Judging Freedom - Prof. Mohammad Marandi : US Is Now The Gulf’s Worst Enemy

Episode Date: September 17, 2026

Prof. Mohammad Marandi : US Is Now The Gulf’s Worst EnemySee 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. Tragically, 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 Thursday, September 17th, 2006, Professor Muhammad Mirandi will be here with us from Tehran. In just a moment, is the United States now the enemy of the Gulf states. But first this, what if you could build a plan B legally for your money, your family, and your future? On October 1st and 2nd, Mikhail Thorpe, founder and CEO of expat money, is hosting the expat money summit. Mikkel has spent more than 26 years living, investing, and doing business around the world, traveling to more than 110 countries, and helping thousands of people diversify internationally.

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Reserve your ticket today at escap with the judge.com. That's escape with the judge.com and remember to use code word judge for your BIP experience. Professor Morandi, welcome here, my dear friend. Thank you, as always, for accommodating my schedule. Last weekend, Iran destroyed much of the U.S. air base in the major U.S. air base in Jordan. And the Houthis captured the straight at Bob Al-Mandeb. and the United States did nothing. What's your take on this, Mohammed?

Well, thank you again, Judge, for inviting me. It's always a great honor being with you and your esteemed audience. There are different interpretations for this. At the beginning of the war, it had been said, and I've said that many times, that Iran's power not only lies in the beginning of the war, it had been said, and I've said that many times, that Iran's power not only lies in its missiles and drones and its underground bases, which are being beefed up as we speak, but also in its regional alliances. And that Iraq and Yemen in particular, once the escalation reaches a certain point, they'll

become increasingly involved. And now we're seeing that in Yemen, not yet with Iraq. it shows how vulnerable U.S. client regimes are, how vulnerable the United States is, both the missiles, the drones, and these alliances. Some believe that the United States is in trouble, and it obviously is, and it's really difficult for it to escalate, especially before the midterm elections. And if it does, it's only going to make things a lot worse for Trump. So if Trump attacks Yemen, then that may bring about greater losses on November the 3rd.

Some believe that the United States is going to launch a major attack after the midterm elections and that it will carry out a desperate assault alongside the Israeli regime, either before or after, but some say before, some say after. the more most say that if this happens it will be after the midterps and the iranis are preparing for that and iran's allies are preparing for that and if that happens then i think the collapse that we are seeing right now gradually take place uh in in the persian gulf region in the arabian peninsula with regards to oil and gas and helium and sulfur and and fertilizers and everything else that collapse will take place.

It will be very sudden. So there are different schools of thought. But this is something that we have been discussing before. Yemen is far more powerful than the United States likes to believe. It's far more powerful than Western analysts of mainstream or elites close to power, like to believe. They always underestimate, whether it's irrelevant, Iran, whether it's Yemen. And I think right now they're really underestimating the power of the

resistance in Iraq. They should go back to the footage of the funeral of Ayatollah Khomeini. And when he was taken to Iraq, the millions who went to the streets in the heat of it was over 50 degrees during the funeral. So we are heading towards a very sensitive time. But it also does show that the United States is not really care about the family regimes in the Persian Gulf region. They've been sacrificed for well over six months now. They are in serious trouble. Their regimes are becoming increasingly fragile, and this cannot go on forever. So while Besson wants to strangle Iran, ultimately what he may end up doing is a strangling

U.S. allies and proxies on the Arabian Peninsula. Chris, can you put up the map again, please, the one with the red X's on it? So the red X on the upper right, of course, is the Strait of Hormuz, now under the control of the Iranians. The red X on the lower left is Bob L. Mandeb, formerly under control of Saudi Arabia, now no longer. the red X in the middle is the East-West pipeline, now either shut down or destroyed. The U.S. has not been able to prevent any of this from happening.

But look at these countries, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab, Emirates, Oman, Yemen. Many of them, not Yemen, but the others had defense agreements with the United States. let us build a huge base on your property and we'll defend you. The United States has utterly failed to defend them. Is the United States their friend or the instrument of their destruction? I think the U.S. government is an instrument of their destruction. The United States, and again, I mean the government, has never really been a friend of this region. It's always been a friend of Zionism, the Israeli regime, and everyone else has been sacrificed.

for the Israeli regime. The Shah, too, before the revolution, he was like these Arab regimes. They were milking Iran because of its oil that had been discovered, and they were selling Iran many, many billions of dollars of weapons that they wouldn't allow Iran to even learn how they work. So for example, the F-14s, which were sold to Iran back then, U.S. advisors would have to look to see if something was wrong, they would repair it. And if they needed major repairs, they'd be sent to the United States. Iranian engineers would not be allowed to touch their own airplanes. And this is basically

the policy that the United States has been pursuing for decades. And that's why all of these regimes are so brittle. That's why they're so vulnerable. Because they have oil and they build palaces and they build pretty cities. But at the end of the day, when that oil stops or when that LNG stops, when it stops flowing, they become extraordinarily vulnerable. Saudi Arabia, contrary to the image that it has in the West, does not have a huge amount of reserves. It has spent a lot of money on these mega projects that got nowhere. It has spent hundreds of billions of dollars in their genocidal war against Yenai.

Yemen and the consumption in Saudi Arabia is huge and in all these countries. So they need a lot of money just to maintain themselves. And that money isn't coming in. So things are going downhill for all of them. And they are countries that only have one thing and that's energy. So the United States has done them no, it hasn't done them any good. And in fact, now the United States is going to be hurt because not Not only is the price of energy going up, Judge, but these countries would take all of their

excess money from the sales and put it in the bond market, in the stock market. They would buy assets in the United States. Princes would take their money to the United States for the most part, some to Europe, but mostly in the United States. That money is not going to be going to the United States anymore. And as things go downhill further, they're going to need to sell assets in the United States. and I'm not sure the American government will let them do that. Look at the bond market and we'll all see how unstable it is.

And if these countries start pulling out their assets, it could get much worse. Is the Trump administration unintentionally strangling the economies of these Gulf states? Definitely unintentional. I mean, they are strangling the economies of these states, no doubt, and very badly. It is so bad that some, and I'm not one of those, but some believe that this is all intentional. In other words, some believe that there's this huge conspiracy to just destroy the oil assets and the natural gas assets in the Arabian Peninsula and in the Persian Gulf region to bring. down China and so that the United States could be a center, a center for energy with Venezuela and so on. I don't believe that, but I don't think this is, this is, I don't, I don't follow

the logic completely, but it is so, what the United States is doing is so destructive to its own people that it does make sense to a large degree, to its own, it's so destructive to its own assets, its own allies, its own proxies. Right. Right. You know, there are reports that Muhammad bin Salman, the dictator of Saudi Arabia, called President Trump twice over the weekend when the Houthis were attacking, we now know successfully, Bob El Mandeb, and begged for military, defensive military assistance. And both times, Trump turned them down, saying, we'll give you intel, but we're not going to give you military assistance.

I thought Saudi Arabia was an American ally. The United States only has one ally in our region, and that is Netanyahu and the Israeli regime. There are no allies. Ukraine will be sacrificed for Israel. Right now, the Ukrainians have no air defenses because everything has been taken to Israel. So despite spending hundreds of billions of dollars

and sacrificing hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian lives, some say over a million now. When it comes to the Israeli regime, there are no allies that can compare. I mean, Trump is willing to harm Canada and the battered Canada, but not only is he going to refrain from punishing the Israeli regime, he's now sending more to a huge, numbers of two ton two thousand pound bombs to the Israelis so that they can continue with their with the genocide he's sending 40,000 two thousand pound bombs to the Israelis yesterday I erroneously said the Israelis don't have jets to carry and drop those bombs they do so I stand corrected but 40,000 of these now this is not

definite yet. Congress is in a position to stop this but there are 535 members of Congress and 350 of their campaigns were financed by APEC so what are the chances that Congress is going to stop this? I mean what what Congress do we have the American Congress is the Knesset 2.0 they they what these bombs will be used for is to flatten cities and uh to bring down a apartment and that's what they've been doing and western media will assist them throughout because when let's say in future the israeli regime uh chooses to flatten Beirut with its millions of people what western journalists uh legacy media journalists will will say uh And what social media like X will say is that they're striking Hezbollah strongholds or they're striking Hezbollah targets.

That's what they did to Gaza for the last almost three years now. There are still, many are still arguing that this is not a genocide. Why? Because their interests, because these media outlets are owned by the same people who control the U.S. government. So these weapons will, the plan is definitely to use these weapons to flatten cities so that for the greater Israel project. What is the Iran economy like today? Do you have readily, ready access to food, medications, clothing, fuel, the necessities of everyday life? You know, I was thinking about when you went to Moscow, I was thinking about if I could probably possibly invite you to come to Tehran for a couple of days and then go back to Moscow since you've come all the way across the world to visit. But I knew your scheduling. It was very complicated since there were a number of you. So I didn't push this too much.

Oh, I wish you had, but you're very gracious even to think about it. Well, next time, hopefully we'll arrange something soon if everything is safe and secure, so I don't get you into any difficulty. But if you walked around Moscow, if you walk around Tehran and go into supermarkets, if you go into hotels or restaurants, it'll be very normal. Tehran is a very clean city. It's a pretty city if there's not too much pollution sometimes. the pollution gets pretty bad.

And it is pretty advanced. Every night, every night they take out the city takes the garbage. But so if you go to the supermarkets, you'll find everything. If you go to the malls, you'll find everything. But inflation is up. So if you go to restaurants, you can get all sorts of food, whatever you like. But the prices are going up. That is a problem.

Some people, of course, their business. were destroyed in the war, the factories that were bombed, the pharmaceutical plants, well, one pharmaceutical plant was destroyed. But the steel industry was damaged. So we've had damage, and then there's the siege and the sanctions that the collective west are imposing on Iran. So it makes life more difficult, but there's no hunger. If you walk across Tehran, you won't find home this piece.

anywhere. We don't have that the sort of thing that we do see in many Western countries. So, but life is getting more difficult. Yet I, I can tell you can, you know, and also I've seen polls recently. The Iranian people are determined. They understand where things are and what the objective of the United States is and that they have to remain steadfast. In fact, I wish I'd jotted down the numbers. But Iranians are much more adamant that their nuclear program remain intact, and much more adamant that their missile defense capabilities are strengthened, that their regional allies remain strong.

Because they've seen, you know, over the past year or so, the first 12-day war in this war, They've seen what the United States is willing to do and how the collective West is, despite disliking Trump, they're more than willing to go along with it. Talk to us a little bit about the Houthis. Who are they? Why do they appear almost invincible and do they enjoy popular support in Yemen? You know, Judge, well, the Houthis are a tribe and that's why when I say Ansar Allah, it's much more um is answer a lot another way to refer to the houtis no ansarola is the is the party it

which is a movement it is like hezbollah it's a national liberation movement it's anti-colonial it supports liberation movements across the world it supports the uh the palisinian people of course they made great sacrifices for Gaza and had many deaths. So it is much broader than the Houthis. But Ansar Allah, they have been around for a very long time. And if anyone goes and asks the Egyptian government, they'll remind them that Jamal Abdul Nasser, he suffered immensely in his aggression against Yemen

because he fought them and he failed. And that contributed to his defeat against the Israeli regime in 1967 because he had weakened his country because of this foolish war, exactly the same thing that Trump is doing today. These people are predominantly Zedhii Shia. They like Iranians, they have this very powerful ideology of resistance and resilience. And based on their religious beliefs, the Holy Prophet. And of course, the events in Karvala, where his grandson of the Prophet was martyred. These have a huge impact on their culture and society, like in Iran, like in Lebanon.

And one interesting thing, someone who I know who went to Yemen to help train them, he once told me, I met him a few years ago, he told me that, that he's not necessarily Iranian. But I don't want to be too open about this, but the Lebanese would go there. And he told me that he was like a special forces person. He said when we were going up the mountain, and he was saying I was super fit, he said I couldn't keep up with him.

They would go, they would get to the top of the mountain. I wouldn't even be halfway up there. So these are people who are very strong. They are very resilient. They live on very little. They are very content. They're very traditional. And they are willing to make many sacrifices.

Yemen survived a genocidal war by the Saudis and the Emirates where they had the backing of everyone. Egypt, Jordan, Turkey, the collective West, Australia. everyone was on their side. And for seven years, they imposed a siege on the country. They blocked food and medicine from getting in from the Red Sea. But these people still survived. And ultimately, because they gradually became, they developed their own military industry. They began to make drones and missiles.

They started striking Saudi targets, oil installations, and that led to a ceasefire. The Saudi saw that the price was becoming too high. And I'm really surprised. I'm really surprised that under these circumstances where the Strait of Hormoz is as it is, that Muhammad bin Salman would provoke a war with these people by bombing Sano International Airport and giving them the opportunity to strike back and demand an end to the siege which has been imposed upon their people for over a decade now. Wow. Where do you see all of this going? Trump still can't find. a way out. I know you said there are those who believe that the United States will engage in massive military attacks after election day. But in terms of the Gulf region, these family kingdoms, just effectively what they are, on the verge of collapse, are they not? They are moving in that direction. And if there is a major war, that will definitely

happened because if if answer or law if if if they can destroy so the asset so easily imagine what Iran could do if it if there was an all-out war because if there is an all out war no doubt that the Israeli regime the Americans the Saudis the Kuwaiting all of them would be together Jordan so Iran will go and take out the most sensitive targets in in Israel it will take out the most sensitive targets in all of these countries and we will have a global economic collapse in other words we are all going back to the stone age the world will go back to the stone age and it will be horrible in a way which i don't even want like to think about i mean imagine people moving right now people moving today

because of hardship and difficulty to the to the united states from latin america from north africa to europe from west asia to europe imagine what It would be like then. It would be 10-fold, 20-fold. And then, of course, everywhere will be suffering. It would be a situation that I don't like to really think about. But even if we don't have that massive war, where the Americans and the Israeli strike and then the Iranians go all out,

this is also moving in the same direction. It's death for the world economy by a thousand cuts. Because every day of Congress, conflict is only making the situation worse. And so either way, the current trajectory is catastrophic for everyone. Here's an interesting observation from former Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken. I'm not a fan of Secretary of Blinken at all, but, you know, that one-liner, even a stopped clock is right twice a day. And he made a very interesting observation two days ago.

Chris, do we have the Blinken? Assad? Ah, looks like we're having a little bit of an internet problem. And Chris had to drop off. He'll be back with us in just a moment. But Secretary Blinken is basically saying, you know, Trump has boxed himself into a corner. The only way out is for him to pick up the U.S. military and come home. It's probably out of character for him. But that's about the only avenue left. Your thoughts? Well, I think that that is the only option that he has except for implementing the MOU. And the Iranians are not going to normalize until the United States carries out its obligations.

Because for Iran, the genocide in Gaza has to end. The occupation of Lebanon has to end. And Iranian assets have to be handed over. And the agreement has to be implemented. Iran is not going to accept anything else for a settlement. But for Trump, the smart thing to do, besides that would be to just pretend that he won the war and bring it to an end, whether it's by implementing the deal or just walking away. But something tells me that that's not what he is capable of doing, and that's not what the Israeli regime with the Zionist lobby will allow him to do. Here's that cut from Secretary Blinken to which I referred a few minutes ago. Chris?

There's a clear off ramp here. I think the president's wanted to take that off ramp for months because he has huge pressure when it comes to markets, munitions, and their short supply, and of course the midterms. But taking the off ramp, which means a diplomatic agreement with Iran that, by definition, gives Iran something, means it looks like a loss. And I think that's the hesitation on his part. This could and should be over tomorrow. This could and should be over tomorrow. For once, Tony Blinken is making sense. Oh, yes. I agree with you completely. And I still remember how our mutual very good friend, Max Blumenthal, on the last day of his at his job as the Secretary of State and that in that press briefing, how Max really tore him apart and rightly so. But he's absolutely correct. I think that that is what Trump wants. I think that, I mean, that's why.

he signed the MOU, but he just wouldn't implement it. But I think he's under too much pressure. I don't know what they have on him or what the issues are, how much of it is just his own ego. But as things move, as things stand now, things are going to get a lot worse. Whether there's escalation before or after the midterms, or whether we're just going to have this constant deterioration

across West Asian, thus across the global, economy. The end result is not necessarily all that different. Things are going to get worse and a lot worse for everyone. In some parts of the world, things are pretty bad as we speak in the subcontinent, in parts of Asia, in some parts of Africa, Latin America. Things are getting very bad. Muhammad, a pleasure, my dear man. I'm sorry I was not able to swing by Tehran and meet you, But next time, or we'll meet somewhere between Tehran and New York. All the best. Thank you for accommodating my schedule.

We'll look forward to seeing you next week. Great pleasure, Judge. It's always another. Thank you. Bye-bye. Tomorrow, Friday, 4 o'clock in the afternoon, as usual, the end of the day, the end of the week, the Intelligence Community Roundtable. We'll see you then.

Judge Napolitano for judging freedom.