00:00Good morning, Tommy. Good morning. Tell us, what is the view from Brussels on this U.S.-Iran deal?
00:05Well, as you said, you have very clearly two dimensions. As you mentioned, markets seem to be
00:10very happy, oil prices going down. So, you know, you have impression it's a lasting piece. But as
00:15the cancellation of the meeting in Switzerland indicates, the deal is very fragile. And the
00:23problem remains. You have the issue of, you know, Iran, nuclear capabilities, enrichments to 60%,
00:32Strait of Hormuz. And how is that going to open up? And the regional implications.
00:38And that's the thing, the fact that the U.S. vice president is no longer traveling to Switzerland
00:42for the signing, nor the talks. It's a bad sign, right?
00:45Yeah. Well, I think that there are two dimensions. They try to hurry it up. But you have
00:52the dimension with Iran, the negotiations, who is starting first, who is making the first
00:57commitment. On the other hand, you have the impression that in Washington, there's a high
01:01pressure from conservatives' side, but in overall about the deal. I think that they are going to
01:07manage that. And I think Vance is maybe trying to avoid a situation where he's kind of somehow
01:11going there and trapped. Normally in those meetings, when you go there, it's normally for signing. You
01:17need to know what's going to be agreed. And that's clearly is not the case this time.
01:21And of course, Lebanon is left out of the deal.
01:23Absolutely.
01:24What leverage do the Europeans have here?
01:26As Macron has said, you know, we need to be involved. Leverage, there's not so much. There's
01:33this discussion of 300 billion euros. Of course, that's just a framework to be agreed in upcoming
01:4060 days. Maybe that gives some leverage, but it's very clear indicates when we need to be...
01:46Lebanon is the crucial point, because as you mentioned, Israel is out of the deal and we
01:50will see how they react.
01:52And last night at the EU summit, Tommy, we saw a big fight among EU leaders regarding Antonio
01:57Costa, the president's liaisons with the Kremlin. What is your view here? Was he right to get in
02:02touch?
02:02I think what is very important, especially the European side, when we have various players,
02:08we have EU institutions, we are head of states, we are investing a lot on Ukraine and we have
02:12Ukrainians, especially as Ukraine in the future will be seen more and more as a net security
02:17provider. And clearly the coordination has not worked. You should be more or less in the same
02:23chat group on information. I think that that's the issue, because if that coordination does not
02:28happen, there's two questions there. First of all, what is the signal? Have we agreed?
02:32Are we are pushing the same message? Because you should. Secondly, is Ukraine involved?
02:36So was Antonio Costa wrong?
02:38I think it's very clear that the coordination has not worked. I think that's crucial on this
02:45issue. I think many head of states have indicated that.
02:49Okay. Topic that will be dominating again the talks here in Brussels. Tommy Houten, and thank
02:52you so much for joining us here on Europe Today.
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