SEKULOW

Guest (Male): We've got breaking news. President Trump issued a statement to Iranians telling them to take over and take back their country. Keeping you informed and engaged, now more than ever, this is Sekulow. We want to hear from you. Share and post your comments or call 1-800-684-3110. And now your host, Logan Sekulow.

Logan Sekulow: Welcome to Sekulow. Of course, we're covering quite a few different breaking news items. One of them was President Trump coming out and making a pretty loud statement telling the people of Iran, a lot of the protesters that are out there, as we know the death toll that's happening right now is a bit disputed, but we know it's in the thousands at this point, saying to not stop, not relent.

This is summarizing. I have the exact words in front of me. Essentially, to take over their country. This came from, I believe, Truth Social or also on X. He put, "Iranian patriots, keep protesting, take over your institutions, save the names of the killers and the abusers. They will pay a big price. I've canceled all meetings with Iranian officials until the senseless killing of protesters stops. Help is on its way." Then he put, "Make Iran Great Again" and "President Donald J. Trump."

That, again, is the statement from President Trump, obviously coming on the heels of the show we even did yesterday about whether Americans are going to get involved, how America is going to get involved, and how comfortable we are when America gets involved. At this point, he's kind of putting out a statement, not saying take care of it yourself, but at least pushing that narrative a bit saying, we're not coming in here to run this country. You've got something good going on. We see what's happening in the streets. Do what you need to do, finish the job.

Will Rice: That's right. As we mentioned, these protests that have been going on, this is now in the third week, have seemed different. They've seemed more hopeful than we've seen really since 2009. I like the President's approach here also, putting it on the people. Not like we're going to go in and cause regime change. It's saying, people, continue doing what you're doing. We've got your back. We're standing with you. Keep the names of those that are killing and abusing you because their reckoning will be coming.

Once again, this is at the same time where an Iranian official has told Reuters more than 2,000 people have been killed. That's a very large number in and of itself. But the opposition is saying as many as 12,000 have been killed. You're seeing this dueling narrative. Either way, a lot of people have been killed. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle of that number. Normally, the Iranian officials are going to try and downplay the numbers.

This also comes at a time where the State Department has put out an order to leave Iran now if you're an American citizen. Some people may be like, why are there American citizens there? Well, there's a lot of Iranian dual nationals, people that fled or still have family there that still are able to go to Iran. It's not as if it is impossible to get there, especially if you have family or are historically from there, and Americans do that.

There are Americans there. Exactly. So, the State Department is saying leave Iran now. Have a plan for departing Iran that does not rely on US government help. They are laying out how you can do that and how you can get out, but also not to get flagged by Iranian officials that you're also an American trying to get out of the country.

Logan Sekulow: Or an American sympathizer. I think there's also reading the room a little bit too. You have President Trump going, okay, where is the base? Where are the people that voted for me? Where are they on this? We've seen an overwhelmingly positive response. Phone calls have come in, comments have come in. Some people say, of course, we shouldn't be getting involved, but many people saying, yeah, let's do this. Let's help out where we can.

There are a lot of the humanitarian sides of Americans who are okay with military force if it can lead to the betterment of people's lives. Again, Iran was not what it once was in a lot of our current generation's lifetime. A little bit outside of ours, but just a little bit outside of ours when things started to change in Iran. If you're 10 years older than us, you probably remember a time when Iran wasn't what it is now.

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Logan Sekulow: Welcome back to Sekulow. We will be taking your phone calls at 1-800-684-3110. I’ve got to restate a bit of what's going on because I know a lot of you joined us here in the second segment. Of course, President Trump making a lot of statements right now. Not only President Trump, but the United States is saying, hey, if you're in Iran and you're one of the protesters, he's encouraging you to take back your country. He put out a big statement.

But he’s also saying, "I've canceled all my meetings with Iranian officials until the senseless killing of protesters stops." Then later on, well, as you said, he said if you need to leave, if you're an American there, find your way out soon. Leave now and do it swiftly and also safely.

Will Rice: That's right. A lot is moving even since we were live yesterday. What we're also seeing is the President proposing a 25% tariff on countries that trade with Iran but also do business with the United States. There's a lot of them out there. It may seem in our American bubble like no one is doing business with Iran but maybe North Korea and China and bad actors like that.

But a lot do. A lot of South American countries, Brazil is a big trading partner with Iran. So, big economies still do have economic relationships with Iran. This is another move, and I actually really like this move to use the economic angle before jumping to some sort of military action. One, that's what I think a lot of President Trump's supporters would be in favor of.

Sure, put pressure on the regime. Don't prop them up at a time like this. Go after where it's going to hurt them most, and that is economically. We also know that this entire protest movement actually started off as an economic protest. It started in the bazaars in Iran where they were upset about the economy. The money in Iran has plummeted in value and what you're now looking at is a situation that has gotten even larger.

It has included this freedom movement trying to take back the country of Iran, but it started primarily as economic. So, this other angle that the President is saying is proposing a 25% tariff on countries trading with Iran could be another way to really go after the mullahs that have really just strangled the country's economy for so long.

I like this angle, but that's also something that could take a little bit longer for it to really feel the pain with the mullahs. Of saying, okay, you're going to implement it, then demand drops in these other countries, they start pulling back. That could take a little while. So, it's not an immediate thing that you can get results from, but it is a more outside-the-box novel way to go about this.

This is at the same time that we know the Biden administration and the Obama administration almost gave some global legitimacy to the Ayatollah by doing these deals, by doing the Iran nuclear deal, trying to get back into that under the Biden administration. Because one, it relieves sanctions. It gave more money for them to fund their terror around the world. I think you can draw a through-line from those deals straight to October 7th because they had the funds to do it.

We also know the Iranians helped the IRGC help Hamas plan it. So, once again, by strangling their economy at home, they are creating pain. But by the outsiders, the United States being able to put some economic pain on the actual mullahs, those running things, it could be a thing that drives them into more chaos and allows the protesters to really break through here.

Logan Sekulow: We'll see what happens. We're obviously staying tuned to it. This isn't the first time Iran has had one of these uprisings. It seems like every couple of years there is something different in tone. We're going to talk to Mike Pompeo coming up here shortly about that difference in tone and why this feels different. He's a great person to always hear from in these situations. Then Rick Grenell will be joining us again a little bit later. I do want to take a quick phone call. Let's go to Wendy in Florida on line one. Hopefully, this inspires you to call in as well at 1-800-684-3110 because we do have some phone lines open right now. Go ahead, Wendy.

Wendy: Hey, you just forgot the part about being the best state in the union, Florida, but that's okay.

Logan Sekulow: State of Florida. One of my favorites. One of my favorites.

Wendy: Anyways, I am not a big social media person. I'm firsthand experience and I wanted to share with you guys that 19, mid-80s, '86 or so—very good, thank you. Sorry, I'm going onto a space here and I'm good to go. I worked at a bank and investment banking and one of the gentlemen whose only first name I'll use was Pasha. Pasha was there because he and his family had to flee Iran, okay?

I have a lot of stories that he had talked about, how everything had just changed and not for the better due to Ayatollah and whoever was being put in place. The danger there, and then my dad worked in petroleum engineering. He worked in 1980, very beginning when all the stuff was going on and Venezuela was prospering, starting up with all the oil industry. He was there and he left there.

The country was awesome. I had visited, I spent time there. Everything was going well for the people. The government was a democracy, okay? Then the next one was Kuwait. My dad worked there in the early 90s. Fortunately, he left before Kuwait was invaded. So, firsthand experience, people have to understand. Don't get riled up based on all the false opinions, whatever.

Firsthand knowledge or factual knowledge, okay? We're trying to look out for people, people in the United States who are here legitimately, people who are in those countries that are just trying to look out for their families and health and those kinds of things. So, that's just kind of what I wanted to share.

Logan Sekulow: Look, I think that is a common story. I think a lot of us have worked with people, Iranian people who have escaped or families escaped. You see a lot of thriving businesses here in the United States. You see a lot of the biggest companies in the world founded by the people who escaped and got their families out during that time or were forced out even during the revolution.

Will Rice: That's right. I mean, even in this Nashville area, there's a large community of people that are a Persian community, very strong, proud community, very wonderful in our area. It has assimilated but also has brought strong cultural things to the area, which is wonderful to see.

Many of them, you see people that were doctors in Iran that had great lives, that were prosperous and successful, fled because of the oppression, came to the United States and had to start over with nothing and have worked very hard here. They are really a testament to what the hardworking people of Iran are and the pride they have in the Persian people.

But what we've seen, as Wendy pointed out, whether it be Venezuela, whether it be Cuba, that's getting a lot of attention now because of its ties with Venezuela, whether it be Iran, is that these dictatorial regimes that hijacked the Marxist movement, which was taking over the world, and hybridized that in places like Iran. Where they took the Marxist sentiment but then slapped on it their genocidal, apocalyptic death cult theology and took over a country and oppressed people since the '70s.

This is something that everyone around the world should be cheering on the people of Iran. I think you're starting to actually see that interestingly in some of the people on the left that are all of a sudden—we talked about yesterday them condemning Hamas—you're also seeing people like AOC saying, "I stand with the people of Iran that are in the streets."

It's her party that propped up this dictatorship for even longer. When the people in the streets in 2009 had a real opportunity, her president, Barack Obama, and her later president, Joe Biden, who was Vice President at the time, did nothing like she is doing. Did not say I support the people in the street taking over their country, taking control of their lives.

Instead, they let it play out and then they rewarded the mullahs and the Ayatollah with that Iranian nuclear deal, which gave them lots and lots of money. Not to restore their economy, but to further degrade the value of their currency. What did they do with that money? They funded terror around the world. Houthi rebels. We're talking about Hezbollah. We're talking about Hamas on October 7th.

We're talking about all the things that those groups do, not just in the Middle East, but in Central America, South America, assassination attempts on US soil. That's what they did with the money that the Biden and Obama administrations gave back to them and allowed them to use. The President now is saying no more, is looking at further ways of causing economic pain on the Iranians. The Iranians were running to President Trump saying let's have a meeting because of the rhetoric that President Trump was saying. Hey, you got to knock it off. Don't be killing protesters. And at first he’s like, maybe we'll meet with them. Now he’s saying no, and we're going further.

Logan Sekulow: We know that's been President Trump's kind of M.O. He's happy to sit down with anybody, even if it's people he vehemently disagrees with or people who are a dictator. Whether it's him meeting with them or some people on his team, that is not uncommon for President Trump. It's actually probably more uncommon for him to say, I'm canceling everything and I'm not doing it anymore.

What that means is there's probably no wiggle room here and he also can read what the American people are saying. The American people want this push to happen. They would like to see a thriving Iran. You know, Israel would like to see a thriving Iran and a lot of the Middle East would. With that, phone lines are open as I said at 1-800-684-3110. 1-800-684-3110. Get in line to get on the show today. We're going to take a lot of great calls. We do have segments coming up with Mike Pompeo later on with Rick Grenell, so we'll take calls in between those segments.

If you want to get on, now's the time to call. We do have a lot more coming up. Make sure you support the work of the ACLJ at aclj.org. Check out our new pro-life petition also at aclj.org/sign. Be a part of that right now or scan the QR code. We'll be right back.

Guest (Male): For decades now, the ACLJ has been on the front lines protecting your freedoms, defending your rights in courts, in Congress, and in the public arena. The American Center for Law and Justice is on your side. If you're already a member, thank you. And if you're not, well, this is the perfect time to stand with us at aclj.org where you can learn more about our life-changing work. Become a member today at aclj.org.

Logan Sekulow: Welcome back to Sekulow. We do have some phone lines open for you at 1-800-684-3110. After we hear from Secretary Pompeo, we're going to take calls in the next segment or two. So, make sure you are getting in line right now if you want to be on air. 1-800-684-3110. Of course, reporting out all the news coming out of Iran and it has been a very busy morning. We've been following it very closely, but it's always great to have people like Secretary Pompeo on.

Will Rice: That's right. Mr. Secretary, since we spoke last week, it seems like the protests have not died off. They have not gone back and left since the forces of the Ayatollah have clearly are showing their force against it with death tolls anywhere from 2,000 to 12,000 depending on which reports you're reading. But the State Department has now warned any Americans that are still there to get out of Iran, giving details on how to get out safely and not be using American channels.

As well as the President this morning put on Truth Social telling the protesters to take over their institutions as he said he will not meet with Iranian officials. I know once again we're still at that same point where we're hopeful, but it does seem to be that things are progressing even further in a way that we've not seen and that it could be getting to a point potentially where the regime is ousted. I just want to get your thoughts on even the developments that we've seen over the past few days.

Mike Pompeo: Yeah, the last 72 hours have absolutely escalated the protests. Not only in their violence and their seriousness and the Ayatollah and his henchmen's willingness to kill their fellow citizens, but the breadth and the scope and the scale, and even more diverse communities even over a broader part of Iran. So, there's no sign of abatement.

One of the things we talked about when I was on last was, hey, these things often rise up and then they die down. This one has not taken that course. So, we are in a fundamentally different place. Second, you have a US administration that is operating against the backdrop of the crushing of Hamas, the defeat of Hezbollah, the Assad regime falling in Syria.

This all is in the minds of the Iranian people and they too are looking for their moment, their chance to take back their rightful place in Iranian economy and with their families where it's just a normal nation again. And so President Trump's statement from the last few hours about his continued support, the fact that he said he wasn't going to talk to the leadership in Iran, I think is kind of just a throw-away.

That was in my judgment just a red herring, silly. The Iranian regime's not going to negotiate a solution here. I think the Iranian people will see that and that these protests will continue and that we are reaching a point of no return where we'll never be back to where we were before.

Logan Sekulow: Secretary Pompeo, one of the things that's also come out of this: President Trump inferring they may put a 25% or imposed a 25% tariff on any country doing business with Iran. Now, when we talk about the military point of view, we also talk about the strategic, financial, economic pressure. Do you think the economic pressure—and working in these with these countries before in your previous roles—do you think economic pressure is enough or do you think military is where this has to go? Because you have the economic side, but I feel like if the Iranian people really cared about that—I mean, maybe the other countries do.

Mike Pompeo: Yeah, look, I think the economic pressure alone is insufficient. But the cumulative pressure on other nations to tell the Ayatollah, "Hey, you got to get out of there. You've now made life really hard for us." These are the allies, the folks who do trade with Iran. There aren't that many, but they may find it's costly for them and they'll throw their buddy the Ayatollah overboard.

So, it's important that we keep the economic pressure up. But in the end, this will be an uprising from the Iranian people. This will not happen because of intervention from some third party. There are things the United States can absolutely do. Make sure the Iranians can continue to communicate. We've seen Starlink opened up there. Make sure, too, that the targets that we choose, if President Trump decides to go that direction, actually deliver strategic defeat to the regime.

Think of their ballistic missile program, the bases from which their terror organization, the IRGC, operates. There are legitimate military targets that can a) make sure the Iranian people know that the world is with them, and second, can diminish the capacity of the Iranians to strike into the Gulf or into Israel. One of the things that everyone worries about when a regime falls is that they'll have this last grasp of firing off their missiles and rockets and the like, and the United States could do a lot to reduce that risk.

Will Rice: One thing that I wanted to ask you about because as we see this progress, we obviously know that the actions of both the Obama administration and then the Biden administration helped in some ways prop up the leadership of Iran. The failed Iranian nuclear deal under Obama provided them with lots of economic relief with lots of pallets of cash as what we talk about all the time.

But as well as all the sanctions relief that the mullahs and the Ayatollah were able to gain in order then to go and sow terror around the world instead of helping their people. We now see that the party that helped prop up that regime, people like AOC, other Democrats are coming out and saying they are showing solidarity with the protesters, saying they support the protesters in the street.

That is something that President Obama would not do during the Green Revolution in 2009. I know that it's hard to read the minds of those on the left, but it does seem that at least there is a little bit of a change in the way that they are approaching this, whether that be trying to be on the right side of history, being opportunistic, or they are genuinely supporting those in Iran. Even that, the way that with all the noise online about what's going on there, that fundamental difference seems to tell something a little bit different about the way they internally see that these protests are going. I wanted to get your thoughts on that.

Mike Pompeo: Yeah, I think this is a little bit of getting in front of the parade when they can see the near inevitable. I think in their hearts they do care about the Iranian people. They don't want to see people slaughtered. But I must say, we watched as Hamas killed a couple thousand people in Israel and then the Israelis simply defended themselves and they got on the wrong side of that human rights violation.

I'm happy to see that they understand that the oppressed here, the victims here are the Iranian people and the bad guys are the Ayatollah and his henchmen in the IRGC and his brutal internal police force known as the Basij. I'm glad they're getting it right. They were instrumental in behaving in a way that allowed these regimes to gain the very power that we're now watching the Iranian protesters suffer from.

That is, if we hadn't given them these billions of dollars, their capacity to inflict thousands of losses of lives inside of their own country would have been diminished. So, history will reflect they got it wrong and the Iranian people are now getting it right alongside President Trump.

Logan Sekulow: Thank you so much for joining us today, Secretary Pompeo. I think it's always good to hear from you and hear your point of view because these are very big topics. They are also topics that sometimes need a lot of explaining to us and to our audience here, so I always appreciate you joining us.

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