Welcome to today's podcast, sponsored by Hillsdale College. All things Hillsdale at Hillsdale.edu. I encourage you to take advantage of the many free online courses there. And, of course, I'll listen to the Hillsdale Dialogues, all of them at Hugh for Hillsdale.com or just Google Apple, iTunes, and Hillsdale. Morning, glory, and evening grace, America. I'm Hugh Hewitt. The war with Iran goes very, very well. Very, very well. President Trump will address the nation about it tonight at 9 o'clock. Eastern time. Tune into the Salem News Channel. Watch it wherever you can. I'll bring you analysis of it tomorrow. Yesterday, he made remarks in the Oval Office in the afternoon, which I'll play in the

course of the program today. Secretary Rubio also gave a brief summary of the arguments for

continuing the devastation of Iran and why we went to war in the first place that the White

House released. I want you to hear it cut number 21. Many Americans are asking, why did the United States have to attack Iran now?

Well, let me explain.

Iran wants to have nuclear weapons.

Of that, there is zero doubt.

If what they truly wanted, which is what they claim is nuclear energy, well, they could

have nuclear energy, like all the other countries in the world have it.

And that is, you import the fuel and you build reactors above ground.

That's not what Iran has done. They build their reactors and their facilities deep in mountains away from the public glare, and they want to enrich that material.

The same equipment that they could use to enrich material for energy, they could use to quickly

enrich it to weapons grade. So it is clear that they've been offered every opportunity to have

a nuclear program that allows them to have energy, not weapons, and every single time they have

turned it down. But why the attack now? Well, what was Iran trying to do? Iran was trying to build a conventional shield,

in essence, have so many missiles, have so many drones that no one could attack them, and they

were well on their way. We were on the verge of an Iran that had so many missiles and so many drones

that no one could do anything about their nuclear weapons program in the future. That was an

intolerable risk.

Under no circumstances can a country run by radical Shia clerics with an apocalyptic vision

of the future ever-possessed nuclear weapons? And under no circumstances can they be allowed

to hide and protect that program and their ambitions behind a shield of missiles and drones that no one can do anything

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