00:00President Trump extending his deadline for Iran to strike a deal with the U.S. or face more attacks.
00:06He's given Tehran 10 more days, offering a brief calm to global energy markets.
00:12They are begging to make a deal, not me. They're begging to make a deal.
00:17And anybody that saw what was happening over there would understand why they want to make a deal.
00:22They are begging to work out a deal. I don't know if we'll be able to do that. I don't
00:27know if we're willing to do that.
00:30Let's bring in our Washington Deputy Bureau Chief, Laura Davison.
00:33And Laura, President Trump also saying that the talks with Iran were going very well.
00:38Do we have more insight into the state of negotiations?
00:41Because last time we heard, we weren't really quite sure who the U.S. was speaking to.
00:46Yes, Trump has sort of said two things today, both that negotiations are going well and also that negotiations aren't
00:52going well.
00:53You know, he started the day sort of with more threatening language, saying that, you know, Iran better get serious.
00:59And, you know, even suggested that the U.S. at this point might not be willing to make a deal.
01:03But just hours later, he pivoted, saying that talks were going really well and, in fact, was going to grant
01:08another 10-day extension to allow more time for talks.
01:12You know, just to kind of catch up, we had sort of a two-day deadline he gave Iran to
01:15make a deal before striking energy sites.
01:17Then five days, which that's the period we're in now.
01:20And then sort of even before that five-day deadline is up, he added another 10 days to that timeline.
01:25So it's clear that Trump, you know, is not looking to make some of those more preemptive strikes on energy
01:31infrastructure in Iran.
01:32But it's still not clear exactly what's happening with these talks.
01:36You know, Iran has continued to deny that there are, you know, direct negotiations happening.
01:40The Wall Street Journal also just reported contradicting Trump, saying that mediators in these talks have not said that Iran
01:50asked for this extension.
01:51In fact, this was Trump's idea, whereas Trump said that it was Iran who asked for this 10-day extension.
01:55Or rather, they asked for seven, but he gave them 10 to be nice.
02:00Laura, can you update us on the state of shipping in the Gulf of Hormuz at the moment as well?
02:04Because the Treasury Secretary, Scott Besson, says an insurance program to boost shipping through the straits is on its way.
02:10What more do we know?
02:12So there's a handful of ships that have been able to pass through.
02:15These are ships that generally have stronger relations with Iran.
02:19There was an Indian tanker, a Thai tanker.
02:21And Iran is actually looking at formalizing a program that would allow certain ships that they approved to pass through,
02:26many of them paying a rather large fee to the Iranian government to be able to do so,
02:32as long as their crews and their cargo check out and align with the regime.
02:35The U.S. for, you know, several weeks now has been talking about a program backed by a U.S.
02:40government agency
02:41that would give additional insurance to ships that want to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.
02:47The real question, though, is shippers have said that the insurance is not really the issue.
02:50I mean, that's just one of many issues, but it's more so just the danger, the loss of life,
02:54the potential for mine attacks, drone attacks passing through, and that it's just not safe
02:59and no amount of financial insurance will make that possible.
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