Triple Trump Voter: NEVER Voting Republican Again
Breaking Points
0:00 Joining us now is American philanthropist and humanitarian activist Ahmed Khan
0:05 who has been working who has been traveling to Iran frequently
0:10 over the years has a lot of contacts in Iran
0:13 and several years ago was in was engaged in a fascinating kind
0:19 of interplay in which he helped to get some refugees
0:23 and I think people might have missed this news at the time
0:25 we can put up 8 10 refugees from Afghanistan you know
0:29 who who had worked with the United States while there into Iran
0:35 because they were having such a difficult time getting them
0:38 all out in time as the kind of American occupation was
0:43 collapsing and the Taliban was taking over the Washington Post reported
0:47 this is back in 2021 that you you kind of had
0:51 the idea wait a minute looking at a map here Iran
0:55 is a country that might actually be willing to help here
0:58 and as a result of that you developed you know contacts
1:01 in the kind of humanitarian space in in Iran which I will
1:05 which will be relevant to our conversation today but give us
1:09 give us the thumbnail version of that of that story were
1:12 you were you surprised that the Iranians were willing to be
1:16 helpful cuz you can you can imagine Iran like I think
1:19 most Americans would say well why would Iran help they you
1:23 know this is American occupation they're our enemies I presume they
1:27 would just tell us to get bent Yeah I mean that's
1:32 the corporate media you know story that they tell us and it's
1:36 just not true which is I mean obviously most of those reporters
1:40 have no idea what they're talking about they don't know
1:41 anything about Iran they've never been there they don't know any
1:44 Iranian people except for maybe some you know lunatics in shisha
1:48 joints in LA or Vancouver or something so what that was
1:53 was that was actually after the American withdrawal and as you
1:57 remember it was a uh it was a complete fiasco and disaster
2:00 and the reality is the Biden administration left behind uh many,
2:06 many uh people who actually worked for the United States
2:09 and risked their lives for the United States mission in Afghanistan.
2:13 They wind up taking some people who didn't do anything for the United States.
2:16 So, I had been over there and, you know,
2:20 had committed to get these people out um and I wasn't going
2:23 to give up even though the United States had already pulled out.
2:25 So, this is actually after the United States had pulled out
2:28 and sort of uh we went to Iran and they said,
2:31 "Sure." And we actually did it in the Iranian consulate in Herat,
2:34 Afghanistan toward the west of Afghanistan near the Iranian border.
2:38 And uh chartered a plane from Mashhad, Iran and, you know,
2:41 they gave the uh they gave the visas.
2:45 We flew them and now they're all either
2:46 in the United States or Canada and doing really, really well.
2:49 And, you know, it's uh it wasn't surprising
2:51 to me because that's what sort of diplomacy is.
2:54 And unfortunately right now we don't really have
2:56 any professional diplomats doing this kind of work.
2:59 We have, you know, sort of people
3:00 who develop mixed-use commercial properties and that's
3:03 not really relevant [clears throat] to uh
3:07 being peaceful and getting along with people.
3:09 I I think the Iranian government is always anxious to uh to find common ground.
3:17 I mean, who wants to be in war?
3:19 Like nobody literally wants to be in war.
3:21 Uh you know, among people.
3:22 I mean, certainly governments and, you know,
3:24 uh the uh weapons industry and then people
3:27 with real uh other agendas have their issues.
3:30 But for me it wasn't surprising and it was a great So,
3:34 you've you've been in war zones for the last
3:36 20 uh plus years everywhere from, you know,
3:39 Gaza to Rwanda to Ukraine and and beyond.
3:42 Based on the information that you have from your sources and travels,
3:46 um what is the uh what what is the situation in Iran and how would
3:51 you compare it to the the effort that the US has made to, you know,
3:57 annihilate the country, smash the economy, and, you know,
4:00 bring it to its knees to bring about a capitulation?
4:03 Well, I mean, the reality is most of the work I've done,
4:05 I think 90% of it has been in countries
4:07 the United States has invaded in wars of choice.
4:10 And I just sort of as an American go there
4:12 and try and do what an any individual could possibly do,
4:16 whether it's being humanitarian aid or reconstruct.
4:18 I've done everything you can imagine
4:20 in the Christian provinces of Nineveh in Iraq.
4:23 I rebuilt churches and rebuilt homes
4:25 of Christians that have been displaced by ISIS,
4:27 which happened as a result of the US invasion of Iraq.
4:30 I did the same things in Afghanistan.
4:32 In Syria, I actually evacuated Syrians who worked for US special forces whose
4:37 lives were in danger when US special forces uh came out of Syria.
4:42 So, I've done, you know,
4:43 sort of everything you can imagine in all these wars of choice,
4:47 but this literally is the worst one.
4:49 I mean, we were given absolutely no reason to do this.
4:54 You know, we were told that they're 2 weeks
4:57 away and 2 weeks away and I I apparently,
4:59 you know, US intelligence figured out that they're after the June bombings,
5:03 they were 9 to 12 months away if they so chose and there was a fatwa,
5:07 as you know, against pursuing a nuclear weapon
5:09 and apparently now they're still 9 to 12 months away.
5:13 So, what was achieved?
5:15 Uh we dropped over 30,000 bombs between
5:19 Operation Epic Fury and Roaring Lion, the Israelis.
5:22 I mean, these are giant bombs and missiles.
5:24 Um we killed children.
5:27 Uh we destroyed hospitals.
5:28 We destroyed schools.
5:29 So, essentially, we've done an incredible job of uniting the Iranian
5:34 people behind their government and behind their country before their government,
5:38 I would say, but behind, you know, sort of they're united now.
5:41 And this is something that's completely different than we've seen before.
5:46 Uh perhaps the Israelis' goal was regime change.
5:49 That was never going to happen.
5:50 Perhaps it was complete chaos.
5:53 You know, that was never going to happen either.
5:55 And I think apparently we've got good news today that epic fury is over.
5:59 So, I you know, I think it's maybe cause for celebration.
6:02 But in terms of thinking this through and doing this, I mean,
6:05 this is what happens when you have people who
6:07 have no idea about the country they're dealing with.
6:10 I mean, whoever are the decision makers are, I mean,
6:12 I'm sure none of them knows what a Shia is.
6:15 None of them knows that there are tens of millions of Iranians,
6:18 for better or worse, who are religious Shia and support their government.
6:22 Uh none of them know that actually from the protesters in January many
6:28 of them now are out protesting in in support of the government or you know,
6:31 they say in support of the country.
6:33 And so the the protesters in January were economic.
6:36 And they've understood now that that was a result of of sanctions,
6:40 of years and years of sanctions.
6:41 We've had sanctions on Iran since 1986.
6:44 We had them in '79 and '80 as a result of the hostage crisis.
6:48 We pulled them off and then Reagan started again.
6:49 President Reagan started again in '86.
6:51 I mean, they're debilitating, right?
6:53 And I think everybody in Iran knows that.
6:56 I I think you know, it's just it's just it basically
7:00 we've achieved the opposite of I think what we wanted to achieve.
7:03 Yeah, so I was going to ask about that question because
7:05 this is the rationale [clears throat] behind our Cuba policy, too.
7:09 Um why was there not a regime change despite the debilitating sanctions,
7:15 despite uh the administration taking out almost the entire top
7:19 layer of leadership on the first day of the war?
7:24 They were being told, apparently according to reports by Israel,
7:27 there was a a decent likelihood that people would rise up.
7:31 Freedom Freedom loving Iranians would would rise
7:33 up and they would overthrow uh the IRGC.
7:37 That didn't happen.
7:39 Why?
7:40 And what's happened now uh to your point?
7:43 That was complete nonsense.
7:45 It was it was never going to happen.
7:46 I will literally there millions and millions
7:49 of people who support the government.
7:50 There are millions of people who are critics of the government,
7:53 but they do not want to change their government.
7:56 They don't want a foreign country coming in and changing their government.
7:58 They've had that and they've had that for years.
8:00 I mean everybody knows about Mosaddegh in '53,
8:03 but it happened in '41, it happened in '25.
8:06 The British and the US have done this over and over and over again.
8:09 And Iranians in Iran know this and they know nothing good comes out of it.
8:13 So that's what that's why it didn't happen.
8:16 And again, with the result of killing all these top leaders,
8:21 what they've done is revitalized the Iranian government actually,
8:25 which is I think what they didn't want.
8:26 It was really sort of a decaying gerontocracy.
8:29 And I think Ayatollah Khamenei knew that and they
8:32 probably just left himself out to be to be martyred.
8:37 And you know, look, the reality is anyone
8:39 who's worked in a bureaucracy knows that DOD
8:42 there's probably 2,000 people who are better equipped
8:44 to be the Secretary of Defense than Pete Buttigieg.
8:47 And State Department there's probably 1,000
8:49 people who are better than Marco Rubio.
8:51 So literally when people say, "Oh,
8:53 now there's the B team or the C team or the D team." Actually,
8:56 they're better people.
8:57 They're younger, they're smarter.
8:59 And I don't know that that's what the United
9:01 States wanted because now they're really dealing with an adversary.
9:04 So, you know, it's just like the misinformation
9:07 from the media and the government is just crazy.
9:09 Like there were zero refugees, right?
9:12 You Imagine 33,000 bombs in 31 provinces in the country.
9:16 Nobody left the country.
9:17 All the borders are open.
9:19 Iranians don't need a visa to Armenia.
9:21 They're great allies.
9:23 Turkey, no visa, you could cross anytime.
9:26 All the borders remained basically during the bombing they remained normal.
9:31 You know, there's truck traffic and then people going on vacation.
9:34 And I talked to plenty of them.
9:35 I was on all the borders, and there was nobody who said,
9:38 you know, there's some giant revolution about to occur in Iran.
9:42 Uh so, last night on Emily's Megan Kelly Network program,
9:48 there was a really fascinating call-in
9:50 from an American responding to Trump's war in Iran.
9:54 We're going to play that and get your get your thoughts on it.
9:56 Let's roll A8.
9:58 Hi.
9:58 Um first of all, I want to say that I voted for Trump three times.
10:01 I'm a hardcore supporter of his, but I'm
10:04 extremely disappointed in what he is doing.
10:07 He said blow them to smithereens.
10:09 He needs to come back here to America and take care of us, the American people.
10:13 I mean, I would never I can't believe that out of my mouth
10:16 I'm saying these things cuz I am completely disappointed with him.
10:20 He's going to lose and he's going to we're
10:22 going to lose the election in November, all of them.
10:24 Trust me.
10:25 If he continues this route.
10:27 The gas prices are so high.
10:30 You know, working two jobs, we can still barely make it.
10:33 My son and my grandkids are never going to be able to own a home.
10:37 I mean, this is not the way it's supposed to go, you know?
10:41 I don't understand what's going on.
10:42 I had a friend who had a business and the tariffs killed my friend's business.
10:46 They've been in business for 40 years.
10:48 I don't know what happened to Trump,
10:50 but this is not the same person I voted for, and if
10:53 he doesn't I'm giving him personally till the end of May.
10:57 Mhm.
10:57 If we're still in this mess and gas prices have not come down,
11:01 and he hasn't blown the Iranian people to I mean,
11:04 he needs to get in there and do destroy them.
11:06 As simple as that.
11:07 If he doesn't do that, I will never vote for him again,
11:10 and I will never believe a Republican.
11:12 I mean, he's really damaging.
11:14 I can't believe I'm saying this.
11:16 That was Connie in Las Vegas said you can't make it working two jobs,
11:20 that her sons will never be able to afford a home.
11:23 She also went on in the call, this is on Sirius XM,
11:26 to say that she was supposed to retire in 2 years,
11:29 doesn't think she's ever going to retire.
11:32 She said she was giving Trump,
11:33 you heard this at the end of the call, until the end of May.
11:35 Her perspective was you either have to I
11:37 think she said something like just blow the Iranians.
11:40 She was It was like another four or five minute call,
11:43 but something about how blow the Iranians and get out of there.
11:46 Blow them up and get out of there.
11:47 But in the the rest of the call
11:49 it sounded like she was talking about the government, the IRGC specifically.
11:52 And Ryan, I don't know if you had anything to add on the question for Ahmed.
11:56 No.
11:57 Um yeah.
11:58 Uh I guess the other question would be for Omar Khan,
12:02 um related to this you you know you've done
12:04 you've done this relief work all around the world.
12:07 You said that there were no you know
12:09 no refugee There's no refugee crisis in Iran.
12:11 What about humanitarian aid?
12:13 Like how are they doing um you know how did you offer any kind of aid?
12:17 What's what's been the reaction there?
12:19 Yeah, I checked out what the situation was and of course it's tough,
12:22 but uh my contacts through the Turkish Red Crescent who are working
12:27 in uh Iran said basically the stuff that you're sending to Lebanon and Gaza,
12:32 just keep sending it to Lebanon and Gaza.
12:33 We we're getting by and that's kind of again
12:36 the opposite story of what you're being told.
12:39 Um you know you're you're people heard the people on these people
12:42 on the media that show up from these fake think tanks
12:44 that are like you know people are collapsing and the place is
12:46 collapsing and it's falling apart and uh that's just not the case.
12:50 I mean we did hit thousands
12:51 of hospitals and schools and civilian infrastructure,
12:54 but somehow they're they're piecing it
12:56 back together and there's no urgent appeal.
12:59 The reality is 5 million people were internally displaced.
13:02 So you know the difference between internally displaced and the refugees,
13:04 the refugees are one that leaves their country.
13:07 These people lost their homes, but they didn't want to leave the country.
13:11 I mean they're voting you know people often vote with their feet.
13:13 So that's another sort of data point that you know things are they're not okay,
13:19 but people want to stay, right?
13:21 And so yeah, I've been told multiple times uh I'll look
13:25 into it and no one's really said we have an urgent appeal like
13:29 for example with Lebanon I have an urgent appeal from the Catholic
13:31 Church and even up to the Vatican where their clinics and hospitals are
13:36 overwhelmed but in Iran no such thing which is wild considering
13:40 the amount the tonnage from land sea and air the bombs and missiles
13:44 that that that that landed on Iran and it it's to Connie's
13:48 point look at me the EOD budget they wanted to 1.5 trillion now
13:52 it was 1 trillion and the reality is if you ask any
13:55 like sober-minded long-time DOD employee like what should the DOD budget be
14:00 really to keep America safe the answer is like 500 maximum is
14:04 what you'll get so now they want to it's already double that now
14:06 it'll be triple that like the things we could do with that money
14:10 you know we could actually have a real education system or hospitals
14:14 and schools and our airports can not look like we're a developing
14:18 world country I mean this is obviously the health care you know so
14:21 obviously she's she's got a point on that I mean it's
14:24 a misallocation of resources that's just brutal Mhm and like you said earlier
14:30 Ahmed you go around the world people don't want war people don't
14:34 want war Yeah no normal citizen wants to be at war like you
14:37 don't meet anyone like so I met a truck driver who just
14:40 exited Iran in Armenia and he was crying I said are you okay
14:43 and he says you know why are they bombing us like you
14:46 know what did we do to them and I I really had no
14:49 answer for him because he's like can you tell me what they
14:52 what did we do to them why are they doing this and you
14:55 just feel like normal people just don't want any part
14:58 of this and there's got to be a better way than just 24/7 air
15:04 strikes like for example I know someone at US Transcom and they
15:07 told me we've done over 4,000 airlifts to Israel like I think
15:13 the Israeli government has said we've done 403 full of weapons since February
15:17 28th I mean 4,000 is just a crazy number The planes a day,
15:22 like what a waste of resources and which leads to people dead.
15:27 Like, what is that?
15:29 Mhm.
15:29 Well, hopefully this is it uh for the foreseeable future.
15:33 Uh I'm Ed Khan.
15:34 Um thank you so much for being here.
15:36 Really appreciate it.
15:37 Thanks Emily.
15:38 Thanks Ryan.
15:38 Take care.
15:39 Be well.
15:39 All right.
15:39 You too.
15:40 Yeah, we have good news, I think.
15:41 I hope so.
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