00:00The ceasefire has been extended without an agreement.
00:03There is a blockade that is still in place on Iranian ports.
00:08Ships have come under fire today in the Strait of Hormuz.
00:12I mean, just looking at where things are right now,
00:14some might say we're further from a diplomatic solution than ever.
00:18Where do you think we are?
00:18Well, thank you for having me. I think that's right.
00:21I think we are seeing, in some ways, a repeat of escalatory steps
00:27with the U.S. using the blockade as an economic pressure tool
00:32to try and coerce the Iranian government to come to the table and make concessions,
00:37and the Iranian government meeting that escalation with continued threats on the Strait.
00:43And so we're seeing something that we saw, I think, early on in the war now,
00:4955 days ago when it started, that both sides seek to escalate to get the other side to the table.
00:57And we're in one of those escalatory cycles right now.
01:01What's unclear is who blinks first.
01:04The pressure economically is what the Iranian government is using
01:08to get the United States to be willing to come off its maximalist demands.
01:14The United States is trying to get the Iranian government to do the same.
01:19And we're asking,
01:19hmm, obviously, this happened in?'
01:22I'm Joel, of course.
Comments