US wants Iran to pledge to stop shooting at ships in Strait of Hormuz | BBC News — Transcript

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1. 0:00Now, Donald Trump says he has ordered
2. 0:02the military to be prepared to launch
3. 0:04strikes against Iran if the Iranian
4. 0:06government carried out or attempted an
5. 0:08assassination. The US president posted
6. 0:11on social media, "A thousand missiles
7. 0:13are locked and loaded and aimed at the
8. 0:14Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands
9. 0:17more to immediately follow should the
10. 0:19Iranian government act on its threat
11. 0:21pronounced in many corners of the globe
12. 0:23to assassinate or attempt to assassinate
13. 0:25the sitting president of the United
14. 0:26States of America, in this case me."
15. 0:30Well, the US is demanding a public
16. 0:32statement from Iran guaranteeing the
17. 0:33straight of Formuz is open and that
18. 0:35ships crossing the vital waterway won't
19. 0:37be targeted to ensure talks can move
20. 0:39forward. Our correspondent Peter Bose
21. 0:41has the latest from Washington.
22. 0:43>> Senior US officials have characterized
23. 0:46this as a wait and see moment, a
24. 0:49sensitive moment in terms of relations
25. 0:52with Iran following a week of frenetic
26. 0:55activity. two nights, 48 hours of
27. 0:58retaliation by the United States after
28. 1:01Iran shot at three vessels in the Strait
29. 1:05of Hormuz. Well, what we're hearing now
30. 1:07from a briefing of a small group of
31. 1:09reporters that was attended by a
32. 1:11colleague from CBS News, the BBC's
33. 1:14partner in the United States, and
34. 1:16officials saying through mediators that
35. 1:19a message had been sent to Iran's
36. 1:22leadership, and that is that they are
37. 1:24seeking a promise that the straight of
38. 1:27Hormuz is indeed open to commercial
39. 1:30shipping and that there will be no more
40. 1:33shooting of those vessels. Now, the
41. 1:37talks, the latest talks are due to take
42. 1:39place later today in Oman led by the
43. 1:43vice president JD Vance. Donald Trump
44. 1:46has made it very clear that he sees that
45. 1:49the ceasefire has ended and that the
46. 1:52essentially the memorandum of
47. 1:54understanding that was agreed is no
48. 1:57longer in force. But he has said that he
49. 2:00wants these talks to go ahead. But what
50. 2:03is very clear from the briefing by
51. 2:05officials and the words of of Donald
52. 2:07Trump over the last few days and that is
53. 2:10that the Trump administration is running
54. 2:13out of patience with Iran's leadership
55. 2:16and the next few days will indeed be
56. 2:18crucial.
57. 2:19>> Peter Bose Maran Camra is a professor of
58. 2:22government at Georgetown University in
59. 2:24Qatar and the director of the Iranian
60. 2:26studies unit at the Arab Center for
61. 2:28Research and Policy Studies. He reacted
62. 2:30to President Trump's latest threats on
63. 2:32Truth Social.
64. 2:34>> This is not the first time uh the
65. 2:36American president has made such
66. 2:38threats. Uh uh let's remember that not
67. 2:42that long ago he threatened to wipe out
68. 2:44the Iranian civilization and he gave
69. 2:47Iran a few hours. Uh and and that is
70. 2:50precisely the way it is seen in Tehran
71. 2:53as bluster rather than an expression of
72. 2:56American policy. Uh and I think it's
73. 2:59also important to remember that uh the
74. 3:02reports of or the intelligence reports
75. 3:06that Iran is uh trying to assassinate uh
76. 3:09the American president are themselves
77. 3:12not verified and somewhat suspect. Uh so
78. 3:16the Iranians uh are continuing with um
79. 3:19uh negotiations uh and so are the
80. 3:22Americans despite the noise surrounding
81. 3:26uh the uh the talks.
82. 3:28>> So what do you think could come out of
83. 3:30the talks if they do go ahead today?
84. 3:33>> Well um obviously the last couple of
85. 3:37days have been a setback. Nonetheless,
86. 3:40both sides are determined uh to make
87. 3:43substantial progress on the talks and
88. 3:46the very fact that the American vice
89. 3:48president and the Iranian foreign
90. 3:50minister are in uh Oman is indication of
91. 3:53the seriousness with which both sides
92. 3:56are approaching the negotiations.
93. 3:59>> Uh what do you think are the key
94. 4:02sticking points at present and why have
95. 4:03we seen this ratcheting up of tension in
96. 4:06the last few days?
97. 4:09The most immediate sticking point is uh
98. 4:12navigation through the straight of
99. 4:13foremost. This is a leverage that Iran
100. 4:16does not want to give up and Iran is
101. 4:20adamant that it has uh an administrative
102. 4:24structure through which traffic through
103. 4:27the straits of Hormones needs to um um
104. 4:31uh needs to go and I think that's the
105. 4:33most immediate issue. The other key
106. 4:36issue is Iran's frozen assets and the
107. 4:40issue of sanctions. Uh so these are two
108. 4:43of the most immediate uh issues over
109. 4:46which there will be negotiations. The
110. 4:48background to all of this of course is
111. 4:51Iran's nuclear program which uh has
112. 4:55practically been destroyed for the time
113. 4:57being.
114. 4:59>> What is the Qatari role at present in
115. 5:01this? because obviously they've they've
116. 5:02been involved, the Pakistanis have been
117. 5:04in involved in in trying to keep the
118. 5:08diplomatic process going on.
119. 5:11>> The Qataris as well as the Pakistanis
120. 5:13are playing the role of the adults in
121. 5:15the room. They're the ones who are
122. 5:18encouraging Iran and the United States
123. 5:20to come to the negotiating table. So
124. 5:23their role is quite important and key.
125. 5:26uh as we saw there was a very high uh
126. 5:29ranking delegation of Qatari diplomats
127. 5:32in Thran earlier encouraging Iranians to
128. 5:35come to the negotiating table. So Qatar
129. 5:38and Pakistan are playing very critical
130. 5:41roles right now. And when we look at the
131. 5:44attacks on some of the Gulf states this
132. 5:48week, um is there still a fear that
133. 5:52things are going to be bumpy in the
134. 5:54region that there will be flare ups for
135. 5:56the coming weeks and months?
136. 5:58>> Absolutely. Everybody's holding their
137. 6:00breath because the Iranians are
138. 6:03determined to do two things. First,
139. 6:05they're aware that they cannot fight the
140. 6:08United States militarily. So they're
141. 6:10trying to turn a military conflict into
142. 6:13an economic one and that means they
143. 6:16would attack uh shipping and other uh
144. 6:20energy facilities here in the Gulf. And
145. 6:23then we've seen that the American
146. 6:25president can be quite uh mercurial and
147. 6:28maverick and uh of course he can attack
148. 6:31Iran and that would provoke Iranian
149. 6:33counterattacks. So everyone in the
150. 6:35region is kind of holding their breath
151. 6:38uh and hoping things would progress
152. 6:41meaningfully. Maran Camra, professor of
153. 6:44government at Georgetown University in
154. 6:46Kata.