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00:00Just get us up to speed on what the administration is saying about the quality of the status of those
00:04negotiations and what we can expect here as we begin the new week.
00:07Yeah, I mean, I would first point out that the night before aboard Air Force One, the president is the
00:14one who told us he would be talking about Iran in the Oval Office Saturday morning.
00:19So you did see a bunch of us race to the White House Saturday morning, hoping that we would get
00:25an update on the status of talks.
00:27But the president didn't take a single question. As you said, he mentioned very briefly at the top that there
00:33were very good conversations ongoing.
00:35He said that they tried to get a little cute and they tried to close up the strait as they
00:40have done for years.
00:41As you guys know, the strait was open before the U.S. and Israeli military campaign on Iran.
00:49We didn't hear or see the president for the rest of the day. He spent the remainder of the day
00:55at his golf club.
00:56We do know that Steve Whitcoff, his golf clubs were spotted.
01:01So we do believe the president met with Steve Whitcoff at his Virginia golf club.
01:06The bag was cited.
01:06The actual we now know what the actual Whitcoff clubs look like. That's how we're doing this.
01:11Do. Yes, that's where we're at.
01:13Incredible.
01:16But he continues to strike an optimistic tone about the status of these talks, even as both sides, as you
01:24know, remain extremely far apart on some really core issues.
01:29Philip, I want to go to you because we're seeing some unverified reports this morning coming through Al Jazeera that
01:35the talks are now pushed and they're saying likely sometime next week.
01:39And that's citing two unnamed Pakistani officials.
01:42Considering we still have no official details, I'm assuming this isn't happening tomorrow.
01:47Are you just in Islamabad in perpetuity now?
01:50Do you have any idea when these talks may or may not be happening?
01:54Look, I'm here to tell you that I cannot confirm that there will be another round of talks here in
01:59Islamabad next week.
02:00But what I can tell you is that the preparations for potential talks are definitely now underway here in the
02:07Pakistani capital.
02:08You can see behind me, this is the biggest tourist attraction here in Islamabad.
02:12This is Faisal Mosque.
02:13It is still open, but the main access road to it, that is now closed.
02:17That is why you can probably not hear the sounds of motorbikes and cars and all the people we've seen
02:22over the last few days wandering toward and back and forth from Faisal Mosque.
02:27They are not here today.
02:28It is just one of many signs we are seeing here on this Saturday morning here in Islamabad that preparations
02:34are run underway.
02:35The two main hotels that had been taken over by the respective delegations last weekend,
02:42and they have now been taken over by the Pakistani government, meaning any guests have been told to leave.
02:47That is a very clear indication right there.
02:50And there is footage right now that is circulating all around Pakistan of U.S. military planes landing at a
02:55military base just on the outskirts of Islamabad.
02:59All of that indicates that preparations are run underway.
03:01That doesn't mean that I can confirm to you that these takes will be happening.
03:05But the rumors all throughout last week were that there was going to be a second round of negotiations,
03:11despite the fact that especially over the last 24 or 48 hours,
03:15the rhetoric has again become more aggressive between Iran and the United States,
03:20despite the fact that the Strait of Hormuz is pretty much entirely blocked right now.
03:25That does not mean that on the diplomatic front,
03:27these two sides can't be putting together the building blocks to actually see each other again in person here in
03:34Islamabad at some point next week.
03:37The date, I cannot give you right now.
03:39Colonel Sanders, let me turn to you.
03:41And so absent comment from the president, kind of official word from the White House or from Iranian counterparts,
03:46we're looking at the latest media reporting.
03:48And there was a big piece in the Wall Street Journal that broke yesterday.
03:51And the journal is reporting that the U.S. military is preparing in the coming days
03:54to board Iran-linked oil tankers and seize commercial ships in international waters.
03:58The journal is citing U.S. officials saying they're going to be expanding their naval crackdown beyond the Middle East.
04:04What does this say to you?
04:05It does seem here, as we've watched this back and forth about the Strait, whether it's open or not,
04:09that the continued presence of this U.S. blockade is really perhaps the biggest sticking point here for the Iranians
04:15and for this ceasefire generally.
04:18So I think it's I think it's the United States counterpoint to what Iran is doing to to kind of
04:23hold the Straits hostage,
04:24as they did over the weekend.
04:26I wasn't surprised to see that there was additional attack in the in the Straits,
04:30specifically when they were shooting at some of the tankers,
04:32just because they want to be able to add whatever leverage they possibly can.
04:36The naval blockade from the U.S. side, I think, is specifically there.
04:40Obviously, it's worked in terms of turning some of its tankers around the use of the Marine Expeditionary Units being
04:46there.
04:46The 11th and the 13th Marine Expeditionary Units are trained in this boarding and interdiction teams known as VBSS.
04:53I think it's one of the areas where both sides are showing, hey, look, we still have this capacity.
04:58But if you recall in the Iran-Israel conflict for the 12-day war,
05:02there's they continue to shoot at each other right up until the point of the agreement
05:05and even shot at each other a couple of times even afterwards.
05:08So I still think that this is mostly posturing more than anything.
05:11Philip, I want to go back to you because I want to dig into a little bit about how much
05:15we think these sides are still talking.
05:18Axios today is reporting that the Pakistani army chief, who has been kind of instrumental in facilitating this,
05:24held mediation talks by the U.S., between the U.S. and Iran.
05:28He was in Tehran last week, and they're also reporting that there was at least one phone call
05:32between the U.S., Iran, with possibly Pakistan mediating.
05:37Do you have any information on how those efforts are going or what communication has been happening even between the
05:42parties?
05:43As you see, it seems like they are gearing up for something there, even if we're not sure what or
05:47when.
05:50Yeah, and certainly Pakistan, as the mediator and as the only mediator in this war right now,
05:56is confident that its efforts are working out.
05:59That's why you're seeing these preparations for a potential another round of talks here in Islamabad.
06:04And you're right to mention Asim Mounir.
06:06He is the head of the armed forces.
06:09He is called by Donald Trump his favorite field marshal.
06:13He is crucial in this.
06:14He spent three days in Tehran meeting everybody on the Iranian side who is of import,
06:20who is part of this negotiating team.
06:22He met the parliament speaker.
06:24He also met the foreign minister.
06:25Those are precisely the leaders of the Iranian delegation.
06:29Now, what does a mediator do?
06:30Well, essentially pass his messages back and forth.
06:33He took an American message with him to Tehran, and presumably he got one from Tehran as well
06:38to hand over to Washington.
06:41Now, I can't confirm whether there has been any direct contact between the United States
06:45and Iran during this time, during these last few days.
06:49In theory, at least, the only contact that there has been has been face-to-face here in Islamabad
06:54last weekend during that first round of talks.
06:57But you certainly can't deny that there's the possibility that there might be some direct contact.
07:03For now, the mediator is the one passing messages back and forth and making sure that there is
07:08some kind of common ground between the two sides.
07:11And certainly from what we're hearing here in Islamabad, the Pakistani negotiators or mediators
07:17in this case are pretty confident that despite, again, the rhetoric and despite all the posturing,
07:22that these are two sides that are actually getting closer.
07:26Courtney, the president has made threats against Iran and walked that back, walked the timetable
07:29back a handful of times now.
07:31And you mentioned that the president took questions on Air Force One over the weekend.
07:34On Friday, he fielded questions from reporters.
07:36Let's take a listen to what he had to say about the status of that ceasefire.
07:38If you don't have a deal by Wednesday when the ceasefire ends, will you extend the ceasefire
07:44or will you start attacks again?
07:46Maybe I won't extend it.
07:47Okay.
07:47But the blockade is going to remain.
07:49Do you have enough, sir?
07:50But maybe I won't extend it.
07:51So you have a blockade.
07:54And unfortunately, we'll have to start dropping bombs again.
07:56We have to start dropping bombs again, the president saying in those comments.
07:59So, Courtney, I'd love some insight if you have it into how the president is thinking about
08:04the extension of this ceasefire, this pause in attacks on Iran.
08:08At the end of that, it's coming up very shortly here.
08:10And he has been ambiguous about his willingness to extend that.
08:16Well, that's Donald Trump's style, right?
08:18He likes to keep everyone guessing.
08:19He likes to keep everyone on edge.
08:21But I would note that we've been here several times throughout this war, where the U.S.
08:27seemingly ramps up pressure just before a deadline, and then both sides pull back and extend
08:33a pause in fighting.
08:34And I think that is really the core objective here, is to just extend the pause in fighting.
08:40And one thing I'll note is the Wall Street Journal report that you referred to about the
08:46U.S. would begin boarding Iranian-linked ships.
08:50I asked White House officials about this yesterday, and they pointed to the Joint Chief of Staff's
08:57Chairman Dan Kane's comments at the Pentagon briefing last week, in which he had mentioned
09:02that this was going to be an option that they would pursue if things didn't progress.
09:08So I do think that there is just a bit of a pressure campaign here to really send a message
09:14to Iran that they need to come to the table and start to agree on some of these points of
09:20contention so that they can move forward for a lasting peace agreement.
09:25Colonel Sanders, I know David asked you about that report, and I want to follow up as well.
09:29I'm wondering logistically at what point even the massive resources the U.S. has sent to the
09:34region start to get strained.
09:35If you are trying to enforce a blockade, hunt down and board these ships and examine them for
09:42sanctions violations in other areas, other arenas, and then you're looking at the prospect of
09:47the ceasefire not holding, so potentially resuming a bombing campaign or whatever else the president
09:52wants to do.
09:52At some point, is he limited by the capacity of the U.S. military, or does that capacity
09:57expand depending on what the commander-in-chief wants it to do?
10:01Yeah, I would say so.
10:03The capacity is strained, but it is something that can be transferable if you think about
10:07different theaters of operation.
10:08So it ends up being a decision calculus that the president has to look at and say,
10:12am I willing to take risk in other theaters like the Pacific in order to continue to bring
10:18capability over?
10:19Military Sealift Command has been strained in terms of creating pretty much a conveyor belt,
10:24if you will, of resources, fuel, logistics, and food, everything else that's going across.
10:30That part has played a huge part in terms of being able to prepare for the blockade,
10:34but as you mentioned, even during the ceasefire, that has still continued to be pushed, even
10:38though other areas may have stepped down from aircraft overflights and number of munitions
10:43that have been spent are less, it still doesn't mean that that ecosystem is strained.
10:49And so at this point in time, a lot of the operational planning, I believe, is tied into
10:53this as saying, if this were to continue into another bombing campaign, would I be able
10:58to lift and shift fires and resources from a different theater of operation in order to
11:04support this one?
11:05Phil Krezer, let me go back to you and to this initial announcement that we got from
11:09the Iranian foreign minister that the strait was open with maybe some small conditions here.
11:14What do we know about the impact that's had in Iran?
11:17I know there's been some pushback against the foreign minister by some more hardline members
11:20of that regime.
11:22What do we know about the way that that's played there and to the degree to which that
11:25represents broader government thinking about how this conflict should proceed?
11:32Yeah, it certainly does appear that some of the statements that we have been hearing coming
11:36out of Iran have been made for either public consumption in Iran or indeed for consumption
11:41by the leadership there, by the conservative leadership of Iran.
11:46This is not a country that is necessarily entirely singing from the same hymn sheet.
11:51There are those who want to be very, very strict and impose a full-on blockade of the
11:57strait of Hormuz and maybe there are others who don't and maybe who didn't agree with the
12:02initial ceasefire.
12:03So there are always different levels to this.
12:06Now, the way that this happened was, well, rather unfortunate, really, because for one
12:12moment there, we thought with the president's announcement and then also the foreign minister's
12:16announcement, as you mentioned, pretty much at exactly the same time that the strait of
12:19Hormuz was entirely open for traffic again.
12:22That lasted just a few hours at the end of the day, because what we're hearing now from
12:26the parliament speaker, and he's crucial in this.
12:29Remember, he is the number one in this negotiating team.
12:31He again says, if there is a U.S. blockade, if we can't get through the strait of Hormuz because
12:36the U.S. blockade is of Iranian ports, then no one else is allowed through either.
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