00:19Hey, guys, good morning.
00:21Thanks for coming.
00:22Look, we're looking forward to the negotiation.
00:24I think it's going to be positive.
00:26We'll foresee, as the President of the United States said, if the Iranians are willing
00:30to negotiate in good faith, we're certainly willing to extend the open hand.
00:34If they're going to try to play us, then they're going to find that the negotiating team is
00:37not that receptive.
00:38So we're going to try to have a positive negotiation.
00:40The President has gave us some pretty clear guidelines, and we're going to see.
00:45So I hope you guys have a safe flight.
00:46We'll certainly take some questions later on.
00:48But for now, let's get on the plane and hit the road.
00:51Thank you all.
00:57Well, I had a discussion with President Trump last night and set out to him the views of
01:05the region here.
01:06These Gulf states are the neighbors of Iran, and therefore, if the ceasefire is to hold,
01:12and we hope it will, it has to involve them.
01:14They have very strong views on the straight off Omuz.
01:17And we spent most of the time on the call talking about the practical plan that's going
01:22to be needed to get navigation through the straight and the role that the UK is playing.
01:29For a couple of weeks now, we've been pulling together a coalition of countries, now over
01:3430 countries, working on a political and diplomatic plan, but also looking at military capabilities
01:41and actually the logistics of actually moving vessels through the straight.
01:46So that was the focus of the discussion last night.
01:49Reflection on what I've been discussing here, but also that focus on a practical plan in
01:56relation to navigation through the straight.
01:59There's a sense here, as there is, I think, in the United Kingdom that this conflict is
02:04going to define us for a generation, and we must respond, and we will respond with strength.
02:09Until now, the Strait of Hormuz is open.
02:14Of course, there are technical restrictions because of the war zone, and because of many
02:20arrangements that Iran did during the war, during this aggression against Iran.
02:23So there are some technical restraints, and this is why that all the ships that they would
02:28like to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, they have to communicate with our army and
02:34our military contact points there, because of the limitations in this strait.
02:40And this strait is a very narrow strait.
02:42It is in our territorial water, plus Omani territorial water, it is inside our water.
02:48So we have to be very careful for the safety and security of tankers and vessels.
02:56Those technical restrictions are very much connected to the wartime condition, and it
03:02takes time to be removed.
03:04So safe passage is secured.
03:07The Strait of Hormuz is open.
03:08But of course, every each tanker and every each vessel should make necessary arrangements
03:14with the Iranian authorities to be able to securely pass this strait.
03:18The fact that we have the negotiations still ongoing, we have some serious people being
03:23put into the room by the US, keeps us hopeful that everybody wants an off-ramp.
03:30The US wants an off-ramp, that the Iranian wants an off-ramp, that they will do what they
03:35can do.
03:36They will get the maximum leverage that they can.
03:38But we remain hopeful and positive that we will see some results out of this.
03:44In the last 48 hours, we have seen pretty serious violations of the ceasefire.
03:50We look at it as Iran going into the peace talks with maximum leverage.
03:56The more leverage that they can have, the more damage that they've done, stronger is
04:01the negotiating hat.
04:02So in many ways, it's a playbook that has been employed by the US President in the past.
04:09And what this shows is that it's an easy playbook to copy if you have the cards.
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