00:00So Reza, before we were talking about what the official line was on these explosions,
00:06I want to ask you, are the people likely to believe the official line?
00:10Because there's been a lot of rumors swirling about on social media about what's been happening, hasn't there?
00:18This is an unfortunate reality in this conflict between Iran and the West and the realities on social media
00:25that there is a psychological warfare going on that involves a lot of inaccurate reports,
00:32unverified reports, governments that are not credible.
00:37So because of that, it is reasonable to expect that a lot of people are still skeptical
00:42and don't believe what fire officials and state media and Iran are saying.
00:50Obviously, it's been a week where Iranians have seen threats from Washington,
00:54the headlines of a possible war.
00:57So any type of explosion like this is going to rise, heightened tensions,
01:01and that's exactly what happened.
01:04Initially on social media, there was a lot of reports after this,
01:07especially the explosion in Bandar Abbas, that this was a military strike
01:11targeting Admiral Ali Reza, Tank Siri, Commander of the Revolutionary Guard, Naval Forces.
01:19Immediately thereafter, the Revolutionary Guard rejected those claims,
01:24and now you have fire officials saying that this was a gas leak.
01:29But certainly some people are going to be skeptical, but that's the official line.
01:36A lot of people here concerned about a possible war.
01:40And again, when this incident happened, it heightened those concerns.
01:45But at this point, this is the information we have.
01:47It's what we've verified with military officials.
01:51Until we find out something else, that's the official line coming from Iran.
01:58Now, Reza, two Israeli officials told Reuters that they had nothing to do with this.
02:04This goes back to this, you know, not being a military strike by outside forces.
02:10But as you had mentioned, tensions are quite high because Donald Trump has been upping the rhetoric with Tehran.
02:18He wants to get them negotiating.
02:20But is this the best way, this pressure campaign, the best way to get them back to the table?
02:27Not according to Iran.
02:30Iran has heard those statements from U.S. President Donald Trump.
02:34On one hand, he's threatening Iran with military strikes, saying the military strikes are going to be speedier and more violent than ever.
02:44On the other hand, he's saying he's ready to talk.
02:46And he's claimed that Tehran has contacted Washington directly for talks.
02:51Tehran has flatly denied that.
02:53And they say that any talk, if they're going to take place, that have to take place in an environment where there are no threats and mutual respect.
03:02Even if these two sides get, you know, in front of one another and negotiate, they're so far off from meeting their demands.
03:12Washington is saying if Iran wants a deal, it has to agree to stop enriching uranium, limit its long-range ballistic missiles, and cut off ties with regional proxies and militias.
03:26Iran says none of that is going to happen.
03:30And from Iran's point of view, they don't believe that Mr. Trump is serious about talks.
03:36At the same time, they're saying if the correct environment surfaces and there's mutual respect, then they are willing to talk.
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