1 00:00:16,810 --> 00:00:20,570 Iran's Assembly of Experts has chosen a new supreme leader. 2 00:00:20,970 --> 00:00:25,290 His name is Mojtaba Khamenei. He is 56 years old. 3 00:00:25,730 --> 00:00:29,610 He is the son of the man killed by American and Israeli bombs 9 4 00:00:29,610 --> 00:00:31,930 days ago. And he was chosen not through a 5 00:00:31,930 --> 00:00:35,370 calm constitutional process of religious deliberation, but 6 00:00:35,370 --> 00:00:38,130 under direct pressure from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard 7 00:00:38,130 --> 00:00:42,320 Corps in wartime, in secret, in a process that multiple assembly 8 00:00:42,320 --> 00:00:45,200 members tried to boycott and that raises serious questions 9 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:47,040 about its constitutional legitimacy. 10 00:00:47,440 --> 00:00:53,720 It is Sunday, March 8th, 2026, day nine of Operation Epic Fury, 11 00:00:54,160 --> 00:00:57,960 and Islamic Republic of Iran has just done something it has never 12 00:00:57,960 --> 00:01:02,160 done in its 47 year history. It has passed power within the 13 00:01:02,160 --> 00:01:06,880 same family for the first time since the 1979 revolution. 14 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:11,280 Iran has a dynastic succession. The son of the Supreme Leader 15 00:01:11,360 --> 00:01:16,280 has become the Supreme Leader. This is episode 9 of Epic Fury, 16 00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:20,520 the US Iran war podcast. There is an enormous amount to 17 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:22,840 cover. Let us get into it. 18 00:01:23,320 --> 00:01:27,760 Mojtaba Khamenei was born on September 8th, 1969. 19 00:01:28,160 --> 00:01:32,320 He is a mid ranking Shia cleric holding the rank of Hojatolslam, 20 00:01:32,360 --> 00:01:34,480 one level below the rank of Ayatollah. 21 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:37,600 He is never held formal elected office. 22 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:40,920 He has never run for a public election of any kind. 23 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:43,800 He is never given a press conference. 24 00:01:44,280 --> 00:01:47,720 For decades, he operated almost entirely in the shadows of his 25 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:51,240 father's administration, serving as the Deputy Chief of Staff of 26 00:01:51,240 --> 00:01:54,280 the Office of the Supreme Leader for Political and Security 27 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:58,280 Affairs since 1997. He was, in effect, his father's 28 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:02,560 gatekeeper, his fixer, his most trusted operative. 29 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:07,560 He has deep, long standing ties to the IRGC going back decades. 30 00:02:07,960 --> 00:02:11,000 He was a key channel between his father and the Guards 31 00:02:11,000 --> 00:02:13,360 leadership. He was widely believed to have 32 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:16,200 played a direct role in orchestrating the crackdown on 33 00:02:16,200 --> 00:02:19,080 protesters during the Green Movement in 2009. 34 00:02:19,440 --> 00:02:22,240 He was believed to have been directly in charge of the Basich 35 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:25,640 paramilitary force that has been at the center of multiple brutal 36 00:02:25,640 --> 00:02:27,840 crackdowns on Iranian civil society. 37 00:02:28,240 --> 00:02:31,560 He was placed under United States sanctions in 2019 for 38 00:02:31,560 --> 00:02:34,320 acting in place of the Supreme Leader without ever being 39 00:02:34,320 --> 00:02:37,480 elected or appointed to any official position, and for 40 00:02:37,480 --> 00:02:40,280 working closely with the Kurds force on covert operations, 41 00:02:40,280 --> 00:02:43,200 including lethal aid, intelligence, financing and 42 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:46,040 training for the Taliban, Hezbollah, Hamas, Palestinian 43 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:49,200 Islamic Jihad and Iraq's Popular Mobilization Forces. 44 00:02:49,600 --> 00:02:52,880 A Bloomberg investigation published in January 2026 45 00:02:52,880 --> 00:02:55,680 reported that he is linked to an offshore financial network 46 00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:59,240 holding high value real estate in London and Dubai, interests 47 00:02:59,240 --> 00:03:02,840 connected to shipping, banking and hospitality assets across 48 00:03:02,840 --> 00:03:05,600 Europe, structured through intermediaries and layered 49 00:03:05,600 --> 00:03:08,960 corporate entities. This is the man the IRGC has 50 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:12,680 chosen to lead Iran. Not through careful religious 51 00:03:12,680 --> 00:03:17,720 deliberation, through pressure. According to Iran International, 52 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:22,040 IRGC commanders began pressuring Assembly of Experts members on 53 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:25,400 March 3rd, conducting in person meetings and phone calls 54 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:29,000 demanding they vote for Mojtaba Khamenei. 8 Assembly members 55 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:32,200 stated publicly they would boycott a second electoral 56 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:35,160 session plan for March 5th because of the heavy pressure. 57 00:03:35,680 --> 00:03:38,960 They described the process as constitutionally irregular. 58 00:03:39,440 --> 00:03:43,480 On March 8th, multiple Assembly members told Iranian state media 59 00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:47,440 and the Fars news agency that a decisive and unanimous opinion 60 00:03:47,440 --> 00:03:49,960 have been reached. Ayatollah Mohammad Mahdi 61 00:03:49,960 --> 00:03:53,480 Murbagiri said great efforts to determine the leadership have 62 00:03:53,480 --> 00:03:55,800 been made. Iran's parliament issued a 63 00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:59,520 bulletin ordering all Iranians to perform their duty to obey 64 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:03,040 regardless of who was chosen. The constitutional questions 65 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:06,400 surrounding the succession are significant and cannot be 66 00:04:06,400 --> 00:04:09,400 dismissed. Iran's constitution requires the 67 00:04:09,400 --> 00:04:12,400 Supreme Leader to be a senior jurist with deep knowledge of 68 00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:16,480 jurisprudence in Shia Islam. Mojtaba Khamenei is a hoja toll 69 00:04:16,480 --> 00:04:19,880 slam, not an Ayatollah. He does not, on a 70 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:23,200 straightforward reading of the constitution, meet the required 71 00:04:23,200 --> 00:04:26,480 religious qualifications. His father faced a similar 72 00:04:26,480 --> 00:04:29,680 problem in 1989. He was also not an Ayatollah 73 00:04:29,680 --> 00:04:32,720 when chosen, and the law was amended to accommodate him. 74 00:04:33,240 --> 00:04:36,400 A similar constitutional accommodation may be in the 75 00:04:36,400 --> 00:04:40,160 works for the Sun, but amending a constitution under bombardment 76 00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:44,400 under IRGC pressure, with eight assembly members boycotting and 77 00:04:44,400 --> 00:04:47,760 the meeting building previously targeted by Israeli airstrikes 78 00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:51,160 is not what any legal theorist would describe as a legitimate 79 00:04:51,160 --> 00:04:54,760 constitutional process. The Islamic Republic was founded 80 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:57,640 in explicit repudiation of the Pallavi monarchy. 81 00:04:58,040 --> 00:05:00,760 The first principle of the revolution was that hereditary 82 00:05:00,760 --> 00:05:05,680 rule was illegitimate, corrupt and UN Islamic. 47 years later, 83 00:05:05,800 --> 00:05:08,800 the Islamic Republic has produced its own hereditary 84 00:05:08,800 --> 00:05:11,560 succession. The son of the supreme leader 85 00:05:11,560 --> 00:05:14,160 has inherited the office of supreme leader. 86 00:05:14,600 --> 00:05:17,600 The ideological contradiction at the heart of this decision is 87 00:05:17,600 --> 00:05:20,320 one that many Iranians, including religious 88 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:22,800 conservatives, who have supported the Islamic Republic 89 00:05:22,800 --> 00:05:25,880 throughout their lives, will find deeply uncomfortable. 90 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:30,080 Donald Trump has said publicly in capital letters that Mojtaba 91 00:05:30,080 --> 00:05:33,040 Khamenei is unacceptable, he told reporters. 92 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:36,320 They are wasting their time. Trump has framed his entire 93 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:39,240 involvement in the succession question around the idea that 94 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:42,400 the new supreme leader must be someone who treats the United 95 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:46,080 States and Israel well. Mojtaba Khamenei has spent his 96 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:49,840 adult life building the networks that funded Hamas, Hezbollah and 97 00:05:49,840 --> 00:05:53,720 Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He has personal ties to every 98 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:57,400 proxy force the Islamic Republic has deployed against Israel and 99 00:05:57,400 --> 00:05:59,640 the United States for the past three decades. 100 00:06:00,040 --> 00:06:03,320 His ascension to the role of supreme leader does not signal a 101 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:06,400 softer Iran. It signals an Iran that views 102 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:09,400 the United States as an implacable enemy and is likely 103 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:11,320 to escalate rather than compromise. 104 00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:15,400 Iran's foreign minister Arachi appeared on NBC's Meet the Press 105 00:06:15,400 --> 00:06:18,640 on Sunday morning and was asked directly who the new supreme 106 00:06:18,640 --> 00:06:21,840 leader would be. His answer was striking, he 107 00:06:21,840 --> 00:06:23,960 said. Nobody knows, he said. 108 00:06:23,960 --> 00:06:27,120 There are lots of rumors, but we have to wait for the Assembly of 109 00:06:27,120 --> 00:06:30,560 Experts to convene and vote. He said this on the same morning 110 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:33,720 that multiple assembly members had already told Iranian state 111 00:06:33,720 --> 00:06:35,560 media that a decision had been made. 112 00:06:36,040 --> 00:06:39,400 Either Arachi genuinely did not know which would tell its own 113 00:06:39,400 --> 00:06:42,040 story about the fractures between Iran's civilian 114 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:45,680 government and its security apparatus, where he knew and was 115 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:48,120 deliberately maintaining deniability while the 116 00:06:48,120 --> 00:06:51,680 announcement was being prepared. Either interpretation is 117 00:06:51,680 --> 00:06:55,360 significant. Arachi also repeated on Sunday 118 00:06:55,440 --> 00:06:57,800 that Iran has not asked for a ceasefire. 119 00:06:58,240 --> 00:07:02,160 He said in June last year Iran had accepted a ceasefire, but 120 00:07:02,160 --> 00:07:04,760 this time there needed to be a permanent end to the war. 121 00:07:05,160 --> 00:07:07,520 He said no one wants to continue this war. 122 00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:11,560 He said Iran will continue to act in self-defense, and he 123 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:14,240 insisted that Iran was not attacking its neighbors, but 124 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:17,440 rather United States facilities and installations in Gulf Arab 125 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:20,400 countries. That framing that every Iranian 126 00:07:20,400 --> 00:07:23,880 strike on a Gulf state is an act of self-defense against American 127 00:07:23,880 --> 00:07:27,400 facilities rather than an attack on a sovereign country is 128 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:30,520 Tehran's legal and political architecture for the entire 129 00:07:30,520 --> 00:07:33,280 counter operation. The governments of Qatar, 130 00:07:33,280 --> 00:07:37,120 Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates do 131 00:07:37,120 --> 00:07:40,440 not share that framing. President Posseshkian made one 132 00:07:40,440 --> 00:07:43,160 of the most extraordinary statements of the entire 133 00:07:43,160 --> 00:07:46,400 conflict on Saturday. He appeared on Iranian state 134 00:07:46,400 --> 00:07:50,000 media and issued a personal apology to neighboring countries 135 00:07:50,000 --> 00:07:52,680 that Iran had targeted with strikes since the conflict 136 00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:55,880 began, he said. I find it necessary here to 137 00:07:55,880 --> 00:07:58,960 apologize on my own behalf to the neighboring countries that 138 00:07:58,960 --> 00:08:02,480 have been attacked by Iran. He said Iran had no intention of 139 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:04,400 aggression toward neighboring countries. 140 00:08:04,560 --> 00:08:07,120 Call them brothers. He added that Iran would no 141 00:08:07,120 --> 00:08:10,440 longer initiate such attacks in the region as long as those 142 00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:13,240 countries territories were not used to attack Iran. 143 00:08:13,600 --> 00:08:17,240 Hours later, Posseschian issued a separate statement on social 144 00:08:17,240 --> 00:08:20,080 media emphasizing Iran's right to self-defense. 145 00:08:20,480 --> 00:08:23,360 His office then said that his original remarks have been 146 00:08:23,360 --> 00:08:26,560 misinterpreted by the enemy seeking to sow division. 147 00:08:27,080 --> 00:08:29,400 Posseschian is Iran's elected president. 148 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:33,000 He is a moderate. He ran on a platform of 149 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:36,159 engagement with the West. He is the public face of a 150 00:08:36,159 --> 00:08:39,400 government whose military wing is simultaneously firing its 151 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:42,559 27th wave of strikes at Israel and whose intelligence 152 00:08:42,559 --> 00:08:45,640 operatives are, according to the New York Times, secretly 153 00:08:45,640 --> 00:08:47,760 reaching out to the CIA about ending the war. 154 00:08:48,160 --> 00:08:51,360 The gap between possessions, public apologetic tone and the 155 00:08:51,360 --> 00:08:55,760 military reality of an ongoing wave of IRGC strikes into Gulf 156 00:08:55,760 --> 00:08:58,680 states illustrates in the starkest possible terms how 157 00:08:58,680 --> 00:09:01,280 divided Iran's government is at this precise moment. 158 00:09:01,680 --> 00:09:05,040 The moderate civilian leadership is apologizing to neighbors. 159 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:09,320 The IRGC is firing at them. These are not coherent 160 00:09:09,320 --> 00:09:11,840 positions. They represent a government 161 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:14,440 operating in multiple contradictory directions 162 00:09:14,440 --> 00:09:17,440 simultaneously. Under the most extreme pressure 163 00:09:17,440 --> 00:09:19,200 in the Islamic Republic's history. 164 00:09:19,680 --> 00:09:23,400 The military campaign on Sunday continued at a pace that shows 165 00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:27,440 no sign of deceleration. The Israeli Air Force announced 166 00:09:27,440 --> 00:09:31,440 wide scale strikes on Iranian regime targets in Tehran and 167 00:09:31,440 --> 00:09:33,520 additional areas across the country. 168 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:37,400 The IDF confirmed it had struck military infrastructure at 169 00:09:37,400 --> 00:09:40,600 Meribat Airport, which it described as a central hub used 170 00:09:40,600 --> 00:09:44,480 by the IRGC to arm and fund its terror proxies across the Middle 171 00:09:44,480 --> 00:09:46,840 East. Meribat Airport is one of the 172 00:09:46,840 --> 00:09:49,760 two main international airports serving Tehran. 173 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:53,920 Its designation as an IRGC logistics hub and its subsequent 174 00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:56,920 bombardment marks another significant escalation in the 175 00:09:56,920 --> 00:09:59,880 targeting of infrastructure that serves both military and 176 00:09:59,880 --> 00:10:03,400 civilian purposes. Israel also struck Beirut on 177 00:10:03,400 --> 00:10:06,240 Sunday. The IDF conducted A targeted 178 00:10:06,240 --> 00:10:10,120 strike on key commanders of the IRGCS Quds Force in Lebanon's 179 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:12,320 capital. Lebanon's Health Ministry 180 00:10:12,320 --> 00:10:15,600 reported that four people were killed in a strike on a hotel in 181 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:19,320 the Rauch area, a popular sea front tourist district of Beirut 182 00:10:19,320 --> 00:10:22,120 that remained untouched throughout the 2024 Israel 183 00:10:22,120 --> 00:10:24,720 Hezbollah war. The Rauch neighborhood is home 184 00:10:24,720 --> 00:10:28,720 to restaurants, hotels and the famous Rauch Rock, one of the 185 00:10:28,720 --> 00:10:30,760 most photographed landmarks in Lebanon. 186 00:10:31,200 --> 00:10:34,480 Its targeting on Sunday marks a geographic and symbolic 187 00:10:34,480 --> 00:10:37,640 expansion of Israeli strikes in Beirut beyond the southern 188 00:10:37,640 --> 00:10:40,400 suburbs, where Hezbollah's infrastructure is concentrated. 189 00:10:40,800 --> 00:10:45,480 Iran's IRGC described its latest attack on Israel as the 27th 190 00:10:45,480 --> 00:10:49,560 wave of Operation True Promise. Air raid sirens were activated 191 00:10:49,560 --> 00:10:52,360 in southern Israel, including in the Najaf desert. 192 00:10:52,760 --> 00:10:56,120 Hezbollah carried out several attacks on Israeli military 193 00:10:56,120 --> 00:10:58,480 sites and northern Israeli cities. 194 00:10:58,920 --> 00:11:02,000 Two Israeli soldiers were confirmed killed in combat in 195 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:05,240 southern Lebanon, the first Israeli military death since the 196 00:11:05,240 --> 00:11:06,960 fighting with Hezbollah restarted. 197 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:10,080 Israel has now suffered casualties on 2 fronts 198 00:11:10,080 --> 00:11:13,720 simultaneously, Iranian missile attacks on its territory from 199 00:11:13,720 --> 00:11:17,040 the north and east and Hezbollah ground and rocket attacks on its 200 00:11:17,040 --> 00:11:19,880 northern border. Russia has been providing Iran 201 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:22,960 with intelligence about the locations of American warships 202 00:11:22,960 --> 00:11:26,600 and military targets. Confirmed independently by NPR, 203 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:30,120 Russia's provision of targeting intelligence to a country being 204 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:33,320 bombed by American forces represents the most direct 205 00:11:33,320 --> 00:11:36,320 Russian involvement in any conflict with American forces 206 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:39,440 since the Cold War. Multiple United States senators 207 00:11:39,440 --> 00:11:42,400 had demanded a formal response from the Trump administration. 208 00:11:42,840 --> 00:11:46,480 The administration had not issued one as of Sunday morning. 209 00:11:47,160 --> 00:11:50,520 The silence is notable. the United States National 210 00:11:50,520 --> 00:11:53,520 Intelligence Council added a sobering dimension to the 211 00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:56,840 strategic picture on Saturday with a leak of an internal 212 00:11:56,840 --> 00:11:58,640 assessment to the Washington Post. 213 00:11:59,040 --> 00:12:02,240 The report found that a large scale American LED assault on 214 00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:05,120 Iran was unlikely to topple the country's government. 215 00:12:05,560 --> 00:12:08,720 It described the prospect of Iran's fragmented opposition 216 00:12:08,720 --> 00:12:11,240 taking control of the country is unlikely. 217 00:12:11,760 --> 00:12:14,720 This assessment directly contradicts the public framing 218 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:18,200 of Operation Epic Fury as an operation designed to produce 219 00:12:18,200 --> 00:12:22,080 regime change and a new American acceptable supreme leader. 220 00:12:22,440 --> 00:12:25,240 The Trump administration characterized the leak as a 221 00:12:25,240 --> 00:12:29,600 political act CIA Director John Ratcliffe pushed back, saying 222 00:12:29,600 --> 00:12:32,880 new information indicated severe damage to Iran's nuclear 223 00:12:32,880 --> 00:12:35,040 facilities that would take years to rebuild. 224 00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:38,080 The public contradiction between the National Intelligence 225 00:12:38,080 --> 00:12:41,200 Council's assessment and the CIA director's counter statement 226 00:12:41,200 --> 00:12:44,200 illustrates the degree to which the United States intelligence 227 00:12:44,200 --> 00:12:46,880 community is not speaking with one voice about what this 228 00:12:46,880 --> 00:12:50,360 operation will actually achieve. Human Rights Watch issued a 229 00:12:50,360 --> 00:12:53,760 formal statement on Saturday calling for an investigation 230 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:56,920 into the min of school airstrike as a potential war crime. 231 00:12:57,400 --> 00:13:00,120 The organization said the attack on the primary school in 232 00:13:00,120 --> 00:13:04,200 southern Iran, which killed at least 160 people, many of them 233 00:13:04,200 --> 00:13:07,240 schoolchildren, should be investigated as a war crime 234 00:13:07,240 --> 00:13:09,040 under international humanitarian law. 235 00:13:09,680 --> 00:13:12,680 An Al Jazeera investigation separately found that the 236 00:13:12,680 --> 00:13:15,080 targeting of the school was likely deliberate. 237 00:13:15,440 --> 00:13:18,560 The New York Times reported that the strike may have been carried 238 00:13:18,560 --> 00:13:22,520 out by the United States. Iran's government says 180 239 00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:25,400 children were killed. The Pentagon says it is 240 00:13:25,400 --> 00:13:28,280 investigating. Once a major human rights 241 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:31,520 organization formally uses the phrase war crime in connection 242 00:13:31,600 --> 00:13:35,080 with a specific event in a specific conflict, the legal and 243 00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:38,400 reputational consequences become very difficult to contain. 244 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:42,840 Amazon Web Services disclosed on Saturday that its data center in 245 00:13:42,840 --> 00:13:46,240 Bahrain was damaged by a nearby Iranian drone strike. 246 00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:49,840 Two AWS data centers in the United Arab Emirates were 247 00:13:49,840 --> 00:13:53,200 directly struck by Iranian drones and remain offline. 248 00:13:53,600 --> 00:13:57,240 Iran's Fars news agency stated that Amazon's facilities were 249 00:13:57,240 --> 00:14:00,200 targeted specifically for the company's support of United 250 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:02,760 States military and intelligence activities. 251 00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:06,480 Amazon Web Services is the dominant provider of cloud 252 00:14:06,480 --> 00:14:09,120 computing infrastructure for the United States government, 253 00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:12,160 including for classified military and intelligence 254 00:14:12,160 --> 00:14:14,360 systems. The deliberate targeting of 255 00:14:14,360 --> 00:14:17,240 commercial technology infrastructure with direct ties 256 00:14:17,240 --> 00:14:20,560 to American military capability is a new dimension of this 257 00:14:20,560 --> 00:14:23,560 conflict that has received less attention than it deserves. 258 00:14:23,960 --> 00:14:27,040 AWS data centers do not have air defenses. 259 00:14:27,480 --> 00:14:31,920 They are soft targets and their disruption has real consequences 260 00:14:31,920 --> 00:14:35,400 for American military command and control systems that depend 261 00:14:35,400 --> 00:14:37,200 on commercial cloud infrastructure. 262 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:40,960 A water desalina tion plant in Bahrain was struck and damaged 263 00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:44,520 by an Iranian drone attack, Bahrain's Ministry of Interior 264 00:14:44,520 --> 00:14:47,560 confirmed on Sunday. A desalina tion plant is 265 00:14:47,560 --> 00:14:50,840 civilian infrastructure of the most fundamental kind in a Gulf 266 00:14:50,840 --> 00:14:54,160 state where almost all drinking water comes from desalina tion. 267 00:14:54,680 --> 00:14:58,120 It's deliberate Targeting, if deliberate, would constitute an 268 00:14:58,120 --> 00:15:01,720 attack on the civilian water supply of a country not formally 269 00:15:01,720 --> 00:15:04,560 at war with Iran. Bahrain is the host nation for 270 00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:06,800 the United States Navy's Fifth Fleet. 271 00:15:07,200 --> 00:15:10,640 Iran's framing is that it is striking American military 272 00:15:10,640 --> 00:15:13,080 infrastructure and the countries that host it. 273 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:17,160 Brains framing and the framing of international humanitarian 274 00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:20,920 law is rather different. Israel struck oil storage and 275 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:24,560 refining facilities inside Iran for the first time on Saturday. 276 00:15:24,920 --> 00:15:27,920 ACNN team on the ground witnessed thick black plumes of 277 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:32,040 smoke rising from the Sharon oil deposit in northeast Tehran, one 278 00:15:32,040 --> 00:15:34,480 of Iran's largest fuel storage facilities. 279 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:37,840 Energy Secretary Chris Wright confirmed on Sunday that the 280 00:15:37,840 --> 00:15:41,760 United States has no plans to target Iran's oil industry, its 281 00:15:41,760 --> 00:15:45,080 natural gas industry or any of its energy infrastructure. 282 00:15:45,480 --> 00:15:48,840 He said the United States is targeting 0 energy 283 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:51,800 infrastructure. He acknowledged that Israel has 284 00:15:51,800 --> 00:15:55,560 struck local fuel storage sites inside Iran, describing them as 285 00:15:55,560 --> 00:15:58,720 local fuel depots. He attempted to downplay the air 286 00:15:58,720 --> 00:16:02,000 quality impacts on Iranian civilians by saying a few days 287 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:05,240 of lower air quality in Tehran is nothing compared to what the 288 00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:07,360 Iranian people suffered under the regime. 289 00:16:07,760 --> 00:16:10,760 That statement was not well received internationally. 290 00:16:11,240 --> 00:16:15,200 The global economic picture on Sunday continues to deteriorate. 291 00:16:15,680 --> 00:16:19,440 Brent crude reached $91.00 a barrel on Friday, its highest 292 00:16:19,440 --> 00:16:24,360 level since October 2023. In one week of war, Brent crude 293 00:16:24,360 --> 00:16:29,320 climbed 27%, the biggest weekly gain since the COVID-19 pandemic 294 00:16:29,320 --> 00:16:32,280 in 2020. United States domestic oil 295 00:16:32,280 --> 00:16:35,320 prices surged 31% in a single week. 296 00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:39,280 Diesel prices are rising faster than petrol prices because 297 00:16:39,280 --> 00:16:41,480 diesel was already in shorter supply. 298 00:16:41,880 --> 00:16:44,520 Lloyd's of London confirmed it is engaging with the Trump 299 00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:47,480 administration following Trump's announcement that he is ordering 300 00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:50,600 the United States International Development Finance Corporation 301 00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:53,240 to offer political risk insurance for maritime trade 302 00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:55,880 through the Gulf. Ship traffic through the Strait 303 00:16:55,880 --> 00:16:59,880 of Hormuz has come to a near complete halt. 150 freight 304 00:16:59,880 --> 00:17:03,320 ships, including many oil tankers, remain stalled at or 305 00:17:03,320 --> 00:17:06,040 near the Strait. Political risk insurance does 306 00:17:06,040 --> 00:17:09,280 not stop a missile. The White House confirmed it has 307 00:17:09,280 --> 00:17:12,760 no timeline for when the Strait of Hormuz will be safe for oil 308 00:17:12,760 --> 00:17:15,319 tankers. Trump was asked directly on 309 00:17:15,319 --> 00:17:19,000 Saturday when the war would end. He said it would continue for a 310 00:17:19,000 --> 00:17:21,119 little while. He said it was going 311 00:17:21,119 --> 00:17:24,160 unbelievably good for the United States military. 312 00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:27,960 He dismissed threats from Ali Larijani, who had posted that 313 00:17:27,960 --> 00:17:31,280 Trump must pay the price. He signaled the United States 314 00:17:31,280 --> 00:17:33,280 could broaden its target list further. 315 00:17:33,720 --> 00:17:36,920 Trump also participated on Saturday in one of the most 316 00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:39,040 solemn duties of the American presidency. 317 00:17:39,560 --> 00:17:42,960 He attended the dignified transfer at Dover Air Force Base 318 00:17:42,960 --> 00:17:44,960 in Delaware. Of the six American service 319 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:48,280 members killed in the opening days of the conflict, the six 320 00:17:48,280 --> 00:17:53,320 were Captain Cottier Cork, 35 years old, Sergeant First Class 321 00:17:53,320 --> 00:17:57,120 Noah Lt. Ends, 42, Sergeant First Class 322 00:17:57,120 --> 00:18:02,600 Nicole M Amour, 39, Sergeant Declan J Cody, 20 years old, 323 00:18:03,120 --> 00:18:09,280 Major Jeffrey O'Brien, 45, and Chief Warrant Officer 3 Robert M 324 00:18:09,280 --> 00:18:12,280 Marzen. Trump was joined by first lady 325 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:16,280 Melania Trump, Defense Secretary Pete Hagseth and Middle East 326 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:19,680 envoy Steve Witkoff. The president saluted as members 327 00:18:19,680 --> 00:18:23,040 of the United States Army Carry team moved each flag draped 328 00:18:23,040 --> 00:18:25,280 transfer case from the transport aircraft. 329 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:29,720 Six Americans, 6 names, six families. 330 00:18:30,240 --> 00:18:33,840 The human cost of this conflict made visible and personal at 331 00:18:33,840 --> 00:18:36,400 Dover. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin 332 00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:40,160 Netanyahu issued a statement on Saturday that encapsulated the 333 00:18:40,160 --> 00:18:43,280 Israeli government's framing of this entire conflict. 334 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:46,520 He said Israel is continuing with full force. 335 00:18:46,960 --> 00:18:50,040 He said the alliance with the United States is deeper than 336 00:18:50,040 --> 00:18:53,000 ever. He said Israel and America are 337 00:18:53,000 --> 00:18:54,840 changing the face of the Middle East. 338 00:18:55,280 --> 00:18:58,480 He said that after October 7th he had decided to lead what he 339 00:18:58,480 --> 00:19:02,080 called a polar shift, actions that dramatically alter the 340 00:19:02,080 --> 00:19:04,880 balance of power between Israel and its enemies. 341 00:19:05,280 --> 00:19:08,120 He described the joint operation with the United States as 342 00:19:08,120 --> 00:19:10,880 removing the threat of Iran's ballistic and nuclear 343 00:19:10,880 --> 00:19:13,840 capabilities. The question of what comes next 344 00:19:13,840 --> 00:19:17,560 hangs over everything the National Intelligence Council 345 00:19:17,560 --> 00:19:19,720 says. Regime change is unlikely. 346 00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:23,800 The IRGC has just installed a hard line successor who has 347 00:19:23,800 --> 00:19:26,280 spent his career funding Israel's enemies. 348 00:19:26,720 --> 00:19:30,000 Trump has said the new Supreme Leader is unacceptable. 349 00:19:30,400 --> 00:19:33,480 Iran has launched its 27th wave of strikes. 350 00:19:33,880 --> 00:19:37,400 Human Rights Watch is calling for war crimes investigations. 351 00:19:37,840 --> 00:19:40,440 A water desalina tion plant has been struck. 352 00:19:40,880 --> 00:19:44,080 Amazon Web Services data centers are offline. 353 00:19:44,600 --> 00:19:46,840 Brent crude is at a 7 month high. 354 00:19:47,280 --> 00:19:50,640 Lloyd's of London is negotiating political risk insurance for the 355 00:19:50,640 --> 00:19:54,320 Strait of Hormuz. In a Dover Air Force Base. 6 356 00:19:54,320 --> 00:19:57,640 flag draped caskets were carried off a transport aircraft while 357 00:19:57,640 --> 00:19:59,880 the President of the United States stood and saluted. 358 00:20:00,280 --> 00:20:03,120 Day 9. The new Supreme Leader of Iran 359 00:20:03,160 --> 00:20:07,160 is the son of the man America killed and this war has no end. 360 00:20:07,160 --> 00:20:10,440 Insight. That is episode 9 of Epic Fury, 361 00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:14,920 the US Iran War podcast. The story is moving fast. 362 00:20:15,360 --> 00:20:19,360 Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcast or YouTube so every new 363 00:20:19,360 --> 00:20:23,080 episode lands directly with you. Share this with someone who 364 00:20:23,080 --> 00:20:26,760 needs to understand what is happening and we will be back 365 00:20:26,760 --> 00:20:27,600 very soon.