What Do CPAC 2026 Attendees Think of the Iran War & Israel

My name is Azar Zamani.

I am Austin Andrews. I'm from Ohio.

Andrew Galt.

Andrew Galt. Okay, Andrew, we're here at CPEC 2026. Do you support the war in Iran, the US intervention in Iran?

You know, I think that we have a biblical obligation to support Israel. I obviously want to make sure that deaths are held to a very small number, but I think that we need to, you know, do its best to make sure that there's peace in the Middle east. And I think that is taking out the Ayatollah, which we already did. So I. The war for right now is good, but as it drags on, I think it will be a problem for Trump in the midterms. But I think for right now it's fine. Just because I think it's a short term type of deal. I don't think it'll be long term because Trump has a history of getting things done quickly and avoiding a larger war.

Absolutely, 100%.

Can you tell me why?

Yes. Because it's been 47 years, this Islamic regime just ruling in Iran, and they're nothing to do with the people of Iran. They're just the killing machine. And not only danger for the people of Iran, they're jeopardizing entire the world, not just the Middle east, entire devil. They're just a major terrorist supporter. And for the 47 years, no one, no foreign president or, you know, any other forces, you know, care to, you know, go and fight with them. And this time President Trump, you know, just make that once forever, you know, not every two years or every year, you know, they, they try to, you know, threat the world and make the nuke. And once they do that, you know, nobody, nobody can, you know, stop them. There's so danger.

Are you Iranian?

I am.

Have you been, are you from living in the U.S. or.

Yes. For past 32 years. Yes. In Texas.

Yes, 100%.

Can you tell me why?

I think that the Iranian government has been a government that has fought both us and our allies in the Middle east since its incept that continually attacked America and are seeking to attack America at every end. And right now we're in a war of good and evil, and we need to make sure we finish it out and don't leave any room for error.

What would you say to Americans who are skeptical of the war, who support Iranians and don't support the current government there, but look at the history of US Intervention in Iraq, Afghanistan, and don't think it's a good idea.

First of all, Iran is not Afghanistan or Iraq. It will never happen for a couple of reasons. First, you know, we were the people, they were united. And it's not like a people of Iraq, you know, they have a different ethnicity of the Shia, Sunni and different groups of which fight into each other. It never happened in Iraq. And once we remove this Islamic regime and their, you know, their arm hand, you like, you know, those people from armed people from Lebanon or, you know, Iraqi, like the people, they get money, they get paid by IRG to, you know, fight the people of the Iran. Once we remove that, there is no nothing, you know, there is nothing between the people to fight for. So we keep our unity for sure. And second, which the most important thing now, we have a leader, Prince Reza Pahlavi, which he, you know, has a plan for every step, you know, for the, you know, transition step. Once, you know, they remove, there shouldn't be any, you know, you know, empty of the power in the government. So there shouldn't be any problem.

Would you support American troops on the ground?

No, I would not know.

And you said.

Because I. That's why I said that. I think it's a temporary type of thing where we can avoid war, avoid. Because if we put in troops, that's going to be a catastrophe. We're going to lose tens of thousands of troops within a few weeks if we on the ground in Iran. And that would just be a massive issue. That would honestly, that would probably cost Trump his presidency in the midterms and any future Republican president for a while. So I think that if they end up doing that, that's a destiny to the Republican Party.

When you say that we have a biblical duty to protect Israel, do you think that the US Government foreign policy should be interlinked with religious beliefs?

In that way, yes.

The Bible in that way?

Yeah, I do.

What would you say Americans who think that like violates the sort of church and state idea or.

Read the Bible. Read the Bible.

Read the Bible. And sort of related to that question, we just heard the crown Prince speak and there's a lot of Iranians here and he said a statement, he said something along the lines of whence he once he comes to power or helps that transition, that Iran will be a great friend to Israel. Do you consider support of Israel or the Zionist movement to be integral to the MAGA movement?

I think it has to be, yes. I think you've seen time and time again that Israel is our only true ally in the Middle east and that when push comes to shove, they're the Only people that are willing to stand with us and actually help us. Everyone else in the Middle east during this conflict has focused on defending themselves. None of them have launched offensive strikes or helped us in any way other than letting us base there.

What would you say to. I spoke to some Iranians here who don't support Pahlavi because they think he is going to just be a puppet of Western interest.

No, no, no. Those are just, those are the remaining of the 57 of the revolution. Those very, very, you know, radical left. And of course, some of them are from Mujahideen mka, I think. Yes, yes. Which was, quote, that's a terrorist group. And they just, they just has a crunch towards the Pahlavi, you know. But. And the other thing is, I'm sorry, interrupting you. There's a. The prince Pahlavi mentioned that himself. He's not seeking to, you know, have been a king or, you know, just take the power. He just the leader because the people of the Iran, they asked for him for the transition. And later on in the, you know, in just the democratic way, people, they will choose what government, what type of governor and what leader they want.

So you don't necessarily see him as the longtime leader to help kind of in the transition.

Think about that. He's the one. He's the figure, you know, everyone in the world know him and respect him. So he can be a very good, you know, player, player to connect Iran after the Islamic Republic to the new war.

What would you say to those who are skeptical of him because his father was helped brought to power by the CIA and the British in.

That's, that's, that's, that, that's a hoax. That's not even the truth.

But it's been released through Operation Ajax. The US Government, they were involved in helping with the protest in 1953 and helping him rise to power. That's documented fact. But. So some people are skeptical of his son because of that, do you think?

First, first of all, you know, the, it's, I mean, the world is changed now. It's not 50 or 60 years ago. People are changed.

You don't think that he will be dictator.

You, you were afraid.

I mean, like, like, I guess the concern is that he will. Western interest.

No.

For example, he made a statement. He said, you know, if, if he comes in and helps, until he comes and helps, Iran won't be able to help American interests. And some people would say, well, why does Iran need to help American interests? Why should Iran serve American interests?

Well, this is, this is the question itself. It's not very correct when you said they're serving people. We are in the world. People are connected, countries are connected together. I mean, think about Saudi Arabia. They're connecting to the West. It's not like 20 or 30 years ago. They have very good relations in all these. All these Arab small country in the Gulf. They all have very good relation with the Western and us. So that's not like nothing wrong having the great relationship with the West.

Would you consider yourself to be an American Zionist or supporter of Israel in that way, or whether you use that

term or not, a Zionist? I always think America comes first. But I also think that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. So that's also part of our interest. So I think we put America first by also helping Israel out, because without Israel and their alliance in the Middle east, who else do we have? No one.

So.

And do I think Israel's perfect? No, I do not. But no government is perfect in the world. I'm not a big fan of Netanyahu. I think he has in terms like the Gaza war, I think he's kind of stepped over his ground. I think that probably will. I think that probably went a little too far. But I think in general, supporting Israel will also help America out and our values and our interest in the Middle East.

What did you think of the Senator Marco Rubio, excuse me, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said at the beginning of this that the US Launched their initial attack because they knew that Israel was going to attack and they wanted to sort of preemptively attack Iran in anticipation that US Might be attacked. People interpret that to be that statement to mean the US Is following Israel's command. What do you think about that?

I think it's kind of misrepresenting what's actually happening. If it. Even if it was the Israelis that pushed us to make the final decision to strike, we've been moving assets into the region. We have more assets there than we had in 2003 when we invaded Iraq. This was going to happen. If they started a little earlier, that is what it is. But if anything, they pushed us to do the right thing.

So that.

That's one or two. Follow up. Thank you for your time. Sure. He also said. He said that. Trying to remember, I want to quote him correctly, he said when he comes to power or helps with the transition, then the new Iran will be a great friend to Israel. Do you think that's a positive development

or because a lot of people concerned about. No. First of All, I mean, before the revolution happened, we had great relationship with the Israel. And let me tell you, Iran has a huge population of the Jews, you know, this people, and they have great, you know, they have great religion. There is no problem with them. And let me tell you culturally and you know, the root, the Iranian people, Persian people are so close to the Israeli people rather than those Sunni, you know, Arab people in the region. So there is not nothing wrong with that. And we can have very good relations with Israel, which serve both countries.

Back to the whole Israel thing. A lot of older folks here love Israel.

So that Millennial versus boomers.

Yes, yes. So like, because I'm very observant, I saw a lot of people that, that were young, I talked to, they very much don't like Israel, think that we shouldn't support them and that we shouldn't have a, a duty to support Israel. But a lot of these boomers, they think that we should because again, they look the Bible and they will look at that as a reason why to support Israel. And I'm kind of with the boomers on this one. I think that we should, I think a lot of young folks, they look at social media a lot and I think the algorithm, the algorithms are a problem with that. And I think that that's a big reason why people have turning into Israel. They're younger because like people like Tucker Kennes owns all these big time influence on the right. They've kind of, I think, brainwashed people to think that Israel is like some Satan.

We should have been doing this a long time ago and it's just now that we're actually doing something.

Final question. Do you think Trump's intervention in Iran goes against any of the statements he made previously about not starting new wars or being a peace candidate? Peace president?

Not necessarily. I think you need peace through strength. You're never going to be able to accomplish, accomplish peace by just trying to make deals with everybody. Every once in a while you need to show people what the other end of the big stick means. Teddy Roosevelt had big stick diplomacy. All that means is that we carry a big stick. But when someone actually acts up, we have to hit them with it. And right now they were acting up and they were threatening to develop a nuclear weapon capable of hitting Europe and the United States. And we were not allowed to let that happen.

Final question. What would you say to your Iranian brothers and sisters back home who are against the US Intervention? We've seen some videos of people supporting us, but some against obviously Iran's big country. With a lot of opinions.

That's true. I mean, this is very obvious. War is not good and there is lots of casualty, unfortunately, bombing, schools, hospitals. Let me tell you this, and there is no question about that. There is lots of infrastructure and lots of innocent people will get killed. But think about that people in Iran. Get to the point they had to choose, you know, they had to choose between, you know, they price of, you know, getting killed, unfortunately by bombing or the emasculators slaughtered by the, you know, the government of the Iran, which they did, you know, like three months ago. You know, they killed more than 50,000 people in two days. They killed more than 50,000 people in the two days. So I have lots of friends back at home. I'm going to talk to them. They're very happy. They're very happy because they, they're not thinking about this as an invasion. They're not thinking about this war like they're killing them. They're thinking as they should say, helping them, helping them to disarm this government so they can, you know, come to the street and, you know, just finish the job.

I think you understand they're critical largely because of what we've seen in Gaza the last couple years.

Honestly, I don't think it's Gaza. I think is Iran. People on the right didn't care about Gaza. I'm a thing honest people on the left did. I will admit some people on the right probably did, but a lot didn't care about Gaza.

I, I, I'll just tell you just from, you know, my personal view from. So as a journalist and the people who follow me, even as I've been posting, as I've been here, a lot of people who, like I've heard people say I voted for Trump three times, but he's broken a lot of promises. I can't support him anymore. Or I supported Trump three times, but now he seems to be beholden to Israel. So that split depth.

No, no, no, it's there. But with Iran out with Gaza because

so, so you think it's more about broken promises about the war and stuff than with Gaza?

I think the Iran thing with the Magi base is splitting up more than Gaza because when, so for example, when Trump was running in 2024, no one asked him about, I mean like they asked about, like about Gaza, but it wasn't like conservatives were silent, the teeth like asking about Gaza, his stance on that.

It wasn't an election issue for them.

It was not, it was more for the left because they were the ones that are in power during it. I just think with Iran, it's bigger because we're going to put troops on the ground potentially. And people don't want to. People don't want to turn into another Iraq. And Gaza wasn't going to be that because it's gone. Gaza's 90% gone, but it's gone because

the Israelis bombed it to shit, right?

Yes, but a lot of that happened under Biden.

No, like, I mean, but Trump still continues to give money and funding and.

Yes.

And sending money to Ukraine.

No, And I, I don't totally agree with the whole putting troops on the ground with Iran. I think it'll be bad for his chances of midterms.

And I would like you to share a message of what you would say to those folks of, like, who do believe that there is a MAGA divide like the one you're talking.

I think there is a MAGA divide. So when I say to the people that don't want to Trump right now, what I would say is, or who

more specifically believe that Trump sold out America first policies that he himself has left maga.

Well, my response to that is, do you remember what happened under Biden? All the, all the tens of millions of illegals that came over the border? I understand your frustration with the whole Israel thing. I completely get that. And to be honest, to a certain extent, I'm annoyed, too. But partially, I'm annoyed because of their messaging. I think they could, I think that they could message it, like, a lot better. My other point is, do you want there to be communism in America in 2028, or do you want there to be peace and prosperity? And do you want there to be closed borders? Do you want there to be no rent control because the Democrat Party is going to nominate a socialist in 2028? We already know that. And if we don't step up and, and come together, then we're going to lose everything we gain in the past year and next three years. I get it. Trump has made some mistakes. I completely get that. But you have to understand, he's better than a Democrat. Do you want to see a Democrat back in office? No, I don't. And you shouldn't either. Trump is so better than any Democrat alive. That's a fact.