Iran

“I think one of the biggest threats we face in the world besides, you know, the different Chinese model, a much more malevolent threat is the theocratic nuclear weapons seeking regime in Iran.”

“China is now establishing a 25 year plan with Iran.”

“Well, the original Obama deal was not a good deal. It wasn't long enough. It didn't have enough accountability. We gave away too much upfront, et cetera.”

“Yeah, again, I think that's a mistake as well. I would not take them off because they are sponsoring terrorism throughout the region.”

“If Iran's gonna have weapons, Saudi probably is gonna need to have their weapon, too, and the whole thing, and the UAE's gonna need one, too.”

“I think we'll see more and more of that. We'll see ever closer relationships. Frankly, the iron triangle, or if you want to include North Korea quadrilateral between Iran, Russia, China, and North Korea is likely to get even tighter.”

“The heck of the thing is, Joe, with any of these, it's temporary. They'll, they'll find a way, they'll find a workaround, they'll rebuild. They're pretty damn creative and pretty persistent.”

“What they have flexed over the last couple of months is the new diplomatic muscle. Right. They've managed to get France and Brazil and a bunch of neutral countries, formerly neutral countries. They have peace between Saudi and Iran.”

“This is why I think the external component is also key because I haven't seen any successful movements based on civil disobedience without involving foreign elements in terms of where all that.”

“The military intelligence structure, security is dominated by Russian influence and support.”

“There were approximately a 180,000 clerics in Iran at the time from ranging from the simple mullah all the way to the highest rank. Out of that 180,000, only four or 5000 were really part of the revolutionary groups. Most of them were opposed to what Khomeini …”

“There was a, basically, some kind of a partnership between two things that would otherwise be incompatible, because one would be deeply religious, the other one completely atheist, but somehow they ended up, you know, what my father used to refer to as the all…”

“While at the time it was putting an end to an existence, particularly the scenario of Iraq which was an argument for regime change, which happened, but the way it was handled, gave the name regime change a bad reputation. What I've been arguing is that regime …”

“We're not asking for tax dollars. We're asking, for instance, that if the Biden administration wants to release ten billion dollars blocked in Iraq, which is electricity revenue, which is the people's money to begin with, while releasing it to a regime that ki…”

“If you get a free country and property rights and a court system that's not corrupt, then I think all of us want to invest a lot more very quickly in Tehran. It'd be a lot more prosperous place.”

“Well, imagine that you have this huge tent with Khamenei as the main pillars, and under this tent, there's a sort of a symbiosis of a mafia-like military paramilitary group that benefits from economic privileges and a whole host of people directly or closely a…”

“There has to be at some point a policy of amnesty. I know people want their day in court, and they will get it for people who have really committed crimes against humanity or need to be really Accountable for what they did. But if you think of the bulk of the …”

“After 15 years in exile, I think it was an Italian journalist that asked Khomeini on the plane as he was flying back to Tehran, what are your sentiments of returning to Iran after 15 years in exile? The answer was one word. Nothing. That's what he said.”

“And one of my mentors ran British intelligence and was involved before the Iraq war in the U.S. And he tells me that the Iranians are very, very clever, the regime and certain people there. And he says that, that he believes from the best intelligence he saw, …”

“I'm not looking for any personal interest out of it or any position for myself, but if you trust me to be your transition agent, that's what I'm here for, and it's the only thing that preoccupies me day and night. Help manage this transition to a successful en…”

“Freedom of religion, as it exists in America, existed in Iran before the revolution.”

“Which was basically a decapitation of a system, and in a way, it also perhaps contributed to the conflict between Iran and Iraq shortly after the revolution, because Saddam Hussein thought that perhaps this is an opportunity.”

“There is no such thing as reformists in the regime. Ok, there are only hardliners and ultra hardliners.”

“The Directorate of National Intelligence, the arm of the government that coordinates the FBI and the CIA and the NSA, they reported Iran is providing money And organizing capabilities to these protesters.”

“Not maneuverable, but they're not going at hypersonic speeds also.”