Judging Freedom - Pepe Escobar : Are the US and Iran Still Talking?

Episode Date: September 25, 2026

Pepe Escobar : Are the US and Iran Still Talking?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Undeclared wars are commonplace. Pragically, our government engages in preemptive war, otherwise known as aggression with no complaints from the American people. Sadly, we have become accustomed to living with the illegitimate use of force by government. To develop a truly free society, the issue of initiating force must be understood and rejected. What if sometimes to love your country you had to alter or abolish the government? Jefferson was right? What if that government is best which governs least? What if it is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong? What if it is better to perish

fighting for freedom than to live as a slave? What if freedom's greatest hour of danger is now? Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for judging freedom. Today is Friday, September 25th, 2006 from Thailand, where it's already Saturday. Pepe Escobar doing extraordinary over-the-top, above and beyond the call of duty, duty, joins us now. Pepe, always a pleasure, my dear man. We have so much to talk to you about. You have breaking news on both the...

My pleasure, Judge. Thank you. You have breaking news on both the Iran-U.S. negotiating front. and you have breaking news on what President G and President Trump talked about. Let's start with G. and Trump. What does Trump hope to achieve by whining and dining so ostentatiously, President G. this week? Well, I love the composition of the main table, Judge. We had the technos, essentially.

both presidents and their wives, and we had Nividia, Apple, and Elon Musk. That tells everything we need to know, because this is a technological war. So he brought the army to talk to the Big Panda. Fascinating. And the other ones were on the second table. Well, it's very important what we managed to confirm about what C told Trump during their three. our meeting on Iran. Basically, Cito Trump, there is a private meeting in front of you.

It's called. This is the private meeting without cameras. This is not the state dinner. This is just the two of them and somebody taking notes and their translators. Go ahead. Exactly. So Cid said to Trump, you have an off-ramp. you have the memorandum of understanding that you signed.

The Chinese position is that you have to go back to the memorandum of understanding, go back to diplomacy, then the straight-off moves will be more or less like it was before February 28. And we can go towards a conclusion of the whole story, including a negotiation on the nuclear. dossier. This is the Chinese-Iranian position, in fact, which was in total sync. Previous to see going to Washington, Wang Yi and Arakshi met twice in the space of a few days during the BRIC summit in New Delhi, and then Arakshi flew to Beijing to talk to Wangi. So this is the Chinese-Iranian position, based on diplomacy and based on a memorandum of standing signed by both presidents.

Judge, you were on the table when Peschekin was talking to American journalists and think thanks. I'm sure you must have heard this directly from Peschkken. I heard directly from President Peschkin and from Foreign Minister Arachi that they are wary and skeptical of whether the United States can live up to an agreement. but they are prepared to put into place the memorandum of understanding today. And they said this to me yesterday. Professor Jeff Sachs was in the room as well,

and he and I will be talking about this on Monday. President Przeshkin was asked if the fatwa is still in effect. The fatwa against the development of nuclear weapons, if the fatwa dies when the issuer of it dies. We all know that the issuer of the fatwa was murdered by the Israelis and the Americans on the first day of the war on February 28th. President Peshkian and Foreign Minister Arachi backed him up, said the fatwa exists until it is rescinded, and it has not been rescinded.

It is still the law of the land. it is more than the law of the land. Now I'm quoting him. It is the law of our hearts. How we wish the Americans could understand this. That's what I heard him say. Now, I was under the impression that when President Trump boasted after he spoke at the UN, that the negotiators had met that he was making it up, but he wasn't.

They did actually meet. They weren't in the same room, but they did communicate with each other. So the Americans know, right. And this is part of the hot piece that you just published a few hours ago. The Americans know that the Iranians and they know that the Chinese believe that when a head of state signs a document, he is committed to it. I'm talking about the memorandum of understanding. President Poschkian is committed to it. They expect President Trump to be committed to it as well.

I think you have the same understanding from the Chinese as well as from the Iranian side. Am I right? Pepe, can you hear me? Judge, I'm sorry, I lost it. The connection is absolutely horrible. I lost. I got bits and bit. But to reconfirm that the fatwa,

originally from Comeini and later by Kamenei absolutely stands. There's only one way that this fatwa would be revoked by a new decision of new leader Mostabha Kamenei. We are not there yet. But this is already being discussed in Tehran at the highest circles. It is being debated during sessions at the Marjali's department. that Iran could abandon the NPT and then go straight towards a building a nuclear device. This is debated, but it all depends on a supreme decision by leader Mostabha Kavanaix. And the Americans are forcing Iran's hand.

If that decision would be made, there will be beyond faithful, because it will go against centuries of Shiite theology. But it's an existential matter for the Iranian nation. Please, Judge. President Pajeshkin was interviewed by my former colleague Brett Baer, who came up to New York to meet him in the same hotel, not the same room, but the same hotel where Professor Sachs and I met President Peschkian and Foreign Minister Arachi. And President Peschkian, I mean, people can watch this.

it's on Fox News, I assume they have it posted somewhere, was very, very firm about what you just said, that the fatwa, and what I heard him say yesterday, the fatwa is not only the law of the land, it's written in our hearts. And Prime Minister Netanyahu is lying when he says we are months, weeks, days away from having a nuclear weapon. And President Trump is wrong to believe everything that comes out of the mouth of Prime Minister Netanyahu. I want to play for you the most incendiary part of what President Trump said at the United Nations. And then I'm going to ask you, how do you think President Xi reacted to this? Chris, cut number 12.

But I have a big decision to make. Will a deal be made with Iran? that lets them rebuild and create a far greater country than it ever was before, maybe one of the greatest in the Middle East or even the world. Or do I annihilate the Islamic Republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again? Do I drive them into hell with no chance of survival and no hope of future greatness or general? generations, but I believe we'll make a deal right after the election. Did he just threaten to murder 91 million people? Yes, and this is beyond terrifying, judge, and now completely normalized by a president of the United States at the UN podium, destroying the UN Charter, and basically,

telling the whole world, I am capable of inflicting a nuclear genocide on another nation. Do we know? There are no comments necessary. Do we know if President G. spoke to him about this and informed him of the international condemnation amongst heads of state and diplomats of that threat? We don't know, Judge, because I read the the Chinese readout of the three-hour meeting, which is very polite, positive in fact, not talking in detail about Iran, no mention of speeches at the UN General Assembly, and focused essentially on, if I could give you the ultra-headline of the discussions, the three Chinese recommendations for U.S.-China relations from now on.

On trade, yes, we are allowed to compete. On AI, yes, we compete, but we can exchange information. And the only red line is Taiwan. This is the short version, essentially, of what C communicated to Trump. What he told Trump directly, that's very, very important, once again, is that off-ramp about Iran, that it exists, is the memorandum of understanding, and this is the official Chinese position. There's no evidence that Trump will pay attention to it.

Yes. Unfortunately, we're dealing with a person who's cognitively diminished, and I'm sure that the Chinese are aware of that. Here is President Posashkin being questioned by Brett Baer of Fox News, I alluded to this earlier. I didn't realize we had the clip. Chris has the clip yesterday in that same hotel about whether the Iranians have or plan to develop a nuclear weapon. Chris, number 22. Do you want a nuclear bomb or not? Not at all, not at all. Our martyred, esteemed supreme leader, he had announced several times that from a religious decree, it is a religious decree, it is a martyr.

It is unholy, it is religiously illegal to have weapons of mass destruction. Why do you do that if you don't want to hide it? No. We said we're willing to dilute them. It's not a big deal. We are willing to submit ourselves to verification, sir. The problem is that America, instead of conducting dialogue, they descend into the arena by bombing us first. by bombing us first, by blocking every pathway.

We are ready. This is not the way to conduct yourself on the world stage. Good for him. That's effectively what Jeff Sachs and others and I heard him say yesterday. I want to get back to what President Poschkian said at the UN and ask you what was the international reaction when he said this Chris cut number six proved that we have proven that we're not afraid of fighting of war one a war that is defensive in nature and we will stand in defense of our beloved Iran our homeland until our last breath

ladies and gentlemen the topic of this gathering is mutual trust that cannot be achieved through words only but by abstaining from using double standards atomic and nuclear bombs are in the hands of the Israeli regime but the inspectors are requested to come to Iran Israel has murdered savagely over 70,000 innocents in Gaza but Iran while behind the table of negotiation was bombed. Israel has the bombs, has weapons of mass destruction. Not a member of the Nonproliferation Treaty during her shameful life has not allowed a single inspection, but they are rewarded by all the means necessary for them to be able to bomb any capital

in the region at will. I will repeat, the nuclear weapon is in Israel, but the inspectors in Iran. Couldn't have said it better or clearer. The perfect headline. Right, right. With the perfect headline, Judge. And in the space of what, 30 to 60 seconds, the whole planet knows that Israel is the nuclear power and also genocidal power. So Israel should be respected, not Iran. This message.

Correct, correct. he really laid it out. He said ahead of time it's a double standard and then he said exactly what the double standard is. We don't have a bomb and we have inspectors. They have the bomb

and they don't have inspectors. The only thing he didn't reveal is that their nuclear technology they stole from the United States. That's about the only part that he didn't reveal Pepe. Do you believe that

Progress was made toward persuading the Americans to accept the memorandum of understanding and abide by it in stages. Oh, did we lose Pepe, Chris? All right, it appears we did lose Pepe. Hopefully, he'll log right back on to us. Pepe has told me ahead of time.

Here he comes now. All right, Pepe, you're back. I hope so Okay good Do you believe that progress That progress was made In communicating between the Americans and the Iranians in New York this week

To comply with the memorandum of understanding in stages Is that what you believe is on the table now? Yes, it was offered on the table, and this is what the mediators were talking about. I'm calling it the New York Channel, which runs in parallel to the escalation ladder channel, and runs in parallel to now secondary sanctions actually on any airport around the world, which is something that is, this is the first and a history. history beyond absurd and totally condemned by China and many other nations. But some cowards are following.

Example, Azerbaijan, Turkey, and even Iraq. Flights from Tehran to Baghdad were canceled, but not to Najaf. And apparently in the last few hours, also to Najaf. I was in Guangzhou yesterday, Judge, following Trump's sea. There was a Mahan air flight that landed at Guangzhou airport. This means that the Chinese are not respected, so Iran will continue to fly to China. But these two parallel vectors.

The escalation ladder, we could have a date next week, judge that is immensely important, and very few people remember that. On August 16, the Supreme National Security Council in Iran said that if the naval blockade was not rescinded 45 days, they will take the offensive. The deadline is next Wednesday, September 30th. And we'll be here just from all sorts of Iranian officials. Our hands are on the trigger. So this means that the war could expand to the Indian Ocean

because the ships that are blockading or not the Persian Gulf and Iranian ports, they are very, very, very far away, 800 to 1,000 kilometers away, in the southern Indian Ocean. Wow. I want to play for you a rather, a clip of a rather dastard, event. This is the Israeli ambassador

to the UN, Danny Danan, notorious for being a bull in a China shop, and I'm actually being charitable here if you've ever confronted him or watched him in the public arena. He goes

on the floor of the National, of the General Assembly, and attempts to give a The laptop to an Iranian diplomat. This from the people who gave away pagers that exploded and killed innocence. But it's telling to watch.

Chris cut number 20. I thought it's appropriate to give you the Stalin. It's a start linking. If you heard the prime minister, it can be very useful for you to allow the Iranian people to get their freedom after what you did to them. So you want to take it and deliver back to Tehran? It can be very useful for you in Iran. We love the Iranian people and we pray for the regime change there. It will come that day.

From Israeli television. Totally ignored. Who in their right mind would accept any kind of digital device from these people? They use it to commit murder. Of course. And it's a propaganda coup on the floor of the UN General assembly. The reaction of the Iranian official was priceless. Even a fly would get his attention, in fact.

The guy did that thing over there didn't even exist, was a ghost. What do you think will happen next? Will the United States resume the bombing after the midterm elections? will the Iranians attack the U.S. Navy next Thursday? What happens next? Will the dead cat bounce? I'm using your phrase. Will the memorandum of understanding be recognized?

Exactly, Judge. So it depends on, it's amazing. It all depends on a width of common sense in the brain of the the sociopath who wants to annihilate a civilization, recognizing that, yes, there is an off ramp. It's in front of him. He signed, then destroyed it, and the Chinese president told him in his face, that's it.

And this is what we support. Essentially saying, if you don't follow that, you have to pay for the consequences. He still haven't realized that. because he cannot obtain capitulation from Iran. Peseschkin in New York, Arachi and New York. The Iranian delegation in New York was telling when, and people that they met in New York, including yourself, judge,

we will not fold, period. We'll go to the end. We were attacked. We are defending ourselves, and we know how to defend ourselves. So it depends on this next date on next Wednesday, September 30th, if there's going to be a preemptive attack by the Iranians, if they detect any sort of movement by the Americans are preparing another attack against Iran.

Or if we're going to have a sort of ultra-high tension, escalation ladder, but more or less under control until the mid-terms. And after the midterms, all bets are off. Netanyahu was pressing Trump for what we can call an October surprise, which is not a surprise anymore. It will be an attack by land, air, and sea next month. That's scenario number one. Scenario number two would be a November surprise or a December surprise or a January surprise. Who knows?

But the fact that the Iranians have mapped all the possibilities in terms of resistance and that they are now on an offensive and not defensive mold anymore, if we were American strategists in the Pentagon, we would be very, very worried and relaying the message to the President of the United States. That's not where we are at the moment, unfortunately. So the situation is could not be more volatile. And Xi Jinping made a conscious effort to instill some sense into Donald Trump on Iran. We're not sure that the operation was successful.

This is something judged that it was not possible to confirm. But there is a possibility that she and, Wang Yi were extremely disappointed by Trump's non-response, in fact. So this means that China will be supporting Iran from now on, even more than they have been supporting so far. Wouldn't Rubio or Hegg-Seth or somebody around Trump say, you don't want these people to leave disappointed? You don't want to drive them deeper into the Iran.

Roni in camp, Mr. President? Yes, Judge, but these characters you mentioned, not only they are totally unprepared for their functions, but they are also xenophobes without knowing anything about China. So it's not going to be from them. You would have to be from somebody like Jeffrey, for instance, or yourself. Seriously, outside observers that the president will listen to. And if you have two or three minutes, you could. You could lay your case, Jeffrey and you, for instance, in two or three minutes.

Well. Nobody in the Beltway will do that. And nobody in the extremely mediocre Trump circle will do that, unfortunately. All right, Pepe. I know it's the middle of the night and it's already tomorrow. Thank you very much for all of this. You always bring a different perspective. And this time, of course, you're bringing us some breaking news by your insight.

knowledge of what happened between Trump and Xi and Aarachi and the American negotiators. All the best, my friend. We'll look forward to seeing you next week. All the best, Judge. Sorry for the communication problems. It's hardly your fault. We made the most of it.

Thank you. Coming up later today, if you're watching us live in 90 minutes at 4 o'clock Eastern, the end of the day, the end of the week, almost the end of the month, the Intelligence Community Roundtable, Larry Johnson, Colonel Karen Kutkowski, and if Chris can find him in Siberia, Scott Ritter.

Judge Napolitano for Judging Freedom.