00:00You certainly need to get on the ground in order to inspect the site and to basically retrieve the enriched
00:07uranium or the nuclear dust, as our president likes to call it.
00:11And that is only achievable either by a full-scale invasion of Iran, which, of course, could be World War
00:19III and is very undesirable, or some sort of negotiated truce in which the Iranians allow us to enter their
00:28country or some sort of coalition, international coalition, to enter their country in order to retrieve the enriched uranium and
00:37to bring it to a safe place.
00:39You know, I don't see that happening. I don't see any prospects for that happening, frankly.
00:43And, I mean, even if, let's say, it were to start happening tomorrow, as President Trump has said, and again,
00:49I believe him on this one, the uranium is completely buried under piles of rocks and mountain.
00:57And so it could take months, maybe even years, to retrieve it.
01:01So, I mean, we're a long way from that.
01:03I think the more immediate concern is trying to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, because, as I've said on your
01:09show before, if the U.S. simply walks away from this and allows the Iranians to toll the Strait of
01:17Hormuz,
01:17then all of Washington's talk in the past about maintaining freedom of the seas, freedom of navigation, respect for international
01:26law, norms of behavior, it'll ring hollow.
01:29And that, I think, is the ultimate difference between prior to February 28th, when the war started, and everything that's
01:39happened since.
01:40Iran now feels empowered to control an international strait, a strategic choke point that is a major, major transit point
01:50for commercial shipping.
01:51And if we cannot liberate the strait from them, if we cannot overturn this closure or partial closure or tolling,
02:00right, then how can we then say to the rest of the world that other strategic choke points, whether the
02:07Strait of Malacca or others, right, need to also be respected?
02:12I don't think we can do that anymore.
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