US, Iran locked in a ‘no war, no peace’ endurance test — This Is America

[0:10] This is America, and that is the port of Baltimore, where the financial effects of the conflict [0:17] between the U.S. and Iran are certainly washing up on American shores. [0:22] There might not be active conflict at the moment between the two countries, but with [0:27] the Strait of Hormuz closed, there's certainly an economic effect being felt, not least in [0:32] the added cost of shipping. [0:34] I will have more on that from here in a moment, but first, let's go to Cyril Farnier in our [0:39] Washington, D.C. studio. [0:42] Richard Gaysford, thank you very much. [0:44] We're two months into the U.S.'s conflict with Iran, and there is no winner. [0:48] Despite overwhelming American and Israeli firepower, the Iranian government did not collapse, people [0:53] did not rise up, and negotiators didn't give away what's left of the country's nuclear [0:57] assets. [0:58] So Iran has not lost, but neither has the U.S. [1:02] This is a show about what happens when you don't win on the battlefield. [1:06] What then? [1:07] The U.S. and Iran are both now selectively blocking the Strait of Hormuz, raising the [1:11] economic cost of this war for everyone in the hope that the other side will suffer more [1:16] and will suffer first. [1:18] That's a strategy based on time. [1:20] And notice that Donald Trump is no longer promising a swift victory. [1:23] I don't want to rush it, I want to take my time, we have plenty of time, and I want to get [1:30] a great deal. [1:31] So we were in Vietnam like for 18 years, we were in Iraq for many, many years. [1:35] We were in for all the, I don't like to say World War II, because that was a biggie. [1:40] But we were four and a half, almost five years in World War II. [1:43] We were in the Korean War for seven years. [1:47] I've been doing this for six weeks, and the military is totally defeated. [1:53] Here's where things stand now. [1:55] There have been no major attacks carried out since the ceasefire was agreed on April 8th, [2:00] though violations were reported early on. [2:03] Since then, there has been an uneasy calm in the region, and a third U.S. aircraft carrier [2:08] arrived a few days ago, carrying thousands of troops. [2:11] On top of that, there's the naval standoff in the Strait of Hormuz. [2:14] It is hard to get a good number for how much that is costing the global economy, but some [2:18] reports suggest it is north of a billion dollars a day. [2:22] Diplomatic talks between the U.S. and Iran are effectively in a stalemate, with no visible [2:27] progress since that first round of talks more than two weeks ago. [2:31] The U.S. says that's because Iran wouldn't budge on its demand to never build a nuclear [2:35] weapon. [2:36] Iran says it won't commit to further talks until the U.S. lifts its naval blockade, which [2:40] Trump says is costing Tehran $500 million a day. [2:45] So that's a high cost to Iran, but the U.S. is also feeling the brunt of this. [2:49] To explain Donald Trump's gamble, our chief U.S. correspondent Alan Fisher is at the White [2:53] House. [2:54] Alan, does the president now think that he can outlast Iran? [2:57] Well, Donald Trump already thinks he's won the war. [3:00] He said it on several occasions. [3:01] They've destroyed the Air Force. [3:03] They've destroyed the Navy. [3:05] They have virtual air superiority over Iran. [3:09] What's happening now is a negotiation on a deal. [3:11] Remember, that whole military action was Operation Epic Fury. [3:15] What they've now launched is Operation Economic Fury. [3:19] Donald Trump believes that the blockade is forcing Iran to consider the American proposals [3:24] to end the war. [3:26] He thinks it's putting pressure on them. [3:28] And every day he believes that that pressure is getting greater. [3:31] But it's also putting pressure on around the world. [3:34] Now, he says that Iran has no cards left to play. [3:39] So he's willing to sit. [3:40] Sit for as long as it takes to get the deal that he believes is the best for the United [3:45] States. [3:46] You remember right at the start of this war, he said that this war would last somewhere [3:50] in the region of four to six weeks. [3:52] That was an arbitrary timeline. [3:54] He was told that there would be very little fight back from the Iranians. [3:58] Their defiance, their defense has perhaps shocked him more than anyone else in the cabinet. [4:05] There were those who said this could be difficult. [4:08] This could be a long war. [4:09] You don't want to get involved in this. [4:11] But Donald Trump believed this was the right thing to do for the American people and for the [4:16] war. [4:17] Now, he believes that he can wait. [4:19] He can wait till he gets the deal. [4:21] He thinks it will force the Iranians to the table. [4:24] Will it? [4:26] Well, he's got the confidence that he's going to carry this on as long as it needs. [4:30] And America will pay the price that it has to pay for a nuclear free Iran. [4:35] Al Jazeera's chief U.S. correspondent, Alan Fisher. [4:37] Thank you very much. [4:38] And while Donald Trump says that the U.S. has plenty of time to get a great deal, the knock-on [4:43] effects of the conflict are taking their toll on the American public. [4:46] The closure of the Strait of Hormuz doesn't only affect oil prices. [4:50] It also has wider impact on food, manufacturing and inflation. [4:54] Richard Gaseford reports from the Port of Baltimore. [4:59] The Strait of Hormuz might be thousands of miles away. [5:03] But the economic ripples of this conflict are certainly being felt here, and the current [5:08] is getting stronger. [5:09] But first, of course, everyone was focused on the oil price, the dramatic effect that [5:13] was having on the price of diesel and petrol. [5:16] Now, though, other things are starting to be more apparent, including the price of shipping. [5:21] Now, the cost of getting goods into the United States has definitely gone up. [5:26] But that is going to make imports more expensive. [5:30] And it is just one effect that is being noticed that is working its way into the system. [5:36] It's a worrying outlook for American farmers. [5:40] The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has created a global shortage of fertilizer, and that's [5:45] been pushing prices up. [5:47] Nearly 70 percent of farmers in the U.S. say they now can't afford to grow all of their [5:52] crops this year. [5:54] It's likely to mean a reduction in food supply, which could further drive up supermarket prices [5:59] and inflation. [6:01] A cut in supply of fossil fuels has meant fewer raw materials headed to Asia for creating [6:08] plastics for packaging and clothes. [6:11] That's also pushing prices up, the worst effects still to be felt across America. [6:17] The president, though, remains optimistic. [6:19] Don't forget, we're having some fake inflation because of the fuel. [6:22] We have this a lot of people thought that inflation would be through the roof and the stock market [6:27] would crash. [6:28] Well, we just hit an all time new stock market. [6:31] In Iran, the oil industry is being choked. [6:34] It's the cornerstone of the country's entire economy, and that's taking its toll on government [6:39] revenues in Tehran. [6:41] Food prices are also up across the country. [6:45] The threat of bombing might be on hold, but there's now an economic war to endure. [6:50] Although, after years of sanctions, Iranians are well-practiced at surviving the squeeze. [6:58] Richard Gaysford, Al Jazeera, Baltimore. [7:02] Well, we're joined now by former Special Envoy for Middle East Peace and former U.S. Ambassador [7:06] David Hale, and former Pentagon official and senior advisor with the Center for Strategic [7:11] and International Studies, Mark Kansian. [7:13] Mark Kansian, is this now a waiting game between the U.S. and Iran? [7:18] Well, that's where we are right now. [7:21] Certainly both sides believe that they can outlast the other. [7:25] They're making statements to that effect. [7:28] But I believe the administration is likely considering military options. [7:34] They don't know how long this might go on. [7:38] They have two options on the table. [7:39] They could launch an operation to clear the strait, or they could relaunch the bombing campaign. [7:47] They've talked about both. [7:48] Do you think either of those would yield a significantly different result from what we've seen so far? [7:53] If they're able to clear the strait, that might bring a different result, because then, [8:00] if shipping could actually get through, the United States would have the upper hand. [8:04] Redoing the bombing doesn't look like it would have much of an effect. [8:08] The president has threatened a major escalation there, attacking power plants, for example. [8:14] Not clearly would do that. [8:16] Ambassador Hale, so the economic pain, and we've just described it, is setting in for the U.S. [8:22] It has already set in for Iran. [8:24] Is it possible to predict who has a higher pain tolerance for this? [8:29] Well, my own guess is that America has a higher level of pain tolerance than Iran under these [8:35] circumstances, although clearly the Iranian Revolutionary Guards are calling the shots. [8:41] They have the power in Iran, and they're less susceptible to public opinion than the civilians, [8:45] who are trying to take a more pragmatic line up until recently. [8:47] So we will see. [8:49] But I think if you listen to people who are actually conversant with economic and financial realities [8:54] in Iran, they would say that this is a matter of weeks before the Iranians are in a situation [9:00] where they can no longer sustain the need to pay their people. [9:02] That's what the U.S. president seems to believe. [9:04] He says they're losing $500 million a day, or rather they're not bringing in that money, [9:09] which is normally what they'd bring in from selling their oil. [9:12] That's right. [9:13] That's, I think, the strategy here. [9:15] I think it's got a good chance of success, except the fact that we know that the Iranian [9:19] IRCG and the security establishment are highly resilient and not particularly sensitive to [9:25] public opinion. [9:26] So it could be a longer game than just a matter of weeks. [9:29] So Mark Kansian, on this issue of time and who it benefits, in the early stages of the war, [9:35] Iran appeared to believe that time was on its side. [9:38] And then Donald Trump, when he launched the U.S. naval blockade of Iranian ports, appeared [9:43] to believe, on his end, that he had somehow flipped the script and that time was now working [9:48] to the advantage of the U.S. [9:50] What would you say? [9:52] Well, it's hard to say. [9:53] First, because, you know, President Trump, like the Iranians, is posturing for negotiations. [9:59] So of course he's saying that he has all the time in the world and he has all the cards. [10:05] But it is true that the United States has more options because the United States has a preponderance [10:09] of military capability and a much larger economy. [10:14] It has options the way that the Iranians don't. [10:17] So it's going to make some decisions and drive this process forward one way or the other. [10:22] So right now neither side has won, neither side has lost. [10:26] If this continues, Ambassador Hale, no victory or defeat on either side. [10:31] What does that mean just from a purely logical standpoint that this can keep going for a very [10:35] long time? [10:36] Yeah, I mean, my own guess is that we're going to see a period of on and off again [10:40] diplomatic initiatives and talks. [10:42] We're going to see a period of on again, off again military activity on both sides. [10:47] And hopefully we'll see an American persistence in putting pressure on Iran. [10:50] We're going to see other countries who are more susceptible to the closure of the Straits, [10:54] perhaps get more active right now. [10:57] They're in hypercritical mode. [10:59] Maybe they will move into diplomatic helpful mode and possibly critical of who? [11:04] Critical of the United States. [11:05] So you're talking about the Gulf states primarily who are suffering from Europe. [11:08] The Gulf states are largely aligned with the United States right now. [11:11] But the consumers are hypercritical, but they're not offering ideas of their own. [11:16] And I think you'll start to see more initiatives on their part, which may or may not be helpful, [11:20] including ones to play a role themselves in opening up the Straits, as we've seen from the [11:24] British proposal. [11:25] Now, the U.S. president believes that Iran's oil infrastructure is a particular point of [11:30] weakness for Tehran. [11:31] Here's him speaking to Fox News on Sunday. [11:33] When you have, you know, lines of vast amounts of oil pouring through your system, if for [11:42] any reason that line is closed because you can't continue to put it into containers or [11:48] ships, which has happened to them, they have no ships because of the blockade. [11:52] What happens is that line explodes from within, both mechanically and in the earth. [11:59] If something happens where it just explodes, they say they only have about three days left before [12:04] that happens. [12:06] Mark Hansen, you were at the Pentagon formerly. [12:10] Is this the kind of thing that has been war gamed? [12:12] Donald Trump appears to believe that if Iran does not get its oil out to market, then at [12:17] some point Iran's oil reserves are full and that damages Iran's oil infrastructure beyond [12:22] repair. [12:24] Well, I have heard that, and I think many experts have made that point. [12:29] It's very hard to tell, and I'll leave that to the petroleum engineers. [12:33] But this is a problem that the U.S. military has been thinking about for literally 45 years, [12:39] ever since the tanker wars of the 1980s. [12:42] We've war gamed these kinds of crises. [12:46] What happens if the strait is closed? [12:48] What happens if Iran becomes aggressive? [12:52] When I was a junior officer in the Marine Corps, we practiced some of these amphibious [12:56] operations. [12:58] So this is something we've thought about for a long time. [13:00] And as a result, it's a bit surprising that the United States has not been able to open [13:04] the strait, given how much time it's had to think about this. [13:07] But so that's my question is, because this has been war gamed, when you hear the president [13:11] saying, well, just give it a few days and Iran's oil infrastructure is going to sort [13:14] of start disintegrating. [13:15] Is that based on U.S. intelligence, you think, or U.S. actual planning? [13:19] Well, I'm sure he's getting input from petroleum engineers who tell him about the state of the [13:27] Iranian oil industry. [13:29] And I've heard from credible sources that, you know, if the oil doesn't flow, then the [13:34] pressure on the system will cause severe damage. [13:40] But there's still the problem about opening the strait and whether the United States has [13:46] the ability to do that if Iran doesn't cooperate. [13:49] Which, so far, the U.S. hasn't been able to do in spite of a U.S. naval blockade. [13:54] Ambassador Hale, so there will be two clocks ticking on Iran if we just follow the U.S. president's [14:00] statements. [14:01] The other one is on this impending grave damage to their oil infrastructure. [14:11] Do those two strategies, which seem to be the pillars of the president's strategy right [14:17] now, does that seem like a sound strategy? [14:20] Well, you know, I think it's impossible to predict. [14:24] We've never been in this situation. [14:25] We will see. [14:26] Certainly, objectively, it would appear to be the case that if we have sufficient patience, [14:30] that would work. [14:31] Iran is different. [14:32] But what gives you that impression? [14:35] Well, you just yourself outlined the reality. [14:38] But I don't know if it's true. [14:40] But we don't know if it's true. [14:41] We don't. [14:42] There's no proof of concept. [14:43] Give me a moment. [14:44] I think while we are doing that, undoubtedly, you also have mounting U.S. military presence [14:48] in the Gulf. [14:49] I think the hesitance to use them is because it will entail deploying them on the ground in [14:55] places and a higher risk of loss of life. [14:58] So I think the president would prefer, as my guess, diplomacy and economic pressure to [15:03] bring results. [15:04] But he has another option, which hopefully will sort of be something that sobers up Iranian [15:10] decision makers to see it isn't just about their economy. [15:13] It isn't just about diplomacy. [15:14] There is also still an American military option that could change the equation. [15:19] Because a premise of a lot of the media conversations right now, and you yourself said it, is that [15:23] neither side has won or lost. [15:25] Well, we've decimated their military capabilities. [15:28] They are no longer a—they are completely neutralized in their ability to project power anywhere [15:32] except what geographies gave them, which is the— [15:35] They can launch drones and missiles. [15:37] Yeah. [15:38] Well, when was the last strike? [15:40] Well, so just before this, right up until—so I live in Doha when the ceasefire was announced. [15:45] That's when the last strike was. [15:46] Yeah. [15:47] And you've seen a consolidation of power and alliance among the Gulf states with us, because [15:53] they now see the menace that truly is Iran. [15:56] No one can be fooled by that. [15:57] So I think Iran has had a strategically significant setback. [16:03] Loss—victory and loss may be the wrong words, but they are no longer able to dominate the [16:07] Middle East the way they were before 2023. [16:09] We have a problem. [16:10] The Straits of Hormuz. [16:12] It will be solved. [16:13] Then the question is, what would the rest of this negotiation look like? [16:17] Because even if we get into talks with Iran, the gaps between the two of us are very great. [16:22] And I don't see how we're going to come to a conclusion on that. [16:25] So this is not going to end. [16:27] Even if the Straits are resolved in a matter of weeks, we still have a bigger problem, which [16:31] is a negotiation. [16:32] So we did ask ourselves, since we outlined the economic cost, how much it costs for the [16:37] U.S. to keep its forced deployment as it currently is, to maintain this military posture. [16:42] There's not much clarity on how much this has cost the U.S. taxpayers so far. [16:47] Here's John Holman. [16:49] The bombs have stopped falling, the missiles have stopped flying, but U.S. forces are still [16:53] in what the military calls the theater of war. [16:57] So the million or billion dollar question, how much is this costing, even with a ceasefire [17:02] on? [17:03] Simple answer. [17:04] Who knows? [17:05] Because the man who you might expect to answer, the White House budget controller Russ Voigt, [17:10] isn't telling. [17:12] You have no idea, none, how much has been spent on the war so far? [17:16] We don't have that figures right now, I think in part because it's fluctuating on a day in [17:20] day out basis. [17:22] So we've been digging around and we've got a couple of estimates for you. [17:26] Thinking about what's still there in the zone, three U.S. carrier strike groups for a start, [17:32] the Lincoln, the Bush and Ford, each one made up of an aircraft carrier plus around 70 jets [17:38] and helicopters, three to five warships, maybe a submarine. [17:43] Experts say it costs around nine million dollars a day to keep each strike group running. [17:48] That's 27 million altogether. [17:52] Then there's somewhere between 50 to 60,000 service members still in place during the ceasefire, [17:58] up from a baseline of around 34,000. [18:01] Here's the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff on what it took to keep them fed and [18:06] awake in the run up to the ceasefire. [18:09] Along the way, we consume more than six million meals and by my estimate, more than nine hundred [18:16] and fifty thousand gallons of coffee, two million energy drinks and a lot of nicotine. [18:22] But I am not saying that we have a problem. [18:25] All in all, we think their continued presence is costing about three quarters of a million [18:30] a day just in food allowances, back of the napkin maths. [18:34] But to be honest, all of this is just pocket change. [18:38] Missiles, drones, bombs, that's the big cost. [18:43] Just in the first 100 hours of the war, the U.S. shot off an estimated 3.1 billion dollars. [18:50] President Trump's administration must be thankful it's not doing that now. [18:55] But aside from the huge cost of replenishing those weapons, there's the problem of a superpower, [19:01] probably a little bit low on ammo. [19:03] The Center for Strategic and International Studies estimates that the U.S. may have used [19:08] over half of its pre-war stock of four key munitions and that replenishing them could take [19:14] from one to four years. [19:17] So if there's a beef with, say, China or Russia in the near future, that could be a problem. [19:23] The Pentagon says there's no shortage of weapons. [19:27] But you can bet that America's friends and foes are watching closely. [19:32] So Mark Kansian, war funding and U.S. ammunition stocks, those are parts of your areas of expertise. [19:39] From a military standpoint, do you think the Pentagon is looking at the clock nervously? [19:44] They are. [19:45] The inventories make the war planners quite nervous going into the conflict. [19:52] They believe that our inventories were not adequate for a war with China. [19:57] Those inventories are lower now. [20:00] It'll take one to four years to replenish them back to where we were and a couple of years [20:04] after that to get to where they want to be. [20:07] So there's a window of vulnerability here. [20:10] We do have some munitions that are plentiful, so it's not that we will be down or throwing [20:15] rocks at an adversary, but they are not the preferred munitions. [20:19] There's more risk to the platform. [20:22] So there is some risk here for a number of years until we can rebuild those inventories. [20:27] Ambassador Hale, does this kind of thing, how much the munition stocks have been depleted, [20:33] how much this costs to keep the carriers in the region, et cetera, does that ever impact [20:37] policy in your experience? [20:40] Well, obviously, our technical capacity or logistics capacity is now a key element. [20:47] I think perhaps it's important to not necessarily assume that production levels are going to [20:51] stay where they are now. [20:53] We can ramp up. [20:54] We saw that in previous wars, so I don't lose sleep over it. [20:58] And personally, I think that the more important thing is the demonstration of American power. [21:04] And if I were a ruler in China, I would be watching this with two things in mind. [21:09] One is America is serious. [21:11] America is a serious adversary, and not only against a country that is in a defensive position, [21:16] but if China were to take an offensive role against Taiwan, how can they really calculate [21:21] that what they've just watched over these six weeks is something they can handle? [21:25] The second point is that if I were also sitting in China, I would be concerned about the stability [21:29] of their own economic dependence upon the Persian Gulf. [21:33] Pakistan is one of China's closest friends, or maybe the other way around. [21:37] China is Pakistan's closest friend. [21:39] Pakistan would not be offering mediation without a green light from China. [21:42] China wants stability in this situation. [21:44] So as the president and Xi meet next month, I think it will be very intriguing to see what [21:49] they come up with in terms of a more geostrategic position that may be more aligned than people [21:53] realize right now. [21:55] Since you mentioned China, Mark Hansen, there's been speculation that as the US has moved military [22:01] assets, whether it's missiles, troops, aircraft carriers to the Middle East, it has left other [22:06] parts of the globe relatively underserved from a military standpoint, especially in Asia. [22:12] Is that something you're watching? [22:13] Well, it is. [22:15] We've moved a lot of our naval forces out of the Western Pacific to the Middle East, and then [22:21] we've depleted many of our munitions. [22:25] Now when the war ends, those forces will go back to the Western Pacific. [22:30] So that's a short-term risk. [22:32] The munitions are longer term. [22:35] But it is important to note what the ambassador said, which is the United States has shown what [22:40] its military can do both here and in Venezuela, for example. [22:45] China does not have any recent military experience. [22:47] Their last conflict was in 1979, and they did very badly. [22:51] They have to be looking at this and wondering whether the US military might be more formidable [22:56] than they had originally thought. [22:59] Also the Straits, the Strait of Hormuz is effectively closed. [23:04] They're looking at the Strait of Taiwan and thinking that maybe the Taiwanese might be able [23:09] to do the same thing the Iranians have been able to do. [23:13] And then we have a president who has shown that he is willing in some circumstances to use [23:17] military force quite aggressively. [23:19] So put together, there were some things that might encourage them to be aggressive, but [23:24] there were some things that would discourage them. [23:26] Ambassador, if we bring it back to Iran and the Middle East, you were a former Middle East [23:30] peace envoy. [23:31] If you were called upon to advise this White House in this moment and in this conflict, [23:36] what would be your advice? [23:37] Persistence. [23:39] The biggest problem for American foreign policy in the Middle East is that we are not persistent [23:43] in our strategies. [23:45] Whatever it is, whether it's trying to extend olive branches or whether it's to put maximum [23:49] pressure on a country, our political system as a democracy often means that decisions are [23:54] dropped, policies are dropped in two to four years. [23:57] So we have to stick to it. [23:58] The Iranians have understood that. [24:00] They've seen eight presidents come and go, more than eight policies toward Iran come and [24:04] go. [24:05] We have to stick to this and this president, whether you agree with this approach or not, [24:08] should be given enough latitude to see if he can succeed. [24:12] Ambassador David Hale, former special envoy for Middle East peace, also a former U.S. ambassador. [24:16] You held many diplomatic posts in positions really across the Gulf, the Middle East, and the [24:21] wider region. [24:22] And Mark Kansian, former Pentagon official, senior advisor with the Center for Strategic [24:26] and International Studies. [24:28] Thank you very much to both of you gentlemen for joining us in the studio today. [24:30] Thanks so much. [24:32] And this deadlock between the U.S. and Iran and the question of what happens next that [24:36] we've been examining has been at the center of the online debate as well. [24:40] The conversation fueled by social media takes from senior figures within the Trump administration. [24:45] Here's Alex Baird. [24:48] That deadlock now being labeled by some as a new Cold War. [24:52] Geopolitics podcast, The Duran, saying this is a strategic stalemate. [24:56] The U.S. entrenched, Iran holding the line and a double blockade. [25:01] Trump ally Senator Lindsey Graham warning the president not to believe any offer coming from the Iranians. [25:06] Stick to your guns. [25:08] Secretary of State Marco Rubio dragging Tehran for holding the world's energy hostage at Hormuz. [25:15] The Straits is basically the equivalent of an economic nuclear weapon that they're trying [25:19] to use against the world. [25:20] And they're bragging about it. [25:21] But Senator Republicans believe the U.S. side of the blockade is weakening the Ayatollahs [25:26] by the day. [25:27] And they're pressuring Iran to comply and agree to the president's terms. [25:32] The Treasury Secretary taking a harder line saying Iran's leaders are trapped like drowning [25:37] rats in a sewage pipe. [25:39] Besant confident the U.S. blockade is about to lead to the collapse of the Iranian oil industry. [25:45] We need to decide. [25:47] This can't wait. [25:48] And another day, another Iranian Lego video. [25:52] This time Trump falling asleep at the wheel, dreaming of victory. [25:57] New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was once a close friend of Trump, now accusing the president [26:01] president of being trapped in a geopolitical failure of enormous proportions. [26:07] And that... [26:08] He's playing checkers, not chess. [26:10] This latest Truth Social post that Iran is collapsing, translated now by some hair as [26:16] help, I'm stuck, and now I'm panicking. [26:20] Alex Beard, thank you very much. [26:23] And that's all from the team for today from our Washington, D.C. studio looking at what [26:26] this stalemate is currently costing both the U.S. and Iran. [26:31] Before we hand back to Al Jazeera's global headquarters in Doha, Richard Gaisfit previews our next edition [26:36] of This Is America. [26:37] Well, thanks, Cyril. [26:40] In the next edition of This Is America, we'll be looking at Donald Trump's handling of the [26:45] economy and the historic lows he's hit in the approval ratings for it. [26:50] Does the president care, and will his policies have an impact on the midterm elections? [26:56] That's tomorrow at 18.30 to 30 p.m. here Eastern Time. [27:01] For now, goodbye.