Ellie Kohanim
Appearances
Morning Wire
Trump Tweaks Tariffs & Revives Iran Nuclear Talks | 4.15.25
Thank you for having me, John.
Morning Wire
Trump Tweaks Tariffs & Revives Iran Nuclear Talks | 4.15.25
First of all, both sides have said it was a positive meeting. They've both used very positive language to describe what took place. And there was some reporting indicating that Steve Witkoff, the United States special envoy, and the Iranian foreign minister had a handshake together at the end.
Morning Wire
Trump Tweaks Tariffs & Revives Iran Nuclear Talks | 4.15.25
But interestingly, Axios is reporting that, in fact, there was a 45 minute face to face conversation that took place. So that's an interesting development. Certainly face to face in a complex negotiation like this is better. I think it helps to make sure that there is less room to cause confusion and also to drag out negotiations, which is what the Iranians are famous for doing.
Morning Wire
Trump Tweaks Tariffs & Revives Iran Nuclear Talks | 4.15.25
And I believe it's one of the reasons that President Trump has been pushing very hard for direct negotiations. So that's some of the takeaways. We also know that now they have scheduled follow-up talks for one week. I'm hearing reports of Rome. However, the Omanis will still be the interlocutors and participants in the talks.
Morning Wire
Trump Tweaks Tariffs & Revives Iran Nuclear Talks | 4.15.25
Let's remember that the very fact that the Iranians came to the table is considered an embarrassment in the Iranian culture because this is the regime that from 1979, from its very inception of coming into power, is born of the original sin of taking our American embassy staff hostage. And this is the regime that daily chants death to America in their parliamentary meetings.
Morning Wire
Trump Tweaks Tariffs & Revives Iran Nuclear Talks | 4.15.25
And some of the reporting that came out of Iran was that the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, apparently had to be convinced to even participate in talks with the United States. His advisors apparently let him know that they were advising him to participate in these talks because otherwise it looked like there was a very high likelihood that Israel and the United States would
Morning Wire
Trump Tweaks Tariffs & Revives Iran Nuclear Talks | 4.15.25
would strike Iran. But right now, as you and I are speaking, John, there is a consensus that the Islamic Republic of Iran's regime is finding itself at its most vulnerable probably since its inception in 1979. And the reason why is that Iranian proxies have more or less been taken off the table, right? They've been eliminated.
Morning Wire
Trump Tweaks Tariffs & Revives Iran Nuclear Talks | 4.15.25
and at the same time that this is happening the trump administration has launched again the maximum pressure sanctions campaign so the economy is teetering you know nearly on the verge of collapse their currency is just practically valueless right now and so all of these factors combined with the ongoing unhappiness and unrest among the iranian people you put all of those factors combined
Morning Wire
Trump Tweaks Tariffs & Revives Iran Nuclear Talks | 4.15.25
And the regime is incredibly weak and vulnerable right now.
Morning Wire
Trump Tweaks Tariffs & Revives Iran Nuclear Talks | 4.15.25
Well, what President Trump has enunciated clearly and over and over again is that he will not allow the Iranians to attain nuclear weapons. And so that is his red line. The question right now is how do you get the Iranians to the same place? The president is giving them a clear path to diplomacy, to negotiation. He's also made, I think, the message also very clear to them by instituting
Morning Wire
Trump Tweaks Tariffs & Revives Iran Nuclear Talks | 4.15.25
you know, the economic sanctions that we just spoke about, but also the credible military threat.
Morning Wire
Trump Tweaks Tariffs & Revives Iran Nuclear Talks | 4.15.25
I think what President Trump will consider successful enough talks to keep on talking is concessions from the Iranians.
Morning Wire
Trump Tweaks Tariffs & Revives Iran Nuclear Talks | 4.15.25
He's going to want to see that they are behaving like good faith actors, that the Iranians have a sense of urgency, that they are understanding the American mood right now and really understanding, again, that credible military threat that's right there within their line of vision.
Morning Wire
Trump Tweaks Tariffs & Revives Iran Nuclear Talks | 4.15.25
Thank you, John. Thanks for having me.