00:00All right, the news is coming in. This is the latest statement that is coming from Donald Trump.
00:04He has said, and I quote, that the United States of America is in serious discussion with a new and
00:11more reasonable regime to end our military operations in Iran.
00:16He also goes on to say that great progress has been made, but if for any reason a deal is
00:22not shortly reached, which it probably will be,
00:25and if the Hormuz Strait is not immediately open for business, we will conclude our lovely stay in Iran by
00:35blowing up and completely obliterating all their electric generating plants, oil wells and Khark Island.
00:43A very clear message there coming in from Donald Trump goes on to say, which we have purposefully not yet
00:51touched.
00:51This will be in retribution for our many soldiers and others that Iran has butchered and killed over the old
01:01regime's 47 years of reign of terror.
01:05Thank you for your attention to this matter, President Donald J. Trump.
01:10So Donald Trump, in his latest message, sort of a warning that he has given to Iran over there, talks
01:17about how he's not mentioned boots on the ground,
01:21but he does go on to state very clearly that if the Strait of Hormuz is not open for business
01:28immediately, he says,
01:30then they will be doubling down on their attacks.
01:33This basically means that the 10-day period, the five-day period, pause earlier, the 10-day extension that he's
01:40given,
01:41this message effectively means that he is withdrawing that now to say that if Hormuz is not effectively and immediately
01:50open for business again,
01:51he will go down to attacking all their electric generating plants, their oil wells and also the Khark Island.
02:00This is the promise that he made, that let's come to a negotiating table, let's come to the board and
02:07let's try and reach a conclusion over here.
02:10But things don't seem to be going the way he expected at least and thus comes this message from Donald
02:19Trump.
02:20Geeta Mohan, I just read out the message from Donald Trump.
02:24He's saying very clearly, almost like a threat, that in case the Strait of Hormuz is not open for business
02:31immediately,
02:31he will go down and will be blowing up, completely obliterating all the electric generating plants.
02:38What does this mean? Does this effectively mean that the 10-day pause period, the extension, he's ready to withdraw?
02:47Well, it certainly does not mean that because there is no clarity on whether this is going to happen after
02:52the 10-day extension or not.
02:55But what I'm looking at is a very confused statement because he's saying that he's having a very good conversation
03:03with the new regime.
03:06Who is he talking to? Because the Iranian regime has come out, the government has come out and said that
03:11they are not in talks,
03:12negotiations are not underway. There could be certain back channels, which is via Pakistan, via Qatar, via Oman,
03:22that some conversations might be taking place.
03:25But for the president to say that there is a reasonable regime that he's in talks with,
03:30and in the very same breath actually go ahead and then threaten blowing up the power plants in Iran,
03:40clearly shows that this is an act of desperation, that he really needs a win.
03:45He is not going to withdraw without a win. Iran is not giving Trump that win.
03:50And so both are stuck. This could end up being a real escalation,
03:55given the fact that yes, some of the plants were attacked and then Iran retaliated by sending out missiles to
04:04Haifa.
04:04And there could be more attacks in the GCC countries.
04:09I do not think the Arab world has the stomach to really take attacks on their power generation plants that
04:17could impact their desalination plants.
04:20So right now, we're just trying to figure out what the statement means when he says he's in talks with
04:25a reasonable regime in Iran.
04:28One, and secondly, he's put out the threat yet again.
04:31So we'll have to wait and see whether the deadline ends with the straight-off Hormuz not opening.
04:37Yeah, I asked you that question, Geeta, because he very categorically says immediately he's not mentioned the timeline at all.
04:44And he goes on to say he mentions Khark Island as well for the very first time.
04:48We've not seen his tweets sort of mention that also earlier.
04:51So significant changes in the tone in which he's speaking right now, indicating perhaps he's running out of patience on
04:59this one?
05:00One, that, and secondly, also, in all probability, the amphibious strike group is closer to the war theatre.
05:07One must have already reached the war theatre.
05:09So it could be an emboldened Trump.
05:12But is it an emboldened Trump with a plan?
05:14Because if you're mentioning Khark Island, if you're mentioning blowing up of power plants, you should be ready for what
05:20will follow next in terms of ramifications and repercussions.
05:23And this is not something that is impacting America directly.
05:26It's impacting American allies.
05:30And is he accounting for the concerns of American allies is the question over here.
05:34So he's made a threat.
05:36He's made these threats before as well and withdrew those threats.
05:40He says there's a conversation that's underway.
05:42So again, we'll have to wait and see how a conversation really pans out, whether Pakistan is the go between
05:49Washington and Tehran.
05:51Either way, there needs to be some conversation to ensure that there is no untoward incident or one that leads
05:59to or ends up being the most irreparable damage that is done in this world.
06:05Right.
06:06Geetha, stay on with us.
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