you a little bit of a taste for how these three three days of negotiations went three separate times, Jared and I opened up with the Iranian negotiators telling us they had the inalienable right to enrich all their nuclear fuel that they possessed.

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That's how they opened up.

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We, of course, responded.

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Since when did any country have the unalienable right to enrich uranium?

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Enrich any nuclear material.

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That's a bizarre notion.

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That's a radical notion.

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They then went on to say that beyond the inalienable right to enrich, that that was going to be their starting point.

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And Jared and I just sort of looked at ourselves flummoxed and said, Well, we're really in for it now.

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Well, let me let me let me get a little in the wheeze if we can.

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My understanding was you got to a point where you were discussing enriched uranium at much at very low levels for civilian purposes, although I don't think they really need it because they have all the energy they'd ever want.

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But did that come up?

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Was that offer made to them?

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We discussed with them 10 years of no enrichment whatsoever, and we would pay for the fuel.

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And it was flatly rejected.

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And the president said to have a good faith negotiation.

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Pardon me?

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You're saying that we would give it to them?

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And they rejected the We actually had that and they rejected that, which told us at that very moment that they had no notion of doing anything other than retaining enrichment for the purpose of weaponizing.

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Exactly right.

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Doesn't this similar negotiating tactic that Kushner and Wickoff applied, doesn't it go back to when Bill Clinton, essentially for the two-state solution, gave almost everything to Yasser Arafat and he turned it down because they never wanted a two-state solution.

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They wanted to wipe Israel off the map.

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And I just found that so compelling that this is probably, or it sounds like, based on the reporting, if true, if Mr.

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Witkoff is true, what he's saying that they literally offered to pay for them non-enriched nuclear material that could be used for civilian purposes, even though they're sitting on the world's largest oil reserves, so they have plenty of energy, but they want to pursue the nuclear side.

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Wickoff and Kushner offer in the deal.

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Unbelievable, pay for it for 10 years, and we will deliver you non-enriched uranium to power your nuclear side that is just that is peaceful.

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There's no reason to ever go to weapons grade nuclear material.

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So again, the details coming out just weeks after this all took place, fascinating.

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You made a statement last week, and when I heard it, and I've known you for a long time, and you are a friend, and when you made the statement that in fact they may be a week away from possibly having capability, at that moment I interpreted that to mean it's go time, it's over.

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Was I wrong?

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Was that the moment that it was over?

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Well, I don't know if that exact moment it was over, but I know this.

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They have 10,000 roughly kilograms of fissionable material.

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That's broken up into roughly 460 kilograms of 60 percent enriched uranium, another thousand kilograms of 20 percent enriched uranium, and the balance is at 3.67.

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They manufacture their own centrifuges to enrich this material.

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So there's almost no stopping them.

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They have an endless supply of it.

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The 60 percent material Sean can be brought to 90 percent, that's weapon grade, weapons grade, in roughly one week, maybe 10 days at the outside.

00:21:39.920 --> 00:21:45.839
The 20 percent can be brought to weapons grade inside of three to four weeks.

00:21:46.160 --> 00:21:50.000
And let me say this because I forgot this small little detail.

00:21:50.240 --> 00:21:59.839
In that first meeting, the both the Iranian negotiators said to us directly, with you know, no uh no shame, that they're not a very important thing.

00:22:00.240 --> 00:22:10.880
Controlled 460 kilograms of 60 percent, and they're aware that that could make 11 nuclear bombs, and that was the beginning of their negotiating stance.

00:22:11.200 --> 00:22:13.599
So that's that's they were they were proud of it.

00:22:13.680 --> 00:22:21.599
They were proud that they had evaded all sorts of oversight protocols to get to a place where they could deliver 11 nuclear bombs.

00:22:23.920 --> 00:22:24.880
That's bad, folks.

00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:26.480
Eleven nuclear bombs.

00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:32.079
That's mind-boggling.

00:22:32.720 --> 00:22:44.480
And actually, let's move on to let's move on to the Mark Levin show because that is where we lose 45 pounds and become unrecognizable by spring.

00:22:44.720 --> 00:22:45.119
Sorry, folks.

00:22:45.279 --> 00:22:48.960
On Monday, March 9th, starting the chair tai chi flow for beginners.

00:22:49.119 --> 00:22:50.160
Disappear for a month.

00:22:50.319 --> 00:22:50.640
Sorry.

00:22:56.640 --> 00:22:58.799
So in this interview, it's 30 minutes long.

00:22:58.880 --> 00:23:00.160
We're not gonna listen to all of it.

00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:07.599
I'm gonna grab some clips, but and I'll leave all the links to all these videos so you can watch them if you want.

00:23:07.920 --> 00:23:13.680
But in this video with Mark Levin, Whitkoff goes into extreme detail.

00:23:14.640 --> 00:23:20.400
All three sessions of negotiations, exactly what they said, very similar to what he said on Hannity.

00:23:22.000 --> 00:23:24.720
And it clearly answers the why now.

00:23:24.960 --> 00:23:54.720
And what I find the theme through all this is that yes, Hannity is legacy media, but really Levin and Halperin are well Halperin's a legacy former legacy guy, but what I'm what you find is the the theme is the digital side of YouTube or podcast or the flow of information is coming more readily versus the old legacy media.

00:23:54.960 --> 00:24:08.240
I think the legacy media died in 2020 when they lied about many things through COVID, through a number of other avenues, from newspapers to the big networks to even some cable networks.

00:24:09.039 --> 00:24:11.039
They they died about five years ago.

00:24:11.119 --> 00:24:12.880
They're struggling to find it.

00:24:13.039 --> 00:24:15.279
Even Fox is trying to catch up.

00:24:16.079 --> 00:24:18.960
Our next segment is all about that.

00:24:19.440 --> 00:24:30.880
You you're finding that the digital media is getting way out in front of the information flow and providing good information, verified, not speculation, and getting closer to the truth.

00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:32.880
And frankly, that's what we all want.

00:24:37.359 --> 00:24:38.400
Very good, Mark.

00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:39.200
How are you doing?

00:24:39.519 --> 00:24:40.880
I'm doing great.

00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:46.640
And I wanted to have you on the program because you have some information.

00:24:46.720 --> 00:25:00.240
You that you touched on Hannity last night as well, about your experience, Jared Kushner's experience in dealing with this Iranian regime before the president decided it was time to pull the trigger.

00:25:00.400 --> 00:25:02.000
Can you fill us in on this?

00:25:03.519 --> 00:25:14.640
Well, first of all, Mark, uh, you know, the president sent me and Jared in because he wanted to really determine if it was possible to make a deal that they would sign.

00:25:14.960 --> 00:25:15.119
Right.

00:25:15.279 --> 00:25:20.880
Not not just agreed to, but that they would sign and that they and that could be enforced.

00:25:21.119 --> 00:25:26.160
And so we went back and we began the session in Oman.

00:25:26.400 --> 00:25:27.359
We were in Muscat.

00:25:28.240 --> 00:25:32.079
And, you know, we we had two other meetings with them in Geneva.

00:25:32.319 --> 00:25:36.400
And I would say that they wanted to record a lot of positivity.

00:25:36.480 --> 00:25:47.759
And Jared and I from almost the go were were suspect as to whether they would they would really they would do the type of deal that would be acceptable to President Trump.

00:25:47.839 --> 00:25:50.240
And we turned out, I think, to be right.

00:25:51.519 --> 00:25:55.759
So the first meeting, you never met face to face, I take it.

00:25:55.839 --> 00:25:57.039
Is that correct?

00:25:57.519 --> 00:25:59.039
No, we met face to face.

00:26:00.160 --> 00:26:05.839
You know, the the the bosses back in Tehran had said that they couldn't do it direct.

00:26:06.079 --> 00:26:12.079
The uh foreign minister from Oman, Badr Busadi, was the mediator.

00:26:12.240 --> 00:26:18.880
So we met at I want to say, I can't remember, it might have been his home, but we met at his home.

00:26:19.200 --> 00:26:21.200
And, you know, they were very gracious.

00:26:21.519 --> 00:26:26.480
Arachi and his team, his deputy and some other people were in another room.

00:26:26.720 --> 00:26:35.200
But they uh but they came and joined, you know, after they had some conversation directly with the Omani, they came and joined joined Jared and I in the room.

00:26:35.359 --> 00:26:38.240
And that's where we had direct conversation with him.

00:26:38.559 --> 00:26:43.519
I remember the first meeting mark that that that we had in Muscat.

00:26:44.160 --> 00:27:00.000
And at some point, very, very, very early in the conversation, Arachi laid down the marker by saying enrichment is considered to be, by his leadership, the Iran's inalienable right.

00:27:01.039 --> 00:27:06.319
That that that sort of that sort of uh um you know began it.

00:27:06.799 --> 00:27:16.960
At that point, we began discussing the material, you know, the all of the all of the uh enriched material that they have been stockpiling.

00:27:17.039 --> 00:27:19.279
It's close to 10,000 kilograms, by the way.

00:27:19.359 --> 00:27:23.759
And I'll at some point during this interview, I'll take you through the breakdown of it all.

00:27:24.000 --> 00:27:28.880
But they began discussing it, and Jared was a witness to this.

00:27:29.039 --> 00:27:35.759
They were talking about the 60% enriched material, which is roughly 460 kilograms.

00:27:36.160 --> 00:27:45.279
And to get to weapons grade, which is 90 percent for a bomb, you're about a week, maybe 10 days away when you're at 60 percent.

00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:52.960
So they've got all this um all this material at 60 percent, that's and it's a you know, obvious concern to us.

00:27:53.279 --> 00:27:54.799
And and he knew it.

00:27:55.039 --> 00:28:04.319
And he said to us, you know, and I know, and the Europeans know because they attest to it, that that's 11 bombs.

00:28:05.119 --> 00:28:08.720
So that's why this material is so important to you.

00:28:09.039 --> 00:28:19.599
And and I've described that as them being proud that they held it, that this was you know, this was something of a of a trophy that they had.

00:28:20.000 --> 00:28:25.519
And there's no doubt in my mind that that's how they that's how they thought about it, about that material.

00:28:25.680 --> 00:28:32.960
But let me let me tell you one one last point about that first meeting, because it's sort of fascinating.

00:28:33.119 --> 00:28:54.000
As we were talking about all the material and the material includes um roughly 8,000 kilograms of enriched material at 3.67%, another thousand kilograms at 20%, which is the story in you know unto itself, and then roughly 460 kilograms at 60.

00:28:54.240 --> 00:28:55.039
We went talking about it.

00:28:55.279 --> 00:28:55.920
Let me just say this.

00:28:56.000 --> 00:28:57.680
Let me say this, Steve, for the audience.

00:28:57.920 --> 00:29:01.119
A kilogram, I just looked it out, is 2.2 pounds.

00:29:01.359 --> 00:29:01.680
Go ahead.

00:29:01.759 --> 00:29:02.160
I'm sorry.

00:29:02.400 --> 00:29:02.960
That's right.

00:29:03.200 --> 00:29:03.599
That's right.

00:29:03.759 --> 00:29:22.319
So they have in total around 10,000, around 10,000 kilograms, which is um 24,000 pounds of uh enriched iranium that was never intended to be used, Mark, for civil purposes, and that could only do one thing.

00:29:22.960 --> 00:29:29.519
It could only be stockpiled in a move towards weaponization is the only reason why you would have it.

00:29:29.759 --> 00:29:42.720
But but let me let me give you a telltale sign because a part of the reason we key point weaponized uranium is 20% or higher.

00:29:42.880 --> 00:29:47.039
It's on its way to weaponization of of a hundred percent.

00:29:47.440 --> 00:29:52.400
Commercial grade regular nuclear material is at three percent.

00:29:52.559 --> 00:29:55.359
There's no reason to ever go higher.

00:29:56.160 --> 00:30:10.559
So they were disingenuous in every negotiation and probably have been for the last twenty-five years since they've been on this hell-bent nuclear quest or quest to get nuclear material.

00:30:10.960 --> 00:30:14.160
We were there for the president was not just to negotiate.

00:30:14.240 --> 00:30:25.839
We were negotiating, but we were there to give the president an honest read on what we felt their motivations were and whether they would do a deal and do a deal that was enforceable.

00:30:26.000 --> 00:30:33.440
So I'm gonna I'm gonna read you what I wrote down at that at that first meeting as to what they said to us.

00:30:34.079 --> 00:30:41.279
Their lead negotiator, the foreign minister from Iran, said the following, talking about giving up the material.

00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:54.720
Why, why, why would um we will oh here it is, we will not give you at the negotiating table what you could not win militarily in Midnight Hammer.

00:30:55.039 --> 00:30:55.440
Jeez.

00:30:56.640 --> 00:30:57.839
So was it gonna give it up?

00:30:59.119 --> 00:31:03.519
He didn't say Midnight Hammer because that's that's our that's our work, you know.

00:31:03.599 --> 00:31:05.039
That's we named it.

00:31:05.200 --> 00:31:06.640
So he didn't say that.

00:31:06.799 --> 00:31:11.039
But he he basically said, we're just not gonna hand it over to you.

00:31:11.279 --> 00:31:15.200
Now here we were, you know, with ships in the region.

00:31:15.519 --> 00:31:17.759
We were posturing for all the right reasons.

00:31:17.920 --> 00:31:19.920
It's it's peace through strength.

00:31:20.160 --> 00:31:22.160
It's the only way you're gonna get them to the table.

00:31:22.319 --> 00:31:24.720
Without that, they were never gonna be at the table.

00:31:25.039 --> 00:31:32.240
And we're there, presumably, because they're in a tough spot and they're going to be compromising and elastic.

00:31:32.400 --> 00:31:36.880
And yet you so now we know the why now.

00:31:38.480 --> 00:31:46.640
The Iranian negotiating team at the direction of the Supreme Leader was never gonna give up the nuclear material.

00:31:46.960 --> 00:31:52.640
They knew if they could stall long enough they would be at weapons grade very, very fast.

00:31:53.119 --> 00:32:00.160
They admitted that and they were negotiating completely disingenuously.

00:32:01.440 --> 00:32:07.359
So let's just grab one more clip because I think this is fascinating towards the end.

00:32:08.319 --> 00:32:09.279
Here we go.

00:32:09.920 --> 00:32:12.000
Imagine never brushing your retainer again.

00:32:12.160 --> 00:32:14.480
Just read YouTube and the touch of a button.

00:32:14.640 --> 00:32:18.240
Outdated cleaning physically couldn't be there at the time.

00:32:18.720 --> 00:32:31.359
You know, I'm I'm sure that Marco, who is sensible, grounded, by the way, knows this set of facts, because we report in religiously to the foreign policy team.

00:32:31.519 --> 00:32:34.480
I would imagine that they got a dose of it.

00:32:34.880 --> 00:32:37.119
And you know, there's and and there's plenty more.

00:32:37.200 --> 00:32:44.000
If if you had about another 10 segments for me tonight, then I could maybe get through 10 or 12 percent of it.

00:32:44.880 --> 00:33:12.799
Well, you've got you've given us a lot, and I think it's very important that this audience, which is quite massive, understands the extent to which the Iranian regime had no intention of making any deal, that they were deceiving you, they were hiding the ball, if you will, and that the concern, tell me if I'm right, was they could break out very quickly, and you couldn't you couldn't keep sitting around waiting for them to delay, they wouldn't even hand you a paper draft to look at, correct?

00:33:15.200 --> 00:33:18.240
So the interview gets into that.

00:33:18.319 --> 00:33:29.119
We skipped over it, but Witkoff and Kushner asked the Iranians provide to us what you would like the agreement to be.

00:33:29.759 --> 00:33:32.480
They asked this at the end of the first meeting.

00:33:33.599 --> 00:33:41.279
You know, they asked this in the beginning of the second meeting, they said they would give it, the Iranians would give it to them in five to six days.

00:33:41.680 --> 00:33:44.160
Five to six days went, no agreement.

00:33:44.319 --> 00:33:52.559
They got to the third meeting, they handed the agreement over and said, You can peruse that, you can read that, but you can't take it back.

00:33:52.799 --> 00:33:57.359
And Kushner and and Kushner and Wikoff said, Well, we have to take it back.

00:33:57.519 --> 00:34:02.880
We need our own people to analyze this and and you know, see all the details.

00:34:03.279 --> 00:34:04.480
They never gave it up.

00:34:04.640 --> 00:34:07.200
We never got an actual written copy.

00:34:07.519 --> 00:34:12.960
Now, maybe that's the way they do it in the Middle East, maybe that's the way the culture is.

00:34:13.280 --> 00:34:16.880
It's not the way that we're gonna work, and we have the power.

00:34:17.199 --> 00:34:28.480
So if you're if you're negotiating in good faith, you have to provide written documents, and everybody has to cross the T's and dot the I's.

00:34:28.880 --> 00:34:30.880
That's the way the world works.

00:34:32.400 --> 00:34:33.039
That's correct.

00:34:33.199 --> 00:34:39.679
They let us they let us read it, and we said to them, we said to them, look, we have nuclear experts back in Washington.

00:34:39.760 --> 00:34:45.440
We have something called the CIA and the Department of War, and we we need to assess these things.

00:34:45.519 --> 00:34:47.039
And they said, no, we can't give it to you.

00:34:47.199 --> 00:34:48.480
So think about it.

00:34:48.639 --> 00:34:58.880
You know, how earnest is someone who wants to make a deal and they don't want to give you the agreement to to read and to share with your decision-making team.

00:34:59.119 --> 00:35:01.039
It's there were tells.

00:35:01.519 --> 00:35:06.159
Mark, the tells were so obvious, and they were just so often.

00:35:06.400 --> 00:35:18.480
And the and the positivity they talk about was that they put down on a piece of paper, and we got it the first day we were there, two paragraphs of we profess that we do not want a weapon.

00:35:18.719 --> 00:35:25.519
We profess that we will not use nuclear for anything but simple purposes and the betterment of our society.

00:35:25.679 --> 00:35:27.679
It was two paragraphs of that.

00:35:27.840 --> 00:35:32.960
And look, if you're gonna stick with that, it's commendable, but then you've got to stand by the words.

00:35:33.199 --> 00:35:39.119
And none of their actions would have would lead you to believe that they were gonna stand by the words.

00:35:40.400 --> 00:35:41.119
Let me say this.

00:35:41.280 --> 00:35:46.159
I've been tough on you, not not lately, and you've been doing a hell of a job, actually.

00:35:46.480 --> 00:35:54.719
And you've been serving the president of the United States, you and Jarrett, you you follow his orders and his directives, and you try and deliver for him.

00:35:55.360 --> 00:35:58.480
I know that you've gone through health issues.

00:35:58.559 --> 00:36:07.280
I'm not going to get into it, I'm not gonna reveal it, but you have and yet then you go back and you're dealing with some of the world's, I'll say the scum of the earth.

00:36:08.719 --> 00:36:11.039
But and you're dealing with these particular people.

00:36:11.280 --> 00:36:12.239
One last question.

00:36:12.320 --> 00:36:13.440
We only have 36.

00:36:13.679 --> 00:36:17.760
Were these were these the worst to deal with than anybody you've dealt with so far?

00:36:19.280 --> 00:36:21.039
I I think they were the most, yeah.

00:36:21.280 --> 00:36:27.679
Look, there's there's a lot of difficulty out there, but these were the most these these were the most disingenuous.

00:36:27.840 --> 00:36:29.199
But I will tell you this.

00:36:29.519 --> 00:36:34.159
We kept on going back and trying Mark because the president asked us to.

00:36:34.320 --> 00:36:36.719
And he is the greatest president ever.

00:36:37.119 --> 00:36:39.599
And and and you know, we follow his lead.

00:36:39.760 --> 00:36:43.039
He is he is the commander of cheat in cheap for a reason.

00:36:43.280 --> 00:36:50.159
He he just you know, and by the way, it makes me proud to talk about him, and I know it makes you proud in the same way.

00:36:50.880 --> 00:36:53.519
We're lucky we're lucky to have him at the helm.

00:36:54.079 --> 00:36:57.840
All right, that they go on, I think another minute and a half or so.

00:36:57.920 --> 00:37:11.039
But anyhow, the point is that we have answered the question why this war and why now we were certainly in negotiating with not good partners and trying to resolve all this diplomatically.

00:37:11.519 --> 00:37:14.000
So let's move on to topic number two.

00:37:14.559 --> 00:37:15.039
Amen.

00:37:15.360 --> 00:37:16.880
I gotta I can sleep well at night.

00:37:19.440 --> 00:37:23.039
All right, moving on to topic number two.

00:37:26.639 --> 00:37:42.800
The Strait of Hormoes, the economic implications, and before we grab some clips from the digital media, I want to just talk about all the information we're able to get from digital media.

00:37:43.119 --> 00:37:45.360
There's there's many things out there.

00:37:45.679 --> 00:37:49.119
One that's going to be referenced is marine traffic.

00:37:49.599 --> 00:38:04.000
So especially in this digital world that we're all living in now, you can track almost all marine traffic just like you can track all aircraft through transponders or through the marine traffic through GPS.

00:38:04.239 --> 00:38:09.760
That provides a fascinating level of detail that we would have never been able to find in the past.

00:38:10.239 --> 00:38:13.760
So I have found some some pretty good folks.

00:38:13.920 --> 00:38:15.840
One in particular I want to share with you.

00:38:16.159 --> 00:38:21.119
So let's let's jump to him and I'll let him introduce himself to you.

00:38:21.280 --> 00:38:25.599
I just find this sky's very credible and provides a lot of insight.

00:38:25.760 --> 00:38:29.360
Well before legacy media was able to give us this information.

00:38:30.719 --> 00:38:36.159
This the March 1st, 2026 edition of What's Going On With Shipping is the Strait of Hormuz open?

00:38:36.559 --> 00:38:39.280
Sorry, that's the actual name of the of the channel.

00:38:39.440 --> 00:38:40.800
What's going on with shipping?

00:38:40.960 --> 00:38:45.119
I think he introduces himself in this clip or in the next clip.

00:39:01.360 --> 00:39:02.800
So this is a complex question.

00:39:02.880 --> 00:39:08.480
It is not a very clear-cut answer I'm going to give you, but I want you to understand what is happening right now.

00:39:08.639 --> 00:39:13.119
In the Strait of Hormuz, this channel does not talk about politics, doesn't talk about whether or not the U.S.

00:39:13.199 --> 00:39:14.960
should be striking along with Israel, Iran.

00:39:15.119 --> 00:39:16.000
We're not talking about that.

00:39:16.159 --> 00:39:22.719
We're talking about global shipping and commerce, in particular the flow of oil in and out of the Strait of Hormuz.

00:39:22.880 --> 00:39:25.519
So to do that, we're going to go over to marine traffic.

00:39:25.679 --> 00:39:30.880
Anyone who wants to follow this, go load marine traffic on your phone, pull it up on your computer.

00:39:31.039 --> 00:39:32.559
It is the best app, in my opinion.

00:39:35.760 --> 00:39:38.480
This is the Strait of Hormuz right now.

00:39:38.559 --> 00:39:42.000
And in particular, this area here is the strait.

00:39:42.239 --> 00:39:44.079
Up here in the north, this is Iran.

00:39:44.239 --> 00:39:47.280
Iran is all along this coast here, this northern coast.

00:39:47.440 --> 00:39:54.079
And then down here, you have the southern tip here, this is Oman, and then over here is the United Arab Emirates.

00:39:54.239 --> 00:39:58.239
And you'll notice that the strait is pretty denude of shipping right now.

00:39:58.400 --> 00:40:01.920
Green dots represent freighters, red represent tankers.

00:40:02.079 --> 00:40:04.719
Normally you would see a big flow going through here.

00:40:04.880 --> 00:40:08.239
That would give you the indication that the Strait of Hormuz is closed.

00:40:08.400 --> 00:40:11.440
But to me, closed means it's not open for business.

00:40:11.599 --> 00:40:14.800
A door is barred, you can't go through if you want to.

00:40:14.960 --> 00:40:16.400
That's not the case here.

00:40:16.719 --> 00:40:19.519
Ships have checked up on each side of the strait.

00:40:19.599 --> 00:40:30.800
You'll notice these large red dots here, this big, huge, massive anchorage just south of the Strait of Hormuz, another one here off Fujara, and then another one here in the UAE.

00:40:30.880 --> 00:40:32.559
Those anchorages are always there.

00:40:32.800 --> 00:40:36.320
Be clear, you go back in time and go look at this, they're always, always there.

00:40:36.480 --> 00:40:42.559
Ships are always kind of waiting to go into loading ports in and around the Persian Gulf and this region.

00:40:42.719 --> 00:40:58.079
What is happening right now is the ocean carriers, those who operate ships, largely tankers, but there's also other commercial ships that go in and out of here, have decided to basically sit back and wait a minute and let's see what happens between the US, Israel, and Iran.

00:40:58.400 --> 00:41:03.760
The other issue here, and the important one to understand, is war risk insurance.

00:41:04.000 --> 00:41:07.039

Theory 2 Action podcast: Why War? Why Now? and What's Going on with the Strait of Hormuz

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