Scott Ritter : Who Controls Hormuz?

Undeclared wars are commonplace. Tragically, our government engages in preemptive war, otherwise known as aggression, with no complaints from the American people. Sadly, we have become accustomed to living with the illegitimate use of force by government.

To develop a truly free society, the issue of initiating force must be understood and rejected. What if sometimes to love your country you had to alter or abolish the government? What if Jefferson was right?

What if that government is best which governs least? What if it is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong? What if it is better to perish fighting for freedom than to live as a slave?

What if freedom's greatest hour of danger is now? Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Npalitano here for Judging Freedom. Today is Monday, April 13, 2026.

Scott Ritter will be with us in just a moment on this intriguing question. Just who is in control of the Straight of Hormuz? But first, this.

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Call 8005114620 or go to leerjudennap. com. Scott Ritter.

Welcome here, my dear friend. As always, thank you for accommodating my schedule. Before uh we get to the military issues involved in attempting to control Hormuz, this weekend we witnessed again the continued humiliation uh of Vice President Vance.

21 straight hours of negotiating punctuated by 11 phone calls from the president and at least one from a foreign head of state, Benjamin uh Netanyahu. all monitored by the president's uh Zionist monitors, Steve Witoff and his son-in-law uh Jared Kushner. What did this accomplish?

Well, first first of all, we have to understand that Donald Trump's in a world of trouble right now. I mean, he's got he's doing a lot of aggressive uh posting. Um insane posting to be honest.

But you know this is a man who promised his political base that he would not get involved in uh another you know war of aggression uh in the Middle East. He you know had openly condemned uh past presidents for doing exactly what he has done. Now this is one of the dumbest wars ever fought by America and there are a number of dumb ones we've been involved in.

Uh but this one has no basis in legitimacy whatsoever. This is 100% not only a war of choice but a war in which the United States has been uh directed into combat by a foreign power. This isn't a war on behalf of the American people or American national security interests.

This is a war on behalf of Israel 100% pure. That's all it's about. Um, and now the president, you know, he I think he thought that he could, uh, you know, get away with a quick victory Venezuela style.

Uh, because he bought Benjamin Netanyahu's nonsense about the fragility of the regime that if they kill Ali Kaman that the regime will collapse and then everything solves itself. They install a puppet government and everybody lives happily ever after. But that of course is not what happened.

Iran uh showed extreme resilience uh and not only in terms of their ability to absorb punishment but to deliver punishment uh and in in in the end the United States was compelled to seek a ceasefire. This was a ceasefire that was done at the behest of the United States uh to a lesser extent at the behest of Israel. Um but Donald Trump and this is something I I ask people to do.

We need to stop evaluating the current situation in terms of national security of you know defense questions are meaningless in this environment. Meaningless because this has nothing to do with the national defense of the United States. It has nothing to do with the foreign policy of the United States.

This is about Donald Trump's narcissism. This is about sustaining the cult of personality. This is about the Trump brand.

That's all this is about. And because the Trump brand right now needs some burnishing, uh, he can't take blame for what has happened. He needs a fall guy.

Enter JD Vance. JD Vance was set up, he was sent to Pakistan to fail. He was set up to ensure, you know, the Iranians were ready to make a deal.

There's the deal right there to be made. If you want something good for all parties involved, despite the tragedies taking place, it's there. The Iranians were wellprepared.

They came in with their teams. They had the notebooks. They had all the arguments laid out, all the facts.

JD Vance had nothing. Nothing except Witoff and Kushner who aren't there to do anything other than babysit to ensure that he, you know, sustains the narrative he's supposed to sustain, which is we're here, but we're in charge. We have the demands.

You get nothing. You don't get the dictate. America is the victorious party.

Oh, you don't want to play our game? I'm going home. That was his job.

Why? Because now Donald Trump is in a position to ride in and save the day. You see, Trump couldn't come in and do a deal with the uh with the Iranians because that would have to he'd have to admit that he made a mistake, that we lost, that he was yielding.

But now JD Vance has fumbled. JD Vance couldn't close the deal. Donald Trump, the great deal maker, will.

This is his plan. The problem for Trump is the Iranians aren't playing that game. They're they're not going to yield.

They're not going to do anything. There's a deal to be made there, but it's going to require the United States to eat some humble pie. And when we're dealing with the ultimate egoomaniac, this malignant narcissist who coccupies the White House today, there's no such thing as eating humble pie.

>> So, um, what what's Trump be before we get to Hormoose, what is Trump's next move to resume the war? and another week. >> I don't think he I mean, >> first of all, just we're in a very dangerous situation because war is always on the horizon.

Um, but there will, you know, it's alleged that Albert Einstein once said, uh, you know, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over again, expecting a different outcome. Um, if if we resume the war, we're going to lose. There's nothing that's happened militarily that changes the dynamic that already delivered an American defeat.

Um, we don't control the straight of Horus and we never will control the straight of Hormuz. We cannot collapse the regime. The more we bomb, the stronger the regime gets.

And um I know there's been a lot of you know C17 flights moving around replenishing the uh the the the missiles on board the uh ships getting more uh defense but you know we will and the Iranians said do whatever you need to do. You'll burn through all your stuff within two days and we'll be right back to where we started. The same dynamics in play.

Iran controls every aspect of this conflict. We can blow up buildings on the ground. That's all we can do.

We don't even know what. If you think there's anything of value in any building in Iran today, I've got a bridge to sell you in Brooklyn. We're going to go back in there.

Donald Trump says he's going to blow things up. Well, you touch a power plant, Donald Trump, and the lights go out throughout the Middle East. Every single major U energy production field in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, in the United Arab Emirates disappears, gone.

And if you want to play even more stupid games, they'll start taking out desalinization plants. And they'll do that in Israel as well. And that's life terminating.

That's the end of modern civilization in this region. And this is where the Iranians are ready to go. Um, if that's the game United States wants to play, this is why we stopped the war because that was we had reached the cap of our escalation capabilities.

Had we continued with his civilization erasing threats, there would be no energy coming out of the Middle East for a century. He stopped. Trump stopped because he understood this that we had gone.

So what's he gonna do? Start all over again. Um so this is why he's taken a new tact, the blockade, but this isn't going to work.

A blockade is by definition an act of war. Um so he's in effect declaring war on Iran. And I anticipate that the Iranians will treat it as a warlike gesture, but I also anticipate that the allies of Iran aren't going to sit by and let this happen.

I don't think any Chinese ships are going to say, "Well, we're not going to an Iranian port because of this. " And I don't think any Russian ships are going to say the same thing. And I don't think the United States Navy's going to get too far boarding and detaining Chinese and Russian flagged ships at this juncture.

So Donald Trump is posturing right now. Let's see where it goes. But there's no place for him to go because the outcome is guaranteed.

Continued American military defeat and we lose by not winning and global economic disaster. What does it take uh to effectuate a blockade, particularly one uh of an area this massive? Well, first of all, it requires, you know, uh extreme intelligence.

Um meaning and I'm not talking about the kind of innate intelligence that we're talking about with that should be the purview of our elected leadership. I'm talking about intelligence from a systemic standpoint from the US intelligence community. We need to understand, you know, where the ships are, where they're going, who who they're flagged.

And normally there's a mechanism in place. You know, Lloyds of London, the the insurance companies provides a lot of that. But because of the sanctions busting and because of the way this war has been going, you know, the traditional way of tracking shipping is out the window.

Uh there's so much shadow fleet type activity taking place. So, we need even better intelligence. Um then the question comes do we have the capacity to you know to to track stop search detain these ships?

Um come on ladies and gentlemen look at a carrier battle group. First of all the ships on the carrier battle group are there to protect the carrier. So if you have uh a cruiser or a frigot or a destroyer running picket meaning they're the buffer between Iran's missiles and the carrier.

The last thing these picket ships are going to be doing is diverting to intercept a tanker um because now they're off station. So, we're going to need more ships coming in uh to do that. But as they move to detain, that is an act of war.

And so, if I were the Iranian ships or any ship, I would be leaving the straight order moves and hugging the coast of Iran and daring the United States to come in. Just saying, "Come on in, buddy. Come on.

" Because those ships will be sunk by the Iranians. This blockade is as porous as I I can't come up with the appropriate metaphor at this point in time, but let's just say there's giant holes in this blockade. This is a politically motivated blockade that has zero chance of affectuating any impact on shipping coming out of the straight of Hormuz.

>> What happens if an American helicopter with a half dozen Navy Seals and it lands on a Russian tanker? Well, if the Russian tanker has, you know, some Vagner type PMC's and that helicopter will never get to the tanker. It'll be shot down.

The seals come down. There'll be a firefight on that boat. The seals may prevail, but now we're at war with Russia.

So, um, don't do it. I mean, this is stupidity in the extreme. Um but again, you know, I don't know what Russia is doing right now in terms of beefing up, but um you know, there are reports that they have put Vagner veterans or, you know, PMC type uh people on these ships, armed them not only with light arms and machine guns, but also man pads.

So, you know, if a helicopter comes in, they're going to be going up against combat hardened veterans. And you know, I know the seals are pretty tough, but um you're not too tough when you're on a helicopter and that helicopter has been struck by, you know, a man pad and now you're going down in the water. You're just dead.

>> How desperate is Trump for for an out from the war? It appears that he and his administration have given up the ghost uh on regime change. They have certainly given up the ghost on neutralizing or neutering.

I'm not sure what the word is. Uh Iran's uh ballistic missile. Uh he was telling Maria Bordomo who had a look of surprise on her face even though she's a friend and fan of his uh that he still thinks the US can capture the Iranian uh nuclear material.

Now he's trying to close a series of ports which just last Easter, 8 days ago, using harsh profanity on Easter Sunday he demanded be open. How desperate is he? Again, this is a man who is trapped.

I mean, literally trapped in a um you know, in a device of his own making. uh he's going to lose. Again, I tell people, stop thinking about national security.

If you think Donald Trump cares one iota about nuclear enrichment in Iran, he doesn't. He doesn't even know what it is. All right?

We are literally talking about one of the dumbest human beings on the face of the planet currently occupying the office of the presidency and he's surrounded by people who are sick offense who are there to say yes and lay hands on him and treat him as if he's Christ instead of advising him and telling them no this is stupid pound sand we're not doing that. Um so you know here we've got this this this idiot uh who is in this trap and he doesn't know how to get out and all he knows how to do is bluster. You see, this is about preserving the Trump brand.

This is a business deal for him that's going south badly. And so, his number one priority is to preserve the brand. Trump brand must come out of this crisis with its, you know, being burnished and that it's there.

Um, he is looking at losing an election in November. Now, he personally won't be because he's not on the ballot, but his party is. And if we lose the house, we being the the I'm speaking in terms of Trump now.

Uh if he loses the house, he's going to be impeached for two straight years. And that that it's the end of his presidency and the legacy is tarnished and done. This narcissistic egoomaniac can't handle that.

And if he continues to screw up the way he is, such as imposing a blockade that leads to the shutting down of Babel Mandev by the hoodie and now we have 200 buck a barrel oil and the economy collapses on him. Um he could lose the Senate and if he loses the Senate with sufficient numbers, he now will be impeached and convicted and that's the end of the Trump brand. He can't handle this.

His ego can't handle this. So he is desperate to get out of this situation but it has to be handled properly. so that he is not blamed.

He's the teflon dawn. He's just going to walk through this thing. JD Vance screwed up Pete Hex.

He's going to dump everybody to preserve the Trump legacy. But this is a sign of desperation. I'm telling you right now, judge, I mean, I'm not, you know, the world's greatest diplomat, but I've been there, done that on some pretty high-profile stuff.

You put me in charge of this negotiation, within two days, I'll have a deal that'll look good for Iran, look good for the United States, it'll be good for the world. But I care about the United States. I don't give a damn about Donald Trump's reputation.

>> How uh inappropriate was it for JD Vance to be taking instruction from the head of a foreign state? >> Well, no. I mean, JD Vance is the vice president and remember the United the president of United States took um direction from Netanyahu on February 11th when Netanyahu sat down with Trump and the head of MSAD and laid out the the lies that, you know, they can get regime change, that they can get the missiles, that this is it.

we need you to commit. This is the same pitch that, you know, Netanyahu been making to, you know, three previous American presidents. And they all said, "No, we're not going to get involved in a major military engagement uh side by side with Israel against Iran.

That is bad for America, bad for the world. We can't win. " Donald Trump went for it.

And then he turned around and despite everybody telling him, "That's not a good idea. " When I say everybody, I mean everybody. There's not a person in his cabinet that said this a good idea, Don.

Why don't you do that? Why don't you go with the Israelis? Uh the chairman of the joint chief of staff, the Israelis oversell themselves all the time.

We need to be very careful here. Both Rubio and um the the director of the CIA, this regime change thing ain't going to happen. He didn't allow Scott Bessent in because Bess might want what about the economy, boss?

There's this thing called oil and it's going to go crazy and boss, are we really want to do this? He kicked him out. Tulsi Gabbard wasn't allowed in because she would want what nuclear weapons program and um you know on and on and on.

Peak Hex of course is just let's do it, let's do it, let's do it. Um and so here we are. Uh you know this JD Vance took a call from Netanyahu because Donald Trump took his orders from Netanyahu and so Netanyahu has a vested interest in all of this.

What does the Trump brand gain by attacking and insulting the Pope and by mocking Catholicism and Christianity? >> Judge, I'm finishing up an article right now called American Blasphemy um which talks about this this very issue. I mean, this is stunning for me.

Uh you know, this proves that Donald Trump is the most anti-American person ever to occupy the White House. this this man is the antithesis of what what the United States is supposed to be. We go back to the Federalist Papers.

We we talk about Madison, we talk about Hamilton, we talk about Jay um and we talk about, you know, these were devout Christians. And when they you you listen to them speak about these issues and um you know, they say this is this is, you know, we are a nation where the Bible matters, the Bible, the the divine touch of God, you know, things of that nature. At no time did they say that we the American people or we American leadership are somehow divinely empowered.

It was just the opposite. We've received our guidance from God but God gives us this this this this empowerment. Um you know Thomas Jefferson uh I think he wrote a letter in 1802 to the Danbury Baptists who uh you were worried about state religion and he that's where he came out and said separation between church and state.

There will be a separation here. must be. Donald Trump is the opposite of that.

He is claiming to be Christ. That image you just showed up, he is Christ. He is doing Christlike activities.

This is not a separation of church and state. This is bringing it together. Slam dunk.

Look at this. This man should go straight to hell for this. First of all, Donald, you've never been in that good a shape.

You fat piece of orange face manure. I mean, my god. And then, hey, if I'm a black American, I'm sort of concerned.

There's no black Americans there. There's no Hispanic Americans there. There's no Asian-Americans there.

It's just a bunch of white people looking up at a white Jesus. Um, this is disgusting. This is despicable.

And then he posted another picture of himself as the pope. Um, implying that somehow he is, you know, could be a better job at the head of the cath the Catholic Church. And there photograph a photograph after photograph of people coming to the White House praying, laying hands on him as if he is a direct conduit to the Lord God Almighty.

Donald Trump is Satan personified only. An evil man would do this. No god-fearing person would ever allow this to happen.

No god-fearing person would ever allow this to happen. This is disgusting, despicable, and it needs to be stopped. I mean, literally, people, wake up.

This man is sick. This is extreme, malignant, narcissistic behavior. This is a psychopath that we have in the White House today.

And that image proves it. He thinks he's Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ.

Do the Russians, do the Chinese, does Western Europe, do Western European leaders finally recognize this? Ah, man, they're so Look, Vladimir Putin has to wake up every day knowing that Donald Trump has a briefcase that he can open up, break it, break open the, you know, the the the little disc there and read off code and send nuclear weapons off. Chinese have to know that, too.

um you you're not going to get very far by calling out this man um as who he is. Plus, from the Russian perspective, I mean, Donald Trump is the gift that keeps on giving. You know, he's not a Russian agent.

He's not a Russian asset, but he's the most easily controlled Oh, Jesus. Judge, come on, man. I mean, I'm not >> posted that himself.

Chris didn't create that with AI. Trump posted that. >> Trump posted No, I know that.

I'm I'm saying that I look, I'm not Catholic and, you know, I I I I I could sit here all day and you know, point fingers at any one of the organized religions that are out there, but I respect faith. I respect people of faith. And, you know, I I just came back from Cheschia where I sat down and spent a couple hours talking to the Grand MUI of the Islamic uh faith in Cheschna.

Um, and I respect, you know, I'm not Muslim, but I listen to him and I respect his faith. I respect his beliefs. I respect the people who are devoutly Catholic and their beliefs, and therefore I respect the pope.

I respect people of all faiths uh and take their faith seriously. This man openly mocks faith because he has no faith. This man doesn't believe in God.

He doesn't believe in divinity. He believes in Donald Trump. This is a man who believes that he is more powerful than everybody.

Uh that he he somehow is the the golden touch. I want to remind people though, you know, because he does he turns everything into gold. He has golden toilets, golden this, golden that.

Like the mightest touch. But the mightest touch, you know, it was a curse because everything King Midas touched turned to gold and everything died. And that's Donald Trump.

Everything he touches dies. He's touching the United States right now. He's touched our soul.

Our soul is dead. He's touched our constitution. It's dead.

Everything touch has died. He's the most anti-American man to hold office. Now, for foreign leaders, they don't care.

You know, promoting the Constitution is not what brings them, you know, the center of gravity of their life. That's my job. That's your job.

That's American people's job. And we have failed egregiously because we let this orange face baboon continue to govern. But the foreign leaders have to deal with the reality that this guy, this insane man, he is literally insane, judge.

is crazy. There's no I I'm tired of a social media. Donald Trump is playing 5D chess.

He wouldn't even know how to play 1D chess. All right. He's not smart enough.

He's truly a stupid man. I mean, he is Norm Peterson blended with, you know, whoever that that that drunken drug induced guy that Sean Pin played in uh in in in Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Um but mean mean-spirited.

I mean, I am big heads. Donald Trump is he's a walking talking parody of everything wrong with America and yet he's real. He's there.

They have to deal with this and it's it's frightening because it you you you know Putin can play him and you saw this after Donald Trump, you know, got the the the ear nicked in Butler, you know, he's the bravest man ever. He stood up. He fought fought fought.

I don't think Putin believes it because Putin knows what real bravery is. But he saw that and he said, "I can stroke Donald Trump's ego. " Because that's what it's all about.

If you stroke his ego, you win. That's the end of the game here. That's again, I come back.

Stop talking about defense policy. Stop talking about national security policy. When we're talking about the Trump presidency, we're talking about the Trump brand, Trump's ego.

And so now we have the world wor, you know, worrying about how to how to keep this spoiled pamper nobody uh from launching a nuclear war. Here's somebody who has no fear of him. Chris, cut number five.

Um, >> I I have no fear, neither the Trump administration nor speaking out loudly about the message of the gospel. And and that's what I believe I am called to do, what the church is called to do. We're not politicians.

We're not looking to make foreign policy as he calls it with the same perspective that that he might understand it. But I do believe that the message of the gospel, blessed are the peacemakers, is the message that the world needs to hear tonight. >> Blessed are the peacemakers.

I've been again, judge, I've been around the world too many times. Um I'm just a little too jaundest and uh you know I um I sometimes question um you know the existence of somebody above because I look at the the the horrors of this world the horrors done in by man by people created in God's image and oftentimes done under the guise of the religion of uh the monotheistic God. So I I I struggle.

But I will say this um in reading the Bible and studying the life of Jesus um I am struck by the fact that if you follow the teachings of Jesus uh that that blessed are the peacemakers. I mean Jesus is about peace. He's about love.

He's not about death. He's not about destruction. And so to call yourself a Christian, um, and yet as Pete Hexet does, I mean, he's sitting there as a a Christian, but he's the wrong kind of Christian.

He's the crusading Christian. He's the murderous Christian. He's the Christian that forgot that we are all God's children.

Um, you know, Jesus, blessed are the peacemakers. This is it. This is what we should aspire to.

This is what makes humanity great. This is what gives us hope. because only through peace and you're talking to a man of war.

All right, I've done it. I know what it is. And um I reject it because all war is about is humans killing humans.

That's it. It comes down to man killing man. And oftentimes women and children get involved in the mix.

It is the exact opposite of why we were brought here on earth. We were brought here on earth to thrive. We have souls.

We have conscious. We have feelings. We have emotions.

All right. These emotions are best expressed in terms of love and friendship and acts of kindness as opposed to being perverted by violence and hatred. And yet we now have a president who claims to be Christlike who's promoting war.

And he says the most outrageous things. I have been to Iran. I have met the Iranian people.

They are kind people. They are intelligent people. They are cultured people.

These are some of the finest examples of humanity one can imagine. and I've met their religious leaders and they are men of faith. I'm not saying I buy into their religion.

I'm saying that I respect their religion and I respect the role they play in representing their religion. And you know what? It doesn't matter if I don't believe into it.

The people of Iran do. These are people of faith, deep abiding faith in God, in their God, in Allah, and in God's messenger Muhammad and in Ali and in Hussein. Um, I mean we we just blessed are the peacemakers.

That's what we should be aspiring to be all of us collectively. And as Americans, we have to hold our elected officials to that standard because even though there's separation of church and state, I once again ask everybody to go back to the foundational principles of this constitutional republic. the go read the the federalist papers and read the writings of James Madison, read the writings of Hamilton, of John J, and you will see that these were God-fearing men, men who believed in Christianity and believed in the Bible and absorbed it.

And then that was turned into the Constitution, but they recognized that we had to protect the Constitution and this republic from the sins of man. So, and we had to protect it from religion controlling this. We had to give everybody a right to to, you know, worship the way they saw fit.

It's over. Now, we have a president who is posturing as Jesus Christ. He's mo openly mocking not only the Islamic faith, but the Catholic faith.

And in the process, he's mocking all of Christianity. If you are a Christian in America, you need to condemn this man in no uncertain terms. And you need to condemn anybody who claims to be a man or woman of faith who surrounds him and facilitates this continued blasphemy.

Scott, uh, each time you're on this show, you are forceful, intellectually honest, and brilliant, and each time you exceed the previous time. Thank you so much, my dear friend. What what you said just so needed to be said.

we will get this out to as many people uh as possible. You're a great man, my my dear friend. More people should speak out the way you do.

Thank you, Scott. We'll see you again soon. >> Thank you.

>> Sure. Coming up uh later today at 1 this afternoon, Jim Webb, the young Marine, will not let his sons become Marines at 1:00 and at 3:30 this afternoon. Not sure where he is, but we'll find him.

Professor Jeffrey Saxs, judge Npal channel for judging freedom. Heat. Heat.