00:00Do you think ASEAN member states do have any influence over Iran and the U.S. when it comes
00:07to reopening the Strait of Homoz? Or is this joint statement just largely symbolic in many respects?
00:16Well, thanks for having me. I would hope that ASEAN collectively could have some influence
00:23on the U.S. and on Iran, but I seriously doubt that to be the case because at this point,
00:29the U.S. and Iran are negotiating either directly or indirectly with one another. We just had the
00:35Iranian foreign minister visit China, so China is also involved. So what this looks like really is
00:41the great powers or major powers playing a role in negotiating rather than the ASEAN countries
00:48having any real diplomatic heft in the negotiations. Now, the clip you played, they mentioned
00:57that ASEAN is going to release its joint statement soon to call for the opening of the Strait of
01:02Homoz. And again, you know, ASEAN represents over 700 million people worldwide, so that should carry
01:08some significance. I just fear that it won't because ASEAN really is on the periphery of the
01:15dispute. In terms of the energy crisis, of course, it's been cataclysmic for ASEAN. The Philippines
01:22declared a national emergency and other countries are rationing fuel and oil. So this is going to have
01:29implications much wider than the conflict going forward.
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