So you beautiful bastards. Welcome back to the Philip DeFranco show, you daily dive into the news. It is Tuesday, and there is a lot to talk about. But I just want to start on a light note saying, I'm just so happy to be home. Yesterday, most of you saw because you were like, oh my God, Phil has legs. I was stuck in Austin, Texas, because I think like 12,000-thousand-a-half thousand flights got canceled. Because in addition to the situation where you have TSA employees working without getting paid or, you know, they're calling out and working other jobs, there were also just major storms where I was like, hey, we'd love to fly to Atlanta, but there may be a bunch of tornadoes. Luckily, we got show done, security cleared up by the time I wanted to go through, I figured out some flights. I got the last seat out of Panama City, Florida. And so I got to cuddle with my wife last night and see my boys this morning. So I'm in a great mood. It was just kind of the cherry on top of what was actually a good 24-hour Austin trip. Went out there, was nominated, and then actually won. Boom. The Indy Pack Award for Best Independent News and Politics. It's taken it home over some friends of the show as well as Fuckface Matt Walsh. So a quick but also big thank you to my team across all the places. And a big thank you to all you beautiful bastards, especially those of you who have been with me since the webcam days. Like you supported and funded my show before anyone really even took it serious. But with that said, there's a lot we need to talk about today, starting with this. Israel claims to have killed Iran's de facto leader. Also, Trump's claiming he doesn't need NATO's help, even though he just asked for it, and an intelligence official that he appointed has now resigned over his opposition to the Iran war, which he claimed came about thanks to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby. But where we'll start is with this latest Israeli assassination in Iran. With the military claimed to have killed Iranian National Security Chief Ali Larijiani, as well as besiege commander Holamreza Soleimani, with Israel's defense ministers saying in a statement, La Rejani and the besiege commander were eliminated overnight and joined the head of the annihilation program referring to the previous Supreme Leader and all the eliminated members of the axis of evil in the depths of hell. And as far as who these people are, the besiege, it's a volunteer paramilitary force affiliated with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps that has been repeatedly targeted by US and Israeli strikes over the course of this war. And a key reason being the role that it played in suppressing dissent in the country, including by taking part in several brutal protest crackdowns that have killed thousands over the years. And with that, Salamani, he's long been under U.S. and European sanctions for his involvement. Although notably, La Rejani, he's believed to have played an even bigger part in the extraordinarily violent handling of the nationwide protests earlier this year. And actually since then, he had effectively been running the country, sidelining even the president, according to the New York Times. And in addition to keeping a lid on dissent, he's been a key liaison with Iran's allies, including Russia, as well as regional actors like Qatar and Oman. But even oversaw nuclear negotiations with the United States, and as a trusted confidant of the Supreme Leader, he was among a select group of officials tasked with devising a plan to ensure that the regime If the Supreme Leader were assassinated. But then with all that, La Rejani, he had also been seen as one of the more pragmatic voices inside of the regime Right, way back in 2015, he played a key role in securing approval for the nuclear deal negotiated under Obama, which then of course Trump withdrew the United States from in 2018 And though his his stance it hardened after the Trump administration broke off talks with Iran to take military action last June

He seemingly remained open to some sort of agreement last month for example when talks were back underway in Oman

He described his country's position as positive with them arguing that the US had realized that the military option wasn't viable in saying

Resorting to negotiation as a rational path though also with, he accused Israel of trying to sabotage the diplomatic track to ignite a war. So some have argued, well, he was proven right. So after Talc again collapsed following the U.S. and Israeli attack, La Rijani struck, maybe his most defiant tone yet, saying on social media, you will burn their hearts. We will make the Zionist criminals and the shameless Americans regret their actions.

The brave soldiers and the great nation of Iran will deliver an unforgettable lesson to the hellish international oppressors.

With that, he became Iran's de facto leader and he continued to vow defiance.

Recently rejecting media reports that he wanted new talks with the US and issuing a statement just yesterday calling on Muslims around the world to support Iraq.

And also defending Iran's attacks on Gulf states that he accused of hosting American bases and Israeli interests.

But also, while he ramped up the rhetoric, it appeared he also didn't stop being a pragmatist.

With him, for example, reportedly opposing the appointment of the deceased Supreme Leader's son as his replacement.

Instead, lobbying for a more moderate option as a way of showing the public in the international community that Iran was changing direction.

Due of experts arguing that his death, it's just going to embolden hardliners and enable security forces to tighten their grip, with one telling the times.

Now that it seems everything is in the hands of the military elite, it's very difficult to imagine how and if they can come up with some ideas

or if they can show enough flexibility to accept the ideas of the other side to end the war. And adding. The process of elite fitting. Every layer that you remove, the next layer is going to be more hardline. And that also tracks with what U.S. intelligence assessments have reportedly been saying even before La Rijani's assassination, which is that the regime is consolidating power and will likely remain in place for the time being weaker, but more hardline with a

Revolutionary Guard exerting greater control. And according to reports, security forces have been cracking down on dissent despite the war,

arresting people suspected of collaborating with foreign powers and threatening would-be protesters with death to fend off any potential uprising.

And then you also have experts arguing that the hardliner is now with even more influence, they may be even more eager than ever to develop a nuclear weapon. The key point being that Iran is still hanging on to a believe 440 kilograms of highly enriched uranium, although whether it can currently access that material and whether they'd be able to convert it into a bomb, that's still not known right now. Now, notably, with all that, Trump was reportedly told about the likelihood of a more entrenched revolutionary guard before he gave the go-ahead to jointly launch the war with Israel. And he would one person familiar with the assessment telling the Washington Post, it wasn't just predictable, it was predicted, he was told in advance. But Trump also reportedly warned that attacking Iran could trigger

retaliation against American allies in the Gulf. But still yesterday, you had him claiming that

this came as a surprise. They hit Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait. Nobody expected that.

We were shocked. They fought back.

Trump also seemingly acknowledged yesterday that the U.S. and Israel's own attacks on Iranian

leadership were making the chances of a negotiated end to this war even slimmer. We don't even know their leaders. We have people wanting to negotiate. We have no idea who they are. But then also with everything here, Israel doesn't appear to be slowing down on its efforts to take out top leaders of the regime. Or with Netanyahu, again suggesting that this is aimed at toppling the government once and for all, saying, we are undermining this regime in the hope of giving the Iranian people an opportunity to remove it, although you also had him conceding. This will not happen all at once and it will not happen easily. And with that, you would a military spokesperson saying that Israel's goal was maximum accomplishments in a minimum time frame and adding that it was ready to operate as long as needed. You have yet another sign that Israel is ready to just

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