In this riveting episode of Washington Watch, host Jody Heiss guides us through the tumultuous landscape of global politics and domestic upheaval. As tensions rise in Mexico following the death of a notorious drug lord, 25 Mexican National Guard members have been killed. In a shocking development, a Nashville teacher takes a firm stance against curriculum mandates, sparking a debate about religious freedom in education. Meanwhile, in Iran, students protest the regime amidst international turmoil.
SPEAKER 19 :
from the heart of our nation’s capital in Washington, D.C., bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and soundbites into conversations with our nation’s leaders and newsmakers, all from a biblical worldview. Sitting in for Tony is today’s host, Jody Heiss.
SPEAKER 13 :
This authority allows the president to go up to 15 percent. And considering the severity of the issue we’re dealing with, which is a huge, huge unfairness, huge disparity, huge imbalance between the United States and its trading partners, just the urgency of the situation demands that he use his full authority, which is to impose it. But that expires at 15 percent for about five months.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, that expires. That’s right.
SPEAKER 13 :
That’s exactly right.
SPEAKER 11 :
That was U.S. Trade Representative Jameson Greer yesterday on Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan discussing the president’s new global tariffs. Welcome to this February 23rd edition of Washington Watch. I’m Jody Heiss, a senior fellow here at the Family Research Council and former member of Congress, and deeply honored today to be filling in for Tony. Coming up, the battle of tariffs continues. So what will the latest development mean for the US as well as the global economy? Well, I’ll discuss this when I’m joined a little later in the program by financial advisor David Bonson. Plus, there’s a new wave of protests that has broken out in Iran. It took place over the weekend, and we’ll discuss this with Regent University’s Dr. A.J. Nolte and Iran Alive Ministries’ Dr. Hormoz Shariat. All that and much more straight ahead. At least 25 Mexican National Guard members have been killed following a Mexican-led military operation yesterday that left drug cartel boss El Mencho dead. And since then, violence has literally been erupting, it seems, all across Mexico. And Casey Harper, who is with The Washington Stand, a reporter there, he’s been tracking all of today’s top stories, and he joins me now. Casey. Let’s start with this one. What’s the latest coming out of Mexico right now?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, Jody, it’s not a good time to go to Cancun. That’s what I have to say. But as you said, Mexico has erupted in violence. Yesterday, one of Mexico’s most notorious drug lords, most violent as well, was killed in this raid executed by the Mexican government. Now, on top of that, there were eight other members of the cartel that were also killed. Now, in response, there was a lot of gang violence. Twenty-five Mexican National Guard members have been killed in six attacks across the country. Now, since the military raid, we’ve seen all kinds of violence besides those 25 killed, things like torched cars and gunmen blocking the highways in more than a half dozen states. Now, of course, this all comes as the president of Mexico has been facing increasing pressure from the Trump administration to, hey, we’ve got to crack down on these drug cartels that are producing and smuggling billions of dollars of drugs and shipping them into the US. That includes really dangerous drugs like fentanyl. Now, the Mexican military operation was supported by a specialized US task force dedicated to gathering the intelligence. Here’s Mexico’s president on the role of that raid.
SPEAKER 26 :
In this case, there was information provided by the United States government. They even issued an intelligence statement. But the entire operation from its planning onward is a responsibility of the federal forces, in this case, the Secretary of National Defense.
SPEAKER 03 :
Now, although there was some U.S. assistance there, there were no U.S. military personnel involved in the raid, which is important. No Jody and the State Department is warning that those who may be already in Cancun need to seek shelter and remain in their residences.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, it could be a very dangerous situation for them is for sure. Casey, there’s also been reports of some students who have been protesting in Iran, protesting the Iranian regime. This has been going on now for the third day in a row, literally defying a state crackdown on unrest. What’s what do we know that’s unfolding there?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, it’s pretty remarkable things going on in Iran. So we have new video today showing a crowd of protesters gathered at an all-women university as they marked the 42nd day of mourning for, as you remember, those thousands that were killed in Iran after the recent protests. Now, the crowd chanted some pretty remarkable things. They said, we’ll fight, we’ll die, we’ll reclaim Iran. Now, protests, they’ve taken place across at least seven campuses in Tehran, which is pretty amazing when you consider how the last protests were met with such violence. Of course, this all comes against the backdrop of President Trump considering possible strikes in Iran, and the White House is insisting that Iran gives up its nuclear program, but Iran’s facing pressure from the outside and the inside, Jodi.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, another very, very tense situation. We’ll be blessed here a little bit later in the program. Dr. Hormoz Shariat will be joining me to discuss this in greater detail, as well as some persecution of Christians that have been taking place in Iran. But Casey, before I let you go, President Trump is warning countries now to stick with any tariff deals that they’ve already agreed to, despite what the Supreme Court ruled this past Friday, which struck down much of President Trump’s sweeping tariffs. What’s the latest that you’re hearing on this?
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, Jody, well, I mean, we saw the Supreme Court deal a major blow to those tariffs. But today on True Social, President Trump warned that Any country that wants to play games with the ridiculous, as he called it, Supreme Court decision will get hit with even higher tariffs. Now, this also comes after the president announced over the weekend that he would raise global tariffs up to 15%. The day after the Supreme Court decision, First he said it would be 10% and then he immediately raised it to 15%. So it’s all very fluid right now. Now the court, they said that the tariffs President Trump imposed last year based on a national emergency law were illegal. Now it’s important to note that those are not all the tariffs and the administration’s already working to impose tariffs in other ways. U.S. Trade Representative Jameson Greer has said that the Trump administration still has legal avenues and actually multiple legal avenues they are pursuing for those tariffs. Here’s a clip.
SPEAKER 13 :
Congress has already put out statutes allowing the president to impose tariffs. And tariffs have been in place under those types of statutes for many years at this point. So in some ways, Congress has already pre-approved these types of authorities. I’m happy to have conversations with Congress about how to legislate the president’s trade program. And I’ve had conversations like that already, and there is some interest. And so we’re happy to talk to them about it, but we’re not going to stop our program.
SPEAKER 03 :
So you have all this tariff, it raises the questions of tariff refunds, Jody. Are all those billions of dollars that were already paid in tariff revenue, are they going to have to give it back? The Trump administration says that’s a question for the courts.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, a lot going on. Casey Harper, as always, thank you so much for giving us the big news. We appreciate it. All right, I want to shift back now to the violence that’s been unleashed in Mexico following the killing of one of Mexico’s most notorious drug lords. And joining me now to discuss this and more is Congressman Nathaniel Moran. He’s a member of the House Ways and Means Committee and represents the 1st Congressional District of Texas. Congressman, welcome back to Washington Watch. Always an honor to have you, my friend.
SPEAKER 10 :
Thanks, Jody. Always a pleasure to be with you. Thanks for all the work that you guys do.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, we’re honored to work shoulder to shoulder with you. Let’s look at what’s happening in Mexico. What do you make of the violence that we’re seeing there? And, you know, the killing of some of the Mexican National Guard troops. This is a pretty major development.
SPEAKER 10 :
It is, and it’s telling, really, because when you look at the security in these regions that are in upheaval right now, what you realize is that when a drug cartel leader like El Mencho is taken off the board, there is a vacuum of power. And that’s where I think a lot of this is coming from, is you’re seeing a vacuum of power and you’re seeing More of these other second and third level individuals and groups trying to figure out who’s going to assume authority in that vacuum of power. What we want to see is we want to see the government of Mexico and President Scheinbaum’s getting progress in this area. We want to see them take full control. I applaud President Scheinbaum and what she did in this regard. It was in coordination with the United States and the intelligence that we provided. We’re proud about that. We want to see these heads of these drug cartels come to justice. And we saw that, but we also wanna see on the backside that vacuum of power or security in those regions handled by the appropriate authorities.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, and there’s reports also that some American tourists are stuck in some of those areas where the cartels attacked. Do we have any idea of just how many Americans might be stranded and what sort of efforts are underway to help get them out? Do we know anything in that regard?
SPEAKER 10 :
The minute-by-minute update that I’ve gotten just in the last few minutes is that there is an easing of the scenario and the situation in most of these regions and that now American citizens are able to catch flights for the most part and start getting out. We would encourage all of the United States citizens that are there to be in touch with the State Department. They’re providing minute-by-minute updates on security in each of the different regions. And as you can imagine, it’s different as you go city by city, region by region. And so they want to be in touch with the State Department. But as I understand it, things are beginning to get better and individuals are beginning to get out. Security has been our top priority. A PRIORITY FOR OUR CITIZENS IN THE FIRST DISTRICT OF TEXAS OVER THE LAST 24 HOURS. WE PUT OUT INFORMATION LAST NIGHT ABOUT HOW TO CONTACT THE STATE DEPARTMENT AND HOW TO REACH OUT TO OUR OFFICE. I THINK A LOT OF CONGRESSMEN ARE DOING THAT, INTERVENING ON BEHALF. BUT I UNDERSTAND IT’S HUNDREDS AND THOUSANDS OF INDIVIDUALS, FRANKLY, THAT ARE NOT JUST IN TEXAS THERE BUT ACROSS THE UNITED STATES THERE IN MEXICO.
SPEAKER 11 :
Wow. Thank you for that literally breaking information. We appreciate that. You know, given your role on the Ways and Means Committee, which of course oversees trade, are you at all concerned with the possible instability in Mexico and how that could possibly disrupt some of our supply chains?
SPEAKER 10 :
Not as concerned about that as other matters, frankly, because I think security is our number one issue that we’ve got to deal with. This is going to be a short-term security issue, in my opinion. But longer term, we need to be looking at what are we going to do with the USMCA? We’ve got some decisions to make this year. I heard you playing clips from Ambassador Greer just a little while ago. He’s got a heavy lift. this year to finish out a number of the trade agreements around the world, but he also has on his plate USMCA renegotiations this year to let Mexico and Canada know those areas we’re displeased with. And there’s some areas that we need to tighten up. President Trump in his first term did a great job of making USMCA much better than NAFTA was, working better for American businesses. But we need to stabilize businesses in Mexico and keep our partnerships and alliances going with Canada as well because if we’re working together, frankly, it’s going to be better for our national security here in the United States and better for our economic security as well. So we want to continue to focus on those things. But that’s a longer-term discussion with USMTA this year. I’m not too concerned about the current security impacting that.
SPEAKER 11 :
So overall, dealing with the Department of Homeland Security, we’re now in week two of this shutdown. How do you see this playing out? Is there any chance of coming to an end of this shutdown and dealing with the issue surrounding the Homeland Security Department?
SPEAKER 10 :
Yeah, it will come to an end. Unfortunately, the Democrats are playing politics again like they did with the first shutdown, and they’ve dug themselves into kind of a political hole. It’s ironic that this whole thing started because they’re upset about ICE, but most of ICE appropriations continue because we took care of ICE. appropriations in large measure through the working families tax cuts. And so there’s plenty of money for ICE and CBP to continue. It’s the other things that are not continuing. It’s FEMA. It’s the TSA operations. Those are the operations that are being impacted the most. And Democrats are going to have a hard time explaining that to their constituents as they move forward. So I think the further away we get from some of those high emotional point activities in Minnesota, the easier it will be for the Democrats to ease back to where we were originally with an agreement on appropriations and to come back to the table where we were and to get away from this pinpoint nonsense that they’ve stuck to since then.
SPEAKER 11 :
Thank you, Texas Congressman Nathaniel Moran. Always great to have these conversations with you. We appreciate it very much. Thanks, Jody. All right. Friends, we’ve got a lot more coming your way. We’re going to discuss the latest on President Trump’s tariffs. As you well know, this is making big waves. not only here in the United States, but across the entire world economically. And financial advisor David Bonson will be joining me next to discuss this. So stay with us. Much more coming your way right here on Washington Watch.
SPEAKER 16 :
You see, America has freedom for a purpose. The question is, are we living by that purpose today? See, the founders understood we as a nation would be accountable to God for what he had granted to us. They sought freedom for a purpose, and that freedom was given to us as a nation for that same purpose, to serve God, to honor him, and to live as a people under his authority.
SPEAKER 20 :
At the 2026 National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance in Washington, DC, members of Congress, state leaders, evangelical leaders, and intercessors from across the nation united as one voice in prayer.
SPEAKER 17 :
Heavenly Father, thank you so much for this gathering. We do repent, and we ask for your continued favor and blessing over our nation, even when we don’t deserve it.
SPEAKER 24 :
I thank you that because of the shed blood and the glorious righteousness of your Son, Jesus Christ, a sinner such as myself can boldly approach your throne. You said that you helped the humble, and we are asking just now that you would help us, Lord.
SPEAKER 19 :
While our God is marching on. Glory, glory, glory.
SPEAKER 25 :
We pray that you humble us, help us to follow after you with all our hearts so that we can see righteousness exalted in this nation and this nation restored to you. We know that it’s not by our power, it’s not by our might, it’s by your spirit.
SPEAKER 16 :
Freedom has a name. His name is Jesus. And freedom has a purpose. It is to honor and glorify you. We pray that we would return to that purpose. Amen.
SPEAKER 14 :
The book of Hebrews says that the Word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Stand on the Word is Family Research Council’s journey through the living and active Word of God. Follow the plan with us. Spend 10 to 15 minutes a day reading God’s Word, and over the course of two years, discover that the Bible is one big story, a story of many words, pointing to the Word, the One who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. because the Word is alive and His name is Jesus. Find our Bible reading plan and daily devotionals from Tony Perkins at frc.org slash Bible. Join us as we stand on the Word.
SPEAKER 11 :
Good afternoon. Welcome back to Washington Watch. I’m Jody Heiss, an honor today to be sitting in for Tony. All right. After the U.S. Supreme Court decision on Friday that ruled against the president’s emergency powers to impose sweeping reciprocal tariffs, President Trump has signed a proclamation imposing a temporary 10 percent global tariff on nearly all U.S. imports and then later raised it to 15 percent. And earlier today in a social media post, the president warned other countries not to play games following the court decision. He went on to say that if any countries do so, they’ll be met with much higher tariffs. So how might all this continue to unfold? Well, join me now to discuss this is David Bonson. He’s founding and managing partner and chief investment officer of the Bonson Group, which is one of the top financial advisors in the country. David, welcome back to Washington Watch. It’s always great to have you.
SPEAKER 06 :
Always a pleasure to be with you.
SPEAKER 11 :
All right, so a lot going on here. What does Friday’s Supreme Court decision ruling mean for especially those countries that had already negotiated with the Trump administration on sweeping tariffs that he imposed last year? What does all that ruling mean for them now?
SPEAKER 06 :
I suspect that most of those deals that were negotiated are going to stick as they were. There are big beneficiaries in this ruling. Mexico and Canada were not part of deals that had been done. And because of the USMCA, which was a Trump administration deal done in his first term, They’re not even subject to the 10% tariffs that he’s trying, or now 15%, he’s trying to implement under this Section 122 deal that he announced over the weekend. Our estimates are that the total cost of tariffs to the American importers are going to go down now by about $70 billion. Now, it had been about $120 billion, close to $130 billion, that the IEPA tariffs that the Supreme Court just ruled unconstitutional. that they had cost in terms of American import tariff for taxation. So all that to say 70 billion instead of 130, it’s about half. About half of them are gonna stick with a different tariff implementation and about half are gonna go away. And then as the news has been reporting, there’s a lot up in the air about refunds of these tariffs that have been collected already.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, there is a lot in the air on that. What are you hearing or what is your impression on that? With the tariffs that have already been collected, are they in jeopardy now? Are they going to have to be paid back? What happens with that?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, certainly they ought to be paid back if they’ve been ruled unconstitutional, which they are. The problem is that what the process is going to be, the paperwork, the appeals, the litigation. My fear is that really small businesses without the resources to go fight are probably not going to be able to collect. But we already know that a lot of other companies have been positioned already. My own view is that they can actually do it electronically, very simple, through customs. They have now electronic infrastructure. How they received monies could be sent back quite easily. But I don’t think the administration is going to make it easy. My economic perspective here is that it would be a gift to the administration for $120 billion to go back to these American company taxpayers that have paid it, it would really be a boon to capital spending, capital expenditures, capital investment, hiring, wage growth. It would be very strong for the economy to get that $120 billion back in the hands of the private sector. But I suspect it’s going to be, again, about half of it that does get refunded, and even that won’t come easy.
SPEAKER 11 :
Interesting. So what about you? You mentioned it. I refer to it. You mentioned it as well. The president’s latest move to impose a temporary 15 percent global tariff. How is he doing this? And is this something also that we might see challenged in the courts?
SPEAKER 06 :
I certainly hope we will see it challenged in the court, because there’s no real sense in which anyone can believe it’s legitimate. It’s from the 1974 Balance of Payments Trade Act the Nixon administration used, and the language very specifically says to protect the currency if there is a balance of payments emergency, short term it can only last 150 days. Well, no one can say that there’s a balance of payments issue. Some people might think there’s a balance of trade issue, even that I would vehemently disagree with, but it’s quite a stretch to use this too. But the president has discretion to go do it. The problem is even at 15%, that’s lower than a lot of the rates that had been charged. So from his vantage point, He’s still taking a pretty big reduction. As I said earlier, about $70 billion will now be collected versus $120 or $130 billion with IEPA. But I think there’s going to be court battles on this too, Jody. So I think that there’s a lot of complexity along the way. And then here’s the problem economically. It just exacerbates uncertainty. Businesses can’t necessarily make hiring decisions or capital decisions. expenditure decisions because this uncertainty continues.
SPEAKER 11 :
Well, there certainly has been a lot of confusion and, I guess, economic chaos, if we can put it that way. But if the president succeeds in all of this in the end, what would the impact be?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, what do you mean by succeed as far as getting these 122 tariffs through or what? Yeah, if he gets the…
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, if he gets these tariffs through that he wants to, that the court just said you can’t do, and then he does it again through a different law, by doing all this, what would the impact be, not only here in America, but around the world? And sorry, we’ve only got about a minute left, but I’m just curious, what would that do?
SPEAKER 06 :
Well, all of it is draining on the economy to some degree. You know, you had 0% goods inflation in President Trump’s first term. It was 0% goods inflation by the time the Biden administration ended. It’s now up to 1.7%. So you see goods prices going higher. But again, I don’t really know how to answer because the president himself has repealed the tariffs on coffee, bananas, sugar, household products. He’s delayed it on pharmaceuticals. So what the end game here is very tough to say. It’s creating a lot of economic uncertainty. And I think that getting better deals with countries is a good thing. Having small businesses that don’t know what they can afford to do is not a good thing.
SPEAKER 11 :
Financial advisor David Bonson, thank you so much. Always fascinating discussions with you. Thank you for joining us today on Washington Watch. Alright friends coming up, a first grade teacher in Nashville, TN was removed from his classroom for refusing to promote same sex marriage to kindergartners. Well, he’s fighting back. Bring that story your way right after this.
SPEAKER 12 :
A family is the oldest, most tested, and most reliable unit of society. It is divinely created and sustained. And yet, there are those who are always tampering with its values and structure. That’s why we need organizations like the Family Research Council that can effectively defend and strengthen the family.
SPEAKER 19 :
Family Research Council began over 40 years ago, like all great movements of God, with prayer. Today, rooted in the heart of the nation’s capital, FRC continues to champion faith, family, and freedom in public policy and the culture from a biblical worldview. FRC is one of those bright lights that helps us focus on true north.
SPEAKER 11 :
And I shudder to think, had they not been here, that it could have been worse, worse, worse.
SPEAKER 22 :
The Family Research Council is key. It’s one of a handful of groups that I think will determine whether our children live in a country that enjoyed all of the freedom and all the opportunity that we enjoyed in this great land.
SPEAKER 08 :
It’s just a wonderful parachurch organization that doesn’t seek to take the place of the church, but it seeks to assist the family and the church as we try to move forward successfully, not in a defensive mode, but in an offensive mode as we seek to live our lives according to the Holy Scriptures.
SPEAKER 01 :
FRC is not going to be whooped. You know, we’re going to fight. We’re going to take a stand. And again, we don’t retreat.
SPEAKER 16 :
You will never see in front of this building here in Washington, D.C., a white flag flying. We will never step back. We will never surrender. And we will never be silent.
SPEAKER 11 :
Thank you for tuning in today to Washington Watch. Welcome back. I am Jody Heiss, an honor to be sitting in today for Tony. All right. There’s a teacher in Nashville, Tennessee, who is fighting back against his removal from the classroom over his refusal to read two books to first graders that promote same-sex marriage. The teacher, Alexander Smith, was told that he must maintain fidelity with the school’s worldview. The principal of that school also threatened to fire him if he refused to forfeit his own deeply held religious beliefs and said that he had to agree to teach all the books in the curriculum regardless of his personal convictions. So what message does that send to teachers? What message does that send to parents? Well with me now to discuss this is Cliff Martin. He’s a senior counsel with First Liberty Institute, which sent a letter to the officials at the school on Alexander’s behalf. Cliff, welcome to Washington Watch is great to have you joining us.
SPEAKER 09 :
Thank you.
SPEAKER 11 :
OK, so I laid out the situation a little bit. Can you go further into the details of what happened to your client here?
SPEAKER 09 :
I just want to say first, his name is Eric Rivera. And what happened is he requested an accommodation. He was a first grade teacher, and he asked not to read two books in the curriculum based on his sincerely held religious beliefs. And the school, at first he went to an assistant principal and asked for an accommodation, and the assistant principal did the right thing and said, yes, just have another teacher teach it. But when the principal found out about this, she brought him into her office and issued a final warning letter expressing that he would be terminated if he did not read the books that he objected to.
SPEAKER 11 :
So what kind of message does this send that the school is promoting here when it refuses to grant a religious accommodation such as this with Eric Rivera? What what are they pushing both on teachers and parents for that matter?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, the message is clear that one cannot teach the first grade curriculum that they have and still hold the sincere position that marriage is between a man and a woman. They essentially communicated to him that you cannot hold those beliefs and be faithful to them and also teach first grade here at KIPP in Nashville.
SPEAKER 11 :
So what is the violations? I’m assuming we’ve got Civil Rights Act here, probably some parental rights. What specifically, unfold that for us. What are the violations here that the school is participating in?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, Title VII requires employers to accommodate religious beliefs and religious practices, and here the employer plainly did not do so when it demanded that he teach the curriculum despite the availability of an easy accommodation. Initially, the school proved that an accommodation is possible. The school originally accommodated him by allowing another teacher to teach these books. But instead reversed course and told him that he had to read these books, and if he did not, that he would be terminated.
SPEAKER 11 :
So what is going to happen here? You sent a letter. Basically, what did the letter say? And was it a statement of what the law is worth? A threat of further action if they don’t make accommodations? Are you able to go into a little more detail of what the letter said?
SPEAKER 09 :
Sure. The letter explained the requirements of Title VII. It also discussed the First Amendment and the protection of religious freedom. The school is a public charter school, so we believe they also violated the First Amendment. And then we also did advise the school of their obligations to parent rights. We’re not aware that they were informing parents that there was LGBTQ material and gender ideology material in the curriculum. And under both federal and Tennessee law, they were obligated to notify parents.
SPEAKER 11 :
So what needs to happen here? What should the school have done?
SPEAKER 09 :
The school should have simply accommodated him and arranged for someone else to teach the material and allowed Mr. Rivera to continue teaching first grade, just other than the two days where the material was implicated. And instead, they told him that he was not fit to teach first grade at all because the English language curriculum, or the entire unit, Unit 4 of the school’s first grade English language curriculum, was so permeated with the idea that love makes a family, as they say, that he could not teach the entire unit holding the beliefs that he held.
SPEAKER 11 :
Now, it’s my understanding that the school has until Friday, close of business Friday to respond. Do you think that they will?
SPEAKER 09 :
I don’t know. They have not shown any indication so far that they will respond, but I hope they do. I hope they respond with a commitment to doing the right thing, a commitment to accommodate all religious employees, and also to informing parents as they’re required to do under the federal and Tennessee law.
SPEAKER 11 :
And what if they don’t?
SPEAKER 09 :
Well, if they don’t, we’ll pursue further legal action if necessary. There’s a lot of ways to enforce these violations, both with litigation and also with political investigation. So we’re not sure what the next step will be, but we will definitely pursue legal remedies.
SPEAKER 11 :
Cliff Martin, Senior Counsel at First Liberty Institute. Thank you so much for breaking this down and thank you for all that you and your colleagues there at First Liberty do. God bless you. Thank you for joining us today. Thank you. All right, friends coming up, we’re going to turn our attention to Iran, where a new wave of protest has broken out there, primarily with students. It’s now in day three. A lot happening. So don’t go away. We’ll break it all down for you in just a moment.
SPEAKER 16 :
We have state leaders that want to keep the deadly drugs out of their states. Maybe if these abortion pills were coming by boat, the administration would change its tactics. It’s time to respect the rights of the states, and it’s time to end death by mail.
SPEAKER 26 :
Family Research Council President Tony Perkins, alongside Senator Lindsey Graham, led a press conference on Capitol Hill urging the Trump administration to end the Biden-era policies that have allowed dangerous abortion drugs to be shipped across state lines. They were joined by state attorneys general, pro-life advocates, and multiple Republican congressmen.
SPEAKER 18 :
There are more abortions today in the United States than when Roe versus Wade was the law of the land. And why is that? It’s because of the chemical abortion drug, Mifeprestone. Nearly 70% of the abortions that are committed in the United States today are committed because of Mifeprestone.
SPEAKER 07 :
The federal government is allowing a chemical abortion pill to be sent through the mail that wipes out every state unborn protection law in the land.
SPEAKER 05 :
It’s harder to ship alcohol in this country than it is to ship the abortion pill.
SPEAKER 15 :
And that should never be the case. This is a drug that takes the life of every child. So there is always a death that’s involved in this drug, but is also incredibly dangerous for the mom as well. We think that we should require a doctor to be able to get access to this drug.
SPEAKER 21 :
As a doctor, I think it’s essential that there be human contact before the pill is prescribed.
SPEAKER 23 :
It’s not about a national abortion ban. It’s about validating Dobbs and preventing other states from nullifying the legislative policy choices that have been made by our states and facilitating the illegal, unethical, and dangerous drug trafficking of abortion pills into our states without any medical oversight whatsoever.
SPEAKER 07 :
We can simply fix this if we have the courage to do it. So what are all of us telling the administration? You’ve been a great pro-life president, Mr. President. It is now time to deal with this issue.
SPEAKER 18 :
We want to protect life, and we want to give voice to the American people and their right to protect life state by state, city by city, and yes, here in the United States Congress. That’s what this fight is about.
SPEAKER 26 :
Let your voice be heard. Text LIFE to 67742. Sign the petition. Tell the Trump administration to act.
SPEAKER 02 :
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SPEAKER 11 :
Good afternoon. Welcome back to Washington Watch. I’m Jody Heiss and a great honor today to be sitting in for Tony and thank you for tuning in with us. All right. Before I dive into our last segment, I want to encourage you to sign our petition that is urging Congress to pass the Save America Act. You probably already know, but this legislation will enhance election integrity. It’ll restore confidence in our nation’s elections, which is certainly among the most important privileges that we have as American citizens. So come on and sign the petition. To do so, simply text the word SAVE, S-A-V-E, text SAVE to 67742. All right. Iran is seeing a new wave of protest literally fanning out all across the Islamic Republic and is being led by students. Students at several universities started the first day of the semester on Saturday and it’s been taking place now for three days. They’ve been protesting on at least seven university campuses in two of the largest cities. the capital city of Tehran, and also a northeastern city of Mashhad. So this comes, of course, after the brutal crackdown that we all saw last month that left thousands of people dead. So what will all of these new protests among students mean for the Iranian regime? Well, joining me now to discuss this and more is Doctor AJ Nolte, associate professor of politics at Regent University’s Robertson School of Government, and he’s also the director of Regents Israel Institute. Doctor Nolte, always an honor to have you on Washington Watch. Thank you for joining us.
SPEAKER 05 :
Jody, thanks for having me. As always, it’s great to be back.
SPEAKER 11 :
OK, so what do we know about these new protests so far?
SPEAKER 05 :
So when we kind of look holistically at the protests that have happened in Iran, it’s usually always led by one sector of society. And so, for example, we had the Green Revolution that was kind of more students and sort of reformists within the Islamic sector than there were protests from more of the poor classes in kind of 2016, 2017, 2018. Those were called the bread protests. Then, of course, to women live freedom that was led by women. The protests that were crushed in December and January were led by the bizarre is that sort of merchant class. And they were primarily driven by economic issues. And now we’re back circling around to the students again. The students have been probably the most common sector of society to protest throughout the Islamic Republic. One of the big student protests that was actually crushed by the regime was in late 1990s under then President Muhammad Khatami, everybody thought he was a moderate and that pretty much proved that there were no moderates in the regime to a lot of people. Why the students are so particularly important though is because the 1979 revolution of course famously began with student protests. And so that’s always been a force in society that the regime has been very concerned about. But it’s also in some ways not particularly surprising because it’s the most common locus of protest. I think what this tells us is that when one sector’s protest gets really cracked down, it’s just gonna spread and metastasize to a different sector of Iranian society. That’s how fed up the vast majority of Iranians are with the government at this point.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, so do you think Iran is at some sort of tipping point?
SPEAKER 05 :
I would say, so if you want to put it in terms of sort of a regime stability, regime collapse, One of the analogies that people often use is sort of the Eastern Bloc countries in the Soviet Union. The good news is I think we’re somewhere in the 80s in that sense. But it’s hard to tell are we closer to sort of the early solidarity movement in Poland or are we closer to 1989? That’s hard to say. I don’t think the protests are going to stop. I think the regime has pretty much demonstrated its only legitimacy at this point is based on fear, intimidation, and slaughter. They have utterly trashed the economy. The populace is completely disenchanted with the regime at this point. There’s nothing that’s going to turn that around for them. And so they are on borrowed time. The question is, how much time can they borrow? And what kind of mischief can they get up between now and the time when eventually things start to fall apart? And then, of course, there’s another question. And that question is, if we’re talking about a collapse, is it a managed collapse in which someone is trying to bring a new consensus? Or does it devolve into chaos? And sometimes, I know we talk about the dangers of regime change, but if we extend out a regime like this too long, what can actually happen is that the outcome ends up being much worse in the end. Syria is the example I would cite there. So it is a lot of complexity. It’s hard to say exactly where we are. And frankly, President Trump has a lot to say about that.
SPEAKER 11 :
Yeah, and speaking of President Trump having a lot to say about it, I mean all of this is happening in the possibility of a war with the United States and us taking military action because talks between Iran and the United States have broken down seemingly, at least not going the way that the president is hoping. Now those talks are going to resume in Switzerland this Thursday, but what do we know about that? These protests and the threat of military action by the United States having an impact on this regime to come to the table.
SPEAKER 05 :
So the basic difference is the Iranian regime is assuming that they are in 2015. And they’re hoping that they can negotiate an Iran nuclear deal 2.0 because they are desperate to get the sanctions off. And their thought is, you know, give Trump a deal that looks really good, similar to the Obama deal with whatever verification steps he wants in exchange for getting sanctions relief because they’re desperately hoping that’ll prop up the economy for a little bit longer. Now, Trump has said he wants to negotiate not only about nukes, but nuclear weapons, ballistics, terrorism, and the safety of the protesters. And so the problem, and I think the negotiations are going to continue, the problem is that the concessions Trump wants, the Iranian regime is afraid to give because, frankly, they think it could lead to regime instability. And the deal that the Iranian regime wants to offer, Trump’s not going to accept because he’s been saying since 2016 that a deal like that was a terrible deal. And I would also say we know for a fact that the Iranian regime tried to kill Trump in 2024. They basically admitted it with a social media graphic several weeks or a month ago where they said next time maybe we won’t miss. And so it’s hard to see a peaceful solution to this. You know, I applaud the president for exercising all options. And of course, we always want war to be last resort. But I don’t see an area where there could possibly be a compromise between what the regime thinks it needs for survival and what Trump wants and has got the leverage to say, really, he should get.
SPEAKER 11 :
And real quickly, last question. How is all of this affecting Israel?
SPEAKER 05 :
Well, Israel’s bracing for the possibility of incoming ballistics. A lot of it really depends, again, on if the United States takes that military option, how quickly, decisively, and thoroughly can they take out Iran’s ballistic missile capability? I think we can probably do a pretty good job with that. But Israel’s bracing for some amount of incoming. But Israel is also prepared. They survived in June. They significantly decreased Iran’s ballistic capability in June. And so they’ll be in it because Iran is going to try to throw things at them to distract from what America is doing to them.
SPEAKER 11 :
Dr. A.J. Nolte, Regent University, always great to have you on Washington Watch. Thank you for joining us today. All right, I want to continue this discussion on Iran and turn specifically towards the Christian community there and how all of this is impacting them. And joining me now is Dr. Hormoz Shariat. He’s the founder and president of Iran Alive Ministries, which is a Christian ministry that uses satellite broadcasting and the internet to reach Iranians with the gospel. Dr. Shariat, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thank you for joining us.
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, thank you.
SPEAKER 11 :
All right. I just discussed some of the current situation in Iran with Dr. Nolte of Regent University. Can you share more about what you’ve seen, what you’ve been hearing from your sources regarding these protests that are now taking place?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yes, of course. As you mentioned, we are broadcasting 24-7 through satellite. We go over the heads of the mullahs. The signal goes into people’s homes and the government cannot stop it. Media is just for us a tool. So there are many people who have come to Christ through us. There are many underground churches and we are in touch with them daily. This massacre… was supported by Christians. And many of them were on streets. Some of them were killed. Some of our members have been killed and arrested. So people of Iran are suffering, but the Christians are showing their light, their love, their presence in the midst of suffering with the people of Iran. The result, the result is many people are coming to Christ even through these dark days. We see people come to Christ, people who used to be really pro-Islam, fanatic Muslims. Six months ago, they were fanatic Muslims. Through this massacre and the behavior of Christians, many of them are coming to Christ. As an example, Christians are letting the wounded into their homes. They help them. They bring nurses and doctors into their homes to take care of the wounded. And even through that, Many are coming to Christ. So Christians are shining in Iran. They have given, some of them, they’ve given their lives. Some people who have been arrested and are in jail are Christians. But let me share this with you. It’s a tragedy that some of the Christians have been killed the last few weeks. But we believe it’s a greater tragedy when non-Christians get killed because we know they’re going to hell. So our ministry, we have a heavy heart for all who have died, more for non-Christians than Christians, even though every life matters and every life is precious.
SPEAKER 11 :
We are so grateful that you are broadcasting the gospel to the Iranians right now like never before. I’m sure you saw a report that came out last week on the rights violations against Christians there. Several nonprofit organizations helped put it together, but it basically discusses the Iranian regime’s response to the political protests that broke out against it in December. What do you make of what the Iranian regime has been doing since then?
SPEAKER 04 :
Well, they’re afraid to lose power. And their main goal is to stay in power no matter what. They may negotiate. They may even allow Trump to attack them and destroy some of the missile sites as long as they’re in power. And so they’re killing, no matter how many people they’ve said that. One of the clerics in Iran said, if we have to kill 1 million Iranians for Islam to stay in Iran, we will do it. So violence, killing, that’s a tool, not just for them. For Islam, killing the opponents is just mandated. It’s OK. So with Trump, they have a little bit of hope. Maybe Trump can attack. But one thing is for sure. An aerial attack does not bring down the government of Iran. The only event that will change the government of Iran is the death of supreme leader. Either he’s old, either he dies, or he’s assassinated by his close friends, or by… by America, maybe by Netanyahu. So the main event will be his death. Otherwise, even an attack on Iran by Trump, the government will stay and will continue to kill to stay in power.
SPEAKER 11 :
Wow. And in the midst of all of that, and this is one of the things that I love about your ministry, is in the midst of all the chaos and the tragedies and the death that is so prevalent and all the challenges that Iran now faces, there are also many opportunities. Can you kind of use that to share with us more about your ministry, the work that you do, the good news that you present, and the good news that you’ve been hearing as a result of what you do there?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, there is so much bad news, but looking at what is happening spiritually in Iran, that always has been good news over the years. And we at Iran Alive, we broadcast, but we also minister to Iranians. During these hard times, we have live daily broadcasts to Iranians, and we tell them, we are with you. We give them the hope. By the way, we do have a hope. Jeremiah 49, 38 tells the end of this story. Jesus will be the king in Iran. Jeremiah 49, 38 says, he will set his throne in Iran. So we bring a real hope to the people of Iran. Many are coming to Christ. But the good news in the midst of all these bad news, people being killed is this, every time, Every time something like this happened, in the past we have seen the pattern, people come on streets and the government shuts off the internet, kills them, arrests tens of thousands of them and starts executing them. Every time. We see a revival. We see a new wave of salvations. Why? Because every violence, just like this massacre, proves to the people of Iran, Islam is not the way. Islam is the problem. So those who were fanatic Muslims just six months ago, now they’re looking at christianity we have had reports i had the report of this guy he said my relative who was so against christianity that six months ago he said i’m going to turn you in i’m going to call i’m going to ask you the government come in and arrest you because you have become a christian he said six months ago he wanted to turn me in yesterday Yesterday he calls me and he tells me, tell me about Jesus. He asked me, tell me about Jesus. So every time a massacre like this happens, a new wave of salvation. God is building his kingdom. He is using this suffering that he didn’t cause it, but he has used the suffering of Iranians over 47 years to prove to them Islam is not the way. And when Islam is defeated in Iran, just like the Berlin Wall, It’s going to prove to the whole world Islam does not work, and it’s going to bring many, many Muslims to Christ around the world, especially in the Middle East. That’s the future. Mark my word. Actually, mark my word. Mark your Bibles.
SPEAKER 11 :
Mark the Bible’s word. It never fails. How can people get in touch and learn more about Iran Alive Ministries?
SPEAKER 04 :
You can go to our website iranalive.org, iranalive.org, but there is a better way. Just text this word Iran to this number, 85789. 85789, text Iran. You get a set of links to testimonies to our website and everything else. Do that. Be informed. The least you get is you will be encouraged by the testimonies. And you know God is at work. You hear all these negative news of death, but our Lord is bringing life to Iranians. And you’re going to hear it. Subscribe to our newsletter.
SPEAKER 11 :
And you always, you always bring encouragement to me as well. Thank you so much, Dr. Hormoz Shariat, founder and president of Iran Alive Ministries. All right, friends, be praying for that situation and thank you for joining us today on Washington Watch. Have a great evening. We’ll see you tomorrow.
SPEAKER 19 :
Washington Watch with Tony Perkins is brought to you by Family Research Council. To support our efforts to advance faith, family, and freedom, please text GIVE to 67742. That’s GIVE to 67742. Portions of the show discussing candidates are brought to you by Family Research Council Action. For more information, please visit TonyPerkins.com.
