00:00We see the reaction when it comes to the financial markets. To Romaine's point,
00:04it seems like it's the direction of travel of these negotiations that is fanning all this
00:09optimism. How are you reading the headlines? I think it is a very optimistic time. Of course,
00:16we need to make sure that this continues, that it goes through the next week through the ceasefire,
00:23and hopefully there will be agreements made. I have to say, I think the administration
00:29did a great job of saying we are going to address the economic issues. We have economic leverage,
00:38and we use that. So I think it is going to be, I hope, the new era of relationships in
00:48the Middle
00:49East that will be to all of our advantage. Well, Ambassador, to that point, the hope here
00:55is that this will be a new era. But you think about the long history of the Middle East and,
01:00of course, the U.S. involvement in that. I wonder what you view as the components that are different
01:05this time around that maybe could, in your view, maybe deliver lasting peace here.
01:11Yes, that's a great question, because we want this to be lasting. And I think that is why
01:17the president did not walk away. He has stayed the course on the issue of nuclear capability and also
01:27the missile issues that became very apparent when Iran hit Diego Garcia. And having done that, I think
01:36brought our other Middle Eastern allies, besides Israel, the others came in and said,
01:45we think now is the time to see this change. They have been very supportive. We haven't had that
01:52kind of universal support in the Middle East before. And I think it is making a difference.
01:58With regards to, I guess, what comes next here, assuming that we do get an extended ceasefire and
02:04obviously a return to peace of some modicum or of another. Obviously, a lot of folks really want to
02:08know about Iran's uranium enrichment capabilities and what commitments they can make or what commitments
02:16maybe the U.S. can extract out of them to ensure that those capabilities aren't used towards anything
02:22towards a weapon. You're getting right to the point of why this all started. And that is because in the
02:29past,
02:30we have gotten commitments from Iran that they would not be doing more enrichment of the uranium for what
02:39which would only be necessary for a weapon. And they have broken the agreement time. And again,
02:46they have not allowed the inspectors in. And this time we are looking to an ironclad decision with all of
02:55the rights to assure through inspectors that they have not violated their agreement, getting all of
03:04the uranium that we know they have, but it's not apparent. I think all of those things are making
03:10a difference. And it is the whole basic purpose for which we have gone through this. I think when you
03:18look at what has happened with North Korea getting the nuclear weapon capability because they lied and
03:26didn't let the inspectors in and we didn't press hard enough, I think we've seen the results of that.
03:32And we don't want that in the Middle East with Iran. I do want to get your thoughts. I mean,
03:37having been a U.S. ambassador to NATO about the relationship between the U.S. and its NATO partners,
03:43which was, of course, already fractured prior to the war, the president, particularly in his first
03:49term, made it clear his dissatisfaction with that relationship. It does not appear that that
03:56relationship has improved. The president, of course, made it clear he was upset that he did not get
04:00support from some of the NATO countries in this campaign in Iran. Is that relationship,
04:0675-year relationship going on now, is that salvageable?
04:10It is. It has to be. Yes, it is frayed. There is no question that the Europeans are very upset,
04:18but it must be healed for all of our good. If we are going to face our adversaries of the
04:25future,
04:26which would be China as well as Russia, we must have a coalition of the strong economies of the world.
04:34And we have to really look at the cost of not having that kind of an alliance.
04:43It would be much more expensive for America, and it would not be as productive as if we had
04:51the 31 other allies in NATO, but also the Asia-Pacific allies that have been very forceful
04:58and helpful when they could be. We need to now try to bring everybody back together and say,
05:04OK, we're disappointed, but we've got to move forward. It is in our best interest to do so.
05:10Well, Ambassador, in your view, how do you think that that happens? We heard from the president
05:14today posting on Truth Social saying that he received a call from NATO asking if we would need
05:21some help when it comes to the Strait of Hormuz. And according to the president, he told them to
05:27stay away. So clearly tensions remain quite high there. There's communication, but it doesn't seem
05:34to be necessarily leaving anywhere at this moment. I think you're right about that. But I think we
05:40need to be going behind the scenes and working together to patch up all of the emotions that have
05:49been let go here. And I think Europe should have stepped up sooner. I understand that they were
05:56offended earlier and rightly so, but they should have put that aside for the bigger picture, which
06:03is we are stronger together and we will work together with our ally, America. Now we've got to,
06:10I think, reach out and start bringing everybody back together and saying, OK, we can talk about all of
06:16our differences. But this is a family fight, which means that we must come back together.
06:21I mean, I appreciate your optimism, Kay, but I mean, this goes beyond just NATO. I mean,
06:26we've seen a kind of a fracturing in a lot of relationships. We've seen a lot of countries
06:30and regions to a certain extent go on their own or at least try to go on their own. It's
06:35hard to
06:35divorce yourself from the world's largest economy. But whether we're talking about Canada or some of
06:39the Latin American nations, some of the other Asian nations, there does appear to be the sense here
06:44that that sort of a unified global order, whether it was real or not, that we kind of enjoyed in
06:50that
06:50post-World War II era is just gone. Is that a mischaracterization?
06:55I think it is repairable. I'm not arguing with all of the things that you said, but I think we
07:04need
07:04to now look at the big picture and we need to be the leader of the free world and say,
07:11OK, we've
07:12gotten we, America, have done the job of basically defanging Iran, which has been a terrorist organization
07:22that has terrorized other Middle Eastern countries as well as had activities in our own countries.
07:30And we must now come together and be big enough to do that. And in addition, I think it is
07:38going to be
07:38very important that together we look at the bigger picture potential adversaries and realize if any
07:48one of our entities wants to go it alone, it's going to be a whole lot harder, a whole lot
07:54longer,
07:55more expensive, and a whole lot more expensive.
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