Transcription
Folks, the Iran situation is spiraling out of control, okay? It's getting worse and worse. We're hearing stories that now, you know, Trump's giving ultimatums and then the Iranians want to talk and then they don't want to talk. There's been a lot of talk of nuclear bombs going around. Benjamin Netanyahu does pretty much seem alive and the Iranians are threatening America. There's a lot going on.
Okay, so in this video, I'm going to break it all down for you. The first thing I want to show you is pretty hilarious. An Iran spokesperson has mocked Trump, flipping his catchphrase back at him, saying, "You're fired." Now, I'll be honest. The English on display in this video isn't really good enough to say that he got him, but they're at least trying to fight in the info war with a little bit of trolling.
"You are fired. You are familiar with this sentence. Thank you for your attention to this matter. The central headquarter of Katamia."
I mean, it was a good effort, right? It didn't really land. Not too funny. I'd like to hear what kind of quips Trump has in response to that. Um, but essentially, uh, there's apparently negotiations going on behind the scenes. So Trump has allegedly announced a specialized negotiation team that will be working on trying to settle uh settle this beef with Iran. Kushner and Steve Wood to do direct negotiations with the Iranians.
"Yeah. Well, we're in negotiations as it turned out and now you've seen what I said yesterday was exactly correct. We're in negotiations right now. Uh they're doing it along with Marco JD. We have a number of people doing it. And the other side I can tell you they'd like to make a deal. And who wouldn't if you were there? Look, their navy's gone, their air force is gone, their communications are gone. That's the biggest problem. It's very hard to communicate them between themselves."
So, what's interesting is he said that JD Vance might be involved in the talks. Now, what's really, really interesting is I was hearing rumors that JD Vance actually hated the war in Iran, that he thought it was a bad idea, that he didn't want to go in over there, and that he was livid this was going on. Partly because he didn't like what was going on, partly because he felt like it might toy around with his presidential race that he might be running in 2028. But, um, apparently, um, reports have come out that apparently even Iran are actually asking for J. D. Vance to be part of negotiations. Iran gives Trump an ultimatum on JD Vance.
Okay, I'm not wearing my glasses. I'm touching them like they're there. They're not even there. It's crazy, right? Says Iran said it's done dealing with the two emissaries President Donald Trump has tasked with leading negotiations in the Middle East. The country, which Trump begun striking over three weeks ago, is not keen on any more attempts at negotiations with Trump's special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Wickoff, or Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner, both of whom were leading the nuclear negotiations with Iran before the war. Iran now says it will only engage in negotiations with Vice President J. D. Vance.
According to a report in the Guardian, apparently he's not feeling it. Vance has been skeptical of US intervention in the Middle East throughout his political career. This is no doubt one of the worst things he's ever seen happen in his opinion. If he doesn't like wars in the Middle East, then this is a doozy. Says, "At the time that Trump launched his deadly war in Iran, the US and Iran were engaged in negotiations over the country's nuclear program. Since the war was launched, the Iranian regime has viewed those negotiations headed by Wickoff and Kushner as a front by the Trump administration to trick Iran into thinking they were negotiating in good faith when the US really just wanted to attack. We smoked your boss, basically is what happened. Okay, with the previous negotiating team, there's no chance," one diplomatic source told the Guardian. "The Iranian side regards the request for negotiations as another round of deception for the US-Israeli regime to find a loophole to aggravate the strikes again."
The source noted that Iran sees JD Vance as a more acceptable diplomatic figure than Wickoff and Kushner, especially as Vance is at his core a skeptic of US military action in the Middle East. Vance, a Marine who served in public affairs during the Iraq war, has traditionally been wary of US foreign intervention throughout his career in politics. If the negotiations are going to have any outcome, JD Vance should join the source totally. Outlet. With Wickoff and Kushner, nothing will come out of it. And we've seen that in the past. JD Vance might be able to save everybody. He might be able to save everybody. I'm not saying I'm like the guy. I'm not saying I dislike the guy. Don't know too much about him to be honest with you. But they're saying he might he might be able to might be able to get things sorted, man. Who knows?
Um, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif is pushing for his country to facilitate meaningful and conclusive talks between the US and Iran in Islamabad. He has spoken to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, uh, where they agreed on the urgent need for de-escalation, dialogue, and diplomacy. According to an official readout, subject to concurrence by the US and Iran, Pakistan stands ready and honored to be the host to facilitate meaningful and conclusive talks for a comprehensive settlement of the ongoing conflict. Sharif posted on X on Tuesday. The country is yet to be officially named as a host for any talks between the two sides. Other venues in Egypt, Turkey, and Qatar have been discussed, but the Guardian reported that Iran's preference was to have the talks in Islamabad.
They reached out to the White House over the weekend. Trump gave an ultimatum where he said he would obliterate Iran's power plants if it didn't open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours. The president's self-imposed timeline came and went and he walked back his threat, claiming to have been good in good and productive conversations with the Iranians. It's a victory in his opinion. Okay, that's that's a good way, that's a smart way of doing it. Give the ultimatum and then you say we're having great talks. This is I nailed this one.
Um, Iran has refuted Trump's claim and said no talks have transpired, calling Trump's claim an attempt to hashtag escape his recent threat on Iran's power infrastructure. Iran's closure of the strait has become a headache for the White House as gas and oil prices skyrocketed domestically. At the same time, the strait has become the strongest point of leverage for Iran as it fights the US.
Now, this is going viral on Reddit. Okay, people had their thoughts on this situation as I'm sure you're unsurprised. Just in, um, Iran tells the US it doesn't want to resume talks with Wickoff and Kushner, prefers negotiating with J. D. Vance. It's crazy. It says, "I always did wonder why Trump sends his shady friend and son-in-law instead of Marco Rubio, who's an official head of state. With Vance, the chances of Israel blowing up the spot are near zero, but you never know with those guys. Apparently, Kushner is setting up shady back door deals. Don't know anything about those. Send Vance to Iran to negotiate in person."
Now, that's an idea. Why would they negotiate with Kushner? I don't know what he has to do with the situation, but let's let's deploy a tactical Kushner. Okay. Very brave of them. Vance killed the last pope after all. I think at this point they're just messing with them. They know how stupid the administration is and how escalation will only result in more economic and PR issues for Trump. They have very little to lose since at this point they're operating like a cell network since they have no sitting leadership, whoever they is at this point. Okay. Interesting. Interesting.
So things are getting out of hand with this oil. All right. The orural is drying up. The Strait of Hormuz is closed and now the Philippines is going through it. The Philippines has declared a nationwide state of emergency due to a shortage of oil.
"Well, the economic fallout from the US-Israel-Iran war continues. The president of the Philippines, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., has declared a state of national energy emergency in response to the Middle East conflict and what he is calling an imminent danger that is posed to the country's energy supply. Let's take you live to Manila. We can join our Asia business correspondent, Saranjanna Tawari, who is there for us. What did the president say, Sarjana?"
"Yes, Lucy. This came in the form of an executive order which, as with the US, allows the government to take steps uh to take measures legally without having to go through uh Congress for approval. But this has really been bubbling under the surface. The Philippines has seen numerous price hikes since uh the conflict started in the Middle East. And uh one issue is that 98% of the Philippines oil supplies comes through the Persian Gulf. And so the country has really been suffering from everything from transportation to uh the price of rice, which has more than doubled as well because of course rice has to be transported from wherever it's imported from into the cities and out to the rural areas as well. There was another rate hike just today and that takes the price of diesel and uh petrol as well to more than double since the conflict started. So what does this uh executive order mean? Well, it gives the government powers to control the distribution of food. It also is able to control movement and so reduce the reliance on energy as much. And there's also a big question mark because there were demonstrations uh organized for this coming Thursday and Friday. Emergency powers generally mean that the government can stop those types of demonstrations, but we've not heard anything about that just yet."
"They're obviously protesting over the hardship that all of this is causing. Has there been any commitment from the president, Sarjanna, for actual for cash or for financial assistance for ordinary people?"
"Yeah, there's been subsidies. Um, there's been handouts of subsidies and long queues in order to get them, but you know, uh many drivers of buses, there are these open buses that you have here in the Philippines that most people commute on. They're very colorful. And it's it's estimated that in Manila alone, 9 million people use those every day. But the drivers that we spoke to said those subsidies are not enough to cover the rent of those buses and that they really need help with being able to increase prices uh fares for their customers. And that's something else that the government controls. So."
So look, pay attention to this. All right. This could be coming to your city, your town anytime soon. Energy emergency, energy lockdown. I've heard lock, I remember hearing lockdown. What was that all about? I can't really remember. Oh well, doesn't matter. It will be energy lockdowns next. Okay, that is what is that that's what they're priming you for here, people. That that's just keeping it real. Like they'll if if there's an energy shortage, if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, if the Middle East, you know, has to get by with 20% less oil or even more than they're expecting, that's going to be a big problem. Prices are going to go crazy. Fortunately, in the West, maybe we got enough money to not have to worry to the point where it's going to be fuel rationing, fuel shortages, and fuel lockdowns. But it is really scary that this is happening anywhere in the world as a direct result of what's going on in Iran. Literally emergency from Iran war.
So despite the ongoing talks of a peace settlement, the US is still moving forward with its plans to deploy additional troops into the region. And there's still whispers of a ground invasion of Iran on the table. More American troops, we're learning tonight, are heading to the Middle East to join the war with Iran. More than 1,000 from the 82nd Airborne Division, two sources familiar with the matter, tell NBC News they will soon deploy to the Gulf. This. As President Trump just tonight appeared to be already declaring victory. This war has been won.
At the exact time he was speaking, we filmed this. An Iranian cluster bomb exploding over Tel Aviv.
"We're actually talking to the right people and they want to make a deal so badly."
For now, the war is intensifying. Israel today announced new massive strikes on what it described as Iran's main production site for explosive material. US airstrikes aren't slowing down either, hitting around 500 targets a day. And Iran is still firing on Israel around the clock. Some missiles getting past air defenses. This one destroying a residential building in Tel Aviv.
"You can see behind me in the scene, we have a scene of a missile attack. The missile hits the asphalt, making a large crater."
But back channel diplomacy does appear to be taking shape. Pakistan today offered to mediate between the US and Iran. Two sources telling NBC News in-person negotiations could happen in the coming days.
But not everyone wants a quick exit. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu says Israel will keep attacking Iran and Lebanon until Israel's aims are achieved. And Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, Prince Muhammad bin Salman, has told President Trump that Iran is concerned about leaving Iran angry and capable of continuing to strike its neighbors in the region, according to a senior Saudi official. With no easy way out of this war, Richard Angel joins us now live from Tel Aviv. Richard, we're also seeing the injury count to US service members climb.
"Yep. Americans are getting killed. It is true. It's happening. Uh we are Tom. So so far 13 American service members have been killed in this war and according to a US official around 290 have been injured. Most of them were able to return to duty."
That's quite a lot. Okay. That is quite a lot. Now despite the uh you know the truths, not the tweets, the truths that have been put out there suggesting negotiations are going well. Apparently, Iran has officially rejected Trump's peace plan, and there has actually been a total breakdown of current diplomacy.
Iran is reportedly rejecting President Trump's 15-point plan to end this war. The regime is now responding with its own conditions for a ceasefire. We've got the back and forth coming as the Pentagon also prepares to deploy thousands of additional troops to the Middle East. President Trump has given Iran until tomorrow to open up that Strait of Hormuz and more strikes across the region continue to happen. Iran and Israel are exchanging waves of airstrikes. Israel's military saying that Iran has fired an average of 10 missiles a day at Israel. Let's get straight to international correspondent Robert Sherman joining us once again live from Tel Aviv with more on Iran's response, Robert, to this US plan.
"Yeah, hey there Marne. Well, this reporting is coming in from Iranian state television, although it is being backed up by diplomats here in the region in a more public manner in which the initial response from Iran has not been a positive one to the terms and the proposals laid out by the American side with Iran saying that they're not ready to end the fighting here in the region and that they will end it on their own terms, on their own timeline. And in terms of what they're looking for, what they believe are the five essentials in order to see them sunset the fighting here. Well, here's what's been laid out by uh state television in Iran. An end of the aggression and assassinations that have been targeting their leaders. Security guarantees in order to ensure that the war does not resume. Reparations for all the damages that have been caused by the strikes inside of Iran. It's look, all right, I understand why they want their reparations, but trust me, that's never ever going to happen. So, the fact that they've even put that in there basically is just saying that we don't want to play ball cuz Trump's never ever and forget Trump. No one's ever going to pay them reparations. A conclusion of war against Iran and resistance groups. So, you're thinking Hezbollah in Lebanon or some of these militant groups that operate out of Iraq as well that have been active here. And then Iran retains sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz. We even heard President Trump saying yesterday that that was not going to happen. So you can anticipate uh not going to be a positive response from the White House on this one. Now that said, you know, President Trump has given indications that he's given this leeway here for a couple of days and a pause on striking any energy infrastructure inside of Iran to allow these negotiations to take hold. But he has also said on the back end of that that if the negotiations fall through, he is ready, willing, and able to carry out those strikes. I would point out here, Maries, is that diplomacy is not dead here. We just heard from Egypt's foreign minister who addressed reporters a short short while ago and also addressed the Iranian response, saying that they believe that they need to continue working with Turkey and Pakistan who have been the other key mediators in all of this, continue pushing forward with diplomacy. The Egyptian side has been in contact with the White House today and has had a more positive uh response when it has come to the White House's involvement in order to try and negotiate with the Iranian side. Uh but certainly uh there there are a lot of elements here in which Iran has, you know, given a lot of these indications in the past that this is what they were looking for and they have not budged up to this point. So it all comes down to exactly how all these chips fall when the deadline comes in. But we do know mediators are still trying to push forward to try and bring both of these sides to the table formally here. Marty."
Whatever it takes to get everyone talking. Robert Sherman.
So, look, it's not looking too good. Okay. And basically the full details on the plan, you know, Trump had a plan. The plan was rejected. Okay. He said there's no negotiations with the US. They're not having any negotiations. They're not having it. All right. They're not agreeing to it. They've basically said that negotiations are not there. All right. Says, "The country is not negotiating with the US to end the war. It doesn't intend to do so." This came to after Donald Trump said that talks were ongoing and productive. Apparently, they're not. Okay. At one at one stage, he appeared to send a 15-point plan that the US reportedly passed on to Iran, and they're not feeling it. All right.
So, this is this is the points. Okay. According to Israel's Channel 12, for Trump's plan to be followed, Iran must fulfill a number of demands for it to end. They mostly center on the main rationale that US officials have given for starting the war. Stop building nuclear weapons. Um, an allegation that's not even been supported in which Iran has always rejected, and to eliminate the threat of its missile program. The proposals request that Iran must commit to never pursue nuclear weapons, pledge to dismantle nuclear facilities, and hand over the enriched amounts of uranium it possesses to the International Atomic Energy Agency, the UN nuclear watchdog, which is to monitor the issue going forward. Iran would have to limit its missile program in range and quality. They would have to stop funding regional proxies like Hezbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in Gaza, and the Houthis in Yemen. They would be required to reopen the Strait of Hormuz so it can function as a free maritime corridor. Um, this has led to a lot of fuel prices rising. International sanctions would be lifted on Iran if they do all of these things. Full sanctions were reimposed last November after Iran suspended inspections of its nuclear facilities in the wake of Israeli and US bombing of several of its nuclear sites and bases. Basically, the White House never confirmed the full plan, but there are elements of truth to it. But some stories I read were not entirely factual. Iran's foreign minister said some ideas have been proposed to their senior leaders and if a position needs to be taken, it will be determined. Doesn't sound like they're feeling it. Okay. And we already heard what they said. They want all of this stuff to end. And it's not looking good. It's not looking good.
Okay. Trump said Iran was desperate for talks and that Iranian negotiators have given the US a very significant prize, a present related to oil and gas and the Strait of Hormuz. He didn't give any more details. I did see that clip and I was wondering what on earth was that all about. Okay. And it's not looking it's not looking too productive. So reports would suggest now, this is what's really crazy, that Israel isn't quite fully aligned with the US negotiation strategy because Trump has basically finalized aggressive military alternatives if diplomacy fails. No doubt Israel wants that to happen.
"You just spoke with an Israeli leader. Is Israel on board with the US seeking this diplomatic offering?"
"Well, Anna, the most important person in Israel who we haven't really heard from with much clarity yet is obviously Prime Minister Netanyahu. Not totally clear where he stands on this and where he stands depends I think on the substance of any kind of agreement that the Trump administration is proposing to arrive at with Iran. But I did speak today uh with a Likud member of the Knesset, so that is Netanyahu's party, because I wanted to get a sense of what the party line might be on this question. I'll play you a little bit of the interview and we'll talk about it on the other side. Take a listen."
"If this is how the war ends, then of course we all want this war to end. If right now we see a weak Iran that is begging for some rope to be saved and we give them that rope, then that would be a tragedy. The real test will not be uh Will they they pause the nuclear weapons program until the end of Trump's term? The real test will be long-term. Will we see this threat removed from the table? From the perspective of many Israeli officials, this war is not over until the regime in Iran has fallen completely. They are highly skeptical of the notion that Iran will abide by any kind of agreement that it makes with Trump regarding its nuclear weapons program, regarding its ballistic missiles program. But at the same time, another thing that uh that uh MK Lo, member of the Knesset, that you just heard from, told me is that they are also uh trying their best to trust Donald Trump in this arrangement. They realize that they need the United States in this war. So they're having to walk this relatively thin line between expressing skepticism of any kind of premature ending to the war, what they would describe as a premature ending to the war, while also being differential to the United States and to the administration of Donald Trump whom they realize again they need to achieve uh what they say they want to achieve in this conflict."
On. David Norya and Inam Rashid, thank you both for your reporting. Peter, President Trump says Iran "gave us a present." We played that clip there at the top. He says it involves the oil and gas that goes through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran is letting some non-hostile tankers get through. So, could that be the gift that Iran gave to the US that the president was referring to? What do you know?
"It could be. Look, you know, President Trump is looking for an off-ramp here. He's willing to characterize things uh in a way that will seem most advantageous to him so he can take a relatively minor concession, describe it as a really big gift in order to justify any potential peace deal if he decides to make one. We don't know they're going to make one. We don't know that that's where he's uh heading, but he certainly has a lot of incentive at this point to try to find a way to wrap this up domestically. This has been a real problem for him. Economically, it's been a real problem for him. Uh and the end goal are still relatively uh you know, unclear. So I I think we take everything he says point uh in the context of the negotiation and and and recognize that we don't really know everything that's going on right now."
If the US is trying to wrap this up, some of the actions seem to point the other direction. General, we've learned the 82nd Airborne is now being called up. That's on top of all the Marines that we've reported on that have been deployed. Do you deploy a force like this 82nd Airborne Division as a contingency plan or only if you plan to use them?
"Well, I think the United States is moving in three directions simultaneously. First, obviously, we would like to have a diplomatic settlement. Secondly, the United States is going to continue the air campaign as vigorously as it can, not only against the targets of the missiles and the drones and so forth, but also targets along the uh the Persian Gulf, especially around the Strait of Hormuz. So, the air campaign's underway. It's not going to slack off. If anything, they're going to intensify it. And uh if everything else fails, uh I'm sure there is an option to put ground troops in to seize the islands uh that are blocking the uh the exit from the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz. So, uh yes, uh this is not just posturing. Uh I'm sure there are plans and planning underway and preparations and probably for a lot more troops than this, Anna."
And beyond the Strait, beyond the islands like Kark Island that we've discussed related to the oil, general. Historically Iran's terrain has helped protect it dating back all the way back to Mark Antony and Cleopatra when we're talking about the mainland. Experts believe Iran's nuclear material is hidden deep underground inside its mountain ranges. Is this the sort of thing the 82nd Airborne paratroopers are trained to handle?
"If we knew the location that we were going after on the nuclear materials, we could insert some elements of the 82nd in to form a security perimeter so special forces could have the time and the freedom of action to actually excavate and get this nuclear material out. So they."
They're talking about sending in the troops and the troopers to get hold of their nuclear sites hidden in the mountains. It's wild. All right. I hope JD Vance can save us. I don't I don't know if I'm I don't know if I'm feeling good about putting, you know, the trust of my future and our children, our children's children's future into the hands of Mr. JD Vance, but hey, we can only hope. Okay, I'll keep you guys updated. It sounds like gas prices are going parabolic. Um, there's definitely a few reasons to be scared, but also I'm not really feeling the nuclear threat like I was feeling a few weeks ago. There was definitely a little feeling of like, oh [ __ ] we're going to get drone strikes in London, California, you know, New York. Like, is that I'm not too worried about that now. And they were saying, are you going to attack California with drones? I don't think they've got it in them to be honest with you. I don't think they got it in them. And I think that everybody wants this to end. Everyone's had a little bit too much. It's gone a little bit too far. And I do think this will end soon. I think Trump will find a way to untangle this mess in the next couple of weeks. That's just my opinion, okay? But we'll see. But I'll let you guys know if I find out. But for now, I'm out of here, folks. I was a little bit late and delayed today. Had a few errands to run. Uh I'm going to do another video probably tomorrow. I'm going to do a video for my second my fourth channel after this. So you won't see that for a little while. But anyway, thank you for watching this one. I'll see you guys in the next video. And for now, I'm out, guys.