Judging Freedom - Prof. Jeffrey Sachs : Is Washington Ignoring Iran’s Peace Offers?

Episode Date: February 11, 2026

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs : Is Washington Ignoring Iran’s Peace Offers?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? the government. What if 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 Wednesday, February 11, 2026, Professor Jeffrey Sachs joins us now. Professor Sacks, thank you very much for your time. I do want to talk to you about Iran and peace and whether the Americans will listen to the rational proposals of the Iranian government. But before we get there, just a few questions about Russia, if I might. Do you sense from Foreign Minister Lavrov, whom you know very well? that the Kremlin might be souring on the Trump administration? Well, I think clearly the Russian government has seen what everybody is seeing, which is that there's no such thing as Trump's word as something that one can depend on.

So there were agreements reached, understandings reached in Anchorage when President Trump and President Putin met about how this war should end, about the basic framework of Ukrainian neutrality, of how security guarantees should work, of what territorial changes should be made. And Trump is so inconsistent that immediately after that, when the Europeans came in or when Zelensky came in, whatever had been discussed in Alaska was just set a side. And then Trump increased threats against Russia, put on penalty tariffs against India, and mainly was vituperative rather than following through on discussions. This is nothing new for Trump and nothing new for the world. There is just no consistency in the behavior of the White

House of the President or his team vis-a-vis any issue on the planet today. And I think that, therefore, what the Russians are seeing and what Foreign Minister Lavrov is saying is we will continue the war because Russia has vital interests at stake and is pursuing those interests and I think there's enormous frustration. Again, it goes from Canada to Mexico to the European Union to the UK, you name it. There's frustration everywhere that this is not a grown-up government in the United States. It's an absolute random mess day to day. As we speak, Professor Sachs, I know in another part of the world, but as you and I speak, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is somewhere in the White House meeting with President Trump. Do you think his principal goal is to

talk Trump into attacking Iran or talk him out of any kind of a peace deal with Iran? Well, it's clear that what Netanyahu wants is for the United States. to go to war with Iran. He's wanted that for decades. Occasionally, we have. Trump did so at Netanyahu's bidding last June. And it was a mess in its implications in demonstrating Israel's vulnerability to Iranian missiles. what Netanyahu wants is the United States to go all in on a war against Iran.

It would be extraordinarily dangerous, but reckless is the real description of Israel's government, completely reckless and completely determined to draw the United States at every point into that recklessness. Trump posted something on his true source. social just recently, just in the last hour or two, saying that he met with Netanyahu and told Netanyahu that he is going to try the negotiations. He's also threatened to blow up Iran to kingdom come if the negotiations don't go his way. So who knows whether this is more delaying tactic to get another aircraft carrier into the region? whether this is anything real. The fact of the matter is, again, I don't think it's very smart

tactics. I'm not even sure it's tactics. There's no logic or explanation day to day with what the United States is doing. The Iranians have said repeatedly they want to negotiate. They've said that for a dozen years. They reached a serious agreement with the United States. States, China, Russia, France, Britain, and Germany in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2016. It was endorsed by the UN Security Council unanimously, and then Trump ripped it up. I think it was maybe 2015. Sorry, a little tired of don't remember exactly the date that the Security Council resolution, 2231, was unanimously voted. But we had an agreement with Iran.

Then Trump ripped it up. And since then, it's more chaos. And so Trump wants to dictate terms to any place in the world. And the world doesn't want to be dictated to in every way. And it actually happens that the Iranian foreign minister made it absolutely. intelligent, coherent, important speech in an Al Jazeera conference on February 7th just a few days ago, where the foreign minister explained, we could not only have an agreement on the nuclear issues, we can have a peace in the Middle East, but that also requires settling the core reason for

all these wars, which is Israel's bloody-minded determination to hold on to its occupation of Palestine and to not give an inch to any Palestinian rights whatsoever. So this is bloody-minded Israeli extremism that has put the whole region through war for a quarter century, and the Iranian foreign minister to an audience of West Asian leaders, mainly Arab leaders, explain, look, there can be peace, there can be normalization, there can be security for everyone. But the genocide in Gaza, the Israeli claimed to be the regional, indisputable hegemon of the West Asian world, Israel's determination to hold on to territory everywhere in a spreading way in the occupied lands of Palestine, in Lebanon, in Syria, that's what has to end. Well, it probably won't end because we know about

who finances Trump's campaigns. We know the Epstein files. We know about all of it. It probably won't end. But it could end, we could actually have peace. Now, one other interesting thing, Judge, after that speech, what about the U.S. commentary on that speech? That very clear speech given by the Iranian foreign minister. What commentary? Exactly. Not a word. The New York Times, really a phony newspaper, supposedly all the news that's fit to print, no news, no discussion, no attempt for an honest understanding that the Iranian foreign minister has laid out a completely coherent statement. It just happens to be one that says that peace requires a state of Palestine alongside a state of Israel and mutual security in the region. But that's way too far

for the Israel lobby and for the other holds that Israel apparently has on the United States. So who knows what's going to happen. I'm glad that President Trump said negotiations will continue. But again, is it a ploy? Is it to get more firepower into the goal? Gulf region. Is Israel going to end up blackmailing Washington again to go to war? What's going to happen? Of course, the American people will have no insight into this until we read all about it after the fact. Here's what Trump said in his truth social. You're quite correct, Professor Sachs, about an hour ago. Quote, I have just finished meeting with Prime Minister Netanyahu of Israel and various of his representatives.

It was a very good meeting. The tremendous relationship between our two countries continues. There was nothing definitive reached other than I insisted that negotiations with Iran continue to see whether or not a deal can be consummated. If it can, I let the Prime Minister know that will be a preference. If it cannot, we will just have to see what the outcome will be. Last time Iran decided that they were better off not making a deal, and they were hit with the midnight hammer.

That did not work well for them. Hopefully this time they will be more reasonable and responsible. Additionally, we discussed the tremendous progress being made in Gaza and the region in general. There is truly peace in the Middle East. Thank you for your attention to this matter. Well, the first part of that statement is uplifting. The second part is nonsense and political power. So many lies packed into a statement like that,

the Iranians did not reject an agreement last time. Specifically what happened was that after several discussions in which both sides reported progress, a sixth round was to take place on June 15, 2025. And three days before that, the U.S. and Israel, conspired to bomb Iran. That is not Iran rejecting a deal. That is just treachery by Israel and the United States to prevent a deal. So what President Trump says is not true. Moreover, there is not peace in the Middle East. Every day Israel is murdering Palestinians, murdering Palestinians in Gaza,

murdering Palestinians in the West Bank. There is no peace. And moreover, Al Jazeera has reported, and it's information that has been reported widely before, that Israel has been using thermobaric weapons to disintegrate Palestinians. According to Al Jazeera, more than 2,800. These are weapons that basically melt people away.

There's no flesh and bones left. And this barbarity is what needs to be discussed, and the barbarity needs to end. No, there is no peace right now, and there cannot be peace until there is a solution to the reason for these wars, which is Israel's occupation of Palestine and its brutality towards eight million Palestinian Arabs that it rules over. And just about everybody understands this,

except it's not discussed in Washington Company. Israel also seeks the greater Israel domination, project, expanding Israel's borders, and to that end, wants to correct me if you see this differently, dismember Iran, not only decapitate the leadership, but turn Iran into another Syria so that Israel can decide which part belongs to it. As we've discussed, all of this was spelled out clearly 30 years ago in a political document when Benjamin Netanyahu first came into office as prime minister and he and his, oh my God,

his political advisors, I'll just stick with the straight language, said that they would take down any government that opposed Israel's project of permanent control over the Palestinian people. The whole idea is very simple that Netanyahu, will never allow a Palestinian state. That will lead to opposition. That will lead to militancy. And that means that Israel has to remove any governments that support the Palestinian cause.

And this is what we've been after, and we've been at for 30 years. And if there was just a smidgen of honesty in Washington, to follow what the American people overwhelmingly would like. We, the people, stay overwhelmingly that there should be a state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel. But we're not the mega donors and we're not the, God knows the other reasons why Israel has had a hand on America's neck all this time.

Between the mega donors and whatever the Israeli government knows about Trump from the, Epstein files, is this essentially a hopeless cause? I mean, Netanyahu is never going to change his mind unless his armies are defeated on the battlefield, so to speak. It's not a hopeless cause. It just would require an America-first foreign policy. That's all. But given the Zionist grasp on the American government, the Trump administration and the Congress, the Biden administration and the Congress, go to the Going back to LBJ, is it hopeless? It's not hopeless because now we have witnessed going back to LBJ.

This is a miserable deal for the American people. We're getting nothing out of this but endless war and endless grief. It's a miserable deal for the Palestinian people. It's a miserable deal for the Israeli. They have no security. It's war. It's mayhem that stretches from. Libya to Iran caused by the United States and Israel.

And by Libya to Iran, I mean Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen. My God, they've made a wasteland, rather than having two states, Palestine and Israel, living side by, side, which has been an available option at any moment and what the Iranian foreign minister said clearly on February 7th and which, of course, went unreported by the New York Times. What terms of peace did he offer? Did he spell them out in this speech that was covered by Al Jazeera and nobody else? Yes, he said that there needs to be a state of Palestine. There needs to be mutual security in the region. There needs to be the rule of law. And he spelled it out very clearly. And somebody should pick up on it and say, oh, we want to know the details.

Let's talk. That's what you do. So the American negotiators. In fact, our secretary of state said, oh, we should have broader negotiations than just the nuclear issue. Okay. So the Iranian foreign minister laid out a vision for peace in the Middle East. And you would think someone in the United States would actually pick it up and discuss it. Instead of vilification, instead of Trump making a true social lie that last time the Iranians rejected negotiations, which absolutely did not, last time Trump bombed them in the middle of negotiations, is it just a game again or can grown-ups talk with each other? The American negotiators, the two glorified real estate agents,

are both arch-sionists, both longtime personal friends of Prime Minister Netanyahu, both confer and conspire with him. Why would the Iranian negotiators put any credence in anything Krishna and Whitkoff say? Well, I don't know that they do. I think they have been trying for 12 years to negotiate. I'm pretty sure that they take very seriously the possibility that at any moment they could be at war. I don't think that they have any illusion about that. I don't think that I'm guessing.

I don't think that they are going to be lulled into. complacency by the mere fact that Trump has said, we'll have another round of negotiation. That's exactly what happened last time. I doubt that that's going to go down the same way. But I do think what is interesting and important is that the Iranian diplomats have been meeting all through the Middle East. They've been talking with Turkey. They've been talking with Saudi Arabia.

They have been speaking with President Putin. They have been speaking diplomatically with the Chinese. And these leaders have been telling President Trump, don't do this. Don't make a war because negotiations are absolutely possible. And when he's hearing from President Erdogan and Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia and President and President Xi, well, maybe it doesn't matter compared to Miriam Adelson and the Epstein files. I don't know. But he's hearing from world leaders, don't do this. It's both reckless and completely unnecessary to launch a war with Iran because Iran wants a negotiated settlement

and because peace in the Middle East, which he brags about every day, even as the killings continue could actually be achieved on rather straightforward terms. The last time the vote of a Palestinian state came up in the UN Security Council, the United States had to use its veto because otherwise it would have passed overwhelmingly. So that's the basic point. if the U.S. wants peace, if President Trump happened to want peace, it's available in a moment, in a heartbeat. He just has to drop the U.S. veto to what all of the world knows is the solution, is the basis of international law, is the agreement for decades that there should be two states living side by side with each other. and then every country in the region, essentially every country in the organization of Islamic cooperation,

said that's the basis for normalization of relations. And that's what could happen. But again, this has been the complete commitment of Netanyahu, his whole career, to stop that kind of peace. Will, let me prevail upon your other field of expertise, Professor Sachs, which is economics. What will the price of gas be in the United States if the Straits of Hormuz are closed? You know, the Straits and Formuz, of course, have a substantial part of the world oil exports passing through them. we could easily see chaos.

I think that would be even a relatively smaller part of the real danger that we would face if there was a war this time. A war this time is not going to be 12 days. A war this time is going to be explosive. And we're going to find out that Iran has lots of friends on its side. and we're going to really bemoan that fact, and Israel is going to bemoan that fact. So this is a reckless bargain on all accounts. Of course, it could destroy any remaining illusion that the American people might have about Trump really being America first, because this would be so contrary to America's interests, so contrary to the industry.

interests of his voter base, so contrary to world interest, so contrary to U.S. security, that one doesn't even know where to start. The only interest that is satisfied by this are Israeli zealots and extremists who happen to be in power and happen to be killing a lot of people because they're trying to hold on to something that's not theirs. Professor Sachs, thank you very much. As always, a gifted and not. of these very, very trying times. Who knows, we may wake up tomorrow morning and find that there are B2 bombers over Tehran, or we may wake up tomorrow morning and find that someone on the U.S. side is willing to listen to the Iranians.

I'm not hopeful. Chris, put that picture up. There it is. Now, there's Whitkoff and Kushner and Stephen Miller meeting with Netanyahu and Blair House across the from the White House last night, congratulating each other and planning how they're going to bend the president's ear the next day. The bending of the ear is over after, I think you have another picture, Chris, with Secretary of State Rubio, after Prime Minister Netanyahu left the president. He went to the State Department, where he signed that he will be a member

of the Board of Peace. A Board of Peace for Gaza, run by Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu. Who would take that seriously, Professor? And then there are the 335 million of us that want something different. Right. Right. Thank you for your time, my dear professor. Travel safely. We'll see you again soon. Wonderful. Thank you very much. Coming up tomorrow Thursday at 10 o'clock in the morning, I don't know where he is, but Chris will find him, Pepe Escobar, at one in the afternoon, Max Blumenthal, at two in the afternoon. afternoon, Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson, at three in the afternoon, Professor John Meersheimer. Thank you for watching, my dear friends. I know this stuff is sometimes testy and difficult to follow,

but we are trying to present to you an understanding of these events. You won't get anywhere else. Judge Napolitano for judging freedom.