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Ted Cruz: “Iran's influence has grown dramatically.”

Featuring: Ted Cruz, Republican | U.S. Senate, Texas

A Message to the Iranian People: You Can Change the World Right Now, plus WHY it Matters For America

Published January 12, 2026 | Video Starts at 04:53

Under Joe Biden, American foreign policy, like Jimmy Carter was weak. It was inept, and it encouraged the bad guys. But, but one of the things to understand, Ben, between 1979 and today, Iran's influence has grown dramatically. Iran, the leaders of Iran, the so called Supreme Leader, I don't call him that, he's an Ayatollah. He calls himself the Supreme Leader. (04:53–04:57)

CLAIM

Asserts that Iran's influence has significantly increased over time.

This is an excerpt from a raw transcript. The assertions have not been audited or verified. Tap the video to view the source footage and understand the context.

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“Joe Biden, the Democrats flowed over $100 million to the Ayatollah and Iran.”
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“The Ayatollah also has hired hitmen trying to murder President Trump.”
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“We are prosecuting hitmen that have been arrested in connection with [the plot to murder President Trump].”
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“The IRGC is responsible for a minimum of 593 murders of American servicemen and women.”
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“Many of the drones being used, by the way, also by Russia against the Ukrainian forces in Ukraine are manufactured in Iran.”
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“Elon has put Starlink up for free for the people of Iran.”
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“The Islamic regime right now is literally broadcasting Tucker Carlson interviews in, in Persian on their 24 hour news channel.”
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“There are over a million people rising up on the streets of Iran.”
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“Many of the drones used against American forces are manufactured in Iran.”
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“Many of the IEDs that in Iraq were used against our servicemen and women [were manufactured in Iran].”
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“The Biden administration claimed that their number one priority was for Ukraine to win the Ukraine war, and yet they were flooding billions…”
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“More than 1 million Iranians are rising up on the ground. They're rising up in every major city across Iran.”
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“Prior to 1979, Iran was not a theocratic state. It was a secular state.”
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“Iran completely and totally lost [the 12 Day War].”
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“Israel systematically decapitated the Iranian military. They took out all their air defenses.”
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“They took out all their senior military leaders. They took out the senior leaders of the IRGC, they took out their nuclear scientists.”
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“President Trump order[ed] B2s to fly from the middle of the United States all the way around the world to drop bunker buster bombs on Iran's…”
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“We dropped the equivalent of one third of a nuclear weapon on those three nuclear facilities, utterly destroyed them.”
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“Flew all the way around the world and came back home with zero American casualties.”
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“The Iranian regime, it shut down the Internet. It has a TV blackout.”
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