Trump ‘LOSING PATIENCE’ with Iran: Amb Mike Froman on potential peace deal

[0:00] so the president posted a truth social saying tuesday at 8 p.m eastern appearing to refer to [0:05] his previous post where he threatened iran's power plants and bridges if they do not open [0:10] the strait of hormuz by tuesday house intelligence committee house intelligence committee chairman [0:14] rick crawford says the president is urging iran to take that diplomatic off-ramp what he is telling [0:21] people is that i want to give them a diplomatic out he's trying to give them every opportunity [0:26] to make the right choice do the right thing and and i think they're that window is going to be [0:33] open for a little while longer but after that it's going to close decisively and the president will [0:36] take action president trump told fox news's trey yinks that negotiations are currently underway [0:43] and he believes there's a good chance a deal could be reached by tomorrow however trump warned that [0:48] failure to comply could result in the u.s seizing iran's oil iran's parliament speaker responded [0:54] to the threats claiming the u.s will gain nothing from what he termed quote [0:58] war crimes and saying the only solution is for the u.s to end this quote dangerous game [1:03] president trump will deliver a press conference tomorrow where he will also likely discuss the [1:07] successful rescue of the f-15e crew member who was shot down over iran on friday but joining us now [1:14] is ambassador mike froman former u.s trade representative and current president of the [1:19] council on foreign relations ambassador froman first of all happy easter thank you for taking [1:25] the time with us we're so happy to have you thanks for having me [1:29] so we've seen the truth social posts today the left is not happy about them but president trump [1:36] issuing a very stark and very colorful warning to iran do they take the off-ramp or do they face the [1:43] consequences what do you think is going to happen well i think we've all learned to sort of separate [1:49] the signal from from the noise and the signal here is clearly that the president is losing patience [1:54] with the iranians he set deadlines before but now we have a massive amount of armaments in the [2:01] air and he's got a lot of fire out thankfully over the last 24 hours and he seems to be saying that [2:07] this time he means it that if they don't reopen the straits of four moves by tuesday there will [2:12] be further attacks on their infrastructure and on their on their power plants i think the real [2:17] question is on the negotiation side of things we're now talking about talking we're trying to [2:22] get to the table and have a meaningful negotiation when you look at the 15-point proposal that the [2:27] president has laid out and the five-point response that the iranians have laid out there's almost no [2:31] sense of the importance of that and i think that's a very important point and i think we're [2:35] going to see a fundamental agreement on the underlying points hopefully we can return to [2:40] a situation that existed prior to the war when the straits of hormuz was open and oil and other [2:45] products were flowing through there freely ambassador from it thanks very much for joining [2:48] us this evening i want to talk about iran's leadership the u.s and especially the israelis [2:54] have been targeting iran's leadership but behind all of that is the revolutionary guard corps they [2:58] have been entrenched in iranian society for decades do you get the sense that after this conflict is [3:01] finished or at least as part of all of this that there could be a better government that emerges [3:08] or is this an iranian government that will emerge uh that's more dangerous well there's no signs [3:16] westerners are all often looking at iran to say where are the the moderates that we can deal with [3:22] and we've done so for decades there's no real sign that the current leadership in iran is moderate in [3:28] any way whether it's the new ayatollah or of course the irgc as you mentioned which controls [3:33] not just the the security apparatus very effectively putting down protesters killing [3:39] tens of thousands of them but also controls a significant part of the economy and so it's very [3:44] unclear at the end of this at the end of this conflict iran is clearly going to be a much [3:48] weakened military power with its nuclear capability its missiles capability and other capabilities [3:55] that it had seriously degraded but it still may be a very oppressive regime without much moderation [4:03] to be seen you know ambassador on that note we've taken out many of iran's leaders how difficult [4:11] does that make negotiations you know who are we negotiating with how familiar are we with them [4:17] we don't have a lot of visibility into what's going on inside uh tehran itself at least not [4:24] publicly um and so uh yes the new ayatollah hasn't been seen the irgc is still very much [4:30] in power the speaker of the parliament uh is engaging uh publicly and and with us the [4:36] foreign minister is engaging um and and so we deal with the the people that we can deal with we [4:41] don't really know who's calling the shots back in tehran which complicates uh the negotiations [4:47] but again hopefully behind the scenes uh more clearly more clear things are being said to each [4:52] other there's more space for negotiation and hopefully we're having real communication [4:56] between whoever they tee up and the folks on our side ambassador you mentioned you [5:01] said we have our proposals they have theirs there's not much light in between [5:06] you know we got diff it's it's very difficult to negotiate correct what is there a possibility [5:14] that you don't need a deal we stop attacking you you let the straight open the simplest of all [5:20] just no fighting is is that possible that something like that that could happen [5:26] that's not only possible it may be the most likely solution i think that the difference now is that [5:31] iran has demonstrated that even with seriously degraded air defenses missile capabilities drone [5:38] capabilities and naval capabilities it can still wreak havoc it can still shoot down planes uh [5:43] sink ships or damage them chill shipping through the strait of hormuz and it may tighten its [5:49] control over the strait of hormuz if the u.s which has traditionally been in the business [5:54] of keeping open the ceilings of communication these important shipping lanes all around the [5:59] world that's been a fundamental principle of the u.s navy of the u.s military strategy if we're no [6:05] longer in that business then iran may well impose a deal with the strait of hormuz and we're in the [6:08] middle of the strait of hormuz and we're in the middle of the strait of hormuz and we're in the [6:08] whole or let only those ships that it is comfortable and wants to let out into international [6:13] commerce ambassador how has this war changed the regional relationship not just the united [6:20] states centers israel and iran but also um the gulf countries it it seems you know iran's [6:25] response has been extremely aggressive going after uh the countries that hold the u.s presence [6:30] um how does that change the politics and the geopolitical uh conversation in the region well [6:39] you're absolutely right i think that's a very important question and i think that's a very important [6:39] question and i think that's a very important question and i think that's a very important [6:39] right i mean the decision by iran to retaliate not just against israel and the united states [6:44] uh bases but against uh against kuwaiti oil facilities uh qatari gas facilities lots of other [6:51] countries in the in the region including oman has now driven those countries to want to take action [6:57] want to defend themselves and conceivably to work more closely with a u.s led coalition in the region [7:04] and so these countries are looking at their security going forward they see an iran in the [7:09] future that it may be wounded but maybe like a wounded animal in the corner that strikes out at [7:14] its neighbors in unpredictable ways and that's a very dangerous situation for them they're going to [7:19] want to have close relationships i believe with the u.s going forward ambassador lisa here if i [7:24] heard you correctly you said the potential end result could be walking away after reopening of [7:29] the strait of her moose um if that's the case was this worth it if that if that's the end result [7:38] well look for 47 years the iranian regime has terrorized the iranian government and the iranian [7:41] regime has terrorized not just the region but u.s interests around uh around the world i mean what [7:46] has changed over the last uh year has been the willingness of the u.s together with israel and [7:52] some of its regional uh partners so some of the u.s's regional partners to take military action [7:57] to to change the dynamic so to the 12-day war last year to bomb the nuclear facilities the [8:04] aggressive efforts to degrade their missile capabilities to sink their official navy those [8:11] are some of the things that the iranian government is going to be able to do in the next few years [8:15] and i think it's going to be a very important step for the iranian government because if they [8:19] leave tehran in a much much weakened position they're no longer going to be able to wreck the [8:24] kind of havoc they did before but they still with this is the thing about asymmetric warfare [8:29] you know for the u.s in an asymmetric warfare in an asymmetric war has to win iran just has to [8:35] survive it just has to not lose and with relatively few capabilities it can still cause a lot of of [8:45] damage but it's going to be a very important step for the iranian government and i think it's [8:49] going to be a very important step for the iranian government and i think it's going to be a very