Judging Freedom - Alastair Crooke : Why Israel is to Blame.

Episode Date: June 16, 2025

The world watched in shock as Israel launched a surprise attack on Iran last Friday, October 13th – an operation that has dramatically reshaped Middle Eastern geopolitics and exposed a troubling web of deception at the highest levels of government.In this eye-opening episode, Middle East expert Alistair Crooke provides a masterful analysis of what he describes as a "synergistic shock" strategy – a coordinated military operation a year in the making that sought to destabilize Iran through simultaneous attacks on its military command structure, air defenses, and nuclear scientists. The operation, designed to create a profound psychological impact similar to what occurred with Hezbollah following Hassan Nasrallah's assassination, was predicated on the assumption that Iran would collapse into internal chaos.What makes this situation particularly alarming is the revelation of deliberate deception. While Trump publicly declared himself the "President of Peace" and his envoys suggested productive negotiations were underway, behind the scenes a very different scenario was unfolding. As Crooke explains, "The first deception was Witcoff and Trump saying negotiations were making progress... all of that was to prepare for this shock attack." This duplicity reached its most disturbing expression when Trump later boasted, "The people I was dealing with are dead," confirming his knowledge of plans to assassinate the very officials with whom he was supposedly negotiating.The operation's architects severely miscalculated Iran's resilience. Rather than fracturing, Iran quickly restored its air defenses, reestablished command structures, and launched an effective counteroffensive that has exposed significant vulnerabilities in Israel's much-vaunted military capabilities. The strategic paradigm that has governed Middle Eastern politics for decades – built on assumptions of Israeli technical superiority and invulnerability – is now cracking as Iran systematically targets Israeli military infrastructure with increasingly sophisticated missiles.This episode offers crucial insights into how this conflict is reshaping regional power dynamics, the coordinated patterns of Western intelligence services, and the profound damage done to American diplomatic credibility. As the situation continues to evolve, understanding these underlying dynamics becomes essential for anyone seeking to comprehend what may become a transformative moment in international relations.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

you Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Monday, June 16th, 2025. Alistair Crook will be here with us in just a minute on who's to blame for Israel's attacks, Benjamin Netanyahu or Donald Trump. But first this, while the markets are giving us whiplash, have you seen the price of gold? It's soaring. In the past 12 months, gold has risen to more than $3,000 an ounce. I'm so glad I bought my gold.

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Thank you for joining us and of course, welcome here. Last month in Saudi Arabia, President Trump condemned neocons denounced Western militarism and intervention into the Middle East and proclaimed himself the president of peace. What happened? Just wasn't true. And it was deception. And we really have two deceptions really going on at the moment.

And what we saw that took place on Friday, unlucky Friday the 13th, with the attack on Iran by Israel. This was conditioned, if you like, made possible because the Witkoff and Trump and others had suggested that there would be no attack, no, if you like, military action by Israel at all while the talks continued. There had been a row between Netanyahu and Trump, and Netanyahu had agreed to no attacks during the spirit. And of course, that was all fake. There was no actually row because they were all totally in agreement that what should

happen next would should be a complete shock, a psychic shock, if you like. There's a word for it that the intelligence services are using freely, which is a synergistic shock, synergy, meaning from having, doing a surprise attack that took out the commanders of the military force, the line commanders, eight of them, and also at the same time there was a cyber attack on the air defenses. Now, I think Israel thought it was going to last a lot longer, but the Air Force technicians, the Iranian Air Force technicians, worked really hard on this, and eight hours later, the great claims of Israel that they had an open road to the Tehran were completely overturned, and since then we've seen very strong

performance by the air defense systems of Iran and this is also, if you like, was part of this process that not only was it supposed to be a shock, it was supposed to be such a severe shock. I think it was modeled probably on the Hezbollah model. And what was this going to do? It was actually going to collapse the regime. And so they thought, and clearly Trump was in this, and his team was in it, because we know that this was a year in preparation. So obviously being talked about, we know it's a year in preparation because the Israelis say it was a year in preparation, the security force, they say it was a year in preparation and therefore it was fully coordinated. And the other part of it, of course, which shows what's going on, was that the other part of it was they brought into Iran various drones broken up in trucks, wooden trucks, and were going to play the same, if you like, playbook

that they did with Russia against the strategic bombers in Russia, that these drones would suddenly emerge from the acts of vans or from roofs that opened, controlled remotely, and these would attack the self-defense system, the air defenses of Iran. Well, that play only lasted for about eight hours. And yes, all of the commanders happened to be there was supposed to be an exercise going to happen over the weekend. So all of those military commanders happened to be in one command room, an underground

command room at the time, and the Israelis were aware of it. It wasn't a secret exercise, it was one with the Russians and others that was well publicized. And they got all of them, eight of them, and then they killed, if you like, the Russian, the Iranian nuclear scientists, all of those who are civilians, not military people, were killed at home by bombing with their families. So this was supposed to really, you know, actually knock the whole system off balance, losing their main line of command, losing their air defence, losing these scientists, was supposed to create such a psychic shock that the whole

of the government would be destabilised and off balance, rather as Hezbollah was off balance. And it was off balance for a period after the loss of Hassan Nasrallah and the Hezbollah was off balance, and it was off balance for a period after the loss of Hasan Nasrallah and the Hezbollah leadership. And they thought then what was also the second layer of this was going to be sabotage. They introduced from outside of the country groups and saboteurs, mostly from the MAK, the Mujedin al-Qa'iq, into attacking and placing bombs. So many of these things that you see today are not actually fired by aircraft. These are car bombs and bombs there. However, what was quite striking was that Iran recovered very quickly. It recovered its command structures quickly. It recovered

its air defense system and then decided and made plans to for its own self-defense. So what we're seeing, I just want to underline, what we're seeing is really what has happened is a complete attack on a paradigm of thinking, on the sense of, if you like, the invulnerability of Israel, of Israel as a technical giant, of Israel whose future must be assured, who has the backing of the West, that this was something that it was a perception, a perception that has

underlorn politics for many years and suddenly the whole paradigm was being cracked because Iran decided that they were going to retaliate and retaliate fully and also then put it into practice very quickly and have been doing so ever since. So this paradigm change is going to change the whole balance of politics, geopolitics, I believe, everywhere, not just in the region, but of course Russia. If you read Ria Novosti today, is saying, well, quite clearly, you know, this was a rehearsal for us again. You know, the tactics that we saw on the ground with the tactics we've seen, the intelligence services, the Mossad, the CIA, MI6, all of them using that one pattern. And this is a pattern that is being exported and used.

It's obviously something that has been deliberated on for a year or more. We saw that in the attacks on the strategic bombers in Russia. And the purpose of it is all the same. The purpose to weaken Iran, to weaken Russia, to attack Russia, to divide Russia from China and eventually allow the United States to pivot towards China. So Russia have come very clearly to that conclusion and so they are acting accordingly. So what does it all mean? I think, if you allow me just a few more minutes to say the things that matter then, we had, you know, a surprise attack that worked for a short while. There's no doubt it was a surprise and it took Iran by, was a shock to Iran,

but they recovered quite quickly. So now we're in a war and Iran is using a very powerful missiles, some of them hypersonic. Initially they were using older missiles and then they've been advancing them and we're seeing that effectively this has now proved that the air defences now of Israel have been largely ineffective. The main air defence layers of Israel are just not working on not stopping the new attacks. And they are targeting very clearly, now it is turned and this is a strategic shift that

has been made by Iran, they're targeting strategic sites inside, including the Ministry of Defense sites, the research bureaus, the missile production facilities, some energy, the gas in Haifa, the oil refinery at Haifa. All of these have been, and the damage is now severe. So where are we? I think really, although the details of the military situation are sort of lost in a fog of war in some cases, but really one has to look at two things, I think, to decide where it is going. And one of it is popular support. And I think that this whole exercise was based on the conviction of Trump and Netanyahu together, thinking that Iran is weak, that it is ripe for a regime change, that a big sudden shock of the decapitation

of losing its air defences was going to bring about a big popular uprising and antagonism against Iran. Well, that hasn't happened. In fact, if anything, it's the opposite. There's extreme anger in Iran. Well, that hasn't happened. In fact, if anything, it's the opposite. There's extreme anger in Iran. There are demonstrations in Iran, but they're all demonstrations against the United States and Israel. And the country has coalesced around the leadership, and the leadership has coalesced in a very significant way. And so we are seeing therefore a popular support, a growing popular support.

In Israel, on the other hand, Israelis perhaps have not had that history of sufferings that Iranians have had and of forbearance and resolve. And clearly some of the Israeli commentators and the security commentators are questioning how many days and the Israel see this the situation like this with huge destruction in Tel Aviv. I mean, that's where most of the security elements are cited, in big urban areas like Haifa or in Tel Aviv. But there are pictures and images of whole apartment blacks being knocked down, of houses being damaged. No one knows exactly the figures. It's all there's a complete news blackout from Israel.

Almost nothing gets through in terms of the detail of what's happened. So now this is where we are and the answer, long answer to your question, is that first of all the first deception was the one of Witkoff and Trump saying that on the 13th, this was Sunday, there were going to be new negotiations and the negotiations were making progress and they were looking good. And, and all of that was to prepare for this, if you like, the shock attack that was thought it could actually bring down the government in Iran. But the other one, which Ronan Bergman, the prominent Israeli commentator, security, senior security official, is saying, is it General Michael Corilla throughout this period was telling the security officials that he was also suggesting that it was that America

would release its mother of all bombs, the MOAB, the 11-ton bunker buster bomb that can only be carried by B1 or B2 American bomber, and that he he would they would shortly be seeing all of these big bombers being sent to Diego Garcia and that for sure the United States would be participating in the attacks on Iran. Well that hasn't happened so far. I'm not saying it won't happen, that Trump will not join in. But I'm saying that the prospects are not clear because what has become absolutely apparent, as I've been saying and others on the Oir program have been saying, Israel is just not capable of destroying the nuclear sites of Iran. They cannot do it with the equipment, the bombs that they have. It's not

possible to destroy it without the United States. So without destroying the nuclear program, without destroying the nuclear program. Israeli is just reduced to what was always called the Dahi option, which is to go and attack civilians in Tehran. And you've heard the Defense Minister saying, you know, we'll make Tehran burn. This is the Dahi option, where you just attack civilian areas, bomb hospitals, facilities in order to put pressure on the people to turn against their leaders.

Well, it's not working so far. But there's a long way to go in this war. And so we will see what the next steps turn out to be. Sorry for such a long description. Oh, no, no, no. Please don't be sorry. It was a brilliant and gifted, terrific, up to date summary of where things stand now.

What kind of, there doesn't seem to be any dispute, but that the president personally participated in the deception, the nonsense about snubbing Netanyahu, the nonsense about going to the Middle East and avoiding Israel. What damage did Donald Trump personally do to American diplomacy in the future? I mean, stated differently, who would believe anything the president or his diplomats say in negotiations if he's going to end up, we'll play the clip in a minute, killing, killing the people with whom he's negotiating. No, it is already obvious and you can see this reflected directly.

If you look at the statements by China and of Russia at the UN Security Council emergency meeting. And they were absolutely clear this was illegal, it was against the UN Charter, it was against the standards of values of the diplomatic world, it was against international law and they condemned it utterly. And this will have an impact because there's a thing under article 51 of the United Nations, which means it's called the collective defense and that Iran can appeal to the collective defense And that Iran can appeal to the collective defense of procedures so that countries like China, states like Russia, like Pakistan, I mean, have an absolute legitimate reason and are obliged to come to the help of Iran. So I mean, already we've seen a Chinese cargo plane arriving in Tehran, Pakistan,

and there is very strong reporting suggesting Pakistan has already sent missiles across the Baluch border into Iran to support Iran in this case. So I think that is a consequence that there is now a complete, settled position. It's going to the China and Russia have taken such an unrelenting stand on this program is crippling for America, this credibility and its ability to do wider diplomacy. Do we know the nature and extent of American and British planning and aid in the execution? I mean was it just this deceptive dance that Donald Trump perpetrated or were MI6 and CIA seriously working with Mossad? working with Mossad? Yes, it's quite clear this is the new pattern of the intelligence services, the synergy that they are trying to get of getting all branches of intelligence and sabotage and terrorism working jointly together.

And this is their new pattern. I think it was some time ago they started agreeing to move to what they call an asymmetric pattern of warfare against China, against Russia, against all of its enemies. And this is the pattern that we see, and clearly it is closely coordinated between the Western intelligence services, very closely. Do you believe the reports in the West this morning that Prime Minister Netanyahu asked President Trump for permission

to assassinate the Ayatollah, and President Trump declined to to assassinate the Ayatollah and President Trump declined to give that permission. It's hard for me to believe Netanyahu asking for permission from anybody, but what's your view on this? No, I don't think so. And it not by Netanyahu personally, because people don't believe much what he said, but people in the security establishment in Israel, and many of them are deeply skeptical

about this whole operation and deeply worried about where it's going to end up for Israel, have said very clearly, no, this never happened. I mean, there was no sense of that. I mean, of course, you know, decapitation, including the supreme leader, would have a devastating effect in Iran. But I mean, first of all, you know, the question is, could they do it? And is that what they would want? I mean, clearly one part of this pattern after the decapitation and the shock and the psychological shock that was being inflicted was that we've seen, you know, all the deployment, some of whom have been captured of Mossad agents,

MEK officials and operatives going in and placing car bombs to pretend it was Israeli missiles that were striking Iran. When it wasn't, it was car bombs set by individuals in it. And in other parts where you've seen attacks claimed across Iran, many of those were drones and they seem to have been drones that were being launched from the north, from Azerbaijan in the direction of the Caspian into it. And then these are sort of projected. And as I say, we're in a fog of war, deep information war.

So we have to be very careful of claims, but it looks as if many of these things were actually drones with quite small warheads that were being fired from out of Azerbaijan to give the impression that Israel had a much greater reach of its air power. In fact, it's not actually in Iranian airspace at all at these times. It has drones in the airspace but its aircraft are mostly sitting or outside the airspace and doing standoff attacks. That sounds like, before we go, it sounds to me like the euphoria that the pro-Zionist folks manifested on Friday has dissipated. True, yes. And this is why suddenly there's alarm.

And I'm not at all, wouldn't be at all surprised the calls going out to Trump and saying, you know, we're in a mess and what are we going to do about it? How are we going to get out of this mess? But I don't think Iran is going to accommodate that. I think that they have moved away from strategic patience and that they are engaged now in a war to demilitarize Israel against its military structures,

rather like Putin is engaged in a war to demilitarize Ukraine. So now Iran has made a decision yesterday that it is going to attack hard and it is going to demilitarize Israel. I can't tell you if that will be successful, but that is what is intended and I don't think they're about to back down into a truce or into some form of ceasefire and certainly not until they have reached their objectives will there be talks again with the Americans. So this has been a big failure. Here is before we go, Alastair, here is a clip from June 13, from your longtime friend and colleague, Professor Mohamed Marandi, who will be on the show with us at two o'clock Eastern this afternoon. Very clear, very precise, and I think very accurate.

Chris, cut number one. We were at the negotiating table. It was Trump that conspired with Netanyahu to attack Iran. This is how you twist the truth. You shouldn't invite me, because you're easily exposed. He, Iran, was negotiating. Initially, Trump had one position, and so did Witka. And then they flipped and said, no, enrichment. And then they continued the negotiations. And

the night before the attack, Trump said that we don't want war. And then after the attack, he said, we're all for it. And you're saying Iran? What is Iran going to come back to the negotiating table? The audacity. Come on, be a bit, show at least a bit of integrity. A bit of integrity will help. I'm going to guess you agree with that. I mean, the evidence is manifest. Yeah, I mean, you know, it was a big gamble. It was a big gamble that they could cause a sort of a major collapse, a regime change in Iran. And it looks as if it hasn't worked. And instead of which, it is Israel itself that's coming under huge pressure.

And its populace is beginning to say, where are we? What's next? Where is this leading? Oh, are we going to lose more of our homes and more of our living standards as they face Tehran is to like, continues the attacks? I want to play one more clip because I said that I would. Dana Bash of CNN was apparently given a brief interview with the president. I think it was on the telephone and she wasn't permitted to record it, but she did call into her CNN colleagues immediately after the conversation she had with President Trump to report what

he said. And it is in this conversation, again, unrecorded, we're going by her notes and her memory that the president boasted that we killed the people with whom we're negotiating. Chris cut number 12. And then he went on to say this, Iran should have listened to me when I said, you know, I gave them, I don't know if you know this, but I gave them a 60 day warning. And today is day 61. And then he said, they, meaning Iran, should now come to

the table to make a deal before it's too late. And then he said something really noteworthy. He said the people I was dealing with are dead, the hardliners, to which I just wanted to underscore. So what you're saying is Israel has now killed the people who you were dealing with and he said very sarcastically they didn't die of the flu, they didn't die of COVID. I don't know how you reply to that Alastair. Smell worthy of a reply.

Right, right. Thank you, my dear friend. You need never apologize for your lectures. They are brilliant, gifted, and nowhere else to be found. Thank you so much. We may have to call on you again this week. God only knows what's going to happen. We deeply appreciate every piece of information and analysis you've given us,

and we look forward to seeing you soon. Thank you, my dear friend. Thank you very much. Thank you. Always a pleasure, Thank you very much. Thank you. Always a pleasure. Of course. Thank you. Coming up later today, our usual Monday schedule with two surprises, uh, at 10

o'clock this morning on all of this Ray McGovern at 1130 this morning, uh, on all of this Larry Johnson at one this afternoon on all of this Scott Ritter and at two this afternoon from Tehran, Professor Saad Mohammed Marandi, the former advisor to the Iran nuclear program. Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom. MUSIC