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EFTA02406470 | EFTA02406476 GOLDBERG: With everybody pointing at everybody else. PRESIDENT OBAMA: With everybody pointing at everybody else. GOLDBERG: What I'm getting at specifically is, let's assume there's = Hezbollah attack on Israel. Israel responds into Lebanon. Iran goes on so=e kind of a nuclear alert, and then one-two-three -PRESIDENT OBAMA: The potential for escalation in those circumstances=is profoundly dangerous, and in addition to just the potential human costs=of a nuclear escalation like that in the Middle East, just imagine what wo=Id happen in terms of the world economy. The possibilities of the sort of energy disruptions that we've ne=er seen before occurring, and the world economy basically coming to a halt= would be pretty profound. So when I say this is in the U.S. interest, I'm=not saying this is something we'd like to solve. I'm saying this is something we have to solve. GOLDBERG: One of the aspects of this is the question of whether it's=plausible that Barack Obama would ever use military power to stop Iran. Th= Republicans are trying to make this an issue -- and not only the Republic=ns -- saying that this man, by his disposition, by his character, by his party, by his center-left outloo=, is not going to do that. PRESIDENT OBAMA: Look, if people want to say about me that I have a =rofound preference for peace over war, that every time I order young men a=d women into a combat theater and then see the consequences on some of the=, if they're lucky enough to come back, that this weighs on me -- I make no apologies for that. Because anyb=dy who is sitting in my chair who isn't mindful of the costs of war should='t be here, because it's serious business. These aren't video games that w='re playing here. Now, having said that, I think it's fair to say that the last three years, I've shown =yself pretty clearly willing, when I believe it is in the core national in=erest of the United States, to direct military actions, even when they ent=il enormous risks. And obviously, the bin Laden operation is the most dramatic, but alQaeda was on its [kne=s] well before we took out bin Laden because of our activities and my dire=tion. In Afghanistan, we've made very tough decisions because we felt it w=s very important, in order for an effective transition out of Afghanistan to take place, for us to be pus=ing back against the Taliban's momentum. So aside from the usual pol=tics, I don't think this is an argument that has a lot of legs. And by the=way, it's not an argument that the American people buy. They may have complaints about high unemployment still, and th=t the recovery needs to move faster, but you don't hear a lot of them argu=ng somehow that I hesitate to make decisions as commander in chief when ne=essary. GOLDBERG: Can you just talk about Syria as a strategic issue? Talk a=out it as a humanitarian issue, as well. But it would seem to me that one =ay to weaken and further isolate Iran is to remove or help remove Iran's o=ly Arab ally. PRESIDENT OBAMA: Absolutely. GOLDBERG: And so the question is: What else can this administration =e doing? PRESIDENT OBAMA: Well, look, there's no doubt that Iran is much weak=r now than it was a year ago, two years ago, three years ago. The Arab Spr=ng, as bumpy as it has been, represents a strategic defeat for Iran, becau=e what people in the region have seen is that all the impulses towards freedom and self-determination and f=ee speech and freedom of assembly have been constantly violated by Iran. [=he Iranian leadership is] no friend of that movement toward human rights a=d political freedom. But more directly, it is now engulfing Syria, and Syria is basically their only true ally in =he region. And it is our estimation that [President Bashar al-Assad's] day= are numbered. It's a matter not of if, but when. Now, can we accelerate t=at? We're working with the world community to try to do that. It is complicated by the fact that Syria is a=much bigger, more sophisticated, and more complicated country than Libya, =or example the opposition is hugely splintered -- that although there's=unanimity within the Arab world at this point, internationally, countries like Russia are still blocking p=tential UN mandates or action. And so what we're trying to do -- and the s=cretary of state just came back from helping to lead the Friends of Syria =roup in Tunisia -- is to try to come up with a series of strategies that can provide humanitarian relief. =ut they can also accelerate a transition to a peaceful and stable and repr=sentative Syrian government. If that happens, that will be a profound loss=for Iran. 7 EFTA_R1_01448625 EFTA02406476 Epstein Web iOS app on the App Store.
April 8, 2026 at 9:34 AM