David Sanger

So, Terry, with the Russians, we now have no form of arms control, nuclear arms control, in place for the first time in more than 50 years.

And I'm not predicting an imminent breakout of a new arms race, but there are no legal constraints on that right now.

And what worries us about the Russian nuclear program is both the development of these exotic weapons, undersea nuclear torpedoes that could hit the west coast of the United States, not be picked up by normal missile interceptors and so forth because they're running underwater,

hypersonic weapons that both the Chinese and the Russians are working on.

So all kinds of new nuclear weapons.

But more concerning is the fact that President Putin has shown no compunction about threatening nuclear use at various points in the conflict with Ukraine.

He hasn't done it.

So there's a lot to pay attention to here.

And I'm not sure that the Iranian program is the one that I would put on the top of my list.

It's certainly a nuclear concern, but maybe not the most immediate one.

We assume there is.

Look, the fact of the matter is the Ayatollah is 86 years old.

If he didn't have a succession plan prior to this latest confrontation with the United States, then something is wrong with the Iranian system.

What we believe he has done now, though, is

build a series of succession plans that go down three or four levels.

But the fact of the matter is there are people on the streets who are sick of this regime, who are outraged by the killings of tens of thousands of protesters, who are tired of not only the economic sanctions, but the economic mismanagement, the corruption.

The fact that the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has gotten rich by running the black market of goods, including oil.

And so no one knows what happens.

if the president is successful and regime change begins to take place.

But one thing we do suspect, this doesn't look anything like Venezuela.