Transcription
Yesterday, Iran accused Donald Trump of spreading fake news about potential peace negotiations. Trump made the peace talks pronouncement as he backed away from a threat, the bombing of Iranian energy sites if Thrron failed to guarantee safe passage for oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz. Trump has now given Iran until Friday.
"We have had very, very strong talks. We'll see where they lead. We have major points of agreement. I would say almost all points of agreement."
That seems a little bit difficult to imagine given how far apart the two sides have been on a number of key issues with Iran's plans for some kind of a nuclear program. What the United States and Israel say is a nuclear weapons program. The United States and Israel have been saying that Iran has to get rid of that entirely. Iran has resisted. On the other hand, Iran has said the United States and Israel have to promise not to attack again. They have to guarantee that and they have to have some sort of sanctions relief on the economic side. There's no sign really that they have gotten any closer on that.
Donald Trump has sent his two main envoys out to talk to people. Yesterday he said that they've been talking to Iranian officials. There is some sign that Steve Witkoff, one of those officials, has spoken to the Iranian foreign minister on this issue over the last few days. Jared Kushner is apparently also involved, according to Trump. But again, there doesn't seem to be any advancement on this. And other American officials are saying that if anything, these are still in the very early stages, these talks, that it's not nearly as close as Trump suggested yesterday.
In terms of other people who could be involved, we're hearing that Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt have all offered some sort of help, some sort of mediation here. Also the suggestion that some of the countries that used to be involved in mediation in the Middle East, the Qataris for instance and the Saudis too, they are now targets in this war and they have much more at stake and they might not be in the right position to actually mediate because they have their own positions as to whether this war should continue or end.
Israel is really reluctant to move toward negotiations or really anything that is going to stand in the way of what they consider to be total victory, which means taking out the regime in Iran, taking out its weapons production facilities and all kinds of things, including nuclear capabilities, ballistic missiles, and the ability to support various proxy groups in the region. Israel has been working its way through the top leadership in Iran, assassinating them one by one. Just yesterday, they killed two of Iran's nuclear scientists. Israel is showing no sign of moving anywhere toward some sort of negotiated settlement. It in fact is ramping up its attacks on Iran.