Trump's Iran Escalation Fuels Ground Invasion Fears

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1:59Pick up these may apply. Your team just added its 67th AI tool and also your 67th security blind spot. The good news? The Vanta agent works like a GRC engineer in the background, finding every app your team uses, scoring the risk, and drafting fixes for you. Vanta is the platform used by over 16 ,000 fast-moving companies like Ramp, Cursor, and Harvey, who are shaping the future with AI and staying ahead of AI risk. Get started at Vanta.com. Donald Trump appears to be preparing for a ground invasion of Iran with U.S. Special Forces as he gets more and more desperate. Predictably, Iran is not submitting or surrendering to Donald Trump's airstrikes.

2:43Donald Trump is increasing the escalatory measures by the United States. Iran is responding by climbing the escalatory ladder as well. and the Trump regime is now leaking out to places like Axios and the Wall Street Journal and others, that one of the options that they are highly considering is a special forces ground invasion of Qashem Island or some of the nearby coastal areas. If you look at where the Trump regime is striking in Iran, as they have been consistently escalating day after day with these massive strikes and also these very serious war crimes, striking bridges. Most of the bridges are near the Bandar Abbas region, that port city area in Iran.

3:34And the Trump regime strikes appear to be an effort to try to separate the Bandar Abbas area from the rest of Iran. And that would allow the special forces, in theory, to take over the Keshem Island, in theory, control the Strait of Hormuz. And I say in theory, because it will be a massive failure. It will result in the mass slaughter, in my opinion, of the special forces. It will then cause a massive escalation and things are already escalating very, very quickly. Iran has also said that it will then send ground forces to some of the nearby Arab nations where there are U.S. bases. And I think this will be a complete and utter disaster.

4:16But I think if you see the strikes that are taking place right now by the United States in certain coastal areas of Iran, it appears to be prepping the terrain for a ground invasion. Now, this comes at a time as well that there are other media outlets confirming U.S. casualties since the U.S. escalated this war in Iran recently. We've been reporting now for several days that we've seen these medevac airplanes in the area. I've been showing you the before and after satellite footage of a base in Jordan where there seemed to be mass destruction at some of the barracks there. And I said, well, that's where the U.S.

4:58troops are staying. And I believe the U.S. troops were there when this strike took place. And I said, it seems that those medevac planes likely have to be dealing with this. I mean, take a look right here at the King Faisal Air Base from about 48 hours ago. You'll see the before and after on this satellite footage. I mean, it was hit hard. And now you have CBS and others saying that there were several casualties of U.S. troops. CENTCOM has remained silent. They don't know if these were fatalities or serious injuries. Apparently, sources are saying it's not fatalities, but I think CENTCOM is covering all of this up.

5:39It does seem to be serious injuries, although we need to get more data there. But if you take a look at what's just happened in the past 12 hours at a separate airbase in Jordan. So what I was just talking about there was the airbase, the King Faisal Airbase and those barracks, which were hit hard by Iran. But take a look in the past 12 to 24 hours, what was going down right here. Take a look at the Muwafik Salty Airbase in Jordan right here. I'm going to play for you some of the B-roll so you can see for yourself what was going on. Now, according to Jordan, they say they intercepted all of the ballistic missiles from Iran.

6:21They say there was no damage at all. There was lots of damage. And the Patriot or THAAD interceptors, which were supposed to be supplied by the United States,

6:33Ben Meiselas:they were either totally ineffective here. Keep playing the B-roll of some of these images as you see the Iranian ballistic missiles smashing into this area of this air base that's occupied by U.S. forces in Jordan. Either the THAAD interceptors are not existent, either they're out of munitions in Jordan. And I think Iran realizes they're probably out of munitions. They're ineffective or something else is going on because it appeared that the ability of the interceptors to actually stop the Iranian ballistic missiles right now was under 20 % as I was analyzing the strikes that were taking place.

7:14Ben Meiselas:I mean, there are some other areas like the interceptors in Iraq seem to be doing a little bit of a better job. But Iran's been striking back hard in the Erbil region, in Iraq, in Kurdistan regions as well. I mean, Iran was able to strike hard there. There are multiple casualties being reported over there. Iran's been hitting Bahrain really hard. Iran hit an AI facility that's used by the U.S., the Babco fueling facility there. Iran's been striking hard in Kuwait. Iran's been striking hard in certain areas of Oman. Iran continues to control the Strait of Hormuz. There's been zero shipping through the so-called U.S.

8:01Ben Meiselas:Oman lane at this point. And so if you take a look, Iran says they have more ballistic missiles than ever. They have more Shahid drones than ever. And they don't appear to be bluffing right now. And so as I've been warning about, it's this increase of this escalatory ladder, this escalatory trap that Donald Trump is falling right into. You have one of the lead kind of advisors to Ayatollah Mojaba, Moshe Razai, and he's been out there saying, look, we're done with negotiations. You know, this idea of like negotiate back to war, negotiate back to war. We're done with it. We're in a war posture in Iran and we're prepared for kind of all out war at this at this point.

8:48Ben Meiselas:U.S. CENTCOM again announced earlier in the day yesterday that they were beginning the strikes. And they said, all right, we're done with our strikes every day now. It's been day after day, strike after strike from CENTCOM. But Iran has been responding every single time. And Iran has been climbing the escalatory ladder as well. Also, Iran says that it was able to strike down an MQ-9 drone over Bushir. About 30 to 35 MQ-9 Reaper drones have already been shot down by Iran since the disastrous and catastrophic war began. That's over a billion dollars there of just MQ-9 Reapers alone. And again, one of the most disconcerting things is CENTCOM kind of covering all of this up, all of the damage that's happening.

9:45Ben Meiselas:None of this is really being reported out. So we've got to look at the satellite footage and assess for ourselves what's happening. And again, what appears to be taking place is as Donald Trump is, you know, as he previously leaked to Barack Ravid, we're going to keep on bombing them really hard. We're going to take out some of their watchtowers, you know, by Bond or Abbas. You have Pete Hegson posting these photos of like the destruction of some of the maritime watchtowers. But that's going to make them want to do a deal with us. That's going to make them want to negotiate with us. And what we've always been saying is no, quite the contrary.

10:20Ben Meiselas:It's going to make Iran not want to do a deal with you, and it's going to cause Iran to escalate in the region, which is what we're seeing now. Again, another big development I highlighted yesterday, Iran striking hard inside Saudi Arabia. Lots of explosions there. I don't think the Saudi Arabian interceptors were able to stop all of that. What's fascinating, too, about Iran's strategy is that they seem to be looking at which countries have some of the more vulnerable areas when it comes to the Patriots interceptors and the FAD interceptors. It's notable Iran hasn't yet struck into Israel. I think they know that in that area, they have a lot of, they have the golden dome.

11:08Ben Meiselas:And so Iran's like, you know what? We're going to focus on right now because the US is attacking our civilian infrastructure. So we're going to attack your infrastructure in the region and areas that are far less guarded than Israel at this point. So we're going to strike the Arab nation neighbors and their interests where the American military bases are there. We're going to maintain control of the Strait of Hormuz. We've got the Houthis on standby in the Red Sea ready to shut down the Bab al-Mandab Strait. They're also working with allied groups in Somalia, and they're prepared to do that, to choke off the Bab al-Mandab Strait upon any moment's notice.

11:47Ben Meiselas:And then Iran's testing, okay, Saudi Arabia, how strong or weak are their interceptors? Jordan, the interceptors, very weak, keep hitting the Jordan bases. And like right now with impunity, because one of the things I've been warning about too, that people in the military have been warning about, the American munitions, the interceptors have been reduced to levels where America's like basically run out of the interceptors to give its allies. So, you know, Iran's able to, you know, send these Shahid, send these interceptors in, see which areas are weak. Jordan's weak, keep on hitting Jordan over and over again.

12:24Ben Meiselas:Bahrain's weak, let's escalate not just to the Fifth Fleet area, which may be more well guarded. Let's hit some AI data centers. You know, let's hit some other areas that, you know, help the United States military coordinate. some of these strikes hit Bahrain, hit Kuwait, hit some of these areas. And again, any ships that try to pass the Strait of Hormuz in the non-IRGC lane, Iran shuts down. And while all of this is happening, as I've been warning about, these strategic petroleum reserves are tanked bottom right now in the United States. And so we're right now in this global catastrophe that I've been warning against.

13:07Ben Meiselas:Let me share this video with you. You can see, even as the U.S. has been striking bridges near Bandar Abbas, you'll see these Iranian trucking convoys basically just go through the seabed right here, and we'll show you what this looks like. The riverbeds, rather here play this clip.

13:44Ben Meiselas:Now we'll also share this with you as well. This footage right here from Iran's Tasnim news showing the bridges that have been hit hard here play this clip.

14:40The U.S.

14:41Ben Meiselas:has also now sent, as again, as they continue to escalate, this evacuation order. U.S. Department of State, due to the high tensions in the Middle East, the security environment remains complex, with the potential for unforeseen escalation. We remind Americans in the region of the continued need for caution and encourage them to monitor the news for breaking developments. Americans traveling in or through the region should also check with their air carriers to make sure their flights are still scheduled. Americans should reconsider travel to the Middle East is what the State Department is saying.

15:16Ben Meiselas:Let me just show you some of these Iranian Shahids buzzing over the Middle East so you can see. And Iran has thousands of these Shahids. They have thousands of the ballistics and missiles, and they are ready to go. They have whole underground cities of this, and they are ready to go. Here, let me just show you this Shahid so you can see for yourself. Here, play this clip.

15:46Ben Meiselas:right so donald trump falling right into the escalatory trap so the options are at this point having having donald trump ripped to shreds the memorandum of understanding that he was never going to abide from it from the outset you either just go home and leave which is what should happen This is a catastrophic and unlawful war. The Trump regime is involved in terroristic acts. They've been killing children, killing civilians, destroying bridges with civilians driving on them, engaging in absolutely heinous conduct. But the United States should just leave, get out at this point, or the next step, because Iran's not going to give up.

16:26Ben Meiselas:these strikes are not making Iran surrender. In fact, all it's doing is Iran escalates, hit certain areas in Saudi Arabia. The first time they've hit Saudi Arabia since the very beginning of the war, which now, by the way, Pakistan is in a defense pact with Saudi Arabia. So Pakistan says, if you hit Saudi Arabia, we can't mediate. We have to take the side of Saudi Arabia. You have Iran escalating and saying, look, well, we're going to hit certain, well, if you go after Bander or Abbas, we're going to go after some of the other ports in the other Arab nations nearby. We've got the Bab el-Mondab Strait.

17:03Ben Meiselas:We're ready to shut down as well. And so, you know, Trump's running in this recklessly and carelessly. Trump's next step is, you know, and you've been seeing a lot of these kind of neocons saying, you know, do the invasion, take over Keshem, take over Keshem. So they prep the terrain around Keshem, you know, So they knock off the bridges around Bandar Abbas to try to cut off reinforcements getting into Bandar Abbas right there on the port right there by Keshem. And in theory, the idea is you then put the special forces on Keshem. You say, we control the Strait of Hrameez. You probably then, you know, send more B-2 bombers to bomb the Pickaxe Mountains because they know that's one of the things that Trump's like, we got to bomb Pickaxe.

17:47Ben Meiselas:Because they believe that could be an area where Iran may be developing its nuclear program or potential capabilities. They bomb Pickaxe Mountain. And then Iran's going to respond if they do that by escalating more than ever. So that's where we're at right now with all of this. We'll keep you posted every step of the way. I just want to kind of give you the update of where I think things are moving. Hit subscribe. Let's get to 7 million subscribers. Thanks for watching, everybody. Breaking news right now, my brothers and I wrote a book. It's called WTF America. And well, doesn't that just say it all?

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