Ben Rhodes

Well, the UAE is trying to get and is getting, as we've talked about, hundreds of billions of dollars in investments to build data centers there.

How do you feel about that investment these days?

Are you looking to build data centers in the Gulf?

So there is kind of a strategic logic in the sense that they're creating an insecurity.

So long as our regime is not secure,

you know, we can burn it all down and nobody's secure, which, again, is dangerous.

But there is some rationale.

It's also the case that the Gulf is just closer, you know, so with drones in particular, it's an easier shot for the Iranians.

And then to your point about the interceptors, it's a bit of a race against time because I presume that what Israel and the United States are trying to do is just take out as many ballistic missile

sites, whether it's production facilities, launchers, before they basically run out of interceptors.

Because the longer this thing goes on, if Iran can continue to fire things, ballistic missiles and drones and these kinds of waves, they're going to get through more and more of the air defense systems because the air defense systems are just depleted.

And so that's a real risk to hear.

I mean, Trump, you know, people keep talking about this as if when might Trump stop the war?

I also don't think there's any guarantee that Iran, like as in the 12 day war, although I think it's one more, that Iran just stops because Trump stops.

If just because we may run low on interceptors and say, all right, time out, guys, let's pause.

The Iranians could keep firing.

So it is a question of how much.

their ability to manufacture or store or hide drones and missiles can weather this initial onslaught in terms of how much damage they can do going forward.

Well, I think the command and control point you made is essential because it feels like there were delegations made by the Supreme Leader anticipating he might be killed.

Well, that's right.