00:00Let's assume that the economic sanctions are so formidable, so damaging to Iran,
00:08that it understands that it is at the end of its rope. It can't go on.
00:15What happens then is that the Iranians will escalate. The Iranians have a retaliatory
00:23option here. They can strike out at the energy infrastructure all across the Gulf and in Israel
00:32itself, and they have the ability to do enormous damage. Furthermore, they can strike out at the
00:40desalination plants all across the region and do enormous damage to countries like Saudi Arabia,
00:49Kuwait, and even Israel. Again, the Iranians, if they're pushed to their limit, will retaliate.
00:57And if they retaliate, they will do enormous damage, not only to each of those countries that they
01:04target. One could argue that if they go after Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure and its desalination
01:11plants, they can basically ruin Saudi Arabia as a functioning society. But it's more than that.
01:17The consequences for the international economy of Iran launching a full-scale attack on energy
01:24infrastructure and desalination plants all across the Middle East or all across the Persian Gulf region
01:31would be devastating. So I think that we should probably hope that we don't end up pushing Iran
01:41to the point where it turns to that doomsday response.
