MAGA tears itself apart over Iran as Steve Bannon unloads on Bibi for dragging America into war: 'Who the hell are you?'

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon pivoted his criticism away from President Donald Trump and aimed it toward Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu as the president weighs further military action against Iran.
Bannon lambasted the Israeli government for pushing Trump to get involved in the goal of 'regime change' in Iran and trying to manipulate the American people into support of further military strikes in Iran.
'Who in the hell are you to lecture the American people? Who are you to lecture the American people?' Bannon said angrily on his War Room podcast.
He demanded that Netanyahu do more to 'finish the job' to destroy Iran's nuclear capacities.
'The American people are not going to tolerate it. Not going to put up with it. Who are you to jam us into this situation which you knew you couldn't finish the job, or if you can, go finish it!' he announced.
In recent days, Netanyahu has pressed Trump and his MAGA allies for more support, speaking to the media about the importance of getting the United States further involved with the war against the 'evil' in Iran.
'Today, it's Tel Aviv. Tomorrow, it's New York. Look, I understand "America First" I don't understand "America Dead,"' he said on ABC News on Sunday.
Bannon said that it was the Israeli's responsibly to conclude the war, and expressed frustration that they had no problem starting the conflict.
'Go finish it! Quit coming to us to finish it. President Trump may come to that conclusion, but it's not something he would just say… 'Oh yeah, let's go bomb 'em and take care of it,"' he said.
'He's going to do it because he's got to weigh the options now that you've gotten us into it. That's reality. That's the truth. That's exactly where we are and people should be truthful with each other, particularly in these tough decisions,' he said.
'That's what allies do. Allies don't manipulate and don't inextricably draw people into situations of which the other party has to get them out of,' he continued.
On his show, Bannon questioned the timing of the military strikes on Iran, asking the Israelis why it had to be now.
He demanded Netanyahu show their intelligence that proved the Iranians were on the cusp of obtaining a nuclear weapon.
'Why did you start something that you couldn't finish?' he asked.
Bannon told his viewers that Trump was facing enormous pressure to get involved in the war.
'The pressure on President Trump is coming from the outside and it's coming from people who are not straight with him,' he said.
He conceded that Trump could conclude that military action was necessary but that it was important to detail the reasons why they had to do it.
'We have enough faith in President Trump and his judgement that he will come to the right conclusion, but we have to get all the cards on the table,' he concluded.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Sky News

32 minutes ago

• Sky News

Regime change in Iran is 'unacceptable', says the Kremlin

Why you can trust Sky News Regime change in Iran is "unacceptable" and the assassination of the country's Supreme Leader would "open the Pandora's box", the Kremlin has said. In a rare interview with a foreign media organisation, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Sky News that Russia would react "very negatively" if Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed. The comments came as US President Donald Trump said he will decide within two weeks whether America will join Israel's military campaign against Tehran, after earlier speculating on social media about killing the Iranian leader. "The situation is extremely tense and is dangerous not only for the region but globally," Mr Peskov said in an interview at the Constantine Palace in Saint Petersburg. "An enlargement of the composition of the participants of the conflict is potentially even more dangerous. "It will lead only to another circle of confrontation and escalation of tension in the region." They are the Kremlin's strongest comments yet regarding the Israel-Iran conflict, which has stoked fears in Moscow that it could be on the verge of losing its closest ally in the Middle East. Russia has deepened its ties with Iran since invading Ukraine, and the two countries signed a strategic partnership in January. "[Regime change in Iran] is unimaginable. It should be unacceptable, even talking about that should be unacceptable for everyone," Mr Peskov said, in a thinly veiled reference to Washington. 1:35 But Mr Peskov refused to be drawn on what action Russia would take if Khamenei was killed, saying instead it would trigger action "from inside Iran". "It would lead to the birth of extremist moods inside Iran and those who are speaking about [killing Khamenei], they should keep it in mind. They will open the Pandora's box." Vladimir Putin's offers to mediate an end to the conflict have so far been rejected by Mr Trump, who said on Wednesday that he told the Russian president to "mediate your own [conflict]", in reference to Russia's war against Ukraine. Mr Peskov denied the American president's words were insulting, adding: "Everyone has a different language. "President Trump has his own unique way of speaking and his unique language. We are quite tolerant and expect everyone to be tolerant of us." The Trump administration's own mediation efforts to end the war in Ukraine have failed to yield any major breakthroughs, despite two rounds of direct talks between Moscow and Kyiv. Moscow has stepped up its aerial bombardment of Ukraine in recent weeks and continues to reject Volodymyr Zelenskyy's calls for a 30-day ceasefire. "Now we have a strategic advantage. Why should we lose it? We are not going to lose it. We are going further. We're advancing and we'll continue to advance," Mr Peskov said. 👉 Follow Trump100 on your podcast app 👈 Russia has previously said it would only commit to a ceasefire if Kyiv stops receiving foreign military support, fearing that a pause in the fighting would offer Ukraine a chance to rearm and regroup its forces. 0:57 Asked if Moscow could commit to not using a ceasefire in the same way, Mr Peskov said: "A ceasefire is a ceasefire, and you stop. "But America is not saying that 'we'll quit any supplies'. Britain is not saying that as well. France is not saying that as well. This is the problem."

The Independent

38 minutes ago

• The Independent

Things to know about Iran's supreme leader as he faces his greatest test

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who crushed internal threats repeatedly during more than three decades in power, now faces his greatest challenge yet. His archenemy, Israel, has secured free rein over Iran's skies and is decimating the country's military leadership and nuclear program with its punishing air campaign. It is also threatening his life: Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Khamenei 'cannot continue to exist.' The 86-year-old leader faces a choice. He could escalate Iran 's retaliation against Israel and risk even heavier damage from Israeli bombardment. Or he could seek a diplomatic solution that keeps the U.S. out of the conflict, and risk having to give up the nuclear program he has put at the center of Iranian policy for years. In a video address Wednesday he sounded defiant, vowing 'the Iranian nation is not one to surrender' and warning that if the U.S. steps in, it will bring 'irreparable damage to them.' Here's what to know about Khamenei: He transformed the Islamic Republic When he rose to power in 1989, Khamenei had to overcome deep doubts about his authority as he succeeded the leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. A low-level cleric at the time, Khamenei didn't have his predecessor's religious credentials. With his thick glasses and plodding style, he didn't have his fiery charisma either. But Khamenei has ruled three times longer than the late Khomeini and has shaped Iran's Islamic Republic perhaps even more dramatically. He entrenched the system of rule by the 'mullahs," or Shiite Muslim clerics. That secured his place in the eyes of hardliners as the unquestionable authority — below only that of God. At the same time, Khamenei built the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard into the dominant force in Iran's military and internal politics. The Guard boasts Iran's most elite military and oversees its ballistic missile program. Its international arm, the Quds Force, pieced together the 'Axis of Resistance,' the collection of pro-Iranian proxies stretching from Yemen to Lebanon that for years gave Iran considerable power across the region. Khamenei also gave the Guard a free hand to build a network of businesses allowing it to dominate Iran's economy. In return, the Guard became his loyal shock force. He fended off domestic challenges The first major threat to Khamenei's grip was the reform movement that swept into a parliament majority and the presidency soon after he became supreme leader. The movement advocated for giving greater power to elected officials – something Khamenei's hardline supporters feared would lead to dismantling the Islamic Republic system. Khamenei stymied the reformists by rallying the clerical establishment. Unelected bodies run by the mullahs succeeded in shutting down major reforms and barring reform candidates from running in elections. The Revolutionary Guard and Iran's other security agencies crushed waves of protests that followed the failure of the reform movement. Huge nationwide protests erupted in 2009 over allegations of vote-rigging. Under the weight of sanctions, economic protests broke out in 2017 and 2019. More nationwide protests broke out in 2022 over the death of Mahsa Amini after police detained her for not wearing her mandatory headscarf properly. Hundreds were killed in crackdowns on the protests, and hundreds more arrested amid reports of detainees tortured to death or raped in prison. Still, the successive protests showed the strains in Iran's theocratic system and lay bare widespread resentment of clerical rule, corruption and economic troubles. Trying to defuse anger, authorities often eased enforcement of some of the Islamic Republic's social restrictions. He built Iran into a regional power When Khamenei took power, Iran was just emerging from its long war with Iraq that left the country battered and isolated. Over the next three decades, Khamenei turned Iran around into as assertive power wielding influence across the Middle East. One major boost was the U.S.'s 2003 ouster of Saddam Hussein, which eventually brought Iranian-allied Shiite politicians and militias to power in Iraq. Iraq provided a linchpin in Iran's Axis of Resistance, grouping Bashar Assad's Syria, Lebanon's Hezbollah, the Palestinian militant group Hamas and the Houthi rebels in Yemen. By 2015, the alliance was at its height, putting Iran on Israel's doorstep. The past two years brought a dramatic reversal Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel brought a massive Israeli retaliation on the Gaza Strip. It also brought a turnaround in Israeli policy. After years of trying to fend off and tamp down Iran's allies, Israel made crushing them it's goal. Hamas has been crippled, though not eliminated, even at the cost of the decimation of Gaza. Israel has similarly sidelined Hezbollah — at least for the moment — with weeks of bombardment in Lebanon last year, along with a dramatic attack with booby-trapped pagers and walkie-talkies that stunned the group. An even heavier blow to Hezbollah was the fall in December of Syria's Bashar Assad when Sunni rebels marched on the capital and removed him from power. Now, a government hostile to Iran and Hezbollah rules from Damascus. Iran's Axis of Resistance is at its lowest ebb ever.

Times

44 minutes ago

• Times

Israel has done most of the job — now Trump can finish it

For any US president, the decision whether to intervene in a foreign war is a momentous one. This is the week when President Trump has to make that decision. Should he, or should he not, use American air power to finish the job Israel has very nearly completed, ensuring that Iran never possesses nuclear weapons? We understand why Trump is weighing the decision with the utmost care — why he gave negotiations with Iran a 60-day chance, and why he has spent many hours with his national security team, hearing their different views. Opponents of US military action tell a simplified story of past interventions — in Vietnam, most obviously, but some also cite Iraq and Afghanistan — that led to 'forever wars'. But isolationists have trouble arguing that the US should never intervene abroad. Would the Cold War have gone better if Harry Truman had abandoned South Korea to Stalin's proxies in 1950? Would the Middle East have benefited if Kuwait had been left in Saddam Hussein's hands in 1991? Would the Balkans be stabler today if Bill Clinton had not belatedly acted to save Bosnia and then Kosovo from Slobodan Milošević's aggression? None of these analogies is really applicable anyway, because the US today is not being asked to send soldiers to invade or occupy Iran. The action President Trump must decide upon is clearly defined and limited in its duration and scale, since much of the work of defeating Iran has already been done by Israel. The past six days have marked a strategic inflection point. After decades of preparation, Israel has acted: striking critical nuclear sites, dismantling missile production lines, and eliminating senior figures in Iran's military and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. These operations have already set Iran's programme back by years. The current campaign did not begin spontaneously. It is the result of a long-planned strategy built on four prerequisites: neutralising Hezbollah, crippling Iran's ballistic missile production, establishing an air corridor to Tehran — and later, air superiority over Iran — and securing American support. The first three were achieved by October. Once the fourth was in place, earlier this month, the campaign could begin. We both salute the extraordinary skill with which the Israel Defence Forces and Mossad have executed Israel's war plan. For generations, cadets at military academies around the world will study Operation Rising Lion as a classic of modern asymmetric warfare, brilliantly combining mastery in the air with covert operations. Much of Iran's nuclear weapons programme now lies in ruins, and many of the scientists who ran it are dead. But one key site remains, at Fordow. Deep underground and heavily fortified, it holds the core of Iran's remaining enrichment capability: eight cascades with over 3,000 centrifuges. The facility's scale allows Iran to rapidly enrich weapons-grade uranium. It could do so in just three weeks, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Leaving it intact risks allowing the Islamic Republic to rebuild and resume its quest for the ultimate weapon of mass destruction. Fordow is built into the mountains near Qom, encased under at least 90 metres of limestone, and protected by additional layers of reinforced concrete shielding and other structural defence measures that increase the facility's ability to survive a heavy air attack. There is no credible way that Israel alone can destroy it. Only one air force has the power to finish off Fordow. The US designed and built the GBU 57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) precisely for such a task. The MOP is a 30,000-pound, 20-foot-long weapon. Its warhead contains 5,300 pounds of explosives. Cased in a hard steel alloy, the weapon is dropped from high altitude, accelerates to Mach 2 or 3, punches into the target, and rips through layers of protection before detonating. Three to eight MOPs would suffice to render Fordow defunct. The MOP is designed for American B-2 Spirits, all of which are based at Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. Each B-2 can carry two MOPs, meaning a strike wave of two to six B-2s delivering four to 12 MOPs would get the job done. Fordow is 6,800 miles away from Missouri, so the B-2s would need to refuel at least twice and potentially five times. The US has moved exactly the requisite number of tankers from North American bases to Europe. One of us devoted considerable time and effort to considering ways that Israel could achieve the same result with the F-15Es it possesses and the 2,000 and 5,000-pound bombs they can carry, or with a Second World War–style commando raid behind enemy lines. Neither option is realistic. Only America can do this. Only President Trump can order it. Primo Levi's novel If Not Now, When? is about a group of Jewish resistance fighters who desperately defy the might of the Wehrmacht on the Eastern Front in the Second World War. The Holocaust has been much on the minds of Israelis since October 7, 2023, an Iran-sponsored atrocity that was consciously intended as a trailer for a second Shoah. But the question 'If not now, when?' is also an ancient Jewish one, posed by Hillel the Elder more than two millennia ago. It is the question we would now ask President Trump. And we would add another question: If B-2s and MOPs were not designed for precisely this purpose, then what use are they? A nuclear-armed Iran would pose more than a threat to the Israeli people and their state. Its missiles could reach Gulf capitals and Europe. Those missiles could allow Iran to sponsor terror and wage conventional war with impunity. The result would be a nuclear arms race in the Gulf. By destroying Fordow, President Trump would create a new equilibrium in the Middle East and re-establish American leadership. The strike would focus solely on eliminating Iran's nuclear arms programme, but it should be accompanied by a clear message: If Iran attempts to target the US or its Gulf allies, it will risk the elimination of its regime. There is an economic consideration too. The longer the current conflict continues, the greater the risk to energy markets and global economic stability. Running out of missiles and launchers, its military command structure disabled by assassinations, Iran must now be contemplating desperate measures such as attacks on its Arab neighbours or mining the Strait of Hormuz, in the hope that these might deter US intervention. Decisive action now can prevent an oil-price shock. Israel has moved and continues to move with determination and dispatch. The support of allies, first and foremost the US, has been crucial. Now, with a single exertion of its unmatched military strength, the US can shorten the war, prevent wider escalation and end the principal threat to Middle Eastern stability. It can also send a signal to those other authoritarian powers who have been Iran's enablers that American deterrence is back. This is a rare moment when strategic alignment and operational momentum converge. It must not be missed. Niall Ferguson is the Milbank Family senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford. Yoav Gallant is the former Israeli minister of defence. He writes The Defense Memo substackThis article first appeared at