[Rush Lindell] Welcome back. And buddy,
[Rush Lindell] do we have a lineup tonight.
[Reagan] We do.
[Reagan] Twelve nights of strikes and counting.
[Rush Lindell] Twelve.
[Rush Lindell] CENTCOM just wrapped number 12 against Iran,
[Rush Lindell] Washington's still calling this diplomacy.
[Rush Lindell] I've got a word for that.
[Reagan] Save it for the segment.
[Rush Lindell] Fine.
[Rush Lindell] But we're also getting into the price tag on this war.
[Rush Lindell] Pentagon numbers that'll make your eyes
[Reagan] Wow.
[Rush Lindell] water.
[Reagan] And the human cost.
[Reagan] What's actually happening to the troops living on those-
[Reagan] on those Gulf bases right now.
[Rush Lindell] Plus,
[Rush Lindell] Rubio's out there promising Iran will pay a price.
[Rush Lindell] We'll see if that's a strategy or just a talking point.
[Reagan] Stick around for the parody segment too; Rush has a toll booth bit for the Strait of Hormuz.
[Rush Lindell] Oh,
[Rush Lindell] it's coming.
[Reagan] But first...
[Rush Lindell] This hour is brought to you by Lear Capital,
[Rush Lindell] America's precious metals leader since nineteen ninety seven.
[Reagan] All right, let's get to the top story.
[Rush Lindell] CENTCOM confirms strike number twelve last night.
[Rush Lindell] 'Last night-twelve straight nights-that's not diplomacy-that's a war we're just not calling by its name.
[Reagan] Rush,
[Reagan] before you run with that,
[Reagan] I want to talk about how many separate waves we're actually counting here,
[Reagan] because the number's not as clean as twelve nights.
[Rush Lindell] Here we go.
[Rush Lindell] Before we get started, a quick reminder.
[Rush Lindell] We love hearing from you. If you have questions or topics you'd like us to cover,
[Rush Lindell] head to the link in the description and submit your question.
[Rush Lindell] We read every single one.
[Rush Lindell] Twelve nights!
[Rush Lindell] twelve,
[Rush Lindell] Reagan!
[Reagan] I can count,
[Reagan] Rush.
[Rush Lindell] CENTCOM just wrapped strike number twelve on Iran,
[Rush Lindell] hitting boats,
[Rush Lindell] missile depots,
[Rush Lindell] radar sites,
[Rush Lindell] air defenses-every single night since-since when?--since we had a peace deal.
[Reagan] To be fair,
[Reagan] the memorandum of understanding never actually stopped combat operations outright.
[Rush Lindell] Oh,
[Rush Lindell] come on!" Trump stood back and fiddled.
[Rush Lindell] In February,
[Rush Lindell] an announced major combat operations against Iran per ABC News-massive joint strikes with Israel.
[Rush Lindell] Then June arrives; both sides sign an MOU.
[Reagan] Aimed at ending the war,
[Reagan] according to that same ABC News reporting.
[Rush Lindell] Ending it!
[Rush Lindell] And instead we get night after night after night of bombs!
[Rush Lindell] This isn't a peace process with hiccups; this is a war wearing a name
[Speaker 3] tag!
[Rush Lindell] A name tag!
[Reagan] Measured:
[Reagan] Rubio addressed this directly; he told reporters the price Iran pays keeps climbing every night until Tehran "comes to its senses."
[Rush Lindell] Comes to its senses,
[Rush Lindell] like they're a teenager who missed curfew!
[Reagan] Sure,
[Reagan] but that's Rubio framing this as pressure diplomacy,
[Reagan] not abandoning the MOU.
[Rush Lindell] Pressure diplomacy with drone storage facilities getting flattened for the
[Speaker 3] twelfth time.
[Rush Lindell] A twelfth straight night?
[Reagan] I didn't say I bought it; I said that's the Administration's framing.
[Rush Lindell] So which is it?
[Rush Lindell] Is this diplomacy having a rough week or is it just a war that somebody slapped a press release on?
[Reagan] Actually,
[Reagan] small thing,
[Reagan] CENTCOM's own release from Sunday says that wave was the ninth night—not part of this current run.
[Reagan] So we're not even talking one continuous streak,
[Reagan] we're talking multiple waves stacked.
[Reagan] Act back to back.
[Rush Lindell] Pah, which is somehow worse.
[Reagan] Which is somehow worse?
[Reagan] Multiple restart points and nobody's calling it what it is.
[Rush Lindell] So who exactly saw this coming?
[Rush Lindell] All right; receipts time.
[Rush Lindell] Back at the MOU signing I called it the "paper ceasefire," said it wouldn't survive contact with reality.
[Reagan] You did say that-and it collapsed.
[Rush Lindell] I don't want right,
[Rush Lindell] Reagan; I want a trophy!
[Rush Lindell] Dead on arrival months ago!
[Reagan] You said "dead on arrival." You didn't say "a dead American service member and Twelve straight nights of bombing.
[Rush Lindell] Details.
[Reagan] Not details.
[Reagan] Predicting a handshake falls apart isn't the same as predicting the shape of the war that replaces it.
[Rush Lindell] Come on.
[Reagan] I'm conceding the collapse,
[Reagan] not the casualty count.
[Rush Lindell] Fine.
[Rush Lindell] Partial credit.
[Rush Lindell] I'll take it.
[Reagan] But Iran's own supreme leader is out there this week calling Trump's signature on that MOU worthless and devoid of credibility.
[Rush Lindell] Say that again.
[Rush Lindell] I love it.
[Reagan] Their words.
[Reagan] After the strike.
[Reagan] Strikes resumed; Khamenei basically told his own people the ink was dead.
[Rush Lindell] So even Tehran's calling it the paper ceasefire now.
[Reagan] They agree it broke.
[Reagan] Whether it was ever real to begin with,
[Reagan] that's a different fight.
[Rush Lindell] It wasn't real.
[Rush Lindell] It was a photo op with a shelf life.
[Reagan] Or it was real and neither side could hold it.
[Reagan] Cause and effect aren't the same claim.
[Rush Lindell] Either way,
[Rush Lindell] we called the funeral before the body dropped.
[Rush Lindell] DROPPED.
[Reagan] You called the funeral; I'm not signing off on you naming the cause of death.
[Rush Lindell] Noted councillor,
[Rush Lindell] now that funeral's racking up a bill nobody in Washington wants to read out loud.
[Rush Lindell] Forget the diplomacy talk for a second.
[Rush Lindell] Let's talk sticker price.
[Reagan] Defense Secretary Hegseth put a number on this campaign this week: roughly $37.5 billion,
[Rush Lindell] Wow!
[Reagan] according to Gulf News.
[Rush Lindell] $37.5 billion for a war nobody's calling a war.
[Reagan] And that's just dollars.
[Reagan] Recent tallies put at least 13 American service members dead.
[Reagan] Three hundred eighty one wounded over roughly forty days of hostilities.
[Rush Lindell] Thirteen families got a knock on the door.
[Reagan] My real problem,
[Reagan] Rush,
[Reagan] there's been no formal war declaration,
[Reagan] no Article One vote.
[Reagan] Congress hasn't authorized this spending.
[Reagan] It's running night after night on executive say so.
[Rush Lindell] So what-we pause strikes and take a floor vote while missiles are inbound?
[Reagan] I'm not saying stop the strikes,
[Reagan] I'm saying thirty seven billion in sustained spending?
[Reagan] Dink deserves a floor debate.
[Reagan] The War Powers Resolution gives the White House a ninety day clock before it needs congressional sign off.
[Reagan] We're well past that.
[Rush Lindell] Congress could have voted any time.
[Rush Lindell] They chose not to.
[Rush Lindell] That's on them,
[Rush Lindell] too.
[Reagan] It doesn't erase the authorization question.
[Rush Lindell] Fine,
[Rush Lindell] debate it.
[Rush Lindell] But don't pretend the alternative is free.
[Rush Lindell] Look away for six months and watch what Tehran does with that runway.
[Reagan] Fair worry.
[Speaker 4] Look,
[Speaker 4] strength costs money; weakness costs more—it sends the bill later,
[Speaker 4] with interest,
[Speaker 4] in American lives.
[Reagan] Poetic,
[Reagan] still doesn't balance a budget.
[Speaker 4] Speaking of hedging against what's coming,
[Speaker 4] if you're watching costs climb during wartime,
[Speaker 4] you start looking for
[Speaker 3] trouble.
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[Rush Lindell] Thirty-seven billion buys strikes.
[Rush Lindell] It doesn't buy back the soldiers stationed at that base in Jordan.
[Rush Lindell] Make sure you text RUSH to 43343.
[Reagan] Which is where the real cost shows up next,
[Reagan] not in a spreadsheet,
[Reagan] but in rotation,
[Reagan] with troops absorbing the retaliation.
[Rush Lindell] Yeah,
[Rush Lindell] let's go there.
[Rush Lindell] Beyond the price tag,
[Rush Lindell] there's a human toll here.
[Reagan] There is.
[Reagan] NBC News reported Iran hit that Kuwaiti power and desalination plant twice in two days,
[Reagan] and our troops on those bases are living through the blackouts too.
[Rush Lindell] Picture a soldier standing next to a generator that just took a direct hit.
[Rush Lindell] That's the reality behind the blackout headlines.
[Reagan] And it's not always the missile that gets them.
[Reagan] CENTCOM confirmed a service member at Erbil Air Base
[Reagan] Their base died during a controlled detonation of unexploded ordnance from a downed Iranian drone.
[Rush Lindell] Clean up duty,
[Rush Lindell] and it's still fatal.
[Reagan] Exactly.
[Reagan] The Pentagon says nearly a hundred troops have been hurt since this started.
[Reagan] Ninety-six per cent are back on duty by their own count.
[Rush Lindell] Doesn't exactly settle my stomach.
[Reagan] Mine either.
[Reagan] Readiness isn't just a casualty count.
[Reagan] Ask commanders in the Pacific how they feel about pulling destroyers and air
[Speaker 3] wings off patrol.
[Reagan] and air wings toward the Gulf,
[Reagan] while Beijing watches every move.
[Rush Lindell] So we're stretched thin everywhere at once.
[Reagan] That's the quiet debate inside the Pentagon about whether twelve plus nights of streaks borrows readiness from somewhere else.
[Reagan] Nobody's answering it on camera.
[Rush Lindell] Nobody wants to.
[Reagan] And underneath all of it is rotation fatigue and a VA system about to inherit whatever these units bring home.
[Reagan] That's the cost nobody puts on a chart.
[Reagan] chart.
[Rush Lindell] I'll say this straight,
[Rush Lindell] Reagan-that gets me more than any dollar figure could.
[Reagan] It should; you can borrow money,
[Reagan] you can't borrow a soldier's third rotation back.
[Rush Lindell] Which is exactly why Rubio's out there promising Iran will pay a price.
[Reagan] Words are cheap when somebody else writes the check.
[Rush Lindell] Building on that,
[Rush Lindell] Rubio's got the line of the day,
[Rush Lindell] Iran will pay a price.
[Reagan] According to ABC News,
[Reagan] he said,
[Reagan] Iran is begging every single day, both directly and indirectly,
[Reagan] to make a deal.
[Rush Lindell] Bold strategy,
[Rush Lindell] threaten a country we're already bombing with more bombing.
[Reagan] CNBC has got the flip side.
[Reagan] Rubio flat out says Iran's still not ready to make one it'll...
[Reagan] It'll actually keep.
[Rush Lindell] That's the tell right there.
[Rush Lindell] They want the cameras off,
[Rush Lindell] the war keeps going.
[Reagan] The Hill reported his other warning,
[Reagan] letting Iran control traffic through Hormuz sets a dangerous global precedent.
[Rush Lindell] Oh yes,
[Rush Lindell] the toll booth of doom.
[Rush Lindell] Every tanker pays the Ayatollah tax.
[Reagan] And CNBC's got Trump vowing to bomb an Iranian bridge or power plant even in Tehran for...
[Reagan] For every ship I ran hits.
[Rush Lindell] I love it!
[Rush Lindell] New nickname-the infrastructure reckoning.
[Reagan] Cute,
[Reagan] but nicknames aren't a strategy Rush.
[Reagan] Tough talk without an exit plan is just noise.
[Rush Lindell] So far,
[Rush Lindell] name the off ramp.
[Rush Lindell] What's the actual end state?
[Rush Lindell] Iran blanks.
[Reagan] That's a hope; hope isn't a plan.
[Rush Lindell] Fair,
[Rush Lindell] but hope's cheaper than what we've already spent.
[Reagan] Wait till you hear how Iran is actually-
[Reagan] actually running that tollbooth.
[Rush Lindell] Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Strait of Hormuz Turnpike. Please have your exact change ready.
[Reagan] Oh, we're doing this.
[Rush Lindell] Cash,
[Rush Lindell] oil,
[Rush Lindell] or your firstborn son.
[Reagan] The IRGC as toll collectors.
[Reagan] I actually hate how well that tracks.
[Rush Lindell] That guy spent weeks threatening to shut the whole Strait down,
[Rush Lindell] but they never actually close it. They just idle there like a guy blocking the
[Rush Lindell] In the fast lane,
[Rush Lindell] checking his phone.
[Reagan] It's extortion dressed as strategy.
[Reagan] Fine,
[Reagan] bit's over,
[Reagan] here's what's actually happening.
[Rush Lindell] Go ahead,
[Rush Lindell] ground me.
[Reagan] CNBC reported today that Houthi rebels are now claiming strikes on two Saudi oil tankers. That's a second front opening up, separate from the Iran fight entirely.
[Rush Lindell] Wait,
[Rush Lindell] the Houthis are back in this?
[Reagan] According to CNBC,
[Reagan] yes,
[Reagan] and Secretary Rubio's...
[Reagan] Rubio's own comments in that piece suggest Iran still isn't ready to cut a deal.
[Rush Lindell] So the toll booth's got a partner franchise now.
[Reagan] Basically,
[Reagan] and gulfnews.com is reporting something quieter, but honestly scarier,
[Reagan] an Arab diplomat granted anonymity describing gulf states as increasingly pessimistic there's any off-ramp left at all.
[Rush Lindell] Ooh,
[Rush Lindell] that's not a headline,
[Rush Lindell] that's a mood.
[Reagan] It is,
[Reagan] and here's why the joke matters.
[Reagan] 20%
[Reagan] Fifty per cent of the world's oil moves through that Strait; you don't need a full closure to spike prices,
[Reagan] you just need enough uncertainty that shippers reroute or insurance premiums triple.
[Rush Lindell] So the bit,
[Rush Lindell] the toll booth,
[Rush Lindell] isn't that far off from the real economics.
[Reagan] Not remotely.
[Reagan] Every day this drags without an exit,
[Reagan] that's the actual toll-paid at the pump,
[Reagan] not at some checkpoint.
[Rush Lindell] Yeah,
[Rush Lindell] okay,
[Rush Lindell] comedy's fun till you remember who's writing
[Speaker 3] it.
[Rush Lindell] In the check.
[Reagan] Which is everyone buying gas this month.
[Rush Lindell] Building on that,
[Rush Lindell] here's my verdict,
[Rush Lindell] and I'm not softening it:
[Rush Lindell] This is a war,
[Rush Lindell] full stop.
[Reagan] Go on.
[Rush Lindell] Twelve nights of strikes,
[Rush Lindell] a widening front with the Houthis,
[Rush Lindell] dead paper where a peace deal used to be-call it whatever the State Department wants-a war is a war.
[Reagan] Hold on,
[Reagan] before you slam that gavel down,
[Reagan] Iran's own Interior Ministry put out a statement saying diplomacy isn't dead; they claim messages are still moving back and forth!
[Rush Lindell] Messages,
[Rush Lindell] sure,
[Rush Lindell] while the missiles are doing the talking.
[Reagan] I'm not saying trust it; I'm saying we don't get to declare total certainty when the other
[Speaker 3] half of the data isn't in.
[Rush Lindell] The other side is publicly leaving the door cracked.
[Reagan] A cracked door and a burning building are not the same thing,
[Reagan] Reagan.
[Rush Lindell] Fair,
[Rush Lindell] but it's the caveat that keeps him honest.
[Reagan] Fine-noted; still calling it a war.
[Rush Lindell] Next episode,
[Rush Lindell] I want eyes on the Houthi front,
[Rush Lindell] if that widens past tanker strikes.
[Reagan] Oil markets move fast.
[Rush Lindell] Exactly; twenty per cent of the world's oil already routes through that stretch of water.
[Reagan] So same time tomorrow we find out if the toll booth's still open.
[Rush Lindell] Or if the whole road is on fire.
[Reagan] All right,
[Reagan] Twelve Nights of strikes,
[Reagan] Reagan,
[Reagan] and my paper ceasefire call held up cracked the second Tehran opened its mouth.
[Rush Lindell] Sure, the deal cracked,
[Rush Lindell] but predicting a handshake failing isn't the same as predicting
[Reagan] Mm
[Rush Lindell] body
[Reagan] -hmm.
[Rush Lindell] counts.
[Rush Lindell] That gap matters.
[Reagan] Fair enough.
[Reagan] Still,
[Reagan] a war dressed up as a press release is a war.
[Rush Lindell] Iran's Interior Ministry says diplomacy is still breathing.
[Rush Lindell] We'll see who's right.
[Reagan] We'll see.
[Reagan] Next time we're watching the Houthi front those tanker strikes could move oil fast.
[Rush Lindell] Fast and loud,
[Rush Lindell] worth tracking.
[Reagan] That's the hour.
[Reagan] Rubio's rhetoric,
[Reagan] my soap box,
[Reagan] and Reagan keepin' me honest.
[Rush Lindell] Somebody's got to.
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[Rush Lindell] New episodes every weekday.
[Rush Lindell] Thanks for spending the hour with us.
[Reagan] Stay sharp.
[Reagan] See you tomorrow.