Lt. Col. Anthony Aguilar: Secretary Rubio Admits Critical Shortage in Interceptors Amid Iran War

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2:07Hi already today's Wednesday September 2nd, 2026, an or dear friend, our brother Anthony Aguilar is here with us. Welcome back Tony. Thank you, Neema. Thank you for having me. Great to have you on Tony. Let's start with what Mark Rubio said about the inner sectors before getting there. We know that in the last two Iranian attacks on Jordan and the first attack we've seen something like 80 or 90 inner sectors trying to inner sep Iranian missiles. They were Iranian said they fired something like 12 missiles or it was 12 13 missiles in fire at Jordan and they use 80 to 90 inner sectors to intercept those missiles. And last night or yesterday at 12 p.m. Eastern time we haven't seen the footage came out of Jordan of Jordan didn't show inner sectors. We haven't seen inner sectors being fired from Jordan

3:11to intercept those missiles. Here is what Mark Rubio said about that, about the shortages of inner centers. I mean, as we've provided that in the past and obviously as you know the whole world is asking for more air and interceptors it's become the number one defense need on the planet not just for Ukraine but on the planet. Countries in the Middle East wanted I know Iran wishes they had interceptors which they don't which is why we're able to act the way we do and do some of the things we have because those things were wiped out by us. But multiple countries around the world I'm worried. Look, it's just a question of availability and obviously I have to remind people the United States has needs like we have our own defense needs we have our own defense requirements and before we can help others we have to make sure that our stockpiles are always sufficient. I think there's a lot that's been reported inaccurately about what you as stockpiles are. I think dangerously too because I think it's some ways our adversaries read that stuff and think it's true and may try to test this and it could lead to conflict. Yeah. Tony first let's sort with the attacks.

4:14American attack on Iran in response to Jordan they hit the multiple GCC countries and you know Kuwait Bahrain and UAE was attacked by drones and starting with that and then getting to interceptors and the way that the United States is Marcarubia is talking about the stockpile. Well, what is dangerous for the United States is not the truth in the stockpile of munitions and interceptors that the United States has in its possession or deployed throughout the world. The danger is in the ineptitude the hubris and the narcissism of this administration from Donald Trump to Marco Rubio to Pete Higgs and the rest of the clowns. In terms of interceptor shortage. This is a clear fact that the United States is significantly dangerous low and not only interceptors that it can use in its own defense in forward deployed bases.

5:17But we are also dangerously behind in production danger ously low in product on hand even in wartime stocks in other geographic combatant commands not just sent com. But if we look at the renewed strikes and the intensity of these strikes and as we talked about this last time Nima with the as the strikes picked up again with the US strikes on La Rock Island and the response from Iran against Jordan and then more strikes from the United States as we anticipated would surely happen. To include a response from Iran and I think that the United States is going to strike yet again over the next subsequent periods of darkness. If not tonight tomorrow night, obviously central command time. So the the nature of these interceptors in that one thing that Marco Rubio highlighted and I do agree with is that the interceptor has now become the weapon of choice

6:20or the weapon of need. However, the the traditional or conventional interceptor such as the patriot or or other fad type systems even even the the iron dome or the elements within the iron dome like David sling have become ineffective when it comes to drone swarms when it comes to low cost munitions that still have great impact because it simply then becomes a war of attrition by you know one you only have 100 interceptors and Iran has the ability in this case and Iran being the the the adversary to the United States has the ability to produce far out more and one of the statistics that Rubio quoted that didn't really make the cut from them from the meat interview. He highlighted that there's not only a severe production gap for the United States but that he stated that Iran manufactures over 100 ballistic missiles a month.

7:24Well the US interceptor production lags far behind and is a fraction of that rate. That's the truth. That's a fact. What is dangerous about that fact is the continuation of hostility in this conflict vice negotiation and actually pursuing a political negotiated treaty. That's the danger. And when you look at Jordan Jordan is going to continue to get hit by Iran because the US bases in Iran or excuse me in Jordan are absolutely legitimate justified military targets and there's more than what most people would think that we have in Jordan. It's not just what we often hear of the bases. We have H five H five is an old military auxiliary one way that's in the northeast portion of Jordan along the M 11 highway.

8:25If you were going from Jordan towards Iraq. It's still used by US special operations and there's there's things that are there that the United States uses such as drones drone bases drone maintenance to support Syria. But also there's capability there that we're using now in Iran. You have the Moffat Salty Air Base. That's what we've heard in the news a lot lately. That's what's been struck lately pretty heavily. There you have F 15 F 16 F 35 parts planes maintenance the aircraft themselves. A wax tanker strato tankers. You also have the King Hussein Air Base. The King Hussein Air Base is also very important. C 130 lift made capability. This is this is Moffat Salty Air Base that you've mentioned. That's right. So if you if you zoom in on a little bit. That's that's Moffat Salty Air Base further into the northeast

9:26kind of in that that peninsula or that finger of Jordan. You also have H five and along there. You have the the King Hussein Air Base. And then you also have the camp camp Titan. T.I.T.I.N. It's not Tintin. It's camp Titan. I first call it Titan. It's Titan named after it's named after someone that's down near the Gulf of Aqaba. But then you also have tower 22 tower 22 is a base at the intersection kind of where where Jordan, Iraq and Syria meet in that try nation. There's a there's a base there called tower 22. It started out simply as guard tower number 22 along the Jordanian border with Syria. And then as the war between the US war on ISIS grew, tower 22 became a very large base.

10:29It's actually now a garrison. It's on top garrison, which has grown significantly drone capability there. So a lot of these bases. It's not just one base. It's not just two base. There are six bases in Jordan that the United States has aircraft aircraft maintenance intelligence support signals intelligence support personnel support. All of the things that the United States is is is instruments of war. Jordan will continue to get struck. We're seeing that. And as we saw in the retaliation or the response to restrikes in this back and forth where there's going to be escalation on each end, what we saw the United States strike. And I I said I specifically said that in the next round of strikes, meaning this latest round that the United States was going to start hitting Banda Robas.

11:29He should be. Which they did. So when you look at that in terms of let's look at this. You know, so LaRocke Island hit previously. Banda Robas is just right across the channel mainland. Over here is where you have Siric and the other islands that were hit. This is the Carmoscon province where most of the strikes last night last 24 hours were and then also up here in Kish Island. This Kish Island chain. So when you look at the connection of these island chains and you look at the strikes that have happened. These are not go ahead. Yep. Yeah. Thank you. This is the Kish Island that you mentioned. This is the Kish Island. Kisham and LaRocke Island is here. Yep. And then Banda Robas there on the mainland within the town. And then Banda Robas is within the greater Harmoose gun province.

12:29Yeah. So when you consider the strikes that have happened in the last 48 on LaRocke Island in the last 24 where we've seen that concentration now. And none of these strike sites are new. We've seen all of this before. Banda Robas. Kish Island was struck before as well. When you when you look at this strike pattern, this is not an attempt. By the United States to open the straight of Harmoose. If anything, this keeps the straight of Harmoose absolutely closed. By state of actually not being able to use it physically because of bombs and missiles and, you know, war happening. So the United States premise of this is to keep open reopen, open the straight of Harmoose,

13:29whichever narrative Donald Trump chooses to pick that day. That what this is to me is a clear indicator that the United States is conducting preparatory air and missile operations, air operations to prepare the environment for naval operations into the straight of Harmoose. And to reiterate, the United States Navy is not operating in the straight of Harmoose. The United States Navy is not operating in the Persian Gulf. The United States Navy has maintained a distant blockade line in the Gulf of Oman. There is no way for the United States to establish a position of relative advantage.

14:29In this case, position of relative advantage within the key terrain being the straight of Harmoose. Relative advantage would be controlling that key island chain from Lorak to Kesham to Kish. That critical island chain because that is the that that Iranian administered truffical blame in the straight of Harmoose. So as I look at this, it's clear to me that the United States is attempting to establish the conditions for increased naval activity, naval operations actually into the straight of Harmoose. That will lead to more conflict. That will lead to more direct confrontation. That will lead to the heightened risk of a US ship being destroyed and lost in sunket sea. Right now, we haven't seen that much direct, direct hits or direct action because all of these naval vessels are maintaining a pretty far position away.

15:38When you close that distance, the risk of confrontation and escalation exponentially increases. And that is what we're going to see in the coming days. Tony, where are those drones? Lucas drones that the United States has produced because they were thinking because they have produced them based on, you know, Iranian drones, Shahedron 136. And they said that this is going to be part of the war. But so far, what we've seen at the United States is using F-35 in the straight of Harmoose to patrol this rate to help the tankers passing through this rate. No sign of Lucas drones and Iranian every time they're hitting a drone, it's MQ-9, RQ-4 or something like that. Yeah, I was getting, I was reaching down from my little drone sheet here, my little, you know, my, I call it the, the menagerie of US drones here.

16:42But so to your point, the Lucas drone is made by a smaller military and industrial defense company called Specterworks. Specterworks is not a Northrop groom in. It's not a Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin covers everything from drones to missiles to reconnaissance to aircraft to naval assets. And you've got Northrop groom and you've got Boeing, you know, they're geared for production. Well, the, the Lucas drone, and I think, you know, it's Lucas is an acronym. It's not, it's not given because of a fancy Greek God or because the God of thunder or, you know, some cheeky name, it's an acronym. Lucas drone, it's the low cost uncrewed combat attack system, the Lucas drone, it's an acronym. In addition to that, many that, that, that low cost uncrewed combat system that, that, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's made by a, by a, by a small producer. So we're not cranking these things out where you have your, your, your Sahid drones, where Elon is cranking these things out hundreds a week, thousands a month.

17:54We're making, we're making very, very, very few of them. This, this small little company Specterworks is a, is a small little company in, in Arizona. Literally out of a, you know, it started out of a, out of a, out of a facility, no bigger than a garage. Now they have a little warehouse. Um, that they're making, you know, that they're making kamikaze drones. I mean, it's, it's like looking at, you know, all your neighbor is up all night and you constantly see like sparks coming from the garage and, you know, like there's, there's always something going on at the neighbor's house. Hey, what are you doing Bob? I'm making kamikaze drones for the US defense, defense industrial conflict. What? Out of your garage? Well, I just got a defense contract. So they're going to give me a nice little warehouse downtown. This is a small company. They're not cranking these things out. So we're not going to see many of them until they're not cranking these things out. So we're not going to see many of them until they're not cranking these things out. So we're not going to see many of them until, and this is, this is where the nefariousness of the military industrial complex comes in. Mark my words. We will see specter works being bought out by one of these larger companies.

19:03I would anticipate it's probably going to be Northrop Grumman so they can integrate it into the MQ family, just like Northrop Grumman did with part of the avionics for general general, I know, a tonics for the Reaper series. It's one of those things to where they buy them out but let them keep their name. So they look like they're diversified. So, yeah, until specter works has more of a production line. We're not going to see hundreds of Lucas drones. So the reason the United States is not responding in kind with our own Lucas drone, which is our response to the Shaheed is because we just don't have it. Tony, do you think that the war going to get to Israel today, we had the Israeli defense minister saying that we are preparing for your own in attack?

20:04What is your perception on the way that Israel is seen what's going on and somehow feeling I was thinking why is he thinking that the Iranian is going to attack Israel? He said that we're preparing for your own in attack. And what does that mean when they call their preparing for that for Israel? Go ahead. If Israel has any military analysts or joint staff analysts that can put themselves into the situation of the adversary and actually think as to what the other will do and not just think to where oh, we got it all figured out. Any military practitioner or planner that thinks that their plan is great and that they have the advantage over the adversary, whether they do or not, is a joint planner that is not worth their salt. You always have to consider that the opponent, the enemy, the adversary has a vote. Every day when I wake up over the last couple days, I have flashbacks to when I was a West Point cadet, when I was a plea, but freshmen.

21:10Because when I was a when I was a freshman at West Point, we have to we had to memorize what was called the days every day on a moment's notice we had to be prepared to answer how many days until some major event, how many days until the Army and even football game, how many days until Thanksgiving break, how many days until Christmas right. So now I have this in my head and it stuck in my head like I was like I'm a freshman at West Point, there are 55 days until the Israeli elections that says of today. As of today, there are 62 days until the US midterm elections. That's not just work days, that's total calendar days. We've been in this war for 186 days as of today. I firmly believe that when we are under we are below that 50 day window for the Israeli elections, which puts us at below the 60 day window for the US midterms that Iran is going to turn up the dial.

22:17On preemptive defensive strikes using the same justification that the United States used in striking it on defensive in nature preemptive defensive in nature. I believe that once we get closer below the 50 day mark for Israel below the 60 day mark towards US elections, which are inherently tied together. The Iran is going to turn up the dial on strikes on tape on on on Tel Aviv on strikes in Israel. To send a message in addition to that, increase the intensity on strikes against US assets, Jordan, Al-Ghidid airbase, potentially Kuwait, depending on what interceptors we still have there. If not the missiles themselves, the actual interceptor systems because they still have radar capability, whether they can shoot something, they can still see.

23:25Potentially in Iraq, there are viable military targets that I'm sure Iran is is is gauging in in Iraq. But then in addition to that, I do believe that Iran is going to continue to bait the United States Navy into confrontation in the straight up from us. As the days approach, I do believe that we're going to see an increase in the intensity and the destruction of Iranian strikes. You mentioned Iraq, we know that Iran has attacked using drones has attacked Iraq yesterday. And the other point in Iraq, Sheikh Akram Al-Khabi, the Secretary General of the Nujba, Nujaba resistance movement, one of the largest factions of the Islamic resistance in Iraq, he warns that it will engage in a decisive battle with occupying forces.

24:34If the United States, if the US military does not withdraw from Iraq by September 30th, this is the deadline. And he stated if even a single soldier remains after this day, we will not let him return safely. And we'll send him back to the United States as a lifeless corpse. Here is what he said, this is the Iraqi we've learned yesterday that Iraqi government rejected the extension of the deal, the contract between the United States and Iraq. And where do you see that going? Well, you know, this is something that I have experienced firsthand in the numerous deployments that I've been to Iraq with. Iraq consistently establishing its sovereignty and drawing the line of United States, you are out at this time.

25:38You have to be out by this time or else. The United States had always been in a position to offer the, you know, in terms of the mafia scenario to continue to offer Iraq offers they couldn't refuse money, protection, presence, power. The United States cannot can't offer those things anymore. The United States can't offer protection. The United States can't offer position of power. The United States cannot offer to continue to to bribe or pay people off within Iraq because the veil has been lifted to where that corruption has has been clearly laid out. But, but furthermore, the United States has demonstrated time and time again that the United States does not has not and will not ever under the current conditions, respect, it ox sovereignty.

26:56Strikes being conducted throughout Iraq by the United States, not just did on on certain, certain targets, but also by the United States striking targets in Iraq still to this day. We still have US soldiers stationed at the Baghdad International Airport complex biop. We still have soldiers in or bill. We have soldiers in bases throughout Iraq. And we strike targets at will within Iraq without coordinating with the government. Happens almost every night, whether it's in the hammering mountains, whether it's Weston and bar, whether it's near, you know, in in Baghdad Central. And Iraq is making it firm now. You aren't protecting us. You're not providing cover. You're not providing security for us. You've made us a target. You've made the region more unstable and dangerous.

28:01And I don't think Iraq is a is in terms of that is necessarily saying let's come by a with all of the GCC nations. But I think that when you consider GCC nations Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Iran. Those nations that share the you know the Gulf Coast of the Persian Gulf that they realize that a way forward. Does not include influence by the United States. So as that draws near the United States is going to be, I believe, forced to depart Iraq. And if if I were in the joint staff, what I'd be looking at right now is how do we prevent the failures? How do we prevent the mistakes of Afghanistan? Where we knew we're leaving. We are leaving. And we waited and we waited and we waited thinking that no, it can't be will stay longer.

29:12And we had and we we we rushed to get out and it was a disaster and it was ugly for the United States. And I do hope that there are joint planners that are looking at this problem set and are planning for the deliberate and organized and I guess in any way of dignity. And I think that's a great part of the structure from Iraq, rather than the forced kicking out, scratching at the floor as we're as we're forced out of Iraq. But yeah, the United States presence in Iraq has gone on for too long at too much of a cost to Americans and to Iraqis. And this will be a moment in history, this war with Iran will be a condition, not the condition, but a condition that's going to lead to that eventuality.

30:14And it's time it should happen. Here is the satellite photo that shows that you know, you're on an impact at the troop building area at the US base in aerial international airport. Yes, honey, you see I've been there. I've been there many times. I know. This is the story of the one as a shipping manager. He's running the dock stocking supplies and making sure every order goes out on time and Granger helps him stay prepared from shipping supplies to PPE to hand tools. He counts on Granger to keep products moving and trucks rolling so his operation runs smoothly no matter the shift call 1-800-GRAGER. Click ranger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done. In a world where AI is changing every role in every industry knowing who actually has deep expertise matters more than ever.

31:19Upwork connects you with the highly skilled freelance professionals with proven track records so you can hire with confidence. Upwork gives your business fast access to highly skilled specialists with deep expertise so you can fill critical skill gaps, launch projects faster and scale support up or down without committing to full time headcount. With business plus, you can access the top 1% of talent on Upwork. AI-powered shortlisting delivers a curated shortlist of top freelancers match to your goals in under 6 hours. No endless searching required. Thousands of growing businesses already trust Upwork to hire highly skilled freelance professionals for everything from one-off projects to ongoing support. It's free to sign up and posting a job is easy. Visit Upwork.com right now and post your job for free. That is Upwork.com to connect with top talent ready to help your business grow. That's UPWORK.com Upwork.com. They hit that building in Iraq.

32:20Yeah, so when you think of the US-based in or Biel, if you were to drive to the EBL, the, excuse me, the, or Biel International Airport, and it is international because at one point they had flights into Turkey and Syria and, you know, it's an international airport. As you drive into the Biel International Airport, you know, the former commercial terminal is now big military, the military complex. And yeah, there's a, there's a, there's a birthing and troop housing area. There's a, there's a gym, you know, there's basically America has turned it into a, a little America. And it's entirely under the control of the United States. There is no shared responsibility. The United States dictates everything there. Yeah, the, I think that when you look at within bases in Kuwait that are, that are susceptible are Arab, John, and if you're looking at bases in Iraq or Biel, if you're looking at bases, and you see those two bases in Kuwait, Arab, John, and Buring, I think Buring will not be hit as much because Buring,

33:48Buring houses the forces of US operations Spartan shield, which is a mechanized unit that maintains a presence. If the United States starts to mobilize operations Spartan sealed the mechanized brigade. Well, that's signaling a hell of a lot more common. That's signaling massive groundwork. Mechanized infantry brigades don't, don't float in the water and, and don't shoot missiles. They are, they are made for ground combat. So I think it on is obviously observing and maintaining a close eye on that. But really it would be camp, Arab, John, where a lot of the defense and intelligence and, and camp, Arab, John does house the, the headquarters of US Army central forward. So just in that little, that crescent there you have Kuwait, US Army central forward, Bahrain, headquarters for US naval fifth fleet or US Navy central in all you did air base, US central command forward.

35:01So all of these key headquarters components mission command of the seven more fighting functions of how the US military operates. You have the Army headquarters, the Navy headquarters of central command, theater Navy theater army. And the headquarters for the geographic combat and command all within a stone store of each other all within range of every ballistic missile that Iranian that Iran possesses. It's a dangerous predicament. You don't think Iran doesn't know that, you know, Iran understands that calculus. So I think that we're going to see the intensity increase on behalf of Iran response and retaliation. There's going to be increased intensity to that, which puts the United States and soon Israel again in a position of do we do nothing and continue to eat this these hits or do we do something which isn't the do something is no longer trying to shoot everything down.

36:21You can't we can't the United States can't try to take everything down anymore. We're either going to do nothing and eat ballistic missiles. Or we're going to do something and the something that we have to do has to take out their ability to produce those missiles fire those missiles move those missiles shoot move and communicate for lack of better terms. We don't know where those launchers are. We don't know where they're being made. We don't know how the Iranian coastal command or the central command shoot move and communicate. We obviously have not figured that out yet. If we had, we would have to put a majority to put six ballistic missiles right to the stovepipe of our major base in Jordan. We haven't figured that out yet. Anybody says that we have. It's simply. Ignorant to the fact of military operations.

37:21We have a lot of footage of Iran. It's just the moment that an Iranian Shah had thrown hits a US spy balloon in Erbil. Yep. Those. So those. Those observation balloons. I'm going to look at the. I want to look up the. I'm going to look up the. We used to. We used to call them mortar magnets. Try to. More. Essentially. It's a. It's a really. It's a large white. Blimp. Looks like. Looks like a miniature version of the good year blimp. It's on a cable. And on this blimp. Is this. You. Very strong. It is. We have two spots in the diagram. And they look like clearer to got the diagram.

38:23But going back to that was. Don contrast. The fact that. Because. You have a reflector instead of filming. And. � What's the product library that. Wasosas. Word and stuff. Uh. But. They look like the patterns. So. OU a. Thanks. It's a. hard to hit that. The fact that they got a dead strike on that means that they have honed the precision of the Sahid-dron system of drones. Remember, there's not just one variant of Sahid, they have various multiple variants. But in that, in order to have hit that, you got to know the precise grid is to where it's anchored, because it's anchored to a, basically a cable housing unit that you can bring it up and down. So in order to know where it's

39:27floating in the sky on the anchor, you got to have the 10-digit grid, not a general area. You got to have the 10-digit grid to where that thing is anchored, to then do the math of 100 meters up on a cable to know where it is to hit it directly. That means that Iran is tuning in the precision of their drones, but they also have an intelligence capability. That's like if someone, you know, if you and your, you and your, you and the family are out of town and you come home and someone broken to your house, and you're like, well, nothing, there's not a window broken, they didn't break in the door, and you go and you look at the video camera and someone just punched in the code. Oh, well, they broke into your house with using the code. Someone gave it to them. Someone gave them the code. So to be able to hit that precise of a target means they've got intel, and that should be freaking the United States out in terms of urbeal,

40:32because it's vulnerable. And remember, the Kurds, not all Kurds are the same Kurds. There isn't one the Kurds. There are Kurds in Iran that are pro-Iranian, that have connections to Kurds in Iraq. The Kurds or, or bio is, is in the, is in the heart of Iraqi Kurdistan. If you're the Kurds, you're also kind of getting tired of America. There's no way that that, that, that, uh, you're the Kurdish people, Tony. You see in the northern part of Iraq, in the western, northwest of Iran, and you go into Turkey, and you go to the Syria. Oh, yeah. This is part of Syria. And, and, and, and, and through Iran, I'm getting my, uh, since we're going deeper into this, I'm referencing my,

41:34I'm referencing my, all things, Kurd wire diagram. So looking at that, if you look at the, the Kurds in the northeast region of Kurdish Iraq, for lack of better terms, you have elements that don't necessarily pledge their allegiance to the United States or even Iraq. Not necessarily loyal to Iran, but they certainly have connections to Kurdish movements within Iran that are pro-Iranian, such as the HRK, the YJRK, the Kurdish Taylor's party, the Kurdish United Front of Iran, the Kurdish struggle agency, you have in Iraq, the Kurdish tribal association,

42:38that was basically exiled from Iran, that have inroads to the PKK and the PKM in northern, northern Iraq. So for someone to say, look at this and be like, nope, the Kurds can't be the Kurds can't be this can't be that, and just name, give the, the Kurds is kind of this, um, this monotheistic title. So that's, that's a very ignorant assessment of the Kurds. So again, going back to that, and I would pull up the, if you want to pull one up for the viewers to see, I don't have a picture printed out of this, of this US observation balloon, just so people can see what we're talking about here. It literally is a, is a white blimp looking balloon that is held up anchored by a cable.

43:43Again, for that to be hit, if it was hit on the ground, okay, lucky shot. You know, you can, you can damage it by hitting in the area. They hit it out of the sky. The only way you can have a dead hit on that thing out of the sky. One of two ways. Someone on the ground is observing it and guiding in the target, lasing a target as they call it, which is not how the Shaki drone operates or part, the other way is that that's the key drone was programmed with a precise on the nose. With, you know, accuracy within a meter, 3.3 feet, 10 digit grid. The only way to get that is knowing exactly where that thing is anchored, and you can't pick that up off of satellite imagery.

44:49Tony, we had the attack, the Hezbollah's attack on Israeli soldiers in southern part of Lebanon. And this is the footage of that. Where do you see the conflict in Lebanon? Do you think that we are somehow on the verge of new escalations in Lebanon? Because they have been somehow silent. I'm talking about Hezbollah was somehow silent and they were ambushings Israeli troops in the southern Lebanon, but they were not attacking in a major way. But today we've seen that the new footage showed that they're using this drone, FV drones, to get to the target and hit the target in southern Lebanon. And yesterday they reported, Israeli reported that Hezbollah is using drones to hit some targets in the northern part of Israel. Leader on they said it was a false, you know, sort of warning that didn't happen.

45:51But the escalation at least is happening in southern Lebanon. And I do believe that in the coming weeks as escalation continues between the United States and Iran directly. That we're going to see escalation increase between Hezbollah and idea forces in southern Lebanon, which is by proxy. Conflict between Iran and the United States, vis-a-vis through Hezbollah and Israel. And I believe that we're also going to see increased tension, increased conflict between Turkish forces and Israel in Syria. And I also believe that we're going to see increased conflict between Saudi, backed, STC and HTC against the Houthis, Iranian, backed in Yemen.

46:55And these conflicts, these seemingly peripheral conflicts are going to escalate more and more. Because each of these major powers, Saudi Arabia, their backing of the HTC, the STC and the fight against the Houthis, Houthis obviously back by Iran. And they're fighting against the occupation, the immoral, illegal occupation of southern Lebanon, Israel backed by the United States, and then in Syria, where you have the budding Syrian government, clearly backed by Turkey with Turkish favor, with Israel attempting to stake its claim to that through bullying and bombing, that we're going to see these peripheral conflicts also escalate as the direct conflict between the United States and Iran also escalate, which will then also include the increase in the direct involvement by China and Russia directly.

48:11And we've seen just in the in the in the diplomatic aspects, you know, Russia has picked aside in this clearly, clearly Russia has picked aside by going by signing a $25 billion nuclear deal with Iran. If Russia has clearly picked aside. And this is the story of the one as a shipping manager, he's running the dock, stocking supplies, and making sure every order goes out on time. And Granger helps him stay prepared. From shipping supplies to PPE to hand tools, he counts on Granger to keep products moving and trucks rolling. So his operation runs smoothly, no matter the shift, call 1-800-GRANJER. Click ranger.com or just stop by. Granger for the ones who get it done.

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50:16Tony, do you think that the case of Jordan, because there were reports that some American troops were hit. The Iranians argued that they killed some American troops in Kuwait and in Jordan last night. How do you find the reports that Donald Trump is getting or his administration is trying to somehow, I don't know, are they covering up the information or the casualties? Because during the war, if I'm not mistaken, so far they said 15 soldiers or forces were killed during the war. What is your assessment? There is a huge gap between what Iran is claiming and what Iran is talking about and what the United States is reporting on that. The only way US service members were not wounded, severely wounded and or killed in these latest strikes on Jordan and Kuwait and Adok in Urbiel is if there were no service members present.

51:34We know that's not the case. There were service members present. Do I believe that this administration is intentionally withholding casualties from the public? Yes, I do. Do I think that this administration is intentionally not only withholding the information on the terms of number of casualties wounded and killed. But doing so under the direct threat of elimination from your position in the military, if you don't go along with it. During this conflict, during this conflict, Pete Hegseth, the United States Secretary of War, has personally fired. Randy George, the chief of staff of the United States Army.

52:36General Chris Donahue, the theater commander for Army Africa, US Army Europe in Europe, former Delta Force commander by the way, phenomenal officer, fired Charlie Costanza, runner up to be part of the joint staff in the future and the commander of the Army's fifth Army in Europe. And what just happened yesterday, maybe day before it. No, I think it was yesterday. Dan Driscoll, the secretary of the Army resigned. Think about that. The United States Army, since this war began, the secretary of the Army and the chief of staff of the Army resigned or fired. It's not over tactics. It's not over how the war is being fought. The secretary and the chief of staff of the Army really don't have a say in operations. That's not that's not there. That's not their duty.

53:39They're administrative. Why would they get fired or quit? I believe it's in direct protest to this administration. Having found perhaps legal loopholes or legal justification. To conceal the truth of the casualties of this conflict. And it wouldn't be the first time in the history of the United States since this has happened. And during the surge in Iraq, there were casualties that I knew of. Because I was there when they were killed. That informing the families, it was withheld far beyond the next of kin, what they call next of kin notification or the next of kin slash funeral arrangements notification period that the, you know, OK.

54:40Next of kin, they've been identified. Why, why has this not been released? So we've seen the United States government with hold conceal opus cake or an otherwise shadow through fog and friction, the nature and truth of the casualties. In this conflict, we're seeing blatant lying. Jordan in Jordan sites were struck. We know that maintenance areas, housing areas, areas where there's F 16 maintenance going on. So unless every US service member that was assigned in Jordan has either left and there's no one there, which is not the case, not not the case call there. There's no service member station there. And all six of those bases we mentioned, there are US service members there. So possibility one, nope, there are service members there, possibility to they're doing nothing all day, except sitting in bunkers with their body armor and their helmets.

55:51We know that they're doing maintenance on aircraft. There has to be a physical human being to prepare the aircraft onto the flight line for the F 16 to fly for the F 22 to fly for the F 35 to fly or to fill the fueler and the tanker. There's human beings that do that. So they're not just sitting in bunkers with their helmets and body armor. They're out there doing things. So that assumptions gone. So on these bases, where we know Iranian ballistic missiles have succeeded in striking, not all of them. I don't think that anybody would argue that all of it on missiles fired towards these bases made it through. But you only need one or two to be successful to kill a lot of people. And receiving end of Iranian ballistic missiles in Berashiva during the 12 day war last year. I have fought in a lot of war. And never have I experienced the level of destruction of indirect fire that I've seen coming from a ballistic missile.

57:01So on only takes one to cause a lot of damage. So even if two or three made it through and hit those bases in Jordan. Yes, there are US casualties deaths and wounded undoubtedly. How many I don't know, but it's not zero. Yeah, Mark Rubius said something so strange to me that in that video that I played for you just in the initial of this talk. He said that countries in the Middle East want these interceptors. I know Iran wishes they had interceptors, which they don't. Why do they need the interceptors because they don't have the patriot system. They don't have that system. So obviously has interceptors. No, it's the one he's talking about the stock file of the United States. He says that Middle East needs needs those interceptors and Iran needs them as well.

58:06Iran doesn't use the patriot system of the fat system or. Marco Rubio as a secretary of state has has become the equivalent to the to the Shamwau guy. And I don't know if you know who the Shamwau guy is. I put him up there on the same level as the My pillow guy. He's trying to sell the Shamwau to a bunch of nations that don't want it anymore. And you know, Marco Rubio said, Hey, you know, everybody wants the patriots and other countries like, no, we, we actually want, we actually want this, this other system, it seems to be doing better. I will agree with the statement that he with part of the statement that he made and that nations are now. Everybody wants in some type of interceptor, right? Look at the deal that Greece just made with Israel. For there for what they're calling the Achilles dome cute right.

59:12Iron dome Achilles dome look it up. That's what it's called Greece has bought a program they're now calling the Achilles dome. So yes, nations are scrambling for interceptor capability. But the things that nations are scrambling for have already become outdated and obsolete. You're not going to, you're not going to, it goes back to the idea of first, when you're attempting to defeat something coming at you, especially in the world of drones or airplanes. So the, to the, to the, to the concept of first principles. What does a drone need to operate? What does it do, right? It flies. So therefore it moves through time and space. It moves along the XYZ axis of our reality, right?

1:00:14All these things that I can develop guns, nets, missiles, all these things that I can develop. All of those things could change. It could fly with no, with no, no communication. It could fly in the blind. It could fly wireguided like they're doing in Ukraine, like they're doing in, in Southern Lebanon. All of these things that can change. And if you're constantly changing the thing that's changing, you're never going to, you're never going to get ahead of the threat. I, I lived this in a, in a dock with the IED threat. When they started hitting us with roadside bombs, what do we do? Put sand, everybody line your vehicles with sandbags. Okay, got it. And then the sandbag and then the vehicles got so heavy, we couldn't drive them. They broke down. So then, so then they just started hitting us with ambushes because our vehicles broke down all the time. And then we went back to, oh, make them light again, but put cage armor around them. And then we couldn't drive anywhere because the vehicle didn't fit down any street.

1:01:15Because we were constantly changing the threat instead of addressing the first principle. And the first principle was, well, in order for it to go boom, something has to tell the something to go boom. So we're like, oh, let's block the signal. And it worked for a while. First principles with these drones is that you have to go after the things that make them operable. And in this case, how advanced drones have now become, that's become very, very difficult to do. And we're seeing like we're in, like in Ukraine, where they're going back to first principle basics. I'm not going to be able to stop this thing there or there or there. I'm not going to be able to stop drones at these things. So I have to develop means to protect me in the last five yards. That becomes very problematic for a country like Israel, who has to defend major populated areas. We're now they're not swatting away little drones. They're trying to swat away drones, well trying to intercept advanced hypersonic ballistic missiles.

1:02:19That's, that's the threat. So iron dome, Achilles dome, Trump's the Trump dome, the golden shower dome. I don't know what Trump's going to call it. It's golden dome. And Trump. But Tony, when it comes to Israeli defense system that Greece is buying, what we know about the Israeli iron dome is that they're capable to defend Israel from, you know, Hamas rockets. And they were not able to defend themselves against FPV drones of Hasbola. Hasbola was hitting them. Yeah, yeah, iron dome. Remember iron dome is is simply the iron dome isn't this invisible bubble shield where, you know, anything that comes in like, we just gets zapped. It has to identify lock on fire.

1:03:21It's very, very good at doing that against rockets. Remember rockets. Missles. Different things, trajectories and flight. How they explode. A rocket is the thing that explodes. Whereas a missile has a, you know, it is a, it is a thing that launches that flies the, the warhead. So the iron dome very effective against rockets. Not effective against swarms of drones. That also are followed by ballistic missiles. It's not the asymmetric threat that Iran poses to Israel is not a, a, a, a, a one, a one handed punch. It's not a, it's not a one ball jugular. It's multiple punches.

1:04:21It's multiple balls in the air. And Israel can't, can't address that. They, they, and they've run out. They've run out of those munitions. So as the United States. And the more, the more the eat on. Bates, baits and pokes, baits and pokes. Oh, look, we got some rockets on the rock island better use your, better use all your missiles. We do. Oh, look, we moved some of these over to kish island better use some more of your missiles. We're going to keep hitting you in Jordan, better use some more of those interceptors or you're going to pay. And we keep, and they're going to keep doing it. They've gone through so many times. But there's no reason. So they're going to, just before. Israel's november, October elections, and then they're going to hammer them. Yeah. So that I would do. Yeah.

1:05:21Thank you so much, Tony, for being with us today. Great pleasure. As always. Thank you, Neema. And I appreciate, have Me on today with these. Not tonight, but into the next night. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you, Neal. So see you soon, Tony. See you soon. See you soon. Thank you. Thank you. Bye. Thank you. Hey, Yadis. This is Nick and Jack from the best one yet podcast. Now, the last company we worked at, they used paylossity and everything just worked. It wasn't until launch our own media business, this show that we realized how where that is. Because paylossity is one delicious burrito of operation. They roll up HR, finance and IT seamlessly into one delicious bite. But everything wraps together like that all at once, your workforce, your tech stack, your business. You don't need more tools, you don't even need cilantro. You need one solution. And that is why paylossity built a single platform to connect HR, finance and IT with AI-driven insights

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