Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), in an interview with Steve Bannon on “War Room,” asked does Iran respond to the U.S. strike on their nuclear facilities by stopping development of a weapon or do they respond by developing a weapon.

STEVE BANNON: Well, I hope you can, because I think it’s pretty open now, that I hope you can ask a couple of pointy questions of John Ratcliffe and the CIA, because I think the CIA, and they’ve been pretty open in other intelligence services, came to a different conclusion over those couple of days and said that there was some emergency that had to go, Israel had to go on that Thursday night, Friday morning, in fact, and BB came on Fox on Sunday night with Brent Baer and said, yeah, they’re making a surge, but they’re 12 to 13 months away, which is a mantra he’s had since 1996. So I hope that you ask, I think the intelligence community did with the exception of John Ratcliffe and the CIA, and I hope that you ask some pointy questions and make sure we get, we have to get to the bottom of this. This is why I think the American people get so skeptical of the president and the military takedown of what the apparatus they had was magnificent, but you’re putting people in harm’s way. And I think the American people who backed President Trump want to make sure they get all the information. I mean, aren’t they, aren’t they even, even in a non-classified form, because you don’t want to give up sources and methods, but somehow we have to get to this thing of how the intelligence community had one view, and then all of a sudden we hear that the CIA and others had another view, sir. SEN. RAND PAUL: Yeah, I agree completely. And I will ask those questions in the hearing if it gets to me. The hearings are difficult because there could be as many as 80 or 90 senators and they’ll go around the room for an hour or two and then they’ll say time’s up. So you don’t always get a question, but I will try to, to ask that question. And what you’ve just said is, is, is, is accurate and true is that most of this discussion doesn’t have to be classified. In fact, when I go to these classified hearings, most of the things that are said are really not classified. They never mentioned names of sources or where we have people. And frankly, I’ve always said I would prefer not to hear original sources. I don’t want to endanger these people by ever letting something slip that might endanger our people. But the discussion over whether or not we had evidence where it’s gathered is immaterial, whether or not we had evidence that something had materially changed. I don’t believe so. I think Israel struck out of a, this idea that they had the least resistance they’d had in a long time, Hezbollah had been decimated, Yemen is somewhat in check, the Houthis are somewhat in check. And I think that they believed Iran to be weak enough and, you know, the assessment looks pretty, pretty keen that they were weak enough that both Israel and the United States were able to get in and out unscathed. But it really isn’t the end of the question. It’s the beginning of the questions now. Did something change in that intelligence? But also the question will be, does this stop them? And I think it’s an open question. Does this stop them from getting a nuclear weapon or does it spur them to get a nuclear weapon? And I think that’s an open question we’ll find out over time. STEVE BANNON:We played, we’re the only broadcaster, only streaming service that played in its entirety. Lindsey Graham yesterday, I think 40 minutes on the Senate floor, making an impassioned case for regime change. We only got you for another couple of minutes. But are most of your colleagues undertaking the assault from Fox News nonstop or most of your colleagues in the Senate with the president of the United States and we will not engage in regime change here, sir? SEN. RAND PAUL: I would say Lindsey Graham is on the extreme war side or neoconservative side of things. And he always has been. I don’t think the president has ever been there. And in my conversations with both of them present in a small group, the president has always sort of chided Graham for being too far out there on the limb of trying to intervene everywhere all the time and be involved in every war. And I don’t think that’s the president’s natural inclination. I do appreciate that President Trump is now saying to Israel in fairly forceful words that they need to adhere to the ceasefire. I hope that will stick and I hope the president will stick that this is all we’re doing and no more. I still have a constitutional question with the way it was done. But I hope for the best. I mean, I don’t want our country to be involved in another or mired down in another Middle East war. And I think Iran would put both Iraq and Afghanistan to shame and being such a large country. And there’s no way U.S. troops could occupy it. There’s no way Israel could occupy it in any in any reasonable fashion for any reasonable time. Militarily, we’re incredibly superior. And really, the last week has shown that unmatched is our military and Iran is nothing to stand up to it. But it’s still an open question how they respond. Do they respond in a chastened way where they stop nuclear development or do they respond in a headlong push towards the bomb? And I think that really is an unknown.

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