00:00And lots is happening in Geneva. Iran's foreign minister Abbas Aragchi is there. He's been meeting today with Rafael Grossi,
00:07the director general of the IAEA, meeting the U.S. delegation tomorrow for a second round of talks.
00:12And I want to ask you, is diplomacy, in your opinion, the Trump administration's preferred path with Iran?
00:19Well, thank you first for having me. I don't know if they're meeting directly with the Americans.
00:23I think they go through intermediaries. So the Iranians have, you know, for many decades refused to meet face to
00:30face with Americans, which I personally find to be unacceptable as an American.
00:35And I think the Americans should refuse to engage with them unless they engage directly.
00:41And the second point is, yes, I think the Trump administration would rather solve this through diplomatic channels and through
00:50mediation rather than resort to a strike on Iran.
00:54But I don't I'm not hopeful that the Iranians will agree to the terms of the Trump administration, because, frankly,
01:02those terms are indeed very hard.
01:06They want the Iranians to give up on their nuclear enrichment.
01:10They want them to give up on their or to significantly reduce their missile ballistic missile program.
01:17And they also the Americans also want the Iranians to stop funding and arming and training and supporting non-state
01:25actors around the Middle East.
01:28And all three conditions or all three demands are unacceptable to the Iranians.
01:33And all three conditions or all three demands are unacceptable to the Iranians.
01:35And all three conditions are unacceptable to the Iranians.
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