00:00Though we're a month into the conflict, the impacts were visible globally.
00:04But now there are finally signs of the Iran war ending.
00:09U.S. President Donald Trump has said that America could be leaving Iran very soon,
00:14in about two to three weeks.
00:15This is a major change in the stance by United States,
00:19as Strait of Hormuz does not seem to remain open,
00:23and it remains a bone of contention.
00:27Is it or is it not? That is the question.
00:29And Donald Trump, during a press conference in the Oval Office,
00:33said that Washington is preparing to wind down the month-long war.
00:37Now, Trump also said a deal with Tehran is not necessary to bring the end-to-end conflict.
00:44And, however, Trump asserted that the objective of U.S. campaign against Iran
00:49was to push them back to Stone Age and dismantle their nuclear capabilities,
00:54which he says was achieved.
00:55Amid this big development, Trump will be addressing the nation on Iran on Thursday
01:01at 6.30 in the morning, India Standard Time.
01:04And the announcement about the conflict has left the world speculating
01:08about the future of the conflict in West Asia.
01:14All I have to do is leave Iran, and we'll be doing that very soon.
01:18And they'll become tumbling down.
01:19And stock prices were up today almost to a record
01:25because they know two things.
01:27Number one, we have a safe country.
01:29We had to take a little detour because we had a madman named Khomeini,
01:34who sadly is no longer with us.
01:36And we had regime change already.
01:39We've knocked out one regime, then we knocked out the second regime.
01:42Now we have a group of people that are very different.
01:45They're much more reasonable, I think much less radicalized.
01:49We've had regime change.
01:51We're dealing with people that are much more rational.
01:56And it's amazing what we've done.
01:59And joining us now live is Dr. Danya Thaffer.
02:03She is a security and economy analyst of Gulf International Forum.
02:08Thank you very much, Dr. Thaffer, for speaking with India today.
02:11What do you make of what Donald Trump has said?
02:14Firstly, your opinion on that.
02:17Well, I think from Donald Trump's perspective, war is deception.
02:23And he likes to have an element of surprise and have many cards to play.
02:30So, you know, I'm still not convinced that he will be ending the war soon.
02:38I mean, it could be a possibility.
02:39But I think it would be very difficult to imagine a president that focuses on economies and his key strategic
02:50international play when he came into office was to come to the Gulf states and seek investments into the U
02:57.S.
02:58So I think, you know, with gas prices high and the Strait of Hormuz closed, I do think it's hard
03:06to imagine that President Trump is going to leave this war with the Strait of Hormuz under Iranian thumb.
03:13It could be a possibility, but it's a very difficult one to imagine.
03:16And I think what he's doing is trying to negotiate with the international community to develop an international coalition to
03:24try to help in assisting to address the Strait of Hormuz as he sees it as it's very costly for
03:32the international community as well, not just for the U.S.
03:35Right. Dr. Thaffer, do stay with us as we continue to focus on the West Asia war.
03:39We will be coming back to you.
03:40Now, the West Asia war has now entered its second month and the rhetoric on both sides is only getting
03:48sharper.
03:48From Washington, the message is clear.
03:50All options remain on the table.
03:52U.S. leadership has not ruled out ground operations with signals that if Iran does not come to the table,
03:59the conflict could intensify further.
04:01So this was the message that was coming till yesterday.
04:03And today, the message is that the war could end soon.
04:06At the same time, top U.S. officials are projecting confidence, claiming strategic gains, asserting that Iran's capabilities have been
04:13weakened and reiterating that the conflict will end on American terms.
04:18But Iran is hitting back with equal force.
04:21Warning of retaliation.
04:22In a significant escalation, Iranian forces have also issued threats against multiple U.S. tech-linked facilities.
04:30Warning of strikes from April 1st from 8 p.m. Tehran time.
04:35Warning civilians to evacuate surrounding areas.
04:38On the ground, military coordination is also stepping up.
04:41The U.S. Central Command, or the CENTCOM chief, has met top Israeli leadership with both sides discussing the next
04:49phase of operations.
04:50And even as diplomacy remains uncertain, Iran is showcasing its military strength, highlighting the scale of its ground forces and
04:58paramilitary networks.
05:27The U.S. Central Command, or the U.S. Central Command, or the U.S. Central Command.
05:30Did they say they're going to blow him up?
05:32They're going to hit him.
05:32You know what they're not going to do?
05:34They're not going to hit him with a nuclear weapon.
05:37And now listen to what Trump's top aide said about sending boots on the ground.
05:45As far as President Trump and boots on the ground, I don't understand why the base, which they have already,
05:52they understand wouldn't have faith in his ability to execute on this.
05:55Look at his track record of pursuing peace through strength, America first outcomes.
06:01What he's simply saying, and it's exactly true, and I've said from this podium too,
06:05we're not going to foreclose any option.
06:07You can't fight and win a war if you tell your adversary what you are willing to do
06:12or what you are not willing to do to include boots on the ground.
06:16Our adversary right now thinks there are 15 different ways we could come at them with boots on the ground.
06:21And guess what? There are.
06:23So if we needed to, we could execute those options on behalf of the President of the United States and
06:28this department.
06:29Or maybe we don't have to use them at all.
06:31Maybe negotiations work.
06:33Or maybe there's a different approach.
06:34The point is to be unpredictable in that.
06:37Certainly not let anybody know what you're willing to do or not do.
06:40But if anybody has internalized the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan as the first one, President Trump,
06:45to call them out for what they are, he's not going to repeat those lessons.
06:48And I think I've been very clear about that from the podium.
06:52And once again, let's go back to Dr. Dania Thafir.
06:56Dr. Dania, do you think Donald Trump seems to be vacillating from one opinion to another,
07:01one course of action to another, and keeping everybody on the edge?
07:05But we have to understand, every time he does that, the markets also oscillate.
07:10We see the prices of crude oil also jumping or falling.
07:15It's all creating a chaos.
07:20Yes, a huge aspect of Trump's statements are catered towards the markets.
07:29The markets are very important for Trump.
07:31And therefore, he's trying to say statements like the war is ending soon, changing the timeline,
07:38making it sound positive that there are talks going on with Iran, to make sure that he can control the
07:46stock markets,
07:47the energy prices, because perception is part of the calculus for those different indexes.
07:55And therefore, I think that's part of Trump's strategy.
07:59The second part, as I mentioned, Trump is trying to make sure that the Iranians don't know what are they
08:06going to play next.
08:07As you heard the Secretary of War saying, there are 15 options on the table of how we could use
08:12those troops in the Middle East.
08:13And we're not going to explain which one we will use or which one we will bring forward, because we're
08:22in a state of war.
08:23So I think he's underscored their strategy when it comes to dealing with this war.
08:28And that's why you're having mixed messaging coming out of the White House and other government agencies in Washington.
08:36But how do you view this scheduled address to the nation?
08:44Well, I'm not sure what he's going to address to the nation.
08:48But of course, he wants to clarify, you know, where the U.S. is standing, probably, you know, show how
08:56successful they are so far and how they've met their objectives.
09:02It could be, you know, as a way to message the international community about, you know, what will happen with
09:09the Strait of Hormuz.
09:10There are many possibilities.
09:12Right. Absolutely. And all eyes will be on that address.
09:16Thank you very much for speaking with India today.
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