Democracy Now! Tuesday, March 3, 2026

0:00From New York, this is democracy now. We have the strongest and most powerful by far military in the world and we will easily prevail. We're already substantially ahead of our time projections but whatever the time is, it's okay, whatever it takes. The U.S. is sending more troops and fighter jets to the Middle East as the death toll mounts in the region. After the U.S. and Israel launched an unprovoked attack on Iran four days ago. Iranian drones have hit U.S. embassies and Saudi Arabia and Kuwait while Israeli troops move deeper into Lebanon. This comes as Secretary of State Marco Rubio

1:01defends the preemptive U.S. strikes on Iran. President made the very wise decision. We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces and we knew that if we didn't preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties. We'll get the latest on the U.S. Israeli attacks on Iran and look at the escalating regional war. Plus, we speak to economist Michael Hudson who says the U.S. Israeli attack was to prevent peace, not to advance it, all that more coming out. Welcome to Democracy Now, Democracy Now.org, the war in peace report. I'm Amy Goodman. Iran's state broadcaster says U.S. and Israeli attacks have killed 787 people since President Trump joined Prime Minister Netanyahu in a mass of bombing campaign, striking 153 cities and more than 500 sites across Iran since Saturday.

2:06Much of the violence is directed at Iran's capital to Iran where thunderous explosions rang out for a third night in a row and into the daylight hours. Residents spoke to scenes of widespread destruction with city streets littered with debris from collapse buildings. One attack hit New Far Square in eastern Tehran, flattening buildings and killing over 20 people. Dropsite news reports. Two explosions hit the area, a smaller strike followed by a larger double tap attack that devastated much of the neighborhood. One Monday mourners and the southern city of Minab held a mass funeral Monday for 165 schoolgirls and staff killed Saturday. On the first day of the U.S. Israeli strikes, when a missile hit a girl's school, meanwhile, red alert sirens have been activated across much of Israel, with the Israeli military reporting missile interceptions over West Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Elant. On Monday, Ali Larjani, the Secretary of the Iranian

3:11Supreme National Security Council warned, quote, Iran, unlike the United States, has prepared itself for a long war, he said. Iran's nuclear agency says there's been no leakage of radiological materials after a strike on its Natanz nuclear facility by the U.S. Israeli coalition. Officials said the strike damaged the entrance to the site in his Fahan province, but there were no signs of increased radiation. On Monday, Rafael Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency said he'd seen no indication that Iran's nuclear facilities have been damaged during the latest U.S. Israeli strikes. We haven't seen major military activity targeting the nuclear facilities. We have been looking at different satellite images. There might be something there, but not significant or

4:18comparable in any way to what we saw last time. Global energy prices are climbing and Iran's continued attacks on oil and gas and for sure, across the Gulf. On Monday, a commander in Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps declared the Strait of Hormuz closed, saying any ships attempting to cross the narrow shipping channel will be set afire. About a fifth of all oil consumed worldwide passes through the strait each day. At least three oil tankers have been struck so far, Qatar's state-owned fossil fuel company suspended all liquefied natural gas production after two of its facilities were hit. That followed a drone attack that halted operations at Saudi Arabia's largest domestic oil refinery. Oil production has also halted in Iraqi Kurdistan and in the Tamar gas field in the Mediterranean Sea off Israel's coast. Saudi authorities say two Iranian drones hit the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh, causing what they described as a limited

5:23fire and minor damage. The strikes came after the U.S. State Department urged Americans in 14 mid-east countries to leave. Meanwhile, Middle East eye reports the Trump administration stone-walling request by some Gulf states to replenish their supplies of air defense interceptor missiles, which typically cost about $4 million each amidst reports that even the Pentagon may run low on interceptors in a matter of weeks. Iran's been launching $20,000 one-way attack drones at Gulf nations hosting U.S. military bases with about 10 percent of the drones slipping past defenses. Israeli soldiers have invaded parts of southern Lebanon in Israel's largest escalation of fighting there since it signed a ceasefire deal with his Bala in late 2024. Israeli air strikes have hit the capital Beirut for a second consecutive day targeting residential neighborhoods. They also struck Lebanon's Bekha Valley and the southern suburbs of Beirut.

6:28The Lebanese health ministry says the death toll from the attacks has climbed to 51 with 154 injured. Meanwhile, his Bala claimed an attack on an airbase in northern Israel. In the Gaza Strip, the world food program says a border crossing pivotal to providing food and supplies to Palestinians is reopening after Israel closed Gaza's borders on Saturday as it began its attacks on Iran. Despite the reopening of the Karam Shalom crossing, human rights and aid groups have accused Israel of reinstating a starvation policy in Gaza. Philippe Lazarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, wrote, quote, after more than two years of unspeakable suffering and a spreading man-made famine, people still lack the most basic supplies despite increases in aid since the ceasefire. Lazarini said. President Trump made his first public remarks Monday since unilaterally bringing the United States into a war with Iran. Trump spoke from a White House ceremony, where he awarded the

7:33Medal of Honor to three Army soldiers. Even as the Pentagon said, the US military death toll from what it's calling Operation Epic Fury had risen to six. Trump dedicated a few moments to honor the service members who died before launching into a lengthy monologue about his renovations to the White House, including his plans to build a new ballroom. I picked those drapes in my first term. I always like gold, but I think we can save a lot of money. I just saved curtains, but it will be spectacular. The most beautiful ballroom. I believe it's because I built many a ballroom. I believe it's going to be the most beautiful ballroom anywhere in the world. On Capitol Hill, Secretary of State Marco Rubio joined top generals and intelligence officials in a classified briefing for select members of Congress Monday. After the closed door briefing, Rubio told reporters a president had opted to join Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's

8:34planned war in Iran rather than trying to stop the Israeli assault or even to avoid getting involved. President made the very wise decision. We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn't preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties. Meanwhile, MSNOW is reporting that when FBI Director Cash Patel fired a dozen FPI personnel last week because they were part of the investigation into Donald Trump's mishandling of classified documents, Patel targeted an elite counter espionage unit that investigates threats from foreign adversaries and specializes in Iran. The US military may have used artificial intelligence tools made by tech company Anthropic to aid in its deadly air attack on Iran. The Wall Street Journal in Axios reported the Trump administration's decision came despite Anthropic's announcement last

9:38week, rejecting the use of its Claude AI model. From being used from mass domestic surveillance or in fully autonomous weapons systems, the journal reported US military officials use the AI tools for intelligence purposes and to help select targets. On Friday, President Trump ordered all federal agencies to stop using Claude denouncing Anthropic as a quote, radical left AI company, unquote, after Anthropic refused to concede to a Pentagon ultimatum Friday for full access to its AI tools. Uncapital Hill calls are growing for lawmakers to regulate online betting platforms known as prediction markets amidst allegations of insider trading that includes profiteering from US military strikes. Bloomberg reports $529 million was traded on contracts tied to the timing of the strikes on the polymarket prediction market. One polymarket account called

10:40MAGA My Man made more than a half million dollars betting on the US attack on Iran with the first trade placed just over an hour before the news broke publicly. This echo similar bets on the US military operation Venezuela placed on polymarket and other prediction markets, including Calshy. Donald Trump Jr. sits on polymarket's advisory board and his venture capital firm has invested tens of millions of dollars in the company. Both the Justice Department and consumer financial protection bureau ended active investigations into polymarket after Trump returned to the White House last year. In Texas, voters are taken to the polls today for a closely watched Democratic primary between Congressmember Jasmine Crockett and state representative James Tallerico who are vying for a highly contested Senate seat in a heated midterm election that could determine which political party will control Congress during Trump's final two years in office.

11:40incumbent Republican Senator John Cornyn who served in the Senate for over two decades is facing off against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the GOP primary. Both are Trump's supporters. Crockett is a progressive, has staunchly denounced Trump's policies while her opponent Tallerico has appealed to Republican voters and put his Christian faith at the center of his campaign. In Minnesota, the Justice Department's indicted another 30 people and federal crimes for participating in a peaceful protest in January at a St. Paul Church or one of the pastors worked for ICE. Attorney General Pambondi confirmed over two dozen people have been arrested. The new indictments come about a month after independence journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort and prominent civil rights activists are returning to Kema Levy Armstrong. We're also charged for what the Attorney General called their roles in the protests at city's church. They were covering it. In related news,

12:41a federal judge has summoned Minnesota's US Attorney Daniel Rose and in several ICE officials to appear in a St. Paul court today over violations and immigration cases. The officials are facing civil and criminal contempt charges for repeatedly ignoring court orders, including refusing to return belongings such as cell phones, cash, and passports to immigrants who are released from detention. This comes as a separate federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to bring back a wrongfully deported immigrant to the United States. Amelia Pena Jimenez was sent to Mexico despite two court orders mandating his release from detention Minnesota. A court filing said Jimenez may have been denied access to a lawyer before being forced to sign removal documents that were not translated into Spanish. His case is among hundreds of complaints that have been filed in Minnesota courts. And prominent Iraqi human rights defender and feminist

13:44advocate Yannar Muhammad was killed in an armed attack on her home in Baghdad on Monday. Yannar had reportedly returned to Iraq from Canada a few days before her murder by two unidentified gunmen who opened fire as she stood outside her home. Yannar Muhammad was the co-founder and president of the organization of women's freedom in Iraq. In 2003 she founded the first women shelter in Iraq to protect women from trafficking and so-called honor killings becoming the target of death threats over her activism. She was a frequent guest on democracy now following the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. We spoke to her in 2022 when over two dozen people were killed in Baghdad after armed supporters of the powerful Iraqi cleric Makdada Al-Sader clashed with government forces. And the strange thing is that those who started the demonstration that led to the clashes to the

14:47killing and to the bombing around the city nobody dares to challenge them or to speak any bad word against them. It's as if I'm living the days of Saddam Hussein all over again where everybody is scared of a single person and nobody dares to say anything. It's a terrible situation. Yannar Muhammad was killed yesterday to see all our interviews with her go to democracynow.org and those are some of the headlines. This is democracynowdemocracynow.org the war in peace report. I'm Amy Goodman in New York joined by Juan Gonzales in Chicago, Taiwan. Hi Amy and welcome to all of our listeners and viewers across the country and around the world. The U.S. is sending more troops and fighter jets in Middle East as the regional war expands four days after the U.S. and Israel assassinated Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hamani and struck sites across Iran. Iranian authorities say at least 787 people have died so far

15:53on Monday a mass funeral is held for the 165 people killed in an attack on a girl's school in the Iranian southern city of Minab. Most of the people killed were children. UNESCO condemned the strike saying quote the killing of pupils in a place dedicated to learning constitutes a grave violation of the protection afforded to schools under international humanitarian unquote. Israel is also accused of striking the Gandhi hospital in Tehran. Iran is retaliated by launching four days of strikes on Israel and U.S. allies across the region. On Monday Iranian drones hit the U.S. Embassy in Saudi Arabia. The Pentagon's now revealed six U.S. soldiers died in an Iranian attack on a military facility in Kuwait. The U.S. State Departments urge U.S. citizens in over a dozen Middle East countries to leave.

16:54The war is sent oil and gas prices skyrocketing. On Monday a commander in Iran's revolutionary guard corps threatened to set ablaze any ship the passes through the strait of Hormuz. Meanwhile Israeli ground forces are moving deeper into Lebanon as Israel and has changed rocket fire. On Monday Israel struck the Beirut office of Aminar TV. Israeli strikes have killed at least 52 people in Lebanon so far. The Trump administration continues to give shifting rationales for why it attacked Iran amidst ongoing negotiations over Iran's nuclear program. Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke Monday. President made the very wise decision. We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces and we knew that if we didn't preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks we would suffer higher casualties. In a social media post early today President Trump said the United States could fight wars

17:56quote forever claiming it has quote virtually unlimited supply of weapons. Trump expressed a similar message at the White House Monday. We have the strongest and most powerful by far military in the world and we will easily prevail. We're already substantially ahead of our time projections but whatever the time is it's okay whatever it takes we will always and we have right from the beginning we projected four to five weeks but we have capability to go far longer than that. We begin today's show with Nagar Motezavi, Iranian American journalist host of the Iran podcast senior fellow at the center for international policy. Nagar thanks so much for joining us again after a special broadcast on Saturday when the strikes began. Can you talk about what's happened on the ground at this point? I know that

18:58most of the internet, almost all of the internet is down in Iran. Good morning. Thanks for having me. Yes. So as you said on the first day of the attack we saw that elementary school in the city of Meena being one of the target 160 children killed and I was just looking at videos from the funeral of that of those children in that city and there seems to be a very very large crowd essentially coming out in that town to agree for those children. We've seen civilian infrastructure being part of the targeting and the death toll on the Iranian side is rising over 500 the latest I saw mostly civilians and it's just very difficult to get in touch with people communication is very limited and it's just this feeling of horror and anxiety for those who are on the ground in Tehran especially people are hearing explosions

20:03and it's not very clear what the targets are and those who can leave the city have been either left or have been trying to leave the capital but the attacks are also across the country and it's it's just reminding people very quickly of the June war. Last year the 12th day war when Israel attacked Iran and then the US joined but then also starting to people who remember the 1980s war between Iran and Iraq are starting to have sort of memories of that era which was also very horrific war and lasted very long and the guard could you talk about the three-person leadership council that's managing the day-to-day affairs as as as the country's leaders attempt to decide on a successor to Ayatollahamani. So article 111 of their running constitution had already

21:04predicted this that in the case of the passing or death in this case killing of the supreme leader immediately a council is formed consisting of the president which now is the moderate Mahmoud Maasoud Pezashkan, the head of judiciary conservative cleric right now, and then also one clergy member of the guardian council the power for guardian council which is Aliaza Arofi, a friendly conservative and hard-line clergy also and then they they will be in charge of essentially making decisions and running the country in place of a supreme leader until the successor is is picked by the leadership council and so that's the process but this it's in the war time I don't know if this is going this decision is going to happen right now it depends on also how long the war is going to continue there seems to be no end in sight even though the US had

22:07announced that this is going to be short I think from the press conferences yesterday it's just not clear how long it's going to go so I don't know if this if they can sort of do this succession during the war time or they're going to see this as a transition this is an interim council and then potentially choose a supreme leader after the war is over and I'll just end with the fact that the clergy from the guardian council Aliaza Arofi seems to be one of the likely candidates at least that's been talked about as potentially being the successor but there's also other there are other candidates who had been sort of on a list from the past and President Trump has in public statements offered quote completed unity to any members of the Islamic revolutionary guard for the IRGC who who lay down their arms what's your sense of how the

23:09IRGC is functioning right now given especially this quite quite impressive resistance that the Iranian government has launched against not only the United States and Israel but many of the Gulf states that have been maintaining US bases so you know the US has military superiority absolutely and they've caused a lot of damage from day one including killing the country's supreme leader but I don't think they understand the dynamics of this country there seems to be a total lack of understanding and when you listen to the comments of the president himself secretary of state the presser yesterday with the secretary of war it's just I don't I don't think they understand the situation they're dealing with you know some many of us Iran analysts had been warning that starting a war with Iran is going to potentially be even more difficult and challenging

24:09than the war in Iraq which already was a big failure on the US side and the irony is that President Trump himself had been attacking if not mocking past presidents for starting these kind of endless unnecessary wars in the Middle East including attacking president Obama for thinking or potentially wanting to attack Iran and now he's become a president that has attacked Iran for the third time the first time 2020 assassination of top general Salimani second time last year midnight hammer and this is the third time and so the Iranian thinking or sort of the policy the defense doctorate or posturing in Iran is that he's going to keep coming back for us unless we fight back and this is exactly what we're seeing the Iranians doing essentially playing the long game here that first of all days they see this as an existential threat they're fighting a war of survival and that's why they're essentially doing a fighting with all their might whatever is left of it and and and that they're not going to stop soon and let until they have inflicted as they

25:14think enough pain so that this doesn't keep coming again because in six months and eight months in a year this more the grass sort of policy that Israel has vis-a-vis Gaza and of course now we're seeing in Lebanon that's something that the Iranians want to end to say the least Nagar in these last 30 seconds you've been critical of the Iranian government but you're also to say the least fiercely critical of what's taken place right now absolutely I mean it is a repressive state that's a fact nobody denies that and how the government treats its own citizens we just saw protests in January thousands of of people being killed by this government but you can hold both truths at the same time that the military intervention is not going to help that situation this is not helping Iranian protesters Iranian dissidents or any Iranian who's living on the ground I think that's just a fact that's being missed that somehow this is helping this is going to bring better governance or democracy nation-building to Iran we just haven't seen the U.S. have a

26:18successful track record time and again when they've tried this military intervention in the region and I honestly don't think that is the goal for the U.S. or for Israel this is a geopolitical situation they want a weekend Iran for the Israelis I think they potentially want to fail state situation a country that poses no threat to them and that can potentially go in and attack anytime they want. Negarm Mortezavi we want to thank you so much for being with us Iranian American journalists host of the Iran podcast senior fellow at the Center for International Policy coming up we look at the escalating regional war in the Middle East we'll speak with Palestinian American journalist Rami Khori stay with us

27:58the road is long this is democracy now democracy now dot org the war and peace report I mean the Goodman of Prawn Gonzalez the U.S. is sending more troops and fighter jets in Middle East as the death toll mounts in the region after the U.S. and Israel launched an unprovoked attack on Iran on Saturday Iran's retaliated by striking Israel and U.S. allies in the region over the past day Iranian drones hit U.S. embassies and Saudi Arabian Kuwait meanwhile Israel sent more ground troops into Lebanon is Israel and his bollocks change attacks we go right now to Rami Khori Palestinian American journalist distinguished public policy fellow at the American University of Beirut he's also a non-resident senior fellow at the Arab Center Washington DC Rami thanks so much for being with us again if you can respond to what has taken place now this escalation with Israel's escalation with Lebanon and the shifting rationale for why the U.S though

29:06they have said from from Marco Rubio to House Speaker Johnson that they were supporting Israel in doing this that Israel took the first move and that they understood that if Israel attacked Iran they felt Iran would attack Israel so Iran would attack the United States and so Israel was making a preemptive so that United States was making a preemptive move sorry I'm sounding so confused but the rationale has been very confusing well it sounds like a new puzzle in the newspaper that we've got to figure out but this is the constant one of the constant factors that we see going on now there's three or four things that have converged one is this confusion and militaristic overkill from the United States it's been there for 40 years or so in the Middle East and it goes from Iraq to Iran to Lebanon to Libya to Somalia all over the place second one is that the Israelis

30:09have continued since the 1940s the Zionist movement and now the state of Israel they've continued to try to expand their region of sovereignty and control and expand their region of hegemonic influence across the entire region they don't want anybody in the West Asia North Africa region to challenge them or offer a different alternative or fight them now the third one is the nonstop attempts by two groups in particular the Iranians and the Palestinians who since 1947 have been denied by the US UK and Israel have been denied their right to self-determination otherwise the Iranians and the Palestinians are not permitted to exercise their self-determination have the kind of sovereignty they wish they're entitled to by law and to chart policies that they want to charge so there's been nonstop Zionist Israeli-American British military action and

31:15political action coups and all kinds of things in Iran and in Palestine and that's why the Iranians and the Palestinians are the two groups the of people who continue to resist in any way they can they can't match the military might of Israel in the US but they can match the determination to live in dignity and freedom and self-determination that's the third one the fourth one is the inability of any combination of Arab countries to mount a cohesive diplomatic or military response to the threats that they face all the time whoever the threats may be coming from mostly they're coming from Israel sometimes they come from the US sometimes from Iran sometimes from somebody else so all of these have converged together and we're seeing ultimately now the consequence of allowing the state of Israel with full UK and then US support to run while across the region militarily do

32:21whatever it wants annex territory colonized territory carry out ethnic cleansing do a genocide and they and they tell the West we're the only democracy and we're protecting the the West from the barbarians in the Middle East this has gone on now for decades and decades and it's astounding astounding that there's very little done about this the region can't do very much but it's astounding that the Western democracies have done virtually nothing other than mostly support or apparent Israel and this is causing people across the world to look at the idea of Western culture and Western liberal democratic tradition as a hoax it's not serious it's not sincere and it's not credible and we're seeing it in practice today and run me i wanted to ask you about the the the impact the religious impact of what has happened over the last few days

33:21this this killing of Ayatollah homini and also the fact that the what's happening at the street level not at the government level in many of the Middle East countries but we're seeing massive protests and Pakistan attacks under the US embassy there in Iraq and Bahrain and the lack of understanding of the of the United States government that homini was not just a supreme leader in uh in Iran he was a religious figure throughout the Shia of portion of the Muslim world and he was a model of ideology and resistance to many people who are not Iranians or Shiaids around the region and around the world the the big big force that is asserting itself now via israel and the US and some other western countries like the UK and Germany uh is the continuation and the rejuvenation and the the digital reconfiguration

34:29of western colonial imperialistic militarism this has been going on since the 15th century the Europeans have gone out and carried carried out conquest and holocausts and genocide all over the world killing millions and millions of people and this is the latest configuration in the digital age and israel is spearheading this with the US in the Middle East and the people in the region the ordinary people have protested this steadily for the last century and are unable to do anything about it because none of the countries in the Arab region not not a single one in the Arab region uh has practiced true sovereignty credible sovereignty in other words they can make decisions for their own well-being on their own they have to get permission from israel or the US or uh turkey or Iran or Saudi Arabia or somebody outside their

35:31country has to approve what they want to do and therefore they're powerless uh and the people are powerless and the combination of powerless people and powerless uh governments uh has given rise to these non-state armed movements like hezbollah, Hamas, Ansarullah and many others uh and has led to massive immigration out migration of the finest young minds uh across uh the region uh and so this is the terrible situation that that the populations of these countries face and they just can't do anything about it the 10 years of the extraordinary Arab uprisings between 2010 and 2020 was an incredible movement a historic movement where the whole region the people were out in the streets and they were just calling for dignity a good governance reasonably priced food decent education less corruption and steady electricity supply they were not asking for revenge for cutting people's heads off and they they were ignored by their leaders and then they were

36:36beaten up by their leaders so this is the dilemma that has faced this region uh in the modern period since statehood was introduced in a serious way in the 1930s uh we've had a century now uh of non-state states states that don't have the authority or the capability or the will to act as sovereign states uh and therefore we this is what we end up with uh the Israelis do what they want the Americans do what they want other people penetrate the region uh and public protests will always be an immediate emotional response demonstrations uh a lot of this you see it on uh on the internet but in terms of organized political action there's very little uh that is is going on and then now we're going to see an Iran whenever this attack stops uh there'll have to be some kind of transition the Iranians themselves are in the process of creating a new leadership and uh

37:39deciding what they want to do i don't think there's going to be radical change uh from the old to the from Hamanai to the to the new leadership there might be some changes here and there uh and i don't think we're going to have a system where the Iranian people will be uh directly or or uh credibly involved in making these strategic decisions about the the government's ideology the government's policies the government's priorities this is the trouble the whole region is run by top heavy autocratic systems that don't consult their people uh and don't give them an opportunity to express themselves uh and until this pattern is broken uh we're going to unfortunately see this going on for for years and years and and what do you make of it it's reals not calling up 100,000 reservists and uh renewing its uh war in Lebanon against his bolla i think this is expected they've done it many times every time they've done it they've occupied land they've killed a lot of people

38:43they've destroyed a lot of villages and homes and public facilities uh they retreated uh nothing changed and they had to come back and do it again all it does uh as it's done in Palestine as you going to see now in Iran with the uh american is really assault all this does is heighten the determination of indigenous people to find out how they can resist they don't know how they can resist they don't have the military power they don't have the organized political mechanisms uh to do that so people are constantly searching uh for for for what to do and i think we're going to see the same thing in Lebanon the thing in Lebanon that's different is the internal structure of Lebanon is very delicate it's a balance between four or five major uh groups that are ethnic and religious groups um and and they're deeply influenced by foreign actors like Israel the US France uh Iran uh others uh and the Lebanon is way more delicate than most of the

39:46other countries and it's fractured several times and had civil war and it made do so again i hope not but uh this is the what makes Lebanon unique uh and and the Lebanese themselves don't want to have a peace treaty forced on them with Israel and this is what they're afraid of now and this is what the israelis and americans are trying to do ramey korey when thank you for being with us palston in american journalist distinguished public policy fellow at american university of bay root also non-residents senior fellow at the arab center washington dc this is democracy now democracy now dot org i mean the good moon with wangans allis is we continue to look at the us in israeli war on a ron and ron's retaliation were joined by over kassif he's a member of the israeli kineset and the leftist hadash ta'al coalition he's been a vocal critic of the israeli prime minister netanyahu in october he waived a sign reading recognized palestine during president trump's address to the kineset he's been repeatedly suspended from the kineset for his outspoken

40:51criticism of israel's war on gaza joining us now um from the israeli city of rohavut uh thank you so much for being with us if you can uh respond to what's happening on the ground in israel i know that we could lose you at any point if you have to go into a shelter but overall the peace movement in israel how is it responding right now with it coming very clear that israel led this israeli us attack on iran with some support from saudi arabia convincing trump to do this preemptive attack well they call it a preemptive attack of course it was premediated and the reason is not as they say we all know that the real interests of the government of israel and the government of the united states like many others is not really to save the iranian people from the despotic uh really suppressive regime uh no to uh prevent them for uh uh developing a no

41:58clear weapon or the uh missile industry the real interest is a political and economic interest and imperialist interest like ever and the other things that are presented as if they were the reasons are merely excuses but uh the real interest of those governments of those imperialist and their partners is the real reason is simply to uh do whatever they can in order to achieve their own economic and political interests at the expense of the peoples including the people of iran and the people of israel unfortunately neither of them is really interested in our well-being or in the people of iran or united or the american people in their own welfare and uh and uh and uh uh good so and that's the main uh the main issue this is an imperialist aggression against the iranian

43:00people it's not against the regime they want us to believe it's against the regime it is against the people of iran eventually and history proves that and we in the anti-occupy occupation anti-genocide peace movement in israel we know that uh it's very difficult now at the moment to uh took the take to the streets and to demonstrate because of the missiles and also because of limitations posed by the government under the or the guise of emergency situation uh but uh we know what uh what is at stake we know that the real interest of the governments are against the interest of the peoples and we do whatever we can in order to protest and to stop this bloodshed uh off i wanted to ask you uh in terms of the uh the level of response and the and resistance and

44:03counterattack by iran uh on israel what has been the effect on the population did the government and the people expect this kind of response uh and interestingly here in the united states we're not seeing in the american media much uh many images of what damage is being caused within israel of these uh tax by iran and we we are not sure about the damage either because they uh we don't know if what the media and israel shows is accurate and if it is indeed the the full scale we obviously don't want anyone to get harmed neither in israel nor in palestine or in agran or anywhere else that's the reason we oppose this uh and oppose this war and aggression from the very beginning but as i said the real way to stop it is a diplomatic and political one not a military one and uh and unfortunately uh at the moment the majority within the israeli public support the

45:08government and support the aggression against iran it it it is quite uh you know systematic it always happened like that in the past it happened uh when israel launched the genocide the aggression against gaza after the terrible massacre of seven october it happened many times vis-a-vis Lebanon Syria and other places in the beginning we were almost the only ones we i mean the democratic front for peace and equality the communist party and some other uh uh anti-occupation anti-war activists we were quite isolated and marginalized uh in most events of war and aggression but after a while more and more people within the israeli society began to understand that they went this way after the lives of the government whether it was in itaniah's government or another

46:09government and began to protest against the uh the war or the genocide or whatever so i guess that that will happen again now at the moment uh we are a majority not as tiny as we were before because more and more people understand that this fascist government led by uh the criminal in itaniah who is as we all know uh suspected uh in a in a char and and stand trial uh in charges of uh uh and uh is accused in bribery and corruption et cetera et cetera uh so many people more than before be a be a understand that uh everything that this government has been doing especially in etaniah who are driven by uh not by the interest of the people but by the by the interest of the government per se and because of that although we are still a minority and alas all the parliamentary

47:15opposition apart from us is in support of netanyahu's aggression and traps aggression still you can see that more people uh among the so-called common people are against it still a minority but if it continues if this aggression continues i'm sure that uh sooner or later we'd see a majority standing against it i just hope that we won't get there because the the bloodshed until then is going to be much wider everywhere in israel in iran in lebanon in in palestine and obviously we don't want that to happen and what about that impact in palestine you said that the war on iran would be used to justify increased oppression against the palestinians? absolutely we can already see that you know the under this government it didn't begin with this government the occupation of the west bank is juggusalem and gaza strip of course it's almost 60 years old but uh in the persecution and the uh discrimination against the Palestinian

48:20national minority within israel exists since in 1948 since the establishment of the state of israel and the nakba so uh but we can see that under this government in general since seven october in particular in the last few days even more the deadly persecution of the palestinians is on the rise we can see that there is a kind of a division of labor you could see that one that a while the israeli occupation forces continue in bombing and attacking palestinians in gaza and the and the and of course the aggression against iran and lebanon still goes on you could also see that the fascist settlers the terrorist settlers in the west bank do whatever they like under the auspices and even collaboration of the occupation forces the encouragement finance and support of the government but the the pioneers it were of the uh pogroms and terrorist

49:26attacks including mergers of innocent palestinians in the west bank is mainly executed by settlers and under the smokescreen of the war with iran uh you could see that it it is much more easier on those criminals to pursue with those crimes and uh and nothing has been done look i personally have been sending letters since march 23 it's exactly three years since i first sent a letter to the defense minister it was then gallant and later on cuts and to the attorney general demanding them to uh investigate arrest and stop those terrorist settlers and their supporters in the west bank and for three years nothing has been done so it's not a coincidence that it not only goes on but it is worsening because once they know they

50:29are not punished not even investigated why should they continue with their crimes and even go further so if they began by igniting fire into fields and uprooting trees now they are igniting fire and shooting individual people including by the way uh international and Israeli activists not only palestinians so when under the smokescreen of the war as i said it's getting easier on them unfortunately and i put a lot of the blame on the international community i also sent a few letters to the hagg to the european union uh to some senators in the united states and some other institutions in the united nations et cetera by the way part of my suspension from the knesset was because i sent those letters but i had no other choice that was the last result because as these random institutes those who are in charge and are responsible for the well-being of the

51:34occupied as well of the palestinians uh as long as they don't do anything and even allow those times to go on i had no other choice but to appeal to international forces but nothing has been done overcast if i want to thank you for being with us member of the israeli knesset and the leftist adash tao coalition speaking to us from rohova in israel coming up economist michael hudson says the u.s. israeli attack was to prevent peace not advance at pack in fifteen seconds this is democracy now democracy now dot org i made me goodman with one gansalus

52:37the u.s. israeli attack was to prevent peace not to advance it that's the headline of a new article encounter punch by the economist michael hudson who details how president trump opted to attack aronda despite progress um made during last week's u.s. aronda negotiations in juneva in the peace hudson writes about the significance of these comments by oman's foreign minister bada al-wisahidi who appeared on cbs's fascination friday one day before the u.s. attack if the ultimate objective is to ensure forever that iran cannot have a nuclear bomb i think we have cracked that problem through these negotiations by agreeing a very important breakthrough that has never been achieved any time before we're joined now by the economist michael hudson president the institute for the study of long-term economic trends distinguished research professor

53:41of economics at university of mesuray kansas city thanks so much for being with us michael i mean it seems that the oman farm minister flu to washington so he could directly address this issue saying more progress had been made and that the deal was going to be one better than obama's he didn't trust um president trump's envoys jared kushner and uh as well um as um he didn't trust uh kushner um to convey the level of progress that had been made so he spoke directly himself to the american people through the u.s. press your response the fact that progress was being made and that aran uh negotiators had agreed uh not to only uh not to have an atom bomb but to uh reduce their uh refined iranium to shift the refined iranium outside of the country and to submit to an unprecedented degree of oversight made it uh urgent that the united states

54:46attack aran uh immediately because what happened was that after the iranian negotiators went back to aran uh comane and his religious leaders and the military leaders sat down to have a meeting to draft the reply accepting the u.s. demands but none of this was about an atom bomb to begin with the whole reason that america's attack aran has nothing to do with its getting an atom bomb because it wasn't getting an atom bomb the aim was to control uh uh near eastern oil by the united states in general patreus years ago had outlined this whole plan uh in uh saying well we're going to conquer seven near eastern countries uh culminating uh in aran well actually the plans go way back to uh 1974 when opek quadrupled the prices and the united states uh said well

55:48you can quadruple the prices but we need to control the world's oil trade because oil is a choke point every country needs oil for its industry for its transportation for its electricity to heat the home and if we can control the world's oil trade then uh we are we can use that as an arm of u.s diplomacy and we don't have to own the oil we don't have to overthrow the opek countries like we did uh the aranian uh government in 1953 when they wanted to nationalize oil your opek countries can uh nationalize your oil you can take all control of aramco and the other countries but you have to make an agreement that all of your profits and rents from the oil will be lent back to the united states recycled in the united states priced in dollars and invested in u.s treasury securities u.s bonds and u.s stocks so that the uh money the uh vast uh dollar

56:54inflows from your oil exports will all be part of the u.s economy i said in on meetings uh in the white house in 1974 when uh this was discussed because i had been the specialist that chase Manhattan for uh the uh u.s balance of payments and specifically for the oil industry and uh from the very beginning the uh u.s foreign policy was based on if we can control the world's oil trade then uh we really have control of uh the world's economy but in order to do this we have to prevent other countries from buying oil from countries not controlled by the united states first by aram after uh after the show was overthrown then you can't let them buy from Russia after 2022 so you had the sanctions against uh Russia and the destruction of the oil pipeline then uh the sanctions against uh Venezuela to prevent countries from buying from Venezuela

57:57and now uh back to aram to prevent uh uh aram from selling its oil to china 80% of aram's oil exports that go on to china so the whole idea from the beginning was to uh consolidate the u.s ability to control oil and thereby to give trump and the u.s administration the ability to turn off the lights to turn off the power to turn off the electricity to other countries if they did not agree to uh follow u.s foreign policy to maintain sanctions against other uh oil countries against russia china uh also uh Michael Hudson we're gonna uh continue this conversation post online at democracynow.org Michael Hudson economist will link to your article the u.s. Israeli attack was to prevent peace not to advance it Michael Hudson president of the institute for the study of long term economic trends i mean me good men with one ganzala so be in savannah Georgia on saturday check our website at democracynow.org