00:00I mean, you say the U.S. intent is there, but I mean, at the weekend, the United States seized
00:04an Iranian vessel.
00:06The blockade of Iranian ports was not lifted, even though the Iranians and even the Pakistani mediators believed that it
00:13would be if the Strait of Hormuz was opened.
00:16The rhetoric is still pretty threatening. I mean, none of that sounds conducive to peace, does it?
00:22Well, I agree that what's going on in the back door is what we don't know.
00:30I think the Americans, despite that military action, are making it clear that they do want some sort of resolution
00:40or at least an extension of the ceasefire period.
00:44Otherwise, they wouldn't send their vice president all the way to Islamabad on what might otherwise be a wasted and
00:53diplomatically damaging effort.
00:56So I can only assume that behind the scenes, something else is going on.
01:01And why I mentioned tactics as opposed to strategy?
01:04I mean, even the Americans with their outstanding command and control capabilities will occasionally not get the message sufficiently down
01:15to the low tactical level about what's expected.
01:18And I think that might have happened in the case of this freighter.
01:22I mean, I'm no more justification for saying that other than my own sort of military instinct.
01:30But it is not beyond the realms of possibility that there's just been a disconnect.
01:36I have to say, finally, on this, as you're hinting, the American blockade does not help matters.
01:44It would be much easier if both sides now agreed to lift their respective blockades to allow these discussions to
01:54bear fruit.
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