Thursday Afternoon Breaking News Updates with Ben - 5/7/2026

7 May 2026 · 1 h 12 min · 26 chapters

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In short

Live breaking-news coverage of escalating Iran–U.S. tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, including reported gunfire, missile/drone exchanges, and U.S. strikes on Iranian ports (Keshem and Bandar Abbas). The host also argues the administration is manipulating narratives and markets, and pivots to related political controversies (Epstein files, Lula meeting cancellation, tariffs, and broader geopolitical “multipolar” shifts).

Guest backgrounds

No named guests appear in the transcript. The episode is hosted by Ben Mycelis.

Key claims (as stated by the host and cited media): Iran initiated a military response to a U.S. maritime blockade; U.S. forces struck an Iranian oil tanker, then Iran launched missile strikes and damaged U.S. units; U.S. officials confirm strikes on Iranian targets but claim it is “not restarting the war.” Iran’s state media claims U.S./UAE actions hit commercial piers near Bandar Abbas and that air defenses activate in Tehran.

Notable examples

Bahman-Keshem pier hit near Bandar Abbas; strikes near Keshem and Bandar Abbas; alleged targeting of U.S. destroyers near Karg Island and in the Sea of Oman; CIA leak to Washington Post claiming Iran retained ~75% of Shahid drones/missiles.

Written by AI. May contain mistakes. Listen to the episode to check what was said.

Chapters

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U.S.-Iran Military Exchange in Strait of Hormuz

1:06 to 1:59

Details on the gunfire exchange between Iran and the U.S.

“We first heard this from the Fars and Tasneem news agencies.”

Escalation of Hostilities Announced

1:59 to 3:05

Reports on missile and drone launches by Iran.

“Waves of missile and drone launches are on the verge of firing.”

Iran's Response and U.S. Confirmations

3:05 to 4:21

Iran's military response and U.S. confirmation of strikes.

“naval ships or just the UAE, But we are learning more.”

Donald Trump's Project Freedom Overview

4:21 to 5:04

Discussion on Trump's military plans and market implications.

“So you know what's happened in the past 48 hours or so, right?”

Middle East Dynamics and Market Reactions

5:04 to 6:20

Analysis of Trump's decisions and market fluctuations.

“The Dow passed 50 ,000, although today the markets were down.”

U.S. Military Strategy and Escalation Risks

6:20 to 8:01

Exploration of the U.S. military's actions and potential escalation.

“didn't, again, tell Saudi Arabia and Kuwait about Project Freedom.”

CIA Intelligence Assessment on Iran

8:01 to 10:44

Details on the CIA's assessment of Iran's military capabilities.

“And again, as the news develops right now, as we learn more, we're going to kind of keep you posted because now the news starts flooding in right now.”

Final Thoughts on Current Tensions

10:44 to 14:00

Ben's concluding remarks on the ongoing situation and Trump's actions.

“confirming strikes in Iran from the United States military, and we will keep you posted throughout this episode regarding potential escalation over here.”

Iran's Oil Operations Amidst Escalation

14:00 to 15:10

Discussion on Iran's oil operations and Trump's recent tariff threats.

“showed Iranian large vessels were still going in, uh, to Karg Island, taking the oil, moving the oil, you know, as recently as 24, 48 hours ago.”

Trump's Turbulent Relations with Brazil

15:10 to 17:00

Analysis of Trump's canceled meeting with Brazil's President Lula and tariffs.

“So if you want to get your Trump taco emoji, become a member of this YouTube channel.”
Show all 26 chapters

International Political Dynamics

17:00 to 18:20

Insights on the European Political Community meeting and U.S. isolation.

“Actually, it was in Yerevan, Armenia, for the European political community meeting that was taking place, where Prime Minister Carney of Canada was invited as well.”

Iran's Growing Alliances

18:20 to 20:50

The impact of Iran's alliances with China and North Korea on global politics.

“And it's just fascinating to see at an international level that America first has really meant America alone.”

Consequences of Trump's Policies

20:50 to 23:30

Discussion on the implications of Trump's policies on U.S.-Iran relations and fertilizer imports.

“Right now, if you're Iran, don't you look at North Korea and go, got it, that's what we got to do.”

Scoring Goals: Trump vs. Iran

23:30 to 26:20

Comparison of Trump's stated goals versus Iran's strategic gains.

“So just look at what Donald Trump's done here with this catastrophic and unlawful war in Iran.”

U.S. Military Actions and Trump's Clown Show

26:20 to 28:03

Updates on U.S. military strikes on Iranian targets amidst political chaos.

“Iran's nuclear capabilities haven't been taken away.”

The Current Clown Show at the White House

28:03 to 28:37

Discussion on the chaotic state of affairs in the White House and an invitation to engage with the show.

“As I said, this is a complete and utter clown show right now at the White House.”

Escalation in the Strait of Hormuz

28:37 to 29:24

Update on military actions in the Strait of Hormuz and their implications.

“When we come back, I want to talk more about the escalation in the Strait of Hormuzes.”

Howard Lutnick and the Epstein Files

29:24 to 30:41

Discussion about Howard Lutnick's connections to Epstein and his testimony process.

“Marjorie Taylor Greene, these are my people.”

James Comer's Reactions and Controversies

30:41 to 32:59

Analysis of James Comer's comments following Lutnick's testimony and ongoing investigations.

“Nothing bad happened on the island, as Lutnick said.”

Conflict Updates from Iran

35:02 to 36:20

Discussion about ongoing tensions and military actions involving Iran and U.S. forces.

“Having some drinks can be fun, but I'm glad I found an alternative that lets me feel great in the moment and the next morning, Out of Office Gummies from Soul.”

The Credibility Crisis in U.S. Military Reports

36:20 to 42:00

Examination of the credibility of CENTCOM and contrasting narratives from Iran.

“to our pro-democracy sponsors right there.”

Trump's War Propaganda and UFC Event

42:00 to 46:00

Discussing Trump's use of the military and misinformation surrounding a UFC event.

“Trump's name, image, and likeness so that Trump's family profits off of the fact that an airport's named after him.”

Criticism of Trump's Public Conduct

46:00 to 50:00

Exploring Trump's controversial comments in public forums and their impact.

“That's one of the reasons he's doing it, his 80th birthday.”

Contrasting Leadership Styles

50:00 to 56:00

Juxtaposing Trump’s behavior with that of global leaders and discussing competence in leadership.

“That just shows you to me how things have fallen in the U.S., where things are.”

Political Commentary on Trump's Influence

56:00 to 1:02:19

Explore the negative impact of Trump's actions on American life and politics.

“You know, I, you know, with all of these things, it's like, why are you making them so damn weird?”

Iran and U.S. Military Engagement

1:02:20 to 1:06:04

Understand the current tensions and military actions between Iran and the U.S.

“So when these developments happen, you're not shocked.”
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Transcript

Automatic transcript. May contain errors.

0:00Fox News is now streaming live on Fox One. When it matters most, turn to the voices you trust. We go beyond the headlines, bringing you the stories you won't hear anywhere else. Live coverage, sharp analysis, real perspective. At home or on the go, stay connected when it counts. Stream Fox News on Fox One. Download today.

0:30The new outpatient center in Schaumburg has positively impacted my entire family. Lurie Children's new outpatient center in Schaumburg is making life a little easier for families in the northwest suburbs. My kids are in such good hands and our travel time is cut in half. This all-in-one location offers a full range of pediatric services, all from the number one ranked children's hospital in Illinois. Make an appointment at luriechildrens.org slash Schaumburg. Lurie Children's, all for your one. Welcome to Ben on Breaking News. I'm Ben Mycelis, and this is your Breaking News. Moments ago, we learned about an exchange of gunfire between Iran and the United States in the Strait of Hormuz.

1:13We first heard this from the Fars and Tasneem news agencies. That's the Iranian state media agencies. It was then confirmed by Israel's Hayom Media Agency. We're learning more about what's taking place. A source very close to MB Ghalibaf, Iran's parliament leader, said the following. Iran has initiated a military response to the maritime blockade. Military units of CENTCOM that are responsible for the attack on Iranian vessels will be targeted. Tonight, clashes have occurred due to this reason. The United States has once again failed in extracting stranded destroyers from the Strait of Hormuz.

1:52and strikes have been reported in the Keshem and Bandar Abbas areas. The attacks are attributed to the United States and the Israeli regime, with the UAE participating openly and Saudi Arabia covertly. Waves of missile and drone launches are on the verge of firing. We heard from FARS, Iranian military sources claiming after U.S. forces attacked an Iranian oil tanker. Iran returned fire with missiles on U.S. units in the Strait of Hormuz, forcing them to retreat with damage during the exchange of fire between Iranian forces and the enemy parts of the commercial area at the Bahman port were hit.

2:28More details are indeed coming in right now from DropSite and I read the Iranian broadcast network. Iranian state media reports commercial pier struck near Bandar Abbas, Iranian Revolutionary Guard affiliated outlet Fars News Agency reporting Thursday that parts of the Bahman-Keshem Pier, a commercial and passenger port on the eastern side of the Kesham Island at the entrance of the Strait of Hormuz were struck during what is described as exchanges of fire between Iranian forces and the enemy. Unclear if that's UAE and the U.S. naval ships or just the UAE, But we are learning more. Tasneem Agency reports that the hostile actions by the UAE at the bomb in Kashim dock near Bandar Abbas were waiting for additional confirmation to take place there.

3:26Some reports also claiming air defenses responding to two drones. We heard multiple explosions over at Bandar Abbas. Other sources alleging that the UAE described as Tasneem as acting in the interest of the Zionist regime was behind the incident on the dock. That's how Iran media is framing this. Tasneem emphasized the claims remain unconfirmed. And more data coming in right now as a senior military official from Iran telling Fars News that Iranian forces indeed launched missile strikes against aggressor units of the United States military in the Strait of Hormuz, responding to a U.S. attack on an Iranian oil tanker.

4:10The official message from Fars, although we need confirmation, of course, is that the U.S. units sustained damage and were forced to flee the area. No comment yet from the United States military at this point, and we'll keep you posted every step of the way here. So you know what's happened in the past 48 hours or so, right? Over the weekend, Donald Trump announces Project Freedom. He says, we're sending ships into the for moves that are going to escort the tankers and cargo ships out. Then less than 24 hours later, Donald Trump announces Project Freedom is over. He declares it the most successful military operation and maneuver in the history of the United States military and says, all right, Project Freedom, we're done.

4:59We did it, everybody. The markets move on that. Stock market goes up. The Dow passed 50 ,000, although today the markets were down. Oil prices dropped. Barack Ravid, Donald Trump's buddy, who has the Trump bobblehead, the Axios guy who seems to get it wrong five times a day. He's very sensitive to this now, this Barack Ravid guy, but he goes, a deal is coming.

5:25Ben Meiselas:My sources tell me the deal's happening this time. A memorandum of understanding things are going great. It's like, dude, no, it's not. You've been saying this literally every other day since the war began. And Barack Ravid denies that he's manipulating the markets, although we will say that before he makes those reports, the markets sure move in very atypical ways. But Barack Ravid said a memorandum of understanding was out, things are going great. And then we learn what really went down, which is Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, perhaps other media outlets, as reported by other media outlets, that other Arab countries did not allow the United States to use their air bases, did not allow the United States to use their airspace because apparently the U.S.

6:20didn't, again, tell Saudi Arabia and Kuwait about Project Freedom. And that's what they're calling it. And then when Iran retaliated against the cargo ships and the Port of Fujara in the region. Donald Trump's response was, yeah, where's the ceasefire still on? Everything's good. Everything's great. Everything's going well. Everything's going really well. So again, we will keep you posted every step of, we'll keep you posted every step of the way as we get more information. And I just want to check right now to see if there's additional updates going on. Okay. Here's what we're learning right now.

6:59Moments ago, Yes. Moments ago, we're learning that the United States military indeed just carried out strikes on Iran's Keshem port and Bandar Abbas. Senior U.S. officials are now confirming that they carried out strikes on Iran. But they are saying this is not restarting the war. More to come. We'll keep you posted every step of the way as we learn more. But let me repeat that right now. the United States military is confirming, we talked about earlier, that it indeed carried out strikes on Iran's Keshem port and Bandar Abbas. Senior U.S. officials are saying this is not a restarting of the war.

7:44Unclear what the hell that's supposed to mean because we will have to see what Iran says about that. That's not restarting the war. And an incident like this could certainly lead to massive retaliation right now. And again, as the news develops right now, as we learn more, we're going to kind of keep you posted because now the news starts flooding in right now. talking about how the United States was maneuvering three of its destroyers through the Strait of Hormuz when it was trying to covertly move three of its tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. And it was met with fire by Iranian naval ships.

8:33And then it seems like the United States then launched these strikes. And we will, again, keep you posted as we learn more. But again, for those just joining us, United States military saying it just carried out strikes on Iran's Keshe port. So that's what the information, what the loud bangs, what the explosions were that we heard. I saw one account, this Craig Shapiro saying, we're going to now need Barack Ravid from

9:03Ben Meiselas:Axios to tweet something positive soon because the markets are going down. So is a deal coming? Is a deal coming? What's going on there? You know, also, you know, it's interesting to see Barack Ravid again get so defensive. And there's lots of other people in the media saying, you know, why are you lots of corporate news folks? And why are you going after Barack Ravid? Why are you going after Barack Ravid? Ryan Grimm over at DropSite says a few months ago, after one of Ravid's stories, I said people should be careful because on this one, he's often used to manipulate the markets and help set a narrative.

9:43I actually didn't even mean it as a criticism, just as a matter of basic fact. He blocked me for it and he has done nothing to stop being used. Anyway, he definitely has well placed sources though. Whether it's intentionally moving the markets or unintentionally moving the markets. Certainly his posts have had that impact on, it seems like, a daily basis at this point. We're learning from Iran's mayor news right now. Air defenses are activated right now in Tehran. And so folks, it does look like major, major escalation is indeed taking place. I don't believe that the Trump regime saying, oh, I guess this is not a breach of the ceasefire or This is not a resumption of the war.

10:36I'm not sure how that is going to be perceived, given it seems that open hostilities are beginning in a major, major way. For those just joining us, the U.S. confirming strikes in Iran from the United States military, and we will keep you posted throughout this episode regarding potential escalation over here. I mean, we do know that Donald Trump tends to taco over everything. And Donald Trump, you know, seems to want to have it all ways, you know, not negotiate with Iran in terms of making concessions, not commit full forces to a ground invasion and kind of just be in this kind of middle ground, no man's land, if you will, and then manipulate the markets and say, like a miracle, it's all going to go away.

11:27It's all going to go away, right? You had Donald Trump, what was it now, two weeks ago, saying that Iran had three days left based on the blockade, creating all of this pressure in the oil systems in Iran and so in the refineries, that it would just explode because the pipes had so much pressure. That's how Donald Trump was explaining it. We had been reporting here that that's not the way the world works, and it's not true, that Iran has many, many, many, many more months. It could do things like decrease production levels in order to lower the pressure. It could take the oil and send it through land routes.

12:15It doesn't all have to go out through the Strait of Hormuz. And it looks like the CIA was just utterly fed up at the Trump regime today because the CIA leaked its intelligence assessment. And it confirmed, not only it confirmed what we've been reporting on the Midas Touch network, but it actually went a step further, whereas we believe there was at least 50 to 60 percent of ballistic missile Shahi drones and ballistic missile launchers still intact weeks ago on behalf of Iran. And I said, well, the way they They make it so quickly that they're probably going to be at 100 % soon because that's how they're going to be utilizing this ceasefire.

12:57And it's much cheaper for Iran to make these Shahid drones and their missiles and their launchers are far cheaper than the U.S.-made weapons. Well, the CIA report that leaked to the Washington Post said actually that the war only destroyed about 25 % of Iran's weapons capabilities, and it still maintains 75 % of its Shahid drones and ballistic missiles and launchers. and also the CIA assessments that Iran had months, months before there was any significant or material impact on its oil facilities caused by the blockade, so that they can go months and see. Here are my dogs in the background. They clearly agree with that assessment.

13:48Um, so we heard that we, we, we were showing, uh, satellite footage. Javier Blas over at Bloomberg does a really good job on this beat. And he was showing, there were satellite, uh, footage that showed Iranian large vessels were still going in, uh, to Karg Island, taking the oil, moving the oil, you know, as recently as 24, 48 hours ago. So, uh, all of Iran's, you know, oil facilities, still functioning. There's nothing blowing up. More lies from Donald Trump, more lies coming out of Trump-related propaganda media. We also saw today, right before these hostilities increased, right before this escalation that we're covering right now, Donald Trump also made a post about the European Union.

14:38Remember, Donald Trump threatened an additional 25 % tariffs on the EU. again. You make, man, that's deja vu. Didn't he do that like a year ago? Yeah, remember he did it again. And now as he saw the markets not looking good today, he then did one of his taco Trump always chickens out posts. You saw it right there where he said, actually now I'm not going to do the tariffs until after the 250th birthday of the United States. By the way, everybody, We have Trump taco emojis. So if you want to get your Trump taco emoji, become a member of this YouTube channel. Click the join button. You can gift memberships to as many people as you want.

15:25If you're able to afford memberships, gift memberships, give other people the gift of taco emojis and all those emojis. You also get to access exclusive podcasts like the one I do with Ron Filipkowski. Also earlier today, there was supposed to be a meeting between Donald Trump and President Lula of Brazil. President Lula has been very critical of Donald Trump's authoritarian tactics. Trump tried to impose 50 % tariffs on Brazil, but then chickened out on that last year. Remember when Donald Trump posted that deranged letter and said, because Brazil's former insurrectionist MAGA President Jair Bolsonaro was sentenced to prison, that Trump was going to be imposing 50 % tariffs on Brazil, which then caused massive inflation and then caused prices to immediately spike and the markets to crash.

16:16And then what did Donald Trump do? He removed those 50 % tariffs on Brazil when he was then, like, remember Donald Trump, 90 deals, 90 days, but then Trump made up his own, same way he makes up his own fake ceasefires, he makes up his own fake deals. And then he reduced all of the tariffs on his own. Lula was in the White House today. There was supposed to be a press conference between Trump and Lula. The press waited there for hours, like literally three hours. And then all of the press activity was canceled. And then Lula, Lula left. Everybody can see right there. It was on the presidential agenda today that there was going to be a forward-facing, press-facing meeting between Trump and Lula.

16:59And we learned that Lula confronted Donald Trump about Trump's unlawful wars, Trump's invasion of Venezuela, Trump's invasion of Iran with Netanyahu, Trump's threatening of the hemisphere, Trump's attack on multilateralism, Trump's tariffs against the world, Trump's blockade on Cuba, where we blockade Cuba, but then we allow Russian ships to enter Cuba, but then otherwise blockade Cuba, should also be noted, and we've been covering a lot of this on the Midas Touch Network, that there was that big meeting in Europe. Actually, it was in Yerevan, Armenia, for the European political community meeting that was taking place, where Prime Minister Carney of Canada was invited as well.

17:45It was a big deal that this meeting was taking place in Yerevan, Armenia, because Armenia used to be viewed as either like adjacent to a Soviet satellite nation or certainly under the sphere of influence of Russia, although lots of Armenians didn't feel that way, especially those in the diaspora here. But there was that view, of course, given its proximity to Russia and Russia's spheres of influence, and of course, the history of the Soviet Union in the region. But this big European meeting took place in Yerevan, Armenia, as Europe kind of projecting its strain. Prime Minister Carney was there.

18:25And it's just fascinating to see at an international level that America first has really meant America alone. I mean, I did a video on it this morning, but think about it this way. You had the European political community meeting, right? No United States there. They're talking about multilateralism. You've got a meeting between Iran's foreign minister, Aragji, and Wang Yi, China's foreign minister in Beijing, before Donald Trump set to go out to China. And you have Iran, you know, basically saying that, look, we're respected more by China now. We're viewed as a, not just a player in the region, but a player internationally right now based on beating the United States in their catastrophic war and invasion with Netanyahu and China condemning the United States and Israel's invasion of Iran.

19:16And then Donald Trump just walking into China like, hey, Xi Jinping, hey, Xi Jinping. At the same time, you have Iran meeting with China's foreign minister, planning their alliance, which is to strengthen Iran against the United States. I mean, similarly, as part of that alliance right there, you've got Iran and China. And then you also have North Korea, where Kim Jong-un brags about his nuclear arsenal all the time now. He conducts cruise missile and ballistic missile tests all the time. Nobody talks about Kim Jong-un and having nuclear weapons anymore, right? It's not a talking point once he got the nuclear weapons, apparently.

19:53Weaponized, literally and figuratively against former president Obama. Every time Kim Jong-un did nuclear tests, Obama's weak. Kim Jong-un's doing nuclear tests.

20:02Ben Meiselas:Yeah. Donald Trump allowed Kim Jong-un to get nuclear weapons. Ah, we're not going to talk about him anymore. Yeah. Kim Jong-un is bragging that he's got more nukes than, ah, it doesn't matter. Trump's in office now. That's, that's how we go after democratic presidents. We don't go after Trump by talking about facts. at what we do here on the MyStutch network. And so you've got Kim Jong-un constantly projecting the fact that he's got nuclear weapons. Trump doesn't talk about that. By the way, what do we think if you're Iran and you're watching global affairs right now, what do you think you're doing with the nuclear material that you have that the Trump regime did not totally obliterate.

20:46Whereas before you felt constrained by international pressure. Right now, if you're Iran, don't you look at North Korea and go, got it, that's what we got to do. We got to rush getting a nuclear weapon because look how they leave North Korea alone. And so for us, it's existential that we get a nuclear weapon. It's existential that we control the straight of Hormuz. As long as we control these levers, Donald Trump has zero leverage and we control him and we control the markets. And so what do you think Iran's? What do you think that they would be doing? So while you have, you know, just think about these alliances, you know, Trump and J.D.

21:27Vance and Marco Rubio, they were talking about multipolar world, multipolar, America no longer being the leader of the free world. That was a message that they had, you know, after the 2024 election. But like America just continuing to weaken itself every damn day because you have this, again, this meeting in Europe taking place where they have Canada there. You have the meeting in China with the Ragchi and Wang Yi, China's foreign minister. And, you know, you have Russia having its, what they call the victory day parade for World War II on May 9th. It's just ironic too, that not ironic, it's interesting and fascinating that Russia does, you know, Putin and Trump do the same things.

22:05Like Putin has declared, we are doing the ceasefire on May 9th. We now have a ceasefire with Ukraine on May 9th. And it's like, according to who? Like you're just making up, you know, Ukraine wants sustainable ceasefires, which Russia never acknowledges. But then Russia, like Putin, like Trump's like, we're doing a ceasefire on May 9th. And Ukraine's like, well, no one should go both ways. Then you should talk to us and we can do a long-term ceasefire like we've always been trying to do. But you've got Putin saying that with the parade coming up. And there's a lot of top, usually the top Chinese leaders go there.

22:42And so Russia kind of flexing its strength in the area. And what's the United States doing? Year over year, I think U.S. purchases a fertilizer up 37 % right now. And so So the U.S. is now getting its fertilizer from Russia as the U.S. expands its trade with Russia. And that's going on kind of behind the scenes. But I think it's important that we focus on what's happening there because Trump has tariffed our allies while removing sanctions against Russia and not tariff. There's no tariffs against Russia. There were sanctions against Russia. But a lot of those sanctions have been removed by the Trump regime.

23:23And now the U.S., did you know that we get a lot of our fertilizer from Russia right now? And the Europeans aren't getting their fertilizer from Russia because they know that fuels Russia's war engine against Ukraine and then eventually Europe, while the U.S. gets its fertilizer from Russia. So just look at what Donald Trump's done here with this catastrophic and unlawful war in Iran. I'll give you some more updates about the escalation in the region in just a moment as well. Let's use a World Cup reference because obviously the World Cup is coming up here, and we know ticket sales are lagging.

23:57Even the Paraguay versus United States men's team game in a 70 ,000-person stadium, I think, has only sold about 40 ,000 tickets so far. There's a lot of reasons for tourism boycotts. The cost of FIFA is so damn high. People can't afford to go to these games. The cost of everything is so damn high. Regular Americans are struggling. So you have all of that. But just think about it in a soccer match or a football match if you're international. Okay, the team that scores more goals wins the game, right? The team that scores one goal beats the team that scores zero goals. So as we think about Donald Trump and Netanyahu's catastrophic war in Iran, and we want to say, who's winning the war?

24:40Ben Meiselas:When Iran says we've won the war and Trump says we've won the war, okay, let's analogize to the World Cup. Who scored the goals? Before the war, did Iran control the Strait of Hormuz or was it open for everybody's use? It was open for everybody's use. What did Donald Trump say were the priorities? What were the goals, if you will, of the United States? Regime change. They were going to get rid of all of Iran's nuclear capabilities, get rid of the conventional shield, as Hegseth called it, around the nuclear capabilities, the drones and the ballistic missiles. They were going to have the people rise up in Iran, they said, and they were going to get rid of all of Iran's proxies in the region, and Trump was going to handpick who was going to be the next leader of Iran, right?

25:31Those were objectively, and this isn't a political thing, those were Trump's goals, right? So of all of those things, if you were keeping score, did Trump do any of those things? If each one of those things would be the equivalent of scoring a goal, did Trump do any of them? No, zero goals, zero points. What about Iran? Iran's controlled the straight of her moves, That's goal number one. They've kept their conventional shield around potential nuclear weapons and nuclear material. That's goal two. The proxy groups still exist. You have Hezbollah, you have the Iranian militias, you have the Houthis.

26:05They've now gotten additional access to the drone technology, the Shahids and the FPV drones. So they've actually bolstered their capabilities. And Iran's developed more missile capabilities around the Patriots and around the THAAD missile system. So that's a third one. Iran's nuclear capabilities haven't been taken away. They control the Strait of Hormuz. So I mean, however you're counting it, Iran's

26:35Ben Meiselas:scored like four or five goals. The United States has scored zero goals. Yet Trump runs around and saying we're the winner. Look how great we are. Look how strong we are. Just keeping score. I don't care what political party you're from. I don't know how you score it any other way right now. We're going to keep on focusing on what's going on in the region. Here's what Barak Ravid just posted moments ago. Barak Ravid over at Axios goes, the U.S. military conducted strikes on Thursday on Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz area, a U.S. official said. The U.S. official said these strikes do not constitute a resumption of war with Iran.

27:19Folks, isn't that just like a complete and utter clown show right now? And sometimes my editorial team sends me things. And I'm like, is this real before I go and talk about it? Yes, it is.

Read the full transcript

27:36Ben Meiselas:So even though Donald Trump's meeting with President Lula was not public, Donald Trump did meet privately with the Nelk boys today, the right-wing Canadian YouTubers who engage in a lot of bizarre behavior, who supported him in 2024. They got the red carpet treatment at the White House while all of this is taking place. As I said, this is a complete and utter clown show right now at the White House. A reminder to everybody watching, go and get the taco emoji, if you want to access all of the emojis that we have here, if you want to become a member of our YouTube channel, hit subscribe, and then click join.

28:26And the join is where you become a member. You can gift memberships to as many people as you want if you're able to afford memberships. When we come back, I want to talk more about the escalation in the Strait of Hormuzes. We're now learning that the United States did indeed strike targets near Karg Island. Although, and this is again, in bureaucracy. It's so embarrassing. The U.S.

28:52Ben Meiselas:Army attacked Iranian targets in the Strait of Hormuz, but they do not constitute a resumption of the war. The U.S. military, and it just keeps on posting this over and over again. We'll see what Iran has to say about that. We're going to be very carefully focused on the region. I want to also focus on what this is all a massive distraction from as well, which is the Epstein files. And it's the fact that the Trump regime, the Epstein class, are in the files. They're all over the files. And as Donald Trump told Marjorie Taylor Greene, these are my people. These are my friends. You're going to hurt us.

29:29Well, Howard Lutnick refused to sit for an under oath deposition. You all know that now. He did a transcribed interview, no videotape.

29:38Ben Meiselas:And then James Comer has the audacity to say, we're being super transparent. We just showed Jeremy the clip of James Comer. So I just want to set the stage quickly right now, just so we all get this right. We all know that Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, in the Epstein files, photos of him on the island, he said he never hung out with Epstein except in 2005. They were neighbors. He went over Epstein's house once. He was grossed out. He knew Epstein was a blackmailer. He knew Epstein was a blackmailer and was involved in horrific conduct. So he would never see him again. Well, he's on the island.

30:21Then Lutnick's like, yeah, well, I brought my children, so it's okay.

30:26Ben Meiselas:And I brought my friends little kitties with them. I brought my little kitties and I brought my friends little kitties. So I wasn't lying. I said, I never went. I brought my kitties. I brought the kids to the island where kids get sexually assaulted. So I'm better, right? Because I didn't lie. Nothing bad happened on the island, as Lutnick said. I just brought the little kids. Okay. You think that's a better fact for you? So we all wanted to like, see Lutnick, he refused to speak when he was in front of the various house committees on the budget. He said, don't worry. I'm not going to tell you what happened on that island with the kiddies because I am going to be testifying under oath before the House Oversight Committee.

31:12Ben Meiselas:Well, he shows up yesterday at the House Oversight Committee, and guess what? Doesn't take the oath, doesn't do a deposition, doesn't have it videotaped. None of that. None of that. And what does he do? I'm going to do a transcribed interview. Okay, well, the questions were like, well, then, okay, well, then why did you go to the island? I don't know. You don't know why you, why'd you bring your kids? I don't know why I brought my kids. Definitely, definitely surprising to me. It surprised you that you brought them. It was surprising to you that you were in the files and you brought your kid. Yeah, I don't know.

31:50Ben Meiselas:And he's not under oath. There's no videotape of it. They don't release the transcript right away. And then James Comer comes out of the room and here's what Comer said. Let's play it. I feel compelled to have to come out and clean up and correct some of the statements that the Democrats made. I couldn't believe as I was getting updates of what they were saying and I hope that when you get the transcripts you fact check them on what they say. This is a habit of the Democrats on this committee coming out telling you all stuff that was said that was not said. The only cover-up that I've seen on the oversight committee is the cover-up of the Democrats trying to cover up our investigations of the Metro Police Department, lying about crime statistics, and the cover-up of the Minnesota fraud by Tim Walts and Keith Ellison, and the cover-up of the hospice fraud in California.

32:46So, we asked some very substantive questions the first hour. The Democrats, during their hour, repeated the exact same questions. Because there's only so many questions you can ask Howard Lutnick, who had a property next door to Epstein in New York, but talked to him three times over a decade. we'll be right back after our first quick break get you more updates about what's going on in the straight approvals let's take a quick break whether you're planting now or later fast growing trees has everything you need to make your dream yard a reality starting with the best quality and selection of plants delivered to your door fast growing trees is america's largest online nursery with over 1600 unique trees and plants they've been delivering trees and plants since 2005 so they know how to do it right.

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36:15Welcome back to Ben on Breaking News. I'm Ben Mycelis. This is Breaking News. Thank you to our pro-democracy sponsors right there. Thank you to all of our sponsors. Great ad reads, Brett. Link in the description below if you want to use those discount codes. They support our show. Support them. Jordy and Brett spend a long time getting you the best deal, so check that out. Let's talk about what we're learning has happened over the break. Well, according to Iran's state media, As we speak, the Iranian Navy is currently shooting at American destroyers in the Sea of Oman. Tasneem News says that Iran's Navy's attacks on American destroyers on the Sea of Oman are currently ongoing.

36:59Ben Meiselas:Iran's Navy targeting three U.S. destroyers in the Strait of Hormuz using combined missiles, suicide drones, and other artillery. According to Tasneem, the United States ships are now, the destroyers are apparently leaving the Sea of Oman. We're waiting for additional confirmation. Now, one of the things that I always find incredibly disconcerting in a situation. There's so much I find disconcerting. Information is power, and especially in times of war. And the fact that US CENTCOM, CENTCOM, look, Donald Trump has zero credibility. Anything spewed from the White House has zero credibility. James Comer, MAGA Republic, zero credibility.

37:54Ben Meiselas:Epstein class has zero credibility. But CENTCOM, CENTCOM, right? The crown jewel of kind of military entities. The fact that they've been spewing a ton of nonsense where, frankly, we all don't know, is CENTCOM telling the truth? Are the Iranians telling the truth? I don't know. The Iranians seem to have been telling us more truthful things than CENTCOM. That's not a good place to be in as an American. But quite frequently when you hear from CENTCOM, well, you know, hundreds of tankers and cargo ships are leaving the Strait of Hormuz. We've opened up lanes and Project Freedom is going exceptionally well.

38:44Ben Meiselas:And you're like, then why? Okay, show me, are there transponders all off? Where are these ships that are all leaving the Strait of Hormuz. If our tankers are truly in the Strait of Hormuz, where are they? I mean, they're not being picked up on lots of satellite. When they are picked up, you can kind of see where they are on the satellite image, but where are they located right now? Or, you know, they'll, you know, CENTCOM will say minimal damage on the air bases, you know, nothing really a big deal. Cosmetic damage. Like we've learned that like, most of America's bases in the Middle East, which by the way, Middle East nations really aren't even letting us use anymore.

39:28Ben Meiselas:They were like, not just destroyed, they were not just damaged, like seriously destroyed by Iran. And that was all covered up, right? No, no one was ever talking about that. And the United States military, Pentagon, ZENCOM, et cetera, they have shut down all of the commercial satellite companies. It's the bizarre thing. They shut down the commercial satellite companies from utilizing or distributing photos of satellites in the region. And it's just very bizarre that that's how CENTCOM is. That's how CENTCOM is behaving. And we don't have any statements out from CENTCOM. We don't have any statements out from the Defense Department or the State Department about what's going on.

40:19Ben Meiselas:We do hear right away from Iran, this was a statement from Iran. Here's their spokesperson from their Navy. The invading terrorists and banded American army by violating the ceasefire targeted an Iranian oil tanker underway from Iran's coastal waters in the Jask region toward the Strait of Hormuz, as well as another ship entering the Strait of Hormuz opposite the UAE's Fujairah port. And simultaneously, civilian areas were subjected to its aerial assaults on the shores of the Bandar-Khamir, the Syriq, and the Keshem Island in collaboration with some regional countries. The armed forces of Iran also immediately launched attacks on U.S.

41:06Ben Meiselas:military vessels in the eastern Strait of Hormuz and the south of Chabahar Port, inflicting significant damage upon them. The criminal and aggressor America and the country supporting it must know that the Islamic Republic of Iran, as in the past, powerfully and without the slightest hesitation, will deliver a crushing response to any assault or aggression. Where's CENTCOM? Where's the Defense Department? Where's anybody too busy hanging out with the Nelk boys, right? You're too busy hanging out with the Nelk boys in the White House. You're too busy talking about the UFC fight on June 14th. You're too busy talking about the golf courses that you've, the public golf courses you've destroyed, the golden ballrooms, the triumphal arches, the Trump airports that are now licensing Trump's name, image, and likeness so that Trump's family profits off of the fact that an airport's named after him.

42:13Ben Meiselas:That's the focus. That's the focus. And by the way, to add insult to injury, and I did a report on this this morning, you know how Donald Trump said the UFC fight, going to be a huge stadium, 20 ,000 people are going to be there to watch the fight. No, we've now learned the details by the way of the UFC fight. It's going to be 4 ,300 people who are all getting comped tickets. And they seem to be saying they're going to be using members of our military as props. And the military members are going to be the 4 ,300 people who are going to be attending. Now, the Trump regime saying, well, we have room for 80 ,000 people on the ellipse.

42:55Ben Meiselas:First off, it's going to be very hot in Washington, D.C. around that time period. But also, they're just going to, what, claim general tourists in the area as people who attended this fight. You're going to use 4 ,300 members of our military while you're in this catastrophic and unlawful war as part of military propaganda at the White House. as you rip away healthcare from people, as people can't afford gas right now, as once again, hostilities escalate in the Middle East because of Trump and Netanyahu's unlawful invasion, catastrophic invasion, war crimes in the region. That's the event. I mean, and did you see this yesterday?

43:44Ben Meiselas:You have Donald Trump holding this press conference where he's talking about how the US kills all of these fishermen. The US killed like 100 people on these fishing boats. They're narco terrorists. We don't get any evidence. The United States just murders people on fishing boats off the coast of Venezuela to satiate Donald Trump and Pete Hegsitt's bloodthirst, bloodlust. Donald Trump goes, you know, we do it by sea, by ocean, by water. When we talk about the sea, I don't mean see the eyes like you see. I mean the sea, the water. Here, play this clip. Like it, but the numbers speak for themselves.

44:26If you really get down, you see drug traffic coming into our country's way down. And by sea, by sea, by ocean, by the water, you know, a lot of people say, what do you mean by sea? is it C like vision? No, it's the SEA, but it's down 97%.

44:46Ben Meiselas:This makes up numbers. 99%, negative 700%. What are you even talking about? And who is it that you're speaking to when you say C? They go, you mean like a C, like the water? Or you mean like seeing with the eye? What are you even talking about? And so again, while Well, hostilities are escalating while Trump's catastrophic war in Iran escalating right now. Once again, what has Donald Trump been doing in the past 24 hours? Showing renderings of the UFC event? That's what he's doing. Here, play this clip. A lot of people haven't seen this yet. I'll give you that. I think you'll probably be able to do okay with it.

45:26Wow. The media's going to go crazy. Not bad, right? Championship belt. Did you hear someone in the background goes, whoa, the media is going to go crazy.

45:40Ben Meiselas:For your stupid AI photo? What do you mean? Oh, we're going to go crazy. You're showing some AI photo that anybody can generate on freaking chat GPT in 25 seconds. And what you're doing is you're putting 4 ,300 military members as props at the White House. By the way, it's Trump's 80th birthday. That's one of the reasons he's doing it, his 80th birthday. But while we have all of these things going on, could you just imagine if Obama did that? Can you imagine if Biden did that? Can you imagine if George W. Bush or Bill Clinton did that? How is any of that normalized? I mean, for real, how is any of that normalized?

46:28Then you have Kevin Hassett, Donald Trump's national economic advisor, bragging how much money people are putting on their credit cards now. Like this is this is their boast. Here play this clip. In fact, I had the head of one of the big five banks in my office yesterday going through the credit card data. And just as Secretary Besant said, credit card spending is through the roof. They're spending more on gasoline, but they're spending more on everything else, too. And so in terms of the jobs picture for the rest of the year, it's really hard to see having the unemployment rate go up, for example.

46:59It's probably going to drop a little bit, but it's already very close to full employment.

47:05We went from golden age, jobs are going to be surging, to at best, to at best.

47:15Ben Meiselas:Maybe we'll basically break even, is basically what he said. It may go up, may lose some jobs. Hard to imagine that we lose any more. They're just all a bunch of grifting con artists. And they move from one con to the next con. And then the corporate news normalizes all of this behavior. Oval Office, little children, Donald Trump, ranting about rigged elections, why would any corporate news even cover that? Why it's Donald Trump. Donald Trump found civilly liable for sexual assault, brags about grabbing women by their vagina because Donald Trump says you're rich and you get away with it. Donald Trump who says that's locker room talk.

48:01Ben Meiselas:Trump who brags about inspecting girls naked in beauty pageants because when you own the beauty pageants, they let you get away with it because you're an inspector, you're the owner. There shouldn't be kids anywhere near this guy. There shouldn't be kids anywhere near this guy. Then there's kids with him and he starts talking about rigged elections and nobody, not a single major publication thinks there's anything wrong with this. Here play the clip of him saying rigged election. Here play it. And unfortunately bad things happened. It was a rigged election. And I said, well, I'll do it again. I had the ultimate poll.

48:36I did so well. and I had the ultimate poll and we won in a landslide. We won every single. We're calling former President Obama Barack Hussein. Listen, what he says in front of the kids. Each other in the presidential fitness test, but others in that we had the Obama administration. Wonderful, wonderful person. Barack Hussein Obama. Have you heard of him? We had the Obama administration, which phased out this wonderful tradition of physical fitness. Thank you, Barack, very much. Great show. Hey, baby, give you back, give you back, give you back, give you back to Santa Mama. What are we watching there in front of little kids?

49:17It's one of the things I hit upon a lot on this show, which is, you know, I think about being a father. I know lots of parents out there, grandparents out there, regardless of if you're a parent or grandparent, but just thinking about our kids.

49:35Ben Meiselas:our children, our future generations. I mean, that scene is sick. That scene is disgusting. Disgusting to watch that. There was once a time where Dan Quayle would spell potato wrong in front of kids. He can't, your political future is over. But our corporate news has so embraced this dystopian reality show, sicko, sicko world, where that doesn't even register as a thing. That just shows you to me how things have fallen in the U.S., where things are. Contrast that to Prime Minister Carney, who was in Yerevan, Armenia, showing actual leadership, talking about how the world is undergoing a rupture.

50:23Yeah, it's going under rupture because

50:24Ben Meiselas:I guess that sicko in the past clip I just showed you, ranting and raving like a lunatic in front of children, scaring the youth with his sick and disgusting behavior, is out there perverting the whole world with his grotesque sludge of his sicko vision of the world. Here's what Carney says here, Play. As the world is undergoing a rupture across several dimensions in technology, in energy and commerce and geopolitics, integration is being used as a weapon by some. And the rules are not constraining the hegemons. Now, we have to actively take on the world as it is, not as we wish it to be. We know nostalgia is not a strategy, but we don't think that we're destined to submit to a more transactional, insular, and brutal world.

51:18And gatherings such as these point to a better way forward. I think I'll close my remarks with a few observations on strategic autonomy, recognizing that security and prosperity today extend well beyond the traditional areas of food, energy, and defense, important as they are, to include space-based communications, semiconductors, digital sovereignty, critical minerals, independent payment systems, clean energy and vaccines. And our strategic imperative is to build these sovereign capabilities with the most trusted partners, and that creates enormous opportunities for partnership between Canada and Europe.

51:59We view ourselves as highly complementary to your economic and security goals. And that's demonstrated through the work we're doing with the presidencies on the new EU-Canada strategic partnership of the future, building deeper relationships from digital to defense, supply chains to security. We're honored to be the first non-European country as part of the EU SAFE initiative. We would observe that in the last year, we have struck$18 billion worth of critical minerals deals across 20 of the world's leading critical minerals. The way to look at this is we are warehousing these to look for government-to-government deals with our close partners and under the rubric of the G7 first and foremost, but then more broadly.

52:49We're working with European partners across the technology stack from hardware, cloud infrastructure, artificial intelligence and space. And as we'll discuss later, we are an energy superpower, third largest oil producer, fourth largest natural gas, largest hydro renewable base. We're committed to addressing climate change while providing reliable, affordable energy to our citizens and partners. now i show you that because that's how a leader is supposed to speak i don't care if you were a republican or a democrat or an independent or a liberal party member of canada or a liberal party member of australia which is really their conservative party or a labor party member of australia or a conservative in canada whether you're a liberal party in the UK, whether you're a Tory, whether you are, you know, whatever.

53:54At the end of the day, you should be speaking thoughtfully, competently, in complete sentences. It should be rooted in values and principles that demonstrate that you're a public servant, that you are in service of the people. It should foundationally be rooted in democracy. It should show respect to the history of your country. It should show respect to humanity, respect to the people who are living in the country.

54:35Ben Meiselas:It should show respect to people in the world more broadly. I mean, it should be a logically coherent ideology and policy so we know where you stand and what you're doing. I mean, to see Donald Trump wake up and post photos of golden statues you saw today, he posted the golden statue in the morning at the Doral Club, The real deal gold that Doral in Miami put there by great American patriots, DJT. By the way, it was a terrible golf tournament at Doral. The worst in PGA history, whether it's UFC, PGA, the United States. Think about this. The 250th anniversary of FIFA, the 250th anniversary of the US is a big deal.

55:25Ben Meiselas:It's not about you. It's not about your birthday. it's not about you know it's not about MAGA it's not about Democrats or Republicans it's about the United States of America and again you've turned it into some weird gross thing you know look I don't really watch UFC all that much it's not my thing but I I know friends who watch UFC See, I'm not really a golfer. I'm not sure what I do to record videos. I'm not really, I used to golf. I'm not much of a golfer, but I have friends who golf. You know, I, you know, with all of these things, it's like, why are you making them so damn weird? Just let the tournaments go on.

56:11Ben Meiselas:Let the people go and play. Let people just enjoy their lives. Stop treading on us. I think about the don't tread on me flags. All Donald Trump wants to do with those fascist tentacles of his is tread on you and tread on people. It's the ultimate big government, whether it's quite literally sending troops into your city like he did in Minnesota, whether it is imposing what he wants, his Trump ideology onto where you learn and what you think and how to live your life. It's just every damn thing. I mean, the UFC stuff, why is the UFC a MAGA thing? Why can't you just let the people fight and engage in the sport without making it some political propaganda with soldiers?

56:59Ben Meiselas:And you entangle it at the White House, which is where the Epstein class resides and is being protected. It's just very, very strange. And the gulf with the golden statues of you. I just think we just have to look at all of this and say, this is some dangerous, weird, strange behavior. And it's hurting Americans most significantly. Americans are feeling the pain. And when you see what Barack Reved of Axios posts, when you see the markets fluctuate the way they do every day, when you see more significantly people looking at those gas prices and saying$4.56 a gallon, like in California, it's like$6.

57:45Ben Meiselas:And I'm sure in a lot of states, it's over$5 a gallon. But you look at that, I think the nationwide average is like$4.60, close to$4.70. Who can afford that? You look at rent, who can afford that? You look at groceries, who can afford that? right you look at foreclosures hitting record highs you look at you know health care being ripped away from people and then you see him there with the ufc and you know he's got his little hands little tiny fingers holding the ufc fight and like he's really weird with the ufc fighters too he's like i think i said this morning he's like attracted to them physically in my opinion it's giving my oh you're so strong look at those arms your hands are so big so it's just I was like, what are we watching?

58:32Ben Meiselas:What is this? The hell is this? And can we please get out of this timeline? And can we have somebody like a Carney in the Oval Office? And by the way, if it was a Democrat like Carney, if it was a Republican, if it was an Independent, if it was someone from some newfangled party that doesn't exist yet, if we just had a grown-up who governed responsibly, who talked about future-looking vision, spoke to the pain that people are experiencing, competently spoke to the media, conducted themselves in their personal and professional lives with dignity. I think we'd all be like, okay, you know, but that's not what we have here.

59:19Ben Meiselas:That's not what we have here. And the bootlicking of Putin, the fact that with all of this going on, you have TASS, which is Russia's state media, they're the ones doing these readouts and we learn, oh, I guess Trump had another call with Putin today. I guess Rubio had another call with Lavrov today. And then what happens right after these calls? Not too soon or pretty soon thereafter. Russia strikes civilian areas in Ukraine. Then Russia declares, okay, we're doing the ceasefire now on May 9th. That's our parade day. You have to acknowledge our ceasefire, Ukraine. The same authoritarian thinking.

1:00:02Ben Meiselas:Putin, Trump, Orban, Jair Bolsonaro, Bukele,

1:00:11Ben Meiselas:Malay, Netanyahu, Pierre Poliev, Dutton, but he's gone. Right? That's who they are. That's who they are, these people. We'll keep you posted throughout the day as more news develops. We're just learning why now. Lula says, here's what went down today. We're just getting this in. Because remember, there was supposed to be a press conference between Lula and Trump. And the way Trump does it is he normally makes the foreign leader sit for a press conference before there's a discussion between Trump and the foreign leader. And Lula's like, yeah, I'm not doing that. He goes, when I arrived here, I stated that I would not speak to the press before the meeting took place.

1:00:52Ben Meiselas:It makes no sense for me to come here for a meeting only to hold a press conference before we've had our discussion. Sounds logical to me. But for Donald Trump, for this reality show, dystopian apprentice drama where we're non-consensual extras in this hellhole. Trump, the Barack Ravid media, they like this stuff. You saw at the White House correspondence dinner, oh, Donald, you're so courageous. You didn't attack us after the alleged incident. He's so courageous. He just wants a ballroom. I mean, these people are the biggest enablers. It's so humiliating to watch because as I watch them bend the knee, I watch this community focus on what really matters.

1:01:52Ben Meiselas:And we've always been telling the truth about what's been going on in Iran every damn day. We show you the satellite footage. We show you what not just Trump propaganda machine. We show you what Iran is saying. We show you what the neighboring countries are saying. We show you what's going on in these regions. We show you just because Donald Trump says ceasefire, peace deal, ain't what's happening. We're showing you what's happening inside. So when these developments happen, you're not shocked. You're not surprised by this because we've been covering this every step of the way. So here's where things stand.

1:02:33Ben Meiselas:U.S. strikes port near Karg Island. Iran's responded striking back at two U.S. destroyers. Apparently, this is ongoing as we're speaking. Iran's media is claiming through their military leaders that the U.S. Navy destroyers are fleeing. We don't know if that's true. That's what they're saying. Sources tell Fox that there are, you know, that confirmed the U.S. strikes in Qashem, in Iran's Qashem port in Bandar Abbas. So Fox is, but that's all we know. Nothing from CENTCOM. Trump regime is saying, oh, this isn't a resumption of the war. That's not what's going on here. So stay tuned. We'll keep following this every step of the way.

1:03:32We'll keep you posted. And don't forget about the Epstein files. That's why I showed you that before. Don't forget that the Trump regime is actively covering up a child sex trafficking ring. Never lose sight of that. Again, I don't care if you're a Democrat, Republican, independent, not a political, but I don't care what your political affiliation is. The fact that Howard

1:03:52Ben Meiselas:Lutnick refused to go under oath and before a video camera and did a transcribed interview where they don't release the transcription, you're okay with that? If you're okay with that, maybe you're part of that 30 % here that criticizes the Pope for wanting peace. I saw a recent poll. 30 % is upset that the Pope calls for peace. You're in that crew. We're never going to have a rational conversation. Finally, did CENTCOM, do we have the post before we go? Jeremy, let's pull it up because finally CENTCOM, this is what CENTCOM says. So let's read their side of it. CENTCOM protects U.S. warships transiting straight of Hormuz.

1:04:36Ben Meiselas:U.S. forces intercepted unprovoked Iranian attacks and responded with self-defense strikes as U.S. Navy-guided missile destroyers transited the Strait of Hormuz to the Gulf of Oman May 7th. Iranian forces launched multiple missiles, drones, and small boats as the USS Truxton, USL Rafael Peralta, and USS Mason transited the International Sea Passage. No U.S. assets were struck. CENTCOM eliminated inbound threats and targeted Iranian military facilities responsible for attacking U.S. forces, including missile and drone launch sites, command and control locations, and intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance nodes.

1:05:25Ben Meiselas:CENTCOM does not seek escalation, but remains positioned and ready to protect American forces. So you actually put those stories together and they both line up. Iran said two destroyers go in. Iran said they opened fire and the destroyers then left. U.S. saying the destroyers entered. Iran tried to strike them. The U.S. says they hit these targets in Iran and doesn't want escalation. I mean, where it lines up, the part that is curious and interesting now is, does this escalate further? You have Trump's post, we do not seek further escalation is what CENTCOM says. Does Iran go, okay, there's no further escalation?

1:06:18Ben Meiselas:And okay, where are the destroyers right now? So is the Strait of Hormuz open? No. And that's kind of going back to the analogy I gave before. If we view this as, was this a successful mission? I don't know yet, but if it's a successful mission, then we should start to see ships exit the Strait of Hormuz. And we should start seeing control over the Strait of Hormuz. So it's hard for you to sell me on. It's a successful mission if ultimately the U.S. says we don't seek further escalation and Iran still controls the Strait of Hormuz. So I guess we'll see. But right now, as far as we know, those tankers tried to enter, Iran struck, U.S.

1:07:05hit back, no ships leaving the Strait of Hormuz. We'll keep you posted every step of the way.

1:07:12Ben Meiselas:I hope that gives you a fulsome update of these developments. Do me a favor. Can you make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel? Help us get to 7 million subscribers. We're very close to 7 million subscribers. Join, become a member, access our member features, special podcast just for our members. I do one with Ron Filipkowski where we answer all of your questions. It's a podcast just for members. If you can afford memberships, I know tough economic times, gift other people memberships. Then they can access the emojis. They get the bonus feature. So you can click join and then you can gift memberships to people.

1:08:01Ben Meiselas:So if you're able to do that, maybe try to do that. No pressure either way. It helps grow this network. Thanks, everybody, for watching. We appreciate you. We're grateful for you. We'll keep you posted. Shout out to the Midas. Oh, Brother Show. Be there for the Brother Show. 8 Eastern, 5 Pacific. 8 Eastern, 5 Pacific. I'll see you on the Brother Show. Thanks, everybody. Want to stay plugged in? Become a subscriber to our sub stack at MidasPlus.com. You'll get daily recaps from Ron Filipkowski, add free episodes of our podcast, and more exclusive content only available at MidasPlus.com.

1:08:46Okay, I take it back. You were right about Wild Fork. I knew it. What happened? I went to Wild Fork yesterday. Low prices, no shocking totals at checkout, no surprises. See, grocery shopping without the drama. Then I made an amazing meal with restaurant quality ingredients that tasted so fresh. Wild Fork blast freezing makes a big difference. My family got a full nutritious meal and I didn't feel stressed or rushed. I finally cracked the dinner code. Visit Wild Fork Meat and Seafood Market in-store or at wildforkfoods.com and make dinner simple again.

From the publisher

MeidasTouch host Ben Meiselas reports on breaking news from the day.

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