The Don Lemon Show
Lemon LIVE at 5 | Donald Trump's War In Iran: How Scared Should We Be?!
03 Mar 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What triggered the recent military strikes on Iran?
Good evening, everybody. Welcome to Lemon Live at 5. Thank you so much for joining. You know, the first sort of business like and thumbs up affects the algorithm. More people become aware of our conversation.
Chapter 2: How many U.S. service members have been affected by the conflict?
The algorithm pushes it out when you have engagement. And so we want people to really be engaged in this one because we have a great group of people to discuss. I mean, I believe this smartest panel that we have had, which involves Sam Seder, Crystal Ball, Mark Caputo, Prim Tucker, all coming on at different parts of the show. Jasper Nathaniel, Representative Jimmy Gomez, and County Commissioner
Nina Alam is going to join us.
Chapter 3: What are the implications of Trump's actions in the Middle East?
So it's going to be a great show. We're going to try to make sense somehow of what's happening in the Middle East, why all of a sudden there was this urgent need or desire to strike in Iran. So thank you for joining us, everyone. Appreciate it. Let us know where you're streaming from.
Chapter 4: What are the reactions from political leaders regarding the strikes?
But as we start to stream to you on this particular evening here, we have the breaking news that CENTCOM says six US service members have now been killed due to ongoing military operations related to Iran. US forces today recovered the remains of two previously unaccompanied or unaccounted, excuse me, for service members.
from a facility that was struck during Iran's initial attack in the region. Over the last three days, as you have been watching, if you've been paying attention to the news, Israel, President Donald Trump's unprecedented attack on Iran has escalated from a decapitation strike into a massive, chaotic, regional conflict with huge consequences for U.S.
Chapter 5: How does the panel interpret the legal aspects of the military operations?
forces, global energy flows, and financial markets. And so... Let's discuss some of this. I believe Sam is here a bit early, Sam Seder, over at the Majority Report, who I watch religiously, and I'm not just saying that because he's on the program. He knows that.
Chapter 6: What are the potential consequences for U.S. foreign policy?
I'm sure his algorithm picks it up that I'm a member as well. Sam Seder, thanks for joining. Glad to have you. Thank you. I really appreciate it.
Chapter 7: How do the experts view the geopolitical landscape post-strike?
My pleasure, Don. Sam, we've been trying to figure out why this is happening, and no one can. As I listen to Pete Hegseth, he doesn't help. He actually confuses me more. It is amazing the various the arrays of like sort of explanations of what's going on.
Chapter 8: What solutions do the panelists propose moving forward?
I think Hegseth today or yesterday said this is not a regime change plan, but the regime has changed and it really hasn't. I mean, the idea that there wasn't. Well, first off, I mean, I'm sure you've had the same experience in interviewing people who know something about Iran. This is not a regime that exists solely based upon one person, certainly not an 86-year-old man. They have a...
They have a wide and deep sort of like institutional structure for their government. So they have a process to deal with this. It's not regime change by any stretch of the imagination. And it's really unclear what they thought this was going to achieve other than just total chaos.
I mean, it's it's mystifying, I guess, less so from the Israeli perspective, because any any type of warfare that they can engage in that that where America is drawn into it is probably to their benefit. But but from an American perspective, I have absolutely no idea like what what the end game for this is and what even was the catalyst.
I mean, they talk about they're saying that we've been at war for 47 years with Iran, which, of course, is I think would come to a surprise to most Americans. But what was the catalyst in this instance? According to the prime minister of Oman, the Iranians in the last decade,
negotiations had offered that went beyond the nuclear deal that Obama struck and said that they would not stockpile enriched uranium. In other words, even if they were to enrich uranium for commercial uses as opposed to military uses, they wouldn't stockpile it, which would make it impossible for them to develop a bomb.
It's unclear what more you could ask of them, at least relative to the idea that we're in some type of threat from them. It's all a bit mystifying. Look, I think my dogs agree with you. Right, let the hounds loose on this. I think the dogs agree with you. It's time for their evening walk.
But this is, but look, and right on, especially the Obama part, they're using Obama's interview, I think it was in 2022 with Pod Save America, where he said, and he's said this beyond Pod Save America, that he wishes he had done more with Iran, right? And so they're using that somehow, their strategy, or at least Fox News is using that as some sort of strategy
or defense of, you know, us, the U.S. and Israel striking Iran in this moment, which is, you know, just doesn't make sense to me. So they have excuse after excuse. But again, I don't understand why we're doing it, but I guess it's not for me to figure out because I had experts on this morning who said what we should try to figure out now. Is that your cat, Sam? It is, yes.
Are we having all kinds of, is this an animal? It's like Noah's Ark. Well, before I even make my next point, let's bring in, maybe there's animals at Crystal Balls, wherever she is, studio or at home. Crystal Balls, the host of Breaking Point. She's joining us as well as Mark Caputo, a veteran political reporter and White House reporter for Axios. Thank you both for joining this conversation.
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