BREAKING NEWS ALERT !! ⚠️ 🚨 IRAN CALLS TRUMP’S BLUFF ON POWER PLANT STRIKES !! ⚠️ 🚨

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It is March 23rd, 2026, and just 48 hours

after threatening to drastically escalate the war

and Iran with attacks on the country's power plants.

President Trump is now claiming that those threats

were made while negotiations were ongoing.

That there have been productive talks

that we could even see a deal to end this war

within the next five days,

which would coincide with his latest deadline.

Iran says those talks never actually happened

and that it's Trump once again backing down

as he desperately tries to keep the stock market

from falling too much while trying to keep oil prices

from rising too high.

But what does Trump's rhetoric tell us

about the current state of this war?

As the U.S. loses, yet another F-15 fighter jet,

as they run low on interceptor missiles,

as Iranian ballistic missiles rain down on key cities

in Israel.

And if the U.S. is seeking talks,

if Trump is desperately seeking an exit ramp

from this war, at least for now,

what is Iran going to agree to?

What are their terms when it comes

to a potential end to the current conflict?

And how can they ensure that this is not just a temporary pause

and that the U.S. doesn't turn around and attack again?

Well, we got into all of that and more

with a special guest earlier.

So let's take a listen to that conversation now.

Joining me now to discuss

is veteran war correspondent Elijah Manier.

Elijah, thanks so much for taking the time to join me.

Thank you for having me.

It's always good to have you on the show.

Now, I wanna get your take on the latest here

as I know that we are now on day 24

of the U.S. and Israel's illegal war of aggression against Iran.

And President Trump is now postponing his own deadline

for planned military strikes on Iranian power plants

for another five days.

Claiming that Washington and Tehran had productive talks

over the weekend and we could soon see an end to this war.

The only problem with that is that Iran's foreign ministry

says that those talks never happen.

And instead of agreeing to negotiations,

Iran has threatened Trump right back,

noting that they would retaliate accordingly

and would completely close the straight-of-form moves.

So how do you view the current state of tensions?

And do you think that Trump's statements are evidence

that he got a bit of a wake-up call?

Is this about him trying to calm down the stock market

and the oil prices or is there more to it?

Indeed, before the opening of the market,

he made his statement and suddenly the market calmed down.

But when the Iranian said, well, actually, no,

it didn't happen, then the market went up again.

And after that, the Iranians pulled out any information

from Tasnim and the Iranian newspaper and agency

who said it didn't happen.

Therefore, they keep quiet about it.

But the animality is somewhere else.

Forty-eight hours ago, Donald Trump said

that he gave the North to make them to the Iranians,

that he's going to bomb all the energy and infrastructure

in Iran.

And today, he's telling us that 48 hours ago,

he held negotiation with Iran and they

have come up with 15 points in the last 48 hours.

But that is not unusual for Donald Trump

to say different things in one sentence, that is normal.

However, we understand now that the Americans are doubling down

on bombing Iran energy and infrastructure

because the Iranians proved honest and trustworthy

when they said we are going to retaliate against the nuclear

side energy, oil of any country that's going to bomb us,

we're going to bomb any country that offers a platform

for the Americans and the Israeli to use their country

to attack us, we're going to attack them.

So if I had done it, so when the Iranians threatened

to do the same to turn the complete Middle East

into an energy blackout, this is where I think

Donald Trump understood actually bluffing

with Iranians at this point is not

going to be productive because the Iranian,

and this is the failure of Trump and his administration

to understand, that Iran is actually fighting

an existential war.

There is no room for bluffing.

And any damage that is inflicted on Iran,

it is severe with one different that the Iranians can absorb it,

but not the Gulf countries.

And Iran is paying the price of spoiling the relationship

with the Gulf countries because according

to the United Nations Article 33-14,

they are offering the platform for the Americans

and the Israeli to attack them.

Therefore, it is the legal right of Iran

to retaliate against these countries.

And it doesn't say only the military bases in the country,

it says against the country because they

are offering to a second country to attack

a third country member of the United Nations.

So I think this push Trump to take into consideration actually

another option, but he did not recall back the Marines

that he sent around 5,000 men.

He did not recall back all the preparation

for invasion or occupation of an island,

or more than an island, or the A10 and the Apache,

that is attacking the coast of Iran.

And all the other measures are still in place.

However, I wonder what is going to attack

because all the military objectives have been exhausted

by the Americans and the Israelis.

And the Israelis are bombing civilian areas,

civilian infrastructure, police, customs, schools, banks, hospitals.

They really destroying the infrastructure of the state,

but not the ruling system, but the state itself.

So all the wealth of the Iranians is what the Israelis

are destroying because they really want the Iranian

to retaliate against the Gulf countries.

You are unprotected, the interception missile system

is very poor.

The Americans put everything in Israel.

And the Israeli interception system is good enough.

If we accept what the Israelis are saying, 90%,

which is not the case of the Gulf countries,

therefore, in the Israeli mind, they

have reached some of the objectives.

Make sure that the Arabs will hate the Iranians

for a very long time.

Turn the Arabs against Iran and make sure

that they come closer to the Israelis.

And we've seen the effect on the United Arab Emirates

who's leader defined today Iran as a terrorist state.

Yeah, the fact that you come out and say that I know you made

a post about this on X saying, well, they

didn't call Israel a terrorist state

when they're carrying out an all-out genocide against the Palestinians.

And you look at the situation that the region is in.

And I thought it was really interesting

because Trump really has this focus on we

have to open the straight-up hormones.

As if you do that, and it solves all of the problems

that we have here.

Well, Iran has noted that it is open,

but not for countries that are enemies of Iran.

But beyond that, we also have the fact

that all of this energy infrastructure

has been severely impacted by this war in just three weeks.

You've got the financial times noting

that Qatar's export of liquefied natural gas,

which is around one-fifth of the world's supply

will come to a halt in the next 10 days.

You also have the economist describing the situation

by saying even the best-case scenario for energy markets

is disastrous, noting that if the war ended tomorrow,

it would still be weeks, if not months,

before oil production was able to ramp back up in the Gulf

before repairs are completed at the South Park's gas field

or Qatar is able to start exporting LNG again.

So what does this tell us about the position

that the entire region is in?

When Trump keeps trying to downplay the situation

and act like it's just about the straight-up hormones,

but the damage that has been done

is putting us in a situation that is going to take years

to repair.

Well, you've raised an excellent point.

I'm going to start with the easiest one.

And yes, you're right.

For example, Qatar said an installation that costs 26 billions,

we have damage of 20 billions.

And the end of the war can be very near or can be far,

but at the end of the war, because the war is going to stop,

it doesn't mean repairing all the damages

that this war has caused.

And that is going to leave a mark for a very long time

in the Middle East on all countries involved.

Now, what is interesting in what you're mentioning

is suddenly the entire war is about the straight-up hormones.

It's no longer changing the regime.

It's no longer participating in the selection

of the Granatullah, it's what Trump said.

It's no longer allowing people to turn against the ruling

system in Iran.

It's no longer controlling the oil of Iran

and the wealth of Iran is no longer destroying

the nuclear and missile program.

It's about the straight-up hormones.

And the straight-up hormones, as you said, is no closed.

The problem with the straight-up hormone,

it is closed for the Americans and the Israelis

because they have started an unlawful war.

However, the insurance companies don't want to allow

tankers to go through the straight-up hormones

because the risk is too high.

And this is why the market is going a little bit crazy.

Now, today, it has settled down a little bit,

but the market is on the verge of collapse

because everybody knows that Iran can still use

the bubble mandate and the retie.

The Saudis and some of the Gulf countries

are still capable of selling some of their oil

to Riyumba on the retie.

If that closes, the world's going to tremble

and we know everything is about economy.

So for Donald Trump to say the straight-up hormones,

it's because he's looking for a way out.

If he solved the problem of the state of hormones

that is actually not a problem because the moment

him and the Israelis stop bombing Iran,

the problem of the state of hormones will be solved.

However, not the war will not end

because Iran doesn't want a ceasefire.

As Donald Trump said today, and he understood the lesson,

he said there's going to be a lasting ceasefire

for a very long time.

So actually, he's adopting the Iranian demand

and one of the first conditions that a ceasefire

cannot be accepted.

But the end of the war with guarantee

that this war is not going to pick up again.

And we have seen how Iran, in six to eight months,

managed to refill itself with so many missiles

and conducting a war of attrition

that Iran thought it might last for many years.

This is why there is an economy in the missile

but not stopping of sending precision missiles.

Now, it's going to be very complicated

because Donald Trump said he's going to accept anything

that he would say and he will impose it

among Benjamin Netanyahu.

And Benjamin Netanyahu said we do not accept a bad deal

which means he will accept a deal made by Donald Trump.

However, the Iranists will not stop the war

without including the entire Middle East

and that includes Lebanon and Iraq.

So we still know that closed from the end of this war

because there are still main elements that are not solved.

And we know that the Israeli Prime Minister,

main campaign was about him becoming a superpower

in the region and achieving the objective

but so far he achieved zero objectives.

He did not destroy Hamas, Hamas still alive

in control of the part of Gaza

that is not under the Israelis.

Hezbollah still active on the contrary

is launching more missiles than Iran on the Israelis

is stopping more than four divisions in the South of Lebanon

that are trying to occupy a very small tiny area

and we talk about four divisions

talking about 40 to 50,000 men equipped

with all the drones, the missiles, the artillery

and the Air Force.

So all of that require a lot of negotiation

but again, negotiating with home

with Steve Whitkov and Jared Kushner,

they are incompetent, they are a state dealer.

They know nothing about the technicality

of the nuclear program.

This is why the British were there in Oman

during the last negotiation

and the British said, well, there is a breakthrough

as the Oman for a minister who acted in between

and go between the Iranians and the Americans

and they all said Iran offered something

that never happened before, not even in JCPOA in 2015

but Jared Kushner and Steve Whitkov

who do not take any notes, who understand nothing

about the technicality of the nuclear program.

I heard him, he doesn't even know how to pronounce

the enrichment uranium and what are the advance IR1234560,

he doesn't know anything about them.

Well, it is all about them

and it's all about the quantity of uranium and rich

and the percentage and how Iran can have a small perception.

They come and they want to know, yes or no.

It doesn't work in negotiation either, yes or no

and it led them to a war

because they went back to Trump and they said,

Iran is not honest because Iran didn't say, yes,

I agree, I submit to you and everything you're saying.

They are very limited in their negotiation.

So again, this is not the end of the war.

At the beginning of the negotiation

but we're still negotiating under fire.

And I think that that's definitely good to keep in mind

especially as you have Trump in this position

where he's claiming, oh, it can be wrapped up

by the end of this week or, oh, you know,

he claims that he's back to Whitkov

and Kushner negotiating exactly as you said,

Iran's not going to accept that.

They don't want to have to deal with these two idiots

that just got us into this war to begin with,

let alone negotiations with the party

that they know that they can't trust.

And I know one of the things about the last three weeks

that has been exposed to the world

is just how bad the US military is

at fighting an actual war

because according to Central Command,

they are more accident prone than ever before.

I mean, the video going around

of the F-15 fighter jet that was shot down over Kuwait.

They're insisting, no, no, it was just a malfunction

and they have similar excuses

whether it be for the radar systems damage,

the MQ-9 Reaper drones taken down the refueling tankers,

the F-35 that just happened to get shot down

out of the air even though it's supposed to be

this grand stealth fighter jet.

I mean, we're talking about billions of dollars

and damage that the US has sustained in a matter of weeks

and that's not even taking into account

the years of ammunition that they have used in this war.

So when it comes down to the position that the US is in

how much longer not only can it continue in this war

but can Israel and all of these Gulf monarchies

compared to what Iran has prepared for

and as you were noting this prolonged existential war

that they are ready to fight,

how do you view the position that the US and Israel are in here

and really how desperately they actually do need talks

to try to get some sort of a pause on this war

before it gets even worse than it already is.

Good point.

Now there is a reality here.

The war that these Americans conducted against Afghanistan

at the time of the Mullah Omar,

he decided to leave Kabul

and this is how the Americans managed to occupy the capital

but did not submit Afghanistan because after 20 years

they gave back the power to the same Taliban

they started to fight against.

The war in Libya, I covered the war in Libya

and I was there and I met even with the son of Gaddafi

and all the responsible and I were convinced

that the war is going to end at the end of August

and all that was a theater

and they never understood that was a real war

to top in Gaddafi and to create a havoc in Libya.

So the Libya did not fight against the Americans

and against NATO.

They thought this is going to be over soon

and before that the Libyan allowed the Spaniard,

the French and all the Western countries

to come and inspect their missiles,

their nuclear program they gave up on it immediately

because they want to give security

and assurances to the West.

So they fought a country that was not willing to fight.

In Iraq Saddam Hussein was completely crippled

in his economy and the will of the army to fight back.

So they went to Iraq and it was easy to control the country

when to appoint that Saddam was falling from the inside.

They did not need to send troops

and this is another war that I covered

on the ground for nine years since 2003.

So they are now facing a country that is much less powerful

than the American that is stronger.

They have the strongest military in the world

and these really they have the strongest military in the Middle East

but they are facing a country willing to fight back

with the strong ideology and a battle of survival

willing to accept hits and many hits

because if the Americans have conducted

15,000 attacks and the Israelis 8,000 you can be sure

they've dropped many tons of explosive on Iran

but you see people going in the street,

Iran is 1,648,000 square kilometers.

You don't see really this damage

as I went to the suburb of Beirut

and before that I'm told the total of building damage

are 400 and that was big number

but there are 25,000 buildings in the suburb of Beirut.

So you really need to look for these buildings

to look where they are and to understand

when actually there was a war there.

So if a side that is ready to fight back,

they're not going to win

and this is why Americans when they accept to talk

and they've been advertising that we are willing to talk

and the Iranians are saying we don't want to talk,

we don't want to talk to whom

because you are part of the problem, not the solution.

So that means Benjamin Netanyahu

because we know a golden rule,

America always asks for a ceasefire

when Israel is coming to an edge

and coming to a term of the war.

Now we have seen how the interception of missiles

has been reduced and they asked for $680 million bomb

from the Americans but what about manufacturing

enough interception missiles?

What about Iran managing to do like it hit the Mona

and are in the last two days

in one missile 175 casualties in Israel.

So all that is building up and eating up

what Benjamin Netanyahu can claim as a victory

because first of all Israel has bombed all of the objectives

that it had in its bank of objectives.

Secondly, they crippled the Iranian economy

and if there are sanctions on Iran after the war,

Iran will not find it that easy to reconstruct everything.

Third, they hit many of the missile program

and the missiles warehouse it, no.

All obviously because Iran is fighting back

and is still fighting at least between 10 to 15

missiles and drone per day.

Therefore, there is a lot of stock

and Iran is launching missiles from the middle,

longer range missiles rather from the edge.

They close the Iraq to reach Israel faster

and from a shorter distance.

So when there is a ceasefire, look for Israel.

It's not Sheikh Sheikh Lafam, it here, look for Israel

and Israel once the end of the war

and Donald Trump will never go and stop the war

without Benjamin Netanyahu asking him.

But Netanyahu is not going to say it.

Netanyahu cannot say I aren't for a ceasefire

but the ceasefire now has, as I said,

many problems is Israel is going to stop the war on Lebanon

or not, Iran is not going to stop

if Israel will continue the war on Lebanon.

The war in the Middle East has to stop.

That's a request of the Iranians

formulated by Abbas, Iraq, the foreign minister

and I don't think Iran is going to change that.

That's also a really important point.

And I'm glad that you bring that up

because the last thing I wanted to get into

was the state of Hezbollah and it's continued war,

not only on Israel, but you also have Hezbollah

in this position where they're having to fight back

against the US back to Lebanese government

that apparently doesn't understand that Hezbollah

is the only thing standing between them

and a fall on Israeli invasion.

So when it comes to the overall state

of the axis of resistance, I know that,

in the aftermath of the genocide

and the assassination of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah,

there were a lot of people that said

that the axis of resistance as a whole is done

and it's not going to be rebuilt.

How do you see the resistance right now,

especially when it comes to Hezbollah

and the role that they are not playing

and truly making sure that Israel never has a day of rest?

I'm glad you asked this question.

Since the last three weeks and we are in week four,

we did not hear Benjamin Gagnahu

bragging about killing Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah anymore.

Because he saw that eliminating a leader

did not actually change the strengths of Hezbollah.

And because Hezbollah waited for 15 months

giving the opportunity to the Lebanese government

to use diplomacy that the Lebanese government

claim is the only solution to deal with Israel

and failed, Hezbollah was extremely clever

in starting and engaging the war with Israel

while for Israel the main objective was Iran.

And we have seen the result

and why I'm saying clever is because the bulk

of the bombardment of the Israelis

is going toward Iran.

They know sending bomb that they know bombarding Lebanon

and they didn't in 2024.

They more concentrated on Iran.

So the calculus of the Hezbollah was excellent

and strategically was really the right time to walk

and get involved into this war

because Israel is going to come sooner or later.

And then link itself to Iran cease fire

but at the same time received less damage than Iran

and less damage than 2024.

So these Israelis were forced to fight on more than one front

and this is what happened.

Secondly, during the 2024 war

the killing of the first and the second level of leadership

created huge confusion with Hezbollah.

Inevitably because it's a secretive organization

the Hezbollah leadership, the new staff that came in

from the top to the lower rank

were not in contact with the leadership

to receive the proper decision to fight back.

Those who were fighting still were those responsible

for the geography in the south of Lebanon

that do not need orders to stop these Israelis

and engage with them.

But the decision to fire against Tel Aviv or Haifa

needs the top level in the echelon

and the top level was not in contact with everybody

else in the missile system and the missile unit

from the long range to the mid-range missile unit.

Therefore in the last 15 months

Hezbollah prepared for this war

with or without Iran and waited for the right moment

when Israel was really doing all the effort possible

and all the military resources to attack Iran and sneak in.

That was an excellent move.

Now what Hezbollah is doing is exactly what Hezbollah did

in 1980s and in 2000 and 2006

they are engaged with the Israelis.

Sometimes they have a static defense line.

Sometimes they have kinetic defense line

allow the Israeli to come in

and then they fight them back to inflict more damage

and more casualty.

That's the guerrilla warfare.

Now the government decided to consider Hezbollah as outlaw

just days before the beginning of the war

and for Hezbollah was a really tough decision

if they do not start war with Israel

that's going to start it anyway

then the Lebanese army will start chasing and arresting them.

And at the beginning I heard many people

who are anti-Hezbollah were saying Hezbollah is weak,

defeated, we need to take back the control of the government

and now they say something completely different.

Now they are saying where we were surprised

we didn't understand that Hezbollah was that strong.

We did not know that Hezbollah has such quantity of missiles

to fire back on Israel.

We did not know that Hezbollah had the will to confront

four divisions on the borders.

And the last 24 hours we heard the president

who gave the orders to the Lebanese army to withdraw,

who gave the orders and approved and pushed the government

to consider Hezbollah military branch as outlaw.

Yes, they said condemn these really attack

and said Israel is violating the Lebanese sovereignty.

He suddenly waking up because Lebanon is no longer

going to be before these three weeks,

like after the three weeks.

After the three weeks, Hezbollah has a lot to say

and the Lebanese government will have to listen,

change the laws and make sure to take into consideration

that is dealing with a force that the Lebanese army

cannot do what this force is doing, did not pull out

and took replaced the Lebanese army position

that the Lebanese army withdrew

because it is incapable of fighting Israel

but Hezbollah is capable of fighting Israel.

So who is the mad person who's going to order

the Lebanese army to fight a force

that is doing the job of the army

and can fight Israel when the Lebanese army can't?

This is why there's a new rule of engagement

that is going to be imposed on Lebanon after this war

and what Benjamin Netanyahu and not Senegal here

but he relieved Hezbollah when he ordered all the shia

to evacuate the south of Lebanon and the suburb and the Bicar

because this is when Hezbollah said,

okay, I was concerned about my people,

you asked them to leave, now I have nothing to lose.

Yeah, and they did Hezbollah tried,

they tried to work with the ceasefire,

Israel violated it just about every day.

And exactly as you said, Hezbollah didn't go back

to war with Israel immediately,

they waited until the time is right.

And now we are seeing as Israel is in a position

where it's having to deal with all of these attacks,

it's having to deal with a lack of interceptor missiles

and it is bringing this war to a very pivotal point.

I know that there is certainly a lot at stake here

all around and I really appreciate you taking the time

to join me today to break down all of the latest here,

Veteran War Correspondent Elijah Manier,

thank you so much for your time and insight.

It was a pleasure ratio, thank you for having me.

If anything in this video resonated with you,

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