What's next in Trump's Iran plan? | Global News Podcast

Welcome to the Global News podcast on. YouTube. I'm Charlotte Gallagher and. joining me today is the BBC's North. America correspondent Anthony Zurcher. who's in Washington. And Anthony, you've. been traveling around with President. Trump for the last couple of days and. what a few days it's been. Yeah, it's. definitely been a wild ride. It started. on Friday with the president and the. press pool I was part of departing. Washington D.C. on Air Force One to fly. down to his resort in Southern Florida.

Mar-a-Lago. And he talked to the press. on the South Lawn of the White House. before he departed and and said that the. United States was winning the Iran war. that they needed they wanted a deal. In. the middle of the flight some press. assistants came back with Truth Social. posts that Donald Trump had written. saying that the war was winding down and. kind of a bullet point of things that he. said were the objectives for the US in. that war implying that the United States.

was meeting all of them. And on Monday. morning he had another Truth Social post. this time saying that there were. negotiations between the US and Iran and. he was doing away with that 48-hour. deadline and extending it another five. days. that there was they were making progress. in in these negotiations. He said that. he thought Iran wanted a deal. He. thought the US wanted a deal and that. they agreed on many of many of the. points of contention. So it was quite a. roller coaster ride. Does he have a.

strategy because it seems so confusing. in these posts and then his speeches. they all kind of contradict each other? Yeah, and and that's kind of Donald. Trump's negotiating style is to make big. threats and and be unpredictable. And. yeah, I guess it's worked for him in the. real estate world. It's certainly you. know, he he views it as the art of the. deal this kind of developed negotiating. strategy that he has. And on and on. Monday morning as we're getting ready to. leave. South Florida he he came over and and.

spoke to those of us in the press pool. on the tarmac and he he said the one. thing he knows how to do is make deals. And then we got on a flight and flew to. Tennessee for a totally unrelated trip. that Donald Trump was going on where he. was talking about domestic crime. fighting policy and then made a trip to. Graceland Elvis's home. historic home where he signed a guitar. and toured Elvis's kind of kitchy 1970s. house. And so that that may be part of.

the strategy to say, okay, you know, yes, this is serious but. I'm still following my routine and an. American shouldn't be worried about this. somehow spinning out of control. Although you know, when we were driving. back and forth from Donald Trump's golf. course. in Palm Beach, Florida we would go right. by gas stations and I was looking at the. price of a gallon of gas and it was. pushing towards $4. a a gallon which is a lot and I think. Americans are feeling that and that at. least is a very tangible kind of change.

that has happened since Donald Trump. launched this war and it really is. hitting Americans where they feel it in. their pocketbooks. And he'll be worried. about that considering he campaigned. saying I will make your life better, things will be cheaper. But if things. are getting more expensive even his core. base are going to get annoyed. It. definitely is. a drag on his popularity. You know, when. I talk to people in his base and I know. I was just in Texas a few weeks ago. talking to some die-hard Trump. supporters and and they're willing to.

give him the benefit of the doubt. They. say, well, he promised not to get us. involved in forever wars to get us. entangled in the Middle East. and so you know, I. I trust him to find a way out of this. You know, we'll see how far that trust. goes if this does stretch on more if. they're going to start getting. frustrated, but it is taking a toll this. war is taking a toll on Trump among. independent voters. Obviously Democrats. have been against him from the. beginning, but. if you look at the approval of his. handling of the economy it's at some of.

his lowest numbers he's had in his. second term and and the gas price is one. of the most obvious signs that his. promises of lowering prices at the gas. pump in the grocery store for housing. those have not been fulfilled. Do you. think he's at a bit of a crossroads then. at this point? He needs to get out of. this war. Iran are also saying that. these talks are fake news and he's. thinking very much about the midterms in. November. Yeah, I I think Republicans. are very worried. I think they they can.

read a poll as well as those of us in. the media can and they see that. that the. voters are unhappy. They're concerned. They don't think the country's going in. the right direction. It seems like Donald Trump is looking. for an off-ramp although there are. forces pulling him in both ways. I mean. he is making these ultimatums and Iran. doesn't seem to be cooperating and if. Iran continues to to be. reluctant to to reach some sort of a. deal or capitulation.

there's going to be a lot of pressure on. Trump to to keep pushing ahead to not. end this war with the current regime in. place to not end this war with Iran. still threatening and controlling the. Strait of Hormuz. So it it it this this. week I think could very well prove to be. a pivot point. Do these negotiations. actually happen? Do they move forward? Is there some sort of. a resolution and off-ramp that will. satisfy the the Iran hawks in Trump in.

Trump's administration and let him kind. of extricate himself gracefully. or does it look like another impasse and. then Donald Trump has to decide and you. just you just declare victory despite. not having signs of victory and go home. or do you push ahead and escalate which. you know, talks about using the using. ground forces to to secure the Strait of. Hormuz or talks about using the Marines. who are on the way to the the Gulf to. secure Kharg Island and Iranian oil. That obviously would be a dramatic.

escalation. Could we reach a situation. where President Trump walks away? And I. know there's this expression taco Trump. always chickens out which he I don't. think he'll like, but could we get to. that situation? He could decide to to. declare victory and and head home. The. the thing is even though Trump will. sometimes back down from ultimatums he. sets he backs away from. these these dramatic positions he stakes. out. He doesn't. seldom totally abandon them. Yes, he.

backed away from tariffs, but then he. imposed them again and and he had. tariffs that were much higher than than. they were at the beginning of his. administration. Even though he chickened. out he he came back and and persisted. although the Supreme Court has has taken. a big bite out of that. But I think it. does show that Trump is willing to back. away. Trump is willing to. to pull away from a confrontation that. he thinks isn't going his way, but he. doesn't totally disappear. And so if the. United States takes a step back here.

in in this Iran war there's no guarantee. that the United States is just packing. up and going home entirely. I think. you'd have to keep watching to see what. happens next. And what do you make of. these reports that J.D. Vance will be. involved in the negotiations because. he's not been very visible all during. this? No, he's kind of kept his head down. But. of course part of his brand was. criticizing. this kind of interventionist foreign. policy. You know, he served in the. Marines and and served overseas during.

wartime. So he kind of has experience. with that and he cites it as one of the. reasons why he doesn't think the United. States should get bogged down in forever. wars bogged down in in fighting in in. the Middle East when you know, direct. American national security concerns. aren't aren't at stake. He has towed the. the administration line in very limited. public appearances just enough to to. keep the rumors flying that he is he's. been sidelined and he is objecting kind.

of keep those rumors. at bay for the most part. But if he does. take a much more visible role in these. negotiations I think it suggests that. the Trump administration wants to get. out of this that they're putting someone. who has a reputation as being. averse to extended conflicts in charge. of negotiations that they're taking this. seriously. It also you know, puts J.D. Vance's reputation on the line. You. know, he. he can only dodge this this issue for so.

long and then if he's the the point. negotiator he is going to take a lot of. the blame if things go sideways. Now he. may he may take the blame anyway. I mean. he's tied at the hip to this. administration. and he does clearly have 2028. presidential ambitions. So it's in his interest to try to. resolve this to not have hanging over. his head when he starts to gear up his. presidential campaign. And of course not. to crash the global economy because a. bad economy is is and a bad American. economy is poison for an incumbent.

administration. It could derail his. presidential ambitions before they even. get started. What could President Trump paint as a. victory at this point because it doesn't. appear that there's going to be regime. change in Iran or at least radical. regime change. This isn't Venezuela. It's very different. What could he paint. as a victory to his base? Yeah, and you notice he hasn't been. talking about regime change much at all. I mean he did say on Monday he. envisioned some kind of regime change. some kind of new regime coming in. But.

he certainly doesn't talk about the. Iranian people rising up in revolt right. now. He doesn't talk about. how he wants to have a role in picking. the next leader of Iran. And he doesn't. talk about unconditional surrender which. is a term he used very early in this. war. So if you put aside the idea of. regime change that that that this is not. something that the United States are. going to get out of this. It almost. feels like what what he wants now. is to be able to say that Iran's. military has been.

degraded, which it has. Iran's military. infrastructure. has been destroyed, which all evidence. is that it has been greatly debilitated. Iran abandoning its nuclear weapons. program, which that seems to be at the. heart of some of these back channel. negotiations for the moment. And then. guarantees of security in the Strait of. Hormuz. Which if if he can say that that. the Strait is secure, that global.

shipping is passing through again, that. that things are returning to normal, then I think he could probably. start to withdraw American forces and. declare some some modicum of victory. Although. safe passage safe passage in the Strait. of Hormuz was something that that was. the the the way things were before this. war started. So it almost is the. central feature of these negotiations is. to kind of get back to the way things. were before all of this began about a. month ago. And I suppose you could end.

up with a situation where the US does. retreat from this, but then you've still. got Israel perhaps going into Lebanon, a. ground invasion there. And also you've got the Gulf states that. are very unhappy that they've been. dragged into it. It's so much more than. the US at this point. Yeah, that's kind. of the wild card. And there's been signs of tension. between the United States and Israel, signs of different ultimate goals in. this operation between the US and and. Israel. And Donald Trump had a phone.

conversation with Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli Prime Minister on Monday. We. haven't gotten a whole lot of details of. how that conversation proceeded, but the. negotiations with Iran is one thing. The. negotiations with Israel is is another. one. And then as you mentioned placating. the Gulf Arab allies of the United. States is also going to be. a delicate dance because they got pulled. into this. They are suffering pretty. significant economic hardship, but there.

are factions within the Gulf the Gulf. allies that want some sort of a more. conclusive resolution to this. That was the BBC's Anthony Zurcher in. Washington. And if you'd like to hear. more from the Global News Podcast on. YouTube, click the link below.