Fox News TV - Panelists Aaron Cohen and Hugh Hewitt evaluate President Donald Trump’s foreign policy towards the Middle East on ‘Hannity.’
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00:00Joining us now, Israeli special ops veteran Aaron Cohn, Fox News contributor Hugh Hewitt.
00:05All right, I thought the announcement today, Aaron, was a really big deal.
00:11There was a bombardment, the likes of which people were pretty unfamiliar with,
00:16over a thousand separate attacks. Didn't get a lot of fanfare in the press.
00:23Then the Houthis attacked Ben-Gurion Airport, and the Israelis hit their major airport
00:29much harder. They seem to have now just given up and given in. Is this an indicator of where
00:35things are going in the Middle East generally, especially Iran?
00:38Yeah, that's a good question, Sean. I think that the pressure cooker campaign that the U.S. has
00:46been putting on the Houthis, combined with Israel's follow-up selective strikes, are speaking directly
00:53to Iran. And that's, again, the language that this whole region, it's the only language they
00:57understand. America hit Yemen hard, and it's been going on for weeks. And Iran's getting a taste
01:05of what this could look like, and Trump's not playing around. And I think that bleeds right
01:11into that Iranian nuclear program, which is Trump knows that Iran's trying to inch their way, Sean,
01:17towards nuclear-grade capabilities. It's not a secret. But what's even less of a secret is that
01:24the Middle East now understands that Trump is very clear, because he said it today, Iran will not get
01:33a nuclear weapon. It's never going to happen. And if Iran tries to inch their way towards any centrifuge
01:40or any weapons-grade uranium or any secret sites or any secret places where that uranium can't be
01:47inspected, President Trump's not going to have it. And again, like we say in Hebrew,
01:53that's the language of the Middle East. And Trump is finally feared, which is the only way to deal
02:02with this region, Sean, on the macro picture. You've got to be strong. Otherwise, you're going
02:08to keep sneaking around and playing. But Trump making these announcements is finally setting a tone
02:13that's going to calm down and create that stability, in my opinion.
02:17The president's been clear, as Aaron said, you, that the Iranians must dismantle their nuclear weapons
02:26program, that they can never have a nuclear weapon. And he said he would even lead the effort to
02:30prevent it from happening, which you can interpret as he will take out their sights if necessary.
02:36The Iranians know we have the capability of doing it. They've been given an opportunity.
02:41They've been given a choice here. Marco Rubio on this very program brought up the issue that,
02:46okay, we've got to have American inspectors. They have to literally, you know, get rid of their
02:52nuclear program. We'd need American, you know, Americans observing this. And then anywhere,
02:59anyplace, anytime inspections to keep them honest. And if they want fuel rods, they can have those
03:05for a nuclear power facility that will be provided from outside the country. America seems to be
03:11willing to go in that direction. The question is, does the Iranian leadership get that? Do the
03:17mullahs get that? And the one danger, the one factor, there are a lot of bad actors that have
03:22nuclear weapons, but not people that believe in the ideology of convert or die, or caliphate,
03:29or that if you kill the infidels, you're rewarded in heaven. That to me is the big distinction with
03:35Iran versus other countries, even bad countries.
03:39Sean, you're right. They have an ideology which is not only fanatical, it doesn't mind end times.
03:45I'm sure Aaron would agree with that. The one thing President Trump seems to say every single day
03:50of his second term is that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and that he will move if he has
03:56to, to support Israel in making sure that they can't build one. Every day. He says it probably
04:01twice a day on some days. So the messaging is very clear. When he wants to be very clear,
04:06he is very, very clear. He teased us today with this big announcement. I hope it's the Abraham Accords
04:10adding Saudi Arabia, and that would be fantastic. We have to wait and see. But the one thing he
04:15doesn't mess around with is the messaging to Iran. Ayatollah Khamenei must know. He has a choice.
04:22Open up the doors, take out the centrifuges, let us smash them, turn over all the enriched uranium,
04:28dismantle it all, or we will do it for them, with or without Israel, though probably with Israel.
04:33And I think since Israel is the equal of any ally America has, probably with them,
04:38but it's the clearest message of a presidency that has a very emphasis on being clear with our
04:44enemies. It works. It's working very well. Well, the one thing that can happen is they can't get
04:50nuclear weapons, especially not on Donald Trump's watch, and he's been clear. Aaron, thank you. Hugh, thank you.