Rich Valdés This is America · ABC Recording Network™

Strait, Space, Stolen

April 10, 2026·1 hr 5 min·5 clips

Iran demands control of the Strait of Hormuz and billions in war reparations in a tense 10-point framework.

1. Rich Valdez hosts a Wednesday night national town hall conversation on his show This is America, described as powered by politiweek.com. 2. Valdez is identified as a former Christie administration official, Washington Times columnist, and self-described 'liberty-loving Latino' based in the United States. 3. The episode's through-line is Valdez's argument that Iran's ceasefire offer is a tactical pause rather than a genuine peace move, and that Trump is a deal-maker and builder who is using every diplomatic channel before escalating further. 4. Valdez reads Iran's full 10-point public ceasefire framework, including demands for Strait of Hormuz toll authority, the termination of all IAEA resolutions that enable international nuclear inspections, and billions in war reparations. 5. He notes that Iran's point ten — a ceasefire including Israel's Lebanon operations against Hezbollah — was rejected by Trump as a 'separate skirmish' not covered by the deal framework. 6. Valdez argues that Iran is like a boxer in a clinch: using the ceasefire request to recover, regroup, and sell the pause domestically to 90 million Iranians who he says are close to launching a coup against the regime. 7. He describes Iran as internally fractured between factions willing to cut a commercial deal — like Qatar or the UAE — and hardliners who 'like killing women for not wearing their hijab' and were 'bred for this conflict.' 8. Valdez endorses Trump's Truth Social post declaring 'Operation Epic Fury a capital-V military victory' that 'dismantled one of the world's largest militaries using less than 10% of America's total combat power.' 9. He shares a story about his friend Ruben, a Cuban-American businessman whose income dropped by two-thirds after Trump tariffs destroyed his business, but who says he will wear a MAGA hat if Trump topples the Cuban regime. 10. Valdez argues Trump could leverage 80,000 US troops stationed in Europe by threatening to withdraw them from NATO and redeploy them to secure the Strait of Hormuz, then charging oil-dependent nations a security fee. 11. He suggests a possible deal outcome in which the US maintains a permanent military presence in Iran — framing it as a 'new port authority' or long-term lease — in exchange for helping Iran rebuild rather than paying reparations. 12. Valdez plays audio of Trump calling the Artemis 2 lunar crew in orbit, during which an astronaut describes seeing a solar eclipse from around the moon and says the crew is excited to see humanity become 'a two-planet species.' 13. He argues the $4.1 billion Artemis 2 mission was a waste because it orbited the moon without a moonwalk, a landing, or any surface activity, contrasting it unfavorably with Apollo missions from 1969 and 1972. 14. Valdez calls out NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman by name and says he would find astronauts willing to accept the risk of a surface landing, questioning why Apollo-era achievements cannot be matched with modern technology. 15. He plays a bit by comedian Guy Gully in which Gully tells a liberal comedian that his opinion is on 'opinion replacement therapy' and is now a 'trans fact — just like a biological fact, it just can't have fact babies.' 16. Valdez plays a viral Instagram video by an account called Iron Prime featuring a 40-year-old woman with two children, aged 11 and 7, who is crying in her car and saying she 'fell for' the feminist promise that women could have a career and family simultaneously. 17. He interprets the woman's video as evidence that she was 'built and called to be a wife and a mom' and that corporate feminism left her disconnected from what she personally values. 18. The show is formatted as a late-night radio and podcast hybrid with commercial break bumpers, call-in prompts at 877-VALDEZ-1, social media references, and Valdez narrating from a monologue style with occasional clips and audio inserts. 19. Listeners who prefer opinionated conservative commentary on current political events, US foreign policy, and cultural debates will connect with this episode. 20. Listeners who find partisan political monologues, commentary on gender politics, or US conservative viewpoints on Iran and NATO objectionable will not enjoy this content.

As heard by us

A brisk, conversational episode that threads Iran, domestic news, and Artemis 2 into a single live-wire run-through.

The episode moves from the Iran framework and the dispute over whether the Lebanon skirmish belongs in the deal, then turns to domestic legal and state-level stories before ending with the president's call to the Artemis 2 crew.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

If you want the news unpacked with faith and a live-radio pulse, press play.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Rich Valdés This is America