Shadowing Practice: Iran's supreme leader issues new threat against US - Learn English Speaking with Video
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Welcome back here on Live Now from Fox.
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It is 1035 on the East Coast, Stan 735 on the West Coast.
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My name is Josh Breslow, and there on the right -hand side of your screen,
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you can see a live look over the Capitol building in D .C.
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As I remind you that all throughout the day, we are going to have campaign events on both sides of the aisle,
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and we'll be dipping in
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and out of those as we bring you everything the candidates have to say in the last push ahead of the elections,
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which, as you can see there on the bottom right -hand side of your screen, the polls, the first polls,
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I should say, open over in New Hampshire in two days, 13 hours, 23 minutes, and about 44 seconds.
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Right now, though, I do want to take you out to some breaking news
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that we are following out of the Middle East.
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As Iran's supreme leader issuing another threat against the U .S
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and Israel via social media and that happening just a short time ago,
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A long statement attributed to Mashtab Ahamany appeared on his X page this morning, and the remarks in part say,
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quote, should Iran's enemies resume military or terrorist attacks, it will be the armed forces of the Islamic Republic
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and the Iranian nation that will determine when and under what conditions those attacks will end.
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Any level or type of threat must be met with an immediate, impactful and geographically unrestricted response, end quote.
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Again, that is just part of the statement there from Ashtabah Hamini, who has not been seen since he was named as the
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new supreme leader after his father was killed at the start of Operation Epic Fury all the way back in late February.
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In the meantime, a U .S delegation expected to join
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Iranian officials for direct talks in Doha today.
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That is according to Iran International English,
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as Barack Rabid with Axios reports that Qatari mediators held talks in Tehran Friday for about 12 hours or so,
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trying to restart those negotiations between the U .S and Iran.
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President Trump has said strikes on Iran could continue after Tuesday's midterm elections if a deal is not reached.
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Right now, I want to bring in Jonathan Saieh at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies as we cover all those breaking developments.
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Jonathan, thank you so much, as always, for being here with us today.
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Hi, Josh.
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Always a pleasure joining your show.
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And we definitely appreciate it.
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First off, these new threats here are just coming in from Ashtabah Hamini.
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He is, of course, the supreme leader in Iran.
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But I really should say the statements attributed to him because we have not heard or seen from him.
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So what do you kind of make of those threats?
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Well, you're right.
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We haven't heard from him since the United States and Israel jointly eliminated his father
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and a lot of his close ones and loved ones.
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And we have to remember, this is a regime that's driven by revenge, more than rational thinking, more than nation -building.
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What really drives the Islamic Republic nowadays is increasingly paranoia.
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But more importantly, that wasn't the case in the past, is revenge against the Trump administration and as they frame it against the American people.
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So that's what the regime is thinking.
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But the timing is also significant.
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This renewed threats that, as the supreme leader allegedly noted, said it would not be limited to a strict geography,
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meaning, of course, they again would regionalize the war, if not take it a bit further, maybe use their Houthi militias to close the bubble,
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Mendeb, maybe again attack mainland Europe like they have in the past.
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So options on the table amid when the United States reached out again for negotiations, for talks.
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So again, once you see the supreme leader, the highest authority, issue such threats amid a diplomatic meeting, I think really speaks volumes in itself.
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And I think the last point on
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that is we've seen
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this scenario play out about three times specifically with the U
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.S trying to reach out to a different regime official that is supposedly close to the supreme leader.
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It was first the parliament speaker, then it was the head of the IRGC, and now the letter that was sent from J .D.
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Vance actually went to the secretary of the Supreme National Defense Council of the Islamic Republic.
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But what we see time and time again is the regime does not moderate its behavior,
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regardless of who is in charge or who do we think calls the shot.
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Ultimately, the strategy of escalation to extract concessions, not to compromise, is really very evident across the board with the Islamic Republic.
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I'm going to pop this up coming in, and I mentioned this kind of off the top, but it's from Barack Ravid over at Axios.
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He has a lot of sources, just about everywhere.
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And he says
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that Qatari mediators held talks in Tehran for more than 12
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hours Friday in an effort to reach a deal to restart direct negotiations between the U .S
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and Iran and avoid an outbreak of war after the midterms.
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That is according to diplomatic sources.
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The discussions continuing today, Saturday, of course, and why it matters, Thank you.
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The U .S is now just days away from a possible military operation
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that would inflict enormous damage on Iran and likely lead to retaliatory strikes against Israel and a host of Gulf countries.
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Of course, Jonathan, that's what you were mentioning there.
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Now, a diplomatic source said Qatari mediators were in regular contact with the White House during Friday's day -long session,
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again lasting there for about 12 hours.
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What needs to happen for a deal to be reached
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and to avoid any more kind of military conflict or an escalation again of sorts?
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That is such a fair question.
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But first, let's not forget Doha's role here.
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So there were two countries primarily trying to save the Islamic Republic from collapse.
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One of them is Qatar.
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The other one is, of course, Pakistan, both that have strong Islamist ties to begin with.
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So it's troubling that we have to rely on such allies to have outreach to an adversary,
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which it's really hard to see the blurred line between the two.
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But to your excellent question, negotiations really come down to leverage versus upper hand.
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So if you are sitting in the White House currently, you look at how the region is playing out,
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you see that Iran overplayed its hand on the Strait of Hormuz to the point
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that the flow has actually returned to pre -war supplies more or less, again, is not quite excellent yet.
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But again, you see Iran's declining influence over this trade, and they thought that's their number one leverage.
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And of course, you have the naval blockade that's crushing the Islamic Republic's economy
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and restricting regime officials' access to cash flow and, of course, weapons procurement.
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That's going to be critical.
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So on the U .S side, really, the naval blockade, The economic sanctions are doing the job.
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So it's really a question of what would the military strikes seek to achieve is, I guess, one way of looking at it.
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And of course, from the Islamic Republic side,
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they have everything really to lose because they don't have control over the strait as much as they used to.
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Their economy would turn into an existential crisis for them.
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Any sanctions relief for them might be a plus.
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But again, let's not forget, there was a deal in place in May that enabled them to repatriate funds and actually revive their economy,
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and they deliberately broke it.
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So this is a regime that has maximalist demands.
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And the last point on that, when it comes to the prospects of a potential military strike,
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I know some of the rhetoric is specifically mentioning a limited strike with increased intensity.
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Now, we've seen the United States attack the southern part of Iran by the Persian Gulf numerous times.
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Sometimes we see them take out launchers, and I hear the same areas be repeated.
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So if it's going to be another attack similar in scale, similar in targeting, but maybe more increased in scale,
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I fail to see how that would moderate the Islamic Republic's stance.
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I think what we are looking at is whether their targeting would change, if they would go after maybe internal security infrastructure.
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But it's seeming like they might be going after some of the energy facilities, oil and power, to really capitalize on domestic strain against the regime.
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But like I said, negotiations are repeating the same failures as we've seen in the past few months.
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So it's really about the optics of a potential renewed conflict after the midterms.
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And Jonathan, what are you going to be watching for?
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I mean, you touched on it there, but we have so much that we're watching and have been now for months upon months.
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What are you going to be watching for?
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And what should folks out there who are kind of following all of this be watching for?
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The bigger theme here is that one, Israeli elections did not lead to anything decisive,
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which means Benjamin Netanyahu is going to be dealing with the Islamic Republic for at least a few months.
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So that's on the Israeli side.
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Iranians were watching that closely.
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And now they know they still have to deal with the prime minister that is very much adamant about regime change.
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Now of course, after the midterms, it's going to be a similar scenario for Trump in a sense that the two crucial leaders,
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Israeli and American, that were leading the front against the Islamic Republic, at this point do not have any political restraint on them,
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which means now the way is really paved.
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In two years, it's still quite a long time.
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And what I'm looking for is, should there be renewed strike?
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And it seems like it's looking increasingly likely.
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And it seems like the latest letter from J .D.
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Vance was more or less an ultimatum, more than anything.
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But I'm looking at the nature of the targeting, if that's going to change and let's say we even take out some of the energy infrastructure,
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is there enough momentum and is there enough effort from the White House
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and Israel to actually back protesters if they take place?
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Because the last point on that
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that I'll make is let's say the situation inside Iran crumbles to the point of absolute chaos.
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But if the United States and Israel are not prepared to effectively capitalize on it,
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that's not going to change Tehran's behavior because they think they can just kill their way through.
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And I'm sorry if I sound like a broken record, but we see the same themes reappearing, which means something might be wrong.
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That's why I think the nature of targeting should change with sufficient backing of the Iranian people.
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And I mean, you say broken record, but in all reality, this is what we're hearing time and time again.
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So that's not what it is.
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It's just what we're hearing.
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Jonathan, thank you so much for being here.
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Anything we missed that you want to make sure to mention about any of this before I let you go?
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I think we covered all critical parts.
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Sorry, it comes down to really the Israeli elections and how they're going to turn out in the next few months.
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I think Iran was watching that very, very closely.
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But the facts remain in the next few months.
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I think they have to deal with Netanyahu in the time being.
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All right, Jonathan Saie at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
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Thank you so much for being here with us.
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We definitely appreciate it.
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Thank you.
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And you are taking a live look over the Strait of Hormuz at this hour.
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Again, the reds, the greens, they all represent the different vessels that are there in the strait traveling.
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Of course, if you see an arrow, it means it's moving.
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But if you see a circle not moving, it's remaining stationary.
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Now, also important to note that these are just the ships that have their transponders on.
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So you have to imagine there are quite a few of them there that you're not seeing on this map.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This speaking lesson is built on the video “Iran's supreme leader issues new threat against US”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: Islamic, Iran, regime, Republic. This video has 151 sentences and 2089 words to shadow. The speech runs for 11:06. The speaker talks fast, about 188 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 84% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| regime noun | /ɹəˈʒiːm/ | Mode of rule or management. |
| negotiation noun | /nɪˌɡəʊ.ʃiˈeɪ.ʃən/ | The process of achieving agreement through discussion. |
| strait noun | /stɹeɪt/ | A narrow channel of water connecting two larger bodies of water. |
| diplomatic adjective | /ˌdɪpləˈmætɪk/ | Concerning the relationships between the governments of countries. |
| renew verb | /ɹɪˈnjuː/ | To make (something) new again; to restore to freshness or original condition. |
| infrastructure noun | /ˈɪnfɹəˌstɹʌkt͡ʃə/ | An underlying base or foundation for a building, organization, or system. |
| increasingly adverb | Increasing in amount or intensity. | |
| poll noun | /poʊl/ | A survey of people, usually statistically analyzed to gauge wider public opinion. |
| revenge noun | /ɹəˈvɛnd͡ʒ/ | Any form of personal, retaliatory action against an individual, institution, or group for some alleged or perceived harm or injustice. |
| moderate adjective | /ˈmɑdəɹət/ | Not excessive; acting in moderation. |
| naval adjective | /ˈneɪvəl/ | Of or relating to a navy. |
| scenario noun | /sɪˈnɛəɹioʊ/ | An outline or model of an expected or supposed sequence of events. |
| amid | /əˈmɪd/ | In the middle of; in the center of; surrounded by. |
| leverage noun | /ˈlɛv.(ə.)ɹɪd͡ʒ/ | A force compounded by means of a lever rotating around a pivot. |
| attribute noun | /ˈæt.ɹɪˌbjut/ | A characteristic or quality of a thing. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| come down to verb | To reach by moving down or reducing. |
| look over verb | To check quickly; to make a brief or cursory visual inspection of. |
| take out verb | To remove. |
| play out verb | To play (a game etc.) to its conclusion. |
| reach out verb | To extend one's hand(s) forward; to reach for something. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | must be met · has not been seen · was killed |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | has not been seen · has said · have not heard |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 18 contractions and reduced forms, such as I'm, we're, we've. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: regime /ɹəˈʒiːm/, negotiation /nɪˌɡəʊ.ʃiˈeɪ.ʃən/, sufficient /səˈfɪʃənt/, crucial /ˈkɹuː.ʃəl/, crush /kɹʌʃ/
- Long words — get the stress right: negotiation /nɪˌɡəʊ.ʃiˈeɪ.ʃən/, diplomatic /ˌdɪpləˈmætɪk/, infrastructure /ˈɪnfɹəˌstɹʌkt͡ʃə/, primarily /ˈpɹaɪ.mə.ɹə.li/, eliminate /ɪˈlɪm.ɪ.neɪt/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like regime, negotiation, strait.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.