MS NOW's live breaking coverage with Rachel Maddow of U.S. attacks on Iran
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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Good afternoon, I'm Rachel Maddow. It is 1 p.m. Eastern time and you are joining MSNOW's ongoing coverage of the United States having apparently started a war with Iran for some reason. Your guess, your personal guess, sitting at home watching me right now, your personal guess is as good as any as to why the president of the United States has just started this war. In terms of pure rational deduction about what he is doing here, We can basically rule out all of the reasons he has said he's doing it. Is Iran on the precipice of having ballistic missiles that can reach the United States? Absolutely not. The United States is very far from Iran. One might even say it's a whole continent away, which means a ballistic missile launched from Iran to hit us here would have to be an intercontinental ballistic missile.
Does Iran have ICBMs? Does Iran have intercontinental ballistic missiles? No, it does not. And there is no known evidence or even serious allegation that Iran is anywhere near developing that technology anytime soon. Even Trump's secretary of state, Marco Rubio, has recently admitted that, admitting that the threat is only that maybe, quote, one day Iran might have that kind of capability. One day. Just like you or I might one day learn to fly or to time travel. Is Iran a week away from industrial-grade uranium enrichment? As the president's diminutive real estate friend Steve Witkoff asserted this week when he was asked about the Iran talks he is inexplicably part of on behalf of the United States government and the people of the United States, despite his only relevant experience and training being that he is an old real estate friend of President Donald Trump.
Is Iran, as Steve Witkoff says, a week away from achieving industrial-grade uranium enrichment for their nuclear program? No, they are not. No, they are not. Not only has there been no American or international evidence or intelligence made public that suggests even that they are doing that, but even the Trump administration says explicitly that that is not happening. Marco Rubio on Wednesday at a press conference in St. Kitts and Nevis told reporters, quote, they are not enriching right now.
What triggered the U.S. attacks on Iran?
So why is this happening? Have we just started a war with Iran because they have got some advanced nuclear program that's rushing toward a bomb? Ask President Donald Trump, who insists that the last time he ordered the bombing of Iran in June, that, quote, totally obliterated their nuclear program. It's hard to say that anything totally obliterated, gone, pulverized, erased from the earth might now suddenly be back again. And so, therefore, a war must urgently start today. So, what are we doing here? It's not that they're about to get us with intercontinental ballistic missiles. It's not that they are enriching uranium to such a degree that it is dangerous and we must stop that. It's not that their nuclear program, which Trump says he obliterated, has somehow unobliterated itself and is now a pressing danger again.
Why did we just go to war with Iran? The president has said a couple of times in recent days that he just wants the Iranian government to say the words that they are not pursuing a nuclear bomb, suggesting that if they would just say that, that would be enough to stop the United States from starting a war with them. Well, the Iranian government actually, over and over again, keeps saying that they are not developing a nuclear bomb. They will say it whenever you like. They say it whenever they are asked. So that does not appear to be the reason either. So why do you think President Donald Trump has just done this? Why do you think he has just started a war with Iran?
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:02
2
What triggered the U.S. attacks on Iran?
3:02–6:03
3
What are the reasons behind President Trump's decision to start a war with Iran?
6:03–9:54
4
What evidence supports claims about Iran's missile capabilities?
9:54–12:50
5
Is Iran close to achieving industrial-grade uranium enrichment?
12:50–17:14
6
What might be the implications of regime change in Iran?
17:14–23:05
7
How are Iran's military capabilities impacting regional stability?
23:05–26:54
8
What are the potential consequences of U.S. military actions in Iran?
26:54–46:25
Speakers
7 identifiedMore from The Rachel Maddow Show
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