Skip to content 3/3/2026 As Eyes Focus on the Middle East, Tony and Guests Also Pay Attention to Things Close to Home Mar 3 · 59 min ...more
3/3/2026 As Eyes Focus on the Middle East, Tony and Guests Also Pay Attention to Things Close to Home
March 3, 2026 · 59 min
Operation Epic Fury update, the U.S. Supreme Court restores some parental rights in California, the Clintons’ Epstein testimony, legalized marijuana fallout, and living in Israel while at war.
Series Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Video
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March 3, 2026 · 59 min · Washington Watch with Tony Perkins - Video
Operation Epic Fury update, the U.S. Supreme Court restores some parental rights in California, the Clintons’ Epstein testimony, legalized marijuana fallout, and living in Israel while at war. ...more Show the full description Show less Operation Epic Fury update, the U.S. Supreme Court restores some parental rights in California, the Clintons’ Epstein testimony, legalized marijuana fallout, and living in Israel while at war.
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In this video 0:00 Iran War Headlines and Domestic News11:22 Pentagon Briefing on Operation Epic Fury23:33 Military Strategy and Homefront Battles42:32 Biblical Call to Holiness and Jerusalem Report
Iran War Headlines and Domestic News 0:00 Hello. I'm Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council and host of Washington Watch. Thanks for tuning in. Every day, we offer a biblical perspective on the news as well as insightful interviews with elected0:11 leaders, newsmakers, and cultural experts. We have a great program planned for you today. But first, get up to speed on the top headlines with the Washington Stands news brief.0:26 Welcome to the Washington Stands news brief. I'm Casey Harper bringing you today's big stories. President Donald Trump today gave an update on the war in Iran.0:36 That is coming along as you see very well. They have no navy that's been knocked out. They have no air force that's been knocked out. They have no air detection that's been knocked out. Their radar has been knocked out.0:49 And, just about everything's been knocked out. So we'll see how we do, but we're doing we're doing very well. We have a great military, and they're doing a fantastic job.1:01 The US and Israel continue to hit targets in Iran, which is firing back. So far, at least 6 US service members have been killed. But during those remarks today, the president said something1:13 unexpected. The US will cut off all trade with Spain. Now this remarkable comment comes after Spain reportedly refused to let the US military use its bases for the strikes on1:24 Iran.1:25 Spain has been terrible. In fact, I told, Scott to cut off all dealings with Spain. And now Spain, actually said that we can't use their
1:37 bases, and that's alright. We don't wanna we could use their base. If we want, we could just fly in and use it. Nobody's gonna tell us not to use it, but we don't have to. But they were unfriendly, and, so I told
1:48 him that we don't wanna Spain has absolutely nothing that we need other than great people. They have great people, but they don't have great leadership. And as you know, they were the only country that in NATO would not
2:00 agree to go up to 5 percent. I don't think they would've agreed to go up to anything. They wanted to keep it at 2 percent, and they don't pay the 2 percent. So we we're gonna cut off all trade with Spain.
2:12 That certainly raised eyebrows, especially since the president hammered out a trade deal with the EU less than a year ago. That announcement also comes just after the US Supreme Court limited the president's tariff
2:23 powers. Though the White House argues they still have tariff authority under other laws. We'll see how that 1 plays out. In other news, it's election day. Voters head to the polls in
2:35 Texas and North Carolina in primary elections for both parties. They're gonna determine who will face off in the general election this November. On the Republican side in Texas, Republican John Cornyn is
2:47 being challenged by Texas AG Kim Paxton and representative Wesley Hunt. Democrats in the lone star state are battling it out in the senate primary as well. Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett faces off against
2:59 James Tallarico. Meanwhile, in North Carolina, voters will choose the nominees for another major senate race. Republican Tom Tillis' retirement has created a big vacancy in that swing state.
3:11 Democrats hope that former Democratic governor Roy Cooper can flip that seat in November. But Michael Watley, who's a former RNC chairman and has president Trump's endorsement, has held a sizable lead
3:23 over other Republicans in that race. We'll tune in tomorrow to see how they did. Now a couple more stories to wrap up. Department of Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem testified before a
3:35 senate committee today where she faced tough questions about immigration and ICE tactics in Minneapolis. She defended ICE agents and talked about the need to fund DHS, which Democrats have refused
3:47 to do. Now DHS is front of mind even more so this week after a likely terror attack in Austin left 3 dead and 14 wounded. Notably, the secretary said that
3:59 Iranian sleeper cells are not out of the realm of possibility. In fact, DHS is looking into them and has begun re vetting people let into the country during the Biden administration. And lastly,
4:11 the US Supreme Court gave good news to parents this week in a transgender case. Now the question of this case surrounded a California law that banned teachers from telling parents if their kids were using different
4:22 pronouns or so called gender identity at school. Well, the high court has sided with the parents as this case will continue to work its way through, but it does suggest that parents have a good chance of winning this
4:34 1. And those are today's stories. I'm Casey Harper. Tune in next time for more stories that matter.
4:52 From the heart of our nation's capital in Washington DC, bringing compelling interviews, insightful analysis, taking you beyond the headlines and sound bites into conversations with our nation's leaders and news
5:04 makers, all from a biblical worldview. Washington Watch with Tony Perkins starts now.
5:10 Based on the way the negotiation was going, I think they were gonna attack first, and I didn't want that to happen. So if anything, I might have forced Israel's hand, but Israel was ready
5:22 and we were ready. And we've we've had a a very, very powerful impact because virtually everything they have has been knocked out now.
5:31 How was president Donald Trump earlier today defending the strikes against Iran now in their fourth day? Welcome to this March third edition of Washington Watch. I'm Tony Perkins. Thanks so much for joining us. Well,
5:42 coming up, the state department is warning US citizens in over a dozen Middle Eastern countries to leave immediately as Iran targets American embassies. Montana senator Steve Daines, briefed by Pentagon officials
5:54 on Operation Epic Fury just moments ago, joins us with the latest on Iran and the Middle East. Plus, Chris Mitchell, Middle East bureau chief for CBN News, joins us from Jerusalem with the latest
6:06 on the impact of Iran's attacks on Israel. Well, Well, as mentioned, the state department is urging Americans in the Middle East to
6:18 evacuate. Now this comes after president Trump said the war in Iran in Iran could continue for weeks. Joining me now is Washington Sand reporter Casey Harper. So, Casey, was this call
6:30 to evacuate previously planned, or is this in response to Iran's attacks on surrounding Arab countries?
6:36 Yeah. Thanks, Tony. This was not planned. This is something that, is more expansive and more rapid than was expected. Even the president expressed surprise that Iran has been firing on US presence in many of these Gulf,
6:49 Arab states that might have actually stayed out of this war if Iran wasn't recklessly just firing on everyone within shooting distance, really. So now we have the state department urging Americans in 14 countries to
6:59 leave the region immediately, use whatever commercial transportation they can to get out of the way. Here is secretary of state Marco Rubio yesterday on the current dangers in that region.
7:10 You see the attacks they're conducting right now? They're attacking airports. They're attacking hotels. They're hitting not just military bases. They're attacking our embassies directly. They're attacking facilities that
7:21 have nothing to do with war or with military.
7:24 Now secretary Rubio urged Americans in the Middle East to register with the smart traveler enrollment program, which gives them, up to the date safety information, which it sounds like they're gonna need. Rubio said
7:35 earlier today that about 9000 Americans have already evacuated the Middle East since the beginning of the war as Washington is stepping up their efforts to help American citizens get out of the region.
7:46 Alright, Casey. Obviously, we'll continue to watch that. By the way, let me thank the hundreds of you who, yesterday, text the word Iran to 6 7 7 4 2 and joined the prayer
7:57 initiative and, took the pledge. And I wanna encourage you, if you haven't done that, text Iran, Iran, I r a n, to 6 7 7 4 2, And, and we'll give you those prayer
8:09 points to be praying. Alright, Casey. In other news here at home, the house oversight committee has released video from the depositions of former president Bill Clinton and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. What
8:20 are we learning from those?
8:22 Yeah. There's some very interesting footage coming out of congress right now. So the House Oversight Committee released hours of footage showing that the the Clintons being deposed about their ties to disgraced financier
8:33 and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. Now in each of their depositions, the Clintons both said they had no idea what Epstein was up to. At 1 point during the former president, Bill Clinton's hearing, he did say that
8:45 they had a right to ask these questions. Here here's an a clip of an exchange on whether Clinton ever visited Epstein's home.
8:53 Mister president, did you visit Jeffrey Epstein's house while you were president?
8:59 I do not remember doing that. I do not believe I did.
9:04 How do you explain this discrepancy?
9:06 Objection. Calls for him to speculate.
9:08 I can't I can't speculate. I but all I can tell you is I don't remember being there.
9:16 Now Clinton went on to say he never had any sexual contact with anyone introduced by Epstein or Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's associate. So more data coming out here, Tony, but it's kinda sad that we even have to talk
9:28 about this kind of thing.
9:30 But I don't think it's gonna go away anytime soon. No? Another topic, Casey. The US Supreme Court has blocked a restriction in California that, was preventing school
9:41 officials, from informing parents if their children were transitioning or pretending to be another gender. What can you tell us about this?
9:52 Yeah. This is a big, ruling from the Supreme Court on this case out of California. So the majority of the justices voted yesterday to stop this California law that really muzzled teachers and prevented them from telling
10:04 parents, hey, your child is trying to transition their gender using different pronouns, that kind of thing, and it came after a legal appeal. Now the court decided parents have the right to not
10:16 be shut out of participating in decisions regarding children's their child's mental health. The ruling was in favor of the parents, and it found importantly that they had both a religious right to be involved in their
10:27 kid, but also a parental right, which seemed to be separate and was an important, notice here, Tony. So a good win for parents. Kind of amazing the court had to weigh in on something like this, but parents should be glad
10:38 with the ruling.
10:39 Yes. I would say, Casey, that we are glad that they, using our pronouns, that, they made this decision. Alright. Thanks so much for, joining us and bringing us up to date.
10:51 Alright. Just moments ago, top Trump officials, administration officials, briefed members of the senate, on the US military operations in Iran. Joining us now to share what he can from that
11:03 briefing is senator Steve Daines of Montana. He serves on the senate foreign relations committee among other committees. Senator Daines, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks so much for joining us today.
11:15 Thanks, Tony.
11:16 Alright. What can you share with us from, the briefing that, you received from the Pentagon?
Pentagon Briefing on Operation Epic Fury
11:22 Well, Tony, I'm very proud of the team that's, leading this effort in Iran under the direction of president Trump. We had, of course, secretary of state Marco Rubio, secretary of war Pete Headseth. We had the head
11:34 of the CIA John Ratcliffe, as well as, head of joint chiefs of staff, Raisin Kane as president Trump says. It was a great briefing. I think we can be encouraged as the progress made. We're we're
11:46 just nearly 100 hours into this conflict, and, we're making good steady progress. I think it's also helped to remember, Tony, is when you look back at what's been going on for 47
11:57 years in Iran, there have just been 2 Ayatollahs. There was 1 there, the first 1 after the revolution when the Shah was removed. He was there for 10 years. The Ayatollah Ayatollah Khamenei that they took out, the
12:09 Israelis took out, just in the first strike of this campaign, was there for 37 years. That's the 47 year arc. So this is just absolutely a tremendous blow to the regime in
12:21 Iran. But importantly, as our forces are are methodically and in a very disciplined way working with Israelis and now other Arab countries who are asking for strike packages given that the Iranians now have
12:33 attacked virtually all of their Arab neighbors. They're going through taking out more and more of the launchers. This is important because as we say, it's better to to knock out, the archer than try and
12:45 knock out the arrows, that that wants to come flying in the air with the intercepts. The intercepts are doing an amazing job. We're seeing that both in Israel and around our our our Arab countries that the Iranians have
12:54 been targeting. But I think the name of the game here now is to need to increase the tempo, which we're gonna do. You're gonna see even more strikes, more aggressive, quicker tempo as we're working to literally
13:06 obliterate the launchers to ensure the Iranians do not have the capabilities to, have a nuclear program in the short term or the long term.
13:14 Speaking of that nuclear program, senator Daines, was there a red line? Was there was there a tipping point in which the administration said, we've gotta go?
13:25 Yeah. Well, I think you have
13:26 to step back and and realize the Iranians were moving as as fast as they could to continue to reconstitute their nuclear program through other means. And, of course, you could do that through acquiring technology from
13:37 adversaries, in in the region. But what was important is that the Iranians were gonna building more of their ballistic missiles. As we already have seen, these ballistic missiles are incredibly dangerous, and they have
13:48 about 3000 of them. They were on their way to build a significantly higher amount of these ballistic missiles. At some point, they would be able to overwhelm even our best air defenses. And so it was
14:00 important that the the strike was initiated before Iran got to a critical mass where at that point, you can't touch him without having severe retribution and harm, to not only the
14:12 allies there in the Middle East, but with reach all the way to the United States. And so the president, in my opinion, Trump made exactly the right call. You've had leaders over the years who have really worked in a
14:21 piece of strategy with Iranians. I mean, think of the failed policies of Barack Obama, shipping pallet loads of cash, trying to negotiate with these terrorists on the JCPOA that that nuclear deal. Nonsense. President
14:33 Trump made the right decision. He's, he's destroying their military capabilities. The navy is gone. Their air defenses will soon be gone, and we're gonna have free reign in the air over Iran with the Israelis
14:45 as well as other Arab, partners that now wanna join the fight. Perhaps other European partners wanna join the fight and completely destroy the military capabilities area in Iran, so they'll never ever have a
14:57 chance to reconstitute and build out a nuclear program. And, of course, it'll be up to the Iranian people at some point, that will want regime change. I think every 1 of us wants to see regime change. It'll be up to the
15:09 Iranian people to do so. But by taking out, the Ayatollah and now many of the successors, well, the military leaders and their scientists, they're in a position where the Iranian people could rise up and,
15:21 put a new government in place.
15:23 Senator Danes, you you mentioned the appeasement that we've seen in previous administrations. I would argue you almost go back to World War 2 since we've had a victory mentality of actually
15:35 winning a conflict. We've always kind of since, really since, Korean War. It's been more of a containment approach, and and never finishing the job. This
15:47 appears like the president is very clear that this job is going to be finished.
15:51 Well, Tony, you're you're a veteran. You've served. We thank you for that service. My father is 86. He was a marine also. My dad listened to the marine hymn when he goes to bed at night. So I got raised the right way,
16:02 Tony. But I tell you, think about a successful military endeavor has, number 1, clear objectives, which this administration has. Number 2, the use of overwhelming force, which is very important. You don't go in to a
16:14 conflict with with half hearted. It's immoral, to put our troops in harm way unless you are putting everything into that conflict. It's exactly what president Trump has done, amazing force posture right now, surrounding
16:24 Iran. And number 3 is the element of surprise, and that's exactly what happened. There was a brilliant strike when the Iranians were were taken out during the day. The the Iranian doctrine in terms of their defenses
16:35 assumed the Israelis would only strike during the night. They surprised him with a daytime strike. Why a daytime strike? Because the Ayatollah had assembled many of his, colleagues and his subordinates together in
16:47 1 place. That was a fatal mistake. The Israelis struck when the Iranians were not expecting it.
16:54 Senator, this is clearly different from what we've seen with Afghanistan, and other places. This is not a nation building exercise. This is, as you said, it's gonna be turned over to the people. But I I you're a member
17:04 of the foreign affairs committee. We just got about a minute and a half left. But I wanna ask you this question. Are you concerned about what other actors in that region might fill the void that was that will be created
17:16 by the absence of, Iran in that regime?
17:20 You're always concerned about that. Tony, I just did a swing through Africa here 2 weeks ago into Cote d'Ivoire, to Nigeria, into DRC in Rwanda. You're you're seeing the sub Saharan region of the world,
17:32 reconstituting of the, terror force, the Boko Haram, Al Qaeda, and ISIS. In fact, ISIS operational headquarters now are in sub Saharan Africa. And that's of course, you get your maps out. That's not very far from from
17:44 exact we're talking here with the from Iran. So you're always gonna be concerned about the wrong, leaders being put in place to succeed, the demise of the Ayatollah. But that's why I think there's gonna be a lot of work
17:55 done. The Israelis, I think, are are looking at that very, very carefully. That's not gonna be our decision. We wanna make sure that we have taken out the forced posture of the Iranians so they cannot use force against
18:05 the people. Remember, the people are pro Western. Many of them are pro American. It's it's this Ayatollah and this horrible evil regime that is the problem, and we want wanna pray and hope for the right kind of
18:17 change in power. And I'm I'm confident we'll do a lot better than we've had. Hopefully, it'll be the right long term stability, which we once had, you know, decades ago. Think about Iran being friendly to the United
18:28 States, a friend to Israel, a sign of Abraham Accords someday. That will be a game changer for our children and grandchildren.
18:34 Absolutely. Senator Steve Daines, always great to see you, my friend. Thanks so much for, for joining us.
18:39 Thanks, Tony.
18:41 And, as the senator said, we need to pray, so I encourage you, take the prayer pledge, text Iran to 6 7 7 4 2. Alright. We're back after this.
18:54 When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for 1 people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth
19:04 The separate and equal station to which the laws of nature
19:07 And of nature's god entitle them.
19:10 A decent respect to the opinions of mankind
19:12 requires that they should declare the causes
19:15 which impel them to the separation.
19:17 We hold these truths to be self evident
19:20 that all men are created equal.
19:22 That they're endowed by their creator.
19:24 With certain unalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men. Deriving their just powers
19:36 from the consent of the governed. Happy 200 and fiftieth.
19:40 Happy 200 and fiftieth.
19:41 Happy 200 and fiftieth.
19:43 Happy 200 and fiftieth birthday, America. May god bless America. You see, America has freedom for a purpose. The question
19:55 is, are we living by that purpose today? See, the founders understood we as a nation would be accountable to God for what he had granted to us. They
20:07 sought freedom for a purpose, and that freedom was given to us as a nation for that same purpose to serve God, to honor him, and to live as a people under
20:19 his authority.
20:21 At the 20 26 National Gathering for Prayer and Repentance in Washington DC, members of Congress, state leaders, evangelical leaders, and intercessors from across the nation
20:33 united as 1 voice in prayer.
20:36 Heavenly father, thank you so much for this gathering. We do repent, and we ask for your continued favor and blessing over our nation even when we don't deserve it.
20:45 I thank you that because of the shed blood and the glorious righteousness of your son, Jesus Christ, a sinner such as myself can boldly approach your
20:56 throne. You said that you helped the humble, and we're asking just now that you would help us, lord.
21:17 We pray that you humble us, help us to follow after you with all our hearts so that we can see righteousness exalted in this nation and this nation restored to you. We know this not by our power. It's not by our
21:29 might. It's by your spirit.
21:31 Freedom has a name. His name is Jesus. And freedom has a purpose. It is to honor and glorify you. We pray that we would return to that purpose. Amen.
21:52 Welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks for tuning in and making us a part of your afternoon. Alright. While Democrats are claiming that the president has launched a war with Iran that has no clear goal
22:04 or end, the Trump administration has laid out its objectives very clearly. I mean, I I don't hesitate to challenge the administration if, you know, they're
22:16 going down the wrong path. I think they've been very clear on this, and they've projected a 4 to 5 week timeline, which may end up being even shorter given the progress that has been
22:28 reported.
22:29 CENTCOM and a joint operations is carrying out a systematic destruction of their missile belt, destruction of their launchers, and destruction of their ability to make these, as well as the destruction of their
22:41 navy. From what I've been told by the Department of War, everything is on or ahead of schedule, and proceeding on these objectives. We have every confidence in the world that these objectives will be achieved.
22:52 And, of course, with secretary of state Marco Rubio. But still, despite all of that, Democrats remain opposed to this war, comparing it to conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. But
23:03 is Operation Epic Fury comparable to those campaigns? Joining me now to provide a military analysis of this is retired Brigadier General John Tigert. He is a
23:15 former assistant deputy undersecretary of Air Force for International Affairs. He is also the book, author of a recently released book, In God I Trust, Making Our National Motto, My Personal
23:27 Declaration. General, welcome back to Washington Watch. Thanks so much for, joining us.Show more
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