0:00It sure is. Let's get right to it, because this morning, Iran is still trying to cause trouble

0:05in the Strait of Hormuz, as we learn the terror regime reportedly still has a large ballistic

0:10missile stockpile. Treasury Secretary Scott Besson outlining a plan to cut off Iran's economic

0:15lifelines once and for all, and he joins us now. Mr. Secretary, thank you so much for joining us

0:22this morning. It's great to see you. So lay out that plan for us. Good morning, and good to be

0:28WITH YOU.

0:29SO LOOK, FOR A YEAR WE HAD A

0:33MAXIMUM PRESSURE CAMPAIGN.

0:34NOW WE HAVE AN ABSOLUTE

0:36ISOLATION CAMPAIGN.

0:37AND THAT ENTAILS CUTTING IRAN

0:40OFF FROM THE OUTSIDE.

0:41RIGHT NOW, OVER THE PAST FEW

0:43MONTHS, AS OF YESTERDAY, THE

0:46SCORE IS APPROXIMATELY 1.2

0:50BILLION BARRELS FOR THE U.S.,

0:52ZERO FOR IRAN, ZERO.

0:54IRAN NOW HAS NO OIL ON THE

0:57WATER, THEY HAVE NEGATIVE

0:59CASH FLOW.

1:00WE HAVE CUT THEM OFF.

1:02WE HAVE CUT OFF THEIR AIRLINE

1:04SERVICE TO THE WORLD.

1:06IF THESE IRANIANS LOVE THEIR

1:07COUNTRY, CONGRATULATIONS, YOU

1:09GET TO STAY THERE.

1:10AND THAT HITS THE ELITES.

1:12THEY CAN'T GO SEE THEIR

1:13RELATIVES IN LONDON, THEIR

1:15GIRLFRIENDS IN PARIS OR THEIR

1:16MONEY IN SWITZERLAND.

1:18AND THEY ARE CUT OFF FROM THE

1:20WORLD.

1:20WE ARE GOING TO CONTINUE THE

1:22PRESSURE IN TERMS OF SEIZING

1:25CRYPTO, IN TERMS OF BUSINESS

1:27MARITIME, WE ARE INTERDICTING

1:30THEIR SHIPS, AND, YOU KNOW, THEY

1:34DO NOT HAVE CONTROL OF THE

1:35STREET.

1:35WHAT THEY ARE DOING IS EVERY

1:37NIGHT THEY THROW UP SOME UAVS.

1:40THEY ARE BLIND.

1:41THEY DON'T HAVE RADAR.

1:43AND, YOU KNOW, OCCASIONALLY THEY

1:45WILL NICK A SHIP, BUT THE SHIPS

1:47ARE GOING THROUGH.

1:48WE HAD A RECORD AMOUNT OF OIL GO

1:51THROUGH AND PRODUCTS GO THROUGH

1:53THE OTHER NIGHT.

1:53SO, YOU KNOW, WE ARE GETTING

1:56hundreds of millions of barrels out every week.

1:59So, Mr. Secretary, let me follow up on that,

2:00because obviously Iran is a one commodity economy,

2:04and it is energy.

2:05And it seems to me, as reportedly,

2:09the IRGC controls about 40% of Iran's economy.

2:13Is it the strategy that ultimately,

2:15if the IRGC controls 40% of nothing, it's nothing?

2:19Well, look, they've got a choice here.

2:21They could come back into the international system.

2:24They have to give up their nuclear ambitions.

2:27They have to stop with their terror proxies because they have no Navy.

2:30They have no air force.

2:32We've substantially destroyed most of their missiles and drones.

2:36But more importantly, we've destroyed 85, 90% of their ability to regenerate those.

2:42So, and we are seeing, you saw one of the IRGC leaders last week say that they are having real problems.

2:53is workers are not showing up.

2:55They cannot access the dollar market.

2:57So what they're doing is they're printing currency.

3:0018 months ago their currency was at 600 versus the dollar When it hit 2 million it is now against the law to print the level of the currency because they didn want to see how fast it THE DOLLAR WHEN IT HIT 2 MILLION IT IS NOW AGAINST THE LAW TO PRINT THE LEVEL OF THE CURRENCY BECAUSE THEY DIDN WANT TO SEE HOW FAST IT GOING

3:15AND, YOU KNOW, WE CLOSED THEIR

3:16BANKS AROUND THE WORLD.

3:18THIS IS A FULL-THROATED ATTACK

3:22ON THEIR ECONOMIC SYSTEM LIKE

3:24HAS NEVER BEEN SEEN BEFORE.

3:25AND THE REAL THING HERE HAS BEEN

3:28THE SEQUENCING.

3:29WE HAD SIX WEEKS OF KINETIC.

3:30WE TOOK OUT THEIR ABILITY TO

3:32FIGHT BACK.

3:33WE HAVE THE BLOCKADE, PRESIDENT

3:36TRUMP CALLS IT THE IRON WALL.

3:38NOTHING IS GETTING IN OR OUT.

3:40AND GETTING IN IS ALSO IMPORTANT

3:42TOO BECAUSE THE IRANIAN SYSTEM IS

3:44SO CREAKY.

3:46COULD YOU IMAGINE THE THIRD

3:47HIGHEST ENERGY ASSETS IN THE

3:49WORLD BUT THEY IMPORT GASOLINE.

3:51SO NOW THEY HAVE THREE TO FOUR

3:53HOUR GASOLINE LINES IN THE

3:54COUNTRY.

3:55NOTHING IS COMING IN.

3:56AND THEN FINALLY WE HAVE OUR

3:58ECONOMIC OUTCAST WHERE WE HAVE

4:00ISOLATED THEM FROM THE REST OF

4:01THE WORLD.

4:02SO LET'S TALK ABOUT, BEFORE WE MOVE ON TO THE NEXT SUBJECT, ARE YOU, IS YOUR BELIEF THAT ALL OF THE ECONOMIC PRESSURE PLUS THE MILITARY PRESSURE IS GOING TO BRING THEM TO THE TABLE?

4:15ARE WE LOOKING AT A POTENTIAL PEACE DEAL COMING IN THE FUTURE?

4:18OR IS IT THAT, YOU KNOW, THE ADMINISTRATION IS INTERESTED IN REGIME CHANGE?

4:23BECAUSE ONE OF THE THINGS THAT I KNOW THAT YOU CARE ABOUT IS THE TRUMP AGENDA.

4:27And a lot of people are worried that this war might, you know, if President Trump and his people in Congress, the Republicans, lose in the midterm, that the president's agenda is going to be heard.

4:39So what is the end goal here? Is it a peace deal? Do you see it coming? Or do you see more kinetic engagement?

4:47Well, for right now, as the president said, he doesn't expect kinetic engagement until at least after the midterms.

4:56AND THAT'S A POINT.

4:59I WOULD THINK THAT TWO, THREE,

5:03FOUR MONTHS OF THIS BLOCKADE, AND

5:05I DON'T KNOW WHAT CRYING UNCLE

5:09IS IN FARCIE, BUT THEY'RE GOING

5:10TO BE CRYING UNCLE.

5:12THEY ARE COLLAPSING.

5:14THEY CAN'T PAY THEIR SOLDIERS.

5:16AND, RACHEL, I DON'T KNOW HOW

5:17THIS ENDS.

5:18YOU NEVER KNOW HOW THIS ENDS.

5:20THE BERLIN WALL JUST CAME DOWN

5:24one day. We don't know whether the people rise up, the IRGC turn on each other, or they actually

5:31come to their senses and want to make a deal not to have a nuclear program, and they have to make a

5:37deal and they want to keep it. So it could be one of those three outcomes. Yeah, and of course,

5:42President Trump is always fearless about going into a situation where he doesn't necessarily

5:47know the end, what the outcome is going to be. I wanted to switch gears and ask you about this

5:52decision by President Trump to ease Russian sanctions to get more diesel fuel onto the market.

5:58Obviously, it's been kind of, there's been a lot of reaction to that. You have a lot of reaction

6:01from Europe, which is kind of comical because they, of course, have been buying Russian oil

6:07and gas for years now and it without you know unstintingly You going to also get some political blowback in Congress and you going to have a lot of people in Congress saying you can do this because of the Lindsey Graham bill How are you all going to navigate

6:23that problem? Well, first of all, we're going to do it with all the legal authorities we have.

6:29So, you know, anyone in Congress who says whether it's an old bill or the current Lindsey Graham

6:36bill prohibits us from doing it is wrong. And look, President Trump, they came into office with

6:42THEIR PEOPLE ARE GOING TO

6:44WORK WITH THEIR PEOPLE.

6:45THEY ARE GOING TO WORK WITH A

6:48MANDATE TO WORK FOR THE

6:49AMERICAN PEOPLE AND THIS IS GOOD

6:51FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE.

6:52AND BRINGING THESE DIESEL

6:54PRICES DOWN.

6:55AND TO GO BACK TO IRAN, LET'S

6:57JUST BE CLEAR, THE BIGGEST

6:59LOSER HERE IS THE IRANIAN

7:01REGIME BECAUSE THEY TRIED TO

7:04HAVE A CHOKE POINT ON THE

7:06STRAIGHT OF HORMOTES.

7:07THAT DIDN'T WORK.

7:08THEY TRIED TO HAVE A CHOKE

7:10POINT ON DIESEL PRICES.

7:11THE UNITED STATES, THE UNITED

7:14PEOPLE HAVE GIVEN THE RUSSIANS

7:15MORE MONEY, SINCE THE START OF

7:18THIS WAR, THAN THEY HAVE GIVEN

7:20THE UKRAINIANS BECAUSE THEY

7:21CANNOT WEAN THEMSELVES OFF

7:23RUSSIAN ENERGY.

7:25THEY HAD A FAILED ENERGY POLICY

7:28AND VLADIMIR PUTIN, THEY

7:29CONTINUE TO FUND HIM.

7:31SO FOR THEM TO SAY THAT WE

7:34CANNOT HAVE A RESPITE IN DIESEL

7:37PRICING IS COMPLETELY

7:39HYPOCRITICAL.

7:39if you think years down the road, the history books will look to your administration and say that

7:45one of the greatest accomplishments was actually the 70 million Trump accounts for children and

7:51what it will do for them when they become of age. I couldn't agree more. This is a legacy issue for

8:00THE PRESIDENT AND WE WILL SEE

8:02IT IN THE COMING YEARS AS THE

8:06CHILDREN TURN 18, THEY HAVE A

8:09CHOICE WITH THE TRUMP ACCOUNTS.

8:11THEY CAN ROLL THEM INTO A MORE

8:14STANDARD RETIREMENT ACCOUNT, LET

8:16THAT ROLL UNTIL THEY'RE 60 OR 65

8:18OR THEY CAN TAKE THE MONEY OUT

8:20AND USE IT FOR EDUCATION TO

8:22START A BUSINESS AS A DOWN

8:25PAYMENT ON A HOUSE.

8:26AND 38% OF AMERICAN

8:28HOUSEHOLDS HAVE NO EXPOSURE TO

8:30OUR GREAT EQUITY MARKET AND

8:32PRESIDENT TRUMP WANTS TO CREATE

8:33AN OWNERSHIP SOCIETY FOR CHILDREN

8:36BORN DURING HIS TERM.

8:38U.S. TREASURY IS GOING TO PUT

8:40$1,000 SEED INVESTMENT IN BUT

8:42THEN WE ALSO HAVE CONTRIBUTIONS

8:45COMING FROM GREAT PHILANTHROPHISTS

8:46LIKE SUSAN AND MICHAEL ODDELL,

8:48$6.25 BILLION.

8:49WE WILL ANNOUNCE TOMORROW THAT

8:53THE 25 MILLION CHILDREN, THEY

8:56have $250 in their accounts from Susan and Michael Dell,

9:00and this is going to be a real-time learning experience.

9:03What we're seeing with all these DSA candidates

9:06are people who are disenchanted with the system.

9:08If you own a piece of the system,

9:10you don't want to bring it down.

9:12That's called making good news headlines right there.

9:15Yeah, it's also good.

9:17I mean, economic literacy is something

9:18that our country could get better at.

9:21And speaking of economic literacy YOU ARE GOING TO BE A LESSON FOR THEIR LIVES YOU ARE GOING GIVE YOU A LESSON TO SENATOR ELIZABETH WARREN ON ECONOMIC LITERACY YOU SEEM TO BE WANTING TO GIVE A LESSON MAYBE WE SHOULD OPEN A TRUMP ACCOUNT FOR ELIZABETH WARREN

9:33YOU SAY YOU WANT TO GIVE A

9:36LESSON TO SENATOR ELIZABETH

9:38WARREN ON ECONOMICS BECAUSE SHE

9:40KEEPS WRITING YOU THESE LETTERS

9:42REQUESTING INFORMATION ON THE

9:4410-YEAR TREASURY YIELD.

9:46WHY DON'T YOU BREAK DOWN YOUR

9:48NEW PEN PAL?

9:49WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?

9:50SHE IS NOT GOING TO BE A

9:52BUSINESS.

9:53SHE IS NOT GOING TO BE A

9:55BUSINESS.

9:56SHE LOVES TO WRITE LETTERS.

9:58MORE THAN WRITING THE LETTERS,

10:01SHE LOVES TO LEAK THEM TO THE

10:03PRESS.

10:03I READ ABOUT THE LETTER ON

10:06BLOOMBERG AND POLITICO BEFORE

10:07WE RECEIVE IT.

10:08A LOT OF THESE LETTERS ARE

10:10EMBARRASSING AND, RACHEL, AS

10:12YOU SAID, ECONOMICALLY

10:13ILLITERATE.

10:14I CAN'T REMEMBER ONE, TWO, THREE,

10:16FOUR LETTERS AGO.

10:18SHE CONFUSED A CURRENCY SWAP

10:20SHE IS A BORDER.

10:22SHE IS A BORDER.

10:24SHE IS A BOND MARKET

10:26INTERVENTION.

10:27WE HAVE BEEN DOING IT SINCE 2024.

10:30THE SHOCKING THING HERE, SHE IS

10:32THE RANKING MEMBER ON THE SENATE

10:35BANKING COMMITTEE AND SHE IS ON

10:37SENATE FINANCE.

10:38THIS LEVEL OF ILLITERACY,

10:40WHETHER IT'S HER OR HER STAFF,

10:43IS WOEFUL.

10:44AND LOOK, I WISH HER HAPPY

10:50I THINK SHE'S NOT GOING TO

10:52GET A LITTLE BIT OF THE

10:53CLAIMS.

10:54MAYBE THE PROBLEM IS THAT YOU

10:56KEEP TRYING TO EXCHANGE LETTERS

10:58WITH HER AND YOU SHOULD BE DOING

11:00SMOKE SIGNALS AND THEN SHE WOULD

11:02BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND IT.

11:03WELL, I'LL TELL YOU, THE OTHER

11:06SHOCKING THING, NOT A SINGLE

11:09LEGACY MEDIA, THE OUTLET HAS

11:13CALLED HER OUT ON THIS.

11:15NO ONE HAS SAID, LIKE, WHAT IS

11:17GOING ON IN THE SENIOR SENATOR

11:19DO THEY SIT AROUND AND SIP HERBAL

11:23TEA AND THINK ABOUT RAISING TAXES?

11:25IT'S CRAZY.

11:26OR SMOKE A TOBACCO PIPES.

11:29I'VE GOT TO QUICKLY GET THIS

11:30IN, THOUGH, BECAUSE OUR COLLEAGUE

11:32EDWARD LAWRENCE BROKE THE NEWS

11:33AND PUT OUT THE LETTER THAT YOU

11:35HAD SENT BACK WITH THE HANDWRITTEN

11:36PART THAT SAID HAPPY INDIGENOUS

11:38PEOPLE'S DAY.

11:39YOU PUT THAT THERE.

11:40SO HOW DID THIS GO DOWN, MR.

11:42SECRETARY?

11:43WAS IT THEY GAVE YOU THE LETTER

11:44AND SAID, OKAY BOSS, I THINK WE'VE

11:46GOT THE DRAFT YOU WANTED RIGHT?

11:47AND YOU WANT TO DO THAT.

11:49YOU WANT TO DO THAT.

11:51YOU WANT TO DO THAT.

11:53I ALWAYS WITH MY LETTERS LIKE

11:55TO ADD A HANDWRITTEN NOTE AT THE

11:57END.

11:58GIVEN WHAT I THINK EVERYONE ON

12:01THIS SET CALLS COLUMBUS DAY.

12:04LOOK, I'VE GOT HIGH CHEAP

12:07BONES.

12:08ALL THREE OF YOU HAVE HIGH

12:10CHEAP BONES.

12:11DOESN'T MAKE US INDIGENOUS

12:13PEOPLE BUT THAT SOMEHOW BECAME

12:15THE WARREN FAMILY LEGACY.

12:16I THINK YOU WOULD BE A

12:18BOOK ON FIXED INCOME FOR

12:19DUMMYS.

12:20YOU OFFERED TO GIVE HER, I

12:22THINK YOU SAID YOU WOULD GET HER

12:25A BOOK ON FIXED INCOME FOR

12:26DUMMYS.

12:26I THOUGHT IT WAS VERY

12:28GENEROUS.

12:28WE'RE GOING TO BE GENEROUS HERE

12:30TOO.

12:30I AGREE.

12:31I THINK YOU HAVE REALLY NICE

12:33CHEAKBOATS.

12:33YEAH.

12:34THANK YOU.