00:00Now let's talk to you about the latest developments as well in terms of what has just happened.
00:04Two drones have struck near the U.S. embassy in Riyadh, pulling Saudi Arabia into a widening conflict
00:10amongst Iran, the U.S. and Israel and prompting President Trump to vow retaliation.
00:17Now speaking to News Nation.
00:23Speaking to News Nation, President Donald Trump said the U.S. will head back
00:27but says it remains unlikely he will put boots on the ground.
00:31It comes as the UAE and Qatar are privately lobbying allies to help persuade Trump to reach for an off
00:37-ramp
00:38that would keep U.S. military operations against Iran short.
00:41But Trump is vowing operations will continue.
00:44We have the strongest and most powerful by far military in the world and we will easily prevail.
00:53Well, we're already substantially ahead of our time projections, but whatever the time is, it's okay.
01:02Whatever it takes.
01:03Our ambitions are not utopian.
01:05They are realistic.
01:07This is not Iraq.
01:09This is not endless.
01:10Our generation knows better and so does this president.
01:14This operation is a clear, devastating, decisive mission.
01:21Let's now bring in Stuart Livingstone-Wallace, Bloomberg's executive editor for Middle East and North Africa and Russia.
01:28Stuart, let's just start perhaps with the comments out of Hegseth yesterday
01:34and even President Trump later on in the evening also spoke about their plans for Iran.
01:39They seem to be signaling that this is going to go on for weeks.
01:42Yeah, and that makes sense, right, because they've kind of set themselves a whole series of objectives,
01:48which is basically to effectively dismantle the capabilities, the military capabilities within Iran
01:52and certainly to cause chaos within the governmental structure.
01:56So we know they are going after hundreds, probably thousands of targets.
02:00You know, in the first couple of days, I think it was well over a thousand targets and there are
02:04many more to come.
02:05Now, they say they have air superiority, which is exactly what we saw in June during that 12-day war.
02:10So to some extent, they can now act more or less wherever they like.
02:14But again, it's going to take some time because Iran is a very, very large country and it has a
02:18lot of defense on the ground.
02:20Yeah, and two developments this morning, the U.S. saying that they destroyed the RGC command and control facilities
02:26and then also the State Department issuing a notice to U.S. citizens to leave the region.
02:32This applies to most Middle Eastern nations.
02:34So implying that at least the guidance, the official guidance, is that this could go on for a little while.
02:42We published an article overnight talking about the fact that UAE and Qatar are looking for a potential diplomatic off
02:49-ramp.
02:49What do we know about what's happening behind the scenes?
02:52So, I mean, I think in terms of the Gulf of Nations, you've seen that for several weeks in the
02:56run-up to this war.
02:57They were trying very hard, I think, to find a diplomatic solution here.
03:01So Oman in particular was acting as the mediator, but we know that the others were engaged as well.
03:06And again, it comes back to this policy that you've seen over the last several years.
03:10You've got most of these countries trying to get their economies away from oil or energy dependence and broaden them
03:17out.
03:18And they know full well that you need stability, geopolitical stability, in order to have economic growth.
03:25And so in some respects, this is, you know, a continuation of that.
03:29What we've seen over the last several days is clearly not good for business.
03:32I mean, on the most basic level in terms of disruptions to airlines, to cargo, to energy flows, but also
03:38in terms of confidence.
03:40So I think they're going to be trying very hard to find a way that this can end swiftly.
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