Trump reveals DIRECT involvement in Iran talks

[0:00] So we now are at 1033 on a Friday morning, President Trump revealing he's directly involved [0:06] in the talks with Iran, trying to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, hoping a deal could be coming [0:12] quote, very soon. How do we define that? Jackie Heinrich on the North Lawn, White House now. [0:18] Jackie, good morning. Good morning, Bill. We are now outside the 48-hour window where the [0:23] president said earlier this week we could see a deal come together. Nevertheless, he says that [0:28] things are moving along well, even though there is no breakthrough yet with the Strait of Hormuz. [0:34] Well, I don't want to say it has been. It's sort of open right now. You know, we have a thing called [0:39] the blockade headed up by the U.S. Navy, and we control it. And now we control it, but they can [0:46] always shoot something. But I think we're doing very well. I just, you know, I'm involved in the [0:52] negotiation. I think we're doing fine. It could be soon. The president also expressed confidence [0:58] in U.S. military readiness if he opts to greenlight more strikes. He shot down a report from the [1:03] Washington Post claiming that he grilled war secretary Pete Hegseth at Camp David for [1:08] misleading him on extreme munitions shortages. He posted to Truth Social, I'm extremely happy [1:13] with the job that Pete Hegseth is doing. This rumor was started by the Washington Post, [1:17] one of the worst media outlets in the business, despite our telling them their story is completely [1:22] false. In actuality, I really believe their fake reporting is treasonous. He insisted the U.S. [1:28] has a virtually unlimited supply of certain munitions, while defense companies are working [1:32] to produce others that are in a little tighter supply. And he blamed the Biden administration [1:36] for depleting stocks long before the Iran conflict. We're in great shape. But with that being said, [1:44] we always want more. We have to have more. We have other things maybe come up. Maybe come up and [1:49] maybe don't come up. Hopefully nothing else does come up. The president once again insisted that [1:55] oil and gas prices will fall sharply once the conflict is over. That was a point that the [2:00] NEC director Kevin Hassett reiterated this morning, calling the higher prices a, quote, [2:04] temporary phenomenon. Bill. All right, Jackie, thanks. Jackie Heinrich. Good to see you from the north [2:09] line. Okay, so while President Trump works on finalizing a deal with Iran, we're getting new [2:14] details on the future of passage in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran and Oman are looking to share [2:20] responsibility for that waterway, including new transit corridors for vessels. Let's bring in Mike [2:27] Pompeo, former Secretary of State and Fox News contributor. So we'll start there with you, [2:31] Secretary. What do you make of this Iran-Oman relationship, this reported deal they're working [2:37] on to effectively control the Strait? I sure that'd be a terrible outcome for America, for the Middle [2:45] East, indeed, for the world. To allow the Iranians to control that in any way is simply unacceptable. [2:53] I think President Trump actually knows that, too. And I'm confident that in the negotiations he's [2:57] making clear there'll be no tolls, there'll be no control. This is an international waterway. [3:01] If we begin here, there are endless number of places in the world that some country would assert [3:06] this was theirs and they had their right to control it. [3:09] Well, when he says- The Omanis are in a tough spot with the Iranians. [3:12] I understand why they're trying to cooperate, but there's no reason for us to end our blockade [3:16] until it's wide open, uncontrolled by Iran. [3:19] Well, the Omanis have always been sort of in charge of, I mean, not really in charge, [3:23] but helping to get ships across the Strait in a safe manner. But the Iranians are, [3:30] it seems like, trying to take advantage of that, sir. When the president says that he is now [3:34] personally involved, personally talking to the Iranians, what does he mean by that? [3:40] Who do you think he's talking to over there? [3:43] I don't really know. I think one of the challenges that President Trump and the other negotiators [3:49] have faced all along is that we talk about negotiating with the Iranians and there's no such [3:53] thing, right? This is not a unitary entity. And when you talk to the United States, you're speaking [3:58] to the U.S. When you're talking to the Iranians, there are multiple groups, each with their own [4:02] agendas, all of which want death of Israel and the destruction of the United States. [4:06] So I don't know who he might be speaking with. You can see these comments come from the foreign [4:10] ministry. You should just ignore them. They're meaningless. The only individuals that can control [4:16] the outcome here is the IRGC. And I've seen no evidence that the IRGC is prepared to give up [4:21] their pathway to a nuclear weapon. Okay, some pretty big news out of the Gulf today. It seems like some [4:27] of these countries have gotten together and created their own NATO pact. We're talking about [4:32] Turkey as well as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have joined a defense agreement. So if somebody attacks [4:40] one of them, they're all going to come together and defend that nation. And I think that there [4:44] are some other countries, maybe even Qatar, that might join this defense pact. To me, that says [4:50] they're expecting more tensions. They're expecting this Iran situation, this problem to not go away. [4:58] How do you read this? I think you're right. I think there's two things. One is I think they [5:03] believe that there'll be continued threats from the regime in Iran. And so they're looking for [5:08] partners that I think the Pakistanis have already deployed military assets inside of Saudi Arabia to [5:13] help defend them. But second, I think it also suggests to me that they understand that the problem [5:19] isn't. Right. We talk about the Israel-Palestinian conflict. I think they can all now recognize that [5:25] the problem stems from Tehran and are all beginning to unite in a way that recognizes this massive [5:31] threat and the need to actually make it go away, make the regime be fundamentally different than the [5:36] regime has been for the last 47 years. Yeah. The big surprise in there for me was Turkey. Turkey [5:41] signing on to something like this with the Gulf states. Secretary Pompeo, great to see you. Have a [5:45] great weekend. Thank you, Aisha. Have a great weekend. So long.