- 2 days ago
China will send a special envoy to West Asia to facilitate dialogue following joint military US-Israeli strikes on Iran under Operation Roaring Lion and Epic Fury.
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00:01Good evening. The United States and Israel say their precision campaign under Operation Roaring
00:08Line and Epic Fury has struck deep into Iran's military spine, missile silos, IRGC command hubs
00:15and strategic infrastructure around Tehran. The message is unmistakable. Degrade Iran's ability
00:22to escalate. That's right, but Iran has responded in kind. Missile barrages have punched through
00:28Israel's air defenses over Jerusalem, reminding the world that even the most sophisticated shields
00:34have limits. And the battlefield has widened across West Asia. The human toll is mounting.
00:41Iran's elite establishment is shaken. Energy markets, Gulf shipping lanes and oil prices have all been
00:48left impacted. Into this volatile theater steps China. Beijing is now sending a special envoy
00:55to the region in efforts to de-escalate the war. But is this principled mediation or pragmatic
01:01protection of the oil lifelines that power China's economy? Which brings us to the three questions
01:08that we are raising on the show tonight. Can Beijing's shuttle diplomacy cool a rapidly
01:15heating battlefield? Or is it simply safeguarding energy security? And can this war remain a contained
01:23regional clash? Or does it draw in a wider network of proxies and powers? And as markets tremble and
01:30diplomacy struggles to keep pace with the missiles, who blinks first in this high-stakes strategic
01:36stare down? We'll discuss that on the show tonight. But first up, take a look at this report.
01:59As tensions escalate between Iran and the West, China has stepped into the diplomatic spotlight.
02:06The Chinese foreign ministry has pushed for urgent negotiations and announced plans to send a special
02:12envoy to the region in an effort to revive talks. China will send a special envoy for Middle East
02:20issues, Zhaijun to the Middle East in the near future to make positive efforts to de-escalate tensions.
02:26China believes that war and force cannot fundamentally solve problems. Dialogue and negotiation are the
02:32right path. Conflicts and differences should be resolved through diplomacy. China will continue to
02:38maintain communication with all relevant parties, including those involved in the conflict, strengthen
02:44mediation and build consensus.
02:49China says its role will focus on facilitating dialogue rather than dictating outcomes. The special envoy is
02:56expected to engage with governments across West Asia to encourage talks and reduce tensions. But unlike Washington,
03:03China's diplomacy has long emphasised on economic partnership rather than security alliances.
03:09For China, regional stability in West Asia is directly tied to its economic security.
03:15China is the biggest buyer of Iranian oil and has long been diplomatically close to the Islamic Republic.
03:22Discounted oil, accounting for a significant share of China's seaborne crude imports,
03:26has helped cushion its energy security. In 2021, the two countries signed a 25-year-long
03:33strategic cooperation agreement, which included Chinese investment of up to $400 billion in Iranian
03:39energy and infrastructure. China sees Tehran as a critical link in its long-term geopolitical and
03:45economic plans. Tehran's willingness to transact in yuan and circumvent dollar-dominated financial
03:51systems align neatly with China's de-dollarisation ambitions. With multilateral forums such as BRICS
03:58and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, Iran functions as a willing partner in articulating a
04:03post-Western multipolar discourse. Iran also forms a keynote in the connective tissue of the Belt and Road
04:10Initiative.
04:12But China's leverage for peace in the region goes well beyond Iran. China's footprint across West Asia has grown
04:19dramatically in the past decade. Through the Belt and Road Initiative, Beijing has poured billions into ports,
04:26railways, industrial zones and energy infrastructure across the region. Across Gulf nations, China has positioned
04:33itself as a major investor and trading partner. For the most part, China has over the years advanced
04:41incrementally through economic statecraft while avoiding the burdens of security provision. But the risk of a
04:48tactical setback in West Asia seems to be forcing China to step in beyond strategic partnerships.
04:55USS Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz told US media that the operation in Iran is also about
05:01securing energy for America and hurting China. The question is, can China really broker peace in one of
05:09the world's most volatile regions? Its mediation between Saudi Arabia and Iran in 2023 had established
05:16its credentials as a stakeholder capable of delivering dialogue where Washington could not. For now,
05:22the Chinese envoy may open the door to talks, but with the United States wary of a power balance shift,
05:28leading mediation would be a welcome challenge for Beijing.
05:32Preksha Jain for India Today.
05:37Well, now we are going to explain to you what this war means, but how Iran can be helped and
05:44assisted.
05:45There's one key ally who's come in to not just condemn the attack, but also in terms of assistance,
05:52has been a long ally and friend, and that's China. But how can China really help Iran? Not many know
05:59that
05:59there's an entire train that runs from Iran to China, from Tehran to Yew. And it cuts through 10,000
06:09kilometres of land from Iran to Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and then to China and vice versa,
06:19which means that there is a train route between China and Iran should they need it to transport,
06:27not just basic necessities, but more than that. But the question over here is not whether China is willing
06:33to help, whether if the other countries in the region, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,
06:39whether they would be okay if this is the route that's used for ammunition, military supplies.
06:46Why do I say that? It's because we do know that Central Asia, erstwhile Soviet Union,
06:51Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan have very strong ties with Russia, another important ally
06:57of Iran. But in the recent past, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan have also had good ties with the United
07:05States of America. They're cutting deals. They have done that on the sidelines of the United Nations in
07:11New York. And it is a huge amount that we're talking about. Will Trump allow them and their
07:18land to be used for military weapons and supplies to go to Iran is the big question for now. Iran
07:24says
07:25they do not require any kind of military assistance. They can defend themselves. They don't need their
07:30friends and allies, Russia and China. But that's also because they do not want complexity for those
07:36two countries, especially Russia, that is in talks with the United States of America. So over here,
07:42the issue is important, but more importantly, the fact that there is a lifeline, a land lifeline
07:48that Iran has that goes from Tehran up to Yiwu in China.
07:54Angita, we have Andrew KP Leung, who is international China strategist joining us. But before that,
08:02there's a piece of breaking news that is coming in now. Donald Trump has now said that he needs to
08:06be
08:07personally involved in selecting Iran's next leader. In fact, Trump has said that Mustafa Khamenei
08:14is most likely a successor, but outcome unacceptable. So US President Donald Trump is now saying that he
08:23will be personally involved in selecting Iran's next leader. This is coming at a time when reports
08:30are suggesting that the US is constantly shifting its goalpost. Earlier, it was to destroy the threat
08:39which Donald Trump said was coming from Iran. And now the US President saying that this is about
08:46selecting the next head of Iran. Gita, US constantly shifting its goalpost and now US President for him
08:54to say that he wants to be personally involved. What does it actually mean? A lot of confusion.
08:58Well, also the fact that I don't know whether if President Trump knows the real system within Iran.
09:06If he's talking about a transition government, then he certainly will not be looking at a religious
09:11leader. He's talking about Mojtaba Khamenei and saying he wants to select and elect the next leader who
09:18should then be replacing Masood Pazeshkian, who is the sitting President of Iran and not Mojtaba Khamenei,
09:27who is the next supreme leader, that is the religious leader of Iran. There's a huge difference over here.
09:35I don't know whether if there is clarity on what President Trump really means, but I think he broadly,
09:41in a sense, means that he wants to be in control of who the next head of state of Iran
09:47is going to be.
09:49Because if it is America, they would not be looking at the clergy and the civilian dispensation. They'd be looking
09:55at one government,
09:56and that certainly would be the head of state, which means replacing Masood Pazeshkian and not
10:01considering a successor to Khamenei at all. Over here, Mojtaba Khamenei, who is the son of
10:10the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is going to be the religious head. He's the supreme leader.
10:16So that's the distinction perhaps the US administration is not able to figure out. As most experts,
10:23foreign policy watchers have been saying that the United States perhaps is not able to figure out and understand
10:30the ideological rooting of Iran, and that's why they're going ahead with constantly changing or shifting the goalposts.
10:40Andrew K.P. Leung is joining us from Hong Kong. Mr. K.P. Leung, let me ask the first question
10:45here.
10:46The question is that with China offering to mediate, the question would be, will Israel and United States
10:57accept whatever China has to offer?
11:02Well, of course, Trump is a will of his own. And he started the war on the premise that he's
11:11going to prevail
11:12using Americans as superpower status in the military, in the finance, in the US dollar,
11:24and is the largest trading partner. And he thinks that he could prevail and he thinks he can dictate terms.
11:33So whether China can really broker peace remains, of course, uncertain. But on the other hand,
11:43it really depends on how the war is playing out between Iran and, of course, the United States and Israel.
11:55The Iran's strategy is trying to, of course, there is no match between Iran's military and the combined
12:05military strength of the United States and Israel. But then Iran is already prepared for this for a long,
12:14long time. A stockpile of missiles and very cheap drones served the purpose of prolonging the war,
12:22spreading the war around the region in the hope of causing global chaos. And this global chaos is going to
12:29put a
12:29lot of pressure through various other countries, through the public, through other people on the United States to end the
12:38war.
12:38And in any case, a lot of the American electorate, they are not in support of the war.
12:46And least of all, the war has not been authorized by the American Congress.
12:53So I think that the hope of the government is to put pressure. Hello?
12:58Right. You talk about it.
13:00Yeah. It's to put pressure on using, spreading the war on all fronts, causing major chaos around the world,
13:09and thereby putting pressure on the American politics to end the war.
13:15Right. Andrew, if I could just ask you to weigh in on what China's role over here is,
13:21because we've seen the condemnation, but now we are seeing real diplomatic outreach and engagement.
13:26China has not only engaged with the with the Arab leaders, they've asked them to exercise restraint.
13:35They in all probability would also be looking at maybe sending supplies and help to Iran.
13:40What's your reading on China's role now coming emerging as a peacemaker?
13:46Well, China's position is not as vulnerable as some sectors in the Western media portray,
13:54in the sense that China, of course, is heavily dependent on oil from the Middle East.
13:59But as you outlined in your beginning, a lot of the oil does not have to pass through the Strait
14:06of Hamas.
14:07It can pass through this direct Iran-China rail line.
14:12And of course, China built this rail line decades before it was fully became fully operational last year.
14:21And of course, China's a lot of the energy comes from Russia as well.
14:26And of course, Russian energy doesn't have to depend on the Strait of Hamas.
14:30Now, having been in this more or less problematic position, China, of course, has been a longtime ally with Russia
14:42and Iran.
14:43And this tripartite alliance was highlighted decades ago by the doyan of American foreign policy,
14:53the late Brzezinski, who was the mentor of Henry Kissinger.
14:57In his seminar book called The Grand Chess Board on page 55, you can find a reference to this tripartite
15:05relationship as being an existential threat to American dominance.
15:10And this is part of the reason, because this tripartite alliance has always been on a thorn on the side
15:19of the United States because it's a threat to the American dominance.
15:23And hence, that's one of the reasons why President Trump is launching this war together with Israel.
15:31And of course, Iran has told this decades-long rhetoric of destroying Israel, of driving the United States out from
15:42the region, which does not help.
15:44But the situation now, of course, is changing.
15:46The United States is no longer the biggest customer of Middle East oil.
15:51China is.
15:53The United States has become the exporter of oil.
15:55So I think that all these dynamics translate into China having a relatively better position to broker a deal,
16:05bearing in mind President Trump's coming up visit to meet President Xi in a couple of weeks' time.
16:13And of course, the reason why President Trump wanted to do that is because he could no longer bring China
16:24to heel in the same way as other countries,
16:27because China has found a very effective countermeasure against American coercion in the form of China's dominance on rare earth
16:36supply chains.
16:37So I think that all that plays into China's initiative to take up a mediation role, because no other country
16:48is in a better position.
16:50Right. Andrew, Mario, it's very rare to have somebody not just cite a book, but also the page number.
16:56Where he's citing the information from, Andrew? Quite impressive.
17:00But in your appreciation, how do you see this war pan out?
17:05You know, because it seems like it's for the long haul.
17:09The Trump administration is just increasing number of days and weeks.
17:14How do you see it pan out?
17:16Because this is certainly going to cause a lot of pain points.
17:19What is your reading of what the pain points are going to be?
17:21And how long will it take for the international community to come out and say, stop the war?
17:26Before President Trump put his foot down on going ahead of the war,
17:33in spite of the other contrary advice from his top military advisors,
17:41thinking that the particularly the reference to the fact that American arsenal is getting a little bit thin
17:51because of the supply of the military armament for the war on Ukraine.
17:58And so the missiles and so on is not unlimited.
18:03And so some of his top advisors already mentioned this.
18:09But of course, Trump overruled him and went ahead with the war because he thought that the war could be
18:13finished in a couple of days.
18:14Now, Iran already thought about this eventuality.
18:21Don't forget that Iran has always been attacked by the United States in one form or another, particularly last year.
18:27It was a major bombardment of Iran.
18:31And of course, this rail line between Iran and China was built years in advance, in advance of this eventuality.
18:42And of course, President Trump, he said he didn't like this chosen new leader.
18:49This shows he doesn't understand the history and the culture of the Iranian government.
18:57In fact, before Omeni died, he already put in train a succession plan.
19:03Succession plan, not choosing a particular leader, but successive leaders.
19:06If the new leader is taken out, the same process will also generate another leader.
19:14And then it's not just one leader calling the shots.
19:16There are various other institutions in the Iran hierarchy.
19:23Andrew, I really appreciate your time, sir.
19:26I'm sorry I have to cut you here because we have to move on to another part of the story.
19:32The West Asia conflict is no longer just a battlefield story.
19:36It's rapidly becoming a full-fledged global crisis.
19:41Well, energy routes are choking and oil markets are rattling.
19:44Not just China, major powers like Russia have also stepped in, urging restraint and pushing for talks before the crisis
19:51spirals further.
19:52Here is a report.
20:08The war drums in West Asia are only getting louder.
20:19Messiahs are flying, oil routes are choking and global powers are stepping in with urgent warnings.
20:27As Iran and the U.S.-Israel combined refuse to back down, diplomatic pressure is now building from the world powers
20:34to prevent the war from spiraling further.
20:39Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a stark warning to Europe.
20:45According to reports, Russia could halt gas supplies to Europe amid a spike in global energy prices triggered by the
20:53Iran crisis.
20:53The warning comes as the EU considers banning purchases of Russian gas and LNG.
21:01Russia is pushing for U.S. and Iran to resume negotiations as soon as possible.
21:09We're looking forward to a peaceful resolution of contradictions.
21:15The U.S. and Israel, we're preparing attacks.
21:22We've been in contact with the Iranian side and we are hopeful that the attacks stop at the earliest and
21:33the negotiations resume.
21:35The widening conflict has rattled global energy markets, sending Brent crude prices sharply higher amid fears of disruption.
21:44Analysts warn that even the threat to key shipping routes could push oil prices beyond $100 per barrel if tensions
21:52persist.
21:52With tankers facing delays and insurers reconsidering coverage, freight rates are expected to surge, while refiners in India are already
22:02exploring alternative crude supply sources to hedge against potential shortages.
22:07The Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most critical energy choke points, is just 33 kilometers wide, with shipping
22:16lanes barely 3 kilometers wide.
22:18Nearly 20 to 21 million barrels of crude oil pass through it every day, along with vital LNG shipments from
22:25Qatar.
22:29But the ongoing war has severely disrupted traffic through the strait, with Qatar halting LNG production and Saudi Arabia shutting
22:37down its largest oil refinery.
22:45But Iran remains defiant.
22:48Tehran has rejected cause for immediate negotiations, arguing that the negotiating table itself was attacked first by the US and
22:56Israel.
23:01So while diplomacy is scrambling to catch up, the battlefield continues to dictate the pace.
23:10With Geeta Mohan, Bearer Report, India Today.
23:18And joining us now is Craig Kafura.
23:22He is the Director of Public Opinion and Foreign Policy, Chicago Council on Global Affairs.
23:27He is joining us from Washington, D.C.
23:30We also have Greg Roman, Director of Middle East Forum.
23:34Greg, I'm going to begin with you.
23:35Given the fact that this theater of war has expanded with newer allies joining in because their concerns are that
23:45they are being targeted and attacked by Iran, where is this all headed?
23:50Are you looking at a scenario, perhaps, in one or two weeks from now, that each and every country in
23:56the world will have to pick a side?
23:58I think we're looking at the possible evolution of a grand coalition that would mark Norman Schwarzkopf putting together a
24:05coalition against Saddam Hussein in 1991 and be put to shame.
24:08I mean, we have Gulf Arab countries right now.
24:10We have the Turkic bloc with Azerbaijan and Turkey.
24:13We have the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, France giving airfields to the US military.
24:18And frankly, what started off as a war initiated by Donald Trump and the state of Israel, the United States
24:25and the state of Israel, is now turning into a regional conflagration because Iran is making strategic mistakes.
24:31And frankly, I don't see the Chinese and the Russians getting involved because at the end of the day, they'll
24:36do business with whoever emerges out of Tehran when the ashes fall and we end up seeing a new power
24:41in place.
24:42OK, well, that's right. Let me take that to Craig.
24:46Craig, would you agree with Greg Roman over here where he's saying that Russia and China will do business and
24:52they will not really look at the kind of assistance?
24:55Because the only voices that we hear for Iran are coming from Moscow and from Beijing.
25:02I think he's correct. I mean, and we've seen this in the past.
25:05Yeah. So if you think back to when Russia invaded Ukraine, Ukraine and China had a longstanding, very warm relationship.
25:12But China has done essentially nothing to try to end that war.
25:15They have not tried to pressure the Russians.
25:17They have talked about wanting to facilitate peace in some of the same language that you've heard in the last
25:22day or two from Beijing.
25:23But I really can't see them stepping in and playing the kind of assertive peacemaking role that one of your
25:30previous guests was suggesting simply because, yes, they will do business with whatever power or state emerges out of this
25:37particular conflict.
25:39The other, I think, real issue is that we're starting to see American public fears come true in the council's
25:46polling recently conducted while these strikes were happening.
25:49Americans feared that the U.S. launching attacks on Iran would lead to a broader regional war.
25:55And that fear was held across party lines.
25:57And now we're seeing that start to play out with all of these strikes hitting various countries around the region.
26:01And how exactly they're going to respond, I think, is still a little bit unclear, partly because the political ends
26:07of this conflict seem very unclear.
26:09At first, it was about Iran's nuclear program.
26:12Maybe it was about their missile program.
26:13There's also been talk about denying them a navy or access to the oceans.
26:18And now there's talk about Trump needing to be personally involved in selecting the next supreme leader of Iran.
26:33But, Craig, you know, when Donald Trump says that he wants to be involved and personally involved in selecting the
26:40next leader and that Mushtaba Khamenei, who is at present the new supreme leader,
26:45is not acceptable to him, the question also is that if there will be negotiations and will happen right at
26:52the top, then it has to be between Mushtaba and, you know, Donald Trump.
26:58Right. And I think that he's been very clear, the president has been very clear about the aims of this
27:02war.
27:03It's not just about the nuclear program.
27:04It's not just about the missiles.
27:05It's not just about proxy forces in the navy.
27:07It's about the individual who gives the order to pull the trigger on any of those programs.
27:12So if you just look at the derivative product of any aerial campaign and the attempt to have a decapitating
27:17strike, of course, the United States needs to be involved with who's going to be negotiating on the other side.
27:22Because if that person does not accept the conditions that the U.S. put on Iran, which justified them launching
27:28this war, my belief is, is that that person would be, you know, ad nauseum not being able to be
27:33selected to even negotiate with the U.S.
27:36So, in fact, because the U.S. has set these goals, because whoever's sitting on the other side of the
27:41table must accept these goals as well, that, in fact, is at least Trump prior to making statements about Mushtaba
27:46Khamenei effectively saying we will decide who will do this because we're going to dictate the policy that they have
27:52to accept.
27:53And, frankly, we're at a point right now where there is millions of Iranians, not just inside the country, but
28:00also outside the country, who are saying we will accept a leader that fits President Trump's conditions, but that's not
28:06going to be someone who's in a line of succession or hereditary successor associated with the former Ayatollah.
28:12I think the president's on the right path, and I think, frankly, that we're going to see an end at
28:16least to the high kinetic level of this a few weeks from now.
28:19But the real work begins over the next decade when Iran starts moving away from the Islamic Revolution and maybe
28:24more towards the country, which it was meant to be after World War II.
28:28Well, Greg Roman, because, you know, I suppose Craig and Greg are confusing the names.
28:34So, Greg, to you, I'm continuing with you because you made a very important point, but I don't think President
28:40Trump knows the distinction over here.
28:42He said that he wants to elect the new leader, and he's not comfortable with Mushtaba Khamenei, but Mushtaba Khamenei
28:49is a religious leader.
28:51He's going to be the supreme leader, which is a system that America will do away with.
28:56And it is Masood Pazeshkian that Trump intends to replace.
29:02Is he confusing himself or is he confused with how the system in Iran really works?
29:07I don't think so.
29:09I mean, the Vilya Talfiq network, which is basically what Khamenei, the first Ayatollah of Iran, put in place in
29:151979, is a product of the school of Shia clerical thought.
29:21The idea that one person is responsible not just for the religious undertakings of a state, but the political undertakings
29:27of the state.
29:27I think Trump actually understands that the Najaf school of Shia thought is the way in which he would be
29:32going from.
29:33And frankly, even with Vilya Talfiq, you have right now a parallel governing structure for municipal matters, oil, energy, trade,
29:41commerce, civil society,
29:42that maybe Pazeshkian is the individual picked as an interim leader.
29:46But at the end of the day, I think Trump has been very clear.
29:49There'll be someone he negotiates with, but the system at the end of the day will change along with nukes,
29:54proxies and missiles too.
29:56Okay, so Craig Kafura, let me take the full name here, Gita, to avoid that confusion.
30:03You know, it's day six of this war.
30:05The goalpost is shifting.
30:07The end game is not clear.
30:09And with every passing hour, we are seeing the intensification and escalation.
30:15On the escalation ladder, it's only going up.
30:18There are a number of countries getting involved as well.
30:21So what do you think is the timeline of this war?
30:26This is, it's a little hard to predict from where I'm sitting.
30:30Partly because I feel like every day we've added a new condition from the United States.
30:34And it's not entirely clear what the Israelis are going to go after either.
30:38On the internal political structures of Iran, I would be very skeptical that Donald Trump understands the details of Shia
30:44theology, as Greg, you've laid out.
30:46I would bet they just know what a Shia is or what any of the, you know, the details of
30:50the internal structures of Iran are.
30:52Hopefully someone in the White House does.
30:54But these days, that's not a safe bet either.
30:57In terms of how long this is going to go on, again, I think that once you've decapitated the regime
31:03and they've put out statements saying that the IRGC is operating more or less independently across the country.
31:10Now you have to try to find somebody who can make everyone stand down and stop shooting, right?
31:17It's now, this is, again, one of the problems with decapitation strikes.
31:20And this is true both for countries, but also for, I mean, we've had the same problem with the Mexican
31:24cartels.
31:25When you decapitate the leader, you now have six or seven sub-lieutenants running around all trying to be the
31:31next leader, all with their own incentives, all with their own small power bases.
31:35It's possible that what we end up doing, what the United States and Israel end up doing, is fracturing the
31:40country in ways that are going to be very hard to put back together.
31:43I would worry that this is going to drag it a lot longer, even if the United States is able
31:48to identify an acceptable leader, even if that person is able to claim some level of authority.
31:53Is all of Iran going to agree?
31:56Is every IRGC commander who's currently operating semi-independently going to agree and submit?
32:01Or will they keep fighting?
32:03Will this break into a civil war?
32:05Will this drag on, drag neighbors in?
32:08I'm really concerned that we've unleashed something that we don't know where it's headed.
32:12We don't know how to control it.
32:14And given Trump's past track record, wouldn't surprise me if he declares victory in two weeks and walks away and
32:19leaves the whole region still a mess.
32:22Well, Craig, there's a very important conversation happening in Washington, D.C. to do with stopping the war.
32:29And at the Senate, we saw how certain veterans got up and said, we do not want to, or America
32:35does not want to fight this war.
32:38Is that the sense within Washington and in America that should he get involved deeper into the war?
32:46And he said that, yes, there are going to be losses of life.
32:49That's what war is all about.
32:51Would there be acceptability, or will this cost him his midterm elections?
32:56I think the midterm elections are already looking quite bad for President Trump and the Republican Party more broadly, partly
33:03because of domestic concerns about inflation and the cost of living and affordability and the sense that the president and
33:08the administration and the Congress are not paying enough attention to those issues.
33:12And instead, they're doing things like removing the regime in Venezuela or starting a war with Iran.
33:17But in the polling that we've seen, the war is surprisingly unpopular, and surprisingly unpopular because the administration has not
33:24done the kind of effort that it usually would do.
33:27Think back to the run-up to the war in Iraq, for example.
33:30There were months of sustained effort by the administration and by its proponents in Congress in both houses to explain
33:38to the American public why the United States was going to take this action, why now, what the ends were,
33:43what the objectives were, and that had the effect of bringing the public on board, at least for the first
33:48few months of that war.
33:49That hasn't really happened at this time, right?
33:51There wasn't a clear sentiment on the public about what the objectives were, why we were doing this, why now.
33:57And you've seen that in the polling.
33:58Democrats are strongly opposed to the war.
34:01Independents tend to oppose the war.
34:02And even among Republicans, a lot say they don't know.
34:06Those numbers may go up in a few days.
34:08But if there are more U.S. casualties, if the administration isn't able to demonstrate progress, I think you will
34:13see further slipping poll numbers.
34:15And for those in Congress who are not running for re-election or who are in safe seats, they have
34:21more leeway to speak out.
34:23And I think you're starting to see that.
34:25Look at what Tom Tillis was doing yesterday on the Hill.
34:28Right.
34:28Craig and Greg, really appreciate your time.
34:31Thank you for joining us.
34:32The West Asia war is now spilling into the Indian Ocean and the diplomatic ripples are reaching New Delhi.
34:40India has broken its silence on Khamenei's assassination.
34:42But the response also comes amidst opposition questions after a U.S. submarine sank an Iranian warship that had earlier
34:50taken part in an Indian naval exercise.
34:53Take a look at the story.
35:00After nearly six days of silence, India has finally responded to the rapidly escalating conflict in West Asia.
35:12The statement comes a day after the U.S. sank an Iranian warship in the Indian Ocean off the coast
35:18of Sri Lanka.
35:20The incident marks a dramatic expansion of the conflict and brings it closer to India's maritime neighbourhood.
35:29Prime Minister Narendra Modi said military confrontation alone cannot resolve global crisis.
36:01The remarks mark New Delhi's first clear public response.
36:05since the conflict sharply escalated earlier this week.
36:11India has also conveyed its condolences over the killing of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Alekh Khamenei, its first official response
36:19on the matter.
36:20Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri visited the Iranian embassy in New Delhi and signed the condolence book on behalf of the
36:26government of India.
36:28In another diplomatic outreach, External Affairs Minister S. Jayashankar held a phone conversation with Iran's Foreign Minister Sayyad Abbas Arachi.
36:39The government's response follows criticism from opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, who questioned the Prime Minister's silence and demanded clarity
36:48on India's position after Khamenei's killing.
36:53With the conflict widening from the Gulf to the Indian Ocean, India now finds itself walking a delicate diplomatic tightrope.
37:02New Delhi maintains strategic ties across the region.
37:05By calling for dialogue while keeping diplomatic channels open with Tehran, India is signalling a careful, calibrated approach.
37:13The priority remains de-escalation, regional stability and the protection of its strategic interests.
37:20Bureau Report, India Today.
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