Harris Faulkner: This is SINISTER

From the Pentagon, the secretary of war, Pete Hegseth, says the United States has total control of the operation in the Strait of Hormuz. What's at stake for Iran, who once threatened to use its own military to stop the flow of oil to the world? Well, roughly a quarter of the world's oil consumption passes through Hormuz daily, and that includes the Iranian government's huge cash flow,

heavily dependent on exporting its oil through the ports in that strait. The squeeze is critical on Iran now. I'm Harris Faulkner. You are in the Faulkner Focus. Let's hear right away from the Secretary of War.

We're doing this blockade, performing it with less than 10% of America's naval power. The math is clear. We're using 10% of the world's most powerful Navy, and you have 0% of your Navy. That's real control, and we have a long track record

of dealing with pirates and terrorists. But there is an alternative. As our negotiators have said, you, Iran, can choose a prosperous future, a golden bridge. And we hope that you do for the people of Iran. In the meantime, and for as long as it takes, we will maintain this blockade.

The Pentagon then released these images showing how the United States is enforcing this effective blockade. The Pentagon then released these images showing how the United States is enforcing this effective blockade. First in the lead, U.S. destroyer in blue moves into position to stop any ship trying to make a run for it. The Navy issued a blunt warning yesterday, turn around now or prepare to be boarded. The next shows you the effect. You see some of those red ships starting to turn around, 14 that we know of today.

Turn around rather than cross the line. And in the final image, by late Monday night, no ship is pushing through. Central Command says 14 ships already have turned around, as I just mentioned, and the message is quite quite clear do not test the US blockade. Central Command also releasing audio showing

exactly how the Navy is getting this across. All vessels are advised to immediately return to port if leaving and discontinue transit to Iran if that is your next port of call. Do not attempt to breach the blockade. Vessels will be boarded for interdiction and seizure of transit to or from an Iranian port. Turn around and prepare to be boarded. If you do not comply with this blockade, we will use force. The whole of the United States Navy is ready to force compliance.

Out. Can you imagine hearing that? That's real.

The Wall Street Journal sums it up this way in a headline. Iran's war shattered economy means it has an urgent reason to negotiate. Damage done by U.S. and Israeli attacks will take years to repair. Putting pressure on Iran to seek financial relief in talks. Vice President J.D. Vance, Jared Kushner, Steve Whitkoff are leading these negotiations again.

And they are making calls and exchanging proposals with Iranian negotiators in hopes of producing a breakthrough, a second round, which we are still hearing is possible on the weekend. No confirmation there yet, though. Retired Navy top gunfighter pilot Matthew Wyss Buckley coming up in focus. We begin with chief national security correspondent Jennifer Griffin in Washington. Jennifer.

Harris, the two-week cease-fire ends on Tuesday, April 21. Iranian state media says Iranian tankers have transported 11 million barrels of oil from the Sea of Oman to their destination since the announcement of the U.S. naval blockade. But CENTCOM says it has expanded the blockade.

The Pacific area of responsibility, under the command of Admiral Paparo, will actively pursue any Iranian-flagged vessel or any vessel attempting to provide material support to Iran. This includes Dark Fleet vessels carrying Iranian oil.

That means the U.S. military will go after any Iranian-sanctioned ships anywhere in the world, that Shadow Fleet that we have heard so much about, which allows Iran to skirt sanctions. These are used by China in particular to get oil from Iran. The U.S. naval blockade that began on Monday at 10 a.m. has turned back 14 vessels, according to CENTCOM. No U.S. military have had to board those vessels.

We're now 24 hours- plus into the blockade. You can see the turning around of multiple ships, 12 of which stayed inside the blockade line, one of which not depicted, off to the eastern side, turned around before even attempting it.

CENTCOM Commander Admiral Brad Cooper had just returned from his second trip to the region.

I met with teams who launched our own one-way attack drones into Iran. These were originally Iranian-designed drones. We brought them back to America, took the guts out, put a Made

American stamp on them, and fired them right back to Iran. Very effective.

The few members of the press who were called on today didn't press for details on some of the obstacles the U.S. military has faced. No one asked about the exclusive reporting from The Financial Times yesterday that Iran used a Chinese spy satellite to target U.S. bases in the Middle East last month. The IRGC reportedly obtained access to the Chinese satellite shortly after its launch in late 2024, and apparently tasked

it with monitoring U.S. military sites before and after drone and missile strikes on the U.S. bases. The head of the International Energy Agency warned in an interview with the AP today that Europe has maybe six weeks or so, he says, of remaining jet fuel supplies, warning of possible flight cancellation soon if oil supplies remain blocked by the Iran war.

Harris? Jennifer, thank you. And focus now. Matthew Wyss Buckley, retired Navy top gun fighter pilot and chairman of the No Fallen Heroes Foundation, great to see you today. Look, this is not just military.

It's also financial pain for Iran. Talk to me about the operation. We had maps showing how they pull, how our fighters pull in and they make those announcement and announcements. How do you how do you explain how effective this is right now?

Well, Harris, good to see you again. Thanks for having me. It's all about the Benjamins. One point five million barrels of oil a day from Iran has been stopped. And if you do not move this oil in about 13 days, they have to shut in wells, which potentially could cost billions of dollars in damage to Iran.

So this is going to be over sooner rather than later, Harris, because Iran has to move that oil to begin with, or they're gonna run out of money here. So it makes my heart, first of all, it makes my heart smile seeing General Kane, an Air Force buddy of mine, talking about how great the Navy is.

But these blockades are incredibly effective. And the Navy, you know, a couple of weeks ago, Harris, we talked about the combat search and rescue units of the United States Air Force having their Super Bowl. This is the Navy Super Bowl. I've sailed through the Strait of Hormuz on the Abraham Lincoln and the Kitty Hawk,

and hearing an American destroyer coming up on the international frequency and saying that just kind of makes me proud to be an American.

Look, what you just mentioned also greatly affects the military, the IRGC, because the cash flow of this government, and we have seen this with other foreign governments, when they don't have paychecks, some of those fighters will defect.

I mean, that's a possibility. Do you think it's so?

Oh, 100%, Harris. At least here in the United States, we care about the morale of our troops. And if they're not getting paid, they really probably don't wanna fight. Sure, there are zealots in the IRGC

who want to go meet their maker, but a lot of folks, the Iranian people, the regular Iranian forces, not the really radical militant folks, those are men who have families and wives and kids that need to pay their bills too.

So this is absolutely your 100%, right? Impacting their morale and their will to fight.

Yeah, interesting. And of course, they've got all that money flowing to their proxies like Hezbollah and Hamas and the Houthis in Yemen. We'll see how long it takes for Iran to sustain with no cash flow coming out of the Strait of Hormuz

and their Iranian ports. In addition to enforcing the port blockade though, the US Navy is also working to remove the mines that we've been told Iran's regime has planted inside that strait. A retired Navy officer says mine hunting is like picking dandelions in your yard so that you can create a path you can walk across your yard and not step on a dandelion.

Here's how it happens. Sonar is used to locate the mines, and they are then detected and classified, identified, and neutralized. The process clears safe lanes for our military and shipping vessels that are allowed to pass. And some of the different types of mines, floating, moored, limpet,

which are attached to a target by magnets and the seabed, all with the sinister and deadly goal of blowing up ships and killing the people aboard. We haven't had any confirmation yet, Matthew, that they have destroyed any of these, but Iran certainly had the time to go out and do this. So you've got to check everything just in case, and that's a big job.

You do, Harris. I'm old enough to remember when some of our frigates hit Iraqi mines back in the day. It can it can sink a ship pretty quickly. But Harris this is a Super Bowl for some of our other folks in the United States Navy Navy SEALs. There are specialized units who eat breathe and sleep finding these mines jumping over the side of a boat and taking these things out. And now I was an aviator. I'll let those folks go and do that. I'll be in my air conditioning at 30,000 feet. But they are trained to do this. And according to my sources, the Iranians don't even know how many they, you know, accidentally or put out in the street. It's not a ton,

but even one can do enough damage. How do you accidentally put a mine out? And I listed the different types. What type do you think they have? But first of all, are they just bad at laying them as well that they don't even know what they put down?

Well, after Operation Midnight Hammer last year, Harris, they came up with the Mosaic Plan. They said, hey, if the head gets cut off our snake here, you all can fight. 31 individual provinces, you all can just start attacking and firing in any direction. So I don't even know if who we're talking to

in these negotiations know about these mines. This could have been some rogue Iranian naval commander who was just saying, hey, you know what? We were told to go do these things, let's go do it. So I'm fairly certain even the Iranian command structure, which has more or less been destroyed,

doesn't know where these mines are, if there are any. But our Navy SEALs and our Navy, they're the best force on the world to find these things and to knock them out.

Well, that is critical information to know, because that's a huge fracture in their ability to fight, which is what Hexeth and the president have been saying all along, you give us a visual of what that's like with just rogue movement, and some of it could be planting mines. Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, with this message to the U.S. on dealing with foreign governments in a post this morning. Now, this sounds like a warning. It's interesting.

Quote, I would advise the U.S. in every case where it dislikes a particular government to begin by engaging it in dialogue. No country has ever refused dialogue with the US. It was the US, however, that first made agreements and then walked away from them. Lavrov saying that.

Irony, wildly rich on this. Russia now in a war for five years on Ukraine and I don't think they called them for dialogue first.

No, Harris, I mean, Lavrov, obviously, an immense hypocrite. Young Ukrainian men and young Russian men are being turned into hair, teeth and eyeballs in Eastern Europe, going, as you said, on four or five years. It's an absolute disgrace. Why don't they sit down with Zelensky and end that conflict? President Trump, Secretary Hegseth, General Kaine are ending a war that the radical Islamic regime started 47 years ago. They started it. We're going to finish it, Harris.

All right, Matthew Wyss-Buckley. One day I'll know what the Wyss is for. Thank you. Love All right, Matthew Wyss-Buckley. One day I'll know what the Wyss is for. Thank you. Love the call. Say goodbye.