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Sekulow

March 26, 2026
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Logan Sekulow and Will Haynes break down Pete Hegseth revealing a "final blow" to end the war in Iran.

Pete Hegseth: Pete Hegseth reveals a final blow to end the war in Iran.

Logan Sekulow: Welcome to Sekulow. It’s Thursday. We made it here so far. I want you to be a part of the show today at 1-800-684-3110. Once again, 1-800-684-3110. Will Haines in studio with me as well. We’re going to take your calls and comments currently, right now as we speak live. President Trump and the cabinet are having their cabinet meeting publicly live. They’re taking questions right now. We are monitoring it.

If there’s anything worth breaking into or clipping out to play for you, we’ll do that. So stay tuned. Make sure that you know that we are following it right now. We have our team making sure that there is nothing of substance that we need to make sure you guys know. And if there is, we will certainly cover it.

One of the things, though, that we are going to cover today comes from Pete Hegseth. It comes from the ongoing war in Iran. What does it look like? Are we actually headed towards an end date? We’re only a few weeks in and, of course, there has been talk since the very beginning that this was not going to be a long-term effort, that this was going to be fairly short-term—weeks, months, but not years.

But it looks like, and maybe it’s due to the American people already starting to weigh in a little bit with their want to keep pursuing it. As we’ve seen, troops die. We’ve seen things happen. Maybe there is pushback. What could it be? But also, this was never planned to be that long of a moment. And they are currently discussing the way it could end right now.

Will Haines: Logan, we’re talking about stopping the madness this week. That’s kind of the theme of a lot of the things we’ve talked about, even the work here at the ACLJ. But I hope this stops the madness of some of the war theory that’s been going along with this country, with the military commanders for more than 50 years, I’d say.

The fact that on day one, February 28th—we’re not even a month yet. This is March 26th when we are talking to you today—that they were already calling it another forever war. They’d already told us that the entire Gulf region was going to break out in sectarian violence and that it was going to be this massive forever war started by President Trump.

But what you’re seeing is that when President Trump picked people like Marco Rubio as Secretary of State and National Security Advisor, when he picked Pete Hegseth to be the Secretary of War, this is a different game now. They’re not relying on the old theory that placed America in these forever wars. They’re already—they said at the beginning four to six weeks. That’s what we’re looking at. What are we talking about now? We’re coming up on the end of the fourth week, and they’re already talking. Pentagon is preparing for a massive blow, the final blow of the Iran War.

Basically saying that they are going to hit them with one final thing. There are options on the table they’re reviewing. But then it’s done. Then they pull out. Obviously, there will be things that continue as far as restructuring the ways even negotiations with the Iranians. But this military operation was never meant to be another Iraq. And I think what you’re seeing is them being transparent this whole time while Democrats and others on the right that have decided this is the end of American Republic as you know it are just going to have a lot of egg on their face realizing that they know nothing anymore.

Logan Sekulow: Yeah, and of course there’s that debate of whether there will be a deal. President Trump even said today, you know, they may want a deal now, but it may be too late. What do you think? I want you to put in the chat right now. It can be very simple. Do you think we should be making a deal to end this war if that deal is with the current Iranian regime? Just put yes or no in the comments right now. If you’re watching on YouTube or on Rumble or Facebook, wherever it may be.

Let me know during the break. Also, if you want to put where you’re watching from, that’s always fun as well. We are going to hear—we have comments coming in from Pete Hegseth and some of the others that are happening currently in this cabinet meeting. We’ve got some bites to play for you in the next segment. But we are also now wrapping up. We’re now at Thursday, our Stop the Madness week.

You want to be a part of it as your donations can be doubled today. Go to ACLJ.org. ACLJ.org right now and every tax-deductible gift is doubled dollar for dollar unlocked by an incredible ACLJ supporter or champion. And let me know if you’re a champion also in the chat or in the comments or calls. Always tell the phone screener because we like to take care. We’ll be right back.

Welcome back to Sekulow. Phone lines are open for you at 1-800-684-3110. I’m definitely seeing a lot of comments coming in when I said should there be a deal on the table with Iran to end this war. Overwhelmingly, you have all said no, that we shouldn’t be making a deal.

Honestly, that caught me off guard a little bit because I think the press would at least lead you to believe right now that even conservatives, those that we watch probably this show or those who are in general paying attention to what’s going on, do want it to be over and are willing to say, maybe make a deal to stop this current war situation.

Will Haines: Well, here’s also the thing, Logan. There may not need to be a deal ever with this regime. One, they are extremely weak. Even today, we saw they took out another Iranian commander. This was of their no-longer-having-a-Navy because all of the ships have been sunk. But this was the commander of the IRGC’s Navy. So they are able to take out leaders at will.

But here’s the other thing. If we pull back and aren’t doing the daily bombings and they have accomplished what they sought to accomplish—remember Operation Midnight Hammer last year? That wasn’t an entire armada of American ships in the region. We’ll still have—we have bases in the region, we still have assets in the region. That will not go away.

But the B-2 bombers took off from Missouri, flew to Iran, did their bombing mission, hit their targets, and came back home. So just because we leave the theater and aren’t engaged in Operation Epic Fury in the same way that it has been going for the past four weeks, that doesn’t mean that if the threat pops up, we can’t have B-2 bombers there overnight bombing their sites and coming back home to the United States of America.

Logan Sekulow: I think we should hear from Secretary Hegseth.

Will Haines: Well, I took the words right out of your mouth, Logan, because here is what he just said in the cabinet meeting with President Trump just before we went on air talking about the objectives of Operation Epic Fury: Bite 10.

Pete Hegseth: It’s a decisive campaign with clear objectives to destroy Iran’s offensive military capabilities and ensure they never obtain a nuclear weapon. This is stuff for the history books. This is stuff for legacy. Mr. President, you are acting now to ensure future generations do not have to live under the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.

Logan Sekulow: And that was Pete Hegseth just moments ago, right before we went on air, discussing what the future implications are of this war in Iran. President Trump also essentially saying that Iran is begging for a deal right now. Will there be a deal? We will see. Maybe we can pull that bite where he’s talking about that specifically, whether there will be a deal. He definitely made it closer to there would not be a deal on the table than he has over the last few days.

Again, maybe reading the room a little bit. We know President Trump certainly pays attention to where the American people are. I want to hear from you, though. Again, give me a call at 1-800-684-3110. Let’s go to a call. Paul’s calling in Wisconsin on line one. Paul, go ahead.

Paul: Yeah, I respectfully disagree with Hegseth because the Iranian regime that’s in power has proven over and over they have one agenda and they are not dealing. They’ll say anything, including mass amounts of people to stay in power. They’re dealing with the Chinese. They’re dealing with Russia. If you leave them in place, they are going to re-establish and go right back to what we had before, and we didn’t accomplish anything but waste a lot of bullets. So I think this thing has to go until you’ve got a power in place that is trustworthy and different from what they have now.

Logan Sekulow: I don’t disagree with you. I don’t know if Pete Hegseth disagrees with you, either. I think maybe there was something lost in translation there. But no, in general, I agree with you that at this point we’ve gone this far, I want to see full regime change in Iran. I don’t want to see—I understand making a deal to end the battle right now, but that doesn’t mean those two things have to be independent of each other.

Will Haines: Well, here’s also the thing. The deal that the United States would accept, I don’t think that anyone that has any sort of remnant of the previous regime or the previous leadership would ever take. It is things like give us every single bit of your enriched uranium, dismantle all of these programs, get rid of your ballistic missile program, all of these things that I don’t think that if the leadership that—whomever they may be that they are talking to—were able to agree with, then they would also show other people within that leadership structure you’re weak, we’re going to take over. There would be an internal coup, and that person would no longer be around.

So I agree with you, Paul. I think that you cannot make that kind of deal with this regime. But President Trump will keep offering it. He’ll keep putting it on the table. And they’ve also shown that, hey, this is the strategic deterrent. If you will not go along and make a deal, we’re going to continue to take out your leadership. So once again, when you go to what Pete Hegseth said, saying this is a legacy-type thing, it’s a decisive campaign. Their offensive military capabilities have been destroyed. We know that their air defense systems are destroyed. It will take a long time for them to even start to recover what they have built up over 47 years being this Iranian regime.

So I think that’s the other point here. We know also—and Pete Hegseth also had a sound about this. Get Bite 9 ready. But remember, one of the big things that we here at the ACLJ were very concerned about, and a lot of people were, during the JCPOA. You heard from Jake Sullivan yesterday if you were watching the show, talking about how none of this is good. They didn’t even understand the Iranians.

Logan Sekulow: Slow down, JCPOA.

Will Haines: Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. That was the Iran nuclear deal under President Obama that Jake Sullivan was the architect of. Everyone said, "Hey, you can't make a deal with the Iranians without targeting their ballistic missile program." We have seen their ballistic missile program in full force. Now it’s completely degraded, but that’s what they were firing at all their Gulf region neighbors.

Here’s the other thing that we warned about, a lot of other people warned about. They are building ballistic missiles. Their end goal is to build them that are intercontinental that can reach the United States. But they are working towards that. You’ve got to make sure that’s a part of the deal. The Obama team and Jake Sullivan were so naive that they did not do that. They wanted a deal no matter what, sent them pallets of cash, and let them continue to build their ballistic missile program.

They showed to us, the Iranians, last week something that they had lied about for a decade or more. They had missiles that they launched that we were able to intercept—one failed and one was intercepted—that could go 4,000 kilometers. You know what that would hit? London. That is an existential threat to the people of the United Kingdom, our allies in the European Union as well. So when they sat on their hands and wouldn’t get off the bench to come help us, realize that they were in the crosshairs of this Islamic regime. Let’s go ahead and play Bite 9 from Secretary Hegseth just moments ago.

Pete Hegseth: Two days ago, they shot two failed missiles on a target 4,000 kilometers away. For years they told the world that their missiles could only range 2,000 kilometers. Surprise. Yet again, Iran lied. And to the world, I say London is 4,000 kilometers from Iran. Washington, D.C. is 3,300 kilometers from Venezuela, another country President Trump did something about that partnered for a long time with Iran. So you’re telling us that Iran is not a threat to the world or to the U.S.? President Trump knows better.

And here’s what success actually looks like right now. You mentioned it, Mr. President. A-10 Warthogs—if you know them, you love them—and Apache helicopter gunships are flying strike missions inside Iranian airspace and throughout the Strait of Hormuz at will. See, you only send these slow, low-flying, close air support platforms when the enemy has no meaningful air defenses left.

Logan Sekulow: Yeah, and of course that is Pete Hegseth. Again, this is happening right now. I believe they just maybe wrapped up the cabinet meeting where Pete Hegseth was doing this. And look, you may like the way they speak, you may not like the way they speak, but I think there are some clear plans being laid out here. And I think that’s important for the American people to know.

Again, I started this show saying maybe the support for this war in Iran was waning. And I look, I felt that way from some of the way even President Trump and the administration was talking. Now the chat would lead me to believe otherwise. The calls we’re getting say no, finish the job, we don’t need to be stopping right now.

I do want to hear from you. And in the next segment, look, we’re Stop the Madness week and every day this week, I want you to see what’s going on also on the local level in the world of the ACLJ. So there’s going to be a bit of a pivot here coming up. But it’s actually the perfect time to call in and to get your comments in because we’ll take them following up after that: 1-800-684-3110.

In the next segment, we’re talking about what’s going on in Iran, and then we’re going to talk about what’s happening in our homeland, in even the state of Massachusetts. Again, the ACLJ has such a wide scope. We deal with situations like what’s going on in Iran. We’ve been dealing with what’s happening in Nigeria. We deal with Israel and Gaza and all of these things are the ACLJ work. And then there’s the individual street preacher. And then there’s a pro-life pregnancy center being targeted by the state of Massachusetts.

All of this is happening simultaneously because people like you support the work. And of course, we are in this special week, Stop the Madness. Your donations are doubled. And look, you’ll see in the next segment firsthand how we were able to get this done, how we were able to continue our fight currently—a fight that is ongoing with the state of Massachusetts over its multi-million dollar ad campaign that we were able to respond to in many, many different ways.

You’re going to hear about that coming up in the next segment. But I need your support today. Go to ACLJ.org. Be a part of Stop the Madness week. Have your gift, your tax-deductible gift doubled right now. Listen, when we get back again, though, I want to hear from you. And a bunch of you are joining us right now. Do you support the end of this war? Do you want us to keep going? Do you want there to be a deal? Yes or no.

Again, it’s the incredible work of the ACLJ legal team. You’ve heard about it. It is an uphill battle. But we’re able to do when we put together these teams like I said—the media team, the broadcast team there in tandem—we’re able to do things like that media counter-campaign. We’re able to run ads only because people like you support. All of that is supported financially by you. We had to buy that billboard space, we had to run that space physically.

Those are the kind of creative endeavors we want to keep doing here at the ACLJ because when even things go slow or don’t go as planned, or as hoped, let’s just say, in the courtroom, there are new ways we can reach people. And that only happens because people like you support.

So again, as we head to break here, this is the end of the first half hour. It flew by. I want you to be a part of the ACLJ team. Couple different ways you can do that. If you’re brand new, all I ask is that you subscribe on whatever platform you’re watching on or listening on. I understand some of you may be on terrestrial radio. But if you’re on a YouTube or Rumble or Facebook, whatever it may be, I ask you to follow or subscribe right now.

If you’ve been with us a while, I want you to think about supporting the work of the ACLJ right now by going to ACLJ.org because we have a second half hour coming up. Not all the local stations carry it. You can always find us, though, live or archived at ACLJ.org, the ACLJ app, or again, on whatever your favorite podcast platform is—we’re there.

But right now for the next 20 seconds, scan that QR code if you can. Go to ACLJ.org or directly ACLJ.org/madness to have your tax-deductible donation doubled. Again, we’re fighting that case in the Federal Appeals Court. Our legal team is currently preparing our brief, which is due in just a few weeks.

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About SEKULOW

The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) focuses on constitutional law and is based in Washington, D.C. The ACLJ is specifically dedicated to the ideal that religious freedom and freedom of speech are inalienable, God-given rights. In addition to providing its legal services at no cost to our clients, the ACLJ focuses on the issues that matter most to you — national security, protecting America's families, and protecting human life.


About Jay Sekulow

Dr. Jay Alan Sekulow is Chief Counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a legal and educational not-for-profit organization that focuses on constitutional law, the defense of freedoms of speech and religion, and international human rights. He is also Chief Counsel of the European Center for Law and Justice (ECLJ) based in Strasbourg, France, and the Slavic Center for Law and Justice (SCLJ) in Moscow, Russia. The ACLJ also has an affiliate office in Jerusalem, Israel.

An accomplished and respected judicial advocate, Sekulow has presented oral argument before the U.S. Supreme Court in twelve cases in defense of constitutional freedoms. Several landmark cases argued by Sekulow before the U.S. Supreme Court have become part of the legal landscape in the area of religious liberty litigation; these cases include Mergens, Lamb's Chapel, McConnell v. FEC, Operation Rescue v. National Organization for Women, and most recently Pleasant Grove City v. Summum.

In 2009, Townhall Magazine named Sekulow to its "Townhall of Fame" and recognized him as "one of the top lawyers for religious freedom in the United States." In 2007, the Chicago Tribune concluded that the ACLJ has "led the way" in Christian legal advocacy. In 2005, TIME Magazine named Sekulow as one of the "25 Most Influential Evangelicals" in America and called the ACLJ "a powerful counterweight" to the ACLU. Business Week said the ACLJ is "the leading advocacy group for religious freedom." Sekulow's work on the issue of judicial nominees, including possible vacancies at the Supreme Court, has received extensive news coverage, including a front-page story in The Wall Street Journal. In addition, The National Law Journal has twice named Sekulow one of the "100 Most Influential Lawyers" in the United States (1994, 1997). He is also among a distinguished group of attorneys known as "The Public Sector 45" named by The American Lawyer (January/February 1997). The magazine said the designation represents "45 young lawyers outside the private sector whose vision and commitment are changing lives."

Sekulow brings insight and education to listeners daily with his national call-in radio program, Jay Sekulow Live!, which is broadcast throughout the country on nearly 850 radio stations. Sekulow also hosts a weekly television program, ACLJ This Week, which tackles the tough issues of the day. He is also a popular guest on nationally televised news programs on ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, FOX News, MSNBC, CNBC, and PBS.

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